Ghost in The Night

Chapter IV School

Chapter IV School

For the past few days, Daisy had become my tour guide.

I've also met the other girls in our cabin, they were nice and also shared their story of how they've come to the town.

Some of them just found the town while wandering in the forest, some ran away from their home, and then some of them were like me:

Trying to seek adventure somewhere else.

One thing is for sure, though. A lot of them were homesick, just like Daisy.

I've learned a lot of things within a week:

1. Their town is closed-off. For some reason, they can't contact anyone, much less send help. Freaky enough, you wouldn't even see an airplane pass by above this town's perimeter. It's like a magical fog hid the whole town from sight.

2. Phones don't work here.

3. No electricity.

4. Food comes from the farm.

5. Water comes from the lake. It never dries out since it rains occasionally. They have their own filter system.

6. Steer clear of Dorotha. You don't want her catching you sneaking around in the middle of the night.

7. Three girls went missing just last month.

8. School starts next week. And YES, they do have school.

Just one school, Night Falls High.

The adults in charge ---also known as the Elders--- think it best to still normalize living even when catastrophe seems to hit within this range of their town.

Also, they don't want the teenagers meddling into this missing-girls business, don't want them snooping around.

Therefore, they found the best way to keep them busy within the day, making them too tired to go sulking around in the night.

School.

The worst part is they require the students to wear this ghastly grey uniforms that makes us look like nuns.

Dorotha had just given me mine yesterday. She dumped it on my bed the next morning, the same frown worn on her face. I jumped awoke when I felt it hit my legs.

"What's this?" I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.

"Your school uniform." she answered curtly. "The assembly will be this Monday in the grand hall."

I raised the gray clothes with my two fingers, my nose scrunched. "It's another hand-me-down, I suppose?"

When I got a better view, I say "This looks bigger than my size!"

"Then stitch it up, it's not my problem." she heads for the door with a raised chin. "You can borrow some sewing kit in my office if you need." Then she shuts the door behind her.

I counted to ten seconds before hastily barging into Daisy's room, and found her still sleeping snuggly under her floral covers. "Dorotha just gave me these garments she call 'clothes' and just told me the assembly will be on monday. We still have school?"

I said this all in one breath.

Daisy wakes up, yawning. "Yep, we're in a horror-show town and yes....we still have school."

"That's just nonsense!" I threw the uniform on the bed, suddenly feeling frustrated. "Wouldn't it be more dangerous that we still have school? It increases the chances of the kidnapper on the loose to snatch girls at the end of the day!"

She puts on her glasses sitting on the window sill calmly. "No, we have guards to take us there and back to our cabins."

"So, playing hooky is out of the question then?"

"Don't even think about it, Cara." she warns me. "Last girl who got caught sneaking off out of classes was grounded for a week. Locked up in her room, and was given only bread for breakfast, supper and dinner. For one week."

"Yikes." I cringed.

"The Elders take punishments very seriously...ofcourse thinking of the well-being of our people here....they don't want girls sneaking off anywhere at all without adult supervision...." she leans in to me and whispers theatrically. "Girls just disappear into thin air without a trace..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know!" I say, tired of hearing it from the other girls and people from the outside. "But school? You gotta be kidding me."

"It's not that bad." she giggles, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "We get to have classes with the boys."

I rolled my eyes, laughing. "Oh, yes. It would be ecstatic to be seen wearing this." I raise the uniform in disgust.

"Hmm, it looks twice your size, maybe I can fashion it up a little." she observes it in her dainty hands.

"You have a sewing kit?"

"Girl, two years and hand-me-downs for a uniform? You'll need it."

Daisy and I spent the whole day fixing the uniform. We made the skirt a little above the knees, cinched the waistline smaller, the long sleeves a little tighter, and the neckline a little lower. Once finished, I actually like it a tiny bit better.

For the past few remaining days Daisy continued to tour me all around.

The red barn, the small church, the far line of the boys' cabin we weren't allowed to enter, the bakeries and little shops, the lake. She even introduced me to a few people she knew in town.

Like Mr. Davis who was in charge of the barn, his beard kind of reminded me of Santa. The thinly Pastor Remee, he looked at me in disdain when Daisy told me why I found their village. Mr. Jones at the bakery.

In our cabin, there were also the girls but still couldn't keep up with all their names, but I remember Sophia, the red-head.

She's funny and loud during suppers and dinners. Dorotha had to keep shushing her, but I could see nothing could extinguish her flame.

Tina, a tall-dark beauty who seems to stand out in the grand hall always. She's surrounded by her friends, we made eye-contact once but that's just that.

Then...

Small, quiet Emily. Brown hair styled in braids. She kept looking at me weirdly over the table.

