Chapter 223: 223-Alone On A Mission
Clementine:
Miss Rue had her eyes wide open as she watched me until she placed a hand on her chest and smiled, holding sushi rolls in her other hand.
"Oh my god, I almost forgot I had asked you to come," she laughed, walking inside and taking her seat. "Do you want this?" she asked, pointing at the sushi rolls.
I forced a smile onto my lips and shook my head.
"No, I actually already ate. I’m not even sure how I’ll finish what’s left on my plate." I laughed, trying to sound casual.
But whatever I heard and whatever I read in Bodhi’s diary just made me so bitter.
"As everybody left, I thought about all the squadmates we had lost," I uttered, watching her reaction closely.
"Oh yeah, it must be so hard. Were you guys close?" she asked, not particularly mentioning anyone.
"Me and Bodhi were." As soon as I said that, I watched her slow down, even taking extra time to swallow the bite already in her mouth.
Once she did, she cleared her throat, but she didn’t eat again right away. Instead, she took a drink first, probably to clear her throat well and buy some time to gather her thoughts.
"You two shared a lot of talks then?" she asked, pretending to stay busy with her food. But she wasn’t.
"Yeah, he was really anxious in the last few days, speaking about weird things," I mumbled, pouting and looking around.
"About what? If you let me know, I’ll help you with it. I mean, I told you, you can always come to your ringleader when you need something sorted out." She asked me so lovingly, as if she was honestly going to help.
"Yeah, he was talking about the North and weird stuff, like the same questions we had, but he said he had some proof," I mumbled, watching her raise her eyebrow and take a big bite of her roll.
"What proof?" she asked, barely able to speak with her mouth full. I guessed that was her trick, masking her emotions behind a bite too big for words to come out clearly.
"He said he had a small diary. Not like the big one. He used to carry many, but then he had this one yellow diary. He said he had buried it somewhere around the academy, where he had hidden all the answers. And now that I’m here, I’ve been wondering what to do, where to start." I pouted and rolled my eyes, because it was going to be a hassle to find something that probably didn’t exist, especially on property this big.
"Did he give you any direction? Like anything? He couldn’t just possibly tell you to find it on the property. It’s a big land," Miss Rue asked, full of compassion and interest. She wasn’t even focused on her food anymore. She was all ears.
"He said he would, but before that he self-exited. So I’m not sure," I sighed, looking down.
"Well, I would suggest you leave it alone. Given his condition, he was acting weird," she said instantly, eager to tell me not to focus on it.
I began to shake my head, giving her a very sad look. The silence hung between us, with both of us just staring.
"Of course, I’m not going to dig out every area, but maybe someday I will find it. I mean, it was his last wish that I read that small notebook." I shrugged, mumbling the rest under my breath.
"Well, thank you so much for letting me know. If I could get my hands on it, I will definitely let you know." As soon as she said that, I shook my head.
"No, he said not to tell anybody else. He said only I should find it. Please, promise me, Miss Rue. You will not tell anyone." I purposely put force into my words, demanding the promise.
And the look on her face told me the promise she was about to make was going to be fake.
"Sure," she uttered. Then she looked down, appearing confused.
"Anyway, I’ll leave for my room now. I’m tired. I’ll just go to bed," I excused myself, getting up. "Thank you so much for asking me to sit with you. It really uplifted my mood. Good night, Miss Rue." I gave her a smile.
"Good night, Clementine," she voiced.
I paused only to turn around and give her a smile of appreciation before walking out of her room.
When I walked out of her office, I noticed that Ms. Lenora and Mr. Rick were already leaving their office, carrying empty food trays, when they came upon me.
"What are you doing here?" Mr. Rick’s voice was harsh when he questioned me.
"Miss. Rue had asked me to dine with her," I stated with a smile.
I could only guess that the looks on their faces came from the fact that they’d been having a very juicy conversation. They were probably wondering if I’d heard anything or not. And then they had some registers on the big table and I read the headline of one in passing.
"Good night," I said without stopping for any more discussion, and I could tell they didn’t want to discuss anything with me either.
They always gave me weird looks, almost like I was the crazy one.
Once I was upstairs again and running through the hall, I made it to the corridor and then to my dorm room. I closed the door and sat down on my bed, already tapping my finger on my chin.
I knew what to do. I had to call my squadmates.
But how?
I only knew that there was a phone booth. But I didn’t know the numbers for their suites and cabins.
For that, I’d have to go back into the basement where the ringleaders slept one more time.
I vaguely remembered a big register with ’Vacations’ written on it when I left Miss Rue’s main office. There had been a big table and a few chairs for the ringleaders, where they probably discussed things. It was right in the hall of the basement.
That must be it.
So now, I have another task in hand.