Sophie Cleverly - The Whispers in the Walls

“Well … I was eavesdropping …” She cringed, as if she’d admitted to some sort of hideous crime.

I laughed and patted her on the back. “I know this school has a lot of rules, Ariadne, but I don’t think there’s one about that.”

“Oh, phew.”

I turned back to Scarlet. “Scarlet, do you know anything about what’s been stolen?”

“No,” she said, chewing a mouthful of her breakfast. “Why would I?”

I frowned. I had a feeling my sister was keeping something from me.

It was Mrs Knight who took the stage at assembly. That was a relief, at least. I was in no hurry to see Mr Bartholomew again.

“Girls, I’m afraid I have a serious matter to discuss. There was a theft last night.” Cue the collective gasps of everyone except me, Scarlet and Ariadne. “Now, since there was no break-in, we have to presume that one of you is responsible. I have to say, I am deeply disappointed.”

Someone near the front raised their hand.

“Yes, Liza?”

“What was stolen, Miss?”

“Clothes belonging to Penelope Winchester. They were taken from the laundry.”

Now it was my turn to be shocked. I looked around and located Penny, a few rows behind me. She looked livid .

Suddenly I was even more worried. Scarlet and Penny’s dislike for each other was legendary. Penny had been horrible to her just yesterday. What if my twin was out for revenge?

There was a flurry of whispers, and Mrs Knight waved her arms to quieten everyone down. “We take thefts very seriously at this school, and if the culprit is caught then they will be –” she paused, swallowed – “duly punished.”

Scarlet’s face was blank, not betraying anything.

Mrs Knight looked down at the piece of paper she was holding. “The headmaster wants you to know that he will be keeping an eye on you all, and increasing the levels of discipline if necessary.” For a moment, a horrified look passed over her face, and then she regained her composure. “And to that end, I have a list here of the new prefects. Prefects will be responsible for reporting to the headmaster if they witness anyone breaking a rule.” She unfurled a piece of paper and cleared her throat. “Miss Winchester is the first to be appointed.”

Several people groaned, and before I could catch myself I was groaning as well. Penny was sure to be a nightmare as a prefect.

Scarlet was no longer expressionless – now her eyebrows were narrowed and her cheeks were puffed out.

The list went on. “Maureen Alcott. Lettie Clark. Dot Campbell. All of these girls have been recommended for their exemplary behaviour. If you have been selected, please report to Mr Bartholomew this afternoon.”

When we left the hall, Scarlet sped out past me, not saying a word.

Ariadne grabbed on to my dress. “Isn’t this awful? Penny as a prefect? I mean, I thought we’d reached some kind of agreement with her, but she’s being as nasty as ever.”

“And now someone’s stolen her clothes.” I frowned. “She’ll probably be even worse than usual, trying to find out who did it.”

“I don’t understand why Mr Bartholomew would pick her. He is … he’s so …”

“Strange?”

She nodded, mousy hair bobbing.

I sighed. “I think everyone here is.”

At lunchtime I found I couldn’t keep quiet any longer. It had been playing on my mind all day – was Scarlet the culprit?

It was a pleasant day after the night’s storm had exhausted the rain clouds, so I led my twin outside and under an enormous oak tree at the back of the school.

“What do you want, Ivy? I assume you didn’t drag me all the way out here to make daisy chains.”

“No, I want to know what you’re playing at.”

“I’m not playing at anything,” she snapped.

“You were out of our room last night. If you didn’t steal Penny’s clothes, then—”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t steal Penny’s clothes! Why would I? Who do you think I am?”

“Well, you’ve got to admit it looks suspicious.”

“No,” she said, “it doesn’t. Because I’m your twin, and you shouldn’t suspect me.”

“You haven’t really given me a reason not to!” I retaliated. “You have a history of keeping things from me. Important things. Or have you forgotten what you got up to last year?”

Scarlet turned away, arms crossed and fuming. She wasn’t going to forgive me for this. I should have given up, but I told myself that I wasn’t going to let her walk all over me for a moment longer. “Don’t ignore me!”

She didn’t look round. “I don’t have to explain myself to you. I’ll do whatever I want.”

“You can’t just do whatever you want!” I tugged on her shoulder until she had no choice but to face me again. “You wanted to get into this school so badly that you switched our entrance papers. That’s the reason all of this happened in the first place! But now you’ve got what you wanted and you’re just wasting it by getting in trouble all over again!”

“You don’t understand!” she shouted back. “And you never will!”

And with that, she stormed off, and I was alone.

After half-dozing through lessons and a tepid dinner, it was night-time once more. I wouldn’t talk to my twin, and she didn’t seem keen to talk to me, either. I waited for her to drift off to sleep, even giving her a poke in the shoulder to double check, and then I pulled out my new diary from its hiding place.

Rookwood School was an eerie place at night, drenched in shadows and silence. I didn’t even know if I wanted to keep a diary any more. But it was better than lying sleepless in bed, especially when I knew what nightmares may come. Girls with blank faces locked away in the walls, banging with their fists, screaming to be let out …

That was why, the night before, I’d got up and wandered to the lavatories. But even that had scared me. It was safer to stay in bed.

Dear Diary,

I wish I was somewhere else. Anywhere else.

I wrote those words and stared at them. What else was there to say?

Ivy thinks I stole Penny’s clothes, but I didn’t. I wish I had, because the look on her freckled face was priceless. But I wouldn’t do it, not really. I’m not a thief.

Why doesn’t Ivy trust me?

I only left the room because I couldn’t sleep. This place scares me. But I needed to prove to myself that I could walk its corridors and nothing bad would happen to me.

I sniffed and tried to pretend that there weren’t any tears in my eyes. I looked up at the tall dark windows, raindrops pouring down them in sheets. The words just didn’t want to come. This wasn’t me. Scarlet Grey didn’t get scared .

Thump .

What was that?

I sat bolt upright.

Thump .

The room was almost pitch black, but I could just make out the lump that was Ivy under her covers and hear her snoring softly. I was safe. Nothing was going to get me in here.

I just had to keep telling myself that.

Wednesday morning dawned, and the morning bell was like a hammer to my head. If Ivy had noticed I’d been awake, she didn’t say anything about it. But then she didn’t say two words to me anyway.

And it didn’t look like things were going to get any better when Mrs Knight once again called an assembly.

“It greatly saddens me to tell you that there were yet more thefts last night. A good deal of food was stolen from the kitchens, and –” she paused and looked down at her sheet of paper as if she couldn’t quite believe it – “Miss Jones tells me that books have gone missing from the library as well. Really, girls, this is appalling!”