This Bloody House
Noire Nightshade stared off into empty space past the houses in her field of vision, past the trees and gates and people scurrying to and for around the neighborhood into the far distance while her physical body remained still as a statue. She didn't move an inch or react any stimulus around her. Nobody could tell what she was looking at or what was going through her mind, if indeed she was considering anything in particular, the others just maintained a safe distance around her. Her blank empty thousand yard stare matched her outfit. A frilly gothic black dress, a gothic black frilly shirt worn over a tight black shirt, black bat thigh high black socks and black buckled gothic reign of terror boots. Her long black hair were worn in long unbraided pigtails. Empty though her expression might be her pale skin was surprisingly beautiful to behold with a cute face and amber eyes. A black backpack with white skeletal print designs on it was slung over her shoulders with a small black gloomy bear plush attached on the side of it. She continued to stare off into space until the bus to Tranquillum High School pulled up and opened up. The students filed into the well designed, surprisingly fancy, clean and comfortable bus. Noire took a random spot and sat in the soft cushy leather seat and set her backpack down at her feet and resumed staring off into the distance. She didn't even react when Phoebe Doyle sat down next to her and began her usual inane ramblings. The topic of which was beneath her. Phoebe was an annoyance but Noire cared little for her insane beliefs. So she just stared off into the empty void only she could see as they grew ever closer to Tranquilium while the rest of the students glowered at Phoebe's comments. She At one point a loud argument broke out between Phoebe and one or two other students but Noire just ignored them even as it quieted down.
They finally began closing in on their school and Noire began coming back to reality just in time to finally bother hearing Phoebe's ramblings. "-entitled rich guy who might kill someone because he has a tiny dong! Am I right? You know, like how your family has too much money that they could be giving away to people who need it! Your house would be better off as homeless shelter! You should be living a more modest life! Give your house away to the people who need it and go live in a small apartment somewhere!"
Noire finally turned her head as the bus pulled up. She grabbed her bag and stood up to leave only for Phoebe to lean back and raised her leg up to stop her from leaving. Noire looked at her face.
"Uh uh uh uh! You aren't leaving! You know I'm right about everything I said and I want to hear you say it! If you want to get off this bus then you need to-"
Noire's hand lashed out and grabbed Phoebe and pressed her palm against her face and pushed Phoebe's glasses into her face. The previously smug expression of the brat being replaced with one of pure shock. Despite her thin small frame she began dragging Phoebe up off of her seat into an awkward position where her head was held up straight and her knees buckled. "I don't find conversing with you to be productive. Escort thyself from my existence, and consider not another utterance." Noire informed her coldly and shoved her forward sending Phoebe careening backwards into the seat across from her. She hit it and fell over onto her back on the seat while the students who'd been sitting there previously jumping backwards to get out of her way. As Phoebe tried to sit back up only to end up slumping down to the floor and she quickly began adjusting the glasses that were hanging off of her face now while Noire walked away and got off of the bus.
If Phoebe didn't get the message then she definitely would after she found the surprise Noire had waiting in Phoebe's locker.
They finally began closing in on their school and Noire began coming back to reality just in time to finally bother hearing Phoebe's ramblings. "-entitled rich guy who might kill someone because he has a tiny dong! Am I right? You know, like how your family has too much money that they could be giving away to people who need it! Your house would be better off as homeless shelter! You should be living a more modest life! Give your house away to the people who need it and go live in a small apartment somewhere!"
Noire finally turned her head as the bus pulled up. She grabbed her bag and stood up to leave only for Phoebe to lean back and raised her leg up to stop her from leaving. Noire looked at her face.
"Uh uh uh uh! You aren't leaving! You know I'm right about everything I said and I want to hear you say it! If you want to get off this bus then you need to-"
Noire's hand lashed out and grabbed Phoebe and pressed her palm against her face and pushed Phoebe's glasses into her face. The previously smug expression of the brat being replaced with one of pure shock. Despite her thin small frame she began dragging Phoebe up off of her seat into an awkward position where her head was held up straight and her knees buckled. "I don't find conversing with you to be productive. Escort thyself from my existence, and consider not another utterance." Noire informed her coldly and shoved her forward sending Phoebe careening backwards into the seat across from her. She hit it and fell over onto her back on the seat while the students who'd been sitting there previously jumping backwards to get out of her way. As Phoebe tried to sit back up only to end up slumping down to the floor and she quickly began adjusting the glasses that were hanging off of her face now while Noire walked away and got off of the bus.
