Chapter 81 – The Past Haunting the Present – Holly Hayfield

Watching the news on Saturday night was completely surreal. The local news, during a primetime broadcast, was talking about the legend of the Killing Cat. This all started Friday night when an anonymous call led the police, and subsequently the media, to the corpse of Vivian Hale. The police connected the similarities of Vivian Ava Hale’s death, to that of her former friend, Abigail Emily Logan. The police, knowing they went to Meredith’s School for Troubled Girls, acted upon that information.

The police went searching for a reason behind the two random murders that no longer seemed so random. In less than a day they had unearthed enough information to connect Abigail Logan and Vivian Hale to their mutual friend, Malorie Noelle. The coincidence that the two individuals closest to Malorie were suddenly murdered appeared a starting place for their investigation. The police went to Ms. Hoffman’s home early Saturday afternoon, but they weren’t the only ones. The media also pieced enough together between Vivian, Abigail, and Malorie to know that something fishy was going on. By the time the police arrived on the scene a number of news stations were already camped outside Ms. Hoffman’s house.

It was clear that Ms. Hoffman wasn’t going to open her door for anyone. She shouted at them through the door to go away, to no affect. To the police, Ms. Hoffman was being regarded as a suspect. It didn’t take them long to identify her as a suspicious person. The fact that she changed school’s shortly after Malorie’s murder didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. Now that Malorie’s friends were murdered, Ms. Hoffman’s sudden career change looked more suspicious in hindsight. Initiially it seemed like the police just wanted to question her. However, after an hour of waiting outside her door without an answer and with the local media livestreaming the entire siege, the police took matters into their own hands.

I spent my entire afternoon, since the moment it appeared in my local news feed, watching this fiasco unfold on the living room television. The police apparently got sick of waiting and decided to force their way in. Before they could get the door open they heard a single shot of gunfire ring out, causing everyone on the scene to freeze. I jumped up out of my seat while watching the live broadcast. Suddenly officers were pushing the media away, telling them to keep their distance while they opened the door. The media fought to get a look at whatever had happened, but the police pushed them all back to the street.

Minutes later, a few policemen went inside and looked around. The journalist that was presenting the particular broadcast I was watching was just as anxious as I was. The other presenters and cameramen pacing around just off the property line were equally restless. Finally, after several minutes of the newscasters speaking amongst themselves, a single police officer came out to inform the crowd. Miss Dianna Hoffman was officially pronounced dead. The police ruled it as a suicide by handgun.

I was left stunned.

All I could do was mute the volume of the TV and stare blankly at the scene outside the house. This was too hard for me to accept rationally. In my mind I could see how the sudden pressure might drive her to do this, but I didn’t want to accept that! Val and I were just talking to her about doing the right thing not too long ago! She was so regretful, so ashamed of the past. I thought she might jump at such an opportunity to redeem herself! This was her chance to tell the police everything she knew, yet, she acted selfishly once again!

I was angry. I was more than angry, I was outright infuriated! It took all that I had not to throw the remote right into the TV screen! Ms. Hoffman failed Malorie once again, even when given the second chance. It depressed me that after all this time she couldn’t evolve enough to do the right thing. I knew that I was thinking about this selfishly, but I truly wanted to believe that she was better than this. Her testimony could’ve been all that was needed to right the wrongs of the past. When push came to shove she chose the easy way out.

I put my hands against my face as tears began to roll down my cheeks. Her death was such an unnecessary waste of life. There was no reason for her to die like this. Did the police act too rashly by barging into her house? Was the media out of place by appearing at her doorstep once they learned of her connection to Malorie, Vivian, and Ms. Logan? Was it unrealistic of me and Val to hope that she could come around after a single conversation?

I sat there in my frustration, looking down at the floor. For a moment I felt empty and without emotion. I didn’t want to feel anything right in this moment. Where did things even go from here? It was increasingly beginning to seem like our world was one without a sense of justice. I didn’t want to feel anything while thinking about that. If I did, then I’d only feel depressed and defeated. I needed to move on.

My cellphone rang on the couch beside me. I picked it up and saw that it was Lilith calling.

“Hello?” I asked when I answered the phone.

“Did you see all that on the news?!” Lilith shouted into my ear, “That was amazing!”

