Chapter 4: Trapped in Horror

I grew up in a family where intelligence was everything. My parents valued knowledge and achievement above all else, and my older brother was the golden child who embodied those qualities. From a young age, I felt like I was living in his shadow, constantly trying to prove myself to my parents but never quite measuring up.

No matter how hard I tried, my parents never seemed to notice my efforts. My brother was the one who excelled in school, who won awards and accolades, and who received all the attention and praise. I, on the other hand, was just average. I worked hard, but my grades were never good enough, and my parents always found fault in my achievements.

As I got older, the feeling of being overlooked and underappreciated grew stronger. My parents began to focus all their attention on my brother's future, discussing college plans and career paths, while I was left alone, to fend for myself. It felt like they had given up on me, like they didn't believe I was capable of achieving anything significant. But my brother was not to blame, I couldn't hate him for what my parents did but I resent those who compare our strengths.

Desperate to impress my parents, I became singularly focused on my studies. I cut ties with my friends, thinking they were unnecessary distractions from my goal. I spent every waking moment studying, trying to improve my grades and prove my worth. But no matter how hard I tried, it was never good enough. My parents barely acknowledged my efforts, and I felt like I was invisible.

The final blow came when they sent me away to Oakwood high, a boarding school far away from the place I once called home. I was devastated, feeling like I was being cast aside and rejected by my own family. My parents told me it was for my own good, that I needed discipline and structure, but I knew the truth - they just didn't want to deal with me anymore.

But then, something unexpected happened after I spent my first three months in the school. I met Jesse and Mike, two outsiders like me, who were also struggling to find their place in the world. We bonded over our shared feelings of inadequacy and our desire for revenge against those who had wronged us. We made a pact to support each other, to lift each other up, and to take revenge on those who had hurt us.

With Jesse and Mike by my side, I finally felt like I belonged. We were a team, a trio of outcasts who were determined to make our mark on the world. Our bond grew stronger, and our ambition grew with it. We began to dream up bigger and better schemes, schemes that would show our enemies that we were not to be underestimated.

And so, our journey began. A journey of revenge, of redemption, and of self-discovery. We were three outsiders, united in our quest for justice, and determined to make our mark on the world.

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I still remember the day Mrs Gomez humiliated us infront of our class like it was yesterday. Ever since she found out who my parents were, she kept on reminding me of how good my brother was and I didn't measure up to him. I hated it. What made my blood boil even more was when she compared me to some brainless kid in school who just happens to get one mark above mine. I know I was put in this place because my parents deemed me insignificant, so I set out to be my own person. But she kept going on and on about my brother and it began to make my skin crawl. Making me relive all those times I was cast aside, never getting recognition from my parents, all those cold nights I spent on my ass studying just to be thrown away like an insignificant pebble was hell for me. That was when it dawned on me to make her pay and make her life so miserable, she'd beg for forgiveness.

Mike and Jesse were in the same boat as me. We all had our pasts that needed to be kept covered. She kept on using them against us anyway, not caring about the damage it caused. Our desire to get back at her made our friendship even much stronger. We made up our minds to pull a prank on her, one that would leave her scarred for months.

We snuck into her home when no one was looking but something didn't seem right as we approached the house. A sudden movement in the bushes startled me but I didn't have time to investigate it and then there was the unlocked door when we made it to the entrance. I just had these strange feelings in my gut that there was something wrong.

Mike headed in first with me following last. It seemed Mrs Gomez had a visitor before our arrival that night but I couldn't help but stare at an odd item on a coffee table. I took the sleeping pills and showed them to Jesse and Mike who were at that time just looking around.

That chilling look in Mike's eyes when he suggested we had our fun with her as she drugged herself to sleep gave me goosebumps. I knew then what Mike was suggesting we do but I knew it he had already made his way towards her bedroom. We were about to cross a line that shouldn't have been crossed.

I entered the bedroom seeing Mike on top of Mrs Gomez but I just froze, stood there and said nothing. Jesse was right behind me but he didn't even try to do anything to stop Mike. Who am I to talk? I remember the trembling sensation in Jesse's hands as he pulled out his phone to record as Mike did what he wanted. We were all scared but Mike was determined to make that woman pay and didn't care what it took. We just stood there and listened to his instructions.

All I could think of was that Mike's reaction was one of any normal teenager who would have seen Mrs Gomez's body as she lay helpless in her white nightgown. Her beautiful pale body screaming to be touched. But it was wrong, we had no right to go that far but once our mind was made up there was no going back.

Jesse held up the phone and began recording, but just as Mike was about to commit the deed, something strange happened. Mrs Gomez eyes popped open with terror, letting out a scream so loud you would have mistaken her for a siren. Mike bounced off the bed, I panicked, caught in a dilemma. But either of us could react, Jesse's instincts took over and he covered her face with a pillow. At that point he was going to suffocate her but my body froze. I could tell Mike was scared but not Jesse, his face seemed determined as if he knew what he was doing.

Everything was happening so fast. The veins in Jesse's arm began to pop out. He was strengthening his grip on the pillow as the poor woman struggled for air. Suddenly an eerily silence fell over the room. We had done the unthinkable. She was dead. Jesse's desperate attempt to keep her quiet had killed her instead. There was no going back from that. If only I hadn't found those stupid pills then we wouldn't have been in that mess.

We all stood there letting the reality of what we had done sink in. The room was silent, and I could hear the sound of my heart beating and the heavy breathing of my friends. It was as if time had stopped and all that existed was the three of us , trapped in that moment of horror.

The weight of our actions crushed me. If only I had spoken up and stopped Mike we wouldn't be in this predicament.

The stuttering sound of the phone Jesse had been using to record smashed against the wall woke me up from my daydream. Mike panicked but deep down he knew he was the one who got us in that mess or so I thought. We ran as fast as we could and blended with a group of students who just finished prepping and headed to our dorms.

