*narrator*
The group of tabitha, riley, talia, sammy, lune, cleo and isadora needed to investigate, there was no further information on what had happened when those other students had disappeared. something involving the eerie changing rooms and... well a mirror. none of the research was really getting anybody that far so they took matters into our own hands to investigate. They felt like they were always being... watched. not by a nosy teacher... or other students... but something... they organized a "club" which obviously wasn't a real club. Using Isadora Eden's connections and Lune Fleren's place in the newspaper club they were able to organize a meet up to investigate disguised as a math club, yet it would all. go. wrong.
After getting accidentally locked in the eerie changing rooms by an unsuspecting school cleaner, nothing was going to go smoothly. After an unexpected and horrifying incident that led to Talia and Tabitha having to be hospitalized, they finally found evidence and clues that would help solve the mystery of how it all went wrong at holy oaks years ago.
*isadoras POV*
*FLASHBACK*
"TABITHA NO-" I heard Riley yell as she tried to console tabitha. "SOMEONE GET TALIA-" she screamed. It was chaos. Tabitha was screaming for Talia but she couldn't hear us. The mirror was swirling and I felt my heart get heavy.
we could see talia and tabitha... both of them in some sort of other dimension in the mirror.
how were we supposed to save them...
*END OF FLASHBACK*
It had been a few days since the incident in the changing rooms. Talia and Tabitha had some pretty bad injuries. nothing too serious but lots of scrapes and minor burns but other than that they were safe now. but me and the rest of the group were worried out of our minds.
It all happened when we got locked in the changing rooms. We were tired and I dozed off but talia was awake. I don't even know what was happening at the moment but it was pure madness. I had woken up to Tabitha screaming and there I saw it. Talia was ascending... she seemed to be hypnotized, her mind elsewhere but her eyes focused on the now red and swirling mirror. just like that day in pe...
*THAT DAY WEEKS AGO IN PE*
i saw tabitha gripping talias hand firmly as the sprinted across the soccer field. "g- guys whats up?? you guys were gone forever!" Sammy exclaimed. "th- the mirror- it-" tabitha began but she was so out of breath i could barely make out what she was saying. "i was bandaging t- talias knee and- and the mirror- it- it started swirling red and-" tabitha continues but talia interrupted abruptly. "IT- IT SPOKE-" she said, panting.
*END OF FLASHBACK*
Talia and Tabitha had been taken into some sort of other dimension through the mirror. we could see them but we couldn't go in... they couldn't see or hear us when we screamed. suddenly they were running... running fast and they ran out of the mirror. they landed with a loud crash onto the changing room floors, and the mirror went back to normal. i couldn't believe what I had even seen. but now they were in the holy oaks hospital. we hadn't seen them in a few days and we were all worried sick. we needed answers.
*Sammy's POV*
"WHEN ARE THEY GONNA LET US SEE THEM," Riley screamed, we weren't sure who she was screaming at but I mean- Her worry was understandable, It had been almost a week and we still knew nothing. We had all been in the hospital for a day as when the mirror shattered all of us got minor injuries. For instance, when the mirror shattered I fell on my arm- grazing it up pretty badly and in the process also a few minor other injuries from the glass. The others had similar injuries. We were getting a bunch of time off school which was obviously understandable and we were taking turns to spend the night at the hospital in trios. Today it was me, isa and riley.
"Riley- it's gonna be okay, wait I'll be right back" I said, well it wasn't like I wasn't worried but well.
Somehow I hadn't fallen asleep yet- normally I was out cold by 11pm- I looked at my watch. It was almost 1am- I digress, anyways as I was the only person there with a car I decided to go to the nearest Starbucks, which was only a few minutes of a drive away. "One venti caramel crunch Frappuccino with 3 pumps of toffee nut syrup and mocha drizzle on the bottom and top of the cup with cookie crumble and like 4 espresso shots." not complicated at all, i'm such a simple person. I quickly texted riley "What you want from starbucks- and if you dont respond in the next 30 seconds im only getting drinks for me and isa"
"What- yes i want coffee and im typing this as fast as humanly possible. I want a venti iced pumpkin spice Latte with two pumps of white mocha sauce and two pumps of apple brown sugar syrup and with extra caramel drizzle and cinnamon dolce topping."
And I thought my order was complex...
"Oh yeah and also one venti iced pumpkin spice Latte with two pumps of white mocha sauce and two pumps of apple brown sugar syrup, 5 pumps of espresso and with extra caramel drizzle and cinnamon dolce topping and a venti soy milk milkshake with minimum cream and a pistachio garnish." I told the tired looking barista who was already shooting daggers at me for the first order
"Name for the order?"
"Sammy clover for the first drink, Riley Buckley for the second and Isadora Eden for the last"
"To go or to drink here?"
"To go and could I have 3 cake pops too?"
I think that barista hates me.
10 minutes later I was on my way back to the hospital. Until I see a text from my phone from the nurse I may or may not have forced her to give me her number but it's fine.
"They are awake and stable. You can see them."
