Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I’m not doing it, and that’s the end of it!”

This was the thousandth time you stared at the big, heart-shaped Oreo you bought once more, contemplating the day you’d actually bring it with you before backing out mentally from the idea, simply letting it dust up in the janitor closet with the rest of your supplies before needing to throw it away and get a fresh one all over again. Once you cowered away, you simply resumed your duties of cleaning around the school, all while your shadow on the lockers silently tugged at your shirt, arguing with you like a mime.

“I’ll do it next time! I just have to focus on work first,” you reasoned.

Your shadow simply crossed its arms, body shifting to what could be silently interpreted as a ‘No, you won’t.’

“I will!”

You continued to brush your broom across the smooth floor, scraping up dust and litter into a pile. Your shadow lifted its hand up, moving it to sign at you.

‘Coward.’

“Shut up,” you grumbled. “Besides, you make it out to be something urgent. It’s just a friendly gift—a gift from a friend.”

Despite your words that sounded more to reassure you than to shut it up—especially with your heart thumping harder when you thought about Miss Circle—your shadow looked at you in disbelief before moving its hands to sign ‘I am you’ with a sassy stance. You sighed, annoyed at the bickering with what was essentially an extension of yourself.

You just wish your shadow was less evil and more… you.

“If you’re just gonna be like that, then how about you be useful and help pick up the litter? I’d rather not work through my break again.”

With a slump of its shoulders, and a silent groan, it obeyed and grabbed the shadow of the dustpan, picking up the real one like levitation as it held it in place for you to sweep the litter onto it.

“Thank you.”

Unfortunately, the rather calm moment broke when you heard a high-pitched wail from down the halls, jolting you and your shadow, with it dropping the dustpan and letting the litter scatter on the ground. The source of the screaming—Abbie, who turned the corner, only for the small boy to crash into your leg and fall onto his back.

“Oh, come on,” you groaned, seeing the progress you made scattered on the ground before turning to the kid. “What’s got you screaming this time, kid?”

“Miss Circle,” he sputtered, crying as he sat up, rubbing the top of his head.

Your eyes widened, panic on your face, along with your shadow. “Don’t tell me you failed another test!”

He nodded profusely, fixing his hair gone frizzy, along with the apple stem and leaf at the top.

You glanced at your shadow. “Code red it is then!”

“Where did you go, you little—”

You didn’t let Abbie hear the last bit of what Miss Circle growled down the hall he turned from as you quickly opened a locker on the side and kicked him in, your shadow finishing the job by slamming the locker shut. Standing in front of the locker, you shushed the kid when you heard his involuntary whimpers, playing it cool as you swept up the mess your shadow dropped, with it following your movements—just in time for Miss Circle to turn the corner, stopping in front of you, towering with that same terrifying expression you’ve seen her with failing students.

“Janitor!” she growled.

“Miss Circle!” You resisted the urge to jump away from her scare. “What a surprise! I thought you’d be teaching right now!”

“I saw Abbie turn here,” she said. “Where did he go?”

“Oh, Abbie? Well…”

You rubbed the back of your neck, nervously chuckling as you tried to say something—anything. But you couldn’t make an excuse, your brain coming up with nothing valid or believable to throw her off.

“Hey, has anyone ever told you how beautiful your hair is today?”

You tried to steer the conversation away, pointing to her spiky, insanely long and black hair.

“And are your horns sharper than usual?” you pointed out. “Yep! Quite sharp as well!”

“Thanks…”

Sure, her predatory expression softened a little, but it didn’t deter. It further softened when her eyes looked past you, making you look back to notice your shadow not following your movements; instead, it waved eagerly at her.

“Hey,” she awkwardly drew out.

“A-Anyways! I can’t say we saw the kid go anywhere! Maybe he went somewhere else and—”

Midway through your sentence, you noticed your shadow slowly beginning to point down at the locker you hid Abbie in, your erratic yet quick thinking making you jab the wooden end of the broom at it, the shadow of said broom hitting its gut and forcing it to clutch at its stomach before pointing away, towards the other hallways to the side.

“Hey! What are you doing?” You played along with what you forced, feigning bewilderment at its pointed finger towards the halls.

“Useful information,” she huffed. “Finally.”

Taking no time to follow where your shadow pointed, she charged past, turning the corner where the would-be Abbie went.

Such nauseating twists of her character. One moment, your heart is beating close to bursting when you watch her teach with such a keen expression; the next—your heart is practically shrivelled up and hiding when her towering form has her black claws and sharp compass-arm drawn out for blood. And that dark expression of hers—an eye uncovered by the shadow masking the upper end of her face from her hair, glaring with such sharp teeth bared. You just wish your shadow didn’t have an evil way of showing affection or flirting behind your back—literally.

When her stomps became faint enough, you breathed out heavily, the exhale refreshing as you glared at your shadow that shrugged, quickly opening the locker with Abbie inside, his hand covering his mouth to lessen the noise of his erratic breathing.

“There. She’s gone.”

It took a moment for the boy to calm down, eyes still teary and wary as you helped him out.

“Thank you,” he breathed out.

“You can thank a certain somebody for throwing you to the ‘wolf’.” You flicked your eyes at your shadow, unamused. “Is your paper still in her class?”

“Y-Yes…”

“Then let’s hurry and change it!”

You bolted down the hall, halting when you noticed him stumbling in fear, trying to catch.

“Hurry up!”

Despite what you said, you simply huffed, exchanging looks with your shadow as it grabbed Abbie’s shadow by the back of his shirt, dragging him along as you continued, running down the halls as quietly as you could, checking behind you, as well as left and right during intersecting halls, to watch for any of the other teachers—especially the storming Miss Circle still rampant around the building.

Hall to hall, you eventually reached the hall leading down to her class, crawling under the sightlines of the windows of the neighboring and ongoing classrooms of Miss Bloomie and Miss Thavel, finally getting up once out of sight to stop just outside of Miss Circle’s class. Through the long windows, you could see the students simply goofing around, waiting for their teacher’s return aside from the few—especially Claire, the other recurring student you have to help when failing—shifting nervously in their seats.

You stopped just at the door, your shadow letting go of Abbie beside you as you peeked inside, getting a better view at her desk, smashed in half in the middle with a single paper by it, a red ‘F’ clear as day written on it.

Great, another thing to clean up, you whined in your head.

“Stay here and keep an eye,” you ordered your shadow, nodding with a salute at you.

“And you—” You turned to Abbie. “—get in your seat and pray for all that is holy she doesn’t come here in the next minute.”

The kid nodded, scurrying inside with you whilst your shadow kept still on the wall, watching. As Abbie sat in the back, you went over and picked up the paper, confirming it to be the correct one with the boy’s name on it. Unfortunately, you forgot you were dead center at the front of the classroom, turning your head slowly to see the rest of the students blankly staring at you. You stared at them, and they returned the gaze.

“You saw none of this,” you warned.

“But I think we did.”

As if you needed to hear that voice again—such a grating and smug voice belonging to who you immediately turned to see the grating and innocent smile of Zip you knew was hiding a smug tone underneath.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“And if I did?”

You glared at her for a moment as she sat innocently in her seat, only to deflate with a groan.

“What’ll it take for you to keep your mouth shut?”

“Five bucks,” she answered, quick as lightning. “I want a drink later at the vending machine.”

Before you agreed, you noticed she had a small pack of Oreos in her hand, holding it under the table—likely to keep out of Miss Circle’s sights.

“Give me those Oreos and your test as well, and I'll give you my entire paycheck next time.”

“Deal!”

That proposition gave her a wide smile and gleaming eyes, tossing the pack over to you lazily as you went over to borrow her test for the moment. Once in hand, you placed the snack in your pocket before focusing on the paper. You looked around the desk, expression brightening once you found some pencils scattered around, picking one up as you tried to rewrite the paper on it with Zip’s test to help.

As with the past tests in every class you secretly had to rewrite, the questions always looked rigged to make most fail.

Even glancing towards the chalkboard, it resembled the questions on the paper as most of the questions were trigonometry, algebra, and all sorts of letters and numbers you couldn’t even comprehend. How any select few of these kids understood this—or the rest of the difficult subjects in the school—was beyond you. Writing fast enough to burn through the paper, you wiped the incorrect answers as best you could, replacing each one with the correct ones with each glance at Zip’s paper. Once corrected, you swiped a red coloring pencil to mask the ‘F’ into an ‘A’. Overall, it was perfect at first glance. Key word: first glance.

You just hoped she wouldn’t give a second glance or take a closer look.

You took the paper with you, handing Zip’s test back and leaving everything as close to how they were before rushing out of the classroom, your shadow turning to you on the side of the wall.

“At least you kept watch,” you breathed out. “Sort of expected you to not try.”

Your shadow simply saluted you before the ever-growing audibility of stomping down the halls scared it into mimicking your movements again. You got into a casual stance—or as casual as you could—acting normal and pretending to sweep at the ground with your broom as, on time, Miss Circle rushed down the hall, that same murderous glare still on her face as she halted right in front of you.

“What are you doing over here?” She narrowed her eye.

“Me? Just came over here to clean up a bit.” You nervously laughed off her stare. “Looked a bit dusty here, so I went over to tidy up!”

With a feigned expression of surprise and audible ‘Oh,’ you held out Abbie’s test to her.

“By the way, I saw this lying right by the door! Didn’t know how it got there, but…”

You chuckled slightly, sweat on your temple already forming to streak down your face.

“Hope it’s not too important?”

You flinched slightly when she snatched the paper with her bigger hand, fearing her claws would’ve sliced your fingers off as she held it close to her face.

Moment of truth…

You leaned your head back, anticipation and fear mixing into one as you prayed to whatever was above that she would buy it. The only hope you had was that you erased and forged Abbie’s handwriting well enough to bypass her eyes.

She eyed it intently, then her eye widened, looking baffled at the paper.

“This isn’t right,” she snarled. “These were all wrong when I graded it!”

“Maybe you looked at it wrong?”

Her hard stare towards you immediately made you jolt in your spot, regretting what you said.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” you yelped, fishing out the pack of Oreos from your pocket and holding it up for her. “I wanted to give this to you!”

That lessened her scary expression.

“You seem to be doing such hard work, a-and I wanted to give you something as appreciation!”

You mustered up as much of a confident expression as you could as you held the snack as high as you could up to her. At first, her expression didn’t falter as she stared at you. Then, her eye flicked away for a moment, her glare going away as the murderous aura she gave off seemed to flicker away. She slowly looked at the paper again, then back to you, crumpling the paper easily in her hand before pocketing it.

It was then your eyes were met with her hand gently going to yours, taking the snack from you. It was a simple action that happened within a few seconds—but it was an eternity for you. Her hand was soft despite the scary size and look. You expected it to be firm, rough—something demonic of that nature. It was amazing.

“Maybe I wasn’t seeing it clearly,” she awkwardly breathed out. “Thanks…”

“No problem,” you breathlessly muttered.

You let your hand down, as did she. She just looked down at you, staring; you stared back. After a moment, she casually walked into her class, and began to talk to the kids; her mood returned to her usual agitated and strict mood.

You could only stare at her from the doorway, speechless. What were you meant to do now?

It only took a moment of staring at her—two which she didn’t seem to notice—before you shook your head, clearing your head and jogging yourself to attention as you slowly stepped away. Through the window, you glanced at Abbie, who glanced back. Checking to see if Miss Circle wasn’t noticing, you gave a quick thumbs up, rewarded with a thumbs up and grateful smile from the boy before you hurried off to continue your janitorial duties, back to where you left off.

It was all so dizzying to deal with. You not only had to clean around the school, but with the added problem of doing so with murderous teachers; and having to help students all around the place from being mercilessly slaughtered was not something you wanted to add to your daily to-do list.

This job was not worth it.

Still, there was something to look at and remind you to keep going—Even if that something was a child-murdering demon of a teacher.

You’d just have to stop and stare in the meantime.

Chapter Text

You were supposed to be cleaning around the school today—really, you were. It’s just difficult when you accidentally start sight-seeing in between your duties.

The day was simple as usual, like any other school day in the week: sweep around, followed by mopping the place squeaky clean, and fixing up the damages caused by the teachers hunting down failing students to the best of your ability whilst trying to save their behinds.

How simple.

After repairing a few doors with duct tape and glue for later professional help, you couldn’t help but stop yourself by Miss Circle’s class, staring through the window at her strict teaching of the children inside. She didn’t notice, and neither did the kids, as you stood just far enough in a spot to gawk at the scary yet beautiful teacher. You leaned against the firmly held mop, letting a cheek rest on the wooden end of it, gushing silently with lovesick eyes whilst your shadow did the same, visibly leaning against a locker to stare as well. You just made sure to mentally erase the deadly weapon for a left arm she had so you could feel a little less guilty for crushing on such a being with a high kill count.

Either you were a masochist, or you had some sort of death wish to find her attractive enough to stare. Her teeth were sharp enough to bite through flesh easily, yet, smile or not, it made you smile back. Despite her wicked glares, they only stunned you in bliss—when you weren’t the target of them. And her beating you in height only added to your fascination.

For a teacher with horns, scary hand, and a cannibalistic way of filling the day, she was an angel in your eyes—

“Janitor.”

You jumped at the firm voice to your left, standing at attention to what you realized was the principal, her narrowed eyes staring at you with a thin frown, arms crossed behind her back in a disciplined stature.

“Principal Grace!”