“Amazing…” I repeated drearily, “It sounds like you’re having fun.”

“This weekend has been incredible! And it’s only Saturday!” Lilith shouted, “There’s so much that I want to talk about!”

My phone beeped, indicating another call was incoming.

“Hold on Lilith, someone else is calling me.” I said.

I checked the caller ID and saw that it was Val calling me. I switched lines to answer Val’s call.

“You saw the news too?” I asked Val.

“We should talk.” Val said seriously.

“I agree. I have Lilith on the other line. Do you mind if I end this call and add you to that one?”

“Sure,” Val said. “We should add Jay and Sam also.”

“My thoughts exactly,” I said, “Give me a minute to get things in order.”

It didn’t take long for me to get everyone in the same phone call together. We had all watched the news. After a bit of explaining, Sam said she got the message to turn on the TV from Naomi. We added Naomi to the call since it seemed relevant. She was excited to join in because she wanted to talk about this also. She and Lilith were totally excited about this development. The rest of us were left with a sour feeling.

“That was the craziest shit I’ve seen on local TV in years!” Naomi said, “This is huge!”

“The police might’ve jumped the gun.” I said. “Ms. Hoffman probably felt backed into a corner and acted irrationally.”

“Or maybe she just wasn’t going to tell them a thing no matter what.” Val said. “We talked to her personally. She clearly couldn’t be trusted to do anything other than run away. She died a coward, just like she lived.”

Val’s tone was overly hostile. This was having a deep effect on her, just like it was affecting me. Normally I’d want to calm Val down or ask her to speak nicer about someone that so recently died, but this time I felt the same way. Val and I had a lot of reason to be angry. It felt like Ms. Hoffman personally betrayed us.

“Good riddance,” Lilith said carelessly, “She should’ve gone to the police long ago. As far as I’m concerned, she’s as guilty as all those people on the Ritual of Knives list. Not just for Malorie’s death, but for Mrs. Duluth’s death as well. This is a good thing.”

“I don’t know.” Jay said. “If the end goal is justice for Malorie then it seems like things just got harder. We haven’t been able to talk to the police ourselves because we lack everything we need to make a strong case against the former members of the Art and Theater Club. A key witness just killed themselves without divulging information to the cops.”

“Ms. Hoffman killing herself was divulging information to the cops.” Sam said, “If that’s not a way of sending a message then I don’t know what is. This is a stepping stone to something bigger I think. Ms. Logan’s death helped people buy into the Malorie conspiracy. Without it, they may have never believed in it. Now with two deaths, Vivian Hale and Dianna Hoffman, things will only continue to escalate. I don’t know where things will go, but I’m in agreement with Lilith. This may be a good thing.”

“I just wish she would’ve talked.” I said flatly. “It seems like her coming forward with everything she knew would’ve saved a lot of trouble. Her cooperation, along with the recordings we have, might’ve been enough to convict Ms. Sampson at least.”

“She’s rotten for failing us this miserably.” Val said. “Vivian and Ms. Logan dying is unfortunate, but could’ve helped bring Malorie’s death to justice. Now, with Ms. Hoffman following them to the grave, we’ve taken a few steps back. I’m not convinced the police will see this as proof of some larger conspiracy. This could be the type of development that the vice principal would’ve preferred.”

“That’s where we disagree then.” I said. “This wasn’t entirely pointless. Ms. Sampson already has police pressure on her from a detective working at our very school. This will only amplify his suspicions of her. Not only her, but all of the former members of the Art and Theater Club are about to be put under an intense microscope.”

“Are you all looking at the Meredith ChatCat group right now?” Naomi asked. “I have it open on my computer and everyone is going wild! This is awesome!”

“Let me check…” Val said.

I went to my bedroom to check the app on my laptop. Naomi was right. The chat was scrolling so fast that a single message couldn’t be made out without scrolling back up. Not only that, more and more people were joining the ChatCat group by the minute. These people could resist Val’s call to join before, but now the temptation was too great. Just like with Lilith and Val calling me, they needed someone to talk to about these sudden developments. I was standing in front of my desk while checking the activity. The weight of this situation caused me to sit down.

