blood, guts, and angel cake // private

CAMERON MORGADO REYES

She was late. Terribly late.

And yet here Cameron was, continuing to walk ever so nonchalantly through the corridors of the school. Her footsteps were light and steady, indicating no sign that she was in a rush. After all, wasn't she doing a favor by refraining from interrupting their rehearsal? It wasn't as though anyone mentioned it would be necessary to practice with the prop in her hands, which was carefully sealed away in a little cardboard box. Or perhaps in reality, she was just being shallow? Her eyebrows began to momentarily furrow at the thought and her head tilted up to glance at the clock hanging from the ceiling tiles. There really was no reason Cameron had otherwise to justify the fact she was practically an hour late. While releasing a soft sigh, she lowered her gaze back down and hastened the pace of her steps.

It wasn't long before she finally arrived at her destination, which happened to be the auditorium. While standing in front of the wooden doors, Cameron adjusted the weight of the box onto one of her hands and extended her free hand out to push the door open. She slipped through the crack between and was greeted with the sight of several students. Some lounged peacefully within the many rows and columns of seats across from the stage. Other students stood in a more scattered formation, with some on the wide stage or in the area in front of the platform. Cameron couldn't help but take a quick glance at the decorations adorning the stage. All appeared to be meticulously crafted - it was apparent whoever created it used every ounce of their passion. The noise of the door shutting behind her was what made Cameron quickly look away, only to meet the eyes of several students who turned their heads back after hearing the sound. Though, moments after, it was a new noise - this time a familiar voice - that broke the silence.

"And here I was, thinking you'd never show up!"

MAIA CHAMBERS

It was true that by the time the older girl finally arrived, they were already finished, but Maia wasn't the tiniest bit mad. Sure, she asked her to come nearly an hour ago, but... things happened, she supposed. She was glad Cameron even bothered showing up rather than not appearing at all. From where Maia was standing nearby the stage with her arms crossed, she glanced down at the box that the brunette was tightly grasping in her hands. She uncrossed one of her arms to gesture over at the stage behind her. "You can just put that over here. We'll move it later." She watched as Cameron silently nodded her head before walking down the aisle between the seats. She carefully placed the box down nearby the edge of the stage.

"You're going to the party later, right?" Maia eventually asked with a slightly tilted head. In her hand was a keychain, and on it were just a few keys. For the most part, they were about the same size, but varied in color. She fidgeted with the keys hanging on the ring as she spoke. "We got some keys for the backstage stuff, but I heard one of them is able to open up all the locks in the school. If it's true, that gives us a perfect chance to explore and snoop around, so if you want, you can join us," the brunette offered. Normally she wasn't one who invaded other's privacy or trespassed into placed that were obviously meant to be restricted for a reason, but Maia was curious. There was a lot you could learn from secrets. "It's totally up to you though."

One of Cameron's brows was quirked upward, though it was soon after that her shoulders lifted into a little shrug. "Yeah, you know... I don't know. I'll have to see."

"Fine by me." Maia paused for a moment before taking a few very small steps away from the stage. "I'm going to go now though before it gets to late, so... if anyone wants to tag along, feel free to."

CAMERON MORGADO REYES

There was something in her that made Cameron want to retort back to the blonde, but at the same time, she knew that Lucy was honestly being reasonably bitchy. What benefit would she receive from causing a scene, anyway? "Okay, well, I'm sorry?" It only struck Cameron now that she hadn't even apologized upon entering, and while her tone was a little bit questioning, she was actually being genuine. "I have other things to do than immediately cater to the drama club." Her attention turned back to the set of keys that Maia was jingling in the palm of her hand. It was true that snooping around the school might've seemed like a bit of a childish act, but it wasn't like Cameron had anything better to do, did she? There was of course that party that was going on, but even those could get kind of boring. They were all just the same thing anyway - the popular kids creating unnecessary drama, people getting high on whatever the hell they could find, sex... It wasn't like the next party to come up would be any different.

