Chapter 7
Autumn Berry– POV
The first hints of autumn sunlight streamed through my dorm window as I groggily sipped my morning coffee. Quinn burst into my room, carrying a pumpkin that looked like it had survived a minor explosion.
"Autumn! Hurry up! We have tons of work to do!" she cried, nearly tripping over her own feet.
I set my cup down, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Quinn, it's seven in the morning. Who told you we were decorating the club room today?"
Her eyes sparkled. "Rhea. She said it's Halloween week! And apparently, we're turning the club room into a haunted mansion."
I groaned but followed her anyway. Quinn bounced down the stairs with the energy of a sugar-fueled toddler. I tried not to laugh, though the sight of her wobbling with a stack of fake cobwebs made it almost impossible.
The club room was already half-decorated. Rhea moved methodically, adjusting paper bats on the ceiling and muttering to herself about symmetry. Liam frowned at a dangling cobweb. "Does it really have to be so… over the top?" he muttered, pulling at the string. Theo was struggling with a cardboard skeleton that refused to stand upright, swearing softly under his breath. Dorielle leaned against the wall, holding a stack of orange-and-black streamers, watching everyone with an amused smile.
I set my bag down and took a deep breath. Quinn was talking a mile a minute about glitter placement and haunted snacks, and I had to resist groaning out loud.
"Autumn," Rhea said without looking up from her careful placement of a ghost cutout, "this week we have more than just decorations to handle. The campus president is organizing a Halloween event, and the club will be monitoring it. But first, Quinn, I want to see what you're capable of."
Quinn blinked. "Me? Capable? I thought I was just… helping!"
Rhea raised an eyebrow. "You're officially joining the club today. We need to test your talents first. You said you were good with numbers and patterns. Let's see how that works."
My curiosity sparked. Quinn had always been bright, but I had no idea how her skills could help in investigations.
Rhea pulled out a sheet of paper with a set of equations and a short logical puzzle attached. "If the event space is divided into sections and students move in a certain order, calculate the probability of two students crossing paths at a given point, assuming these conditions."
Quinn's eyes widened, then narrowed in concentration. "Alright… okay, so we track their paths and—" She scribbled furiously, muttering formulas under her breath.
I watched, impressed, as she solved the puzzle step by step, finally slamming the pencil down with a triumphant smile. "Done!"
Rhea scanned it and nodded approvingly. "Correct. You're in."
Theo clapped enthusiastically. "Welcome to the club, Quinn! Official mathematician and documentarian!"
Dorielle rolled her eyes but didn't object. Liam gave a small nod, still looking skeptical, and Rhea smiled slightly.
The room buzzed with Halloween energy, but beneath the tinsel and fake spiders, a tension lingered. The campus president's event was supposed to be fun — a scavenger hunt, costume contests, haunted tours — but my gut told me that real challenges were about to arrive.
By midday, the event had begun. Students wandered the hallways in costumes, laughing, taking pictures. The club stationed itself at strategic points: Rhea near the central hall to observe, Liam monitoring security feeds and social media posts, Theo on call in case of medical emergencies, Dorielle circulating among students, subtly extracting information, and Quinn documenting everything digitally. I stood close to Rhea, memorizing every detail — from a student's nervous glance to a misplaced prop on a table.
Then it happened.
A scream pierced the air. Students froze. I sprinted toward the source, Quinn trailing behind, nearly colliding with a group of skeleton decorations.
A girl in her second year had climbed the stage for the costume contest and now lay crumpled, lifeless at the edge. Her friends screamed, some students called for help, and chaos erupted instantly.
Rhea was already moving. "Step back! Everyone calm down!" She gestured for Liam to check the cameras while Theo knelt beside the girl, quickly assessing.
"Heartbeat weak… not breathing normally," Theo muttered, checking her pulse. "Possible trauma… fall or impact. Nothing suggesting poisoning. Quick response is critical."
I scanned the scene. My photographic memory picked up subtle details: a slightly loose cable at the stage edge, a faint smear on the floor where her shoe had skidded, the position of her costume prop that might have contributed to the fall.
Liam checked the live feeds. "Stage cams caught her slipping. But look at this — the cable shouldn't have been there. Someone moved it."
Dorielle quickly interviewed witnesses, asking pointed questions. Her smile never faltered, but the way she phrased them subtly steered answers. I noticed her manipulation, but for now, it was part of the team's observation.
Quinn, seated with her laptop, ran probability simulations. "If the stage setup remained the same, the odds of her slipping were one in a thousand. Something altered the environment."
Rhea gathered the group. "We have a deliberate incident. Not accidental, and definitely not random. This is happening in sequence — yesterday's poisoning, today this. Someone is testing the campus, one step at a time."
I exhaled slowly, my fingers tingling. The pattern was becoming clear. The so-called coincidences were anything but.
By late afternoon, the club had pieced together enough evidence to report the findings to campus security. The girl survived, shaken but stable. The cause: deliberate stage tampering to make it appear accidental.
Later, as the club cleaned up the decorations, Rhea approached me. "Autumn… why is your name Autumn? It's an unusual name."
I hesitated, then let the words out slowly. "My father… died in autumn. My mother named me that. I guess… she wanted me to carry something of him."
Rhea's expression softened. "I see. And your mother? Did she… handle it okay?"
I shook my head slightly. "It was hard. I had to… leave some things behind. That's why I moved here, I guess. To… start over."
Rhea nodded, thoughtful. "You've been through a lot. That's why you notice details most people miss. Your memory, your talent— it's part of who you are."
I looked down at my hands. "Sometimes I wonder if it's too much… if noticing everything makes it harder to just live."
Rhea's hand rested lightly on my shoulder. "It's a gift. And a responsibility. Just remember, you don't have to carry it alone."
As the sun set and the Halloween decorations cast long shadows across the club room, I realized the truth of her words. This wasn't just fun or games. Our work, our club, our skills — they were going to be tested more than ever. And I was ready, even if my heart raced at the thought.
END OF CHAPTER 7