Whilst you fidgeted in place, your shadow quickly gave a nervous salute, gaining a quick glance from the principal before placing her attention back on you.

“What are you doing?”

“I was just checking for spots I may have missed here,” you stammered, your shadow nodding profusely in agreement. “Yeah! Can’t miss a spot to clean, right?”

She only hummed, unamused in tone at your answer.

“Well, when you’re done standing around, you still need to clean the rest of the school.”

“R-Right! On it already!”

“Especially a few splatters of blood near Miss Bloomie’s class.”

That made you deflate, your previous mood further dampened.

“Right…”

With a small salute, you slowly stepped past the principal as she eyed your movement, watching your shadow as well as it went back to mimic you. You backed away whilst trying to keep up a smiling facade to mask your fear, nearing a divergence in the hall.

“Best I head off then!”

Suddenly, you hear wail across the building.

“Get back here!”

You knew that voice, pinning it to be Miss Thavel chasing a student who just failed her language class. More work to add to your already overbearing job.

“I’ll be right on it!” you reassured.

Scurrying off, you made your way to help another kid from becoming red paste for you to clean off the walls and floor.

Helping fix the student’s grade and clean the blood near Miss Bloomie’s class already put enough pressure on your fast-pumping heart, putting you behind schedule as you finally got down to crossing off each area to tidy up. First up was the library, not taking too long to clean aside from fixing up disorganized shelves, picking up and placing books where they belonged, and sweeping up any dust and litter left behind by the students.

It wasn’t until you finished up around that you stopped at the last thing you dreaded to deal with. There, with rails surrounding the square hole, shelves full of books lined down the seemingly bottomless hole, with no end in sight of the black abyss below.

You stared down at the hole with a tired look, looking up to meet your shadow that looked down from the ceiling as well, facing you as well. Exchanging looks, you glanced back down the hole.

“Nope.”

You turned on a heel and made your way out of the library. You already cleaned everything else—there was no way in hell you were going to try to safely clean that area as well. Not after the first failed attempt.

You put it off for as long as possible, cleaning anywhere else in the building before you had no choice but to, at least, try to clean Δlice’s room. The moment you saw the abused door engraved with claw marks and ‘Do Not Enter’ signs, shrouding the dead end it resided at with a frightful darkness, your eyes landed on the paper with a written ‘Exit’ sloppily taped over the sign usually reading ‘Δlice’s Room’ in the middle of the door.

“What the—”

Despite your fear, you went up and ripped the fake sign off the door, crumpling it in annoyance as your mind checked off the likely culprit.

“Heh-heh!”

The collective snickers snapped your focus behind you, seeing Zip, Oliver, and Edward watching around the corner with mischievous grins, popping their heads back and running off once you noticed them.

“Not funny, you brats,” you yelled down the hall. “Get back to class!”

Your shadow stopped following your movement on the wall, angrily crossing its arms and staring right where they once were before turning to you, using sign language to say something you’ve heard a billion times by now regarding those three students.

“No, I am not rigging their tests so the teachers will kill them! And no, I’m not rigging their math tests specifically to impress Miss Circle.”

You looked back to where the bullies once were, slumping.

“Although, I really do want to…”

After your annoyance subsided, fear was the only thing left to stir within you, backing away from the door to stand within a good distance, swallowing that lump in your throat that felt more like your soul trying to leave your body. You just stood there, staring—jittery. It wasn’t until you felt a firm force on your back pushing you closer to the door that you turned to notice your shadow urging you forward, hands on your back.

“Hey, hey, hey!” You used your mop, pushing at it so the shadow of the mop would force it away from you. “I’m going! Alright?”

Your shadow simply looked at you, shaking as well as you turned back to the door, taking a deep breath that dared not come out before forcing out the long exhale.

Step by step, you slowly inched forward until you were right at the door. And with as light of tap as you could with a finger, you knocked on the door.

“Δlice? I need to clean your room,” you, as gently as possible, warned. “I’m coming in now.”

You grabbed the doorknob, turning it slowly before you heard a click, letting you open the door with an eerie creak as you pulled it slowly.

SLAM!

You barely had a second to register the door burst open, narrowly missing you alongside the massive, black spike—its tip grazing your shoulder and tearing the fabric of your janitor’s uniform. You immediately backed away from the near-death experience, eyes locking onto the next one: her.

All you could see in the pitch-black room was a set of wicked red eyes, staring back at you with sharp pupils; besides that, only two tentacles were seen as they sprung out at you, just as black as the dark room as they launched at you. You could only make an attempt at defense by holding your mop out in front of you to parry, thrashing about when the tentacles tried to wrap around your limbs and yank you in.

Such monstrous gurgles and evil giggling from her echoed as you fought back from her attempts to bring you in, using your mop to keep the things at bay.

It worked, somehow, as the tentacles eventually grabbed your mop instead of you, yanking out of your hand before retreating into the room with the spike disappearing with your piece of your uniform, the door slamming shut to leave you standing with traumatized eyes and frozen still. You stood there for about a minute before getting the necessary, mustered up courage to move your head to look at your shadow, huddled up where the ceiling and the wall connected, shaking as violently as you.

No matter how many times you attempted this, it was always a sure-fire way to force your heart to stop and restart.

You turned back to the door, eyeing it, confirming you weren’t about to be chased and killed, before slumping with a sigh of relief.

“Why do I even bother,” you grumbled, turning the other way to leave, with your shadow following suit. “At least I have a spare this time.”

After some more time calming your nerves through cleaning more areas of the school, you eventually went about cleaning the cafeteria—unfortunate timing when lunch started for the students, leaving you to pick up litter some kids dropped, or having to swerve past students walking around to find seats among the tables.

It was nice, however, for passing the time, simply overhearing students tell their friends about their day, gossiping about some girl with cooties, or bragging about their grades. There were also some kids giving their concerns and fears of the teachers—which you definitely understood and agreed—but ultimately brushed it off in favor of trying to keep a light mood.

After a few more minutes, you somehow indulged Abbie and Claire’s requests to talk when you were close enough to speak with them at their table. To your dismay, you eventually caved and stopped mopping to talk—though more scolding than there was light conversation.

“I can’t keep doing this, you know,” you chastised the two. “Every time I hear Miss Circle or Miss Bloomie rampaging through the halls, half of the time it’s you two who’s the failing student running for their life!”

“We don’t try,” Claire reasoned, head lowered with an ashamed expression. “They teach hard stuff…”

“I’m not good with math,” Abbie added meekly.

“No offense since you’re kids, and I know what they teach is pretty much rigged, but the fact that I’ve been saving you guys since the very beginning doesn’t tell me much that you guys studied—and I’ve seen your test answers enough times to tell.”

“We promise we do,” Claire said, Abbie nodding in agreement.

“Then you need to step it up, kid. I got other students to save as well—can’t help everyone at the same time, all the time. You may not be so lucky next time you fail.”

“I know…”

Your stern gaze softened when you noticed a tear begin to form in Claire’s eyes, becoming glossy as Abbie began to do the same.

“Look, I’m sorry. I’m just trying to keep as many kids from ending up in the back of a milk carton. Did you know of Cindy here?”

“No?”

“Neither did most other kids. Quiet girl, transferred here in time for a test of Miss Thavel’s that she failed.”

Your gaze hardened as you recalled the memory.

“I was new at the time, so I didn’t know what to do to help then, but I tried to catch up,” you continued. “She ran as fast as she could from Thavel, and ended up entering Δlice’s room out of fear. I never saw her ever again after that.”

“She died,” Abbie deduced, your nod confirming it.

“Supposedly, Principal Grace assured me that she was let go from there, but after talking with Mister Demi, it seemed that was a lie to keep me calm.”

“So she never got out? Or did, but nobody could find if she was?”

“They never did. And, quite frankly, I’d rather have not. I doubt I wouldn’t have had to clean up my throw up if I found her mangled body.”

After seeing how students ended up after trying to enter Δlice’s room, you never wanted to see that again. Litter was one thing—but having to clean the shredded blood and gore all over the walls and floor in such an inhumane way was something you’d hope to reduce a repeat of from Δlice.

With your little story come to an end, your guilt sunk even more when the two students’ expressions became gloomier than before.

“Look, I didn’t mean to scare you, so I hope you can trust me to keep your chance of surviving her above a sixty percent, okay?”

They both nodded, wiping away the tears threatening to escape.

“Just try to study more. You two are probably some of my favorites in this school full of brats and scary teachers—so don’t die, please. I’d rather not have your deaths weighing down my conscience any more than it already is.”

You gave a small pat to each of them by the head.

“And, hey, maybe I can even help you by—”

There, by the entrance to the cafeteria, time seemed to slow down as you saw a glimpse of Miss Circle in the hall, stride for stride with Miss Bloomie and Miss Thavel, as they passed by with disciplined composure. Her usual strict expression was relaxed this time with a cat-like smile, an all-too familiar expression you couldn’t help but shut up and stare at again, your eyes never leaving where they passed, even when they were no longer in sight.

Such a sight.

“Janitor?”

You hummed, confused, before clearing your mind with a shake of your head, turning back to the two students. “Huh?”

Abbie was the first to speak up. “Why were you looking over there?”

“Over—what do you mean?”

“You stopped talking and looked over at the doors when those teachers passed by.”

“Oh, right! Just thought I saw something, I suppose.”

“Miss Circle and the janitor, sitting on a tree!”

You snapped your head to whoever said that, immediately locking eyes with Zip, who sat at a nearby table with Oliver and Edward, who snickered as she stood on her seat.

“K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

“I will hit you with this mop, brat!” You pointed the still-wet mop towards the group, Zip specifically. “And it’s seen things!”

They still kept at the mockery for a second before settling down, Zip sitting back in her seat.

“If you want to get in trouble for hitting a student who hasn’t done anything wrong, that is,” Zip slyly said. “It’s not hard to see you staring at Miss Circle when you think we’re not looking at you through the window of the classroom.”

“I’m just making sure she doesn’t get up and start going after any students,” you stated.

“Liar,” Oliver chimed in, his innocent smile just as fake as Zip’s. “You do it every day since forever.”

“You have a reason to butt in on our talk here, or did you just want attention?” You stared at them, unamused.

“You promised me your money if I helped you last time, so I’m asking for it now,” Zip said.

“Oh, that! Sure!”

With a smug grin, you fished out a small wad of cash strapped with a rubber band before tossing it over to the bullies, Zip catching it with a childish and prideful grin before inspecting the money and instantly losing that smile.

“This is just twenty dollars in ones!” She turned up to you, a laughable anger in her expression from your perspective.

“What—you thought I’d have a thousand bucks or something?”

“You said you’d give me your pay if I gave you my test!”

“I didn’t say I’d give you my entire paycheck. Plus, I get paid below minimum wage here—and most of that pay goes into fixing what the teachers break most of the time.”

“Unfair,” Zip whined.

“You’re telling me—I live in a box by the junkyard. Don’t go asking for cash from me unless you’re expecting literal change.”

With that, the group simply groaned and turned away, eating away as they conversed with themselves as you huffed, noticing your shadow stop mimicking you to stick its tongue mockingly at the kids.

“How come your shadow is like that?”

You turned to Abbie and Claire, who had surprised expressions slapped on their faces as Claire spoke. You simply glanced at your shadow, then back to them.

“Best not to ask.”

“You live in a box?” Abbie followed up with Claire.

“Well—not anymore. I just live and sleep in the janitor’s closet. Much cozier than the box. And it doubles as a hiding spot if the staff here decide they want to kill me eventually.”

“Why don’t you just quit?” Claire added. “Aren’t there lots of jobs around?”

“If anybody else was hiring then, sure. I think this was the only place hiring because of how terrifying it is to work here if you’re not some murderer or demon of sorts.” You sighed. “Besides, if I leave now, I’m indirectly letting you guys die, so… I guess it’s an obligation now.”

You simply held your mop up to look at, delving into deep thought. Leave now, and you subject kids to being killed without a chance of saving; stay, and you’re likely to die at some point if any of the murderous teachers caught you red-handed, fixing students’ grades to keep the school as gore-free as possible. A literal dead-end job.

“I’ll admit, I should’ve just not moved and kept my security guard job long ago.”

“Security guard?”

“Yeah—worked the night shift at some pizzeria. Cozy enough, sitting in a small office for six hours. Only problem was the haunted stuff going on—that, and the shit pay. Fair to say, I only lasted a week before quitting.”

You brooded for a moment.

“Being here, though—I think I'm starting to think my last job wasn’t so bad.”

Facing the two kids again, uncertainty was written well on their faces, concern following after.

“Stay in school, kids—no matter how dangerous.”

The bell rang across the busy cafeteria, signaling the students to go to their next class after you offered some brief life advice. You sighed, preparing to continue monitoring students throughout the day to ensure their safety from being chased and murdered.

“You guys better get to class now. Don’t want to get in serious trouble.”

“Wait, but what were you going to say later?” Abbie stood up from her seat. “You said you were going to help us.”

“Help? Oh, yeah!” You chuckled, brain starting up again to remember what you failed to say prior. “Well, seeing as you are completely prone to failing—how about I help you guys study for whatever tests you think you can’t pass? Unless someone is already helping, then count me out.”

“Really?” Claire got up as well.

“You’d help us?” Abbie’s eyes widened, practically shining.

“I already help keep you out from being killed. What difference does it make? Might as well help you guys before you’re in a run-or-die situation.”

“Thank you!”

