//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Silent Night // by cerealkiller78 //------------------------------// The hours leading into the night had been straight out of hell for Sunset. She had been so relieved when they finally started drifting out to head home. They would have stayed even longer probably, but everyone had to go to school the following morning. Sure, it was the last day of classes, but chances were they’d find it a little suspicious if thirty plus students suddenly decided to skip out. They had reluctantly decided to leave around 1am that night, having way too much fun taunting Sunset and reveling in her misery the whole night. The whole scene wasn’t unlike some sort of twisted, vile party. “Don’t miss us too much Sunset.” One said as they were leaving. “We’ll be back before you know it... But hey! Look on the bright side! Chances are you’ll be dead by then…” There were some laughs, and a shared high five. The voices got further away, until they died down altogether, leaving Sunset in the dark, on the hard ground, in the harsh cold. She wished that the many injuries she had obtained would have at least distracted her body from the cold. They didn’t. On top of her battered body, she had to cope with the cold chill of the winter air. She was hardly dressed for the weather. Her coat she had been wearing had been taken by the others, and she couldn’t even do anything to warm herself up, what with her arms and legs still being tied. If there had been enough light for her to see in front of herself, she would have seen her breath. About 30 minutes passed, and she could feel her toes going to the point of numbness, as were her fingers. She tried moving them around as much as she could in her binds, but it didn’t help. Another 30 minutes later, she could feel her lips cracking from the cold. Her body was sore from being so tensed up in the cold, and the constant shivering. She tried to relax her body, but it was no use, it wasn’t cooperating. 30 minutes still after that, she was feeling tired…so tired. She knew she should have fought it, but she was so tired, and sleep would take the pain, the numbness, the cold, the aching body, the sorrow…It would take this whole thing away…and give her peace in return… She was done fighting. Her eyes opened to light… bright light. She squinted and put a hand over her eyes, trying to adjust to the light. When her eyes finally had, she slowly sat up, lowering her hand and looking around her. Somehow, she felt like she was still in the abandoned building….But…it was different…Like a newer flawless rendering of the place… Gone was the worn down, decrepit building, in its place was magnificent architecture, full of colors beyond imagination, and…were those….toys?...Her eyes went back in front of her, where right there….in front of her, confirmed her suspicions. “….I’m hallucinating….That’s exactly what’s happening right now…” If the man in the red suit wasn’t enough to confirm that, her next realization was…She was standing. The man in front of her chuckled. “Maybe you are Sunset. But does that really matter right now?” “…Touché….Who are you?..” The man gave a hearty laugh. “Who am I?....I don’t think I’ve ever had that asked of me before.” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Really?.... You’re trying to tell me that you’re actually him?...The jolly fat man? The big guy?...If that’s the case, where are your reindeer?...” “Oh, poor fellas are feeling a little under the weather. It is a cold night after all.” “You’re tellin’ me…” She mumbled, before turning her attention back to him. “Ok Nick…. If you’re really Santa….then undo everything that has happened to me this night. Send me back home…” “Sunset, I deliver toys….If it’s a miracle you want, you’ll have to inquire at the head office for that…But if there’s one thing Santa DOES know how to do, it’s warming hearts…” He snapped his fingers and right there in the wall, a fancy brick fireplace appeared with a roaring fire. How? She would never know…Oh, that’s right….She was dreaming. But she honestly could have cared less at the moment if this were a dream or a hallucination…Whatever the case, if her mind was willing to give her a reprieve through its tricks, she wasn’t going to complain. What mattered was that at this moment, she could really feel that sweet heat, and she was going to enjoy it while it lasted…and maybe even humor the man in the red coat… “If Santa is actually real…and you really are him, then answer me this…How do you go all around the world in one night to deliver gifts?...How is that possible? It’s humanly impossible…Also, what’s the point in landing on roofs, and going down chimneys? What if someone doesn’t have a chimney? Then what? And flying reindeer? How does any of that even make sense?...” He gave another jolly laugh. “My dear Sunset…If there’s anything I love, it’s to bring cheer, and have fun while doing it!” He then looked her straight in the eye. “But where’s the fun in making sense?...” She awoke to the old decrepit building