Chapter 102 – A Choice between Paths – Erica Henson

In the privacy of Jackie’s office I explained detail-by-detail my experience with Raven Keyes. The expression on her face was purposely static as she intentionally held back any sort of reaction. She was busy bandaging the cut on my arm as I told my story. It was only as I was speaking did I come to realize just how surreal my experience was. While being attacked by Raven Keyes was unexpected, being saved by the Killing Cat was even more so. The more I thought about the coincidence the more I was coming to the conclusion that the Killing Cat didn’t come there to save me as much as she came to kill Raven Keyes. The Killing Cat was Malorie’s revenge personified. It was truly a spirit of vengeance.

My mind was working double time trying to come up with some justification, some rationalization, why the Killing Cat couldn’t be a spirit in human form. It was a mix of her black outfit, the mask, her knives, everything about her felt very corporeal, even somewhat improvised. That was the rational side of my brain working as it should. The irrational parts of my mind were screaming otherwise. The way she moved so fluidly felt more like a spirit toying around with a comparatively slow human. The effect that she had on Ms. Logan was one of release from grief. For Vivian Hale it was regret and guilt. For Raven, she looked like she saw a ghost the moment before she died. The combination of their reactions to the Killing Cat together made me reconsider my own memory of this person. Could she really be what they suspected? Was it possible that a dead body was reanimated?

I was lost alone in my thoughts when Jackie finished cleaning and bandaging my cut.

“There,” She said now that I wasn’t bleeding anymore. “You should be fine now. Thank goodness you weren’t hurt. We’ll be walking away from this without any casualties.”

“There was a casualty.” I reminded her.

Jackie nodded and moved away from me. She went around to the other side of her desk so that she could sit in her chair, across from me.

“Raven Keyes, my old friend.” She said almost nostalgically. “She had no business being here and paid the ultimate price for it. Angelica has already confirmed what you were saying in a text. It seems her dead body really is on the roof. I wish I could say I’m going to miss her, but I’m not.”

“Shouldn’t we call the police?” I asked.

“Officer Morelli is the police.” Jackie reminded me with a smile, “We’ll wait until after school to have the body moved. We don’t want to give the students and the PTA a fright for no reason. It was smart of you to come and talk to me privately about this without making a scene. Although I wish you had done the same with Abby…”

“I don’t understand.” I said while shaking my head. “Shouldn’t we be calling an ambulance or something?”

“Why?” She asked, mystified by the question, “She’s confirmed dead. What good would an ambulance do other than cause commotion for no reason?”

I pulled back into my seat at this line of reasoning. It was almost like she didn’t want to talk about this at all. She wasn’t just acting playfully facetious. She was hiding the fact that someone was just killed. She was seriously going to let this whole thing blow over without informing a single soul of what had transpired just now, behind everyone’s back.

“You…” I said, not wanting to say this out loud, “You’re going to bury this?”

Jackie’s eyebrows relaxed and her facial expression softened like she had been waiting on me to come to this realization for myself. I didn’t want to say it because I hoped that she had better morals than that. Whatever she may or may not have done in the past, I had hoped that she wasn’t that person anymore. The only reason I could stand to be alone with her was because I believed she was better. This was demonstrating not only that she was this morally muddy character that I feared she might be, but that the accusation of her being involved in Malorie’s death was more than likely true. My heart sank and I hoped that she might try to defend herself. Instead, she just stared at me blankly.

“You can’t…” I started to say.

“I can.” She said. “I have to.”

“But…”

“Erica, think about what happened today,” She said, “Think about how well this spirit week went before Raven came by to ruin everything that the students and PTA built together. Do you think we should really rain on the parade by telling them about the bloody battle that happened on the rooftop while everyone was having fun? Do you think that doing so is to any benefit of the school? Why should we go shouting about this instead of burying it like it should be?”

“The Killing Cat!” I shouted in exasperation, “The Killing Cat could still be on campus!”

“Angelica is still on campus.” She said. “And she isn’t leaving until I do. Going by your story, I don’t think she means us any harm. She did manage to save you, after all. I’m grateful for that, at least.”

“I think Raven may have seen something…” I said. “When she knocked off the mask… I think…”

“Whatever she saw, that secret died with her.” Jackie said. “I’m honestly not too concerned about the details. I’m just happy that you’re okay.”

I exhaled sharply.

“That’s it?”

“What do you mean that’s it?” She asked. “Think about this… There’s an alternative version of this situation where you never found help and Raven managed to kill you. It seems like her plan was to do this all along to implicate me in some way. You would’ve been dead and I would’ve never known how it happened. I’d be shipped off to jail for all the suspicions. The school would be in disarray. Erica, please believe me, this outcome is for the best. Now Raven is the only victim of her own stupidity. The Killing Cat is still on my mind, but that’s a problem for a different day…”

I sighed and stared down at my hands.