We got to the dorms, undetected, and I realized the mistake we had just made. We had to go back and wipe away any trace of our presence from the house ASAP. But it was too late to go back so we decided to go back the next day. Guilt and anxiety washed over me, thinking of the life we had taken. My parents would disown me if they found out what I did.

I tried to keep a low profile, but whispers of Mrs Gomez's sudden absence followed me everywhere. I met up with Mike and Jesse in the hallway, where they were already engaged in a conversation. Given that our school is full of curious minds, it was inevitable. Just as I thought our backs were about to hit the wall we got saved by a random teacher who happened to pass by.

After class we snuck back into the house but the pills from the other night were gone. I know I put it back and didn't leave it anywhere. That bottle had my fingerprints on it and I had to find it. I panicked and told Mike about it but I was interrupted by Jesse who had found something interesting that day. An envelope containing pictures of Mrs Gomez and another female teacher having an affair. The possibility of someone else blackmailing her made me forget a crucial detail that could ruin my life. If the school found out what Mrs Gomez had been doing, it might have ruined her career. If only we had found it sooner we could have used it against her but now it's too late.

Time was wasting and we needed to hurry up and leave. We got to the bedroom and Jesse and Mike started the cleaning: picking up the pieces of the broken phone and cleaning the body and the pillow to remove any fingerprints we might have left behind. Suddenly my eyes fell on the bed where Mike was cleaning and my mind flashed back to the other night where I thought I'd seen four pillows but now that we were back again there were only three left. My mind started processing the details step by step and I remembered that I almost forgot about the pills. First it was the pills and now it was the pillow. I wondered if her blackmailer came back into the room but he wouldn't have taken the pillow because he wouldn't have known.

I blurted out my theories to Mike and Jesse but they thought I was just feeling anxious. I thought, what if they were right, and I was just feeling the pressure of everything and my brain is just trying to keep up. But at the same time I doubted myself. Some part of me knew I was right in thinking that. There was no time my calculations were wrong but this time it was different. Maybe that's why I couldn't measure up to my brother and that's why my parents never accepted me.

As we hurried out and walked away from the house. Mike suddenly stopped in his tracks, his eyes fixed on something on the ground. It was a piece of paper folded into a square shape on the sidewalk. We hesitated before we opened it. What was written on the paper confirmed my deepest fears and Mike and Jesse knew I wasn't just being paranoid. The person who left the note had been observing us in the shadows and might come out anytime to strike. The thought of that sent a chill down my spine.

We needed to get out of there before someone saw us there. We took the note and walked away trying to act as normal as we could but my legs weren't in correspondence with my brain. I panicked and ran. Mike and Jesse couldn't help it. I could tell they were scared. We made it behind our classroom block where we decided to meet up in the library later so we parted ways.

Now that it had been confirmed we knew we had to play it safe and not draw attention to ourselves. We needed to watch who we talk to and who we call our friends. Everyone was a suspect. I made it to class just in time before preps but I never knew where Mike and Jesse had gone. I thought they might be already waiting for me at the library so I started to pack my things.

As I was packing, someone behind kept their eyes on me, watching everything I was doing. They made me feel uncomfortable. I tried to look back but I couldn't make out the person's face. I needed to get out of there, I could feel like they were looking right into my soul.

Days later, in the cafeteria with Mike and Jesse, I noticed a girl who kept glancing our way, unfazed by our eye contact. The way she looked at us felt familiar. How could a beautiful girl have such cold eyes I thought.

I told Mike and Jesse about the experience I had and how the girl might be connected but they thought of her as too fragile to be the one. I knew there was more to her than she was letting on.

After seeing her once, I kept on seeing her whenever I was alone. That look in her eyes was really putting my nerves on edge. I didn't know what she wanted so I had to approach her but I never got the chance.

That day I saw her in class but she was sitting in the same direction I felt those piercing eyes from last time. She was staring at me through our entire lesson, I couldn't focus. Class was finally over and I needed to get out of there but I was caught off guard when someone suddenly touched me. It was her, my stalker. How could someone with such cold eyes have a soft touch, she was beautiful even more up close.

She invited me to talk and I followed behind her quietly. We arrived at the oak tree behind our class and that was when she broke the ice and told me her feelings for me and she was following me around. At that time I felt bad for thinking that she was somehow connected to the person who left the note but it seemed my calculations failed me this time. Even though she was pretty I couldn't get her involved with someone like me, a murderer. It just wouldn't sit right with me.

She left crying after what I told her but I felt bad for what I did. I went back to class, Mike and Jesse squeezed out all the details about what happened but after they heard what I had to say they kept on nagging and nagging. They were right though I should find her and apologize.

Three weeks passed and I hardly saw her, it's as if she was avoiding me. But it was the least of my problems. Mrs Smith, a new transfer who happens to arrive three weeks before Mrs Gomez disappearance, started snooping around. I knew she was going to bring trouble but not that fast.

She discovered Mrs Gomez's body in her house when she went to search for her. She made matters worse but it was only a matter of time before someone would have found the body. The next day the principal informed the whole school about the news but we already knew since it was us who had killed her. Now that the police were involved we were on high alert. Just as I thought it wasn't going to get worse than what it already was I received a note addressed to only me. Mike and Jesse were too caught up in their own fears to be reasoned with so I decided to follow the instructions on the note on my own.

We made sure there was no evidence left behind but I knew it was possible that someone had also been there that night. And that someone happened to be none other than the fragile girl who stood there as I approached her where she said to meet. The words she muttered made my mind go blank for a second. That was when I realized something, the woman in the pictures that night was Mrs Smith. She was also involved in this somehow but now I've to deal with Emily before anything else.