DECODE

CHAPTER 8; The Abandoned Building Case

ASHER

I am walking back and forth inside our classroom as I recollect the time we caught the culprit of the last case, the case where the theater club was involved. Someone from them died and was stabbed by someone in front of the audiences of their performance. And the culprit turned out to be the head director of their club, in which our club helped to uncover.

But after the time we uncovered the truth, I had my last talk with Luke Troy, the culprit of that case. And he said something intriguing to me before he committed suicide in front of me.

"Great dramatic episode!" I exclaimed upon being satisfied about my recollection of the incidents that happened two weeks ago. Silver and Zay are sitting on their seats inside our clubroom. I finally sat on my usual chair. Their eyes fixed upon me.

"What are you saying?" Zay asked with knitted brows.

"Why, those happenings two weeks ago. Such a dramatic and unexpected performance indeed." I answered.

"Now I know the difference if something piqued your attention. You use old English sentence structure when you are really caught by the cases you solved. How fascinating." Silver remarked while chuckling a little bit. Zay agreed on him and they both chuckle at me. I just eyed them both.

"Anyways, Luke told me something the last time I talked to him before he committed suicide. Want to know?" I asked them. Their expressions changed and shifted to a serious one.

"What did he say?" Zay asked. I leaned forward and told them what the man had told me.

"He told me a few information about himself as well as about that someone we all know. He is one of the Spider's minions. It seems they were called as 'Eyes' for that is what he told me. He told me that he's one of those Eyes of the Spider. And he also mentioned that many more like him is to come." I narrated to them.The two of them fell in deep thoughts upon hearing my news. They fell silent for a moment until Silver spoke up.

"If that means that there are more Eyes lurking in our campus, then it is most probable that there will be more cases that will happen here in our campus. If that is the case, then we must be ready for anything that might happen."

"Probably. But we can stop or minimize the crime that are expected to be committed if we can figure out and decipher who those Eyes are." I remarked.

"Who knows how many minions does the Spider have. We can't be so sure." Zay remarked. I nodded.

"You are right about that. We know nothing about those minions of the Spider. But we all know that a spider has eight eyes. Meaning, there were eight people, not just mere minions of our man, perhaps trusted credentials of him. And those eight people must have known our man from the beginning. We need to uncover their identities if we want to solve the mystery of this Spider." I told them.

"So, what's your plan?" Silver asked. I leaned on to my chair as I answer his question.

"Nothing. Nothing can be done. We have no clue as to who are those eyes of the Spider. Aside from the fact that a female, with a colored eye, seen by Zay when she was kidnapped, is one of them, nothing else is at hand to be used to establish theories. But, I know, the Spider will always make step to do his bidding. We just need to wait and start to find more clues about him when another case happened."

"So, we just need to wait?" Zay asked. I took something inside the cabinet of my desk.

"This, is another clue. Let me be alone for some time, I need to do something. Let's see each other later at lunch." I told them.

"Are you going to ditch the class?" Zay asked.

"Yes. I already know the next lessons, so it's a waste of time if I will go and sit there pretending I am listening to their lectures. Go or you will be late." I told them. They both shrugged and left our clubroom.

Upon hearing the door close, I immediately fell in deep thought while staring at the phone upon my hand. This is the phone Silver and I received when Zay was kidnapped. Through this also, the Spider contacted us and introduced himself to us and started to play with us. But I am not going to lose this game. I will solve this mystery.

I glance at the phone in my hand. I already checked this phone to see if I can use something in it to trace the Spider. But I failed. I also found out that there were different cellphone numbers saved in it, and all of it named Spider. This man is really a pain on the neck.

I am under my own trance of thoughts when I felt a vibration upon my hand. My eyes fell upon the phone in my hand. The screen says a new text message was received by it. And, as expected, the number on it is different from the first numbers used to contact it.

I opened the message sent by the Spider. What does he want now? I read the text message. It ran like this.

Hello my friend. How's life? How's your investigation? Already established something? Have any ideas in mind as to who I am? I know you're there inside the clubroom of yours, thinking and draining your fascinating brain as to how you will stop me. Sadly, that will not happen. The game was in my territory. You are in my web, and you can't escape your fate. You will lose.

Anyways, I am a bit disappointed to my minion, Luke. He told too much. I guess that's why he killed himself. Because he knew he broke my golden rule. Anyways, now you have some idea on how things ran in my web, I expect the game will be much more fun. Now, let's see how will you decipher this game of mine. Until then!

-P.S.

Trick or treat!

My brows knitted upon reading the last words of him in the message he sent. Kinda weird, but I felt something sinister upon reading that phrase of him. Is he planning to do something again? What would it be?

My chain of thoughts once again was interrupted by a loud knock upon the door of our clubroom. Then, it swung open and Silver entered the room, sweating and panting. It seemed he ran from wherever he was to our clubroom. What's the matter this time?

"What is it?" I asked. He answered me in between of his breathing.

"A-A b-body. A body was found on the abandoned building." the abandoned building?

"Lead the way!" I said and immediately left my seat. We left the clubroom and I followed Silver. We're running along the corridor until we reached a certain building. An old, creaking building.

Many students were already here, trying to poke their noses into the business at hand. We pushed ourselves through the crowd until we get a better look of what they are all looking at.

I froze upon seeing the body lying on the floor in front of us. It was a girl. The face is contorted in terror. It is as if she saw something so horrible, so terrifying, that made her scream in terror, and even died in terror. She's wearing a casual attire.

"What happened to her?" I whispered to myself. Zay appeared beside me.

"I already called the faculty and reported this. They're here. The police are on their way." she said. I saw the faculty members arriving, anxious as to what happened this time.

"What, in the world, happened to her?" I asked, again more to myself. I scanned the body with my eyes to find any wounds or such but I found none. Silver spoke up.

"I don't know. It seems there's no wound on her." he said.

"Yes. I can see no wounds, too. Was she poisoned?" Zay remarked.

"No. I don't think so. If she was poisoned, there must be something pouring out from her mouth, or even some remnants of it. But, there's nothing present here. It's just her contorted face that seemed to saw something so terrifying that can cause cardiac arrest." I told them.

"Cardiac arrest? Do you mean, she died out of fear?" Silver asked. I nodded.

"Yes, that's likely. If this lady in front of us has severe heart problem, that's the most likely thing that happened."

"Wait, if that is so, maybe she experienced the rumor about this abandoned building." Silver said. Zay and I diverted our gaze to him.

"What do you mean rumor about this abandoned building?" I asked.

"Later, I will tell you. The inspector is already here. Will he allow us to investigate with them again?" he said. I nodded. We went towards Inspector Marcus.

"Oh! You again! Something happened again. Is this another thing done by the person you are telling me last time?" the inspector greeted us.

"Even our club don't know. But one thing is sure, we must solve this mystery before us." I told him. He chuckled.

"You are really different, child. You always want to be involved and be a part of cases that is happening around you. Did you find anything that can help us in solving this case?"

"Nothing. The faculty prohibited us to investigate the scene. Unless they will see that you will let our club be involved and they will say nothing. "

"Is that so? Then, go, help us in this investigation. I know that this case is different and puzzling again like the previous ones. I will need the help of the brightest minds inside the campus to crack it." he said while smiling to us. We have the permission we needed and we started to investigate the matter at hand. They asked the students to leave the crime scene to prevent contamination of any potential evidence in the case. But still, some teachers were still around us.

We first went towards the body of the victim. Her body was cold and hard already. It seems she's dead for some time now. I carefully look upon the contorted face of the victim. It really seems she died in fear of something she saw the last time she's alive. Her mouth is open and her eyes are wide open, looking upwards towards the stair towards the second floor of the building.