If Phoebe didn't get the message then she definitely would after she found the surprise Noire had waiting in Phoebe's locker.
A few of the other kids laughed but Noire paid them no mind. She simply descended the bus out into the schoolyard where students of all sorts were going about their day to find their respective classes. She wasn't sure who first came up with the idea to put countless children, adolescents and adults in a single solitary location for hours at a time run by other adults whose dreams and ambitions had been crushed years ago but she had to admire the sadism. Phoebe meanwhile finished adjusting her glasses and got back up on her feet. She was still utterly bewildered as to how a twerp like Noire was able to pull that off though. Phoebe wasn't overly large but she was certainly heavyset and taller than Noire but the Goth Girl just wo-man handled her like she was nothing! This could not and would not stand! Her pride would not allow it. She adjusted her backpack and stormed after Noire.
The Goth Girl walked past everybody en route to walking inside of her own sector of the school casually until Phoebe finally caught up with her. "Hey! Lich!"
Noire tilted her head and gave her a look that let Phoebe know she was giving her the bare minimum of attention. It was the least she could do after a compliment like that.
"Yeah I'm talking to you! You know that attitude is exactly what I'm talking about! That smug privileged elitist snobby attitude towards everyone you deem to be lesser than-HEY COME BACK HERE!" She shouted as Noire walked away bored of her already. Phoebe had to power walk just to catch back up. She put on the speed to get in front of Noire. "That's it! That's it exactly! That's the attitude that is bringing down the world and ruining it for the next generation! Quite frankly I-huh?" Noire handed her a small piece of paper and placed it in Phoebe's hand and walked away again. Phoebe blinked and opened it up to reveal a small simple message.
Do
Not
Throwing it to the floor she once again stormed over to Noire and grabbed her arm. Noire stopped and turned her head to face her with a look in her eyes that let Phoebe know that she was in a veeerry precarious position right now and that she should choose her next move very carefully. Students in the hallways backed away to give Morgana a wide berth and their rambling started dying down to low murmurs as they felt the temperature in the school take a slight but noticeable drop. Phoebe felt a chill run up her arm and she let her go and backed off. It was if her whole body had sensed danger and put distance between them before she was even consciously aware of it. It was like knowing that there was a Lion or a Tiger or a Bear hunting you before you're even aware of it and that you absolutely HAVE to get away and hide before it's too late! A chill had run up her arm and it went numb from the ice cold sensations like she just plunged her arm into a bath full of ice! Phoebe placed a trembling hand on her chilled arm and rubbed her sleeve to warm herself back up as Noire returned her attention to her locker. She put in the code and opened it up to reveal a plethora of Gothic paraphernalia. It was the most Gothic School Locker she could have made like she'd stuffed it full of Halloween Decorations. She grabbed her books and casually put them in her bag as the other students went back to their business.
"W-w-well...I-I'll let you go this time! B-but you should watch your attitude! It could get you into trouble. I mean it. You don't wanna mess with me. You hear me? Try anything and you're cancelled!"
Noire closed her locker away. Still not caring.
"HARR-RUMPH!" She stomped off. "Honestly. Some people." She took out her phone and tried to log onto Social Media to send a message to her cohorts but found that her trembling fingers refused to cooperate. She was so scared she was shaking like a leaf! Phoebe ended up slumping against her own locker and took a number of breaths as she calmed herself down until she was able to finally stop shaking and she punched in her own locker code. "Honestly....what the hell was I so scared of? She's just some snobby Goth Chick! Just because she's from some rich asshole family doesn't mean she's scary...but still...it felt like...I was staring down a Monster back there." Phoebe shook her head and reached up to her locker to open it up. "Ridiculous. It's just mind games. That's all. Just mind games." When Phoebe opened her locker she was met by an explosion of Pig's Blood And Entrails bursting forth from the locker and spraying all over her while toy spiders launched forward from the locker, bounced off of Phoebe and landed on the floor and began crawling around covered in the blood and guts from the locker. Phoebe was covered in Pig's Blood and shaking toy spiders from head to toe.
Phoebe's screams and those of the other students throughout the hallways echoed through the hallways of the school and the slightest hint of a smile spread across Noire's face.
The Goth Girl walked past everybody en route to walking inside of her own sector of the school casually until Phoebe finally caught up with her. "Hey! Lich!"
Noire tilted her head and gave her a look that let Phoebe know she was giving her the bare minimum of attention. It was the least she could do after a compliment like that.