Abbie hugged your leg, smiling widely as you stood there, surprised—stunned—before chuckling nervously.

“Alright, alright—enough. Just make sure the teachers don’t find out you’re getting help from me. And show me what subjects you’re learning to know beforehand.”

After your words, Abbie still hadn’t let go, looking at Claire, who simply grinned at you from the side as well.

“Could you let go now? Talking to you guys is already giving me a bad look, and I’d rather none of the staff see you clinging to me.”

“S-Sorry!”

Abbie peeled himself off of you, shyly stepping away with a smile still on his as he stood by Claire.

“You’re welcome,” you said. “Now scram. If your teacher isn’t Miss Sasha or the like, being late will be the least of your worries.”

They nodded as your shadow bid them farewell with a tip of a non-existent hat; the two scurried off with the rest of their peers as you simply stood in the emptying cafeteria, your brain suddenly catching what you said earlier and making you bite your tongue in regret. You already had to deal with so much on a daily basis, and now you’re adding ‘studying’ to your list of heavy chores to your to-do list. Even your shadow looked at you, arms crossed and displeased.

“Oh, buzz off! I already said it—I can’t take it back now.”

You were overworked, underpaid, and under constant threat of death.

This wasn’t worth it, but you made your choice already. You simply brought yourself back to working mode and continued to clean what you missed around the large cafeteria. Might as well get as much done before another student needed saving—and finish all your duties before the end of the day.

You needed the time to finally do something you’ve put off for too long to do—you’d just finish your duties and enjoy what little calm moments you got till then.

Until your shadow signed at you again.

“No, I’m not letting them die to get on Miss Circle’s good side! Stop it or I’m hitting you with this mop!”

At least the day is over…

Once the halls and classrooms had gone quiet as every student left for home for the day, Miss Circle simply sat in her seat, a finger sharply tapping at her desk faster with every second she stared at the test she was supposed to be grading. Whilst the first couple tests graded and stacked on the side passed with flying colors, this student in particular had only one correct question, the rest incredibly wrong. She hated it.

The fine tip of her compass sprung out almost subconsciously, letting herself scratch at the floor as she grabbed a red pen and corrected every incorrect answer, topping it all off with a massive ‘F’ on the top corner of the paper. The failing student would soon regret failing, she was sure of it. She just needed to make sure to follow well this time, considering most chases nowadays ended up with her realizing she had seen their tests wrong, questions correct all along despite making sure they were incorrect. She’d never let this happen before, so it agitated her how much she herself was slipping up now.

Knock-knock-knock.

It wasn’t until the soft knocks at the closed door to her class got her attention that she realized she had fallen into a sort of hyper focus on the paper, about to respond to the knocks until she noticed something out the windows by the door. There, gently waving towards her, was your shadow, quickly pointing to the door with an eager movement before going out of sight behind the door as well.

Oh… it’s him, she thought, unsure whether to be annoyed or surprised.

“Come in.”

The door slowly opened, and sure enough, it was you, walking in with that same smile she’s seen plastered on your face when she spoke with you, arms behind your back.

“Hey, Miss Circle,” you awkwardly said. “Busy day?”

“Yes,” she drew out. “And an annoying one.”

“Kids, am I right?” You stopped closer. “Bad behavior going on in class?”

“You could say that.”

She glanced down at the paper, looking at the terrible answers that only stoked her agitation further. It wasn’t a long stare, but enough before she realized you had stepped closer by her to look over at the paper as well, eyes blown wide in what she could describe as shock before noticing her gaze at you and stepping away.

“Got it—failed tests.” You cleared your throat. “How do you write like that, by the way?”

She only hummed in near-emotionless confusion, raising a brow.

“I-It’s just that your hand is a lot… bigger than the pencil. Just curious…”

There was more to your nervous smile—she knew that. She just didn’t know what to pin it down to. She grabbed her pen and compared, seeing the pencil dwarfed by her pitch-black hand as her sharp fingers gripped it—especially when you grabbed a pencil and compared as well. Normal in your hand, scary in hers, though she never paid any mind.

“I didn’t notice,” she half-heartedly answered. “Why do you ask?”

“I’m just curious, is all. I like knowing more about you—” Your smile dropped in an instant. “—about the staff, is what I meant to say! Y-Yeah…”

She only hummed, leaning back to inspect you when she noticed your arms still behind your back. “And what’s with your arms?”

“Oh, that? I almost forgot!”

She expected you had tried to look professional by crossing your arms behind your back, or that you injured a hand and didn’t want nobody to see. She was absolutely stunned in her own seat when she realized it was neither; instead, you held a hand out, revealing a sizable Oreo, shaped like a heart that took every fiber in her body not to let her mouth water at the cookie.

“I was cleaning the break room and I just so happened to find this. And since it had nobody’s name on it, I thought you’d like to have it?”

“You just found this?”

“Yeah. It was perfectly clean and still in its wrapper with definitely no name on it,” you stammered. “I just thought, with it looking like a heart, it would be good to give it to someone beautiful.”

If she hadn’t lost her motor function then, she certainly lost them now with what you just said, feeling heat rise to her cheeks and going stiff. And telling by your expression reddening with widening eyes, it seemed you realized your mistake as she stared, watching your words become less intelligible.

“N-Not that I’m saying you’re beautiful or anything!” You stumbled on your words. “Not that you’re not beautiful—you are! It’s just…”

That heat on her face only burned hotter with your slip-ups, unsure what to do at the moment as she noticed your shadow by your side. Whilst you fumbled with your sentences, rambling on and on, your shadow just pointed at the Oreo, then pointed incessantly at you enthusiastically whilst you were busy trying to fix what you said. She knew what the shadow was trying to say without words, but questioned if she should’ve alerted you of it, outing you as the one who had the Oreo.

“I made this awkward, didn’t I?” You sighed dejectedly, slumping in your spot. “I hope you like it.”

“I…” her mouth closed shut for a moment, then forcefully opened it back up to respond. “Thank you.”

She worded it out rigidly despite her best to sound as happy as the gift. She was, but with such a bold and bumbling approach, she couldn’t help that her brain couldn’t register it all without going haywire. Silence followed her soft ‘thank-you,’ leaving her burning up as her heart thumped and bounced wildly in her chest as she kept her gaze locked with yours, seeing you sweat as you shifted in the spot you stood, fidgeting evermore. After one more moment of awkward staring, you finally broke free of your frozen state.

“I’m gonna go now!” You put on a shaky smile. “I still have a few more places to clean before my job is done, so…”

“I understand,” she sputtered. “Thank you—again. I like the gift.”

You just gave two thumbs up, your steps shaky as you made your way out. Once you were out, going down the hall for her to view from the window, your shadow remained still, unbeknownst to you and confusing the math teacher before bursting into a blushing mess when said shadow gave a single hand gesture.

‘Call me.’

With such a sly move, your shadow on her class wall was pulled out through the door, returning to you and leaving her back to herself and her work where she sat.

One minute, then two. By the third minute, she could finally move her head despite the rigid feeling of her body, gazing at the large Oreo on her desk. She picked it up and let it sit on the palm of her hand, simply inspecting it. An Oreo that made her heart beat way too fast; that was new. After taking a long gander at the cookie, she glanced up to where you passed in the halls outside the window, letting the rigidness just prior subside, barely recognizing the droopy smile that played at her lips. Even as she remembered the test of the student who failed, her uplifted mood barely dented.

She was still going to kill the kid next time, but at least she was in better spirits with your approach to her.

She took another look at your gift and happily scarfed the Oreo, leaving not a single crumb left as she savored the favorite treat of hers for a gift. Satisfied with the taste, she focused back on grading the few tests left, setting aside the one with an ‘F.’

That smile of hers never left for the rest of the day, even when she thought it was gone. If only you knew that.

Chapter Text

“Wait, so does this step mean I get this number or something else?”

Not even a few days into your promise of tutoring Abbie and Claire passed, as you already dreaded to continue it for any longer. The short breaks you had for yourself were instead replaced with moments of studying subjects the two kids informed you about to help. The breaks weren’t the only time, however, as you also studied whilst cleaning around. Although, you had to make sure to straighten yourself whenever any faculty showed up nearby. Last thing you need is being potentially killed for slacking off.

At this moment, you took your break at the same time the lunch bell rang, sitting on a kid-sized chair at a kid-sized table in the library, a math book in hand as you made a trite attempt to understand the subject Abbie told you about. Unsurprisingly, you had already predicted what your mental state would degrade into as you looked at the stupidly difficult subject.

Your shadow on the wall attempted to make some sense of it, pointing to this and that on the page of the book, and the paper you wrote the problem on—all its attempts grating as its lack of a voice gave no help.

“I know what to do on this part,” you said scornfully. “You’ve been pointing to it so many times now—stop it!”

With a visible yet silent scoff from it, your shadow simply crossed its arms, letting you focus on the book again. Once read over, now read a second time. After the third time, you simply dropped your head onto the table with a harsh slam, groaning—already exhausted from the few minutes you spent on this same problem.

When you finally lifted your head just barely, your tired eyes scanned the room, an attempt to take your mind off of it. Amongst the posters full of ‘inspirational’ quotes and appraisals of different school subjects, along with the books lined in shelves or littered on the ground, you were stunned when you took notice of a kid sitting on a different table nearby, still with a book in hand that was comically so close to their head, hiding their identity aside from the horns sticking out from above. You were sure there wasn’t anyone here when you first entered.

Guess I was too focused on that book…

“Hey, kid?” You sat back up. “Aren’t you supposed to be in the cafeteria by now?”

Perking up at your voice, the kid lowered his book, revealing his face. With the large, rounded glass, rounded buck teeth, and the open book laying on his head like an accessory, your eyes were opened right up to full alertness at the familiar face.

“Kevin?”

“I’ll have you know I already ate a few minutes before lunch,” Kevin said matter-of-factly. “I just came here because I had the free time.”

“Don’t you and that cat-thing—kid!” you corrected yourself. “Cubbie! His name was Cubbie, right? Don’t you two hang out in Miss Circle’s class during lunch?”

“We would, but we had a jerk and her friends annoy us the whole time during class. I don’t want to see if they stay there, too.”

“I think I know who you’re talking about…”

You mentally sneered at who Kevin was referring to, knowing full well it to be Zip and her two friends. How you wished to get even with them. Unfortunately, they were Miss Circle’s favorites, so you’d rather not test your luck and have her swinging that compass for an arm at you with a murderous look.

Nonetheless, you set aside the problem, instead focusing on the problem you had in the book.

“Hey, you’re smart, right? Do you know how to do this?”

Holding the page over to the kid, his eyes simply scanned the problem, then to the paper you scrawled on to figure it out. The appalled look on his face, along with the slight twitch in his squinted eye, only made you reel back mentally in your mathematical aptitude.

“That’s terrible,” he said bluntly. “Do you even know anything about it?”

“Math ain’t my strong suit, kid,” you defended. “You know how to do it?”

“It tells you how to do on the page…”

“Yet I’m still not solving it.” You raised a brow. “Mind helping?”

His bratty scoff made your frown curve more downwards as closed his book, stepping over to you. From there, his actions were nothing short of diligent, quick and steady as he wrote the same problem on the book by yours on the paper, though much neater as he wrote down each step with efficiency whilst you, and your shadow, observed intently.

“It’s sad the amount of mistakes you made,” Kevin said. “And it all started here.”

He pointed at the specific step you fumbled on. And, right as your shadow was, it was the same step it was pointing to earlier. Your shadow gave a visible yet inaudible laugh, pointing at you mockingly as you sneered at it over your shoulder.

You continued to watch and understand the process of the little steps he finished writing, setting aside your pencil with a snobby hum.

“Next time—” Kevin went back to his seat, picking up his book. “—Don’t waste my time with stupid problems.”

And just like that, his face was gone, hidden under the book he raised to continue reading.

You glared at him, eyes narrowed dangerously at his insulting tone, speaking again through clenched teeth.

“Gee, thanks, kid…”

Your eyes went back to your paper, comparing your attempt at the math problem to Kevin’s. From the step he pointed to and onward, your logic was far off, steered in a different direction than what Kevin had done. A look towards your shadow revealed it was giving an annoyed slump in its stature, arms crossed for a moment before it let a hand grab at the shadow of your pencil, picking up the real thing as it wrote on the paper.

‘Can we kill him?’

A simple, unhappy arch of your brow was all it needed to back off, huffing inaudibly.

You needed a break. Just a few minutes on one problem was already enough to grind your gears; so, stashing the paper in your uniform’s pocket, you got up and tiredly made your way out through the doors. Propped by the doors, you grabbed the broom you set aside earlier, clearing your brain of the stressful studying back there as you looked over at your shadow.

“Time to get back to work. I’ll try again later.”

It gave a thumbs up as you began to think, crossing off each place you had cleaned previously, and where next to go. The library was already cleaned during the morning—despite looking like a mess already by now—and most of the halls were already mopped and rid of trash.

There’s still a few trash cans that need to be thrown out , you thought.

That was it. Next on your to-do list, you twirled your broom in hand.

“Trash it is.” You turned to your shadow. “Better hurry up. And you better help this time.”

Your shadow simply gave a sassy, dismissive wave of its hand, its words all too clear in its body language: ‘Yeah, yeah—I hear you.’

Turning on a heel, you were going to head down the hall to your next task, if not for the sudden skidding sound that briefly sounded behind you. You turned your head back, yet no one was there where that distant sound came from.

