My eyes shifted back to Jim, the air around him was different, not malice-filled, but something lighter. Before I could properly pinpoint the feeling, Brett spoke up again. "You know, you are one brave kid. I wish we could have met under better circumstances."
"Thank you, sir. But, what's up with the fancy room?" I tried getting everyone back on track as the Detective made himself comfortable on the sofa, sipping a cream soda.
"Mr. Nala got us the room, and about the case... There are no official records, but we did look into something odd. Everyone who spoke out about the school was either expelled without reason, or their accounts disappeared from every social platform they were active on. Along with that, thousands are missing from the school's checks and bank statements."
"So, what, the school is bribing the families to stay quiet and threatening the students or punishing them harshly?" I guessed, taking a seat across from Detective Nala as he carefreely bit into an apple.
"Not bad for someone your age, yes that's where we're leading right now. The problem is the school can claim it went to resources and the students were just mentally ill," Jim answered, cutting off Brett as he glared at him.
The two of them stared at each other for a moment, with electricity crackling in the air as Brett sighed and turned back to me. "Like he said, it's a theory and can't be proven without files from the school."
"So how do we get them?" I asked, noticing Jim wasn't talking and was instead fiddling with the TV remote.
"That's the hard part, it could take months even with all of this," Brett answered, motioning toward the stacks upon stacks of papers on the golden table.
"Are you two done yet? If so, grab a file and start reading," Detective Nala said, biting into his apple. Which caused juice to spill down his chin and splash onto his black shirt. I could almost feel Les drooling this time, like her emotions were getting stronger, and the same applied to Volgar not long ago.
Brett shut up at Nala's words and he reached back into the pile, digging out a folder from the year I started attending the school. "Hey, wait! What if I could somehow get those files without the long legal process?" I questioned, making Jim raise an eyebrow as the Detective smirked.
"I'd say hurry up and get it done," Jim replied for everyone, and Nala nodded in agreement. Brett stayed silent, wiping a tear from his eyes.
"Sure, I got this. And Brett, I'm sorry about your son," I said, patting his shoulder briefly and leaving the room toward the elevator.
'Volgar, I don't know if I should talk to you after that. I don't know if I should trust you at all, but right now I'm choosing to. Please, get those files for me,' I thought, feeling a small flame ignite in my chest.
'Remember you were the one who asked!' A sinister voice answered, his voice, and I couldn't shake the urge to smile uncontrollably as fire spread through my body, before I blacked out.
I flexed my hands, bending every single one of my fingers individually. The rush I experienced earlier wasn't quite it to satiate my hunger, but now, now I would be breaking into the school. "Let's have some fun!"
***
I snuck around the edge of the main office, carefully avoiding the line of sight from the cameras, although oddly enough, they didn't look to be on. "Hey, isn't there usually a red ring around the lens?" I asked aloud, being careful enough to whisper.
'Yeah, that's weird,' Les replied, not paying much attention to me. She was lying down on the floor next to the chair, her hands holding a thick book.
"Glad you care," I muttered softly, reaching toward the window to open it, which opened with surprising ease. 'Odd.' I slipped through, my hands guiding me through the dark room.
The front desk sat in the middle of the room, while the door leading to the Dean's office was shut, right behind a big cleaning cart. 'And now it makes sense, looks like I caught the cleaning crew.'
I jiggled the door handle, which didn't budge, meaning it was locked. I could either wait for the janitor to enter the room, possibly getting myself caught while I knocked them out. Or I could look for a spare key, which would most likely be somewhere upstairs.
Without debating it, I left the main office through the wooden double doors and started sprinting down the hall. 'Where the hell is the janitor? Their cart was there, but there's nobody here,' I thought, the vein on my forehead bulging with annoyance at myself for not choosing the violent route.
'If I get caught, a whole load of trouble is waiting for me,' I reminded myself, making my way to the end of the hall and up the stairs.
