"I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, watching as he slowly pulled a large envelope out of the folder."
-Matt
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MATT:
The atmosphere around us had miraculously shifted from a tense silence to a much happier one. Amy was bubbly and talkative, Julia was back to cracking small gentle smiles, and Andrew was back to being as mysterious as usual. I knew he was hiding something, but that wasn’t my main focus at the moment. I wanted us all to be safe and happy.
The happy part seemed mostly done, thanks to Amy talking us back into being friends. But being safe had not exactly happened yet. In fact after Kathryn being killed. I felt like we were all in even more danger. Nobody really seemed to understand why I didn’t feel as happy as they did. Sure, we were friends again, but what power did friendship have over Mr. Grey’s knife? Being friends wouldn’t save us from being killed or hurt by Mr. G, and nobody else looked like they realized this.
They acted as if friendship was the magic potion, turning everything dark and bad into flowers and butterflies. I knew that Mr. Grey wasn’t done yet though, and that our friendship would only distract ions and keep us from being safe. My fear was that I would let myself have fun and then one of us would be hurt.
That’s how it happened with Ethan. I was an awful brother, letting Ethan experience something as horrid as what he had to. It was all my fault.
We were all currently standing in one of the fields, using our Sunday to practice volleyball for the tournament coming up. Only Andrew was missing, off at soccer practice with the rest of the soccer team. Amy and Julia were trying to hit a volleyball back and forth, but it kept somehow ending up on the ground. I don’t know how she did it, but Julia had the skill of a worm when it came to sports. Absolutely none.
Amy was bent over laughing, and I smirked at Julia’s determined look. I would bet all my life savings that by the end of this Julia would need quite a few icepacks.
“Hey look! The duck is trying to serve again!” Johnny bounded over, Ethan and Kyle not far behind. Julia looked over at Johnny horrified.
“What did you just call me?”
“A duck. You know, because ducks can’t play sports at all. Just like you.” Julia didn’t look very offended by Johnny’s attempt at insulting her, and I don’t think I would have either, had it been directed at me.
“Better luck next time bud.” I slapped him on the shoulder, and he pouted a little.
“When is the game?” Ethan looked at me for an answer, and I smiled at the fact that we were no longer just yelling at one another.
“Sunday and I need you all to have some skill by then,” I joked. Julia glared at me, and I just shrugged. “I plan on us winning.”
“Uh-oh, Matt is getting competitive again.” Amy tossed a volleyball in my direction, aiming at my head, but my quick reflexes caught it.
“If you look at the competition we have, the chances of us winning are actually rather large,” Kyle stated. “The majority of our team isn’t too bad, excluding our less experienced team members.” Julia rolled her eyes before picking up the volleyball.
“This is going to be a serve you are all jealous of,” she swallowed nervously before tossing the ball in the air. Her eyes widened as the ball started coming down, and she scrambled away in fear.
“So when do I get jealous?”
“Shut your mouth Johnny. I am making lots of progress.” Sadly enough, this was true. At the beginning, her throws could be a little… poorly aimed. One passerby had to dodge a flying volleyball, leaving Julia the color of a tomato.
“Excuse me?” I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to face the owner of the deep voice. A short man with thick glasses stood behind us dressed in a suit?
“Yes?” I smiled politely at him, shifting uncomfortably under his gaze. He crinkled his nose in distaste at all of our sporty clothing. We were dressed for volleyball, but his crisp and neat outfit accompanied by a briefcase made us look like we were in rags.
“Matthew Elias?” He squinted at a sheet of paper, looking between it and my face. Did he have a picture of me or something?
“That’s me.” I eyed Amy and Julia warily. What was going on?
“Good, good. This says I need Ethan Elias also?” Good, he didn’t have pictures of us, just names.
“Hello?” My brother waved his hand in the air, and the man grimaced at the dirt that covered it. What was stuck up this dude’s ass?
“Yes, yes. Okay now, where can I find Amy Fisher, Johnathan Fisher, Julia Black, Kyle Dennett, and Andrew Farrell? Why are there so many of you?” He popped open his briefcase, pulling out a folder. “Oh. It appears there are seven of you?”
The man slipped the folder back into his brown briefcase and turned back to face me. “We have important matters to discuss. If you seven would just follow me so we could take care of this quickly, then that would be lovely.” He quickly turned on his heel, moving at a surprising fast pace for such a short man. I tried to open my mouth and explain that Andrew wasn’t actually here, but he was too far ahead of us. His swift movements kept him far in front.
He led us into a building that I knew was filled with offices for the staff. Doors with silver numbers on them lined the walls. I suddenly felt very self-conscious when I noticed many of the people are rushing around with the purpose and jackets and ties. I ran a hand through my hair and glanced at Amy and Julia. Amy was making extravagant hand gestures as Julia nodded along. Girls.
"Please come in and try not to touch anything. Take a seat where you wish." The man led us into a large room that had table taking up a good portion of it. Chairs were placed around it, looking threatening and professional in their deep brown color.
