“Alice… Alice!” The nurse calls for the third time, raising her tone. The pale girl looks at her with no expression. She seems to be way much older than fifteen. Due to the trauma, I think. “Alice, this is Doctor Burke. He will ask you a few questions and I want you to answer them all with coherence. Do you understand?”
“Yes” her voice is dead as well; as if there wasn’t a person sitting before me, but a ghost.
“Hello, Alice. I’m Dr. Edmond Burke” the cold eyes look straight at me, sending a shiver down my spine. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to ask you some questions. Is that alright?” She nods. “Good. Now, what’s your full name?” I start the same way I always do.
“Alice Marie Eyles” she answers.
“How old are you?”
“Fifteen.”
“Where do you live?” I ask, expecting her to answer her hometown.
“St. Mary’s Institute.” The girl surprises me. “A madhouse if you prefer.” She gives me a crooked smile. No doubt they think she had gone insane. But that was not the reason I was at St. Mary’s. My job was to find out what led her down that path.
Before I could continue, Alice looked me in the eyes. “What are you doing here, doctor?” she asks. “I am tired of being fooled by people like you and her.” She waves her head towards the nurse.
“I was hoping you could tell me what happened at Greenville.”
“Oh, but I thought that everyone already knew this story. I went crazy and killed my dear friends with a hammer. Or, was it a knife?” She says in a sarcastic tone. “I’m sorry; I can’t remember which one was it. The help they have been giving me might have actually damaged my brain.”
“I want the real story. Not the one they made up.” This seems to be enough to catch her interest. “What really happened that night?”
“If you want indeed to know about that, I will tell you. But it’s of your own choice to believe it or not.” Her voice sounds dead serious all of a sudden. “Also, if you want me to say anything further, tell her to get out of the room.”
“Why?” I inquire.
“I might even be as crazy as they think, but I’m not stupid. Don’t you think I know what will happen to me if I tell the story in details to you? I hate those electric shocks, you know.” It’s a good reason.
We both look at the woman, who leaves the room rambling in a low voice.
“Well, it all began before we even got to the school… It was windy and cold and I was late for the train. I rushed through all the parents that bed goodbye to their daughters. Mine had done that some months ago; leaving me alone in the mansion, with only the servants and my dogs as company.
‘Where are you going, young girl?’ The conductor asked me as I finally approached the train.
‘Greenville School’ I muttered, handing him the ticket.
‘Very well’ he took the ticket and helped me get inside the train. ‘All aboard!’
The insides of the train were not quite what I expected. Considering how fancy the school was, I hoped to see something more sophisticated. The dark wooden walls had simple doors that lead to the cabins; which had about three girls inside each. The doorknobs and window’s details were golden and the sofas seemed comfortable; but that was all.
I had quite some trouble to find an empty cabin where I could relax. I had quite some trouble to find an empty cabin where I could relax. Watching all those families saying goodbye to their daughters made me sadder than I thought.
My parents knew I didn’t want to go to this school. But my mother insisted that I needed to learn good manners. And it wouldn’t kill me to be more ladylike. I disagreed. But, it was inevitable. Especially because my buyer - or fiancé, if you prefer - didn’t find me suitable to play the part I've been assigned.
My mind was long gone when a blonde girl opened the door of the cabin, startling me. ‘Would you mind if I sit here?’ She asked with a polite smile. Rich. Was my immediate impression. Very rich. I realized she waited for my answer and blushed.
‘Go ahead’ I tried to smile back at her. ‘My name is Jane’ her brown eyes looked like a puppy’s. ‘What is yours?’
‘I’m Alice.’
‘That’s a beautiful name.’ She smiled a lot.
‘Thank you’ it seemed something every single person I knew felt obliged to say.
‘Are you feeling well?’ She spoke with a very soft voice. ‘You look a little pale.’
‘I’m fine.’ I didn’t mean to be rude, but her expression seemed hurt for a second, going back to the happy and kind smile from before.
We remained silent until someone told us that dinner was being served in the restaurant wagon. ‘Shall we go?’ The blonde asked, getting up.