Probably someone slipped somewhere?

You waited for a few seconds, the silence indicating it to be a one-time thing as you brushed it off.

SKREEEK…

That unnerving sound made you snap your head back to where you were headed, the closer sound of something scraping on something coming from down the hall. The first sound could’ve been a mere coincidence—this one not so much. The sound came from the hall, branching off from the left.

“Hey,” you whispered to your shadow. “Check it out for me.”

It gave you a salute as it moved against the wall, sharply bending past the corner, taking only a few seconds before it reeled right back to the wall beside you.

“Anything?”

It shrugged, shaking its head.

STOMP-STOMP-STOMP!!

You jumped at the first stomp that echoed within the hall, your hands tight on the broom you held forward like a weapon as you sharply turned to the opposite end of the hall, trying to identify the sounds that sounded like something big charging at you.

That first sound was oddly peculiar. The second sound was eerily uncomforting. This one? It was enough to make your heart bounce in your chest in terror, breathing toppling into a ragged rhythm as your eyes looked for anything that made that set of sound. But nothing was visible there. Your near-popped-out eyes flicked over there, then here, then towards your shadow, who was visibly apprehensive to try to investigate for you.

It didn’t matter, though—not when the last thing you could barely process with your eyes was a towering shadow that shaded your form from behind.

Then nothing at all.

Your vision was completely blinded in darkness as you felt your body felt itself covered in a rather itchy and uncomfortable fabric, and losing your footing as you were suspended upside down. Telling by the way you felt yourself swinging lightly with the movement of whatever did this to you, along with the thuds on the ground with each swing—you were being kidnapped.

“Hey! Let me go!”

Captured in some bag, you writhed and scratched at the rough fabric in a panic, trying to escape your captor. Question was: who was the captor? The principal? Possibly, if she decided you were no longer needed. A teacher? You don’t recall giving away your position of helping students forge their grade unless you made a mistake somewhere. Perhaps Δlice with the amount of times you opened the door to the room she resided in.

Too vague to pinpoint the exact culprit, but if this school was anything to go by—you were likely to turn to a pile of guts and bones wherever you ended up. All you could do was pray.

Finally, you heard a door open as you continued to struggle, then closed as a few more steps were heard. Your body was then set upright, sitting on something with the feeling of no longer being carried gone, yanking the stuffy bag you were captured in right off. You expected to see a murderous look from the principal, or from Δlice, or from anyone likely fed up with you.

Instead, you were met with the sight of Miss Circle, sitting across from you on a small table, with only a slightly murderous look on her as she stared at you with a sharp-toothed grin.

“Hello, janitor.”

Maybe it was the panic that was still settling that made it so, but her voice still sounded scary despite that sweet tone she used.

“What?” you panted.

Taking deep breaths to get your bearings, you could finally comprehend your surroundings better. Amidst the dark, the only sources of light were the light in the halls peering through the small window of the closed nearby, and the dim glow of a set of candles placed on the table that allowed you look at the single piece of food on it—a big cupcake, with chocolate bread and vanilla icing, topped off with two Oreos decorated on top. A would-be eerie sight, relaxed into a more confusing one with the sound of a violin and accordion that softly played within the room, slow and almost… romantical.

“What’s going on?”

Turning back, you realized your shadow to be with you as well, barely existing among the dimly lit wall behind you, trying to get up to speed before shaking its head.

“This is a date,” Miss Circle said bluntly.

“Wait, what?”

“A date.”

Her simple answer didn’t help you from short-circuiting in your mind, especially with that blank face that innocently stared back at you as if that was a normal response.

“Did—You kidnapped me,” you said. “For a date?”

Her lips were closed thin for a second. “Yes.”

Your bewilderment wasn’t unwarranted, and you noticed your face express that clearly to her.

She continued, “I didn’t know how to ask you.”

“So you dragged me in a bag?”

“Also yes.”

You didn’t even realize it until she tried to rub the back of her neck that her compass arm was detached, layed on the ground by the table, leaving her arm a stub as she realized the problem, letting her right hand do the job. She gave as reassuring a smile as she could, despite the obvious nervousness.

“After you gave me that Oreo, I wanted to find a way to give you back a gift of my own.”

Her smile faded, along with her straight posture, slumping down with pink flooding across her cheeks.

“I… didn’t know what you liked, so I thought this would work so we could talk more…”

“Well, it’s certainly something,” you said. “Just didn’t think it’d be in a school of all places…”

Another glance around the room and you picked up two more things to note. The first was Miss Bloomie and Miss Thavel, just barely within the glow of the candles, the two being the ones playing the music; the violin was played by Miss Bloomie, while Miss Thavel handled the accordion. It was certainly surprising to see the chemistry and language teachers playing instruments so perfectly.

The second thing to note were the music stands and instruments set aside in the darkness of the room beyond the table.

“Is this Mister Demi’s classroom?” you asked. “How did you get him to let you use his room?”

Knock-knock.

“Miss Circle?”

Following the knocks that were almost drowned out by the music, the music teacher’s voice meekly spoke from outside, his face popping up from the door’s window with furrowed brows.

“Can I have my room back? I still need it to teach, and I don’t want to spend time cleaning up for when I need to—”

“In a minute!”

Her voice roaring at the music teacher startled you, making you flinch back in your seat, practically frozen as she stood up to yell at Mister Demi before sitting back down with a smile, as if she hadn’t just yelled to begin with.

“Where were we?”

“Uh…”

It took you a moment to coil back into your place, shaking off the chills in your spine.

“We were…” You cleared your throat. “Just starting this date, I suppose. Very interesting scenery…”

Her lips straightened with an inquisitive look on her face. “Do you like it?”

Did you? With how the scene was panning out, it was nothing short of unnerving. You looked around the room, gauging your answer to the sight. From the fact that you were kidnapped to be here, to being put in a romantical scene with the teacher that outdid you in size and power—not to mention her demonic capabilities along with the other two teachers in the room—was this really something you could perceive to enjoy?

“Yeah, kinda,” you simply answered.

She smiled, a toothy one that reached from ear to ear, showing off her razor-sharp teeth—terrifying to see a look like that aimed at you. But, with her intentions placed on something more lighthearted, you couldn’t help but feel something warm in your chest, like your heart was actually melting at her smile. It seemed to have the same effect with your shadow as one glance towards it showed it clapping gleefully, silently, before mimicking your form.

“So,” you continued. “Guess this is where we start to learn about each other?”

Miss Circle nodded eagerly, her smile never faltering.

You nodded back. “Alright. Let’s start with you. Do you have any hobbies?”

“Well… I like math.”

You looked at her blankly.

“I… wouldn’t have guessed…” Once again, you cleared your throat. “What about outside of that? Like, outside of math and teaching?”

“Oh, right!” Nervously laughing it off, she shrugged. “I like to read.”

“Really?”

Now we’re getting somewhere!

“What do you like to read?”

“Math books.”

Again, you looked at her blankly…

“And anything with horror!”

An answer you could not be any more unsurprised about.

“Well, it’s definitely a start.”

“Was that boring?”

“What? No!” you exclaimed. “I just didn’t expect that for an answer, is all.”

“Sorry. I never did this before…”

“No, it’s fine! I was just like you when I went on my first date when I was younger.”

“You were?”

“Of course! I used to date this girl back in high school. Didn’t end well, though.”

You pondered for a moment.

“In fact, it didn’t last a day after the first date. Turns out she was a murderer on the run.”

“Wow,” Miss Circle drew out with awe in her tone. “Do you want to start instead? Show me what to say for this?”

“It’s easy, really, but sure. Ask away.”

“What do you like?”

“Well, I like video games—that’s one,” you answered. “I also like making costumes.”

“Halloween costumes?”

“Yeah, that too. But I also make cool ones outside of it. Usually when I went to costume parties back then. Monster, robot, some cool characters in some games I played—all of them.”

You remembered using those costumes mostly for the practice of hiding in a bush on Halloween, jumping out when kids passed by. You had so much candy to eat when they scampered off, leaving their candy bags behind whilst screaming for their mothers.

“You must have a lot of them in your house!”

“Uh…”

Maybe if you had one, sure. Living in a janitorial closet doesn’t exactly help store much, especially costumes.

“Yeah! A lot…” You cleared your throat. “Now—how about we talk about something else? You could start by telling stories about you.”

“Like what?”

“Any. How about… Oh! I remember you having some sort of chase after Miss Bloomie once!”

“That? It started because she ate my Oreos during our break.”

“Really?”

As you gave a small smirk, glancing over to the teacher on the side, you noticed a drop of sweat form on her forehead along with Miss Circle’s glare at her when you turned back to her.

“Yes,” she sneered. “She also hasn’t paid me back for them.”

“How did it get to that point?”

“She left a pack of them alone in the break room,” Miss Bloomie chimed in. “I thought it was up for grabs, and I was hungry for a snack.”

“You had your own lunch!” Miss Circle sharply said, baring her teeth.

After her small outburst, she simply huffed, relaxing in her seat to the best of her ability as she looked back at you.

“After that, I chased after. I remember accidentally pushing you as I tried to get her.”

It was something you recalled as well. You were mopping the floor as you hummed a small tune, getting confused—and quickly panicked—when the science teacher passed you in panic, followed by the charging monster that was Miss Circle barging past you with force. You also remembered hearing something break in your arm when she did so. What that sound was, you didn’t want to know.

“It took a few beakers and chemicals just to keep her away until she calmed down,” Miss Bloomie added.

“Which hurt, by the way!”

You couldn’t help but snicker at the banter going on between the two, along with the scary yet oddly funny story.

“Well, hopefully it’s good between you two now?”

Miss Circle grumbled. “Maybe when she pays me back those Oreos…”

“Then how about I buy you a pack on her behalf?”

That made that single eye not hidden under the shade of her spiky hair widen, softening after a second.

“I’ll… accept it.”

You gave a small and warm smile. “Good.”

You left a hand to rest on the table; and, surprisingly, she placed hers over yours. It was still odd how soft her scary, blackened hand was, especially when it covered your entire hand easily under her sharp claws. The gesture was enough to leave you speechless, looking at Miss Circle to see that signature cat-like smile, much softer and warm on her face. It was… an intoxicating sight. You simply let her hand rest on yours, and you propped your face on your palm with your elbow on the table.

“What about you? Do you have any stories?”

“Me? Well, I’m kinda boring compared to you,” you dismissed with a small laugh. “I doubt I have anything interesting to add.”

“Come on,” she drew out slowly, pleading.

“Alright, alright!” You chuckled. “I guess I do have one…”

“And by the time I reached the last room, turns out I just went full circle!”

Miss Circle choked on her own laughter at your story, the table wobbling with how forceful her slams on the table with her fist were, all whilst you made sure the cupcake didn’t fall off, then laughing with her.

“Anyway, that's why I stopped taking bets to go into haunted mansions,” you summarized.

“How did you not die after being in there for so long?”

“You’d be surprised how much food there was for a supposedly abandoned mansion. Just enough not to starve to death.”

“Are you guys done yet?”

Such a sweet moment, broken by the sound of someone too annoyingly familiar. Zip.

Miss Bloomie and Thavel stopped mid-song as you sharply turned to the door along with Miss Circle, seeing Zip, along with Abbie and Claire, barely reaching up to look inside through the door window.

“Ew,” Zip said. “Are you guys really doing a date in there?”

“Can I use my room now?” Mister Demi’s anxious face peered through the window along with the children. “Lunch has already ended, and I still have kids to teach…”

“Ah.” You slumped at the sudden end to the date. “Guess we didn’t hear the bell.”

“Already?” Miss Circle shook her head, incredulous. “I thought we had more time.”

“Eh, lunch is only about half an hour.” You shrugged. “It was nice, though.”

Miss Circle frowned, slumping in her seat. A rare sight to see her in a sad mood compared to her usual murderous or casual moods on the daily.

“Maybe we could do this again sometime?”

That made her spring up in her seat, head perked up with a bright, toothy grin.

“Really?”

“Yeah, sure. Though, maybe when it’s not during lunch—or in someone else’s class.”

“Got it! Better time and better place!”

You got up from your seat, though you grabbed one of the Oreos from the cupcake before moving.

“Keep the rest.”

You put the Oreo in your mouth, taking it out when you finally reached the door, turning back to her with a flushed face.

“See you around?”

“Yes! Definitely!”

The way she eagerly nodded in such a speedy way made your heart flutter even more. It definitely influenced your shadow greatly, realizing it had stopped mimicking you to gesture a heart with its hands towards the teacher, making you roll your eyes as you opened the door.

“You two are weird,” Oliver commented.

Zip and Edward followed up with his words by making mock kissing faces.

“Uh-huh,” you dismissed.

Stepping past the group of children that waited to enter their assigned class, you were going to continue your duties on one end of the school—until your plan was cut off.

“Janitor!”

Principal Grace’s voice roared through the hall on the opposite end you were heading in, making you turn on a heel.

“Coming!”

With a fearful tone in your reply, you made a mad dash to head over—even your shadow panicked as it tried to help you hurry. You forgot you were gone from your duties for half an hour, so the last thing you needed was being called a slacker and possibly killed for it. You’d just need to explain your situation and hope she’d let you off the hook. Maybe Miss Circle would vouch for you for the kidnapping turned date.

Despite the exhausting conditions, the date had lifted your spirits enough to keep a smile on your face for the rest of the day, and possibly for longer if a second date ever happens. Till then, you’d wait, do your job, and pine over the math teacher from afar. Hopefully, she’d do the same.

