At first, I only saw her wide eyes where she was sitting on the toilet seat, then the gaping hole in her stomach which was a mass of blood and ripped flesh. Her insides lay on the ground between her feet. On the cubicle wall, written with a finger in oozing blood no doubt from Shannon’s body, was: 1 + 1 = 3
A scream erupted from the bottom of my soul as I collapsed on the floor.
The bathroom door burst open, the doorknob banging on the wall behind it.
“Alison?” Oliver asked in a panicked voice as he rushed toward me. “What’s going on? Are you okay? I heard screaming.”
He glanced into the stall and the colour drained from his face. His eyes were big, full of the look of horror as he pulled me up from the floor and pushed me out of the room.
Holding me close to him, he dialled the police. “Someone’s dead… Here in the girls’ toilet.” He listened for a while, before he said, “Yes. At the school dance.” He ended the call and after he pushed his phone back into his pocket, his arms tightened around me, pulling my head closer to his chest. “Shh, Alison. It’s okay,” he whispered. “The police are on their way.”
My body shook in his arms.
“What happened?” He asked.
My teeth chattered as I tried to say, “All that blood.”
“Do you know her?”
“I think her name is… was Shannon something. We’re… were in the same English class.”
“Did you see who did it?”
“No. I didn’t see anyone else. Did you see someone in the hallway?” I tried to move my head to look up at him, but he held me steady against his chest.
The sound of footsteps was running toward us, and I tried to pull away from Oliver even harder. I had to get away from here, as fast as possible.
“It’s just the security guard,” he reassured me. “Look.”
I opened my eyes and saw a pot-bellied man in a khaki brown shirt approaching. When he reached us, he was breathing hard as he hitched his trousers up around his stomach. His eyes darted around as he said, “Got a call from the police, they’re on their way. Someone got killed, they said and I must secure the crime scene.”
Oliver told him, “In there.” Pointing to the door of the bathroom.
He stepped back and stood in the door, folding his arms across his chest so that they were resting on his belly and faced us. There was a serious look on his face.
We stood in silence for the most part of twenty minutes when there was a commotion at the top of the hallway and a whole group of people were streaming toward us.
I recognised the principal, one or two teachers and at least three police officers.
The security guard said, “In here, Constable Fraser.”
Constable Fraser motioned with his hand for the other two police officers to join him and they entered the bathroom cautiously.
When Constable Fraser stepped out of the room again, his face was insipidly pale and he wiped beads of sweat from his face.
As he stepped toward Oliver and me, the other two police officers ushered the principal and the teachers back up the hall. I tried to hear what they were saying but they were all talking at the same time.
“Who discovered the body?” Constable Fraser asked, looking from me to Oliver.
“I did,” I said as I stepped away from Oliver and he let me go.
Constable Fraser pulled a notebook and a pen from his top shirt pocket. He flipped it open to a blank page and squinted up at me, while his head was still bent down. “Name?”
“Alison Locke.”
He lifted his head and looked at me, taking in my features. “Not a very common surname around here. Are you family of Roger Locke who went to school here about fifteen years ago?”
I looked at him confused. “He’s my dad.”
For a long moment, he just looked at me without saying anything, then wrote something in his notebook before asking, “How is your dad?”
“Did you know him?”
“I did. We went to school together. I just have a few questions, then you can go.”
5
A police officer started taping crime scene tape around the door to the bathroom and flashes of light erupted from the interior every now and again as someone was taking photos of what was left of Shannon.
Oliver held his arm around my waist as he steered me back to the hall where all the lights were switched on, turning the once mystical, romantic atmosphere in a stark, austere reality of polished wood floors and white walls.
Everyone in the room was standing in groups talking in hushed, panicked voices. Police officers were standing by the doors to make sure no-one left until everyone was questioned.
Oliver led me to the table where Evelyn and Colin sat with Violet and Evan.
When we reached them, Evan jumped up and asked with a hint of fear in his voice, “They say she was gutted?”
I flinched.
Oliver said, “Thanks, Evan.”
Evelyn wiped tears from her cheeks. “Who could have done such an awful thing?”
Colin draped his arm across her shoulders to comfort her. “They say it couldn’t have been a girl who’d done it.”
Evan added, “Yeah, I heard Shannon was completely hollowed out. It takes a man to do something like that.” He looked at Oliver. “Hey, didn’t you used to date Shannon?”
I took a step away from Oliver, as he said, “I wouldn’t say we dated.”
Colin chuckled.
Evelyn asked, “Did you tell the police you dated?”
Oliver looked at her offended. “Are you suggesting I’m the one who killed her? Alison was with me the whole time.”
Just then a voice boomed in the hall, “Girls. Go straight to your rooms. Boys, to the bus. No loitering.”
Oliver turned to face me. “Are we still meeting at the library tomorrow?”
I nodded my head.
“Ten?” He asked.
“Yeah,” I said as I pushed past him. I could not stop wondering why Constable Fraser looked at me with recognition in his eyes, and then the strange way he looked at me after he learned my dad was Roger Locke.