I got up as well and followed her to the other wagon, where lots of girls sit by the tables, chatting and laughing while they waited.”
“Is this the same Jane that you…” I hesitate on saying the word, but Alice doesn’t have a problem with that.
“Killed? Yes. And please don’t interrupt me; it’s very rude to do so when someone’s telling a story.” She seems to find this amusing, making me wonder one more time what sort of things happened to her.
“Where was I? Oh, yes. Jane seemed restless, looking at the tables with an almost scared expression. She was always so easy to read. ‘Do you want to sit with me?’ I asked.
‘Wouldn’t it be a bother?’ Her way of speaking was getting on my nerves, but it wasn’t something I was not used to anyway. I nodded. ‘Thank you.’
The dinner was served at exactly 8 o’clock. Pasta al pesto with a small piece of meat as garnish. Followed by dissert – a single piece of chocolate cake – which was as delicious as the main dish.
I noticed that Jane didn’t even touch her dissert and arched an eyebrow – something my aunt kept on telling me to stop doing. ‘You’re not eating that?’ I asked.
‘No, I don’t like sweets’ she made a bit of a disgusted face. ‘Do you want it?’ I was starting to like that girl.
‘Thanks’ I said with my mouth full of cake.
‘Well then, please get back to your cabins. We will arrive at Greenville School tomorrow morning.’ A woman with sharp eyes and an arrogant posture said.
One by one, the girls walked back to the front wagon. All I could think of was how I was supposed to find a comfortable position to sleep in the train. Thankfully, they somehow managed to turn the seats into improvised beds.
I closed my eyes so Jane could change into her pajamas. I said it would be okay if she wanted me to get out of the cabin for a second, but she didn’t mind. I took off my boots and Jane helped me to get rid of the tight corset. Feeling more comfortable without that demonic thing, I lay on the sofa more than ready to sleep.” She makes a pause and looks at the small window. I could see the sky turning slightly orange and wondered when I’d be backing home. “It’s getting a bit late, would you like to continue this another time? It’s quite a long story.”
“I don’t mind at all. Please, keep on telling.”
“Very well. By the time I woke up, Jane was already awake, reading a book.
‘Good morning. Did you sleep well?’ She was always so polite. Exactly like my parents wanted me to be.
I have no idea what I answered, or even if I said something comprehensible, but she just gave one of her polite smiles and closed the book. ‘We’ll arrive soon, so I think it is better for you to change quickly.’
I changed my clothes and when I was finally dressed, the train stopped. I was wondering what the school might look like, when I accidently bumped into another three girls that came out of their cabin. ‘Pardon me.’ The tallest said. She had darker skin and black curls that were arranged in a bun under her hat. The other two looked like sisters; twins, actually. They shared the same light brown hair and hazel eyes, and would be totally identical if one wasn’t way shorter than the other.”
“These girls would be…” I was taking notes of what I found that was relevant to the story, and names were a big thing.
“Meg, Emily and Elise.” She answers, facing the ground.
“I’m sorry, please continue.”
“It was raining quite a bit when we got out of the train, so we had to take the road to the school in groups of 3, sharing the umbrella the supervisor brought. The twins went ahead, leaving me, Jane and Meg as the last ones.
‘Is it just you three?’ The supervisor asked with a breathy voice, obviously tired of going back and forth many times. ‘Good, let’s go then.’
We walked for about three minutes until we reached a big patio with a man’s statue in the center of a fountain. Some poppies grew on the sides of the pavement and we could see a small portion of a forest behind the building.
The school itself was huge, could have been a castle or a manor from some time ago. The walls were made of enormous grey bricks; dark wooden doors separated the school from the outside world, and gothic windows made it possible for us to see the insides of the place.
The doors were closed behind us, making a loud that echoed through the empty hall.
‘Where’s everybody?’ I asked, looking around.
‘They’re already preparing for the welcome reception. Now let’s see your rooms so you can get ready as well.’ I realized that she was constantly checking a pocket watch or rearranging the glasses that kept slipping from her slightly hooked nose. ‘Meg Porter, you’re in room 20. Jane Laurents you are going to the 16, and Alice Eyles, you got the room 39.’ I was surprised that they had so many rooms.