You made a note at the end of the day to buy a pack of Oreos later.

Chapter Text

“Alright, let’s see your answer, Abbie.”

With recess in session, you led Claire and Abbie outside onto the small courtyard, on the grass and by a corner of the school walls, with a small whiteboard taped carelessly onto it and a small doodle of your attempts to teach the two kids that sat criss-cross from you.

With a small wince as he glanced at his paper, Abbie held the page up to you with a meek expression as you looked at the answer to the math question you gave him. It wasn’t correct, but you saw where he had messed up, making a wrong calculation on the last step.

“Eh.” You shrugged. “Close, but you’ll have to try again on that last step.”

With a small erasure to his mistake, and showing him how to do it, Abbie tried again. This time, the answer was correct when he showed you.

“Is it good?” he asked.

You nodded. “You’re getting it now, that’s for sure.”

“This is confusing…”

“Don’t worry, I’m on the same boat. It took me most of the night just to understand this subject to help you out.”

“I thought you were smart, though,” Claire said, holding her paper full of science questions. “You helped me understand this topic better than Miss Bloomie.”

“That’s ‘cause her best method of teaching is murdering,” you replied. “That, and she’s not much of a talker. You should’ve seen the few times I tried to hold a conversation with her in the teacher’s lounge. Not very good. So getting help from her is nonexistent.”

Turning to wipe the whiteboard clean, you continued.

“Trust me, it’s a miracle I could teach you two any of this. I flunked out of highschool on the second year.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah. I never was good at anything in school, so I left and went for a job instead since it actually paid me to be there.”

“But if you were never good at this, then how—”

“Did I tutor you two so well? Beats me.” Turning to face them, you plopped back down to the ground. “Probably because you guys being in danger of turning into red paste by the teachers is enough motivation to keep me studying.”

Even your shadow on the wall behind you agreed, shrugging with a puzzled tilt of its head as Abbie held an unsure expression, Claire a puzzled one.

“Thank you,” Abbie said. “I don’t think we’d be able to understand our next tests without you.”

His small smile did uplift you, even giving your shadow a smile of its own when you glanced at it.

“You better. Teaching math of this level to kids is practically an award of its own.” You smiled softly. “And somehow, whilst only having two hours of sleep.”

Claire’s eyes bulged out at your words, jaw dropped. “Two hours?”

“I did say it took most of the night to understand this stuff.”

“You need to sleep!” Abbie urged anxiously.

“Kinda hard to do when I have to study to tutor you two and be the backbone of this entire school at the same time,” you replied. “Though I will make sure to sleep somewhat well tonight. I even got enough cash to afford a pillow!”

The blank, near-concerned looks they gave said it all: this job sucked…

“Are you okay?” Claire asked.

“Absolutely not.”

“I have a dollar,” Abbie said. “You could have it to get a snack…”

The way he meekly offered as he fished out a crumpled dollar from his pocket was certainly warming to the heart. It almost makes getting multiple heart attacks saving him constantly worth it.

With a ruffle of his hair with a hand, you rejected. “I’ll be fine. I got him to grab snacks from inside those machines.”

Your shadow gave a proud grin with your finger pointed at him.

“Until then, you can pay me back by passing your classes.”

“Will do,” Abbie meekly replied.

“Got it,” Claire agreed. “Are we doing this again next week? Miss Bloomie is throwing another test at us after this next one, so…”

You stared at her, deadpanned. “I really need to question their teaching methods…”

“Are you still helping with math?”

That small, soft-spoken voice surprised you, snapping your eyes to the side to see a kid standing by, hunched slightly with his head down as his eyes erratically flickering between you and the ground.

“Uh, no?” You raised a brow. “Were you always standing there?”

“N-No. I was just passing by until I noticed you helping them. Can I join? I don’t know anything about Miss Circle’s next lesson…”

You couldn’t help but feel your heart ache just a little when the kid gave a pleading, cute stare in the form of puppy dog eyes. It broke your heart slightly, but a glance at your watch said enough to what your answer would default to.

“Sorry, kid, but recess is almost over.”

“Please?” the kid asked, eyes becoming glossy. “I really don’t want to fail…”

“I—”

“Or maybe next time, if you do? I-I just need you to save me from Miss Thavel so you can help me on the next test!”

It was already time-consuming to study both math and science just to help the two kids before you already, so you were lying when you tried to keep a composed expression, mentally cringing underneath at the prospect of having to add language lessons to your workload.

“Maybe that could work,” Claire chimed in. “It wouldn’t hurt to help them.”

Abbie looked at the kid, sympathetic. “I know how it feels to fail Miss Circle’s class… Maybe helping a few more of us could be nice?”

“Like a study place with a teacher who won’t kill us.”

“Exactly!”

The only thing you could do was just watch as Claire and Abbie conversed with themselves, with the other kid agreeing from the side with hopeful eyes. All while you still held an unsure look at the idea of a bigger workload for such a taxing job. Sure enough, you interrupted before they could go on any longer.

“Look, I get that you kids want my help, but I still got a job,” you said, turning to the other kid. “And sorry, but I’m not sure I can handle more than two kids here at a time.”

The hope in the kid’s eyes flickered away like a dying fire, their shoulders slumping as their frown deepened in sorrow.

“Sorry, kid.”

You patted the kid’s shoulder, giving a few more apologies as they turned and left. It was certainly not a joyful sight, only aching your heart further. The moment they entered the school, all you could give was a deep, guilt-ridden sigh.

“That hurt to watch…”

“Are you sure that was a good idea?” Claire asked.

“No, but what can I do? If I accept, then I’ll lose too much sleep to focus on work. At least this way lets me sleep—though, I will have a lot of guilt keeping me up for a while.”

Abbie added, “Will you help them next time?”

“I’ll have nightmares if I don’t. Till then, I need to keep an eye on Miss Thavel’s class—get a head start on saving that kid.”

“So, we’ll see them again?”

“If it makes you feel better, sure.”

Though still meek, Abbie’s small frown curved into a smile, and Claire’s expression similarly became warm with the smile she gained as well. It definitely made you feel slightly better about the situation.

RIIIIING!!

“There’s the bell.” You looked at the two expectantly. “Best you guys scram back to your classes. I don’t need any teachers going after you for being late.”

“Alright,” Claire said. “Next time here, right?”

The simple nod you gave was enough to strengthen their smiles. At least the mood had lifted.

That is until your eye was stung before they had the chance to leave.

Poke!

The sudden sting of something hitting your eye almost made you blurt out certain words you didn’t want the kids to hear—even if they were already accustomed to things like murder—and instead gave out a pained yelp.

“What the hell?”

Abbie pointed at you. “You swore.”

Well, you tried…

“I know what I said!”

Rubbing the sting away on your eye, you let the other eye do the analyzing for you. On the ground, the cause of the pain laid there: a paper plane; and following the direction it came from led to the culprit by a school door to the side: Zip, along with Edward and Oliver, snickering and laughing as they pointed at you.

“You little brats!”

The tiniest movement you made to get up and run at them was met with them running inside, leaving you to grumble and soothe your eye. And looking back at the wall, you noticed your shadow in pain, rubbing its eye from the shadow of said paper as well.

Claire quickly went over to you, anxious in her tone. “Are you okay?”

“Never better,” you dryly answered.

After having to deal with those three kids constantly, you had a storm of irritation boiling in your mind. Luckily, with an idea spreading in your head, you grabbed your mop that was propped against the wall before turning back to the two.

“You guys ever seen a kid get hit with a mop before?”

Abbie replied, “No?”

“Well, you’re about to.” Turning to your shadow, you gave it a nod. “Find them.”

Like-minded, your shadow nodded back with a wicked grin, taking the lead as it moved across the wall, slipping through the doors to help you track the three brats. With a small pat to Abbie and Claire’s heads, you charged into the school, your job sidelined for the bigger priority at the moment.

“Get back here, you brats!”

You may not be a murder like some teachers in this school, but you definitely knew that some kids didn’t learn without some sort of punishment—and a wet mop was going to do the trick.

With a breath of fatigue passing out between her sharp teeth, Miss Circle organized the last of the test papers as sat tiredly by her desk in the classroom, the dull lights above giving clear sight of the last test papers to be stacked. Some grades were B’s, A’s on others—but no matter how low they got, it was never a failing grade. It agitated her.

She wasn’t going crazy—she was sure of that—so how come she tried to kill a failing student, only to find out they were passing the whole time?

Every attempt of replaying the entire scene in her head only raised questions that couldn’t be answered. She was certain the one kid who failed, did. Or maybe she was going insane—after all the countless times a student failed, only to be proven wrong and seeing they weren’t.

Despite her baffled agitation, at least she had you to look at when she came back from trying to pursue the kid. You were always there, giving a compliment as she returned. At least there was something to look forward to; though, the teacher couldn’t help but always notice you were sweating profusely when she came back to the classroom.

Probably from working, Miss Circle thought.

She wasn’t going to put any pieces together anytime soon, so she brushed it off and finished the last of her work before she got ready to leave. Her blackened hand was careful to pick up the last Oreo of the pack you gifted her in the morning, eating it before she stepped out. She would’ve turned immediately to leave if it weren’t for the stray broom propped against the wall in front of her.

That’s odd…

Normally, you didn’t leave any equipment behind, but you could only be attentive for so long, it seemed.

Instead of going home, she decided to help you out, picking up the broom and heading towards the janitorial closet. You would’ve gone home by now, so it’s only kind to help.

Finding the small closet, she opened the door to put the item away. She expected to see a bunch of cleaning equipment—and she did—but she wasn’t ready to see you in there as well.

“Huh?”

The sight was enough to slacken her jaw and flood her brain with confusion. There, lightly snoring inside, was the same janitor, head lying on a small pillow as the rest of your body was forced upside down to be propped against the wall inside the cramped closet.

One on hand, you definitely looked adorable in your sleep; on the other—you were confined in a too-small room with nothing but a pillow.

Concern washing over anything else, she got down near your level before, with a small tap of her sharp finger—

“Ah!”

You jolted awake, toppling over with erratic breaths before your head snapped left and right, eyes focusing on anything but her until after a few seconds of panic. When both your gazes finally met, your drowsy expression stiffened blankly, silent…

“Uh…” Your lips curved into a strained smile. “Hey.”

“What are you doing here?” Miss Circle exclaimed.

“...Sleeping?”

“In a closet?”

“Yeah… I didn’t get much sleep last night, so I thought I’d take a nap in here after I finished up.”

“Couldn’t you just go home to sleep in a bed?”

That wavering smile of yours slowly drooped until it was near straight, your face becoming somber.

“I could try, but that small box barely counts as a bed—or room, for that matter.”

“A box?”

Question marks dotted her mind at your words that made her want an explanation, and it didn’t help with your blank staring and reply.

“I said too much.”

“I can’t believe it...”

With your drowsiness gone, you shook off the apprehension in your body as best you could before voicing your explanation—your true situation at the moment. Once you finished talking, all you could do was wait until Miss Circle could stop staring at nothing, her shocked expression that lasted for what felt like a year before she finally spoke.

“I thought you had a place to live—especially since you mentioned having a house sometimes!”

“I mean, the school counts, I’m pretty sure.”

“Not a house! You practically lied to me!”

“If it makes you feel better, I lied to everyone; not just you.”

Poor choice of words. Miss Circle looked at you disapprovingly, and even your shadow moved beside you to give the same expression as well. With a small sigh, concern washed over her face.

“How are you still alive? I doubt this closet would do…”

“You’d be surprised.” You gave a smile. “Besides, it’s not so bad! I just have to be careful whenever Δlice comes out to roam this place outside her room during then.”

You pointed to your shadow, prompting it to give a small wave towards her.

“But I can just send him out to nab me a few snacks so I don’t get caught and mauled to death.”

The memories of those nights were still traumatizing, needing to sleep with an eye open as you heard Δlice lurking about in the halls, the demonic noises she made almost stopping your heart when she barely passed the closet you tried to rest in. And since you needed to study to help tutor Abbie and Claire, you had to hope Δlice wouldn’t barge into the library when you snuck in the night before.

Luckily, unlike most horror movies you watched, you made sure never to breathe loudly or step out into the hall when you thought Δlice was gone.

“This is not something you should be doing,” she worriedly pointed out.

“What choice do I have? It’s either this, or a box by the junkyard.”

“Why don’t you talk to Principal Grace about getting a raise?”

“Nuh-uh,” you dismissed in a slight panic. “I’m already scared about what she’ll do with me if I don’t do well cleaning this place; I don’t need to test lady luck with the odds of being torn apart, limb by limb.”

“...Fair enough.” She hummed thoughtfully. “But I’m sure you’ll be fine, especially with your help in cleaning this place.”

“Yeah, cleaning and then some. I have to fix most of what gets destroyed here, too.”

“…Huh?”

“Yeah, I’m the only one keeping this place from falling apart. Your desk? It’s more glue than wood at this point. And don’t get me started on the technical work like fixing the power outages.”

Miss Circle’s face held an expression of disbelief, an eye twitching. “Please, tell me you’re a technician…”

Even your shadow winced with you at the thought…

"This is fine; just because this place can’t bother to get a technician doesn’t mean it’ll be hard! Right?”

Whilst your shadow’s posture was less than confident, it gave a small thumbs up as you walked through the school halls. With the power gone, and most classrooms left in the dark, Miss Grace pulled you to the side before asking—though it was more demanding with her tone—to fix the problem. Of course, not wanting to risk being ripped to shreds, you anxiously agreed.