I hesitantly step forward towards one of the chairs, taking a seat in it. Amy ushered Johnny into a seat, pushing him away from anything breakable. I motioned for Ethan to come sit next me, but he wanted to sit between Johnny and Kyle. Julia took a seat between Amy and I.
The man carefully laid his briefcase on the table, opening it up to reveal many neatly organized folders. He sorted through them, pulling out a white one that was labeled "Kathryn Johnson." I suppressed a shudder at the memories. I saw Ethan's face and noticed his mood had shifted from carefree to guilt-stream.
I knew even felt bad about Kathryn being killed, but I didn't have any idea what to do about it. How could I explain that it wasn't his fault at all, just Mr. Grey's, when I was playing myself for most of it? I spent a lot of my time wondering if I could have done anything differently so that this never had happened.
"My name is Ken Tylers. We have some very important manners to discuss involving the recent death of Kathryn Johnson."
Amy winced slightly, and I took Julia's hand as it started to shake.
“It’s okay,” I whispered soothingly in her ear, trying to calm my best friend.
“I just get the feeling something very bad is about to happen,” Julia hissed, taking deep breaths to calm herself. “See, you’re shaking also.” I looked down and noticed she was right, my hand was shaking from nerves. I smiled grimly at her, not reassuring her much.
“Miss. Johnson has left something behind for the seven of you.” I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, watching as he slowly pulled a large envelope out of the folder.
“What the heck is going on,” she whispered into my ear, and I shrugged in response. Her guess was as good as mine.
“It states here that this letter is to be given to all of you following her death and not to be opened by anyone else,” Mr. Tylers read off of a sheet that looked rather official. Kathryn left us a letter? Why? Could it hold the answer to some of our questions?
“Now, I’m going to give you all this letter, and you may do what you wish with it.” He pulled a smaller envelope out of the large one and passed it over to me. I stared at it for a while, still in shock Kathryn had left it for us.
“Thank you,” I said quietly, gingerly lifting up the envelope. It didn’t feel like she had put anything in it besides paper, so that paper must have been important.
“That is my job, Matthew. Have a nice day all of you.” He shut his briefcase, stood up, and walked swiftly out the door.
“W-W-We got a letter from Kathryn?” Amy stuttered, eyes wide.
“Why would she send us a letter?” Kyle tapped his chin thoughtfully, for once at lost for an answer.
“Maybe because she probably died because of us.”
“Johnny, what the heck? She didn’t write it after dying, that makes no sense.” Amy stood up, pulling Julia along with her. “You guys come also,” she said. “We have to figure out what this note says.”
***
We were all seated on the floor of my cabin, with the exception of Andrew. He had vanished. We looked for him at the soccer fields, the lounge, and any other place he might have been. He had just vanished though, and it made me wonder if he hadn't gone to soccer practice at all. The rest of the guys on the team were there, but Andrew definitely wasn't. I thought back to the day when he ran off from the dining hall when they called for him. I know he was our friend, but did he really have my full trust? I hated doubting him like this because he really seemed like a good guy whenever I hung out with him, but he had an odd habit of disappearing. Trust was a touchy subject with me, so I never really knew what to think.
"Can we look?" Kyle was bouncing up and down, his pen poised above a notebook. He claimed that he needed to write down everything so that we could figure out the meaning behind what was going on. I didn't question him, he was the one with the good grades.
"Are you sure we should? Mr. I Have More Important Things To Do Than Be Here said that Kathryn left it for the seven of us, and only six of us are here right now." Amy eyed the note a little warily, unsure of whether or not it was best to wait.
"What's up with the nickname?" Julia nudged Amy playfully and Amy smirked slightly before responding.
"With the way he rushed out of his own office I would have suspected we were trying to kill him. He looked quite eager to get away."
"How do you know he didn't just have his lunch break coming up?" Johnny glanced at Amy questioningly, as if he couldn't figure out why someone would want to get away from him.
"Johnny, first of all he clearly wanted to get away from us. He thought we were below him, little children not to be bothered with. Also, why would he be eating lunch if we have dinner in, like, twenty minutes?"
"Why can't you ever be supportive of my ideas?" Johnny grumbled. "Worst sister ever."
"You know you love me!" Amy sang out, bumping shoulders with her brother multiple times before he shoved her away.
"The note please. I need to examine our evidence before coming to a conclusion on what is happening here." Kyle motioned to the note expectantly, waiting for me to finally give in. I never realized how impatient Kyle could be, he really was only in fifth grade, even though I sometimes forgot based on the things he talked about.
"I just want to know what Kathryn had to do with us." I looked over at my brother in surprise. Those were the first words he had said since we got back to my cabin. The note seemed to have made him go silent, and I think he was back to feeling rather guilty.
“We all want to know what’s going on,” Whispered Julia. She reached over and patted Ethan on the back. “We don’t know what kind of answers lie in here though, and we may not like what it says.” Julia tapped the letter thoughtfully, and I wondered yet again why Kathryn was suddenly so involved in our lives. Julia was right though, the letter might not have held what we hoped it did.