“I need you to promise me…” She said.

I looked back up at her.

“Promise you what, exactly?” I asked.

“I need you to promise me that nothing about this conversation leaves this room.” She said. “Angelica will take care of the body and I’ll make sure there are no remaining traces that this ever happened. If we’re fortunate we should be able to do away with all this without anyone knowing that something ever happened.”

I stared at my hands once again. As much as I hated to admit it, there was some manner of logic in what she was saying. This entire event was meant to raise everyone’s spirits and have a better outlook on their life here at school. I didn’t want to be the person to bring them sinking down, especially since I was the one to deliver the bad news about Ms. Logan. The problem was that I’d never be able to forget the things that happened today.

My brush with death was completely unforgettable. Had Raven’s knife come a bit closer, had I been a bit slower to react to the situation, if I were even slightly more exhausted from my soccer match, then I’d be dead. There were so many factors involved that it felt wrong of me or Jackie to brush this aside and simply hope that something like this wouldn’t happen again. The fact that the Killing Cat escaped from all this unperturbed meant that it would happen again and it was only a matter of time. That was why all of this weighed more heavily on my heart than Jackie’s.

I looked back up at Jackie.

“I’ll do it.” I said in a sorrow filled voice. “I’ll keep this secret, for the student body’s sake, at least.”

“Good,” She said happily.

“But this means that I don’t think I can trust you anymore.” I said sadly. “You’re not the person that I thought you were.”

Her expression sank and she began trying to explain my concerns away. She gave me excuse after excuse and yet my heart couldn’t be lifted from the pit that it had sunk into. I could delude myself before that she wasn’t some clever murderer, but someone that was just misunderstood and often mischaracterized. It was the fact that I was the only one that seemed to truly misunderstand her that hurt the most. I placed so much faith into the idea that she was a better person and now that my illusion of her was breaking, my once strong love for her was breaking with it. She must’ve understood how I felt because she no longer tried to defend herself after a while. Instead, I gave her a small hug, and left the room. I needed some time alone to think about these things.

Of all the things that happened to me, severing my relationship with Jackie was what felt the worst. Not only was my trust in her broken, but I felt painfully naïve. This, Raven’s attack, was personal. It taught me an important lesson. I was still a kid in many aspects of life with much left to learn. With that in mind, I went into an empty classroom to call my mother and have a serious conversation with her. She had been asking me to talk to her more recently and I was reluctant about engaging her in a long conversation. Now I felt it was time for me to be the one to make the offer.

We didn’t stop talking until after lunch. I told her I was attacked, but didn’t tell her about the nature of that attack. She was more concerned for me than I had ever heard her and begged me to meet her sometime after school. I promised that I would. Honestly, that sort of familial reassurance after the attack was just the type of thing I was longing for. I couldn’t feel that same warmth with Jackie after everything that she said to me. I felt betrayed by her, even if she claimed to have the school’s interests in mind. It sounded more like she only had her interest in mind. Officer Morelli was also a questionable person for choosing to go along with this. Covering up a murder wasn’t something that a police officer was meant to do.

About an hour after lunch the field day events started up again. When I walked outside I found that people were still in high spirits, completely ignorant to everything that occurred on the rooftop, not far from where the athletic events were being held. Everyone looked so happy and peaceful. There was an unusual sense of unity at this school. This was something that I hadn’t felt here in the years before this. Maybe it was the right thing for me to keep Raven’s attack a secret? Maybe it was the wrong thing to do? I couldn’t say. My head hurt the more I debated my internal dilemma. In the end, I decided that there was only one other person I wanted to talk to about this.

I found Holly with a few other girls standing around a makeshift track circuit. She was sweating and laughing as she talked with the two other girls she had been racing against just before I arrived. She saw me approaching and turned her attention to me as I came closer. The two other girls gave me weary looks, perhaps because of my expression. It was hard for me to hide my distress and even Holly seemed to notice it as I came over. She separated from the two girls and met me half way.

“Erica,” She said, “Are you okay?”

“I am… Well, actually, I’m not…”

“What’s wrong…?” She asked.

“Are you still busy with the track group? Can we talk somewhere privately?” I asked.

“Sure.” She said. “We don’t need to go all the way to the library. There’s a spot not far from here that we can talk at.”

She led me away from the track area and into the woods. I realized where we were going now that I recognized some of the familiar trees in the area. Not deep in the woods there was a bird bath surrounded by brick. I had been here before, but that was last school year. Apparently a wooden bench had been installed here at some point. Holly sat down on the bench and motioned for me to follow the maneuver. I went over and took my seat beside her.

I sighed before I began.

“I found Raven Keyes… Well… She found me.” I said. “You’re not going to like what the rest of her plan was.”

“She told you?” Holly asked.

“She said that she wanted to kill Sofi.” I said without further explanation.