You followed the signs of where the outage originated, soon ending up in front of a door in the hall. With a slow creak of the opening door, the small bit of light in the hall barely gave enough light to see the source of what you followed to be the problem: the breaker box.

Barely able to make out your shadow on the wall from the lacking light, you both looked at each other with wary expressions before you brought out a flashlight and made your way over to the box to open it. Inside, with your flashlight illuminating it, your eyes almost popped out from the messy work on the inside of the electrical box. Wires were tangled tightly with wires worn off their rubber, some breakers were completely dislodged, and the entire inside was dusty, with a few cobwebs left around. You even noticed one breaker giving off small sparks.

The sight almost made your soul leave.

Giving a long glance to your shadow from the corner of your eyes, it profusely began shaking its head, pointing at the door you entered from with a panicked fidget in its stature. But a job is a job.

“Okay—let’s do this.” You gave as best of a confident smile as you could. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

You ended up getting a painful shock that lit up the entire room in a split second. It fixed the outage, but you also ended up in a coma for two weeks.

“Yeah… No.” You chuckled nervously, trying to shrug it off. “Keep this a secret between you and me, but the breaker boxes around this place are mostly patched up with duct tape nowadays.”

“You—” Miss Circle’s words tangled briefly. “That’s reckless! This is why we hire people who work on these things, you know!”

“Eh, let’s be real here—have you ever seen a repair guy ever show up aside from the usual students and teachers here?”

“Not… exactly.”

“Me neither. I don’t know if you guys can’t afford them or if they get scared off, but until one shows up, I’m sort of your only way of fixing stuff here.”

Slowly, you brought out your hands for the teacher to see, a few band-aids littered around your hands. Some were from minor cuts and splinters, and a few were a result of doing electrical work and ‘fixing’ it.

The more she stared down at your covered injuries, the more prominent her worry was on her face as she looked down at you, her brows furrowed as her visible eye under her hair’s shadow squinted slightly. Slowly, her large hand rose up to caress each hand, the sharp points of her finger slowly tracing each band-aid.

She sighed. “I see. So, you’re going to sleep here for the night?”

“Probably. Better than a box outside.” Going over to the closet, you grabbed the pillow inside and fluffed it. “I get a warm place to sleep, and all I have to worry about is a rampaging demon girl walking about in this place.”

Still, her unsure expression remained unchanged.

“I’ll be fine—really. I’m prepared for the worst. I even have plans set in case I need food and—”

“Do you want to sleep in my house for the night?”

The way she bluntly asked had made you choke on your words, barely managing to spurt out a small ‘what’ when you could finally straighten out your shock.

“It’d be better than a closet you can barely fit in, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s… awfully nice.” Your smile softened, warmer at her words. “But that’d be rude to just walk into your house and sleep there.”

Despite what you just said, looking to your side from the corner of your eyes, you noticed your shadow nodding eagerly with hands clasped together. Then turning your focus on Miss Circle revealed she was seeing the act, too. You noticed the small blush paint her cheeks as a small smile lit up on her face.

“Stop that,” you scolded your shadow, then looked back at her. “It’s no problem, really! I can handle a night here. All I need is this pillow, my flashlight, and—”

No need to continue with your objections; instead, you were abruptly cut off by Miss Circle as her only hand picked you up by your chest, carrying you under her arm and close to her before taking charge and making her way towards the exit to the school. Sometimes, you forget how insanely strong she is.

“Guess I don’t have a choice.”

“No!”

She gave that signature catlike smile of hers when you looked up.

As she reached the exit, you noticed she abruptly staggered in her movement, as if something had hit her from her other side, forcing her to move her compass arm away from her side. It puzzled you only for a moment before you followed the brief glance behind her that made her keep her smile. There, glancing past her spiky hair behind the two of you, was her shadow that followed her steps; and on said side, was your shadow, clinging to her like it’d lose her if it didn’t.

You rolled your eyes, but couldn’t help but silently chuckle at the dumb action of your shadow. But you definitely agreed, though silently, that this was nice.

“This is a neat place you have.”

You couldn’t help but fawn over the cozy atmosphere of Miss Circle’s home. You expected to be met with demonic summoning circles, blood-stained walls, or any sort of skeletons in her closet; instead, you were met with cushy furniture and minimal yet pretty decor. Even your shadow took in the sight, fiddling with a few pieces of decor as you looked on at a few pictures hung on a wall, each one a simple photo of her alone, or with one or more of the staff.

“It’s not much,” Miss Circle said off to the side by the television. “I haven’t cleaned up yet.”

“You kidding? This place is tidy—and way better than the closet.”

As she removed her compass arm to set to the side and go over to the television, you and your shadow looked around in the meantime. In unison, the two of you noticed a familiar item placed on a shelf.

“No way! You have one of these?”

Standing with that familiar, friendly stare was a Baby Talking Tattletail toy.

“You know about it?”

“Know it?” You grabbed the purple-furred toy. “I used to have one of these tattletails as a kid! I got it during Christmas. Good memories.”

The longer you inspected the round toy in your hand, the more your memories flooded in of the past from its cutesy stare. However, none of them were coherent in details, blurry even. And you could’ve sworn you felt a chill snake up your spine around said memories and their surrounding mood.

Something malevolent.

“Actually… thinking about it now—I can’t exactly remember it then.”

“Maybe because you were so young?”

“Probably…”

Setting it back down on the shelf, you turned to Miss Circle, seeing her stand back up with the television now on.

“What are you doing?” you asked.

Seemingly magical, Miss Circle brought her hand up and, with a flick of her wrist, three DVD cases were now held by her.

“I was thinking we could watch a movie.”

With a sharp, toothy smile from her, you looked closer at the movies, noting the bloody and scary artwork on the front of each one. Horror movies, though none were anywhere near familiar to you. Living in a box for so long may have degraded your awareness of movies…

Miss Circle raised a brow. “Do you like horror movies?”

“I’m more into action stuff, really.” You before shrugging. “But why not? We’ve got time to kill.”

That toothy smile of hers only grew wider as she opened up one case and put the first disc in. As the movie was starting, you and your shadow helped grab snacks from the kitchen with the demonic teacher. Popcorn, soda, some candy—and a bucket full of Oreos that she happily snagged.

When snacks were in place, you turned the lights off and set most of them on the table as you sat close beside Miss Circle on the couch, grabbing a handful of popcorn from the bag and tossing it into your mouth.

“So, what’s this movie about?” you asked between chewing.

“It’s my favorite,” Miss Circle replied, scarfing down a few Oreos. “It’s about a group of teenagers stumbling into an abandoned factory that’s actually being used by a murder to kill people.”

“Sounds cool.”

She nodded with an excited hum as the movie began to start with its first scene.

It didn’t seem too bad, with the movie playing out like most horror movies you’ve watched growing up: basic character tropes here, gimmicky location with expected scary lighting and camera angles. The only thing not gimmicky during the runtime was the slasher villain itself. For a simple murderer, the villain definitely looked the part with such an imposing design. That’s about when things rapidly spiralled into true horror in your eyes.

The first kill in the movie didn’t hold back with its brutality, with your entire body wincing at the sight of the murderer impaling the first teenager with a sharpened metal rod, going in through the stomach, and out of their shoulder.

It only continued with the brutality, gore becoming more creative and sickening to the stomach. The next victim was torn apart by the murderer, even having their ribs being manually split and ripped out with the villain’s hand. The victim after was gutted and removed of their limbs, and the fourth victim was thrown from a catwalk, dropped into a large set of hanging chains with connected hooks, each piercing their limbs, body, and even both eyes when the victim landed onto them and left to hang—bleeding and strung up like a puppet.

Bile threatened to hurl out of your mouth as you halted each pulse of your gag reflex from the gore-filled scenes. Even for a horror movie, the kills were too much.

In fact, they seemed almost too real…

Unable to stomach the movie any longer, you put the popcorn away and nestled into Miss Circle’s side and buried your face into her shoulder. This was the closest you could get to getting rid of the nauseous feeling—and much more relieving when you felt her arm move and wrap around your side. It was comforting, enough to bear the sounds of screams and wails that blared from the movie.

The warmth and softness of her side and hand definitely eased your uneasy feeling, simply letting your focus as best you could on her rather than the movie. You did let an eye peek out to watch the movie, though the blood-filled scenes only made you turn back to Miss Circle’s side. This time, you let an eye peek up at her. Unlike you, she watched the movie with an attentive and eager grin that reached from ear to ear, much better accustomed to the gore and violence of the film than you. Even a quick glance at your shadow on the wall behind the two of you showed its happy attention to the movie with a wicked grin, almost cheering. You had a feeling it wasn’t the victims of the movie it was cheering for.

Unsurprising…

After what felt like an eternity of digging yourself into Miss Circle’s side, the movie finally ended, though she was quick to remove the disc and add the next movie. Again, you could only grab small glimpses of the movie before having to hide away in her side whilst your shadow and her watched with an almost evil glee.

The second movie was more supernatural than the first, with the slasher being a ghost that went after a group of paranormal investigators; and the third was otherworldly, with an almost too real entity beyond what you could accurately describe lurking among the halls of a lone astronaut’s ship. It was the only movie where the victim survived, though just barely.

With every shudder at the screams of agony and painful slashes and kills, your unease was kept to a minimum as Miss Circle held you close, firming her hold on you when she felt you jolt slightly during certain scenes. In another time, you hoped you’d be the one holding her when she got scared from a movie. Seems you should’ve known better with her demonic traits and past.

Finally, the movie ended—no credits, just a blank static to fill the screen as you slowly pulled away from the teacher, shaking off the last of your lingering chills as your shadow clapped at the movie.

“That was nice!” With her sharp-toothed grin, she turned to you. “What did you think?”

“Well… it was certainly… unique.” You awkwardly laughed. “Though, could we watch something else if we do this again? I’m not sure I’m ready for all that again…”

“Scared?” She held a teasing smile.

Flatly, instantly, you responded, “Yes.”

“Then it’s a date! You pick the movies next time.”

“Thanks.”

With a sigh of relief, you tossed a piece of popcorn into your mouth.

“Hope you don’t mind something that isn’t horror next time.”

“I won’t mind. As long as you can watch without hiding this time, it’ll be fun for both of us.”

“Alright. Just making sure since you were really invested in these movies.”

“Oh, absolutely! The way the ghost tore apart that woman from the inside was my favorite!”

She simply gushed over the films as you listened. They may not have been to your taste—far from it—it was nice to watch her talk passionately about them. But after a minute fawning over the many deaths in the movies, she looked over to the window nearby. Even you didn’t realize how fast the sun went out until you followed her glance, dusk already taken over by the night.

“Time to go to bed,” she said. “I have to prepare to teach my next lesson and I don’t want to lose too much sleep.”

With a small ‘agreed’ said, you helped her trash the empty soda bottles and snacks, chatting with her more as you did.

With a small yawn, you threw the last emptied snack away. “You have a spare blanket, by the way?”

“Hm?” Miss Circle turned to you, turning the television off. “What for?”

“So I can sleep on the couch? Or the ground?”

“You can sleep on my bed for tonight.”

“Oh!” That surprised you, leaving you awkwardly laughing and rubbing the nape of your neck. “That’s fine! I’m fine with the floor or couch. I’d hate to have you sleep on the couch because of—”

Again, you were cut off by her grabbing you like a toy and hoisting you under her arm.

“Okay, then,” you said blankly.

She carried you effortlessly into her room, dimly lit by the moonlight that shined through the window nearby, illuminating the room enough for you to see how cozy her bed looked—or perhaps a lack of one for so long made you see it so highly. Without a word, she tossed you onto the bed and got in herself, pulling you close to her chest to spoon.

Softly, you asked, “Are you sure about this?”

She hummed with a small nod, feeling her soft breathing on your head.

The warmth from her was enough to lull you softly to rest. Her large hand kept you pressed against her with a firm hug, and her head softly nuzzled down against yours. It felt comforting. It felt nice. And slowly, your eyes began slowly fluttering, making a halfhearted effort to remain open.

“Goodnight,” you whispered.

“Goodnight,” she yawned.

Her yawn elicited a small smile out of you both lay in bed, your eyes absentmindedly wandering around the room as sleep slowly took over. You glanced up to see her peaceful face as she rested with you in her one-armed embrace. Then you looked over to the window, taking in the peaceful night that illuminated the room slightly, with a few stars dotting the dark sky. Finally, you looked over to the dresser nearby, decor taking up some space on the top, along with the tattletail—

Huh…?

You could’ve sworn you left the toy back on the shelf in the living room.

It almost looked like it was staring back with that cute expression on its face; though, with how tired you were, a moment of questioning was all you could spare before you brushed it aside, closing your eyes and letting your head sink deeper into the pillow you shared with Miss Circle. After spending countless nights in a cramped closet, being in a plush bed with the lady you’ve crushed on for a while was enough to invigorate you.

You slept well that night. Mostly. Her grip on you became quite bone-crushing at certain intervals throughout the night, and you ended up with multiple bite marks from those sharp teeth of hers until morning. It was quickly revealed with a flustered grin when she awoke that she was dreaming of Oreos that night.

It was certainly painful, but it was worth it.

Chapter Text

Clean up the library turned war zone—check. Give a daily attempt to clean Δlice’s room—Check. Clean the halls—almost check. Save a kid from being turned to blood and gore before finishing your last task—in progress.