One time while just hanging out in her room before lights off I asked Daisy about her. I was shocked by her answer. "Her sister's one of the girls who went missing last month."

"That's awful..." I said.

"I know," Daisy nodded solemnly. "Dorotha's always keeping her eye on her. I think she's still hoping her sister's out there...she was caught one time wandering around the lake, claiming this is where she saw her sister last..."

"Well, isn't there? A chance that her sister is still....?" I couldn't finish the question.

"Nope.." Daisy shakes her head. "This is a rather small town....everyone knows everyone. Goimg missing is dangerous. No girl who had gone missing was ever found, Cara."

"We were all warned by the elders and Dorotha to never speak again about her sister, not even a whisper in the hallways. They say it might trigger Emily again into trying to find her....So, I must ask you Cara. Swear to me, do not ask Emily about her sister."

I bit my lip, finding it hard to agree. This is what I came for, and here's the answer, this girl right in front of me across the tabel. Just quietly looking at me, tempting me to pull her into a quiet place and ask her to tell me about her sister's disappearance.

But remembering how Daisy made me promise to not ask her about it just made the whole notion more tempting than it already is....

"Promise me, Cara." Daisy asked me again, seriously.

I nodded. "Okay." I said robotically. "I promise."

When Emily found my eyes for the fifth time just this morning, I smiled. Her mouth twitched, maybe trying to smile, but she just looked down instead.

I don't know if it's just me, but she looks like a girl who's obviously hiding something....

And truthfully, I was never a girl who kept her promises.

The next day, the assembly begins.

***

"RISE AND SHINE, GIRLS. UP, UP, UP." Even from afar, I heard the horse-like thuds of the ever-annoying Dorotha who was knocking heavily on each door she passes. I groaned, and buried my head under the pillow. "GET READY AND GET DRESSED, I WANT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU IN THE GRAND HALL BEFORE THE BELL RINGS."

Her booming voice approached my door, but instead of knocking, she kicked it open making me jump. Again.

"Rise and shine, newcomer." Her eyes were glinting with excitement, a sneer on her face. "Today's the day I can get a peace of my mind without you pesky girls ruining it."

She awfully reminded me of that principal in the film Matilda. Only thinner and wobbly.

"Good morning to you too, Dorotha. Mind closing the door so I can get dressed?" I asked.

I guess she didn't like how I wasn't fazed by her morning extravaganza greeting. She tilts her head high and slams my door close.

If she keeps doing that she'll break my damn door.

I stayed a little more longer on the bed than necessary, then sprang into action. Pulling the de-fashioned uniform from my wardrobe, I put it on. Brushed my hair into a tight ponytail, put on a little lipgloss on my lips, something Daisy had given me. I put on my shoes, another thing I borrowed from Daisy.

It feels weird going to school empty-handed but Daisy had told me the school will be providing the same old books to let us borrow.

I was still fixing my uniform in the mirror when I heard the girls laughing and chattering outside, on to the main hall. Daisy stopped by the door and gestured to me. "Hurry up! You don't want Dorotha on your ass on the first day of school!"

"I'm coming!"

I race to the door and walked alongside Daisy and the other girls. Everyone was wearing the same uniform, dead gray. Some were twice as big as their size, like mine were at first. Some fitted theirs nicely. Some were too small...like Tina's.

"Is it just me or are Tina's cleavage just about to pop out?"

"Shh, she'll hear you!"

"I thought this is a tight system." I whispered back. "Is she allowed to go like that?"

"Nah, she does this always to get the boys' attention....especially the guys she likes." Daisy raises her eyebrows and I laughed. "But then, as always, Dorotha would make her fix her uniform, but she'll always get away with it."

"Yeah, it's just the same routine everyday with her." A girl who always sat in our table, but still someone whose name I don't know, piped up beside us.

"Dorotha will call on her, lecture her about the etiquette of wearing proper clothes for a lady. Tina and her friends will just laugh it off, she'll make Tina fix her uniform, and the next day she'll be too tired to lecture Tina again, so she'll just let her off."

"Yep, what she said."

"Um, who are you again?" I asked sheepishly.

"Don't worry girl. I know, a lot of new faces everyday, and you're the newcomer." she offers her hand. "Lillian Andrews, but everybody calls me Lilly."

"EVERYBODY QUIET!" We all stopped still in the grand hall, where all the tables and chairs are arranged on the sides. Dorotha stands in the center, authority radiating off of her "Now, form two lines, by height, from smallest to tallest. Chop chop!"

They all started moving, except for me. Suddenly, Sophia, out of nowhere, who looked contrast in her grey uniform, tugs at my arm. "You'll be standing behind me, we're just the same height."

