The Darkness of Sara O'Neil [1]: Phantom's Puppet

Monday came by in the blink of an eye. That's right, the moment of truth was upon us.

I arrived at school earlier than usual for a reason different from my original goal— I was chatting with Rachel till late last night and we agreed to meet on the school rooftop in the morning to chat about anime and play some games.

We played a co-op FPS known as Call of D**y mobile for a little over an hour and while I can say with confidence that I'm pretty good at games, I didn't come close to her level. She was basically carrying the team herself.

Guess she's a magician at games as well.

"You're pretty good Adam. You sure this is your first time playing?"

"You're one to talk, I can barely keep up with you."

"Haha, well I haven't met anyone who can so the fact you can do this much is impressive"

Exactly how many hours did this girl put into this game and how did she balance it with her outdoorsy persona?

"And here I thought outdoorsy people don't put that much effort in games...."

"...I'm not 'outdoorsy' by choice, y'know. Because I spend way too much time either on games or watching magic shows, my mom forced me to take on an outdoor activity as well, so now I have to go mountaineering every Saturday without fail"

So that's where she was headed on the train. From her thoughts I gathered her volunteering at the nearby creche was also a favour to her mom who happens to be a teacher at the kindergarten, sounds rough.

Using the flow of the conversation, I asked her a few questions to clarify part of what was bothering me about the phantom of the music room incident. I managed to get valuable information which started to give substance to my hypothesis.

"Oh crap we lost track of time! I've gotta hurry to class, see you Adam"

Rachel packed her things and hurried on over to class. The idea of skipping felt enticing, however, I heared the thoughts of the next person I was looking to question close by.

Apparently, she was strolling by downstairs at that moment. If I wanted to talk to her there was no time like the present.

I headed down the stairs to 'coincidentally' run into her.

"Mr Graves, Hi. Thanks again for your help last week, I really am in your debt"

"Miss Milligan, fancy running into you here"

Yeah— My game needs work.

I chatted a bit with Miss Milligan while strolling and managed to probe a bit more information from her thoughts. With the way things were going, it seemed my hypothesis might be right after all. There was just one more thing I needed to confirm.

Classes were uneventful as usual. Although, Mr McAdams had some interesting thoughts today about the adult movie he watched the night before. You can always count on him for some entertainment, haha.

*Ding dong ping pong

I immediately sprang into action. My final and most important witness awaits and I was one step away from closing that case for good. However—

"Heyy Adam"

'She' was faster

"I didn't see you at my party, did something happen? I thought you said you were coming...."

When did I say I was going?! Give me the exact hour, minute and second Michelle!.

"Hey, Michelle...."

"He spoke to me!" , She thought.

"Have you ever heard of the phantom of the music room?"

"Huh?"

"*Sigh— Nevermind"

I used that opportunity to exit the class.

My short question gave her the impression that I was trying to make small talk but she missed the cue and I gave up.

That momentary guilt and confusion gave me an opening to leave without incident and provided the illusion that I was trying to get along better with Michelle, thus giving Brock an excuse not to act.

It seemed he was still trying to get along with me despite my rejecting him at the amusement park.

I headed down to the location of my final witness, Class 2-2. I peeked inside from the hallway and scanned the room, but she was nowhere to be found.

Another member of class 2-2 I vaguely remember was trying to sneak up on me from behind. She wasn't doing a very good job at it though.

"Sara isn't here y'know"

"Ohh. Actually, I was looking for her friend, library girl"

"Library....girl?"

"Katherine"

"I see.... You just missed her. I think she was on her way to the library"

"Okay, thanks a bunch"

Class 2-2's rep was as eloquent as she was beautiful. Although, I could tell her goody two shoes gimmick was as fake as those eyelashes.

Nevertheless, I asked her one of the questions meant for library girl before leaving, her position as the class rep adds credibility to her information. I also reiterated one of the questions I asked Rachel and another one I asked Ms Milligan before going after Katherine.

"Library girl, wait up"

"You...."

She tried to hide it but it was clear she was still pissed. Before satiating my curiosity, I seriously owe her a proper apology.

"Listen Katherine.... I really am sorry for tricking you like that, all this time I've been too stubborn to apologise properly but... I REALLY AM SORRY!"

I bowed my head to show sincerity.