‘Will we have a room for ourselves?’ Meg asked with a plummy voice.
‘Each of you has one roommate. Is that a problem, Ms. Porter?’
‘I believe not.’
‘The first floor has six classrooms, one music room and one art room at the east side. As well as my office and one bathroom. At the west side there is the library, the kitchens, dining room, common room, and the stairs that lead to the pool beneath our feet.’ She turned on her heels to look directly at us. ‘Any questions?’
The three of us said no and she kept going upstairs. ‘The second floor is mainly for the bedrooms. Even numbers to the right, odd numbers to the left.’ She signed the two smaller staircases that continued to long corridors. ‘The third staircase’ the woman showed another piece of stairway that lead to a corridor with only a few doors. ‘Leads to the servants’ rooms and mine as well. So if you ever need, my room is the second on the left. Let’s pray you never need to.’ She added in a lower voice.
Since Jane and Meg were both on the right side of the stairs, I went to my room by myself. All the doors had small golden numbers at the front. My room was the last one of the corridor, as it was expected.
As I walked in, a girl with brown hair and freckles smiled at me. ‘So you’re my roommate! I was so scared I would be by myself. I’m Melanie. What’s your name?’
‘Alice.’ I responded, examining her.
“Melanie was with you as well, correct?” I checked the names in front of me.
“She was. In fact, Melanie was the one who brought up the idea. I just convinced the others.” Alice confessed. “Jane never wanted to do it, and Meg was in the wrong place, in the wrong time. Melanie got what she deserved in the end. And so did I.”
“Some weeks passed and nothing special happened. Actually, the life in Greenville was so peaceful it was almost boring. We had classes all day, eat and then head to bed. On weekends we’d spent some time fooling around at the common room or taking walks in the gardens.
It was also Melanie who first questioned about the 40th room.
‘That is none of your business’ the supervisor answered with a strict voice.
‘There is something about that room, and I am going to find out what.’ She used to say all the time to me, when we were alone.
On a snowy Tuesday, she suddenly asked to leave, claiming she had a stomach ache. I knew she was going to do something and left as well. At the end of the wide hall of simple wooden doors, there was Melanie’s destination. The headmaster’s office, where all the important files and students information were stored.
‘She must be out of her mind.’ I followed her, making sure no one was coming, and entered the office. ‘Are you crazy?!’ I struggled to keep my voice low. ‘What if someone finds you?’
‘Relax, it is fine. But since you’re here, open those drawers and help me find it.’ She asked.
‘Find what?’ I opened the drawers as she said and saw something shining at the bottom, under some papers and a cigars box.
‘This’ she grabbed the object – a golden key with a number marked on it, just like the keys to our rooms. ‘The key to room 40. Let’s find out once and for all what happened there.’
And so we did. Some teachers and servants were still walking around, but most of them were too busy, so it was easy to get to the second floor.
‘Give me the key’ she commanded. I was still afraid that someone would find us, so I didn’t even hear when she opened the door and went inside. ‘Alice! You have to see this!’
The room was nowhere near like ours, or the other girls’. It had dark walls, the window was closed with nails and three feet of the bed were broken. ‘What happened here?’ I muttered in shock.
‘I don’t know. Look! There is something here’ she pulled the bed and found a piece of the wallpaper that was torn. She put her hand in the hole and pulled out a small notebook with a red cover full of dust. ‘It’s a diary!’
‘Someone’s coming! Put it back, Melanie!’ I warned her, but instead, she put the diary inside of her shirt, too curious to just leave it there.
For days she wouldn’t even let the diary out of her sight. All the time she had it in her hands, reading it over and over again.
‘She died’ she finally said one night, before we fell asleep. ‘She was locked here by her relatives and then she killed herself. It says here that they wanted her money, so they threw her off their way.’
‘What a horrible way to die.’ I answered.