None of the cameras had the red ring around their lenses, meaning two possible things. Either they weren't on, or they didn't have night vision. 'Heh, maybe I am kinda smart,' I thought smugly, wiping my mouth with my sleeve as I made my way to the office upstairs, which was surprisingly open.
"Weird," I muttered, walking through the open door and next to her desk. On a rack behind it was a set of keys, the ones used to open all the doors in the buildings. 'Bingo!'
I grabbed the keys and bolted out of the room, without thinking about anyone else being in the building. As I exited, I came face to face with a tall figure. His eyes blazing orange, the all too familiar black claws hung loosely by its side, while its suit was fastened tightly, showing its muscles.
"What the fuck!" I screamed, falling backward and crashing hard into the tile. It stared at me, the magma-like eyes almost seemed like they were searching my soul, then pointed his claw toward an open window while the officer's flashlight started to shine from the direction of the staircase.
"What are you?" I asked, glancing at the rapidly approaching light, which only glowed brighter by the second as the beam bounced. I didn't have time to be asking this thing a question, but there was a part of me that needed to know. I had seen him before in school, and I spotted him in Liam's dream too.
"A monster the world brought back," It answered shortly with an almost demonic tone. Without waiting, staring at my open mouth, it gripped my shirt and threw me through the window.
My body crashed hard against a branch, which quickly gave way, shattering and letting me drop with only a few scratches as my body slammed into the grass.
My heart beat heavily, dragging my chest down as I stood up, barely able to get my balance back as my legs shook ferociously.
'What the actual fuck!' I yelled internally, limping back toward the open window and into the front office. After I stopped for a brief second to catch my breath, I opened the door and stared at the mountain of papers on the desk.
"Of course, of fucking course!" I yelled in a hushed tone. "First this- This demon creature, and now, now I have only a few minutes and hundreds of papers to look through!"
'Just grab the ones in the drawer or the ones on the bottom, most people just cram them in there,' Les interjected, her eyes glaring past the chair and at what I was doing. There was something in her voice, she wasn't just serious, she sounded like she knew what was going on.
'Sure,' I answered, opening the drawer quickly as sirens approached loudly. As she predicted, at the bottom of the drawer were dozens of papers, dozens of bank statements, and for a cherry on top, a funding report from the district itself. I grabbed all of them, stuffing them into my coat, before immediately celebrating. 'Yes!'
Red and blue lights came in through the window, as dozens of lights raced down the hallway, closer to the front office. 'GO, WHY ARE YOU STANDING STILL!' Les shouted, placing her hand on my shoulder as my legs twitched.
I dived out the open window, rolling across the wet grass, and moving into a standing position as I ran faster than ever before. 'Haha! This is amazing!' I thought excitedly, feeling the adrenaline rush through my veins, empowering every cell in my body.
'Can you shut up and focus? You damn adrenaline junky!' Les yelled as I hopped over the chain fence in front of the school and ran to the truck, this time not bothering to switch back as I started it and drove fast down the street, creating a loud ear-piercing screech with the tires.
"WOOHOO!" I shouted, my heart pounding harder than ever. An icy chill remained in my lungs, stinging my whole chest, but I couldn't help but smile. I got the files we came for and avoided being caught.
"Right, enough celebrating. I need to get the files there, and... Les, what the hell was that thing? That's what Liam has been seeing, right?" I asked, my heart still racing, but trying to get myself centered. Liam seeing it was one thing, but now I did too. So unless we were both hallucinating, there was someone- or something there.
'I'm not honestly sure, whatever it was, it seemed to be on our side. Minus chucking us out of the window,' She answered, gazing at me with squinted brows. I knew that look, she was figuring something out.
'Don't tell any of them about what you saw, just deliver the files and say an inside source gave them to you. You know, to avoid getting arrested for breaking and entering?' Les explained as I pulled back up to the hotel I had left.
"Sounds good," I answered shortly, watching the Detective walk into the lobby. 'Why is he just getting back too?'