"She really don't have any wounds to suggest that she was harassed and killed in a physical manner." Silver said. The inspector wrote it upon his notepad. I sniffed the mouth of the victim. I detected nothing strange on it.

"I detected nothing on her mouth. She was not poisoned." I told them.

"Wait, what? She wasn't killed physically, and there is no identification of poison on her? Then how was she killed?"

"It seems what I told you earlier was right. She died in fright." I told them. Zay appeared beside me.

"The victim's name is Annie Tibbers, based on her phone here. Gladly there's some identification displayed on her screen. She's also a grade eleven student. Humanista." she said as she turned over the phone she retrieved on one of the constables with us.

"Hmm, constable, call for the people that are connected to this lady. I'm certain that they will shed some light in this case. For the meantime, let's theorize something about this matter. I think, we can come up with a theory about her death." the inspector said. I spoke up first.

"Well, the body, when I touched and felt it earlier, was already cold and hard, saying she died for some time now. It is in state of rigor mortis by now meaning she might be dead for two to six hours, or more than that." I said.

"It's only ten-thirty in the morning. So if we will deduct six hours at most from it, we will fall to four or five o'clock in the morning. That might be the time of death." Silver said. I shook my head.

"I think not. She might be, or probably be dead for more than six hours. Maybe she died yesterday night. We all know there's no wound present on the body, therefore, we can say, she did not die because of some assault. She's not poisoned also. So, probably, she died in fright as I have told you. And if she was to be scared, it must be done in the middle of the night. So probably, she met her death yesterday night if we will follow the theory that she died in fright."

"You are right. It is much effective to scare her when it is night time. Besides, this is an abandoned building. It is spookier here when it is night time." the inspector added.

"Now, we settled on how she died. Let's now answer some questions surrounding her death. Like, is it an accident, or a designed murder? Is it natural death, or manipulated one? Planned or not? And lastly, how did she end here? What pushed her to come here?"

"Yes. That's one of the most intriguing part in this case. Why is she here? Out of all places, why this place? And what is she doing here, in this kind of place?" Silver added. I nodded. They're right. Of all places, why here? I can smell something sinister in this. I can feel something in this. Like something crawling, creeping its way in this matter.

"Inspector, here are the associates of the victim." a constable said. Beside him were group of female students, shocked and crying as they saw the body of the victim.

"Are you all related to the victim?" the inspector asked. Everyone of them nodded as they all look at the body lying on the floor.

"We will ask you few questions regarding the victim . Be cooperative, for the justice for your friend is on the line. Constables, remove the body now." Inspector Mar said. The constables obeyed the command of their leader and they immediately took the body out of its place. The friends of the victim cried mourning as the constables carrying the body passed upon them.

"Calm down, you girls. Let's start." the inspector said. Silver, Zay and I listen as the inspector do the questioning of the people present here.

"Y'all are her friends, right? Give us your name. And also, tell us something about the victim that you know and tell us about the last time you saw her." the inspector said. The four ladies nodded as they delivered their answers before us. The shortest one answered first.

"I-I am Melanie Lacap, a friend of Annie since freshmen year. She's a brave woman. She isn't easily scared or frightened by anything. She's up in doing extreme things. She has the strongest nerves among us. The last time I saw her was yesterday, after dismissal. She's urging us to go and do ghost hunting in this abandoned building. I refused because I need to finish my project that must be passed on today." the first lady said. Zay, Silver and I looked upon each other, questioningly.

"I'm Lysa Nobles. She is an adventurous person. She's always up for something new. She always want to try different things. She has the strongest nerves among us. And such a pity to know she died this way. The last time I saw her was when she asked me if I could join her yesterday in her plan of ghost hunting. I refused for I have loose nerves, I'm easily frightened by anything, especially, dark places." the second lady, chubby and with a neck-long hair testified. My brows knitted upon hearing this next remarks of the victim's friend.