"I might actually come with you guys." She needed something to do to kill the time. Plus, even if it was unlikely she'd admit it out loud, the drama kids would probably offer better company than whoever was at the party. Maia was always a fairly outgoing and nice person from the times she talked to her, and Aimee? Cameron honestly didn't know all too much about her on a personal level, but she still respected her for being someone who appeared genuinely kind instead of fake about it. She was also a little bit soft-spoken and innocent too, at least in Cameron's opinion, but there was nothing wrong with that. In fact, it was a little bit endearing.

"If you guys are okay with it though. I don't want to intrude on anything."

MAIA CHAMBERS

"Well, I don't really think it's technically okay, but they never said we couldn't do it. I mean, they gave us a master key for a reason, right?" By the way Aimee was mentioning those fake horror movies, it almost seemed like she wanted something bad to happen. "Well, we're not in a slasher movie though, are we? It's not like we'll run into some scary serial killer who's been locked in the basement this entire time or something." She faked a small but still exaggerated gasp of air. "Or maybe we actually will? Who knows. We'll only find out if we actually start looking around." With a pleased smile on her face, she looked over at Lucy and shrugged. "You're not entirely wrong, but the school is only boring because we've only seen the boring parts. Don't you want to see what they're hiding?" The logic made sense to Maia. If there was something the staff wasn't revealing to the students, there had to be a reason, and Maia wanted to find out. That, and normally they would've gotten in trouble for exploring places they shouldn't be sticking their heads in. There weren't any adults around to dictate what they could and couldn't do. They should be taking advantage of their free rein.

"And of course you can come! Like I said, anyone is welcome to." She didn't really feel the need to ask Aimee's permission first in this case. Knowing her, she'd probably be the type to go along with whoever decided to join. Maia didn't think there was any beef between her and Cameron, anyway, or at least none that she heard of before. There most likely wasn't going to be any problems. That was what Maia wanted to hope. "But seriously, this is my last call before I'm out of here."  

CAMERON MORGADO REYES

"I think it would be pretty fun to find a dead body lying around, actually. It would make this place a lot more interesting, you know?" It was obvious she was joking, simply from how dry her tone of voice was. Still, it wasn't as though Cameron felt like she was entirely wrong, either. Other than classic high school drama, nothing special ever occurred in their school. Sure, there were things like the Nazi room Lucy mentioned, which Cameron definitely remembered hearing about before in various rumors, but that wasn't anything super shocking. Well, it definitely wasn't anything that most other schools had, but rumors still didn't mean its existence was actually true. "It sure is interesting that you're so intrigued by this swastika room." One of Cameron's eyebrows raised as she looked at Lucy. Her tone remained sarcastic, though she knew there was always the chance that the blonde might take her implications the wrong way. Hopefully not though. Even if Lucy wasn't the nicest person, that shouldn't affect her ability to understand sarcasm.

She shook her head slightly. "Really though, the only reason the janitor is in hiding is because the people in this school are fucking disgusting. I don't blame him." Cameron's chocolate brown eyes slowly shifted to gaze down at Aimee. "I wouldn't be too worried about finding anything weird though. I'm pretty sure it'd be hard to hide something like that in a school." Realistically, the chances of something like that happening were little to none. Cameron wasn't the type to really think further than that. There was no reason to freak herself out over her own thoughts and assumptions, even if there still could be a very slight possibility. "So... yeah. No need to panic over something we don't know about yet." She calmly shrugged.

MAIA CHAMBERS

Of all things, Maia definitely wasn't expecting Lucy to suddenly decide to tag along. Her change of heart was interesting, especially after saying how "immature" the idea was, but the brunette wasn't opposed to her coming either. After all, she was still enforcing the whole "anyone is welcome to join" thing. "See? You can't even deny that you're a little bit curious." A little laugh escaped from her her lips and she quickly turned towards the doors with the keys still grasped in her hands. "Dead body or not, we should get going. The swastika room is definitely a place we should try looking for. Gotta confirm if the rumors are true, right?" She walked down the aisle between the seats and headed over to the exit. Once she was by the wooden doors, Maia pushed them open and held it open with the heel of her foot for the other girls. She let go once all of them walked through and was able to rejoin the group with a few quick strides.