"Yeah I'm talking to you! You know that attitude is exactly what I'm talking about! That smug privileged elitist snobby attitude towards everyone you deem to be lesser than-HEY COME BACK HERE!" She shouted as Noire walked away bored of her already. Phoebe had to power walk just to catch back up. She put on the speed to get in front of Noire. "That's it! That's it exactly! That's the attitude that is bringing down the world and ruining it for the next generation! Quite frankly I-huh?" Noire handed her a small piece of paper and placed it in Phoebe's hand and walked away again. Phoebe blinked and opened it up to reveal a small simple message.
I
Not
Care
Throwing it to the floor she once again stormed over to Noire and grabbed her arm. Noire stopped and turned her head to face her with a look in her eyes that let Phoebe know that she was in a veeerry precarious position right now and that she should choose her next move very carefully. Students in the hallways backed away to give Morgana a wide berth and their rambling started dying down to low murmurs as they felt the temperature in the school take a slight but noticeable drop. Phoebe felt a chill run up her arm and she let her go and backed off. It was if her whole body had sensed danger and put distance between them before she was even consciously aware of it. It was like knowing that there was a Lion or a Tiger or a Bear hunting you before you're even aware of it and that you absolutely HAVE to get away and hide before it's too late! A chill had run up her arm and it went numb from the ice cold sensations like she just plunged her arm into a bath full of ice! Phoebe placed a trembling hand on her chilled arm and rubbed her sleeve to warm herself back up as Noire returned her attention to her locker. She put in the code and opened it up to reveal a plethora of Gothic paraphernalia. It was the most Gothic School Locker she could have made like she'd stuffed it full of Halloween Decorations. She grabbed her books and casually put them in her bag as the other students went back to their business.
"W-w-well...I-I'll let you go this time! B-but you should watch your attitude! It could get you into trouble. I mean it. You don't wanna mess with me. You hear me? Try anything and you're cancelled!"
Noire closed her locker away. Still not caring.
"HARR-RUMPH!" She stomped off. "Honestly. Some people." She took out her phone and tried to log onto Social Media to send a message to her cohorts but found that her trembling fingers refused to cooperate. She was so scared she was shaking like a leaf! Phoebe ended up slumping against her own locker and took a number of breaths as she calmed herself down until she was able to finally stop shaking and she punched in her own locker code. "Honestly....what the hell was I so scared of? She's just some snobby Goth Chick! Just because she's from some rich asshole family doesn't mean she's scary...but still...it felt like...I was staring down a Monster back there." Phoebe shook her head and reached up to her locker to open it up. "Ridiculous. It's just mind games. That's all. Just mind games." When Phoebe opened her locker she was met by an explosion of Pig's Blood And Entrails bursting forth from the locker and spraying all over her while toy spiders launched forward from the locker, bounced off of Phoebe and landed on the floor and began crawling around covered in the blood and guts from the locker. Phoebe was covered in Pig's Blood and shaking toy spiders from head to toe.
Phoebe's screams and those of the other students throughout the hallways echoed through the hallways of the school and the slightest hint of a smile spread across Noire's face.
Noire continued making her way through the schools hallways until she arrived in class and she took her seat in the back of the room where she was surrounded by the other students, Carly, Blake, Hilton, Ceila, Jade, Roberto, Lara, Melba, Tristan and most importantly Maxwell Arsenio Saunders. Maxwell was one of the few students whose name she actually bothered remembering. Primarily because she'd discovered he wasn't quite as lacking in intelligence or wisdom as the others. He'd intrigued her. So much so that she put together an entire whiteboard in her hidden room detailing his weekly routine in the event that said information becomes useful. Noire had been considering requesting a date night with him but she would have to wait until after Hunt Night. Her family had something special planned this year and they'd spent weeks preparing for it. They'd promised her a big surprise that they could really sink their teeth into this year and she wouldn't miss it for the world.
"Seriously? Blood everywhere?" Maxwell asked Roberto as he walked into the room.
"I saw the whole thing. There little spiders all over the place and blood and guts everywhere! All over everyone! Security's already roped off the area and called the police. They're calling it a sick prank but the cops are going to be investigating her locker anyway."
"Sounds like we've got a long day ahead of us. They're going to be questioning everyone and in a school this big anybody could be the culprit." Maxwell commented.
"Any idea on who it could be?"