I felt thankful for her help and just followed along. I was in the second line, almost in the center of other tall girls. From my view, I can see Emily was one of the smaller girls in the first line.

She catches my eyes instantly and I smiled as radiantly as I can, hoping I can befriend her.

She avoids my eyes.

Someone groaned from behind me, a familiar voice. I turned and saw Tina was the one standing behind me in the line, talking to the other girls behind her. "I hope Dorotha wouldn't waste her breath lecturing me again. I get easily exhausted when she talks my ear off."

"I know, right. She should just let you off." Another voice behind me says.

But as if hearing their conversation from ten feet away, she bellows. "TINA LAWSON."

She marches past me and looks at Tina from head to toe. "How many times will I tell you? You are not going to a brothel. You are going to school where you will learn not to dress like a prostitute."

"I would've been shocked by what she said if this isn't, like, the twentieth time already." Sophia commented silently beside me.

"Yep." Lilly piped up too.

But the way Tina was just looking at her nails clearly shows how unaffected she is. "I'd rather be a prostitute than to be a single nun like you, Dorotha. Honestly."

Some of the girls laughed, that sets Dorotha off. "Okay, missy. You think I'll let you off this time? No, you're staying here!"

The look on Tina's face made Dorotha look victorious. The girls around started whispering, some were smirking at Tina's disdain. "You can't do that!"

"Yes, I can. I am the head of the 13th cabin and I forbid you to go to school, wise-ass."

Tina was glaring at Dorotha heavily.

Wow, this is a load of drama first thing in the morning. For the first time too, I was completely rooting for Dorotha. We were about to proceed, when the doors opened in the main hall.

Whoever entered was greeted by the girl's excited greetings. "Hi Jared!"

"Hello Jared!"

"Good morning, Jared!"

"Oh my god, Jared's our guard this time!" Even Sophia squealed girlishly.

I frowned over Sophia's soldiers. Unlike the time he greeted me so rudely at the gate, he looks neat.

His thin shirt stretched tightly across his chest and broad shoulders. The way his jeans fit him, and his waist, by jove, no wonder the girls are going loco for him. I even catch Daisy oggling him.

He doesn't mind the girls, of course, and just goes straight over to Dorotha who was still standing in front of Tina, just behind me. His face as serious as ever. "Morning, Dorotha. Are they ready to go?"

He refers to us like a herd of sheep.

"Well, almost everyone." Dorotha doesn't even hide the evil sneer as she glances sideways to Tina.

Tina was looking like she got snatched of her justice.

"What seems to the the problem?" Jared's deep voice condemned every girl in the hall to look at him. The only unaffected one of his charms was Dorotha.

And me.

Tina turns to Jared immediately with puppy eyes. "Jared, she won't let me go to school just because she doesn't like my uniform!" She pouted.

"She's become very disrespectful, she needs to learn her lesson." Dorotha says.

"You're the one who called me a prostitute!"

"I said you dressed like one, you dumb plastic barbie!" Dorotha shouts back.

"Woah, woah, ladies." Jared intercepts. "Let's not shout our ears off, and it's almost time, the other girls are waiting."

Lilly sighs. "He's so considerate."

"And dreamy." Sophia swooned.

"Tina," he turns to her and she focuses her undivided attention to him. She looked like she'll slobber him anytime. "Why don't you just button it up, sweetheart?"

I rolled my eyes. Sweetheart? He must really like the way she was staring at him hungrily.

Of course, Tina took the bait.

"Alright." she pouts, then flirtatiously asks. "Can you help me?"

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to do it yourself..." Then suddenly, out of nowhere, he claps my back. His hand just thumped me on the back, my eyes widened. "Or maybe bear girl here can help you."

He walked ahead and for a slight few seconds we made eye-contact that no one would even notice, he lightly winks at me and smirks.

Is he teasing me?

I turn to Tina and she was staring at Jared who was now shouting instructions. Then she saw me looking. "What are you looking at, newcomer?"

I raised my eyebrows at the sass I'm detecting from her tone. "I guess you're capable enough to do that on your own, I assume?"

She rolls her eyes and starts to button her uniform. "Piss off, bear girl."

I ignored her then face forwards. Of course he'd call me that....

"Hey," Sophia whispered to me. "Why'd he call you bear girl?"

I groaned. "Don't ask me, it's a long story. Who is he anyway?"

"Jared Hawkins?" Sophia asked and started giggling in a creepy way. "He's the son of the town's chief. He's a few years older than us. Obviously, everyone's eyes are set on him, especially prostitute there."

"I can hear you two, you know." Tina says in a drawl behind me. "And fall in line, bear girl. He's mine first."

"I'm not falling in line, he's all yours." I said, not caring at all.