“ I know, but it’s going to be alright.” I replied, trying to sound reassuring, but now I come to think about it, I doubt that I actually did. So we sat there for hours, doing nothing but trying to be strong. But how could be strong if every time we heard the slightest noise we jumped out of our skin. To us it didn’t feel like Sarah was dead, but more like someone had savagely torn out our vital organs. Occasionally we were visited by members of staff, who were just as successful as us at staying calm. Then, eventually we fell asleep, still embraced in eachothers arms and sharing a bed for comfort.
“Wake up! Come on girls, get up and make your way to the assembly hall!” Mrs Tierney’s voice rang through the corridors, sounding more like a lion’s roar than a middle-aged woman! Charlotte, Zoë, Laura and I climbed out of our beds and rubbed our eyes. This must have been the first time Zoë and Laura left the room without looking like perfectly made up air hostesses, and also the first time they didn’t care. “Beck, it’s only five o’clock, do you think everything’s alright?” Zoë questioned me, her voice quivering slightly.
“Yes, I bet it’s just for safety of something” I retorted, really I was just as worried as Zoë, but she was the kind of person who needed reassurance. As I opened the door, I saw the corridor the busiest that I had ever seen it. Students from all years marched towards the hall like hundreds of lifeless zombies, all with same puzzled yet fearful expressions on their faces. Then there were the teachers, who were the only people not wearing the uniform pyjamas, ushering the students along the corridors. So the four of us joined in with the procession and that was when I realised that this wasn’t just for safety. I couldn’t help overhearing the nervous whispers, some people had decided to believe that the grounds keeper had gone mad and shot himself, whilst others thought that there had been another murder. But no matter how far-fetched the rumours were, I couldn’t help believing some of them, my best friend had been murdered, anything was possible.
Once we were in the assembly hall Mrs Tierney addressed us. “Girls”, she said, her voice now slightly hoarse, “I’m… I’m afraid that there’s a problem. After the tragic death of Sarah Johnson, we are now faced with a new situation.” There were a few nervous whispers but the look of anticipation was on everyone’s face. “I’m afraid we’re… we’re locked inside the building.” She continued, she had to raise her voice to drown out the cries of desperation, “We don’t know how and we don’t know why, but the police and your parents have been informed. I’m sure that this is nothing serious and soon enough we should be back to normal.”
“How the hell can this be normal!” Charlotte exclaimed. I don’t know whether she wanted me to answer this or not but I didn’t. I couldn’t. It felt like we were part of a cheesy horror film like Zoë and Laura watched.
So now Hilton Towers, the top boarding school in England, was the set for a horror film, we spent our nights on mattresses in the assembly hall. This was where we had to “live”, if you could call it living, and twice a day we were all escorted to the dining hall for our meals. For two days and two nights this was all we did but just as we got used to the routine it all changed.
Thursday morning I awoke to the sound of a bell, but not the schools electronic bell I’d grown accustomed to, but a hand-held bell. Slowly I sat up and before I’d even opened my eyes I knew that something was wrong, I was no longer safely in the assembly hall but somewhere completely different. The first thing I noticed was the smell of the room, it smelt like bleach, but dirty at the same time. And as I opened my eyes I found myself in a dimly lit room, the grey plaster was peeling off the walls like a snake shedding its skin, shelves were mounted on the walls, hold cleaning fluids and buckets, while mops cluttered the floor. The walls and the water stained ceiling reminded me of a prison cell. Then I realised where I was, I was in the caretakers store cupboard. The same place that Sarahs’ body lay only days before. I began to think, was this what had happened to Sarah? Had she too woken up in this room? And before I had time to think of answers, I heard a key in the rattling around in the lock, and in walked the man who had killed her.
Straight away I knew he had killed her. I don’t know how I knew it was him but I did. And if I wasn’t careful I would probably be next
“Good morning,” he said to me in his gruff voice, “nice of you to finally wake up.” He looked at me as though I was a piece of meat, and he never took his eyes off me.
“Why are you doing this? Was it you that killed Sarah? What’s wrong with you?” I asked him, I could no longer stay calm. He looked as thought he was thinking of a way to answer me, he squatted down next to me, scratched his gristly grey beard with his bony fingers and his stare became more intense. The more I looked at him the more he reminded me of tatty potato sack, his tired eyes were surrounded by bags of loose skin, his brow was now producing beads of sweat which attempted to drip down his face, but kept getting stuck in the roles of skin. As much as I hated this man I couldn’t help feeling sorry for him.
“I’m in love with Sarah,” He replied, “ well I was anyway I was. I loved her hair, her smile, everything about her, so I decided to tell her. So I brought her here. I didn’t realise that she would react so badly. She began screaming, and I got scared, so I, I killed her. I didn’t mean to hurt her, just to scare her so she’d quiet down. But she didn’t.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, the caretaker had never struck me as being so sick and twisted. We all respected him, he’d even won “Caretaker of the Year” several times. Maybe this was why it was such a shock, but to hear that he was in love with her, that was something else.