"By any chance, do any of you guys believe in ghosts?" It was probably a weird question to ask out of the blue, but it was relevant for the ideas that Maia had. Personally, she wasn't really sure about her stance on the subject. She saw things before that were hard to explain, but whether or not it was actually a ghost's doing was unknown to the girl. "I heard some stories here and there that there are some ghosts in our school. Like, I heard there was a girl who who died in one of the classroom closets or something like that. I don't really remember, and I doubt it's true, but... it would still be fun to check out." Her head tilted to glance at Lucy as they walked down the hallway. "But first of all, where is this swastika room even supposed to be?"

CAMERON MORGADO REYES

Cameron wasn't quite sure if she ever heard Maia's story before. Chances were, she probably had before, but it escaped her memory. When it came to horror stories, she personally never found the supernatural ones as threatening. She was the type of person who'd be more afraid of cold hard facts rather than the unknown. "I don't really believe in ghosts. Most of the time it's just people making things up for fame." Usually she would rely on science to determine if things were real or not from a practical standpoint, but Cameron would admit that sometimes there were occurrences that were beyond what any scientific evidence could explain. "I'm not saying they're fake, though. I'll believe it when I see it." As long as she couldn't prove that they were fake for certain, it was probably the best decision to stay at least a little open-minded.

It was when they turned the corner and approached the steps leading down to the bottom floor when the lights suddenly flicked off, leaving the area in pitch black darkness. The only ray of light she could see was coming from behind them, shining faintly from one of the windows. As the seconds passed, the light was only getting dimmer, as it was already getting pretty late. In the darkness, Cameron's brows began to furrow. It was definitely weird for the lights to shut off all of a sudden. There wasn't a storm or anything, so what knocked the power out? She reached into her back pocket and slipped her phone out. She pressed her thumb against the home button to unlock it and pressed on the flashlight icon. The phone was able to illuminate a small area in front of her, which she soon tilted to point down towards the stairs. "So... are we still going to go?"

MAIA CHAMBERS

"Or something?" There was a playful edge to her tone and one of her eyebrows curiously raised up. "Something like... I don't know... genuinely wanting to come with us? It's not hard to see through your excuses." Lucy was supposed to be like some bitchy ice queen, wasn't she? So why would she give a damn whether or not they tripped and died or something else ridiculous? "That's a very interesting way to describe your beliefs though. I honestly wasn't expecting something so philosophical from someone like you." Maia didn't really mean that in an offensive way, she was just being honest. She would've expected a much more blunt answer from the blonde. It was the little jab Lucy made next that made Maia dramatically place a hand over her chest, as if she was in pain. "Ouch. You really don't have to go attacking me like that."

Maia continued following behind them, but came to a quick stop when the lights suddenly vanished. They were left nearby the stairs in the darkness, or at least only for a few moments before Cameron turned the flashlight on her phone on. Maia couldn't help but wince slightly at the sudden streak of light. "A warning would've been nice." She heard the taller brunette mutter a little "sorry". Maia reached into her pocket and took out her phone, turning the flashlight on. She first pointed up to the ceiling lights, which were obviously still out, before letting out a little sigh. As if the darkness was nothing, she casually walked down the stairs with the light pointing forward. "Well, there's no reason we shouldn't, is there? This is just setting the mood."

CAMERON MORGADO REYES

Even when the area was shrouded in darkness and she felt delicate hands wrapping around her arm out of nowhere, Cameron didn't flinch at all. Most people would've probably freaked out at the feeling of something grabbing them in the dark, simply due to classic horror movie cliches, but she didn't think someone latching onto her in this way really fit that cliche down to a T. It was only when she turned on her flashlight that she saw it was actually Aimee who was holding on, and honestly, Cameron didn't blame her. She wasn't mad or disgusted by the contact, and she couldn't figure why anyone would be. If grabbing onto someone made her feel better, then Cameron didn't mind. "I think the only way to check if it's safe is to actually go down there," Cameron said, despite the fact that Maia was already a few steps down the stairs. Lucy was quick to follow after, leaving Cameron alone with Aimee nearby the first step. With the light, she gestured over to the stairs.

