They sat down in the classroom for a while and her eyes didn't leave the moon; it was still raining. Everything was so odd in her eyes. She kept peeking at Emmanuel occasionally to see what he was doing. He was sometimes scratching the desk with his knife, sometimes playing with it. She even imagined the knife approaching her menacingly.
"What shall we do?"
"I was thinking of investigating matters around us. Since you have such great fortune, you can be our guide while I will protect you. This place seems cursed. Sometimes I see humanoid shadows appearing everywhere, sneaking, peeking, then running behind you."
"You met one too. I was quite surprised when I saw one. I was terrified, horrified… It teleported in front of me and struggled me. If it wasn't for Diana, I would have been gone."
"Then I should thank her properly next time."
"It feels dark, we should look for a source of light. Something we can control," Elianna got up from her seat and walked to Emmanuel. "Anything would do the trick. Let's look for one while we investigate the other rooms."
"I already did. Everything is closed and shut tightly. We need keys for that."
She looked at her knotted fingers and thought of the only place where she could find all keys. The janitor would have them; he would have all keys but for the important ones, the Principal may have them too. The janitor's room might be far so the Principal was the best option. A burden fell on her shoulders as he told her she had to choose.
She didn't want to go to the Principal's office. Though many years passed, she couldn't get over it. The building was already taken down and replaced with a new one so she must have forgotten about it like everyone did forget about the building. But it was just too much traumatizing. She hated men for a long time and refused to consider someone for marriage. It wasn't like anyone had come to ask for her hand.
"Then let's head to the Principal's office."
"Are you sure you want to go there?"
She nodded and they left the room towards the direction intended. The Principal's office was dark and the electricity didn't work. It would be hard looking for keys in darkness, especially when no one knew if something existed behind the veils.
"We should look for a light, maybe a candle. The place seems terrifying," her heart felt heavy and her breath struggled to work normally. It was fear. It seeped directly to her heart and made her movements so slow and trembling.
"You don't have to feel scared. I am with you. I promised I would protect you," he grabbed her hand and kissed it genuinely concerned. She stayed standing at the door while he stepped inside. The next few seconds felt like eternity. He disappeared in darkness and emerged when the curtain was pulled aside.
It was like she remembered it to be. With a huge bookshelf on one side holding a lot of boring books, a desk full of papers and an old phone that seemed rusty. There was also a sitting place with two sofas and a small table with a jar. Her stomach cried remembering the candies he used to give her after he called her to his bureau.
"Here we are! Light to search the place," her face jolted from the jar to Emmanuel's face. He had his arms spread wide like asking for a hug and a huge grin on his lips.
"Where should we start?"
"I have an idea where he should keep them. The keys normally never left the school and considering this stupid game, it will be somewhere around his desk. I will search for them while you rest."
She hurried to the jar and looked at it. There were candies and a lot of them inside it. When Emmanuel found the keys and wanted to tell her to rejoice, she already opened one of the candies and looked at it horrified. Her voice didn't want to come out at first and her body froze at the sight. Emmanuel rushed to her side and tossed the supposed to be candy away.
"It's a tongue. Oh my God! It's a tongue! It's definitely a human tongue," she tried so hard to contain herself from screaming but the blood on her hand that seemed warm and fresh made it impossible. She started screaming and Emmanuel had to hug her and clean her hands. "Oh my God! It's tongues, Emmanuel. I can't take it. Human tongues. Why? Why? Why the candies are tongues?"
"I think deep within you, you know the answer," his voice came out rough and hard. "It was merely a way for him to shut the mouths and let what happened inside this room be a secret. He gave my sister a lot of them and she kept them in a box. I still keep it to this day, promising that if I see him in the afterlife, I will torture him."
"He had never given me anything. He kept opening them and ate them in front of me. But he didn't give me anything. He just sat there, trying to lecture me on my situation and telling me he had a way to let me overcome all my miseries. I don't know. I think I don't remember."
"It's okay," he patted her back and for the first time, she cried about it. She knew what he wanted from her and she was young. There was no way to stop it all; she had to endure it and change the subject each time he went at it. Always asking her father to come early and call her even when she was with the Principal.
Suddenly, the phone rang energetically. It was a normal sound to anyone but in darkness and with the familiar environment that brought auspicious feelings, it felt uninviting. She approached it to answer, asking Emmanuel to not stop her this time.
(Hello! I am waiting for you in the infirmary. Don't be late! I think your friend needs help.)
There was only the beep sound left.