"I-I'm Monica Lucas. Another friend of the victim. They already tell a lot of information about our friend and everything that they've said were true. The only thing I can share is when the last time I saw her. It was after dismissal, she's asking us if we can join her do ghost hunting in this building yesterday at night. But I refused because I'm needed at home." the third lady said. She's a tall lady, but a skinny one.

"I-I am Aiko Yeser. I cannot add anything more for they already told all about her. But, the last time I saw her was yesterday when she asked me if I want to join her ghost hunting session. I refused since I am not a fond of it. I stayed at home last night." the last lady said. She's a chubby girl, with a beautiful face.

"In other words, none of you are with the victim last night?" Inspector Mar asked them. They all nodded in agreement. His gaze fell towards us.

"What do you think?" he asked me. I shrugged.

"It doesn't make sense. They all told us and assured us that the victim has the strongest nerves among them. If that is so, then she wouldn't be killed by a mere fright. She wasn't supposed to die in a way we first thought. No heart failures involved here." I said.

"That means, the murder thing is not present here. For no one can scare her to death? If that is so, how did she die, then? The only thing we can say is she died in fear. What caused her fear then that led to her end?" Zay spoke up. Silver answered her.

"Maybe, the rumor about this abandoned building is true. That it is really a haunted building." my brows knitted upon his remarks.

"Really, Silver? You believe in such story?"

"Then what killed her? We can't suggest anything anymore that can explain her way of death. We found no wound or anything on her physical body that can tell us how she dies. You yourself also confirmed that she was not poisoned. Then, how was she killed? Maybe she really saw something here that caused her death! Maybe a ghost!"

"There's no thing such a ghost, man. There's something missing here. But a ghost is not involved here." I said firmly as I look around the crime scene. It is not done by a ghost. It's done by something else. I'm sure of that.

"So far, we do not have anything conclusive about this case. Unless, another thing arises itself, we can do nothing. Let me talk to your guard. He might shed some light upon this matter." the inspector said.

I'm not convinced about the result of this case. It's not finished yet. I'm sure, we overlooked something here. But what is that we overlooked?

×××

Silver, Zay and I were all sitting inside our clubroom, looking at each other, extracting possible explanations as to what might happened to Annie Tibbers yesterday night on the abandoned building.

"I can't think anymore. This case drive me nuts." Zay spoke up. Silver chuckled upon her remarks.

"Still, I believe this is connected to the rumor about that building being haunted. I remember the story that a suicide took place on that building and the spirit of the lady committed it started haunting the place. There were many records of people experiencing paranormal phenomena on that place. That is also why that building wasn't used for years, because of that being real haunted." Silver said. He was really caught up by this haunted building thingy.

"I don't believe in ghost. I'm sure something happened in that place that led Annie to her death. Are you up for it?" I said. I saw their questioning gazes fell upon me.

"Up for what?" Zay asked.

"For a late night investigation?" I told them. Their brows knitted upon hearing my remarks. But their expressions changed afterwards with smiling faces as they both nodded slowly to me.

"Sure, count me in." Zay said.

"I'll come with you. I will prove to you that the story about that building is true." Silver said.

"I will prove you wrong. There's no such thing as a ghost." I blurted out to him.

Later that night, we decided to meet in front of the school. At exactly nine o'clock, we met each other and sneaked into the school through the lobby. We waited until the school guard do his rounds on the school ground before we sneak inside.

There is a new guard here for the old one was on hold for the investigation for the incident last night. Another one filled his position and it is a young adult man. We cautiously went towards the abandoned building without the guard's prior knowledge.

"I wonder how Annie managed to get in here? Maybe she sneaked in, too. Just like us." Zay whispered.

"Probably. But look how creepy our school look at night. It is so creepy." Silver whispered. I heard him rub his arms as we walk towards our destination.

The school is so quiet and so dark, too. Only the lights on the lobby can be seen. Only the moonlight tells us where we are going. No soul can be seen too. The only people around were us.