Principal Jackson walked up behind me and pulled me into her scrawny frame. She was very tall and really skinny, Sometimes she reminded me of a crow. Her usually neatly set black hair was dishevelled and her dark suit looked crumpled. “Are you okay, Alison?” She asked. “Such a horrible thing to happen. Don’t worry, the police will find who did it. You don’t have to be afraid. The police will be here all night and we got some extra security, so whoever did it won’t be able to harm you or any of the girls tonight.”
I felt uncomfortable standing so close to her so I squirmed out of her embrace. “I’m okay. Really.”
“I’ve called Dr Smithers. He’ll be here any minute.”
I assured her, “I am really okay, though.”
How could I tell her or anyone there was a part of me that believed Shannon deserved to die. Although I did not see it with my own eyes, I knew she was trying to get Oliver’s attention since we walked into the hall together.
“Do you want me to get one of the girls to walk with you to your room?” She asked as her eyes scanned the room.
I just wanted to be alone. “It’s okay. Thank you, Ms Jackson.”
She gave me a worried look as I moved away from her.
I walked through the hall and through the corridors back to the boarding house. When I stepped to the top of the stairs and turned the corner with room thirteen right beside me, I could have sworn I saw a light from beneath the door. It was there for just a second, just from the corner of my eye, easily imagined. An eerie feeling almost overwhelmed me, but then Rachel called my name and I turned to look at her.
“Are you okay?” Rachel asked from the stairs, her foot resting on the first step which would take her up to the second floor.
I nodded my head and gave her a grim smile. Without saying a word, I turned away from her and continued walking down the passage to my own r
oom.
The eerie feeling followed me even after I closed my room door and looked around the small space. Everything looked exactly the same as when I left earlier tonight to go to the Valentine’s dance.
The light in the room dimmed suddenly, but the room did not go dark. There was a strange scratching sound coming from under my bed.
Slowly, I stepped closer to the single bed pushed against the wall and knelt down next to it, pulling at a corner of the duvet to lift it.
With my head almost touching the ground I peered in under the bed but there was nothing besides darkness.
“What are you doing?”
I twisted around fast and looked up at Sinéad standing by my room door.
She was looking down at me with a deep frown. “Are you okay?”
Pushing myself up off the floor, I wiped my hands on my knees. “Yeah,” I said, distracted.
“You’re acting different since you went into room thirteen last night,” she said as she walked into my room and sat down on the edge of my bed, not waiting for an invitation.
“I just have a lot on my mind, that’s all,” I apologised as I leaned against my desk. Absent-mindedly I traced my fingers over the bevelled letters of the Ouija board I had left there last night.
She watched my fingers for a while. “Did anything strange happen in that room?”
I picked up the planchette and held it in my hands as I looked back at her, making eye contact. “No. Nothing.”
“I’m worried about you and I don’t think you should be alone after finding Shannon’s body.”
“It’s funny, seeing her cut open like that from her throat all the way down to her navel. It doesn’t feel real. It feels like something from a movie or I just imagined it.” Placing the planchette on the board, I crossed the small space between the desk and the bed to sit down next to her. “Do you know anything at all about the girl in room thirteen? Do you know anything about Lily?”
She shook her head.
I looked at her. “You remember what you told me last night?”
She looked at me confused.
“That thing about electro-something energy. The energy we’re supposed to leave behind when we die.”
Understanding dawned on her face. “I believe it’s true. We’re all made of energy, aren’t we? So, when we die, that energy needs to go somewhere.”
I pondered her words for a while, looking at the Ouija board on my desk. “I guess you’re right.”
Sinéad started to stand up. “So, if you’re sure you’re okay, I better get going. I have a new room mate now. Amber. You should come around to my room sometime and meet her. She’s nice.” She shrugged her shoulders. “So far, that is.”
“Thanks for coming to check if I’m okay,” I said as I walked with her to the door.
“No worries.” She smiled. “If you’re scared or anything, you know where I am.”
I watched her walk away until she rounded the corner at the end of the long corridor with its shiny floor and dull lighting.
In my room behind me, something made a scratching noise.
I quickly looked over my shoulder and the sound stopped immediately.
Stepping into my room, my eyes darted to the Ouija board first and I saw the planchette had moved. It was now pointing at ‘Hello’.
I felt disconnected from finding Shannon dead and gutted in the toilet. Everybody kept asking if I was okay, but I was perfectly fine. Not a bother. I probably should be suffering from shock.
Determined, I closed my bedroom door and went to bed.
6
Standing on the lawn in front of the Library, I looked up at the building framed in stark contrast to the grey, oppressive clouds in the background and I understood my life would never be the same again. I had never thought a lot about destiny, but maybe this was mine. Maybe it was my destiny to find out what happened to Lily.
Tall, green-leaved trees basking in the weak light of the Summer’s sun stood on both sides of the square building.
