Chapter 14 What She Thinks She Saw

Chapter 14 What She Thinks She Saw

VANESSA’S POV

The bell rings for the end of English Lit, and I finally let out a breath. I’ve been sitting there the whole time, but I didn’t hear half of what the teacher said. My head isn’t in class today. It’s somewhere else completely. I quietly pack my bag before he finishes talking and slip out with the rest of the students.

The hallway is a complete madhouse. Everyone just pours out of the classrooms at once and jams up the halls like a bunch of ants. It’s loud, crowded, and honestly, just way too much.

I try to act normal, but my hand is burning under my hoodie. The skin feels tight, and it’s getting worse. I haven’t even talked to my parents in a while. I know I should call them, but not now. Right now, I just want to get to my room and lock the door. I need to use the herbs they taught me and fix this myself. I can’t go to the school clinic, not with a body like mine. I just need to handle it and keep it hidden.

"V, wait up!"

I don't even need to look to know it's Lena. She catches up to me, breathing hard like she just ran across the whole school.

“Did you hear?” she says, leaning close so she doesn’t have to shout. “The group chat is going crazy. Someone said the ‘specialists’ are already here. They saw a black van near the gym.”

“People say anything, Lena,” I mutter, still looking down. “Last week they said the cafeteria was serving cat. It’s just gossip.”

"Yeah, but this is different! People are actually scared. My roommate is already packing to leave for the weekend because she thinks that 'Beast' is going to get her." Lena laughs, but she looks a bit nervous too. "If that thing shows up again, I’m climbing you like a tree, I swear. You’re the only person here who doesn't look like they’d freak out."

"Girl, I'd probably be the first one to run, Lena," I say. "Trust me, I’m not as tough as you think.”

We’re halfway down the hall when the vibe changes. You know that feeling when a room goes quiet because someone important walks in? It’s exactly like that. I look up and see Chloe Miller walking toward us.

The hallway doesn’t actually stop, but it feels like it. People are just staring. Chloe is the girl everyone wants to be, rich, pretty, and now, the girl who survived the fire. She looks okay, but she’s walking a little slow, like she’s still shaken up. A few girls try to talk to her, but she just gives them a small, fake smile and keeps moving.

Then she stops. Right in front of me.

My heart hits my ribs so hard I’m sure people can hear it. Lena stops too, her eyes going wide as she looks between us.

"Hey… Vanessa, right?" Chloe says.

Her voice is tiny. She sounds like she’s not even sure if she should be talking to me. It’s awkward as heck. Usually, girls like Chloe don’t even know my name.

"Uh... yeah. Hey," I say. I try to sound normal, but I feel like I'm vibrating.

Lena looks like she's about to explode from the drama. "Um... I’ll just be at my locker," she says. But she only moves a few steps away and pretends to look for something in her bag. I know she’s listening to every word.

Chloe looks around, then points toward the side of the hall by the gym. “Can we… talk? Just for a second?”

I follow her, even though my brain is screaming at me to just run. We stop in a small corner where the light is a bit dim.

"This is going to sound so weird," Chloe starts. She’s messing with the edge of her shirt, and I can see her fingers shaking a little. "I don’t even know if it’s real. The doctors told me I breathed in a lot of bad stuff."

"It’s okay,” I say quietly. “It was a lot. Everyone’s still a bit shaken.”

"No, it's not that," she says, looking me right in the eye. "When I was in there… I couldn't see anything. The smoke was so thick it felt like I was choking on it. I thought that was it. I thought I was going to die."

I swallow hard, but I don't say anything.

"But then someone grabbed me," she whispers. "I felt a hoodie. A black one. It felt just like the one you're wearing right now.”

I swallow hard. "A lot of people wear black hoodies, Chloe. Everyone here wears them.”

"I know," she says, looking at me closely. "But it wasn't just that. There was this smell. It felt like I knew it. Like... vanilla and trees. I thought I was just imagining it because of the smoke, but then I smelled it again when I walked past you today.”

She stops and looks at me, waiting for me to say something. I have to play this perfectly or I'm done.

"Chloe, you were in a fire," I say, giving her a small, pitying smile. "You were breathing in gas and smoke for who knows how long. That does crazy things to your brain. You were hallucinating. It’s a literal medical side effect.”

"But I felt it," she whispers. "And the eyes... I thought I saw them shining through the smoke. Like they were glowing."

I let out a small, quiet laugh. "Shining? Chloe, that was the fire reflecting off the smoke. Your brain was just trying to make sense of a hero because you were terrified. And honestly, half the girls in this school use that same vanilla body spray from the pharmacy. I use it, Lena uses it... even Melissa probably uses it under all that expensive perfume."

Chloe blinks. She looks at the floor, then back at me. I can tell she wants to believe me, but there’s still this look in her eyes like she knows something is off.

"If you tell people you saw 'glowing eyes,' they’re going to think you’ve got serious brain damage from the gas," I add, leaning in a little closer. "People are already making up stories about bears and monsters. Don't give them a reason to think you're losing your mind too. Let's just be glad the 'Ghost' was there, whoever it was."

Chloe stays quiet for a long time. She’s looking at my hoodie, then at my face. "Yeah... maybe you're right," she says finally. She sounds disappointed, but also a little relieved. "It was probably just the smoke. I’m just... really tired.”

"You should go lie down," I say. "Seriously. Don't let people get in your head with all these 'Beast' stories."

"Thanks, Vanessa," she says. She gives me one last look, one that says she's choosing to drop it, not that she's convinced, and then she walks away.

I lean against the wall and finally take a breath. That was way too close.

"Okay, what was THAT?" Lena asks, teleporting back to me instantly. "Why is Chloe Miller talking to you? Is she, like, suddenly your best friend or something?”

"Nothing," I say, pulling my bag higher on my shoulder. "She’s just confused. She thought I was someone else."

"Ooh, mysterious," Lena says, but she lets it go. She starts talking about a video she saw on TikTok, but I'm not even listening.

I look across the hall and see Melissa with her friends, her arms crossed. She’s still in that stupid neck brace, acting like a total drama queen. She’s clearly been watching me and Chloe because she’s staring us down with cold eyes. She looks jealous as hell.

"I don't like it," I hear one of her friends say as they walk past. "Why is Chloe even talking to Vanessa?”

She leans in and whispers something to her friends, but she doesn't stop staring at me. I can tell she's already thinking of her next move.

I just look away and walk faster. I wanted to be a ghost in this school, but I think I just became the main character in a story I never wanted to join.