"The likely culprit would be someone who's been antagonized by Phoebe in the past which is...about everyone in school, plus there's the chance of someone doing it for a sick laugh, and given that she's even mouthed off to teachers even they aren't off the hook, so we'd have to look into finding out just who in the world could have possibly snuck into the school, unlocked her locker, rigged all of that up, close the locker and then get out without anybody seeing them. Adivíname esto, who's the school ninja then? The most likely culprit then would be a Janitor but that's too obvious and there's no motivation there. She has a number of other students around her who would have seen her put in her locker code but..." Maxwell paused in his thoughts. "You said they were as freaked out as her, right?"
"Yeah. Screaming their lungs out."
"Pfffff....so either they're very good actors or someone else did it." Maxwell sat down and set down his backpack and rested his head in his hands. "I'll have to think about it some more. Figure out who has the motivation and narrow down the suspects."
"Or, hear me out, we could just let the school faculty handle it." Roberto pointed out.
"Yeah but what fun is that?" Maxwell asked him with a smile. He was boyishly handsome like he'd just walked out of a fashion magazine with his dark hair slicked back in a classy style and his dark eyes looking out at the room with a bright shine to them that matched the light emitting from lighting up the room. He noticed her staring at him while resting her face in her hand. He smiled politely at her. "Hi Noire!"
"Buenos días, jovencito. ¿Qué tal va tu mañana?"
"Oh hey that was really good! Have you been practicing?"
"I read a few books." She replied. A little lie, sure, but it was easier than letting him know that she could understand any language.
"You're a fast learner. Have you considered teaching the Spanish Classes?" Maxwell joked.
"I have little patience for teaching and I'm still learning myself. Perhaps in the future."
"I think you'd be a great teacher, Noire, and I'd be happy to help you learn." He told her. "¿Soñaste con los angelitos?"
"Something like that." If she told him even half of the things she actually dreamed about she would break his mind.
"That's good to hear."
"Bro." Roberto whispered to him.
Maxwell looked back to him.
"Bro. Don't you think the Draculina over there might be kind of an obvious suspect?"
"Not until we have evidence. Keep cool until then. We're not starting a Witch Hunt in our own school. Cool as ice."
"Cool as ice. Got your back."
"Thanks." They quietly fist bumped and Maxwell returned his attention to Noire and smiled.
Noire continued staring at him while pretending like she didn't hear all of that.
"OH! MY! GOOOOOD! Did you see that? There was blood everywhere! I can still hear their screams! It was like a damn murder!" Jade exclaimed. "What kind of psycho does something like that?!"
"Ahem." Lara pointed across the room straight at Noire.
"Ohhhhhhh. Yeah that checks out. Psycho freak."
Noire finally turned her attention away from Maxwell and instead stared down the two girls. Practically daring them to try starting something with her but it was the more level headed Maxwell who stood up and raised his hands.
"Hey guys come on, look we're all freaked out over what happened, but there's no reason to start throwing around accusations without evidence."
"Oh come off of it, Saunders, that little psycho is guilty! You can see it on her evil little face!"
Noire simply kept up with her poker face. Her poker face being her usual death glare. "I assume you have evidence of your accusations?"
"Oh, I don't know, how about the fact that you're the school psychopath, you're mean to everyone, you had beef with Phoebe, and now there's blood all over the hallway?!"
"I appreciate the initial compliment but I simply speak exactly what is on my mind, Phoebe has a history of antagonizing everyone and there is an entire campus full of suspects who could have set up the crime."
"Cram it psycho! We all know you did it!"
"You have no evidence!" Maxwell reminded them.
"I mean, he's right." Roberto replied. "Just because she's a suspect, at best, doesn't mean she's guilty."
"Your chivalrous defenses of me are appreciated but unnecessary. They have no proof of their baseless accusations and are merely grasping at straws. In fact their actions make me question if they are in fact the actual guilty party and that this whole song and dance is nothing but a sad attempt to frame me."
Jade walked up to her desk and slammed a hand down on Noire's desk. "You see that? That's it. Right there. That snobbish, stuck up, I'm always right asshole attitude of yours that grinds my gears so much. You wanna pick a fight you freak?! Because I'll slap the truth right out of your mouth."
"You may test that assumption at your convenience."
Maxwell shoved his arm in between them. "That's enough. Jade, sit down, we are not going to start fighting each other over this. If you want accuse anyone of anything do it after you have evidence of their wrongdoing. Until then, lets all calm down, take our seats and take some breaths. If you want to team up with us to investigate the situation with us after class and over the school day, then you can but I won't allow any infighting in our class. Got it?"
Before the situation could escalate any further the other students filed into the classroom followed by their professor.