"You can go first." She wasn't saying this because she was scared to go ahead, but because she knew Aimee probably would be. If they did happen to come across anything, it would be Maia or Lucy who'd probably find it first. The person in the very back was usually the one who ended up in danger, at least in stereotypical slashers, but Cameron wasn't going to tell her that. She'd probably freak out. The only reason Cameron was so calm was because she was sure this was just some sort of coincidence. Some dude wasn't actually going to grab her shoulder in the dark and try to kill her.

When she felt her phone vibrate in her hand, Cameron looked away from Aimee and over at the screen. The notification was from an unknown number. What was even weirder was that the other three also seemed to conveniently get a text right at the same time. Cameron tapped on the notification before it could vanish, and when she read the contents of the text, she couldn't help but slightly tilt her phone screen further away from view. She quickly skimmed through the bottom half of the text.

"Go, or I will reveal your secrets to everyone.

Down the stairs, bottom floor.

Right.

Down the hallway, left.

Storage unit."

Normally, she would've passed this off as a really wild prank, but there was something that put the brunette on edge. Who the hell was this person and how did they know her secrets? "Yeah... I got it too."

MAIA CHAMBERS

She was glad that at least one of them understood the way she was seeing things. "That's the spirit, Lucy. The lights shutting off is really just something in our favor, yeah? This just makes it more exciting." After all, this really wouldn't be as much of a spooky scary ghost hunt if everything was fine and dandy, right? Things were only starting to feel a little bit more real. Sure, it was a little bit annoying that their vision was limited now and their phone battery would be murdered in the process of hunting for the rooms, but Maia was positive it would all be worth it in the end. "Think about it. Maybe the ghost heard what we were talking about. This might simply be a calling." Of course, she was joking once again, but a little part of Maia did actually hope this was a little more than just coincidence.

It appeared like her wish came true after all when they received the texts. By the time Maia was finished reading it, her brows were furrowed and her brown eyes were slightly widened. Who the fuck...? She exited out of the app and glanced back over her shoulder to look at the others. "Uh... did you guys get directions too?" Was there literally some ghost in the school haunting them? Maia wasn't so sure how she felt about going now. It wasn't like she had a choice, anyway. This person... ghost... with knowledge of their secrets, they were just like marionettes. Who knew what they'd have to do next. "I guess we have to go, right?" Maia didn't want to anymore. Still, as she approached the bottom step, she followed as the text said and took a right.

CAMERON MORGADO REYES

It didn't seem like Aimee's protests mattered at all because the other two girls were still continuing forward, following the directions listed at the bottom of the text message. It did make her wonder about the smaller girl though. Had she not been threatened with a secret? The only reason Cameron was going along with following some stupid text was because of it. She didn't need other people finding out about that shit. Otherwise, she would've just thought this was some very well organized prank. There was nothing she could say to comfort Aimee, because honestly, Cameron agreed with her. Instead she stayed quiet. Everything about receiving threatening texts from unknown numbers screamed "dangerous". As menacing as it seemed, there was no way in hell she was turning back.

Right, down the hallway, left.

They finally made it to the room mentioned in the text. Cameron stood back as Lucy opened the door, and she brushed past the other girls to examine what was inside. She pointed the light all over the room to find that there wasn't a person waiting there, but a message. "Check your phones." Instead of doing just that, however, Cameron continued flashing the light on one of the red letters drawn out on the wall. The top half of the letter was dry for the most part by now, though she could see little red droplets dripping from the bottom. The sight of it made her brows furrow. Now that she was thinking about it, wouldn't the smell of paint be a lot stronger? This was way too unusual and stereotypical.

