A deep coating of fear lined my spine like a poisonous mould as my mind floundered, trying to make sense of what Emily had just said.

        After everything that had happened that night, what she was saying didn't seem weird or even surprising. If someone came up to me to say that Matron was walking on her head or flying, I'd swallow it. Hook, line and sinker.

        A part of me however said, though very uncharacteristic of her, that Emily was just sleepwalking.

        "Aspeth is at the hospital Emily, are--"

        She shook her head fiercely and sniffed. "I swear to God Claire, I saw Aspeth and...and Sin-Jun...oh my God I'm so scared Claire."

        Realisation hit me like a hard knock. Emily wasn't sleepwalking.

        "Claire? What's going on?" Chelsie asked from the other side of the room.

       "What happened?" I asked Emily, my guts tying themselves up in tight knots.

       "I..I don't know Claire...we...I..."

       A loud guttural scream from outside caused Emily to freeze and tremble. "What was that?"

       "Claire did you--" Chelsie began and was interrupted by another scream, a much vociferous  one.

       Emily clenched my hand and when I looked into her eyes, I saw fear. Terror.

       "My God." Chelsie gasped. "What's going on?"

       Outside, doors banged open and feet shuffled in the hallway.

       "What happened Emily?" I asked.

       She shook her head and gaped at me as if she'd suddenly seen the face of God. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

       Our door clicked open. Oprah stepped in.

       "Oh thank goodness!" She heaved a sigh and rushed to Chelsie's side.

       "What's going on outside?" Chelsie asked, buttoning up her shirt.

       "Piper said she saw Aspeth," Oprah said and shrugged. "It's probably a false alarm."

       "No!" Emily shouted without letting go off my hand. "I saw...I saw her too. And...my God..." she burst into tears before finishing her sentence.

       Chelsie and Oprah exchanged a look as though Emily's words were covered in stinking batshit.

       "What's going on?" Peggy asked and yawned loudly. "Jesus! Why's everyone--"

       The screams got nearer.

       "Is Piper the one screaming?" Chelsie asked.

       Oprah nodded. "Yeah. She said she saw Aspeth drive a knife through Sin-Jun's heart or something."

       I stared at Oprah, greatly impressed by her ability to sound so nonchalant about something so utterly bizzare.

       "What?!" Peggy blurted. "What is she talking about Claire? Emily? What the hell is--"

       Our door banged open with such force that I half expected it to fall off.

       "Claire--" Angela burst in, gripping her heart like a trapped animal.

       "Can someone tell me what the actual fuck it is that is going on?" I heard Peggy ask but I was already at the door and running down the hallway.

 ***

       "My God. My God." I cupped my palms over my mouth and slowly trembled backwards. I was so overcome by shock that I wasn't sure if I was even speaking out loud.

       Watching the murderous scene before me, I felt benumed.
    
       "No...no." I fell to my knees.

       I could hear some of the girls screaming, some crying loudly. Chelsie was shouting instructions to people, but I couldn't see anyone moving.

       My head felt heavy for my neck. None of anything made any sense.

      Aspeth was to be at the hospital and Sin-Jun was to be in bed. But somehow, in the most unfathomable way, they were both here. Dead.

     Sin-Jun, lying in a thick puddle of blood with her arms and legs spread around her absurdly like a ragdoll. Mouth open and eyes wide and shocked.

      Aspeth lay a few meters away from her, a blood covered rough - edged knife lying by her hand.

     "No." I pinched my arm. But I wasn't dreaming.

     Someone held my hand and tried pulling me up but I didn't move. I couldn't.

     After what had happened with Aspeth in the bathroom earlier that night, we were all supposed to go back to bed and wake up to a brand new day. The doctor was to come back to tell us that Aspeth was fine and that there was nothing really to worry about.

    "Claire, are you alright?" I heard Chelsie ask above me. As the head girl, she was trying to be strong I could sense. But her voice sounded teary and distressed, like she was falling apart.

    "Claire? Are you okay?" She asked and I felt her arms around me.

    "What...happened?" I asked her and felt foolish right after. Of course she didn't know what happened.

    "I don't know Claire," she said and sniffed.

    "Oh My God she moved," someone said and my head shot up.

    "She's moving," another person said.

    "Jesus," Chelsie said and backed up against the wall. "She's...she's moving."

    I knelt in my position, tears wheeling down my cheeks as I watched history repeat itself all over again.

    Sin-Jun's hand jolted, her body jerked. And with a loud wheeze, her eyes shot open. She sat up with the effortlessness of a sprinter but her face didn't shift or react to anything. She just sat there.

    "Oh My God." Cassandra and Odette rushed to her side.

    "No." I shook my head vehemently, blood thundering in my temples. "Get away from her."

    "She's awake," Odette said, looking around, her eyes inviting or perhaps daring everyone to come closer.

    Other girls piled in on them, making absurd and panicking noises on seeing a dead person come back to life.

    "Get away from her," I said, my voice faint and dreary.

    I didn't know what was going on at that time, but I could only make one verifiable conclusion.

    Everything was like a game and the mode was crystal clear. Someone killed Aspeth, Aspeth came back to life and killed Sin-Jin. Sin-Jin had come back to life to--

    Someone screamed. A wild scream which felt a thousand miles away. But no, it was only Odette.

    The motion was quick, too abrupt and brutal. Inhumanly swift such that it took a while before my mind could process what had just happened.

    Odette was on the ground, her neck twisted like a forest bed that had just fallen prey to a skilled hunter's gun.

    Sin-Jun didn't have such power or strength. She was sweet and loving and kind. She was the type of person who forgave people and loved everyone because it was right. She would never have hurt anybody.

    Seeing her die, come back to life, kill Piper and fall dead again, everything was much clearer then.

    It was like a force that was controlling the entire chain. And I had a solid feeling that force wasn't going to stop till we all ended up dead.

    Odette's body wiggled.

    "Run!" I screamed with all of my might. "Run!"

    I wasn't sure it was because of my scream that all the girls started running because it seemed everyone had by then figured out for themselves what it was that was actually happening.

    Something very wicked had creeped its way into our little plain lives and we could feel it. We didn't know what it was, but we knew it was there. And so we ran. Hell, that was the only thing we could do.