𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬 ✧

Prologue

December 3rd, 2022

Allison gazed down at her test results while walking down the concrete path of her school. She beamed as she saw her score, which read 99. As she folded the paper into her bag, the sky started roaring above her and droplets of rain started to fall onto her pale cheeks. She sighed and started to pace faster towards her dormitory until she started to hear police sirens in the distance. She winced and placed her hand above her forehead to try to see behind the flashing lights of the cars. Her attempt to see anything had failed, mostly because of the pine trees and the statues.

She quickly assumed it was just another party and continued to walk towards her quarters. Putting her earbuds in to listen to her true crime podcast, a policeman hastily grabs her shoulder and turns her to face him.

"Miss, you need to get inside right away, you're in the middle of a crime scene, and we need you to evacuate as soon as possible."

Crime scene? They never referred to a party being shut down as a crime scene.

"Are the students allowed to know what happened?" She asks curiously.

"Not yet, we don't want to worry anybody. Here, I'll walk you inside."

She sighs inaudible and continues to make her way toward the building. She thinks to herself wondering what could have happened that was so serious for everybody to get to their dorms. They get to the tall doors of the building and the cop opens the door for her.

"Make sure none of you kids leave, ok?"

She nods and whispers a thank you as she walks into the common room. She sighs as she throws herself onto the lumpy sofa that hasn't been changed for probably 7 years now. As if things couldn't get more exhausting, her living nightmare sat onto the couch beside her. Her living nightmare as in Malcolm Thomas Jones.

"So, Woods, what did you score on the math test?

I didn't have to look at him to know he was smirking cheekily with his stupid floppy brown hair. She pulled the paper out of her bag and raised it to his face. He smiled confidently knowing that he accomplished his goal. He begins to raise his paper as well and Allison looks up at the score. He got a 100. She pursed her lips trying not to be dramatic, however she was infuriated. Her whole body felt hot, she couldn't tell if it was from rage, or embarrassment. It was probably both.

"Suck it, woods. Looks like you might need a tutor." He hissed.

She clenched her fists. She wasn't going to punch him, she knew better.

She gazed over at the fireplace, it was crinkling. The common room was warm and cozy. There were bookcases and candles, some pillows in the corner with blankets. It looked nice, but it was also old. Dust fell onto your head every now and then, and the books were really dusty too. Just textbooks, and some history novels. There were several paintings around too, of the founders and random old people none of us really knew anything about. Peeled wallpaper and..

As her eyes were scanning her surroundings, her thoughts were cut off by the next words that came out of Malcolm's mouth.

"Apparently, there was a murder." He finally spoke, breaking the silence between them.

She immediately turned her head towards him, drawn to the words that came out of his mouth. Just the word murder caught her attention. She's always fantasizing about it, of course, not actually committing it. But, the thought of finding a body..solving a case had always just been one of her dreams to do. The thought of someone to be so twisted to do those things ignited her. She finally responded back at him.

"What?!"

"All of those police, some people have been saying a student has been murdered."

She looks down staring at the floor in more shock than she was before he told her about his grade.