She only lowered her phone down from the red message to examine the latest text sent. This one was definitely a little more unnerving than the last, with detailed descriptions ensuring there was no escape from their school. Cameron looked up from the screen while rolling her eyes slightly. "Yeah... I'm not really in the mood for this today. There's no way every single door in this school is locked. I'm going to go look around."

MAIA CHAMBERS

Maia didn't really mind when Lucy suddenly sped up and took the lead in their group. As long as they were all going in the same direction, it didn't really matter who was in what order. They soon arrived at the room, and she let Lucy and Cameron go in first before entering herself. Once she was inside, she pointed the light around and immediately felt a weird sensation in the pit of her stomach. This was really making her feel uncomfortable in a way she was sure she had never felt before. "Yeah... this is really weird..." Her voice was a feeble little mutter. It was easy to tell that she was starting to get a little bit freaked out now. Maia looked away from the red writing on the wall and looked at the latest message on her phone. She didn't want to spend time thinking about whether or not the paint was actually paint or not.

She definitely agreed with Cameron about not being feeling like dealing with this shit. Sure, she was the one who said that being in the dark would set the mood for all the creepy things they'd find, but this? This was just going a little bit too far. "I don't really know if you should go alone though. People always die in the horror movies that way." Strange. Wasn't comparing what was happening now to a horror movie saying something? Her thoughts came to a quick halt when she heard a noise coming from down the hallway. Her brown eyes began to widen and she could feel her heart starting to race. What the hell was that? The sounds got louder, and louder, like it was approaching. Maia quickly turned to the door and flashed her light there, only to see several other members of the drama club. She let out a huff of air in relief. So those had just been footsteps, right? Hopefully?

"You guys are in here too? Did you get the texts?" one of the males in the new group said. That only brought up even more questions. Why was everyone receiving the messages? Wasn't this just a prank?

"Wait. If everyone's here, then who sent it?"

CAMERON MORGADO REYES

This was all just getting more and more unexplainable by the second. Cameron looked back at the drama kids who were crowding around by the opening of the door and staring at their phones or the writing on the wall with comically wide eyes. If anything, the sight of them just made her feel a little bit frustrated. Who the hell bothered making a plan this elaborate? If this really was some prank, it wasn't very amusing. She blinked and glanced down at Aimee as she began speaking, and by the time the shorter girl was done, the brunette's head was slightly tilted. Of all people who would volunteer to go with her, she wasn't expecting Aimee. Especially considering how timid she was in the past few minutes. Exploring the dark hallways was probably one of the scariest things to do at a time like this, especially now that they were receiving orders from this unknown person. Maybe that's why she was tagging along? Was she even the type to actually go along with what this dude was saying?

It was hard to tell what Cameron was thinking from her neutral expression. Her lips were pressed into a thin line as she stared at Aimee before eventually shrugging. "Sure, okay." Cameron didn't think anything would go wrong with her following. Plus, she didn't think Aimee would be the type to question what she was doing or be stupid enough to roam away. "We're going to head down the 400 hallway first then, towards the entrance of the school. You guys can do what you want. For all we know, there might not even be anyone to overpower. Splitting up into groups covers more ground." Without saying anything else, she headed towards the door, brushing past one of the drama kids as she did so. The rest who were huddled nearby the door quickly cleared an opening for her to walk through. Cameron walked right past them and turned to the right of the hallway. Although she didn't stop and wait for Aimee, she did slow her pace down so the other girl could catch up.

MAIA CHAMBERS

Stealing, huh? So that's what Lucy's command entailed? Maia was glad she hadn't gotten something like that. Compared to what Lucy got, her own demand was pretty mediocre. It was a good thing too, because Maia wouldn't be able to bring herself to steal, even if it was just a piece of gum or something like that. She just... wasn't really the type of person. She wondered what everyone else received in their text messages, and as much as she wanted to ask, the brunette knew that they were probably kept hidden for a reason. Revealing all of them out to everyone might instigate a fight, especially if these orders would end up being mandatory. How these orders would be enforced was something that Maia was unsure about, and at the same time, she really wasn't sure if she wanted to know. That is, if this actually wasn't just some finely crafted prank.