"I wonder how the guard keep on doing his rounds on our school. Isn't he scared?" Silver whispered again.

"You should worry more about us. Surely, we'll have a good deal of punishment when we got caught because of your noise. Don't be too loud." I told him. And we arrived to our destination. We stood all in front of the old, abandoned building.

"Guys, go on and investigate. I'll just wait you here. I'm scared." Silver said. Zay and I chuckled upon his remark. He really believe in ghosts and supernatural things.

"Come on. We wouldn't afford being caught by the guard." I told them and walk towards the abandoned building. I heard Zay and Silver whining with each other, talking and scaring each other.

"Silver, compose yourself. I'm being scared, too because of you." I heard Zay said to Silver. They're both on each side of me, clinging to my arms.

"It is creepy! Aren't you afraid?!"

"Silence, or we'll be caught." I told them as we continued to go towards the crime scene earlier. This time, I took out my phone and used the screen of it as flashlight as we walk on the corridor of the first floor. We can't use flashlights for we might attract the attention of the guard once our light be seen by him. We minimize the light we are using to prevent detection.

We finally arrived at the crime scene earlier. We can clearly see the chalked framed of the body drawn on the floor earlier.

"I'm sure, something happened here that caused the life of Annie. And we are here to find out what was that that happened here before her death." I told them. I diverted the light we have to the stairs in front of us.

"Let's climb and investigate the whole building." I told them. They both nodded and clung to my arms. Really? Even you Silver?

As soon as we stepped our first step towards the stair, we heard something dropped above us. I felt the two people beside me tensed. I froze also upon hearing that. It was something like a chair fell upon the floor above.

"Guys, let's go back, already. I think the ghosts don't want us to be here. We are not welcome here." Silver nudged me. But I started to walk up toward the second floor of the building.

When we are slowly and silently going up, we all froze upon hearing a distinct footstep. It sounded like a girl in a high-heels footwear is walking slowly down the corridor of the second floor.

"I-I told you, i-it's the girl who died here." Silver whispered again. No it is not. Ghosts are not real. They are not real.

I walked faster now, the two people on my sides followed my pace. We climbed towards the corridor of the second floor. And Zay can't help but scream upon seeing what's at the other end of the hall, in front of us.

It is a lady, dressed in our lady uniform. Her hair was untidy and her face were full of bruises. What made the encounter more thrilling is that there's a rope tied around her neck.

"Goodness!" Silver uttered as we all look at the lady in front of us.

"Oh my goodness, it's real!" Zay said. My brows knitted upon looking at the lady in front of us.

"No. It shouldn't be real." I muttered and started running towards the lady. I heard Zay and Silver called for me but I did not bother to look at them. My eyes fixed upon the lady in front of us.

My eyes widened upon seeing the lady's lips twitched into a sinister smile. My blood run cold as I run towards it. Then, through the moonlight, I saw a shiny thing approaching me.

"Get down!" I shouted as I crouched at my location. I turned towards my companion and saw them crouching, too. I diverted my gaze back to the lady but it was gone. I ran until the other end of the corridor and saw no one there. The flight towards the first floor of that building has no sign of any soul nor did the flight towards the third floor of it.

"What happened?" Zay asked when they reached me. I tried to gaze on the third floor corridor but found none.

"I knew it! It's not a ghost! I knew it!" I said smiling as I walk back and forth in front of them.

"You knew what?" Silver asked.

"Annie was murdered. She was murdered! And the one who murdered her is the one behind that lady we just saw!" I exclaimed.

"We must find that girl. I know she's just around." I told them as I look around the place.

"Who are you?! What are you doing there?!" we all looked upon the person at the other end of the corridor where we are standing just a few moments ago. He's holding a flashlight and pointing it to us. Man, the guard! Why now?!

"Let's go! We can't afford to be caught!" I told them.

"But if we explain–"

"He will not believe us. At least we already know the truth behind the mystery of Annie's death. We'll continue our search tomorrow here. Let's go!"