"Al-right everybody! Listen up! This has been a rather awkward morning with the locker blood explosion, can't believe I just said that, but I want you all to know that security are handling it right now and the police are inbound to investigate it further. Let the professionals handle everything from here, alright? Nobody jump to any conclusions. Let the law handle everything. Phoebe and the others will be okay. Nobody was hurt except emotionally. Rest assured we will be investigating other student lockers to ensure that no other blood bombs or whatever that was go off on anybody else. The situation is contained and everyone will be okay. Lets just continue our day. To ensure your nerves calm down we will be skipping today's test for a video day instead. So everybody sit back, relax, calm down and enjoy your hour of rest."
A few of the kids cheered but primarily everyone was left to rest after the horror show from the morning. Jade made a face at Noire and then she sat down for class while Noire ignored her.
The video in question was an interesting lecture by Neil Turok about Physics. His presentation style was impressive and he reduced the more complex details to a level that Noire's classmates could comprehend.
Noire followed along easily while writing down her notes in The Elder Futhark.
ᚲᚢᚨᚾᛏᚢᛗ ᛈᚺᛁᛊᛁᚲᛊ ᚠᛟᚱᛗᛊ ᚦᛖ ᚠᛟᚢᚾᛞᚨᛏᛟᚾ ᛟᚠ ᚲᚺᛖᛗᛁᛊᛏᚱᛁ, ᛖᚲᛊᛈᛚᚨᛁᚾᛁᛜ ᚺᛟᚹ ᛗᛟᛚᛖᚲᚢᛚᛖᛊ ᚨᚱᛖ ᚺᛖᛚᛞ ᛏᛟᚷᛖᚦᛖᚱ. ᛁᛏ ᛞᛖᛊᚲᚱᛁᛒᛖᛊ ᚺᛟᚹ ᚱᛖᛚ ᛊᛟᛚᛁᛞᛊ ᚨᚾᛞ ᛗᚨᛏᛖᚱᛟᚨᛚᛊ ᛒᛖᚺᚨᚢᛖ ᚨᚾᛞ ᚺᛟᚹ ᛖᛚᛖᚲᛏᚱᛁᚲᛁᛏᛁ ᛁᛊ ᚲᛟᚾᛞᚢᚲᛏᛖᛞ ᚦᚱᛟᚢᚷᚺ ᚦᛖᛗ. ᛁᛏ ᛖᚾᚨᛒᛚᛖᛞ ᚦᛖ ᛞᛖᚢᛖᛚᛟᛈᛗᛖᚾᛏ ᛟᚠ ᛏᚱᚨᚾᛊᛁᛊᛏᛟᚱᛊ, ᛁᚾᛏᛖᚷᚱᚨᛏᛖᛞ ᚲᛁᚱᚲᚢᛁᛏᛊ, ᛚᚨᛊᛖᚱᛊ, ᛚᛖᛞᛊ, ᛞᛁᚷᛁᛏᚨᛚ ᚲᚨᛗᛖᚱᚨᛊ ᚨᚾᛞ ᚨᛚᛚ ᚦᛖ ᛗᛟᛞᛖᚱᚾ ᚷᚨᛞᚷᛖᛏᚱᛁ ᚦᚨᛏ ᛊᚢᚱᚱᛟᚢᚾᛞᛊ ᚢᛊ.
Quantum physics forms the foundation of chemistry, explaining how molecules are held together. It describes how real solids and materials behave and how electricity is conducted through them. It enabled the development of transistors, integrated circuits, lasers, LEDs, digital cameras and all the modern gadgetry that surrounds us.
The Elder Futhark, also known as the Older Futhark, Old Futhark, or Germanic Futhark, the oldest form of the runic alphabets. It was a writing system used by Germanic peoples for Northwest Germanic dialects in the Migration Period. Inscriptions are found on artifacts including jewelry, amulets, plateware, tools, and weapons, as well as runestones in Scandinavia, from the 2nd to the 10th centuries.
In Scandinavia, beginning in the late 8th century, the script was simplified to the Younger Futhark, while the Anglo-Saxons and Frisians instead extended it, giving rise to the Anglo-Saxon futhorc. Both the Anglo-Saxon futhorc and the Younger Futhark remained in use during the Early and the High Middle Ages respectively, but knowledge of how to read the Elder Futhark was forgotten until 1865, when it was deciphered by Norwegian scholar Sophus Bugge.
The Elder Futhark runes are commonly believed to originate in the Old Italic scripts: either a North Italic variant (Etruscan or Raetic alphabets), or the Latin alphabet itself. