It was only a matter of time.

Two days had passed since Professor Red's retirement ceremony, four since the field trip. Most of the days were spent being cooped up in her dorm room doing nothing or rather, being unable to do anything. She could hear the a faint pair of footsteps patrolling the dorms from inside her room. The boogeymen were everywhere.

Edel lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling, watching snowflakes fall and dot the fur covers of her sheets. No nightmares, just emptiness. It felt as though she had already died in that field trip (and she did, twice); she wasn't free to live up to who she was. It killed her to have been caught, it killed her to have re-entered the haunted house and face unnecessary danger, it killed her that they had lost and it killed her that she couldn't do a thing about it. Days and nights were spent thinking of the hunters, of halloween, of her family, of her Inadequacy. She felt hopeless, not because she felt weak, no, but that she was powerless against the grand scheme of things. She didn't do a thing in the field trip – she could, she should – but no.

There was something she was missing, something she wasn't getting. Why hadn't she heard of hunters before? The school wouldn't talk about it, the press dismissed it and pinned the blame on the late professor. Everything about it was screaming: Conspiracy, but nobody was speaking up. Everything was covered up.

Was this why Father objected to it? He was so reluctant to let me go. No, the ghoul knew that if he had known the school would subject its students to such danger, she wouldn't have been able to set a foot out of the house.

The ghoul rolled over onto her side, facing the desk where an envelop and a piece of parchment lay. She didn't have to open it to know what it said. A letter to withdraw her from school and coax her to return home. It would have been something along those lines, except it wasn't. All that was written on that piece of parchment were two words:

Come back.

It felt imperative, yet they were spoken out of concern, a dash of desperation. Edel wondered how her parents were feeling right now. Surely they had not heard the worst.

Did she want to leave the school? No, of course not. She had just barely adjusted to a new life. There was so much more left to learn and do. She couldn't just leave the same way she entered. Yet, it was true that she wanted a break, she needed a break. School was becoming a little too painful, she had yet to talk to either Lizzy, Lattice or even Vieve since they returned. Gloom and suspicion filled the atmosphere here.

The frost demon knew it was impossible to object to her parents' demand and request. She needed to see them, too. She had to go .... and come back.

Edel sat up from her bed and got her feet onto the floor. It stopped snowing. The ghoul got up and headed towards the desk, rummaging the drawers for a suitable piece of parchment. This one would do she decided, pulling out a fresh sheet and laying it on the table, smoothening it out. She dug her pockets for her fountain pen – found it, and then stared at the blank sheet of paper, her tall figure hunched over the table as she bent down to look at it. She sat down, got up again and walked about the room in contemplating of what she was going to say, how she was going to put it in words.

Just a short one would do, they'd understand given the circumstances

Dipping the pen nib in the bottle of ink, the ghoul began to pen down these words:

Quote:
Administration Office
Amityville Academy
112 Ocean Avenue
Halloweentown, Halloween
10310

Dear Administration,

I would like to request a 15 day leave of absence from the school due to personal reasons. If possible, I would like to leave on school on November 15th and return on the 30th if possible.

If approved, I will be travelling back home during this time period and I will be contactable at the address of my residence. Thank you very much for your consideration.

Sincerely,
User Image


Done. The ghoul folded the paper and pulled out an envelop from the drawer to slide the letter it. Flipping it around, the words “Request for an absence of leave” were scribbled onto it before it was flipped around again, sealed and stamped upon.

Edel left the letter on the desk, backing off a few paces before turning around and pacing about the room again. It's the right choice, she convinced herself, go home and figure something out rather than stay here and do nothing. Answers. Look for them.

There was packing to be done, but first she needed to do something else. What was it.

Tell someone that you'll be away

But of course.

The frost demon would have to look up a certain patchwork boil soon.

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