Apparently, the girl who died was called Hayley. She had been sent to Greenville by her uncle – her tutor after her parents died in a fire. She was always locked in her room and people found her too weird to try and start a conversation. The teachers kept on punishing her for “bad behaviour”. And so, after less than one semester, she hanged herself using the bed sheets.
The teachers decided to leave her room untouched, since people claimed to see her spirit every time they tried to move the furniture or fix anything.
‘But this is weird’ Melanie said looking at the diary and then at the files she had stolen the day before. ‘It says here that Hayley hanged herself in the room with the bed sheets. But in this other file it says that her body was never found. How was it possible for her body to be missing if she hanged herself?’
‘Let it go, Melanie’ I asked, too scared to cope with her investigation. ‘It’s late, let’s go to sleep.’
For once, she listened to me and went to bed. But I knew that she wouldn’t forget. So I decided to help her and get this over with as soon as I could. And the next day, we went to the 40th room for the second time.
Jane agreed to help me and I managed to lure Meg into coming with us by saying we needed her great intelligence to solve this.
‘So, what do we have to do?’ I asked. Melanie was thrilled, her eyes shining in expectation.
‘I was talking to one of the kitchen girls, and she told me that there was a girl that killed herself here in the school. She said that her body wasn’t found and that the teachers decided to make a tomb for her right there, in the middle of the trees.’
‘And you want us to go to the woods, right?’ Meg was the only one standing. She turned to face us and smiled. ‘Let’s do it. Tonight after everyone has gone to bed, we go to the forest and see if this story is really true.’
Jane didn’t say a word during the meeting. It was easy to see that she was scared, and I felt responsible for it. ‘Jane.’ I called out to her as we returned to our classes. ‘If you don’t want to go you should say so. We won’t be mad at you.’
‘Thank you,’ she smiled. ‘But that’s not it. I…’
‘What are you two doing out of your classrooms? The bells already rang.’ The inspector yelled and we rushed to the first floor.
That night we waited until a half past midnight, to make sure that no one would catch us sneaking out. Meg and Jane were at the bottom of the stairs by the time we arrived as silent as ghosts.
‘What took you so long?’ Meg’s voice was angry and shaky. It was snowing outside and now that all the candles were out, it was just as cold on the inside as it was outside.
‘What are you wearing?’ I asked, looking at the pink cape rapped around her body.
‘I don’t know about you, but I am not going to freeze to death for nothing.’ She answered in her usual superior and arrogant tone.
‘It’s not for nothing.’ Melanie added, opening the doors. ‘Let’s go.’
The winds were strong enough to make my hair whip my face and my hat almost fly away. Jane was still quiet, walking beside me with her hands pressed against her heart. ‘Are you okay?’ I asked her.
She nodded, but didn’t smile as she usually did. I thought she was just scared so I let it go.
‘Do you have any idea where her grave is supposed to be?’ Meg asked.
‘Yes, just follow me. And stay together; if we get lost we might not get out of this place.’ Jane flinched at Melanie’s words but remained silent.
We walked for a long time, tripping on roots covered in moss and sinking our feet in the deep layers of snow. ‘I really don’t like this place.’ Meg said after a crow cawed behind us.
‘Don’t worry. We’ll be back in a second.’ I tried to tranquilize her, even though I wasn’t calm either. ‘Melanie, are we almost there yet?’
‘I don’t know’ she muttered with a low voice. ‘I mean it should be around here somewhere but…’
‘What do you mean you don’t know?!’ Meg yelled at her. ‘I can’t believe this! I’m going back right now.’
‘Meg, wait! If you get lost it will be a burden to all of us.’ I reminded her.
‘I won’t get lost, there’s a huge trail of snow right behind… us…’ She stopped in the middle of the sentence, looking at something a few steps away from where we stood.
‘Did you find something?’ Melanie’s excited tone was back in a second. ‘Where is it? I don’t see anything.’
The three of us followed Meg’s gaze. Jane sunk her nails in my arm, obviously terrified by the sight. Next to a willow-tree, a small mausoleum was covered in snow and dead leafs. There was no door to enter it, only a white marble wall with multiple cracks that made it seem as if something – or someone – had tried to enter it before.
