Creepypasta Academy

Chapter 17: Midnight Answer

"No." Harlie responds with an angry tremor to her voice, a chime is heard at the same time as well. Harlie looks over Alice's head to see a distorted clock striking midnight, marking the seventeenth day at Creepypasta Academy.

Alice's grin broadens. "That's too bad, Curious Kitty. All your questions would have been answered if you'd only just said yes." Alice tilts her head to the side, her neck snapping yet again. Harlie glares over at Jeff, who had watched her, a little disappointed that she had refused. He stands up straight, and puts his hand to his side.

"That's really too bad." Jeff says pulling out his knife. Alice puts her hand out to stop him. 

"No, no, not yet, I want to see how far Curious Kitty can go with this little investigation." Alice says to him. Harlie finally snaps, and slaps Jeff across the face, hard.

 Alice whistles, and steps back a little to watch the entertaining altercation. Laughing Jack offers her the throne she had left empty, and she takes it. The group watches in silence, simply following the leader.

"You knew about her secrets, and you didn't tell me?!" Harlie yells out at him. Jeff rubs at his stinging cheek, and laughs. 

"Damn, doll, you hit hard." He says setting his hand down. "Anyway, you never asked." Harlie's memory doesn't fail her, and she recalls that she did ask him once, but he didn't answer her. Jeff remembers too, and lightly chuckles.

"Oh yeah. I'm just keeping loyal to the cause, that's all." Harlie reaches for another slap, but Jeff grabs a hold of her small wrist. 

"What cause?" She questions him harshly. 

"Careful, Doll. Curiosity killed the cat, and I wouldn't want that happening to you." He says looking at her anger filled eyes. He smirks before bending down and surprising her with a kiss. He pushes her away, and she falls back from a cliff.

Harlie awakens with a gasp in her bed. "A dream?! But I was awake!" Harlie scolds herself, but feeling like she's somehow come a step closer to knowing what she wants to know. Sadly she doesn't think of that in the moment. The kiss Jeff had given her had felt far too real. 

"Maybe she can control dreams after all." Harlie thinks to herself, thinking it might have been just a cruel joke for Alice to pass the time at her expense.

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Harlie jumps up as she spots Alice finally enter homeroom along with her usual crew. She's about to stand up and demand answers, but she spots Jeff with a red hand print on his face that very much looks her size. 

"Even dreams can be dangerous." 

Harlie recalls hearing Alice say, but she had been thrown off a cliff, and she doesn't know why she survived.

"Alice let me go." She suddenly realizes, and watches the group, who behaves in their normal manner. Alice sitting on top of Laughing Jack's desk, and he simply admiring and watching her every little quirks and mannerisms. Yuki complaining to Alice, about wanting her blood. Carrie munching out on candy. Eyeless Jack simply looking like he's not part of the crowd. Zalgo kneeling next to her like an obedient dog. Lastly Slenderman taking his seat in the back, watching all of the students for any misbehavior, almost like a prefect.

She watches them all, jotting notes on each and every one of them now. Having to watch all of them to know the "leader" of the group. Her eyes catch Blood's and Broken's, who are talking amongst themselves and watching the group as well. Harlie looks over at the other girls, and finds Scarlet not really caring, and just spending her time with Silver. Gluttony is watching Eyeless Jack, like he must be watching her. All of them having one thing in common, no trust for Alice whatsoever.

Alice strokes Jeff's cheek. "Ouchie, poor Jeffery got slapped good." Alice says with a tiny giggle escaping her. 

"It was worth it, m'lady." He says taking her hand and kissing it. Laughing Jack pulls her hand away, and stares at it. Alice chuckles, and kisses his cheek. 

"Why so serious, dear?" Alice questions with a fake pout. He grins, and pulls her to his lap.

"Just giving her highness a seat." He says trapping her with his long arms. Alice grins as she sees the dissatisfied look on Yuki's face. Carrie pets her head, and tries to comfort her friend. They all turn as someone enters the room.

Carrie blushes as she recognizes Jason. He steps inside, holding a brief case at his side. "Morning, students!" He says brightly, smiling like he enjoys that he's going to have fun here. 

Nobody responds to his cheery good morning, and they simply watch him. He sighs, and sits on the swivel chair, relaxing on it like as if he were at home. 

"Well, I'll be taking Mr. Scare's place as your homeroom teacher. I'm Mr. Toymaker." He says to them. Some of them are annoyed that they actually have to learn. They thought they'd be free now that Mr. Scare had died.

Alice giggles. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Toymaker. I'm Alice." She says, and Carrie leans down to whisper something into her ear. Alice's grin broadens and she nods her head. Carrie cheers, and sits back in her place. It's like she just gave her permission to get anything she wanted from a candy shop.

Harlie watches the exchange. Having caught a bit of Carrie's lip movements. "Kill." It was the only word she captured, but the look on Carrie's face says that she asked Alice to spare him from her future plans. Harlie observes this, and now adds Mr. Toymaker to her list. She decides to later categorize the listed people in two lists: Followers and potential sacrifices.

Harlie makes up her mind and adds her name along with Broken, Scarlet, Gluttony and Blood. She swears to unravel the mystery soon enough. Her research is paying off, she's coming to a hypothesis. "Alice's possible motive: Dominating Creepypasta Academy"

Mr. Toymaker yawns, and turns to the computer. Zalgo puts his hand out for Alice, and she takes it. He helps her rise, and she heads out with a skip as the bell rings. Harlie remains, and decides to start categorizing the people on her list. She finds the list easy, but has a few questions on herself, Blood, Scarlet, Gluttony and Broken. She sighs, and lifts her head up. She tenses up as she sees Mr. Toymaker looking at her from under his top hat.

Harlie looks back at her list, and erases Mr. Toymaker's name from her sacrifice list to potential follower. She nods content, and exits the room, feeling Mr. Toymaker's eyes boring into her back, but she isn't moved at all. She keeps going, slowly feeling like she's getting closer to the answers she needs.