The Midnight Grave of Lies

Prologue

The auditorium was buzzing with hushed whispers of the inquisitive students. The principal had announced every student to come to the auditorium for a special announcement. What made them curious was that it was four in the afternoon and they had been never called into the auditorium for any announcement so late.

Rayana Sangma, sitting beside Danielle Imchen, in the second row, whispered, "What do you think the principal is going to say?"

Danielle shrugged, eyes fixed on the stage in front of her. She had a bad feeling about the announcement. Something told her that the principal was going convey some kind of bad news or why else would he call all the student body at the auditorium so late.

Their school started from seven in the morning to three in the afternoon. By eight, they had their dinner and by nine, they were all off to bed. Again, they would wake up at five and have their breakfast by six, one hour before school started.

Danielle was reading The Pictures of Dorian Gray which she had borrowed from the library. Generally, on a sunny afternoon like the one today (which was very rare in Cherrapunji), she could be found giggling with her roommate Arianna, singing some songs and dancing to them along with her or just lying on the bed together, staring at the ceiling and talking about anything and everything.

But something had gotten into Arianna lately, she had been acting rude and aloof. Every time Danielle tried to ask her what was wrong, she would snap at her and ask her to mind her own business. Arianna was not sitting with her in the auditorium. She was sitting in the last row along with Ryan Kent.

"Maybe she is going to announce how JD has decided to retire or they are finally kicking her out of the school," Rayana whispered, excitedly. "She was absent today, wasn't she? And we all know JD never takes a leave which means she is either dead or has left the school for good."

"I don't think she is dead," chimed in a girl who was sitting beside Rayana. Her name was Maria Lyngdoh. "She is JD after all, she isn't going to let us be in peace so soon. Even if the world ends, she is going to be the only one surviving."

"Exactly!" Rayana answered and then, she turned towards Maria to have an elaborate discussion on JD's mysterious disappearance.

Danielle didn't notice any of these things. Her mind was filled with so many things- Arianna's strange behaviour, sudden announcement and her upcoming session with Vijay, which was at five.

Danielle's thinking was cut shot as Ophelia Alvarez, their principal strode onto the stage with authoritative steps. She was wearing an ochre saree and her hair was up into a neat and tight bun. She stood before the microphone. The confident gleam in her eyes was dim today. Her lips pressed tightly together. Everyone stood up.

"Please, sit down," Ophelia said into the microphone. After the hustling of everyone sitting down died, she said, "You might be curious to know why I called you so late."

The murmurs resurrected. She didn't wait for them to stop, instead continued, "A very unfortunate incident happened today morning. Your beloved teacher Jessica Deshmukh died today due to a fatal heart attack."

Maria and Rayana gasped in unison. Danielle's eyes widened in shock. A new, stronger surge of murmur erupted in the auditorium.

"Seems like your prediction was correct," said Danielle to Rayana, wryly.

"I- I never thought that- that it would actually happen." Rayana was shocked. Shocked beyond words. Her eyes widened and her hands clasped tightly in her lap. Her lips were slightly parted as she let out a shaky breath.

Danielle took her hand in hers.

"Hey, it's okay. We have all joked about her dying at some point," Danielle tried to reason in a calm voice. "It's not your fault that it has come true this time."

Danielle wasn't exactly fond of JD. In fact, she absolutely despised that teacher. She didn't know what she had done to be the subject of the wrath of her maths teacher. JD hated her as much as Danielle.

Danielle couldn't help but feel a little happy at the news of her death. She had been the prime subject of numerous of JD's torture (as she liked to call it)

JD would deliberately give her fewer marks than she deserved and would taunt her for it. She had been taunted for trivial things that were in no way concerned with JD's subject. Starting from how she was an ungrateful child who only acted to love her parents for money to how she would never excel in anything.

JD surely had a nice and innovative way to encourage children, Danielle thought bitterly.

The murmurs soon turned into audible shock. Everyone was talking about how unexpected this was.

Ophelia, who was quiet all this time to let the students absorb the news, said, "You all may return to your respective rooms. All extracurricular activities for today have been suspended."

A collective groan was heard. It was normal for students to be upset because, on Fridays, they looked forward to attending the different extracurricular activities. There were dance, music, art, drama, debate, writing and photography clubs. All the clubs were in the building to the left of the school.

Danielle was in the drama club. She loved it. Getting to step into the shoes of different characters always thrilled her. She liked pretending to be someone else.

All the students slowly got up from their seats and started filing out of the auditorium. The murmurs didn't seize as they left the auditorium instead they increased.

Danielle was pushed aside by someone. She stumbled forward and would have fallen face first if Rayana hadn't caught her on time. An angry Danielle turned around to give the person who pushed her a piece of her mind. But she stopped.

Xavier Alvarez, Ophelia Alvarez's son and the school's golden boy was pushing everyone out of his way. Danielle stopped in her tracks. She saw him approach Sameera Rathore, her English teacher. He told her something in an urgent way. Sameera listened to him attentively. In return to his words, Sameera just nodded, grimly.

Sannaya!

Fun fact: my maths teacher's name is JD and the whole school absolutely despises her. Like she keeps on spewing rubbish like- we pretend to love our parents for their money or that we are all worthless and we will fail in everything. I honestly stare at her with a 'Are you done yet?' face.

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