What? That’s the first coherent thought that runs through my head as Roy Li collapses to the floor, blood pooling beneath him. What? We all stand for a few, infinite moments, united in our absolute shock at what we just witnessed.

  “Did…that trophy just move by itself?” Eden asks in a brittle-sounding voice.

  “Yes, it did.” Sofia responds, also sounding horrified.

  “Jesus,” says Osei, who's an atheist. The smell of blood was in the air now, turning my stomach.

  “But…you all heard that voice, didn’t you? It said ‘Still bored?’. And it sounded like-” I choke back my words, not willing to say the name of the ghost that has metaphorically hovered over this school since the incident.

  “Can’t even say his name, Sahithi? That was Daniel.” Gavin says, with apparently no qualms about naming the dead. Quickly, Kayla runs to the door, slamming on it frantically. Yet it still will not budge, standing resolute and refusing our passage.

  “We need to get the actual fuck out of here,” says Gavin, eyes wide and darting.

  “We can’t!” screams Jordan, pale and shaken. “The doors are barred, or sealed or whatever the fuck and we’re stuck here and we’re going to die!” Her voice inches upwards, culminating in a squeak that would be funny if it weren’t such a terrible situation.

  “Can we at least get away from the body? Maybe to a classroom?” says James, and we all agree on that, at least. Quickly, we move into the North wing, holing up in the Geometry classroom.

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  “How the hell did that just happen?” yells Gavin, and Sofia yells right back, “I have no clue, but we’re now stuck in the building and he’s dead!”

  “Maybe it was the ghost of Daniel or something, you know, back for revenge.” Eden says, in a flat voice.

  “This is getting nowhere!” says Kayla, forcefully. “You two are just screaming at each other and you’re m-making jokes about it!” I still can’t quite wrap my head around the things that just happened and the room is spinning, the voices echoing loud then quiet around me. A panic attack of some kind is setting in and I just need air and quiet.

  I step outside into the hall, breathing shallowly, closing the door to muffle the voices. I breathe slower, and attempt to calm myself down. Suddenly, one voice makes it through the din in the room.

  “Help-p…me”

  That definitely didn’t come from behind me.

  It’s a voice and a slight noise, and I hear it, close by. It’s coming from the classroom right across the hall and I take a slight step towards it. Roy must still be alive! I can help or something, or…I don’t know. I run towards the door, wrenching it open. As I step inside, I immediately know that this was a mistake. How could Roy have gotten all the way to the North wing with a massive abdominal injury? And without us noticing? Impossible.

  The room is empty. At first. Then a shape coalesces, a slight form on one of the desks, looking like a cloud, then a figure crouched on the edge, then a face. A familiar one.

  “Couldn’t take the stress. Traumatic experience. All alone. And oh look…”

  I feel a tug in the bag I wear on my shoulder. A length of my knitting emerges, as if pulled by an invisible hand.

  “You’ve even brought me a rope.”

  “Daniel-”

  Then I am rising as if lifted by the world itself, and the air is gone, and where did it go and I’m clawing at the air but oh right I forgot it’s gone and the crochet, the beautiful yarn I bought in India when I visited is around my neck and it’s the perfect scarf like I always wanted but it’s tight too tight and then I’m falling but no longer a crack and its gone its gone.

  I am gone.