Eline Haworth, April 10 of 20XX

Being the vice-president of the student body isn’t as easy as I first thought, most of my days are quite hectic now. It doesn’t help when our president slacks on his duties, sleeping on the couch in the council room whenever he can. I should have never taken him up on his offer, at the time though, I considered how it would help me out in college and it was like a shiny object I couldn’t reject. Now I need to deal with his duties and mine, plus help any council members that appear to be having trouble.

Just today the treasurer made a hiccup in the school budget and she needed my help to straighten it out, looks like we can still go on that school trip thanks to me. She thanked me and my day went on, I figured not much else would happen.

Until two boys duked it out in the school courtyard, which the teachers stormed in to break apart. They were having trouble with coming to a decision due to one of the boys involved. His parents made big donations to the school every year since he started going here. The principal couldn’t enforce disciplinary actions on him without evidence because of those parents, so she asked me to collect statements from the students that were there.

If I had a newsboy cap I would have worn it during this little excursion, but all I had was a pen and notepad. I treated this as an actual investigation and asked the witnesses plenty of questions, making sure I went through them with a fine comb. After I collected the statements I concluded that the victim in this fray was Reed and even before the fight happened he was being bullied by the rich boy.

When I told the principal this she cracked a devious smile, but it faded as soon as it appeared, replaced by her constant dull mask. “Rules are rules,” she said, “the two shall both be sent to in-school suspension.”

I could tell she had a reason for that smile, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. What she said sure put a damper on my spirits though, almost like she told me my effort was in vain. I dragged my feet as I left her office and hung up my non-existent newsboy cap. I see no point in Reed defending himself if he also takes the blame.

It was getting late, so I prepared to leave and woke up the president. He mumbled some unknown language and rolled off the couch to his feet, then he fixed his bedhead, yawned and waved goodbye as he left the student council room.

Gathering my stuff, I followed his lead and left the school. The buses had already come and left, so I trekked it by foot back to Uncle’s place. I’ve heard a girl shouldn’t walk home alone when it’s late, but I’m confident in myself, I’ve taken self-defense classes and make sure I often have pepper spray on hand as an added safety measure. Any dangerous person daring to take the leap will feel the full force of my wrath and some. Maybe one day I’ll find the one who hurt Auntie and Becky, though that’s an empty wish, I have no thoughts of experiencing what happened to them.

I zig-zagged through a few alleyways and eventually made it to Uncle’s house. It was dark by the time I had gotten here and when I went in nearly all the lights in the house were off, except for the study.

I checked the room and as I thought, Uncle Jason was sound asleep on his desk again. After giving him a few shakes he woke up and told him to head to bed. He tottered to his room by the stairs and told me goodnight before entering his bedroom.

His list of names is getting longer, the number of suspects he has in mind have increased. At least he’s busy searching now rather than what he was like two weeks ago. I don’t want to see him crying again, I know it was a tragedy, but it hurt so much to watch him blame himself.

It wasn’t his fault, no, it was the monster who tore them apart.

“That’s enough for today,” Ellie said, closing her journal she put it on the nightstand and laid down in bed, drifting off to sleep.