"It's....not your fault. Miguel...did something bad and he's paying for it. Besides, Ms Milligan would've lost her job if you didn't solve the mystery. I understand that, so please.... stop bowing your head like that"

She had a lot of time to think it over and she's forcing herself to accept that I did nothing wrong. That said, while it seems she's okay with it on the surface, the path to actual forgiveness is still a long way off.

I guess this is okay for now though.

I accompanied her to the library and found the right time to ask her my questions. She seemed a little confused by my intentions at first so I quickly retracted my statements after probing her thoughts for the truth.

Her answers were exactly as I feared and hypothesis was starting to come together. I parted ways with her at the library entrance and started collecting my thoughts.

I needed to be able to explain my logic in a clear and concise manner to get the truth out of this pers—

"You two seem to be getting along well"

Kya— she really scared me this time. Geez this is getting old, was Sara born in a secret ninja family or something?

"It seems you two have made up, that makes me glad"

She said with a cute smile plastered on her face. We started chatting a bit while walking, destination unknown. She was right here beside me and I wanted to put the matter on my mind to rest as quickly as possible.

Might as well strike while the iron is hot.

"Hey Sara?"

"Hmm?"

"If I told you I could read minds, would you believe me?"

"Well, considering what we saw two days ago, I'm inclined to believe you. Well, only if..."

"If?"

She stopped and turned to face me.

"If you can tell me the exact thoughts running through my mind right now, I just might"

I knew that request was coming! Well, this is the moment truth, here I go.

"What you're thinking at this moment is..."

I put my head on my temple to imitate telepaths in movies

"Is????"

Here I go

"If he can really read minds, then he knows I'm the mastermind behind the phantom of the music room"

There I said it! Her eyes widened a little.

"Well?"

"fufufu, wrong. I was thinking about what to have for lunch; donuts or burgers"

"You could try actual food"

"Yeah, well...fufu"

She started walking again.

I came out with my accusation and she just brushed it aside, not even considering it part of the conversation. If you think I'm going to give up that easy you have another thing coming. I owe at least that much to Miguel for getting him arrested.

"There was something you said to me before that incident that stuck out so I asked Ms Milligan...."

"Hmm?"

"You told me the music was an original from a student who died. However, while Ms Milligan could tell it was an original piece, she had no knowledge of what you said"

I fired my first bullet. Now then, what do you say? Sara O'Neil.

"Okay, you got me"

"Huh?"

"I added that part to make it seem more spooky. It was a lie, sorry"

No dice huh? No matter, I still have a few more bullets in store.

"I also asked Ms Milligan about the times she heard the phantom. It was a surprise to discover every incident just happened to occur within a timeframe of one hour after Class 2-2's music class"

"That really is quite curious"

" You're in class 2-2, care to explain?"

The first piece of info I got from Anna Brown was their class timetable. More importantly, the times they had classes in the music room.

"There are several people in the class, it's a bit of a stretch to suspect only me. It was public information so anyone could've done it..."

"... No, that's wrong!"

I busted out that iconic line, I've always wanted to say that.

"Huh?"

"Aside from you, library girl and her boyfriend, no other student knew about the phantom"

"What are you talking about?"

"The main issue which bothered me about that case was Rachel's reaction when Miguel flagged her as the culprit."

"Hmmm?"

"It was strange, it seemed like she had no idea about the phantom's existence. I asked her again this morning and confirmed it"

"Well, she's a loner like you so maybe she didn't get the memo...."

"Just to be sure I asked Michelle and your class rep who are both really popular and hear a lot of gossip, they had no idea either"

"You sure are thorough"

Ms Milligan made sure to keep the incident a secret, a product of anxiety and coincidence that ended up working in my favor—she didn't want people to call her crazy and risk her reputation tanking after receiving that teacher's bonus.

I prepared my final two bullets.

"One more thing..... Miguel O'Hara heard about the phantom from library girl. However, Ms Milligan didn't tell anybody else so I asked library girl directly.... Turns out, she heard it from you."

"So you're saying I wanted him to steal for me?"

"No, you wanted him to get caught"

She was finally paying attention

"I confirmed from both Ms Milligan and your class rep. The day of the incident when Anna stayed behind in the music room for 20 minutes, Ms Milligan was out preparing documents for the faculty meeting."

"..."

"I also found out that you accompanied Anna Brown to the music room that day and followed Ms Milligan on her errand"

"....."

