The world was quiet.
Too quiet.
It was the kind of silence that stretched endlessly, pressing against Shirley’s ears, suffocating her beneath its weight.
Her feet felt heavy as she walked out of the hospital doors, but her heart, her heart felt hollow.
Empty.
A black hole had ford in her chest, swallowing everything but rage.
She couldn’t think.
Couldn’t process.
lanie was dead.
Her sister. Her one constant. The person she had promised to always protect. The only family she had left in this godforsaken world...gone.
And Jason, that bastard Jason—had taken her away, as if he hadn’t taken enough from her already.
She didn’t need proof. She didn’t need logic or to calm down an assess the situation
He had been here. He had co to see lanie. And then suddenly, she was gone.
It was obvious. It made sense.
Jason.
Jason!!!
Even after his death, he had found a way to hurt her.
Her hands clenched into trembling fists. She could feel her nails biting into her palms, but she didn’t care. She welcod the sting.
Pain ant she was still here.
Pain ant she could still fight.
She barely noticed the people walking past her. Barely noticed the hospital staff whispering in hushed tones as she stord through the entrance and onto the street.
Her vision tunneled.
And then she saw him.
Lumian.
He stood exactly where she left him, leaning casually against a lamppost, his golden eyes watching her approach with that sa lazy indifference.
The mont she saw him, sothing inside her snapped.
She wasn’t sure why.
Maybe it was because he looked so damn calm while her entire world had been torn apart.
Maybe it was because he had the audacity to exist in a mont where nothing else felt real.
Or maybe, maybe it was because so part of her, so tiny, treacherous part of her felt that she would have nothing left if he weren’t standing there.
Her steps slowed as she reached him.
He tilted his head slightly. "That was fast."
Shirley’s body trembled. Her breaths were uneven, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
Her voice ca out hoarse.
"Jason."
Lumian’s expression didn’t change.
She swallowed, forcing down the lump in her throat.
"It was him."
Lumian exhaled softly. "I see."
Shirley let out a humorless laugh. It was dry. Hollow.
"He killed her." Her voice shook, but there was no weakness in it, only fury. "The bastard killed lanie before I could even—"
Her throat closed up. She sucked in a sharp breath.
"Before I could even say goodbye."
Lumian was silent.
For a second, just one second, Shirley thought she saw sothing flicker in his golden eyes.
But then nothing.
Just the sa, unreadable expression.
She gritted her teeth, shaking her head violently.
"He’s dead," she spat. "He’s dead, and there’s nothing I can do to him."
Her whole body felt like it was burning from the inside out. Frustration
The rage had nowhere to go.
It clawed at her ribs, coiling around her lungs like a vice, suffocating her with its intensity.
And then a thought.
A new target.
The rage found its direction.
She looked at Lumian, her gaze sharp, resolute.
"Lets go to the school," she said.
Lumian raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
Shirley’s fists tightened.
"Take to the school." Her voice was steel.
A slow smile spread across Lumian’s face.
His golden eyes glead with sothing dark, sothing almost amused.
"As you wish."
The walk to the school was quiet.
Shirley barely noticed the streets passing by.
Her heart pounded in her chest, adrenaline flooding her veins, making her hands itch.
The school.
The place where she had endured her portion of suffering.
Where Jason had humiliated her. Where those teachers had looked the other way and worse, even indulged him
Where all those fake, smiling faces had watched her suffer and done nothing.
She hated them.
She hated all of them.
They had laughed behind her back. Had whispered about her, mocked her.
No one had helped her.
Not a single one.
And now she had the strength to do sothing about it.
Lumian walked beside her, his steps slow and deliberate, his hands in his pockets.
She could feel his gaze on her.
Watching. Studying.
"Do I need to ask if you’re ready?" he asked.
Shirley didn’t even hesitate.
"No"
Lumian humd. "I figured you’d say that."
Sothing about his tone made her pause.
She turned her head slightly, narrowing her eyes.
"You think I can’t do it?"
Lumian chuckled. "No." He glanced at her, his eye were filled with excitent. "I know you can"
That sent a shiver down her spine.
She didn’t know why.
Maybe it was the way he said it like he was certain.
Like he had already seen the outco of the massacre about to happen .
She exhaled sharply, shaking off the feeling.
It didn’t matter.