The surrounding colours seemed to drain from the world as I headed up a couple of stairs and pushed past the frosted glass doors.
I stood in the door for a moment, trying to see if Oliver was here already while a fan blew warm air on to me from a vent just above the door frame.
Bookshelves lined every wall of the large room, and some shelves were placed in a labyrinth of aisles at the back of the room. A row of shelves in the front boxed in an area with five large wooden tables and soft lights.
Oliver waved me over from a table at the back.
As I reached him, he smiled and said, “Morning. Are you okay after last night… You know...”
I did not want to be reminded of the bloody remains that used to be Shannon. “It’s so quiet in here. A little eerie,” I said looking around the room as I shrugged out of my jacket.
He looked around the sombre room. We were the only two people here, besides the librarian who was standing behind the high, wooden reception desk at the front of the large room, checking books back in.
“There's hardly ever anyone here, except when it’s exams,” Oliver explained. He said, again, “Last night...”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Oliver.” My voice sounded too harsh in the hushed atmosphere.
He recoiled, holding his hands up, palms facing me. “Okay. Not a word.”
I sat down beside him, looking at the year books he already had stashed on the table.
“I’ve been here a while already.” He looked bashful. “I couldn’t sleep so I thought I’d get a head start and gather all the year books so long.”
I began digging through the pile of books, looking for the last year my mum went to school here.
When I found the one I was looking for, I flipped through the pages until I landed on the individual photographs and quickly found my mother’s young face beaming up at me. Poking at her name in bold font below the black and white image: Dianne Cameron, I said to Oliver, “This is my mum when she went to school here. Her last year.”
Oliver moved his chair closer and his shoulder pushed against mine as we both looked down at the image. “You look a lot like her.”
I rolled my eyes without looking away from her youthful face. “I suppose.”
“What did Lily look like?” He asked and tried to pull the book away from me.
I put my palm on the book to keep it where it was. “I’ll look,” I insisted as I turned the page and scanned the names printed below each photo. Two pages later, there was a memorial page with the name Lily Martin in large, bold font under a photo which took up most of the white space on the page. I said softly, “She died before photo day.”
In the photo, Lily was smiling. She was really pretty and I could not help noticing she was much prettier than my mum. Her symmetrical face was framed with blonde hair, cut in a short style, but she had a feminine grace about her so even if her hair was all shaved off she would still be beautiful. Looking at the image of Lily made me feel a deep sense of loss, sadness and regret.
“Do you think if Lily could do it all over again, to change the way she ended her life, do you think she would think twice before doing something so drastic?”
He did not answer my question as we both stared at the image for a while as if we were having a minute of silence for her.
Oliver said, “It’s not an official school photo, look there’s a hand on her shoulder.”
I leaned down to have a closer look. The person who was standing next to Lily on the photo was cropped out, but fifteen years ago I guess nobody thought about Photoshop to erase the hand on her shoulder.
“There’s a class ring or something on that finger,” I said poking at the image.
Oliver leaned even closer, our heads and our shoulders were now pushed together.
He leaned down even more. His nose was almost touching the paper. “It looks similar to the ring our head boy wears.”
I shoved him with my shoulder to get him to move. “Let me s
ee.” It did look like the rings they gave head boys. I knew because my dad had one. “Who was the head boy that year at your school,” I asked even though I already knew the answer.
He shrugged his shoulders as he looked at me.
“It was my dad. Roger Locke,” I said softly.
He looked shocked. “Say again. You’re saying the guy who broke Lily’s heart was your dad?”
Unable to form words I could only nod my head.
“So...” He started. “Your dad and Lily...”
“Yes. It seems my mum stole my dad from Lily.” I looked up at him, not sure if I should tell him the sordid history of how I came about. Taking a deep breath, I said, “I’ve always known my mum fell pregnant with me while she was still at school. You see, I was born in September, fifteen years ago. By the time it was Valentine’s Day that year my mum was already a few weeks pregnant with me. They must have just found out and he must have told Lily or maybe even my mum told Lily, we would probably never know how it happened exactly, so basically, my dad cheated on Lily and ultimately my parents drove Lily into the lake that night.”
I wiped my face with my hands and filled my lungs with air. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know my dad was in a relationship with someone else. They always made it sound so romantic and told me even though they always knew about each other, going to segregated classrooms yet part of the same school, they only really met at a Christmas party at my mum’s house. They spend every second of the Christmas break together and the story of how they fell in love always seemed so perfect, so idyllic. Obviously, I was gutted to learn I was not a planned baby, only an accident, but I got over it because how many children are really planned these days?”
I looked at him for confirmation, but his eyes were focussed on the image of Lily smiling happily at the lens of the camera.
I continued in a soft whisper, “Sad thing is, I knew my dad went out with another girl before my parents started their relationship, but truth be told, it never bothered me. It’s part of life sometimes, isn’t it?” My stomach twisted in anguish and as a feeling of rage threatened to overwhelm me, I felt a headache starting to grow.
The Girl in Room Thirteen Page 3