‘There. We saw it. Can we please go now?’ Jane spoke for the first time since that morning.
‘Absolutely not! We have to see if there is some way in.’ Melanie ran towards the tomb.
‘Melanie, please’ Jane’s voice was as shaky as herself. ‘Just leave it there.’
Meg, who was completely skeptical about everything before, was now standing behind all of us, with wide eyes and a white face.
‘Now that we are here, let’s not waste it. Just help me.’ Melanie wasn’t listening to us. ‘What is this? Alice, bring the lamp over here!’ She called to me.
I glanced at Meg and she took Jane’s hand. ‘Don’t worry’ I said with a smile before walking up to where Melanie was. I approached the light to where she was pointing and saw a weird wooden board with some letters and symbols written on it.
‘I’ve seen one of those before! People say that if you do it right, you can talk to a real spirit or something like that.’ She explained.
‘That’s fantastic, leave it there and let’s go.’
I turned my back on her and started to follow the trail we had left on the snow. The three of them came soon behind me and we got back to the school in less than 5 minutes.
Melanie didn’t shut her mouth until the morning. Talking about how we had to go to that place again and use that board she saw. ‘Can you imagine if we managed to talk to Hayley’s spirit?’
‘I don’t think we could do something like that. Besides, no one would agree with it. So can you please forget it?’ I asked her. Of course she didn’t and for the next days she pestered each of us so much that we finally gave up.
‘Why is Meg so quiet?’ She asked me at the breakfast table.
‘I am considering which one is worst, to play this game you’re talking about, or kill you at once.’ She said with a plain face, making Melanie scream.
One night, when most of the girls had left to spend the holiday with their families, we gathered one last time, behind the locked door of the 40th room.
The wood board was resting in the middle of the room and we all sit around it. I looked at the expressions of the others, not knowing which one I was showing. Meg kept on raising one eyebrow every time Melanie tried to make the board “work”.
‘Alright, let’s do this. Everyone put one finger on this piece.’ She showed and we obeyed her. ‘Are there any spirits here that wish to make contact?’
Nothing happened and Meg started to laugh. ‘I told you this wouldn’t work.’
The two of them were so caught on their argument that they didn’t realize when the piece of wood in the shape of a tear moved to “yes”. Jane flinched and tried to take her finger away of it, but Melanie didn’t allow her.
‘Stop moving it, Melanie.’ I said; feeling a bit scared myself.
‘Is this Hayley?’ She asked, smiling. It went to “yes” one more time. ‘How did you die?’
It spelled “window”.
‘Melanie, stop this.’ I asked her, but she didn’t listen to me.
‘Did you kill yourself?’ She inquired.
That was when things started to get weird. The window opened suddenly and the cold wind blew all the candles we had lit.
‘Melanie, stop!’ Meg asked this time. She seemed to be in some kind of frenzy, looking at the board with wide eyes and a smile that I’ve never seen before.
Some of the objects started to fly around the room and the tear-shaped piece kept on doing weird figures on the board. I took my finger off of it and walked to the door.
‘Where’s the key?’ I asked them.
‘It was on your pocket!’ Meg screamed.
‘It’s not here!’ I looked over at Melanie, who was holding the key between her fingers with a creepy smile. ‘Give it to me.’ I ordered.
She started to laugh, but it wasn’t quite her voice. It was a loud and guttural sound that made the hairs on my neck stand on end. ‘Melanie, give me the key.’
‘If you want the key. Come and get it yourself.’ She spoke in a low voice. I ran across the room towards her but she was way faster than me, reaching the open window and jumping out of the room.
‘What is happening here?’ Meg yelled.
I looked through the window and fell on my back when I saw Melanie holding to the stones on the outside of the building.
‘Is it cold?’ She asked, throwing an oil lamp inside of the room. As soon as it touched the ground, the lamp broke and before we could help it, the whole room was on fire.
‘Alice!’ Meg called from the other side of a wall of flames; which formed when the fire spread.
