For Nevermore Season 1

of In Memory Of...
    One of the posters was more than a one-liner. Noella read it and started to cry:

    “We think of you in silence
    And now when we say your name
    We will long to hear your voice
    And see your face again”

    Rain splattered the memorial. The poster that made her cry had been written in thick blue paint, which spilled like blood onto the grass. Noella slowly approached the largest of the photos, drawn toward it like metal to magnet as her mind served visions of Katie tied and screaming through her gag.
    Noella’s pace quickened as eyes on her started to multiply. Noella looked at the crowded front steps, then to her left and right, trying to escape the glare from the swarming students, who were ignoring the rain to watch her. The sudden surveillance of what felt like the entire student body made her nauseous.
    She gave the picture of Katie a final glance, then turned her eyes once more to the We think of you in silence poster. Bile rose in her stomach and threatened to spill from her mouth.
    Noella ran into the school, down the first hall and around the corner, right into the mercifully empty girl’s restroom.
    She threw open the handicapped stall door and puked into the toilet. Then Noella puked again and again, until four retches left her empty. She locked the stall door and wiped her mouth with toilet paper, as the sound of shuffling of feet entered the bathroom, along with giggles and chatter. Noella climbed to the top of the toilet to hide her feet, then held her knees to her chest, squatting above the swirling vomit below.
    “Did you see her?” a girl’s voice said, inches away on the other side of the stall. “Looks like Scarella de Crazy is back.”
    “Maybe she came to finish kicking Vicky’s ass,” a second girl said, laughing.
    Noella smiled. She may be Scarella, but at least a few people thought Vicky got what was coming. Maybe Noella would even be a hero to all who hated Vicky.
    “Or stab her,” the first girl said.
    The two girls broke into laughter.
    Noella had a canyon-sized urge to see terror light the laughing girls’ faces. So she hopped from the pot, flushed the toilet, then unlatched the door and swung it open so hard that the door smacked the next stall door.
    Noella emerged from the stall, and stepped between them, then stared in the mirror, grabbing some paper towels to dry her face and hair. The girl on her left looked down, while the one on the right tried to read the fine print on the hand dryer. Noella had seen them around, but didn’t remember their names. They seemed like freshmen.
    The girl on the left said, “Hi, Noella. We’re glad you’re okay.”
    Noella used her nostrils instead of words, letting them flare as she washed her hands and held their gaze in the mirror, daring them to look away. She dried her hands, waiting until the dryer stopped, then pushed the silver button turned the blower up, and dried her hair. When the dryer stopped, she left the bathroom without a word, stepping back into the hallway to hunt for Mako.
    As Noella walked the hall, absorbing stares from half the student body, she slowly started to realize that she was front page, just as much as Katie. Though Katie had been murdered, Noella had witnessed two at the coffee shop.
    Though the news hadn’t named her, since Noella was still a minor, anyone who went to her school knew Scarella de Crazy was on duty that night at Keefer’s. The news referred to Noella as a “worker found passed out on the scene.”
    Some of the students’ eyes seemed filled with sorrow, a handful with anger, a few with suspicion, and most with confusion. Noella could tell that many of the students wanted to approach her, some even wanting to see how she was doing and make sure she was okay. Maybe they were even sorry for calling her Scarella. But Noella didn’t have it in her to talk to anyone, so she stared at the carpet and walked to Mrs. Wilson’s art room, which was Mako’s first class, as fast as she could.
    Sure enough, Mako was standing just outside art, waiting for the Noella, and for the bell to ring. Because of Noella’s blackout at home, and Mako’s crazy strict parents, they hadn’t spoken at all since the incident.
    “Everyone’s been asking about you,” Mako said. “I mean like everyone, and about everything. You know how you’ve been wanting everyone to get over the Rebecca thing for forever and a half? Well, they have. Katie’s death is big, but this is bigger. You’re