"Agreed. We should probably go check all the exits before we do anything else." If it turned they could actually leave, then what plan did they have to make? If she was able to, Maia was going to get the hell out of here and never return until Monday. All she wanted to do was forget about this strange experience. It was true that by splitting up, they'd probably be able to find out if there was an unlocked door a lot faster, but Maia liked the idea of sticking with the rest of the people present. Having that many people around was just safer for many obvious reasons. "So, uh, I guess we go check the opposite hallways then? I mean, those two are already gone and there's no point in following after them." Hopefully Cameron and Aimee would be fine despite their lack in numbers. Surely there wasn't actually some weird psycho lurking around in the dark hallways?

"Let's start going now. I want to leave this place." One of the kids standing near the door nodded before taking the lead down the other hallway. The students filed out of the room and followed close behind.

CAMERON MORGADO REYES

It took a few moments before the brunette finally tilted her head to look down at the shorter girl. She could see shadows on one half of Aimee's face due to the ray of light emitting from her phone ahead of them. It wasn't until now that she was standing right beside her that she actually realized how much smaller Aimee was in comparison. Well, of course there was an obvious difference that anyone could see from taking a quick glance, but Cameron never thought something like that would concern her. From the text she received and what she heard of Lucy's, she could assume that the original sender - whoever that may be - was attempting to pit everyone against each other. Cameron wasn't one who liked to underestimate people without know much, but if this wasn't just some sort of fucked up prank, would Aimee be able to handle herself? She didn't want her or anybody else within the building to have beef with each other all because of a text.

Cameron realized she was staring at Aimee for quite a while now, so she quickly blinked her eyes and looked away. It wasn't her intention at all to accidentally unnerve her by staring her down. "Sorry." Her voice was like a little mutter as she spoke the single word, though she sounded sincere. "I was thinking about something." Luckily, she did hear Aimee's questions in the middle of her trance, so she shrugged before beginning to answer. "It's nothing, really." Cameron didn't think she really needed to be thanked for letting her come along, but she supposed she appreciated the gesture. Though, at a time like this, she would've thought most people would feel comfortable being around more people. At least going off of shitty horror movie logic, there was less that could happen to such a huge group. "Honestly? I have no idea what'll happen if we don't listen." Cameron wanted to say something a little more reassuring, but she wasn't going to lie to Aimee when she was just as clueless. "But, we don't really know who's texting or what they're capable of, so I wouldn't really worry about it for now."

It only took a few more minutes of walking before they finally arrived at one of the side doors exiting out of the school. The brunette approached it and used her hand that wasn't grasping onto her phone to push against it. "Hm. It won't even budge."

MAIA CHAMBERS

"What's up with you all of a sudden?" The question wasn't aimed to be hostile, but Maia couldn't help but notice that Lucy was speaking a lot more than she usually did. Considering she was the type who usually spoke up to get something or to add in a snarky comment, it was a bit weird that Lucy was trying to strike some conversation instead. It wasn't that Maia minded. In fact, she was a little bit grateful because she would've preferred speaking rather than awkwardly wandering the dark hallways in silence. "I don't really know what this dude wants from us, but I hope he's had enough already. I just want to go home." Maia could hear a few people muttering in agreement behind her. She already had plans to go to that party occurring today, and whatever what was happening now was really getting in the way of it.

Her lips tugged into a little smile before she leaned just slightly closer to the blonde. "You're not scared, are you?" It was obvious from her tone that Maia was just trying to mess with the girl. Joking around made her feel like the atmosphere was less serious and eerie than it actually was. "Not to call you out or anything, but it's usually the people acting all high and mighty who are the most afraid, y'know." The volume of her voice was just a bit louder than a whisper, although it got louder after she let out a chuckle. "But seriously. If we're actually locked in here, what're we supposed to do then?" This time when she spoke, Maia was actually being serious. She didn't want to think about what would happen in that case, but she still felt like it was important enough to be mentioned. "Would we just follow the texts then?" She knew that Lucy specifically told them not to do that, but what other choice did they have? The guy mentioned that it wasn't capable to get out. Hopefully for their own sake, he'd be incorrect.