‘Don’t worry! I’ll get us out of here!’ I said, feeling Melanie’s cold hand holding me. ‘What are you doing?! Let me go!’
Even with an open window, the smoke was suffocating. I didn’t know how Melanie managed to hold on to the stones of the wall, but she was still there, holding me.
Meg kept on trying to push the door, but to no success. Jane woke up from her shock and helped to finally break the door.
‘Alice!’ She looked back at me.
‘Run!’ I yelled, trying to free myself from Melanie’s hand. ‘What are you doing?’ I asked her, crying.
I had goose bumps again when she smiled. ‘Let’s play a game, Alice Eyles.’ She said, pushing me from the window and holding me before I could hit the ground.
‘What game? What are you talking about?’ I asked coughing due to the smoke of the room that was still burning.
‘I will try to get the two of them, while you,’ she pointed at me with a grin ‘will try to stop me.’
‘Why would I do that?’ I asked feeling my body hurt everywhere.
‘Because if you don’t reach us in time, you will find out that dead people are terrible players.’ She said in a husky voice. ‘The game begins’ she hesitated ‘now!’
All I saw was a blur running towards the other side of the mansion. I ran after her but couldn’t see how or if she had entered the place. I used the backdoor and checked the empty kitchen, trying to hear something – footsteps, screams… anything.
All the lights were out so when the moon hid behind the clouds I could barely see where I was going. There wasn’t a single person on the library or the classrooms. I was about to go upstairs when I remembered I hadn’t checked the pools.
I ran as fast as I could to the east side of the manor, taking off my shoes so I wouldn’t make a sound.
When I reached the stairs, I stopped. There was the sound of water and a familiar laughter that made me shiver.
‘What is taking her so long?’ Melanie’s voice reached my ears and I ran to the bottom floor. ‘Alice! I see you are a bit late, dear. Well don’t worry, Meg and I are playing a little game here, see?’ She was standing on one corner of the pool, holding Meg by her neck above the water.
‘Meg!’ I ran towards her, without thinking what the consequences would be.
‘No no no. That’s against the rules, dear.’ She spoke with a voice that reminded me of my mother’s. ‘Now, the game is very simple. I will present you with three riddles and you’ll have to answer all of them. If you answer it correctly, you can save your friend. But if you don’t, she will have to learn how to swim in a really short time. But you have to answer it before she suffocates without even touching the water.’
‘What’s the riddle?’ I asked her, shivering from my head to my feet.
‘Very well. What is lighter than a feather, but the strongest man in the world can’t hold it for more than a minute?’ She said, tightening the hold on Meg’s throat. ‘Hurry up dear, the clock is ticking.’
I tried desperately to think but I couldn’t turn my eyes away from Meg’s face that began to turn purple. And then, the answer hit me.
‘His breath!’ I screamed.
‘Perfect! Now, if you feed it, it will live. But give it a drink and it dies. What is it, sweetie?’ Melanie seemed to enjoy the look of confusion on my face. I remembered the flames on the room as we tried to escape and smiled at her.
‘It’s fire!’ She looked slightly irritated, but her expression went back to normal in a second.
‘The third riddle will give you a clue to where your other friend is hidden. If you can answer it of course.’ She paused. ‘Who makes it, has no need of it. Who buys it, will not use it. And who uses it, can neither see nor feel it. What is it, Alice?’
‘What did you do to Jane!’ I yelled, covering my mouth as soon as I realized what I had done. ‘NO!’
Melanie smiled and threw Meg in the water, rushing to my side to keep me from saving her.
‘The correct answer was: a coffin.’ She laughed as she climbed upstairs. ‘I’d start to look for the blondie if I were you. This one’s already gone.’
I felt my tears rolling down my cheeks. ‘Idiot.’ I cursed myself, running upstairs trying to figure out where Melanie could have hidden a coffin.” Alice hiccupped and faced the floor.
“I didn’t even look back. All I could do now was try and save Jane. And that’s what I did.
I ran outside and towards the woods, thinking that a coffin could mean Hayley’s mausoleum.
