UNPSYCHIC.

Case 02 :: Chapter 04

News of Sir Matti's "accident" became a trending topic to his students the following day, and even went too far by declaring he was brain dead (which was quashed by the appalled faculty once that bit of fake news reached them). But that didn't stop the chatter to erupt in Ethics class once I entered the room. 

"Serves him right for being such a pain in our ass the entire semester."

"He deserved it! He had it coming."

"Maybe if we pray a little harder he'd really be in a brain dead state."

My head immediately snapped towards the seated student who said that. The girl just threw me a "what do you care?" kind of message with her raised eyebrow once she spotted me gawking at her, and rolled her eyes at me as though I was garbage that couldn't be bothered with. She went back to talking to her little clique of three girls and two boys. But I was more surprised to see Cassie sitting amongst them, and gave me an apologetic look. 

My jaw clenched and I could feel my fingernails digging itself into my palms. The audacity of some people! How easy it was for them to speak ill so openly for everyone to hear. I had the urge to tell Cassie's friend off when someone beated me to it. 

"That's my uncle you're talking about." Rei stood from his seat beside the window and scowled at the girl. I wasn't even aware that we shared this class. His voice shook either in nervousness or anger as he quickly glanced at me then back to the girl. "Show some bit of respect."

She was about to make a snarky remark when a young man, who was apparently overdressed with an old school checkered bowtie and a corduroy coat with matching patches at the elbows, entered the room. He looked around nervously as he introduced himself as the substitute teacher who'd take over the class in the meantime. But in all honesty, he barely looked like he graduated highschool. 

I took my usual seat at the back of the class and scanned for Noelle. There were several vacant seats at the back where she usually sits, but she was nowhere in sight. I figured she'd be up to her elbows in research. 

Yesterday we hit a dead-end. Despite it being a Spanish-Colonial period house, the land titles I reviewed didn't mention any previous Spanish owner (at least not on paper), nor did the CCTV footage give any clue to the culprit's identity. Other than the "dead man" warning, we didn't have a lot to go by, and we weren't even sure if that was a lead to begin with. But Noelle didn't lose hope and thought it would be best to tackle it at a different angle. She planned to backtrack all or any records of deaths or just anything suspicious that happened on the property. 

After that excruciating class was over (it was too painful to watch the sub take control of the classroom and failing miserably), I just about packed my things to head over to the library for Noelle's and my "community service" with Mrs. Alonzo, when I saw the girl with the sharp tongue along with four other of her clique exiting the room, leaving and ignoring Cassie behind as she waved goodbye at them. 

I followed suit, only to hear her panicky call of my name as I reached the hallway. I looked back, paused on my steps and waited for Cassie to reach me. Just like on my first day, she still had her things gathered in a messy bundle between her arms, and now looking closely, there were also several notebooks that even had silver charms on the cover for some reason. 

"Hey…I just wanted to apologize for what happened earlier. What Tanya said was way below the belt." she said, almost breathless.

I shook my head and recalled Rei's expression. "I shouldn't be the one you're apologizing to. But I'm curious how you can be friends with someone who's…" I trailed off and chewed on my lip before I could offend her so-called friend. Cassie seemed to have a good head on her shoulders, sweet even, and with my brief interaction with her "friend", it was like you were trying to mix water with oil. There were definitely no similarities whatsoever, at least, on the surface.