Day 70: Abject humiliation

Sybil woke up at about 7 and woke Mira and me up too.

"Come and see this!"

It was video footage taken in the office of the Disciplinary Committee for the witnesses to see, and it was to be erased thereafter. I was delighted! Soon after, Dyane and Melilla woke up and decided to be part of our little "audience". And to think all this had happened in the dead of night, when we were sound asleep!

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Sybil arrived at the door of the office of the Disciplinary Committee, complete with a "one-two" position.

"Sir, you called?"

Majors Zulkahar and Evayne were both present. Major Zulkahar replied,

"Françaix, I am well aware that you and Duchemin have been very vocal against the things that Lestrange has done. I understand that she is the head of your quarters in 5A, and that all of you have voted unanimously for her. What is it, now, that makes you dissent? – Oh, but first, please be seated."

Sybil sat on the empty chair next to her, took a deep breath and began to spill everything.

"We counted on Dolores. We initially saw her as blameless for her task as head of our quarters. What Lo said about Aimée was initially true. But I've noticed, that even after Aimée started being all neat and tidy, she was still treated as the maidservant of the quarters. She was the one ordered to handle things in the midst of great amounts of dust, she was the one running to their aid when they all brushed her aside and assumed that she was doing only what she was bound to do…… And I was there, when Aimée was chosen as our company's sonneuse and Lo and Sparrow took Ina away. I was there, when Lo and Ina slapped Aimée's face."
"SHE WHAT???"
"She slapped Aimée's face. She was in the middle of working on our company's Independence Day card, colouring in the squares along with me, and she was happily listening to her music… when they harassed her, forcefully took the headset out of her ears… swore at her whilst she was listening, and in a loud voice too, so that she would hear… and ultimately, when all that didn't work, they came up to her and slapped her face. That night, she was so scared to leave the quarters that she asked for protection from Senior Théophile. We saw her with a rosary on her right hand. Her face was pale. And you thought that Aimée's dismissal from office and Lo's statements were a mere coincidence."

The whole office fell silent.

"And not only has this happened, Sirs – they have been misbehaving during the morning, afternoon and night reports, much to Dyane's disbelief. They have taken Kulukan, Sakina and Monica with them and together, they formed the Disturbed Souls, and they've been wreaking havoc all over the quarters. I only happened to be passing by the bathroom when I decided to stop and spy on Lo and see what was going on… They used seven eighths of Aimée's shampoo bottle and wasted it in the water container – all of them were swimming inside! Aimée then told me that Nidorina's shampoo bottle was used up in the same manner too.

I've also learnt who was responsible for unleashing Ankoù: I had thought, that night, some twenty days after the beginning of our stint, that Lo was going to take a pit stop and return to the room. Instead, she went missing until about 1. I'm not sure precisely at what time Ankoù was resurrected, because the next day… Remember Michel Arnaud? I'm pretty sure you might have heard him screaming in his quarters. We all heard him from our classrooms, when Character Building class was in progress. He was the first to die under Ankoù's spell. Aimée then discovered a necklace on the floor, on the way to our quarters, which belonged to Senior Yolanda, and which purportedly opened the Cloisters of each company, which have been long forgotten. Now, let me make it clear that Aimée has opened all four company Cloisters. But who opened the forgotten Cloister, which was supposed to be… forgotten? Worse, every time someone dies by Ankoù, whilst all of us stare in horror, Lo shows absolutely no iota of shock, let alone remorse. I've put two and two together and come to the conclusion that Lo is responsible for having brought him back from the dead!"

Major Evayne stood up, wanting to blurt out something. Major Zulkahar and Sergeant Stan Lee managed to coax him to sit down. Thirteen pairs of eyes stared fixedly at Dolores. She burst into tears.

"Okay, okay, I admit it! The only reason why I unleashed Ankoù wasn't because I wanted to kill people in this camp! I just wanted to be better than Aimée. I hated her. She had everything… the looks, the talent, the calibre to lead a company, the strength of heart. I knew I could never come up to her level. So I wanted to do everything in my power to bring her down. And I felt delighted, every time she cried because of something I did. I felt no remorse. I liked it that way."

Senior Simon got up, in a rage.

"You are a thorn in our flesh, Lestrange! A thorn in our tortured flesh!"
"Calm down, Bonaventure."

Major Zulkahar recovered from his disenchantment and concluded,

"Very well. We shall put Lestrange and her accomplices under the custody of the Disciplinary Committee until further notice. The only person not to be penalised is Monica Menti, who owned up and told us about her gang having stolen Aimée's money."

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It was quite heavy for me to stomach in a few minutes. But the truth finally came to light.

"You know, I came back to the quarters literally jumping up and down with joy."
"Aw man, we missed the fun! We were all fast asleep!"