Many times I tripped over the roots and the crow’s screams made me want to sit down and cry my eyes out. But I knew I couldn’t do it, so I just kept running.
‘Alice! Looks like you were faster this time. That’s good.’ Melanie looked at me and then to the mausoleum. ‘But I don’t think the answer is that easy, love.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘It was pitiful how Jane tried to bargain with me. Asking me to spare you and the other girl and just take her life. But I couldn’t do that, could I?’ She rambled.
‘Where’s Jane?’ My voice was as shaky as my body now.
‘I already told you she’s in a coffin. Now tell me Alice, where do coffins go after they are closed?’ She said.
Feeling my stomach hurt, my mind was filled with the image of Jane locked in a coffin, meters below surface, trying desperately to get out, struggling just to keep breathing. I felt even sicker than before and fell on my knees.
Melanie laughed and helped me to get up, but my legs were weak. All my strength had left me. How would I ever find Jane in that huge property before she… The mere thought of the word was enough to make me want to cry.
‘Please tell me where she is!’ I begged Melanie. ‘What happened to you? Why are you doing this?’
‘It really hurts me seeing you like this.’ She didn’t sound sincere, but I didn’t care. ‘So I will give you one last hint. If you want to find our dear Jane, you have to follow your heart’s tears.’
I thought she was playing with me. She had gone completely insane after all. But I had nothing else to do. Jane needed me and the more I waited there, the less time I would have to save her.
So I got up and ran, even though I couldn’t feel my legs and the major part of my brain was numb.
‘My heart’s tears. Follow my heart’s tears…’ I mumbled to myself, trying to guess what this could mean.
Confused, I rushed to the gardens near the ward, wondering if that’s what Melanie had meant.
But – to my despair – nothing there seemed to have been touched. Everything was in its place. As if nothing had happened.
Once again, I found myself completely hopeless. I looked around once more, wishing anything could give me a hint of where Jane was.
I noticed my hand had a deep cut on the palm and held it tight to stop the bleeding. Some drops of blood had stained the flowers below my feet and a sudden memory hit me.
Being the biggest plant fanatic of England, the director had brought a special type of flower from Japan just some weeks ago. The sad name was given to it due to a Japanese legend, where a man got so drunk in love, he pierced his heart with a sword.
‘Bleeding heart’ I gasped, running to the greenhouse wishing it wasn’t too late to save Jane.
As soon as I reached the silent and dark greenhouse, I noticed the tiles missing from a particular part of the floor. Just below the bleeding hearts.
I didn’t think about getting a shovel or any other instrument. Instead, I threw myself to the ground and started digging with my own hands, hearing muffled screams coming from the ground.
‘Don’t worry! I’m going to save you! You’ll be alright!’ The words I wanted to say got stuck in my throat, too tighten for me to even make a sound.
When I finally reached the wooden coffin, I let myself breathe again. But then the silence came. The screams stopped. And so did my heart.
She couldn’t be gone.
She couldn’t die.
Not like that.
I grabbed a hammer – which was right next to me even though I hadn’t seen it before. But I didn’t question it. My mind was too busy denying the idea that Jane could be dead by that time and I couldn’t save her.
I opened the coffin and saw her brown, puppy eyes reflecting my face. She smiled and coughed an awful amount of blood.
‘You’re fine now. Everything is going to be fine.’ I said, holding her close to me.
The memories that I buried in the deepest corner of my mind came back in a flash. A white dress stained with blood, dirty brown locks, and a smile that I could never forget, even if I wanted to.
‘Please stay with me. I can’t lose another sister.’ I cried in pain, hugging her skinny body. ‘Please don’t go.’
She didn’t say a word. She just looked me straight in the eye and smiled, the same way she did when we first met.
And just like that, she left this world. One second she was there, and the other, she was not.
‘What a pity. Looks like you could not save her after all.’ Melanie said right next to my ear. ‘You know, I never really liked her.’ She laughed.
With just that, all my sorrow turned into hate that consumed me faster than I could imagine.