"The reason Ms Milligan returned early was because she 'forgot' some important documents. However, you were helping her prepare said documents so it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine you left them out of the pile on purpose so she'll be forced to return early and block off Miguel's escape route"

Sara was still silent, but completely unfazed by my confrontation.

"So here's my take on what happened. During your music classes, you used the crowd as cover to slip into the compartment when class was over then waited to play the piano. You did it repeatedly raising Ms Milligan's anxiety, then, you told library girl about the 'phantom of the music room' knowing she'll tell Miguel during conversation"

"Hmm?...."

She was listening to my speech with half decent enthusiasm. I continued nontheless.

"You said during the case that you've seen him hanging with a bad crowd at times. It wouldn't surprise me if you knew he was in debt and desperate for cash. With his position as the newspaper club vice president, you knew he had enough information to conclude and find that compartment. Once he found it, all you had to do was leave out important documents for Ms Milligan to be forced to return early and then wait, he'd get caught and thrown in prison. As for the timing, if you asked Ms Milligan or library girl, you would've noticed his strange behavior and anticipated when he planned to carry out the theft"

"Hmm?..."

"Well?"

"Is that all?"

What do you mean 'is that all"? You're saying it like you're not partly responsible for library girl's depression.

"Was there an error in my deduction?"

"No, you're correct so far.... It's just that your reasoning is incomplete, if I was grading you, I'll give you an 'E minus' "

E minus? While it's true that I haven't figured out her exact motive, I feel I earned at least a B. C'mon don't get sidetracked.

Just then, Sara turned to face me directly.

"Now then, why don't you try again. This time, look at the big picture"

The smile on her face at that moment was unlike anything I'd ever seen from the person known as Sara O'Neil. Some could describe this smile as creepy, psychotic or sinister. If I had to describe I guess the word I'd choose is—

Pure Evil, plain and simple

However I could somehow tell, this was a glimpse into the true Sara O'Neil and just a tip of the iceberg of madness hiding behind that pretty face. Never mind that, what did she mean by big picture?

"Hmm, well tell me, what was your motive? Why Miguel?"

"Fufufu, well if the student can't figure it out without some help I guess I'll be benevolent enough to provide a hint"

Her face returned to normal

"Honestly, it could've been anyone. Miguel's situation just happened to line up nicely. He had means, motive and opportunity making him the perfect pawn. The fact that he cheated on my best friend was added incentive. Can you believe the nerve on that guy? And when I confronted him about he was spouting some crap about how Katie's the one who's lucky to be dating him!"

That explains the tense atmosphere between them during the case. But still, she said it could've been anyone.... Does that mean the culprit didn't matter to her?

"Well, it doesn't really matter to me either way. After all, the phantom of the music room was just a means to an end and had hardly anything to do with my actual goal"

"And what is that?"

"Fufu, story time is over. If you want to know the rest, figure it out yourself.."

She's being so chatty because she knows she hasn't committed a crime. All she did was play a piano and hide. At most that amounts to a childish prank. She also didn't influence the culprit directly, all she did was chat about paranormal stuff with her friend, nothing out of the ordinary. And yet—

"You turned an innocent person into a criminal, don't you feel any remorse?!"

"Innocent? Please... He's done a lot of shady things in the past and was just good at not getting caught. His luck just happened to run out. Besides, you can't prove I had malicious intentions while executing my plan"

She's right. There's no hard evidence and she's been watching me closely to make sure I wasn't recording. I guess that's why she snuck up on me at the start, to give me zero prep time. She sure is careful.

"Just what's so important you'll risk your friend's happiness?"

" Yeah..... Don't try to control the conversation expecting me to slip. I'm not as easy as Miguel"

She shot me down before I even got started

"You could always try reading my mind"

She taunted me with her mischievous smile.

"That was obviously a joke"

"Really? You couldn't have known Miguel was meeting up with Katie for lunch otherwise. I was with you guys the whole time so you never had an opportunity to ask"

"I know you love the paranormal but insinuating I can read minds from just that is a stretch, even for yo—"

Wait. Hold on.... No if you look at it that way, everything fits. Why I bumped into her in the light novel section when her interests are paranormal, that person's reaction back then and what she meant by the bigger picture.

Holy sh*t, I might've grossly underestimated just how intelligent, manipulative and evil this Sara O'Neil really is

"You knew about my curse from the start, didn't you, Sara?"