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Chapter Twenty-Seven
A Night of Tragedy
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WHEN TORI ARRIVED TO FOURTH PERIOD BIOLOGY, she sat in her assigned seat and put her bag down. She didn't bother to look for Toni, Cheryl or even MF and just opened her binder while holding a pen in her hand. But none of that mattered if she couldn't keep up with the lesson and although she wasn't exactly processing anything like she was supposed to, she still wrote everything down so she could hopefully understand it all later when she wasn't suffocating in a room full of people.
When the class was over, she quickly packed all of her stuff and grabbed her bag from the floor. She hurried out of the classroom and started making her way towards her locker but was stopped by someone who had placed their hand on her shoulder. Her muscles tensed as she quickly turned around to face them but relaxed when she had realized that it was only Cheryl.
"You've been MIA for weeks now, Tori. What gives?" she asked.
"I've been at rehearsals and using every free time I have to practice for the musical that is coming in three days from now," Tori said bluntly while shrugging her shoulders.
"If you ask me, the musical won't be as good because the hag who happens to be my mother feeds off of broken dreams and wouldn't let me participate," Cheryl said while rolling her eyes.
"I forgot to ask, why is she so against you being in the musical?" Tori asked.
"Who knows anymore? Nevermind that. You're so busy with the musical that you couldn't find the time to just say hi?"
"I'm sorry, but Kevin is really high strung about this musical no matter how many times I tell him to slow down and breathe."
"The only person keeping me company anymore is Toni," Cheryl said with her arms crossed.
"Look, when this musical is over, I will have all the free time in the world but right now, I just can't. Besides, you like Toni, don't you?" Tori asked.
"Of course I do. She took me out for diner to that nice restaurant and we have another date scheduled for tonight," Cheryl said cheerfully.
"Glad to know you're having fun, and I will see you guys tomorrow," Tori said as she turned around and walked away.
She made the stop at her locker to switch her textbooks and slammed her locker shut. She noticed MF down the hallway with Eden right next to her and she swallowed thickly at the two of them and how intimidating they looked to other people. She assumed that they were really close friends and that maybe Eden was the unfamiliar voice with Toni and MF right around the corner earlier that day.
She started making her way towards the school exit and pushed the doors open so she could walk out. She didn't even stop to talk to anyone, she just kept walking. When she got home, the door was locked and it was obvious that her mother was out working again. She unlocked the door and once she was inside, she locked it from the inside and went upstairs to her room. Once she was upstairs and the door was closed, she dropped her bag onto the floor and kicked her shoes off. She took a shower and changed into a pair of blue fuzzy pants and a white spaghetti strap top and pulled her hair back. She fell onto the bed face first and didn't even bother to get underneath the blanket but didn't even get to close her eyes before her phone started to ring. She groaned loudly as she sat up and looked at the screen where Toni's name flashed across the top of it.
"Yes?" she asked after she pressed the green button and held the phone to her ear.
"Tori, are you okay?" Toni asked and Tori could hear the genuine concern.
"Never been better," Tori said while shrugging her shoulders.
"Tori, you don't have to lie to me."
"Who said I was lying?"
Toni was silent for a moment before she spoke up again.
"Where were you at lunch today?" she asked.
"Somewhere to be alone," Tori said. "I gotta go."
Before Toni could protest, Tori had already hung up and put her phone down. She lied back down and as the sky got darker, the only light source in her room was the small lamp on the nightstand. Her phone stayed silent until it beeped to let her know that the battery was low and that it needed to charge. Once it was plugged in, she put her head back on the pillow and sighed heavily. If she could just take a nap for even a few minutes, she wouldn't feel so much like an emotionless machine running on gasoline.
Three more days. All she had was three more days before she could finally be done with the musical and get the rest she's been deprived of for the last few weeks.
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
IT WAS THE BIG NIGHT AND SHE WASN'T SURE IF SHE WAS READY FOR THIS. Tori didn't know if she was ready to go in front of all those people and sing and dance when she hadn't participated in anything like this in years. She was pacing around the dressing room, rushing to get into her first costume as Kevin came down the hallway every five minutes to remind everyone of how much time they had left before they had to go onstage.
"Twenty minutes, everyone!" Kevin said and he was loud enough for Tori to hear him from her dressing room.
"Dammit!" Tori said as her fist made contact with the dressing table and everything that was sitting on top of it shook and rattled.