“We just got another one thousand members in this group!” Jay said. “Our total membership is over five thousand people! Does our school even have that many students?”

“No,” Val said, “Obviously people from outside our school are being invited to join the group. People are likely bringing in their friends from other schools. There’s bound to be a lot of people with outside friends. This is an alternative school, after all. We all came from somewhere else.”

“Which means this will blow up even beyond our school,” Sam said. “Damn. This might be more than we bargained for.”

“Scroll up and check out what they’re talking about.” Naomi said, “They’re all talking about the Killing Cat!”

I did as Naomi said in order to pick out various new comments. She was right. They were talking about the school legend. With no major suspects in the case other than Ms. Sampson, superstition exploded. Any doubts or disbeliefs that people had before were being thrown out the window. The legend of the Killing Cat was now a train moving at full speed. It was stopping for no one. The few skeptics that questioned Ms. Sampson’s role in all this were ignored in favor of paranormal theories.

“The Killing Cat is back.” I said in surprise at all this, “It has more prevalence than ever in the student psyche. I can’t believe our ChatCat group is still growing. Look! We just got another 100 members in the couple of minutes since I checked the last count! There are definitely people from outside our school joining in!”

“If the legend spreads then Malorie’s story will spread with it!” Lilith said. “The Immortal Diary is already public knowledge. Everything that happened today will only stress to people how important a figure Malorie is in all this!”

“About that,” Jay said, “Aren’t you worried about this mysterious killer? I mean, someone is obviously making use of the information that we put out. How do we know it won’t stop with Ms. Logan and Vivian Hale?”

“That’s a good point.” Naomi said, “Unless it’s really the Killing Cat doing all this, there’s someone out there taking matters into their own hands.”

“It’s for the best.” Lilith said, “This is exactly the type of development we needed. This was the entire point of putting the information out there in the first place! This is justice.”

“This isn’t exactly justice.” I corrected Lilith, “This is more like vengeance. Justice would’ve been Ms. Hoffman and the others coming forth and truthfully telling everything they know to the police. Now all we’re left with is a chaotic mess. I’m still not sure about this whole thing.”

“If vengeance is all that’s left then I’ll take it.” Val said. “Considering everything they did to Malorie maybe it’s what they deserve.”

“Remember the corpse that we saw,” Sam said, “Remember how Ms. Sampson tried to get us to pretend like it didn’t exist. I’ll agree with Val on this.”

“I’m not saying I don’t agree.” I said, “I’m just saying that we should be careful what we wish for. Just like with Ms. Hoffman, it’s impossible to know just how far reaching the effects of these things are. We set everything that happened today in motion. I never imagined Ms. Hoffman would kill herself like this, but here we are.”

“That’s the nature of the beast.” Lilith said. “There’s bound to be some hiccups on the way but no one was killed that didn’t deserve it.”

Naomi laughed.

“Harsh, but you’re probably right.” Naomi said. “If everything that happened back then is true, then I can live with all that’s happening right now.”

My phone beeped again, indicating that someone was waiting on the other line.

“Hold on, someone else is trying to call me.” I said. “I think it’s my mom. She went to her office a little bit ago. Give me a minute.”

I almost immediately switched over without reading the caller ID. The moment I read it I was thrown off guard. Ms. Sampson of all people was calling me! She was calling me on a weekend! What the hell did she want? She must’ve had problems of her own with all this going on, right?

“Hello…?” I asked after answering her call.

“Holly, we need to talk.” Ms. Sampson said, “Are you busy tomorrow?”

“I was just going to do some studying for…”

“You’re going to help me get things under control. I’ll have Angel pick you up and bring you to my place. How does sometime in the afternoon sound? You can return home before nightfall.”

“I guess that’s the best time for me, but I don’t know if…”

“Good, we’ll talk tomorrow then.”

She hung up promptly, which immediately sent me back to the other line. The others were still chatting about what was going on in the ChatCat group.

“Holly, are you back?” Sam asked.

“Yes, I am…” I said quietly.

Sam must’ve noticed my dramatic change in tone.

“Is everything okay with your mom?” She asked.

“It wasn’t her calling. It was Ms. Sampson.” I said flatly. “Apparently I’ve been scheduled to visit her house tomorrow.”