CAMERON MORGADO REYES

Her hands slowly slipped away from the door to give Aimee the opportunity to try to push it open. She watched as the shorter girl leaned against the handle, only to give up a few seconds after, much like Cameron had done herself. Instead of answering Aimee's question at first, she turned away, pointing the light away from the locked exit and over to a classroom door across the hall. "I was actually wondering something similar." She knew that there were some windows coming up along the hall, but there was something specifically within the classrooms that Cameron wanted to check. Some of them happened to have some doors leading into little outdoor areas, though they were blocked by walls. Would those places be left unlocked? It wasn't like there was a way to escape those areas unless someone was capable of climbing up a tall flat wall.

The only noise was the sound of her footsteps as she walked to the door. Her free hand gripped onto the doorknob and she turned it. A bit surprisingly, the door opened with ease. It normally would've been expected for a teacher to lock their doors after leaving the classroom. Cameron didn't express her concerns aloud however and continued into the room. Inside, the lighting was dim from the street lights outside. Still, it was necessary to use the flashlight from her phone to visibly see the items laying around. The only desk that had anything on it was the teacher's. Everything else was neatly put on display on various shelves or counters. There was a single door in the room that probably led to the closet.

The first thing the brunette did was walk over to the windows. She took hold of the edge of it and tried pushing it, but no matter what, it wouldn't unlock. Was every single window in this building locked? How would anyone have the time to do that? "I really don't know what this guy is doing, but I hope he knows that he's a dumbass if he thinks a window is going to stop me." A bit stubbornly, Cameron turned around and walked over to the teacher's desk. She shined the light on it, looking at the different belongings on top of it before picking one of them up. In her hands was a little metallic clock she got from the corner of the wooden table. It was quite heavy in her hands despite it's small size. "Stay back, okay?"

Cameron walked over to the window, stopping when she was standing just a few feet away from it. She raised up her hand that was gripped onto the clock and quickly launched it through the window. A loud crashing noise was created as the clock broke through the glass, followed by a thudding noise of the object falling onto the ground outside. With a little smile finally making way to her face, Cameron gestured over to the broken window with her hand. Shards of glass were scattered over the floor. "See? That was easy. Now you can leave as long as you can fit through." Her tone was a bit sarcastic.

The feeling of her phone vibrating in her hand made Cameron look away from Aimee. A new text was displayed from the unknown number from earlier.

"I wouldn't suggest doing that."

Cameron rolled her brown eyes and sighed. "Never mind. The bitch said no."

MAIA CHAMBERS

Maia turned her head to look at Lucy. A very slight smile was on her face as one of her eyebrows quickly quirked up. "Is that really it though?" Her tone was challenging as she spoke. "I'm pretty sure that you said something along the lines of that earlier." She let out an amused chuckle and crossed her arms just slightly, all while still continuing to hold her phone up with the light. "I wouldn't really trust you to be the closest thing to an adult supervisor, either. If anything, I feel like it should be the other way around." Maia felt like she was responsible enough to handle people. She already did that within her own friend group. Lucy, however? Maia didn't really know about Lucy aside from what she was already aware of, but she could say that the blonde was a questionable choice for the supposed supervisor.

Maia looked away from Lucy and back ahead of them. Her shoulders raised up into a little shrug. "Well, I guess it's true that we won't die or anything." Saying that made the brunette feel a little bit better. If there was no risk, then there was no point in following the orders, right? What Lucy mentioned did make a new question appear in her head though. "How do we even know that this dude is still around here though?" If she remembered correctly, the guy did talk about how he could see through all the cameras at some point. That could either mean that he was hanging around the main office or somehow spectating from outside the school. Or, of course, it was likely that the statement might've just been said to scare everyone.