Maybe all of us hoping for answers was a bad thing. As I had decided, Julia was definitely right. We didn't know what kind of answers we would be getting, and we may just be left with more questions. Us thinking the note held all the answers was wrong to do, it would just end with us being disappointed. I couldn't handle any more disappointment; everything that had happened in the past month and a half was enough. I was just looking forward to a new start, but I didn't know how to get one.
"Let us open it up a little bit maybe, just to check that it is meant for us." Amy's suggestion brought me back to reality, and I pondered over her idea for a little bit. We all still found it really odd that Kathryn would leave us a note, so maybe checking that it really was for us wasn't such a bad suggestion. Then, when we found Andrew, we could all read the note together.
"Okay Amy, that actually sounds like a pretty good plan." I lifted the note in my hands, fingering it uneasily. It was one thing to have it, but another thing entirely to open it. That would involve knowing more than we might want to. It had to be done though, if it held certain information we might not want it in the wrong hands.
"Just open it Matt!" I shot a glare at Kyle. He didn't understand how much this letter could change things. Well, he probably did, but he wanted things to change. I didn't want to know what it said if it meant things could change for the worse.
"Alright, relax Kyle. It won't vanish in these few minutes we are sitting here." I slipped my finger under the seal, slowly poking at the opening. As soon as I started opening it, I couldn't get it open fast enough. Suddenly I felt as I'd I just had to know what the letter held, no matter what.
"Calm yourself Matt, it's not going to vanish while we are all sitting here." Amy joked, mocking my earlier words. But she was bouncing on her knees, so I knew that she wanted to know about it just as much as I did.
"It..It's definitely for us," I choked out. The words on the page left me almost speechless, and I struggled to take a breath.
'From the desk of Kathryn Johnson: Concerning Grey Case.'
My mind went into overdrive and I struggle to form one coherent though. Everything around me started to disappear, and I was left with just those nine words. My grip on the paper tightened and my vision went a little fuzzy. What was the meaning of this? What did 'Grey Case' stand for? Did Kathryn have separate motives, different than just watching a few teenagers at a boarding school?
Clearly she must have, otherwise why would we even have this letter?
I was brought back to reality when the paper was snatched from my fingers. Amy's own eyes widened when she read the same words I had. She let the letter flutter to the ground and covered her face in her hands.
"Oh my gosh," She moaned. "What is the meaning of that?"
"The meaning of what? You two are scaring me." Julia eyed Amy in hesitation, unsure of how to act. Since I still couldn't seem to form any words, Amy answered for me.
"Read it yourself." Her voice was shaky, and you had to listen closely to understand it.
"'From the desk of Kathryn Johnson: Concerning Grey Case.'" Julia read aloud. I watched as her eyes lit up in realization, then became foggy and unclear. Her shoulders slumped forward and she mimicked Amy's position. I heard Johnny and Ethan's startle gasp, shocked by the words printed on the paper. Kyle was scribbling it down furiously, and I was amazed that he was able to keep calm after hearing that.
"Guys..she was involved. And this Mr. Grey thing is bigger than we realized. Much bigger. It was a case..who knows what that means, but it can't be good for us. Right?" I had finally found my voice, and I was proud that my words came out sounding much more stable than I felt. Everything had just changed so much, and the seriousness of it all was crashing down on me once again. This was not a game, it was life or death.
"We know Matt, don't worry. We know what is going on right now." Julia's voice was weak and strained. I winced at the vulnerability in it, feeling partially responsible. I could no longer entirely protect my friends, I was not enough.
"We really have to go to dinner now, we are running late. Put the letter someplace safe, and when we have Andrew with us we can read it." Kyle, suddenly taking charge, stood up and clapped his hands. I had never been gladder to have him with us. He was being strong and acting like a leader, able to realize when the rest of us were too weak to handle things. He picked up the letter and marched over to my stack of school things. He laid it carefully between the papers in my homework folder.
Each of us stood up slowly, preparing ourselves to get through dinner.
***
I pushed open the door to the cabin, checking the surroundings to make sure it was empty. Once I knew everyone was gone, I motioned for my friends to enter. We had found Andrew, so now we were going to read the whole letter.
"Are you sure it said that?" Andrew asked for the millionth time. We had told him exactly what we had seen, yet Andrew was still unbelieving. I guess it is hard to go from someone dyeing to finding out they were probably involved somehow in saving you from being kidnapped. In more than just a coincidence way.
"Just see for yourself. It's right over here," Amy walked over to my folder and opened it up. I stopped dead in my tracks.
The folder was empty. Completely cleared of anything, including the letter.
Kathryn's note to us was gone, and there was only one person I knew who could have taken it.
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Hehe(: A lot has happened in this chapter... But yeah, what do you think was in the note from Kathryn? O.o Possibly something important?
Just got back, so yeah... VERY tired and sad cuz I don't want to be back =/ But yeahh... Will upload next chapter eventually. Maybe tomorrow or Tuesday.
Sorry. Just sad.
Peace.
xx
Ella
Comment, vote, fan<3