It took too much effort to run from one end of the school to the other just to fix another student’s grades in Miss Bloomie’s class this time. Despite your shadow’s help in looking out for you whilst fixing each wrong answer on the kid’s failed test, it seemed the teacher was much more vigilant with how often she’d circle back to the class and force you to hide momentarily. It seemed that every teacher you did this to was starting to do the same, a likely result of the constant ‘delusions’ they see of failed students actually ‘passing.’ Luckily, none of the students there exposed your location or intentions, so you barely finished up with only a few tons of sweat dripping down your forehead whilst you headed back to where you were cleaning with wary glances around the place.

“She around here?” you asked tiredly, glancing at your shadow on the wall, who simply stretched across the halls and around the corner before returning with a small shake of its head. “Coast is clear, I guess.”

As you finally reached the hall with your mop and bucket set by a few lockers, your shadow gave a few gestures for you to understand, each one forming the sentence, ‘How about we just let this one go, then?’

“So I can catch a break, or because of your excuse of ‘impressing’ Miss Circle?” Your shadow quickly raised a finger, but you stopped him with a raise of your hand. “That was a rhetorical question. I already know the answer—and it’s ‘no.’”

Your shadow slumped its shoulders with what you could tell to be a silent groan, making you roll your eyes in response as you grabbed your mop, your other hand going over to one specific locker.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m one bad scare away from a heart attack.”

“Janitor.”

That eerily sudden voice didn’t help with your already tense state, making you jump with a high-pitched yelp that ran your heart to overdrive with an erratic, too fast beating before snapping your body to look at the origin of the voice: Miss Bloomie herself, standing with her arm and box cutter for a left arm crossed together, that single eye staring at you under the shade on her face from her hair, a dangerous glint in it you wished was aimed at anything else.

“Miss Bloomie!” Hand on your chest to ease the nearing heart attack, you composed yourself as best you could, putting on the best, relaxed grin you could—futile with your shaky lips. “I didn’t see you there!”

“You said the student went towards the library,” she flatly said, the tone evident that your lie to steer her away had finally fallen apart.

“Did I? I guess the kid just left the area before you got there, I think. Maybe they’re still there? I know some of the students fall into that big pit sometimes.”

“Do you really think they’d be there?” she asked, more interrogative than thoughtful of your reasoning.

“...Yes?”

You tried not to break under her dangerous stare into your eyes, especially when she looked at your shadow behind you, a glance back showing it trying to keep its cool too, and silently whistling and looking around.

“Maybe you’re right…”

“I got to be. Seriously, has the principal looked into my complaints on that pit? I’ve been sending suggestions to her for months now, along with the other hazards in this place.”

She shrugged. “I think she still has that shredder under that suggestion box in her office, so probably not.”

“Right.” You paused. “Wait, what shredder?”

“Tell me if the student passes by.”

Without letting you speak again, Miss Bloomie quickly darted away, turning a corner down the hall and out of your sight. You kept your breath held until her already light footsteps finally silenced from the distance, letting you exhale and take deep breaths to calm down, same for your shadow before you calmed down. Finally, with the murderous, horned teacher finally out of earshot, you let your hand go back to the locker, opening it to reveal the kid, standing, shaky despite their stiff posture as you helped them out.

“She’s gone,” you reassured. “I got your test fixed, now head back to her class and just pretend nothing happened. Oh, and make sure she sees the paper before she mauls you to death, okay?”

“Thank you!” Incessantly sputtering a few more thank-you’s, the kid fixed their clothes with a timid look in their eyes as they looked back up at you. “Is my test fixed?”

“Yeah, but it won’t matter if you get caught out here.” You pointed in the science class’ direction. “Better run for it before she gets there first.”

“Yes, sir!”

With a meek goodbye and a final thank-you, the kid scampered off, turning the corner at the end of the hall, hearing their small, clumsy steps fade as you were left with just your shadow once again. Finally, with no more stress in the way of your job, you started to continue mopping the floor with a long sigh.

“Let's hope that kid is fast.”

Your shadow helped by moving the bucket through its shadow, inching it closer when you stepped away further to clean the floor. After having your heart almost give up on you, the soft, rhythmic sway of your mop from side to side helped level your mind. You just needed to forget what had just happened and replace everything with something nice. The stress? The calmness of cleaning. Miss Bloomie’s dangerous stare? The memory of that sharp-toothed grin Miss Circle once gave from a joke you told made you chuckle and shrug it off.

Finally, after wiping the floor a few more times, you finally reached the end of one hall, marking the end of your task. With a small wipe of your forehead with your arm, you finally slumped your posture from constant work, shutting your eyes and blowing out a small, satisfied exhale. Just a few more tasks still taking up your mind, and you’d be done for the day. But when you opened your eyes, your lacking attention from the exhaustion seemed to focus up when you noticed a bulletin board on the wall to the side.

All sorts of papers and decorations were pinned in a scattered mess all over the board, from sign-ups for clubs you were sure didn’t even exist, to typical words of encouragement posters and planned events for holidays and such. There were even small drawings and doodles left with not-so-nice words beside them, each one left with a doodle of Zip, Oliver, and Edward. You left a mental sticky note on your brain to remove these things later, taking a few off that cluttered the middle of the clustered papers. However, doing so revealed an old paper that caught your attention. It had deteriorated into a yellowish hue, with a few tears and missing pieces of the paper on the corners and sides. But the detail that made you perk up at the most was the words printed onto it.

–

-Teacher’s Assistant Needed!-

Have an affinity for helping children learn?

Want to build your skills in tutoring and teaching?

This place always has room for more hands to help kids grow!

Must have a PhD or higher to be considered

–

Even the expectations for teachers is rigged…

The paper made you chuckle somewhat, seeing the essentials in sappy and almost fake warmth in the usual hiring posters’ cheery words and over-the-top requirements, but that dismissive snark faded the more you stared at the paper. You were practically doing this job already, albeit without the recognition, or the official status—or the likely decent pay. It sprinkled a bitter taste in your mouth at that thought, having to do all of that for a couple of kids, just because the school was hellbent on letting some demonic teachers brutalize the failures, and whilst still doing your janitorial duties. If only you could fully stop it, but what was there to do when there were kids all over the school who needed help? That thought lingered, bouncing in your mind and sticking to a memory that popped up out of the blue: that kid who stumbled into your small tutoring session with Claire and Abbie, wanting help as well when you could afford to do it. Sure, you brought them in afterwards, but there were still so many kids unlucky enough to not have help.

It seemed your shadow, by a miracle of empathy, brought you out of your zoned-out state, which you didn’t even realize, a soft gaze you could tell just by its gloomy posture partly mimicking yours.

With a few hand signals from your shadow, it signed, ‘We could always help those brats.’

“Helping those two already tanked my sleep already, I don’t need it getting worse.”

Still, the thought weighed on your mind, making you look at the paper with a distraught look. Without even noticing, your hand went up and yanked it from the board, letting you get a better look at it. Two choices presented themselves before you, neither really helping you, but…

You turned to your shadow, staring at the paper too before locking eye contact with you. That stare from it made you cave.

Help Abbie, Claire, and more students by tutoring them—which would kill any sleep you tried to have, or have a guilty conscience of them dying and constantly running back and forth every day just to fix their problems?

You tried to put on a brave face, grinning awkwardly.

“How bad of an idea could this possibly be?”

Riiiing!!

Lunch had finally begun, to which said bell had startled you, though not without sparking an idea that made you perk up. Your shadow, however, was confused, yet perked up in intrigue at your sudden bright posture.

“We need to head to the computer lab.”

No need for explanation, your shadow simply gave a salute that said ‘aye-aye, sir’ before taking the lead, rounding the corner of the hall and scouting up ahead for you to follow. Quickly, without being conspicuous, you made your way down each hall and made sure nobody like Principal Grace spotted you, with only crowds of children and a few teachers passing you without much thought. You did spot Miss Circle with Bloomie and Thavel as you made your way through, and she spotted you too. The wide, sharp smile and small wave she gave you before they turned a corner made you smile back. That smile, though deadly in sharpness, always reinvigorated you when it was directed at you. It made you feel lightheaded—amazingly so.

Finally, you reached your destination. You tested the knob of the computer lab door, opening without so much as a lock, letting you open it slowly and peek inside.

“Hello?” You looked around the room full of computers, your shadow slipping in to clear the area. “Anybody home?”

Nobody. Your shadow snapped its head right and left, but quickly shrugged before urging you to come inside.

“Perfect.”

Sneaking and closing the door, your eyes quickly scanned for the necessary things you needed for this idea to work, your eyes picking out each item with a small, determined smile. First, a computer, one of many inside. Second and third together, a large printer in the corner of the room, with a large stack of papers laid on top.

“This is a terrible idea,” you muttered, though too driven to regret and back out now and glancing at your shadow. “Alright, you know what to do.”

Nodding with a mischievous smile, your shadow quickly went over and slipped through the crack between the door and the doorway, keeping a lookout. With your back covered by it, you cracked your knuckles and got to work. Picking out a computer, you went to an editing software, typing away and adding a bit of flair to the font and more. Once you finished writing and adding some nice details, you started up the printing process, each print taking a moment and making you anxious if someone would suddenly barge into the room. Once the stack of papers was printed, you quickly removed any trace of your existence in the room before sneaking out, papers in hand, and met with your shadow, who gave you a thumbs up.

“Thanks for keeping watch, buddy.”

With a small smile, you looked down at the stack of papers, staring at your attempt to fix this school’s deadly problem. It made you ponder, unsure.

“Now, how do I post these around without getting caught for what I did?”

The final bell rang after another terrifying day in school, letting Abbie pack her bag and leave as quickly as possible. She didn’t need Zip or her group throwing more paper planes at her, and she didn’t need to get another deadly glance from any more teachers for the rest of the day for barely passing another test.

Passing each student that walked, ran, or barged by her, she finally exited through the front entrance, finally free for the day and letting the blue sky and bright sun ease her. Her prior nervous frown turned to a small smile, then to a bright grin. More so, she remembered promising to walk home with Abbie and Engel, so all she had to do was stand by and wait—until she was yanked by something, nabbed without getting a chance to process what was happening. When she finally could, she finally noticed she was dragged to the side of the school building, barren of anyone but the one person, and culprit, standing before her with a stack of papers to the side: you, and your shadow on the wall behind.

Claire just stared up at you, perplexed. “Janitor?”

Your shadow quickly shushed her as you took a moment to glance around the area before sighing and rubbing your temple. “Look, before you say anything, just know that I’m only doing this because I feel bad for the rest of this god-forsaken school, and I already know this is a bad idea, but I need help with something.”

“What?”

“This.”

Your shadow picked up the stack via its shadow, moving it over to her and dropping it, making her catch the hefty stack that matched her height. Too much to carry, she set it down with a small strain before taking a look at what the papers said.

–

Terrible at a certain class? Like math, or Language, or Whatever?

Secret tutoring lessons will begin for more people!

Just submit tests and homework beforehand to help understand tutoring you!

But DO NOT let these people, and the teachers, know about this!
SUPER SECRET! Keep it quiet! Don’t you DARE tattletale!

–

Aside from the main point written on the paper, the same location you tutored them outside was given, along with a ban list to keep the secret from, a bunch of names written with Zip, Oliver, and Edward’s names highlighted compared to the rest. But it only took a quick skim through it to put a bright glint in her eyes.

“You’re actually doing this?” Claire then became puzzled. “But why the help?”

“You serious? The teachers and principal would kill me if they spotted me with this, or found out about this teaching stuff I’ve been doing. Last thing I need is them finding out I’m the one who’s been rigging your tests and homework this entire time.”

“And you want me to put this around the school?”

“Oh, god, no. Pass it around. Give it to Abbie or anyone else you trust—as long as it's not whoever is on that ban list,” you said with slight venom on the second half of your words. “Do not let a single paper slip into any of the teacher’s hands, got it?”

Claire nodded, taking another glance at the stack of papers with a warm smile.

“Good. Now scram before anyone comes over here and thinks I kidnapped you,” you continued. “That, and there's a certain teacher I want to talk to for a bit inside.”

Claire already knew who you were referring to, giving a small, knowing smile and a raise of one brow.

“Don’t look at me like that,” you said. “Just go.”

“Okay, okay!” Claire laughed, but she didn’t leave just yet; rather, she stepped closer to you. “Thank you for helping me, Abbie, and that other student.”

“Save the ‘thanks’ for when you get out of this school in one piece when you get older.”

The tired yet small smile made her keep smiling back, enough to get a small idea in her head. “Then… can I give you something as a ‘thank you’ for now?”

“If it’s more homework, then save that for the next tutoring session tomorrow,” you joked.

Claire beckoned you closer with a small wave of her hand, to which you leaned down closer to her. She did it again, so you got on your knees to be close to her level. When you did, she had herself embracing you in the blink of an eye, feeling you tense up at her way of thanking you. You stayed still as she hugged you, but only briefly before she felt your arms slowly, apprehensively, hug her back.

It was only the first part of her grateful gift, for she’d fish out the few dollars she had in her pocket right after for you, but telling from the small drops of something wet hitting her shoulder and seeping into her shirt, Claire smiled at the telling reaction. It seemed you liked the first half of the gift way more.

“Are you crying?”

“No, I just got hit by my mop a minute ago, and it was still wet!”