She heard a soft knock on the door and she opened it slightly. Sweet Pea was standing right outside with his hands in his pockets and Tori's shoulders relaxed.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," Tori said as she opened the door even wider. "I doubt Kevin will be okay with this but just sit down over there."
Sweet Pea walked in and Tori let the door stay closed as she grabbed a small black hair tie and put it around her wrist. She separated her hair into three parts and her fingers twisted them around each other in an attempt to put her hair into a braid.
"Do you need some help?" Sweet Pea asked.
"I'll be fine, I've done this a thousand times before and I can make it a thousand and one," Tori said but cursed herself when she had to start again.
"Fifteen minutes!" Kevin shouted.
"God dammit!" Tori said in frustration as she ran her fingers through her hair and tugged on the roots.
"Hey, it's gonna be alright," Sweet Pea said stood up.
"How would you know?" Tori asked as she fiddled with the hair tie around her wrist.
"Because I can help," Sweet Pea said as he separated Tori's hair into three pieces and started braiding it with ease. She handed him the black hair tie and he tied the end of the braid to keep it from falling out. He observed the clothes she was wearing which was a long sleave shirt with horizontal stripes that consisted of the colours orange, brown, navy blue and sky blue. The shirt was tucked underneath the waistband of the pale blue flare jeans and on her feet were a pair of white platform sneakers. "Honestly, this is not that different from what you usually wear."
"This is about one to two decades apart from what I usually wear," Tori said while chuckling. "On another note, thanks for braiding my hair. You didn't have to do that."
"Seriously, compared to everything you've done to help me and my friends these past few months, it was the least I could do," Sweet Pea said while smiling. "You don't have to go through all of this alone."
"I'm just tired right now. As soon as this musical is over and done with, all I want to do is sleep."
Sweet Pea chuckled as he pulled Tori closer and wrapped his arms around her. She was glad she didn't have a lot of makeup on, otherwise Sweet Pea would have a very large and visible stain on his black shirt. She was still careful as she wrapped her arms around his waist and relaxed.
"I know you don't like it when people make fun of your height and size, but just between you and me, it just makes you all the more adorable," the Serpent chuckled.
"Are you sure you're not just saying that because my head barely reaches your shoulder when I hug you?" Tori asked as she lifted her head to look at him.
"Pretty sure."
"Ten minutes, everyone!" Kevin said from outside the dressing room.
Tori sighed as she headed for the door but Sweet Pea pulled her back.
"Sweet Pea, I don't know if you heard what Kevin just said, but I gotta be out there in ten minutes and you gotta get to your seat," Tori said.
"Just give me two minutes and then we can go," Sweet Pea said as he swallowed thickly and Tori could tell that he was getting nervous.
"Did you want to talk about something?" she asked.
"Well, not exactly talk."
Before Tori could question him any further, he pulled her closer so there was little space between them. His head dipped down and before she even knew what was happening, his lips were connected with hers in a soft kiss. She didn't have a chance to respond before he pulled away and she sucked in a large breath of air but he was still very close to her.
"What was that for?" she asked.
As much as she was attracted to him, she never expected anything like this to happen. She never expected Sweet Pea to stop by at her dressing room or help braid her hair or even kiss her. She didn't even know if this was real or if it was just some wild dream. Sweet Pea couldn't even get the words out before Jughead walked in while holding the camcorder. Tori noticed the red light and she automatically knew that he was filming everything.
"Am I interrupting something?" he asked slowly when he saw the look of surprise on Tori's face while Sweet Pea just looked irritated.
"Five minutes, people!" Kevin said.
"No, but it would still be nice to knock," Tori said as she made sure her laces were tied and she wasn't forgetting anything.
"Any last minute thoughts you want to share before going on stage?"
"When this musical is over, all I want to do sleep until the world ends. Maybe even longer than that."
Tori quickly headed out of the dressing room, leaving Jughead and Sweet Pea on there own as she made her way to the stage. She peeked outside and noticed how big the crowd really was but she was only looking for one face. She didn't have time to find them when the lights dimmed and everyone took their places on the stage. She was just hoping that her nerves would ease up as the show went on but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
The whole audience gasped when they saw the horrors of what was in front of them. Midge Klump, the star of the show, was pinned to the wall with knives and scissors and there was a message on the wall that was written in blood.
I am back from the dead. All those who escaped me before will die.
And everyone screamed.