Kat Wells is the perfect student, cheerleader, and daughter. But that's not who she really is, not truly. The real her is hidden behind a perfect mask that nobody sees, except him.
Wally Clark was the perfect jock, friend, and son. But everything ch...
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Time stopped for Janet Hamilton at the age of 17.
When she was about to solve the last question of her physics quiz, the lab that she and her classmates shared caught on fire, forever trapping her soul within it. But, since she had to find the answer she was looking for, she stayed there. She had no measure of time anymore, as she couldn't even recall the question she was searching an answer to.
She was simply there, collecting the dust of time on her pinned-up hair, forever seventeen. She had forgotten all about her past life, her classmates, and her family. She only focused on the answer she had to find from the question she couldn't remember.
On the other hand, her teacher had never forgotten about her. Same as her, the fire had caught up to him as he died next to her. However, his consciousness was spared. His guilt was not, as it continuously poisoned his mind. He, too, was looking for an answer to the question he remembered. He had to find a way to free her from her oblivion, as a good teacher would, because Mr. Martin was a good teacher. So, he began his research.
But, you see, Mr. Martin didn't only trap his student in her own personal hell; he trapped himself too, as he convinced himself that he had to be trapped as well. At the very moment he made himself believe that no one could escape the school, then no one shall. He didn't have all the answers, just facts and theories. As for the facts, he knew that the ghosts that had been there before he and Janet had managed to either move on or move out of that place.
For all he knew, only the ghosts that preceded him were as trapped as he was. He knew that he wouldn't be able to leave until she did. Finally, he had convinced himself that he had to find the answer within other spirits as he began studying their deaths.
But as of right now, Kat and her friends had no idea about the situation that they had just walked into, as they watched in silence while the ghost read her physics manual.
"What do we do now?" asked Charley, with pity in his eyes. Rhonda just began walking away with her hands in the air. "I can't – I can't – I have to go right now," she said. She never felt at ease with trapped spirits, as she didn't want to end up like that.
Kat squeezed Wally's hand in hers, seeking comfort as he held on tighter to her. "Did you ever manage to talk to her?" she asked Dawn.
"Yes, of course I did," Janet looked up at her, and they both smiled at each other as if they were best friends before her smile dropped, and she went back to her reading. "Do you have any idea how to help her?" Wally added to the questioning.
"I know that M. Martin has been trying to find an answer, but I don't like talking to him," she simply replied, pointing at a pile of papers on her dusty desk in the corner. The group gathered around it, searching for any information.
"Look at this" Wally grabbed a paper, handing it to Charley. "It's schemes of the game," he whispered. "What game?" Kat asked him as she looked. "The one I died in."
And the rest was just about that – them – and how each had died. "He's been doing research on us, on how we died."
"I knew his assignments were weird," Kat replied.
Suddenly, a harsh noise was heard, and they quickly gathered some papers before rushing out of the doors and snuggling behind one of the boiler's engines. Just as Kat managed to throw herself into Wally's chest, hiding them from sight, M. Martin made his way into the golden cage frozen in time to continue his research.
As the group made its way back to the surface, Kat realized the situation she was in might be as complex as she had feared.
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Sunrays filtered through Nat's window as she opened her eyes. She felt pressure on her stomach and realized she wasn't alone in her bed.
Noah was already awake and hugging her tightly against him. As she recalled everything that had happened the night before, she did not have the heart to send him away just yet. So, she made the decision to fully enjoy it as she breathed him in, hugging his chest tighter.
"Hey there sleepy bird," his morning voice was deep and a little raspy, in other words, delightful to her ears. She didn't respond as she buried her face into his neck, feeling his heartbeat increasing under her palm. "Nat, what are you doing?"
"Shhh," she replied, placing a soft kiss on his neck before finally sitting up on her elbow. Noah missed a couple of breaths, surprised by the kiss as he covered his face to hide his blush. She laughed and got up. "What time is it?" she searched for her phone in vain.
"10:30," he replied as if they had all the time in the world. "Shit. I missed practice and class," she began hurrying, but he caught her in his arms, dragging her back to bed. "It's okay. Not your first time skipping class, Nat."
Sighing in defeat, it's not like she was enthusiastic about going anyway, which reminded her of Noah's reasons for coming over last night.
"What are we going to do?" he sat down next to her, scratching his cheek as he thought about his response for a second. "We do have the proof we need for my brother, and I have other related to his business, but concerning Clara...are you sure she has something to do with this?"
"Positive," she replied without a doubt. "But..." she hesitated.
"What?"
"He's still your brother. Are you okay about doing this?"
"yes."
"Then we need to get further proof about Clara, and it's game over for them."
He brushed his hand against her cheek, looking at her fondly as he cleared his throat. "What about us?"
Her heart raced a little faster. She couldn't deny what was there, but still, what if this was a mistake? "We already tried this."
"We were sixteen, Nat."
She tried again with another poor argument. "What about next year? I'll be in New York."
He smiled, as if he was expecting this one too. "Yeah, me too, sweetheart. I got into Cornell."
She remembered he wanted to be a veterinarian. "Do you still want to be a pet's doctor?" she teased.
"Do you still want to be a teacher?" he asked back, looming closer to her as they intertwined their fingers.
She nodded. "So, New York, huh?"
"Mmmh," his nose brushed hers.
"Wait, wait," she suddenly jumped backward, almost falling off the bed as Noah circled her waist to prevent it. "What now?"
"My teeth," she got up. "I need to brush my teeth." She ran to the bathroom, leaving him bursting into laughter as he fell back onto the mattress.
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soooo what do we think ? are they trapped because of M. Martin guilt ? are Noah and Nat closer to the truth ?
tin tin tinnn 🎶
My finals are beginning on Monday, so I might be slower than usual with the release. But don't worry, I already have all the chapters summarized, and this story will have an ending.
Everything is under control, except for my actual finals (so it's okay, right ?)