I jumped out of the hole and took her down, holding her throat with a tight grip. I was sure I had seen despair in her eyes, but just a second after it, that same sarcastic look returned to her face and she laughed once again, pushing me from her with ease.
I grabbed the first thing I could reach and threw it at her with all the strength that I still had in me.
The hammer hit her head with a loud sound and she fell to the ground. Her eyes wide open, just like her mouth.
I carried Jane’s body out of the greenhouse and lied down by her side, hoping my fatigue could kill me as well.
The sun began to rise some time after it, but I’m not sure how long it took. I was in such torpor that it could have taken two hours or five minutes and I wouldn’t know the difference.
Someone saw the flames on the manor and the firefighters came afterwards, along with the police and the headmistress.
It didn’t take too long for them to find me, lying beside Jane’s corpse. Over twelve people died that night. But only one was my doing. Of course, no one believed me.
I never confessed to the murders of Meg and Jane. Or the other people who died due to the fire that Melanie caused. But this didn’t stop them from assuming. My parents were disgraced and I was sent to a mental institute.” Alice sighs. “Seems like a pretty sad ending to our story doesn’t it?” She says with what I can think of as a smile.
“It says on your medical records that you were convinced that Melanie was possessed by some evil spirit. Do you still believe that?” I ask, examining her expression.
“I do. Melanie could never jump from that window without getting hurt. Or hold Meg by her throat with only one hand. She was never that strong. Her eyes also changed colour after it. They used to be dark brown but during that night they were bright blue.”
“And what do you think it happened to this spirit after you… after she died?” I think I see her smile at me, but when I look twice, she is facing the ground with a sad look.
“Who knows.”
“Alright, time is up for you, detective.” I cough and the nurse looks at me with confusion. “Come back next week if you need to.” A nurse tells me as I pack my things.
“I will. See you in a few days, Alice.” I say to her.
She gives me a crooked smile and replies with an “I’m not so sure of that.”
The next Tuesday, I leave my house early so I could talk to Alice one more time.
There is a huge ruckus near the St. Mary’s, which I find odd since the place is always calm. But not today. There are police cars on the front of the gates and people whispering to each other about what happened overnight.
“Can you believe this?” A man with a big red mustache asks a group of women. “We trust them to take care of those lunatics and a girl escapes.”
“Aren’t we in danger? Isn’t she a serial killer?” One of them answers.
“This is absurd!” Another one says, holding a fan close to her face.
“How funny.” A girl wearing black clothes mumbles to herself and laughs, turning her back to the rest of the people and heading back to town.
I have huge trouble coming in, nurses, doctors and police officers try to keep me from entering the place but I finally get access when I show them my I.D.
I go to the young woman behind the desk in the reception. She looks at me with a troubled face, not knowing what to do about the situation.
“I’m detective Burke. I am here to see Alice.” I ask.
“Just a second, sir.” She leaves the desk and comes back shortly with the doctor responsible for Alice. “He says he wants to see Alice.”
“Good morning, doctor Weiss.” I greet him. “I was wondering if I could see Alice one more time today.”
“Alice? Who is this?” He seems confused.
“Alice Eyles. Fifteen, brown hair, blue eyes. I met her last week, don’t you remember?”
“Oh, so you haven’t heard. Alice escaped. No one knows how, but the only thing we found on her room is a note.” The doctor admits.
I’m completely taken aback. “Can I see the note, please?”
He takes a small piece of paper out of his pocket and I examine the two words written in what seems to be blood.
“Do you know what this could mean?” He asks and I say no. “Well, if you remember anything that might help us, please inform the police.”
“Alright. Thank you, doctor.” I say, heading towards the door.
“One last thing, detective.”
“Yes?”
“You said that Alice’s eyes were blue, but her eyes are brown.”
I feel the air escape my lungs as I remember what she had told me that night. “Her eyes also changed colour after it. They used to be dark brown but during that night they were bright blue.”
I run out of the institute, looking for a small figure in black clothes whose voice lingered in my head, but she isn’t there anymore.
I grab the piece of paper one more time and read the words out loud.
“The end.”