"Oh hey, the door's coming up. We should go check it out."

//im in pain from typing this on my phone, i hope it doesn't show

CAMERON MORGADO REYES

The brunette's brows furrowed for a second before she shrugged. Aimee was definitely right about this unknown man sending the text unusually quickly. She supposed he wasn't lying when he said he had access to the cameras. That only brought up more questions. Where the hell was he? Did this mean that he was serious about the requests he sent out to everyone? What the hell was even the point in this? Instead of answering Aimee's question at first, all Cameron did was tilt her head slightly while gazing at the shorter girl. "Are you okay?" Realistically, the answer from anyone was probably "no". After all, who the hell would want to be locked up in school of all places? Cameron was just starting to become a little bit concerned because something seemed a little bit... off about Aimee. "You look almost like you're waiting for something to jump at you."

It took a moment, but soon there was a little smile on her face. She was just teasing Aimee and hoped it didn't end up sounding condescending instead. After all, it wasn't like she was acting the most normal in this situation either. Being unusually calm and blocking things out just happened to be the way Cameron tended to cope. Currently, there weren't any signs that this would be a huge threat, anyway. She momentarily glanced at the broken window before looking at Aimee. "Who knows what he has planned. I'm kind of tempted to hop out. I literally told my fucking dog I'd be back home soon." People who claimed they didn't speak to their pets at all were just liars. Cameron was starting to feel a little bit bad now, though. She still hadn't even walked him yet and she had no idea when the rest of her family was even going to get home.

Cameron released a little sigh and shook her head. "Just in case, don't actually do anything with that window. You might cut yourself. And then there's the guy too, of course. We don't know if he's serious or not." She finally moved away from where she stood to walk back over to the desk. She began opening the drawers, hoping to find something interesting while digging through them. "I am kind of curious though. A window is broken, but what would happen if you did the same with a camera? Or just blocked it out with a piece of paper?" As Cameron rambled, she shifted her hands through many files that weren't of much concern. The noise of the papers only stopped when she found something hidden beneath them. Slowly, she picked up the object and raised it so Aimee could see.

"A key. Do you think it opens the closet?"

MAIA CHAMBERS

Judging by the smile that was on Maia's face, it was pretty easy to tell that she was still looking pretty unconvinced. Still, she was at least a little bit glad that Lucy owned up to the fact that she probably wasn't the best talker. Her shoulders raised up into a little shrug. "I don't really know if I'd consider that much of an accomplishment. Most people in the drama club have little to no muscle mass - including me. But good for you, I guess. Be prepared to take out this crazed killer for us." Her tone dripped with sarcasm as she took a little side-glance at Lucy. Where did she even get the idea that there was some murderous psychopath roaming around, anyway? Sure, everything that was happening so far was textbook horror, but it wasn't like anything was confirmed yet. She wanted to at least stay a little bit hopeful in case everything did go to shit.

Unfortunately, Maia wasn't that surprised to find out that the doors were indeed locked. She let out a disappointed sigh, a little frown now present on her face. "I... I don't really know. How can someone lock every door in here that quickly? Maybe we should split up and see if any of them are open?" Truthfully, nothing up to this point made much sense. She wouldn't know why one door out of all of them would miraculously be left open, but maybe it was worth trying? Maia wasn't sure what to do right now, but it wasn't like they had very many options to begin with. "Or... what if we try calling someone? If he's texting us, the service is obviously still working." Maia paused to warily glance around, her voice dropping in volume the next time she spoke. "I mean... I think he said not to contact anyone, but, what could go wrong if we do? We could just call the police or something."

When Maia heard a little dinging noise from her phone, she looked away from the others and glanced down at the screen. Displayed on it was a new message from the mysterious sender.

"Don't break the rules."

Maia tilted the screen slightly so that Lucy could see. "It's threatening, but... we don't even know what he's capable of, right?"