6. Chapter Six
Chapter six
It was way too late at night to sneak around in the library, but here I was, using the computers in the darkness. The librarians had all left, and the lights were shut off for the night. I was only able to sneak in here through an open window, but I needed to know what was up with this place. Was it always a shit show?
The paper in my pocket burned with my thoughts of revenge. The asshole treated me like cattle. Well, the joke was on him. Tomorrow, I was going to buy his stupid ass at the auction and lead him to social slaughter.
Your anger will set the path of your fate. Run child…while you still can.
I jolted from the whispered words in the air, swiveling my head from side to side to see who was there.
Nobody but me…
“Who are you? Are you really my grandmother?” I said, my hands shaking as I peered into the dark areas of the room. The only light I had was the moon from outside and the glow of the laptop screens.
Apparently, this was a one-sided conversation with a ghost. They didn’t want to respond when I talked to them. It was exclusive to spoken omens only.
“Okay then,” I mumbled.
I typed another search in the browser, waiting for the screen to load and show me the old-school black-and-white images of news articles.
Vivian Valentine and fourteen other women have gone missing.
Vivian Valentine and fourteen other women are thought to have been murdered. Ongoing investigations by local police show no traces of any of them leaving the premises alone from Valemtum Drive.
Saint Valentine and the other husbands of the missing wives said they were unsure where the women were, and their alibis were each other.
Fourteen women were murdered in a ritualistic manner on Valemtum Drive. Husbands are not commenting on the evidence found of their wives’ bones on the grounds.
St. Valentine and his fourteen companions have commissioned the building of a university on the old burial ground of the slain fourteen.
St. Valentine and his late wife, Vivian, leave their fortune to their fourteen sons.
Our dear St. Valentine’s legacy will continue through his bloodline. His dearest of friends have all had hands in this school. We only hope it doesn’t crumble like the bones beneath it.
St. Valentine University is said to be one of the country’s most prestigious and sought-after universities!
St. Valentine has perished. He had one request in his will, later to be scrawled on his tombstone at the mausoleum built to house the fourteen founders.
“Sepulcrum meum ubi vita mea coepit. Sanguis meus est sanguis tuus. Ego sum Divinus.”
“Bury me where my life began. My blood is your blood. I am Divine.”
An offhand site led me to a personal blog of some podcaster where I listened to the news report.
“Every year since that old dead dude built the school, there have been multiple missing females. They are all about the same age range, and they all recently arrived at the school. Get this! They all go missing on the same day. Yep, you guessed it—Valentine’s Day. I may not be a cop, but that, to me, reads suspicious. Maybe if St. Valentine’s University didn’t have so much money pulling in every brick of the fucking castle that it is, there would be some more time put into finding out where all these girls magically disappeared to. If you ask me, I think it’s a cult…”
My eyes widened as I read the words. ‘A cult…’
I knew of the darkness that seemed to surround this place. It was hard not to see, but was it a cult? That seemed a bit much. I needed to do some more research into this. One thing I now knew for sure was that my ancestor was definitely murdered right here…so I guess those rumors were more than just ghost stories.
Did they build this school on the bones of their dead wives?
Something wasn’t adding up. I searched for my last name.
I saw a line of people from all walks of life. My lineage was filled with bastards galore because none of my ancestors could keep it in their damn pants. I couldn’t tell how far apart our history was, but that douche-hole Maddox and I were somehow distantly related.
Isn’t he my fourth cousin, according to this information?
That made what he did to me even more fucked up. Who humiliates their own distant relative?
Run child…The hunt approaches.
I jumped in my seat, knocking off the papers of notes I had written since my investigation had begun.
“Dammit! Listen, if you really are my dead great, great, great, great grandmother, can you please stop scaring me? I don’t respond to riddles! Just be more direct, for fuck’s sake!”
The window across from me rattled, and the blinds flew up. I screamed as the moonlight poured in from outside.
The wind stopped, and the air became silent. Apparently, my ancestor was pissed and now throwing a tantrum. I squinted my eyes and saw figures outside the window. They were cloaked in black hoodies, bags on their shoulders, and conversing on the creepy bridge that led to the dorms.
I hid under the window, peering through from the safety at the bottom. I couldn’t see shit about them, but there was a menacing air to the way they stood.
Those stupid hoodies blocked their faces, and I tried to see if they would face me, allowing themselves to be seen in the streetlamp above them.
The college was surrounded by them. It was all a creepy gothic castle. St. Valentine’s was beautiful but definitely belonged in a horror film.
I lifted the window slightly and craned my neck to hear the rushed words from outside.
“Why are you late? You always bitch at me about being punctual, but then you stroll up thirty minutes after our set time?”
The other figure smacked the talking one upside the head and sighed. “I was—you know what? Shut the fuck up. I am here now.”
A woman from the dorms across the way walked outside. I recognized her from the art class. She was not my biggest fan and glared at me for existing. Her name was Charli. The two figures scrambled away from the light and into the shadows.
Well, if that isn’t sketchy as fuck.
I got the absolute worst feeling, sinking deep into my gut.
The hunt begins…
I ignored my ghost ancestor and instead made my way to the library doors, being careful to sneak out and stay out of sight.
I could barely see the two figures in the dark, but they were walking up toward Charli. She was completely unaware of anything, and like the typical generational norm, her face was shoved in her phone. I sighed, fear and irritation swirling in my blood. I had to get her attention.
Taking a deep breath, I took off running. Right as the shadows started to emerge in the light, their hands were outstretched toward my classmate as they came up behind her.
Then they saw me.
“Hey! There you are!” I yelled loudly, earning a glare from the ungrateful woman. The two dark figures receded back into the shadows with a growl.
“Uh… do I know you?” she said.
I forced a laugh and looked over to where the figures had been. The light overhead was so bright that it made everything fuzzy in the dark. I cursed and continued my ruse. “Yes. I uh…you borrowed my sweater.”
The woman raised a brow, and I scratched my head, trying to think of anything to get her back in the dorm. “Yeah, at a party sometime. Anyway, we should head back because it’s cold out. I will tell you more inside.”
She backed away from me when I tried to lead her back toward the dorms.
“No way, weirdo. I am waiting for someone. And you can’t fuck this up.”
Two fucking creepy people that looked like they were about to kidnap you? I wanted to ask, but instead, I said, “Yeah, but I…really need my sweater back tonight. Like right now.”
I feigned coughing to prove a point. It was freezing, and flurries of snow were falling around my head.
Charli sighed. “Chick, I don’t even know what I supposedly borrowed from you.”
I smiled. “No worries, we can find it together in the dorm.”
She checked her phone and sighed. “Whatever. It looks like I got stood up. So, sure. Let’s go.”
I realized I had held my breath until that moment. I followed her as she walked to the Delta Phi housing building. When I dared to turn my back, I could see the faintest of silhouettes against the bridge and felt the intensity of their eyes as they glared at me while we walked away.