I nearly crashed the car when I saw this text and speeded to the hospital as soon as I could. " WHERE ARE THEY" Isadora screamed as soon as we entered the hospital and the clearly annoyed nurse led us to the room unlocking the door where I saw Talia and Tabitha on different beds lying down. Tabitha had her long red hair all over the place and was asleep where Talia had her up in a ponytail and was awake on her phone.
"TALIA- T- TABITHA!!" I whisper screamed.
I quickly handed riley and isadora their drinks and cake pops and started to text lune when-
"HEY WHY DON'T I GET STARBUCKS." Talia shouted looking up.
I looked at the nurse.
She nodded so I texted Lune and asked her to get 2 iced coffees unless she knew what tab and tal wanted on her way to the hospital and whatever she wanted for herself.
I looked down at my phone to see Lune calling me. I picked up the phone but before I knew it Tabitha was up. and she took my phone "Luneeeee so- from Starbucks I would like a Vanilla Bean Crème Frappuccino.
Add 1 pump hazelnut syrup. Ask the barista to add 1 Starbucks Birthday Cake Pop into the blender. Thanks or if they get confused which they do A LOT... just a plain black coffee-" she said before hanging up the phone and handing it back to me. "thanks- also by the way..." she said going back over to her bed "the police are coming to question us... so call the rest" she finishes, her mood dropping a bit suddenly. *riiingggg *riiiinggg* it was lune. she was calling me again. "h- hey- i'm uh, on my way. i've gotten everyone's orders and oh my gosh i can't wait to see you guys-" she said quickly. "oh- also tell tabitha her younger siblings are hereee" lune said excitedly. but my phone was on speaker and when tab heard this her face lit up. "TELL THEM TO COME UP RIGHT NOW OMG" she said partially screaming trying to get up once again but the nurse pushed her down "you already got up once I can't have you putting any more pressure on your leg" the nurse said shaking her head. suddenly lune barged in, clutching three orders of coffee and her phone.
Behind her, tab's two little siblings followed. They were six years old and the girl had beautiful brownish hair and green eyes but the boy had dark red hair and blue eyes. They were twins but looked nothing alike. they were calm but excited. "come here you two. I missed you." tabs said as her brother and sister climbed onto her bed and sat at either side of her, while she put her arms around them. "so this is Ryder and Hazel, my younger siblings..." Tabitha said, looking up at me and Isa. For a while the three of them just talked until they had to go back home.
All of us kind of stood there quietly until we heard the police cars outside. It was about 5 in the morning by now. isa paced around the small room until she sat down on tabitha's bed "isa? you okay...?" lune started. "i- i've gotta go soon... but i'll be online." isa glanced up at me then looked back to tabitha and talia. "i'm just- in shock i guess. it all happened so... fast?" but a knock interrupted our conversation. "it's Officer- Officer Jarred."
Isadora opened the door and once he walked in she walked out and he somehow didn't notice. Officer Jared had dirty blonde short hair and seemed about in his early thirties. He was gruff but nice. "So girls. please explain what the hell happened to you- just so you know we know when you are lying because cameras turn on at night in the changing room". We explained everything to him and he seemed extremely weary of what we had been saying. but no one ever did anything when all this started happening at holy oaks. I was worried. we all were. but it was a lot.
*Isadora pov*
I was really in shock. and I was so worried. how were we gonna go back to holy oaks knowing that all this is happening just here around us and that students were missing and tabitha and talia had actually witnessed this. i slipped away from the hospital but I didn't know exactly where I was headed anyway. I saw Sammy's car parked in 2 parking spots because she couldn't park straight, hm. well at least she could drive- not very well.... but, unlike Tabitha she doesn't crash her car hundreds of times a day. i just couldn't stop thinking about tabitha and talia. i didnt want to go back to holy oaks but i had to.
i walked mindlessly down the pathways from the hospital to head home. i mean where else was i gonna go. i could stop by someone else's house but i doubt anyone would reply to any messages right now. my mom was out of town for a few days so i was alone. i don't know how i felt. i felt relieved but still... not stressed... not sad... but. overwhelmed maybe. i was almost at my block. i saw riley's neighborhood not that far away... i wanted to see someone. i pulled out my phone. it was 5:19 am. i scrolled through my contact and saw riley was online. right now? i though about messaging her but i didn't. i felt heavy and warm. suddenly i got a text from cleo.
'hey- you up?'
'yeah- why? you okay?'
'oh hey isa. we're you able to talk to tabitha and talia?'
i paused. was everything okay...? or was i just over thinking all of it.
'yes- at the hospital' i wrote back.
'oh great... i think i found something.'
my heart was racing. i was curious.
suddenly i got another notification.
'are you close? like from the hospital? can you come over?'
hm. cleo lives close. in the next block.
'yeah ofc. coming rn.' i answered.
i walked to cleo's neighborhood until I reached a little muted blue house. i saw cleo outside right in front of the door, sitting writing something in a notebook while scrolling through something on their phone.