Chapter 3.

The first person to come was Arianne, a short, plump, rather quiet girl from Clarissa's dorm.

'Are you okay?' she asked worriedly, when she came across the girl, slumped against the bathroom door. 'I just heard this really loud scream...Clara was that you?'

Clara nodded weakly, 'Call the headmistress. You don't want to see what's behind that door...' she trailed off, remembering the bloodied mess. She felt sick. 'It's...it's Mrs.Cannock...she's dead. I'm pretty sure she's been murdered.' she began to stutter, her mind blurring.

Arianne stretched her eyes wide, in shock. She looked like a cat caught in the headlights. 'What?' she wailed, 'Is it April Fools day or something? What's that on the door handle?' She pointed at the toilet door handle, which was still stained with what Clara now recognised as blood.

The other girl gave out a high shriek, collapsing beside Clarissa on the floor. 'I...I'm not going in there...' she whispered. 'We need to get someone, maybe a teacher or something...'

For a few minutes, the two girls just sat there, terrified out of their wits as they stared at the formidable dark wooden door, also known as the toilet.

Just as Clara was about to try and get up, so she could fetch help or something, she started to hear voices coming from around the corner of the coridoor. She looked up hopefully, casting her eyes around the sharp bend, by the huge bay window she had hidden behind earlier.

'Help!' she croaked, 'Something absolutely dreadful has happened in the toilet...'

From around the corner, two teachers appeared, Mrs.Tate the head of English and Mrs.Ainsworth, the headmistress. Seeing the two girls on the floor, they both rushed forward in shock.

'Clarissa, Arianne! What on earth are you doing, sitting about in the school coridoors at midnight? Are you completely crazy? Do you not have any idea...' Mrs.Ainsworth stopped mid-sentence when she noticed the blood on the toilet door handle. She stopped walking and just stood there, the dim light of the candles lighting up her horror-stricken face.

'Miss...there's a body in there...' Clara whispered, 'It's horrible...I heard this scream, came out of my dormitory to see what had happened and then I opened the toilet door...' she felt repulsed, 'It's Mrs.Cannock, miss...somebody's gone and murdered her...'

Mrs.Ainsworth shook her head, doubtfully. 'Don't be ridiculous, child. It's probably just one of the Sixth Formers playing a joke on you. Don't worry, I'll just go and take a look now...' So against Clarissa and Arianne's protests, the headmistress of one of the best schools in the country pushed open the door to the toilet and took a step back, horrified by the sight that greeted her.

She raised a hand to her mouth in terror, 'Oh no...it's happening...' she whispered.

Clara squeezed her eyes shut, preventing herself from seeing the body once again. She felt herself slowly rocking backwards and forwards in shock. She heard Mrs.Tate recoil in horror and then began to open her eyes, wondering what Arianne's reaction to seeing their teacher dead, was.

She dien't have to wait long though. Soon, she was clutching her ears in pain, listening to what must have been the longest, loudest scream in history.

Slowly, girls from all the nearby dormitories, that were stretched around the top floor of the school, began to pour out into the coridoors. They called out in surprise and agitation,

'What's happening?'

'It's 1 o clock in the morning!'

'Is that the headmistress, standing in front of the toilet?'

'Is that blood? Has there been some kind of accident?'

Clara found herself getting up and yelling, to be heard above Arianne's screaming and the girls' shouting, 'Stop it everyone! Be quiet! Something terrible has happened in the night-Mrs.Cannock is dead. We have a murderer in our midst!'

Tired out and her throat sore, Clara started to stagger, only caught in time by Mrs.Ainsworth. A chair was pulled out of a nearby room, so Clarissa sat down, her head pounding.

'Everyone, I order you to get back to bed at this instant! Clara could vaguely hear Mrs.Ainsworth's voice, 'I will be dealing with this. By the morning, everything will be sorted out. You may have to be interviewed with the police at some point tomorrow but for now, I ask only for one thing, Do NOT even think about so much as trying to get into his toilet. I would rather you all did not have to witness the site that I have just had the misfortune to see.'

With that, all of the girls started to return to their dorms, muttering amongst themselves. Clarissa and Arianne however, stayed, their eyes fixed on the headmistress in shock and horror over what they had just witnesses. Mrs.Tate locked the toilet door, a frown etched on her face.

'I'll be guarding this,' she said, 'You never know when the girls are thinking about disobeying orders, Mrs.Ainsworth.' She laughed, a little shakily.

The headmistress sighed, 'Come along girls' she addressed Clara and Arianne, 'You're off to the sickbay.' As they both got up to follow Mrs.Ainsworth, they could still hear their friends talking from the nearby dorms.

Mrs.Ainsworth sighed, 'And I thourght it had stopped...' she shook her head, as if she was leaving a daze and frowned, 'Once I've got you to the school nurse, I'd better phone the police.' She half-smiled, 'I never thought a murder would happen here, did you?' she asked the girls, who wearily shook their heads.

The journey to the sickbay was in silence; all Clarissa could think about was the horrifying discovery she had made, as she descended the nearby stairs to the formidable sickbay, that was often filled with ill, coughing and spluttering pupils.

Minutes later, Clarissa and Arianne were curled up in two sickbay twin-beds.

'Do you think Alicia murdered Mrs.Cannock?' Arianne asked.

'How did you hear that yesterday?' Clara asked, before replying with 'I don't know...'

Arianne didn't say anything else-she just nodded, aas if confirming something with herself. Clara still didn't have a clue how Arianne had heard what Alicia had said in Maths. Wasn't her desk on the other side of the room?

She sighed and shut her eyes, trying to banish the thoughts, along with that disturbing image that seemed to be stuck in her head-Mrs.Cannock's dead body.

But just before Clara fell asleep, she had a terrible afterthought. Somebody in her school, her dorm, was a cold-blooded murderer. She was terrified for her life.

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A/N: So there's Chapter 3! Please tell me what you thought of it in a comment and remember to vote if you think it was any good :) What do you think's going to happen next? I'll update this next weekend unless my computer breaks or something xD

~Blossom.