again, back on the floor in her binds. On the bright side, the sun had come up, and she could actually see around her. The walls, the all around aged look of the place…She tried to recreate the visuals from her dream, and put them into what the place currently looked like, but already, her mind was feeling blurry to the memories of that dream. One thing above all stood out to her…She was still alive. How? It had been freezing through the night, and honestly, it still was pretty dang cold. In her opinion, she shouldn’t have even woken up after falling asleep….and yet…here she was. Gilda woke up that morning with one intention….and it wasn’t to go back to school. She threw on some clothes, and texted one of the guys, letting them know she was going straight back. It was a little past 10am by the time she had gotten back to the location. Getting out of the car, she made her way inside, back to the familiar setting where Sunset was still bound. She honestly wasn’t expecting her to still be alive. It was dang cold out last night, and with her wounds,chances were she wouldn’t have lasted long. But as she approached her, she noticed something unexpected…she was breathing. Short raspy breaths were escaping from her as Gilda looked on. Her eyes were open too, but were kind of staring into nothing “Well, whaddya know...” She said as she inspected her. Sunset’s eyes seemed to focus a little more at the new sound, until they seemed to finally land on Gilda. Gilda chuckled. “Have to hand it to you, I actually wasn’t expecting you to survive the night. But honestly, I’m actually kinda glad you did. We had so much fun last night, we wouldn’t want the party to die just like that…” She knelt down and took the gag off her mouth. "Don't really see the point in you having this on. It's not like anyone can hear you anyway..." She chuckled. Sunset didn't bother saying anything when her mouth was free. What was the point? Gilda was right. Seeing that she wasn't going to say anything, Gilda gave a smirk, and got up. "Ah, you're no fun...But don't worry, it's the last day of school today...Then we can have all the fun we want for the next two weeks!" She started walking away. "Or how ever long you survive anyway..." She had gone back outside, and had opted to sit inside her heated car for a while. It was still quite cool out, and that building did next to nothing to help matters. She checked her time. 11:30am. Four more hours until the rest were officially off for the break. She lit up a cigarette, when suddenly her phone started vibrating. She sighed, pulling it out. “What?” She answered bluntly. “We’ve got a problem…a MAJOR problem…” A voice answered on the other end. “What is it?” “Oh, just the tiny little fact that anon-a-miss just posted a NEW update not even an hour ago!!” He hissed into the phone. Gilda fell silent for a long while, for the first time since this all started, she actually looked genuinely worried. “…...What?” “Get online Gilda! See for yourself!” She lowered the phone from her ear and logged onto MyStable. Sure enough, the first thing she saw was a new update from Anon-a-Miss posted barely an hour prior. “Th-....that’s not possible….” “Gilda….tell me honestly…You got everyone riled up against Sunset…but did you have ANY proof it was her besides the same hunch everyone else had?” “I…are YOU implying that Sunset is NOT Anon-a-Miss?!” “I don’t know Gilda!! How else do we explain this new update?...” “I…there has to be another explanation…” She said quietly, sounding more like she was trying to convince herself. “Well, I’m ALL ears Gilda! I’m up for any possible explanation to this other than the obvious one!” Gilda went silent, wracking her brain for any sort of explanation to this, when finally, a light bulb went off. “She has to have had someone doing this WITH her!” She blurted. “….Keep going…” “We never thought of that as a possibility! She could have someone working WITH her…It would totally make sense that the other person would keep posting then…to fool US into thinking it was never really her, and let her go as a result of the continued posts!” There was silence on the other end of the phone, until finally, there was a response. “That…could actually be a possibility…” “Not a possibility...I KNOW that’s what’s going on here, and I’m not going to let her win this.” “Well, what are we gonna do about it?” “Oh, don’t worry...She WILL tell me who is helping her out on this, of that, I will make sure of…” She stated darkly, before killing the call, and getting out of the car, making her way back to the room Sunset was in. She threw open the door, and stormed her way over to Sunset, grabbing her by her collar and lifting her up, slamming her against the wall, forcing a pained cry from Sunset, while gritting her teeth in pain. “WHO is it?” She demanded in a dangerous tone. “Wha-” Sunset started, but was cut off by a punch to the chest. “Don’t try and play dumb! Someone posted as Anon-a-miss barely an hour ago, WHO WAS IT?!!” Sunset actually gave a small scoff after catching