Holly stared at me deeply for a moment, perhaps to gauge how serious I was. She faced away from me in silent contemplation while she thought about this.

“Why?” Holly asked. “Sofi was-…”

“It’s exactly because Sofi was spreading rumors against Jackie that she was going to become the sacrificial lamb.” I said. “Sofi would vocally accuse Jackie with the murder of Ms. Logan. So that when Sofi was found brutally murdered everyone that worked with Sofi could testify to the police that Jackie had something to do with it. It was all a set up to get Jackie put in jail.”

Holly’s eyes widened at the realization.

“That was the other half of her plan that we weren’t seeing!” She said.

“And since Sofi was suspended, she had to change targets.” I continued. “She tried to kill me on the rooftop. I thought that I could run to your garden area and scream for help but no one heard me down below.”

Holly was just then noticing the bandage wrapped around my upper arm. She gently put a fingertip at the bottom of the bandage.

“How bad is it?” She asked.

“It’s not serious. I managed to escape, but not on my own. The Killing Cat was there. She killed Raven Keyes and I ran off to get help. I found Jackie and Officer Morelli together.”

“They were the ones that bandaged you?” Holly asked. “What did they say about everything?”

“Yeah, Jackie bandaged me…” I said while rubbing the bandage and thinking about that painful conversation with her. “They’re trying to bury it. They want to go on pretending that nothing even happened.”

“I’m not surprised about that...” Holly admitted. “They probably don’t want any media storm surrounding the death of Raven Keyes, one of their former accomplices. Especially since this comes on the heels of the situation with Vivian Hale and Ms. Hoffman. I’m more surprised Raven was able to get onto school grounds without being stopped. That could’ve been far worse, I think. It makes me think of the intruders-on-campus situations you hear in the news. We’re fortunate that she didn’t have a gun.”

“A gun would’ve alerted everyone.” I said. “She was hoping to kill me in secret to implicate Jackie in some way. It was the fact that I was able to outrun her for a time that bought me the time I needed. The Killing Cat took care of the rest. The strangest thing happened up on the roof…”

“What?”

“Raven Keyes knocked off the Killing Cat’s mask before she died.”

Holly raised an eyebrow.

“Did you see anything?” Holly asked.

“Nothing about the Killing Cat…” I said in disappointment. “But I did see Raven’s reaction. She went pale white, and not just because she was losing blood. Holly… I think… I think that the Killing Cat may really be a ghost of some sort.”

Holly was taken aback by this and gave me a strange look.

“I know I probably sound insane!” I said. “I know, more than anyone else that this sounds unbelievable. I spent so much time going after the Society of Sisters and their paranormal bullshit. So believe me when I say that I know how crazy this sounds. It was that Raven’s stunned reaction was so genuine that I find myself believing it now. I… I don’t think the Killing Cat has a face beneath the mask…”

Holly took all this in, but didn’t say anything.

“You don’t have to believe me. It’s okay. I probably wouldn’t believe the things I’m saying on any other day.”

Holly put a hand on my back to comfort me.

“If you believe it so strongly then I’ll take it under consideration. It’s worth considering… I’ll tell the other members of the student council what you said.”

“You can’t tell anyone more than that.” I said. “I made a deal with Jackie… I wasn’t really supposed to tell you either.”

“I understand. What will you do now though?”

“Now…” I said and exhaled as I thought about it. “Now I’m breaking things off with Jackie. I just can’t stand to be around her anymore. I’ve already talked to my mom and I’m going to be moving back in with my parents. I’m changing schools.”

Holly let go of me in surprise at that. I gave her a pained look.

“Thank you for supporting me the way that you have.” I said. “You’re more than I deserved. I’ve finally been able to fix things with Val because of your help. I can finally let go of a past that I’ve been holding onto for so long.”

Holly smiled weakly and pulled me into a hug. I hugged her back.

“School will feel different without you.” Holly said. “I’ll miss you. I hope you feel better once you’ve changed schools. Please keep in contact with me even after today. You already have my phone number and ChatCat ID.”

“I will.” I said. “Today is the last day before Thanksgiving break. All the arrangements should be done by the time the Holiday is over. I’m going to miss you too. I haven’t had many friends I can talk to like this at this school, so I value our friendship greatly. I hope you’re able to go through with your counseling plans after college.”

“Thank you.” She said.

We held onto each other for a moment and I wiped away a few stray tears. We stood up together and she took my hand.

“Come on. There’s no reason you can’t enjoy the rest of your time here.” She said. “You’re not leaving yet.”

I smiled at her.

“You’re right about that I guess. There are still a couple of hours or so before school is over. What can we really do within that timeframe?” I asked.

She grinned.

“If we run back to the track we should be just in time for the three-legged race. I was going to do it along with Charlotte, but I don’t think she’ll mind a last minute change.”