High School Mysteries

Chapter 1

Date: August 17, 2017

Hilton High School

It was a rainy midsummer day, the school was about to end, and all the students were waiting for the last bell to ring. At 2:40 PM, Marie Mackenzie was called to the principal's office. The principal was extremely happy; he was a family friend to Marie, almost like an uncle, and wanted to give Marie her acceptance letter at Oxford himself. However, when she didn't reach the office, the coordinate Miss Gwyneth came to fetch her from class at 2:50.

But there was only one problem. Marie had left class a moment before. At 2:35, the announcement was made to go to the restroom, so the coordinator went looking for her to the nearest restroom on the third floor, but as soon as she reached the window in the hallway, her eyes fell on the bell tower, and there, standing on the tower's balcony, was Marie, socking wet and pale as a ghost. The coordinator began to shout, "Marie Mackenzie, what are you?" but before she could even complete the sentence, The bell rang loudly, and as it did, Marie jumped from the tower and, with a splash of blood and mud, fell hard to the ground, to her death.

Miss Gwyneth's screams echoed loudly throughout the whole school, which created an air of horror and curiosity. Apart from Miss Gwyneth, all the unfortunate students who had seen Marie fall from the tower were shouting and screaming for someone to help Marie. Those who didn't understand what happened but got the just of it were craning their heads to see what had happened. At 3:00 PM, as the bell rang, all the students rushed toward the school grounds. The first ones to reach it began screaming and crying for someone to call for an ambulance.

The whole school was devastated and shocked. All of Marie's friends, who were too many, cried their hearts out standing in the rain, fully soaked out, looking at the limp, blood-covered figure of Marie lying on the ground. The rest were trying to calm Marie's friends. The teachers were trying their best to calm the upset and keep them away from the dead body while the traumatized students who had witnessed her death were rushed to the nurse's office, and the teachers tried to gather children into the school. At 3:15 p.m., the cops and an ambulance finally arrived. They took Marie's body to the forensic lab and told the principal to gather everyone in the hall.

All the students waited as the rain poured heavily on the roof of the hall. It's sound mingled with the sobs and whispers of the students. Everyone knew that the cops were searching for clues at the tower and interrogating the staff. At 4:05 p.m. The hall door finally opened, and the police chief and the principal, along with the coordinator, came in. At their entrance, all the sound died, and an absolute eerie silence filled the room, broken only by the sound of occasional thunder. The students waited with bated breaths to hear the cause of the tragedy.

"Evening students I know this is a devastating shock that has unsettled peace and happiness for all of us. A young student named Marie Mackenzie has passed away by falling from the bell tower." Said the principal In a grave, disoriented tone, she fell silent, sobbing slightly.

"Who killed her?" shouted a girl named Lia, who was one of Marie's closest friends. "Have you told her parents.?" She asked, worried about her parents and determined to get justice for her friend.

At this point, other students started voicing questions like, "What happened, do you know?" "Did you find any clues?"

The police chief, seeing this, helped the poor principle by stepping forward and taking the stand.

"We do not know the cause or circumstances that led to this tragedy; however, it is seen by eyewitnesses that she has jumped on her own free will and not by force."

"That's a lie. Marie would never do that. She won't. Why would she?" Shouted a boy angrily named Marcus Emmerdale, who was Marie's boyfriend. His outrage was genuine, as he was at the grounds with other jocks when Marie fell from the tower. He had seen her fall and couldn't believe what his eyes had just witnessed.

In his outrage, other students also expressed angry remarks regarding the police's incompetence. The chief, upon hearing this, acted like their anger did not bother him and continued his speech as if he were never interrupted.

"However, what led her to make such an extreme decision is a question we all want to be answered there, for we are currently investigating her personal and school life, her background, and her health. I would like to request that all her friends and all her acquaintances come forward for questioning, and I would also like to request that anyone who interacted with Marie today, even for a moment, or if anyone saw or noticed anything unusual in her behavior in the past few weeks, please don't be afraid to come forward. The smallest, most insignificant seeming detail or incident can help a great deal in finding the cause behind her death."

After this, the next few days were followed by an increasing number of calls and small interviews with the students of the school. Almost every person had a new story, each as wild as the other, made up for the sake of earning five minutes of fame. These conspiracy theories were filled in the air of the entire town like fireworks on the fourth of July during the next few days.

Soon, however, when the police found no leads, they declared she might have had undiagnosed mental health issues and closed the case. The body was returned to Marie's parents, and a funeral was held, attended by the entire school. Her parents were mad with grief and anger at the injustice done by the police in closing the case, but there was not much they could do.

The principal arranged a memorial at the school, where he also introduced new arrangements for mental health issues faced by the students. A memorial was built on the ground at her favorite spot for Marie, and they even placed a personal prom queen crown engraved with Marie's name on it among the school trophies.

Everyone only had one question: "Why did Marie Mackenzie commit suicide?" She had everything a girl could want; she was the golden girl of her town. She was beautiful and brilliant; she was the only child of a loving couple who had no financial hardships or hardly ever argued. Her social life was perfect; she had a rich boyfriend, Marcus Emmerdale, who loved her, and she was so popular that she became prom queen every year. Her grades were great, and everyone knew she was sure to be accepted at Oxford any day now. Then why did she do what she did? This question became one of the mysteries of the town, and it also started the myth of the bell tower's ghost that lured beautiful women to their deaths. But no one took it too seriously until history repeated itself.