her breath. “How am I supposed to know? Shouldn’t this be a dead giveaway that it was…never me in the first place??” Gilda brought her face to face with her. “Oh, you’d like me to believe THAT wouldn’t you?....For me to just let you go scott free??” “I wouldn’t exactly describe what’s happened to me in the past twenty-four hours as getting off “Scott free…” Sunset retorted. Gilda took her hair and slammed her head against the cement wall, before throwing her to the ground. Sunset moaned in pain. “You know, I could have everyone come back here and we could all have a big party and play piñata…with YOU being the piñata…” Sunset responded with a whisper, not lifting her head from the ground. “You all are going to have so much blood on your hands…and it’s all going to be for nothing, because you are too stubborn to listen to reason and believe otherwise.” Gilda rolled her eyes. “Thanks for that little bout of wisdom…” She pulled out her phone. “Last chance. I’m not playing games, either tell me now who it was…Or there’s gonna be a repeat of the gym episode, and chances are you won’t survive this time.” Sunset knew now, that it was most likely the CMC. But who knew how Gilda would respond to that…Chances were she wouldn’t believe that three little innocent kids were responsible, and even if she did, Sunset didn’t know if she wanted to take that road and give them away to Gilda…She didn’t think Gilda would actually go after them, but did she really want to take that chance?....In the crazed state Gilda was in, she wouldn’t be surprised if she went and did something she would regret later. Gilda took her silence as refusal to talk, and punched in the numbers on the phone, waiting for an answer. “Get everyone back here, we’re gonna have a bit more fun.” She stated plainly before killing the call immediately after. “Enjoy the last little bit of peace you have…” she stated before walking away, and leaving Sunset alone. Now alone, Sunset felt a lump begin to form at the back of her throat, while her eyes started tearing up. She tried blinking back the tears, as they stung at her swollen shut eye, but it was no use. Her body…and heart, had decided there was only one way to release the built up stress, sorrow, hurt, anxiety, and every other negativity that had invaded her in this past night and day. So her stomach constricted in convulsive waves, as everything rose to the surface, and was released in deep gasping, heavy sobbing, and bitter tears. It hurt. Oh, it hurt her ribs, her chest, her eye, her cheek, and every other part of her body as it tensed up and shook with the sobbing. But she couldn’t stop herself. What had she done to deserve all this? Ya, maybe in the past, she had deserved this, but did all of the things she had done, since the Fall Formal to make up for her past ways mean absolutely nothing to CHS?...Obviously not. She had managed to doze off after her breakdown, and was actually having quite a nice rest, when the sound of approaching voices brought her out of her slumber. “- He’s got a whole bunch, he’ll never even notice this one’s gone.” A male voice said. “Hey Sunset…” Someone nudged her with a foot. “Wake uuup…” They shook her shoulder gently. “Wake up you stubborn mule!” Sunset gasped and flinched sharply in pain as “up” was punctuated by a sudden burning sting across her back. “Hope you at least had a nice nap, cause I’m thinking you probably could have woken up in a more pleasant manner…” There were a few laughs. “I’m guessing Gilda already made you more than aware of a certain event that happened at school today…” Despite her situation, Sunset was feeling gutsy…and angry at these students, and couldn’t resist a smart retort. “What, you finally hit puberty?..” “You son of a-” Sunset never heard the last word, as her world exploded in pain as he finished his sentence with a kick to her ribs, followed by another sharp sting on her back, making her grit her teeth. “How do you like the horse whip? Act like a stubborn mule, we’ll treat you like one.” He finished his sentence with another strike, this one on her arm. Sunset grit her teeth as she gasped, causing some more coughing. “You know EXACTLY what I’m talking about, now be a good little horsey and tell us WHO. POSTED. YET. ANOTHER. UPDATE!” He yelled, punctuating each word with more strikes, each to different parts of her body. Sunset’s body jerked with every hit, the pain overwhelming her. He raised the whip over his head again for another blow, and Sunset yelled out without thinking. “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you!” She blurted, before realizing what she had just said. Oh no…. There was laughter all around her. “Well, that’s one way to confess!” Gilda laughed, approaching her, before hoisting Sunset up and spoke in a threatening tone. “I knew you had someone in this with you, you freak…Now that you just confirmed it, you WILL tell us who it is. We’ll keep you alive, and make you suffer until we know what you know.” Sunset cursed herself. How could she have let that slip….HOW?!