Another day going by within the school, this time a little easier on you as only one kid needed to be saved from Miss Thavel. By the time you fixed their test and ran off before said teacher caught you in the act, lunch had finally started, letting you set your equipment away. Luckily, you wouldn’t have to go dumpster diving again for food, heading inside the faculty break room and taking out the few dollars in your pocket for the vending machine. A pack of gummies wasn’t near healthy or satiating, sure, but it was better than half-eaten and rotten food. So, without a care, you took a seat alone from the few teachers who got in the room first, eating in peace and flicking a gummy for your shadow on the wall behind you to eat. It felt weird to eat in the break room—a rarity due to the usual feeling of humiliation of grabbing food from the garbage. Usually, you’d be eating in the janitorial closet, or outside.

“Hey!”

The sudden voice, added with the touch at your shoulder, startled you, but only slightly when said voice was Miss Circle’s, snapping your head back to see her with a toothy grin and her large hand resting gently on your shoulder.

“Oh, hey,” you said, relaxing into your chair. “I don’t see you around here often.”

“I always come here,” she replied, an eyebrow arched slightly.

“Right…” The best you could do was nervously laugh, forgetting you didn’t come by here enough to know. “Guess I’m just a little forgetful.”

“That’s alright!”

Your shadow simply brushed off the awkward start, waving giddily at her before grabbing the shadow of the chair beside you and moving it, offering it to her. Miss Circle simply chuckled, taking the seat and placing her lunchbox on the table. It still felt terrifying yet fascinating how she towered over you, even when she was seated.

“Where’s your lunch?” She asked.

“Lunch?” Your eyes glanced at the pack of gummies in your hand briefly. “I forgot it, so I got this instead.”

Not like you had a choice with getting food. Luckily, Claire was a kind kid when she gave you the few dollars she had—a few dollars more than your usual hourly pay. It may not have been much, but at least you wouldn’t go hungry or die from food poisoning.

“That… can’t be good for you.”

“I’ll be fine, really! Not like being a janitor is hard work.”

Your shadow moved to the wall to the side, barely in the corner of your vision, giving a look that countered your statement with, ‘That’s a damn lie’ whilst you played a cool facade—barely. It broke after a second when you watched Miss Circle open her lunchbox, pull out a sandwich and soda, ripped said sandwich in two before handing the other half to you. Her gesture surprised you, seeing the kind gesture, especially since you expected her food to consist of only Oreos, but you accepted it without much hesitation. It was better than going through the day on an empty stomach, after all. But one eager bite and brief chewing halted your appetite when you tasted something… odd in it. It looked like a normal sandwich, but something in it made it taste off. You lifted the bread on top and, sure enough, there were pieces of Oreos on the lettuce and tomato. Whether to vomit from the bad addition to the food, or be grateful it didn’t taste so bad—you didn’t know what to do, but it was Miss Circle’s cheery grin from the side that made you pick the latter with a shaky grin.

“Do you like it?”

“It’s… great! Delicious, even!”

Her grin widened when you finally swallowed the first bite before she started eating her half. It didn’t taste so bad, but the unfamiliarity was something you’d have to get used to quickly. Your shadow didn’t seem to care, grateful for the food to hug Miss Circle via her shadow, letting her chuckle at the invisible hug.

“Thanks for the food,” you said. “Really.”

“Anything for you!”

“I mean it! Seriously, I’ve been hungry since morning. I think I almost ate one of the rats in the closet because of that.”

“Don’t. I don’t need you getting sick.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t. Last thing I need is this place falling apart without me to tape it back together.” She chuckled at your attempt at humor, infectious enough to make you laugh as well. “So, how's teaching been going today?”

Her smile faltered, drawing out a loud groan as she slumped forward. “Unusually fine. I haven't seen anybody fail the quiz I gave out today. Not even Abbie.”

Probably because of my last tutoring session with him, you thought before replying, “And that’s good, right?”

“Not bad, but he was never this good in my class.”

“Well, maybe you’re just such a great teacher that he learned better?” You complimented, earning a glimpse of red tinting her cheeks before fading. “Plus, it means I won't see him running around the halls in the middle of classes now. The amount of times I've had to clean the floor again because of that is… exhausting, to say the least.”

“I can tell.” Miss Circle’s hand moved towards your face, a sharp finger gently prodding at the underside of your eye. “You look dead. Have you been sleeping well at all?”

“Aside from the few times you've invited me to sleep over, not good.”

“Do I have to drag you to my house to sleep again?”

“No, no! I mean, I wouldn’t mind coming over anyway—I mean…” You sputtered with your words, trying to sound less desperate, though it didn’t work, forcing you to just shut up and restart. “Forget what I said; maybe I do need more sleep. I swear, I’m starting to hallucinate sometimes.”

“Tell me about it.” Miss Circle huffed. “I feel like I’ve been hallucinating this whole year! Every time, I swear that a student fails my tests, yet—”

She became a little heated in the moment, her fingers curling and mimicking a strangling gesture with her hands before relaxing with a sharp sigh.

“They’re not failing; they passed. Somehow,” she snarled.

“I agree.”

That flat tone caught both of your attention—though it startled you compared to Miss Circle—turning to see Miss Bloomie, with Thavel right beside her, and lunchboxes in hand as Bloomie held that same dangerous, calm stare.

“Didn’t expect you guys here,” you said.

“We always come here.”

You forgot about that—again, mentally facepalming at your forgetfulness.

“Either way, I agree with Miss Circle,” she continued, taking a seat with Miss Thavel opposite of you and Miss Circle. “It seems students aren’t failing like usual. It’s rare.”

“My class, too,” Miss Thavel added. “There were plenty of students who failed my class despite how easy it was. But now? Even some students who failed constantly before have been doing well.”

Trying to be optimistic, you said, “At least they’re doing well, right?”

“It’s great—if it didn’t feel so suspicious,” Miss Circle countered.

The three demons for teachers began on a unified rant, each one of them spouting off certain anecdotes during their teaching that resulted in each kid they hunted down for failing, only to be met with their tests showing passing results—much to their dismay and doubting their eyesight and memory. All the while, you could only sit in your chair, absolutely still and terrified to speak or move, barely forcing your head to turn just enough for you to briefly glance at your shadow behind you, trying its best to keep a cool composure, although the shaking didn’t help at all. Fear shared between you two, at least it eased your hairs standing on end and your heart beating fast enough to burst. All you could do was hope they didn’t narrow their suspicions and find out who exactly was doing all of this. The last thing you needed was to become a smear on the walls…

“Janitor?”

Bloomie’s voice directed at you finally snapped out of your terrified stupor, turning to her with a small, “huh?”

“You believe us, right?”

“This whole problem has to be real—we’re not making this up!”

“I mean”—You rubbed the nape of your neck—”I really can’t say. I’ve just been cleaning—”

“You know what I think?” Miss Thavel interrupted. “Bloomie and I have started thinking someone’s rigging these things. This all did start a few months after you showed up, janitor.”

You could barely swallow that invisible lump in your throat at Thavel’s narrowing assessment, and the dangerous look she gave, feeling your own soul praying for a quick death, barely lucking out when the science teacher smacked her upside the head lightly.

“The janitor doing this? I doubt that’d be the case with the low qualifications of that job—intelligence-wise especially.” Miss Bloomie quickly noticed the small “harsh” you muttered when she said that. “No offense. But my point still stands, it's highly unlikely.”

You laughed, shaky from the fear still crawling down your spine. “Right. Yeah. Couldn’t be me!”

“You never listen to me about this!” Miss Thavel growled. “Not like I was being serious!”

With how she balled up her blackened arms into fists, and Bloomie raising her box cutter for a left arm, it was a miracle the bell rang to pause what was likely to be a dangerous brawl in the break room. Lunch had finally ended with the bell marking the time to go back to class, and back to cleaning for you. With sharp huffs coming from the two, Bloomie and Thavel simply got out of their seats.

“I didn’t even start eating my noodles,” Miss Thavel said.

“I can concoct a drink with a few chemicals to taste like soup later, if that’ll help.”

The language teacher groaned with a “maybe” in response, the two finally leaving with a small goodbye to you and Miss Circle. That was the slowest and scariest lunch you had, trying to calm yourself down internally as you waved back.

“Well, that was interesting,” you mumbled.

“Was she telling the truth?”

The way Miss Circle’s voice held itself low—it raised alarms in your head. Slowly turning your head to face her, you were quickly met with her leaning closer to you, the height difference more intimidating with how she stared you down with narrowed eyes and bared teeth. Even her compass was held up, the sharp point glinting dangerously.

“That’s not what’s happening to us, is it? You’re not trying to mess with the students’ grades, are you?”

You usually saw her teeth, clawed hand, horns, and compass for an arm as attractive despite the terrifying use of them; but the way she looked at you now, it was just terrifying, enough to rip your soul out of your body and send it to whatever was above. A quick glance behind only justified your terror, seeing your shadow hiding behind you, like a kid hiding behind their parent.

“No?” you blurted out.

It felt like a minute—no, an hour. An eternity? Your response only made her eyes narrow further, her imposing stature despite being in her seat only keeping you frozen in yours. You prayed internally, your soul prayed, and your shadow prayed. Despite it all, you tried to keep steady eye contact with her, doing your best not to falter on your own lie.

Yet she just glared at you further. Not stopping after a second, nor after two.

“Alright!”

That… baffled you. In the blink of an eye, her deadly aura had faded, now replaced by that signature catlike smile of hers. She now held that smile and almost cute demeanor you always fell for—still terrifying, but not as much now… sort of. The most you could do after that near-fatal encounter was simply laugh, biting back as much of your fear as possible.

“I mean—me? Messing with you guys? Pfft!” you dismissed it jokingly, somewhat. When you finally cooled down, you turned to the clock on the wall to confirm the time before getting up. “Guess it’s time for us to get back to work. See you later, C?”

You didn’t give much time for her to answer, turning on a heel to get out quick and focus on stopping your heart from failing on you.

“Hey.”

You felt her hand firmly hold you in place by your arm. Your fear would've raced back, if not for the fact that her tone was a lot more vulnerable—warm. Instead of the expected deadly glare prior, your heart melted at the somewhat shy expression you were met with. You could even see a faint tint of pink on her cheeks.

“I was wondering,” Miss Circle softly spoke, pausing for a second before raising her voice to be more audible. “Maybe you’d like to go to the park nearby together? We both have tomorrow off, right?”

The way she spoke and looked so adorable definitely helped calm you down, surprise hitting your face first before the warmth took over, your lips slowly forming a smile. “Yeah! Sure! I got tomorrow off, so we could do some stuff then. I think an ice cream truck stops by tomorrow over there, so if you want some—”

“I’ll pay,” she said, giggling lightly.

She probably said that because of your ‘financial’ crisis you were in, but it definitely meant a lot, pausing you briefly before you tried to speak again.

But you couldn’t, because in that moment you tried, she had already gotten up and leaned down to your level, a soft kiss marking itself on your forehead before she passed casually like nothing happened. It stunned you, no words able to form as you slowly forced yourself to turn to her, seeing her at the door already, a small wave goodbye from her finally motivating you enough to blurt out something from your mouth.

“It’s a date, then?”

You didn’t try to make it sound like a question, but you had a feeling she already knew, Miss Circle humming a small laugh before nodding and exiting, leaving you alone in the break room. Your heart was going to explode from fear before, but now it felt like it would burst from joy. And glancing at your shadow quickly showed it with its jaw dropped to the ground. Literally. The fear initially there was now swept up, leaving you with a bunch of mixed, blissful feelings simply swirling around in your chest as you focused back on the spot the math teacher stood before by the door. It wasn’t long until your shadow said, ‘You have a dumb smile on you’ that you finally jolted from your spot, getting ready to get back to work.

First, however, you needed to air out your fear.

“I am so dead! So very, very dead!”

The echo from the empty gymnasium only made it worse as each word bounced back to you and into your ears, filling your insides with doubt, terror, and anxiety all at once. It had already been a few minutes into your scared tangent, checking the clock on the wall nearby before continuing to spout off on your fear,

“We were this close to getting found out! And the way Miss Thavel looked at us—that can’t have been a coincidence, right?”

Turning to your shadow, it simply stood there by the wall next to you, its posture a balanced mix of worry and ‘You’re going insane and I need you to shut up now.’

With a few deep breaths to calm down, you finally slowed down your words. “What if we just turn ourselves in? Better that than be found out, right? I’m sure they’ll understand!”

In response, your shadow shook its head rapidly, panicked, before morphing into two conjoined shapes. One was you; the other, Miss Circle, illustrating graphically her grabbing you and tearing you apart before ripping out your intestines, ribs, and flesh. The added finale of her hanging you from the ceiling with said intestines wasn’t necessary though.

“I didn’t need to see that, but thanks,” you dryly said, sighing as you took a seat by the bleachers, rubbing your forehead from the stress. “That idea was a bad one, wasn’t it?”

Your shadow simply looked at you in its normal form again, concern written all over its stature looking over you.

You pondered for a moment, a sharp exhale coming through your nose before you gave the best confident grin you could. “Guess it could be worse, right? Not like I’m dealing with demons or anything, just to help some kids not die!”

You sounded hysterical—you picked up on that immediately—and so did your shadow, but hysteria was better than cowardice. That, and the mental image of Miss Circle’s terrifyingly cute smile kept your head afloat, even if she was part of the problem that could kill you for your benevolent actions.

“What could go wrong, really?”