She didn’t care about Lumian’s cryptic bullshit right now.
All that mattered was that by the end of today,
That school would burn.
And Shirley would make sure they burned with it
The school was alive.
It was a busy, ordinary day, students rushing to classes, teachers strolling across the courtyard, the distant chatter and laughter of teenagers filling the air.
The sun shone brightly overhead, casting warm light over the campus.
Nothing about the day suggested that death had arrived at its doorstep.
Nothing suggested that in just a few minutes, *this place would beco a graveyard.*
Shirley stood in front of the school gates, her breath steady. Her fingers twitched with anticipation.
Beside her, Lumian smiled.
The sa easy, lazy smile he always wore, like he wasn’t standing at the entrance of a massacre waiting to happen, like he hadn’t already seen the blood that would soon coat these grounds.
Like this was all just a form of amusent to him.
Shirley turned her head slightly, watching as he reached into his coat and pulled sothing out.
A mask.
A rabbit mask.
And a knife.
Her knife.
The very sa blade she had used to end Jason’s life.
A chill crawled up her spine as she stared at it. The handle was warm from Lumian’s grip.
Shirley clenched her jaw.
She reached out and took them without a word.
Lumian humd approvingly.
"I’d rather your identity stay hidden," he mused. "It would be an inconvenience otherwise."
Shirley didn’t argue.
She slipped the mask over her face.
The world beca narrower, frad by the eye holes of the rabbit. The material was smooth, the inside slightly warm from her breath.
It slled faintly of sothing of tal. Of blood.
Fitting.
She tightened her grip on the knife and stepped forward.
The security post was just ahead.
Two security guards sat at their post, lounging lazily as they exchanged jokes.
One of them, a stocky man with a buzz cut, snorted. "Man, I swear, these kids are sothing else these days."
His partner, an older man with graying hair, chuckled. "What, your daughter giving you trouble again?"
"Always." The younger guard sighed dramatically. "She’s into all this spooky shit. Masks, horror movies, scaring her little brother, she’s got a whole collection of creepy masks. Freaks out sotis."
The older guard laughed. "Yeah, yeah. They’re just kids. They’ll grow out of it."
The younger guard glanced toward the entrance and then froze.
A figure stood there.
Motionless.
Watching.
A girl in a rabbit mask.
He frowned, nudging his partner.
"Hey. I don’t rember Halloween being around the corner."
The older guard followed his gaze and scoffed. "Probably just another dumb teen doing dumb teen stuff." He waved his hand dismissively. "My kid pulls this crap too."
Still, sothing about the girl unsettled the younger guard.
The way she stood. The way she remained perfectly still.
He stood up, adjusting his belt.
"Alright, let’s see what this is about."
He approached her, stopping just a few feet away.
"Alright, kid, enough with the creepy act. What’s your deal?"
Silence.
Shirley didn’t move.
The guard frowned. "You mute or sothing?"
He sighed and reached for the mask.
"Look, just take it—"
A sharp pain.
A severing.
His world tilted—sothing was wrong. Sothing was missing.
He looked down.
His hand was gone.
Blood gushed from the stump where his wrist used to be.
His brain barely had ti to process the horror before Shirley moved again.
SLICE.
Her knife cut clean through his throat.
A wet, gurgling sound escaped him.
He collapsed to the ground, blood pooling beneath him as his body convulsed.
Shirley stepped over him without hesitation.
There was no satisfaction. No hesitation.
Only cold, controlled rage.
The older guard jolted up from his chair.
"The hell—?!"
He scrambled for the radio at his belt, fingers trembling as he reached for the call button.
Before he could press it—
A shadow appeared in front of him.
Lumian.
His golden eyes glead with quiet amusent.
"I can’t have you disturbing my little rabbit while she’s working ."
In one swift motion, he ripped the man’s head from his shoulders.
The spine ca with it.
Blood sprayed across the walls, staining the ground beneath him.
Lumian casually dropped the headless corpse.
The severed head rolled onto the pavent, its lifeless eyes still wide with terror.
Lumian let out a soft sigh, stretching his fingers.
Then he turned.
Shirley was already walking through the school gates.
Her shoulders were tense and her knife dripped red. Anger burned in her eyes behind the mask.
Lumian smiled. He was too excited
This was going to be quite the sight when they were done.
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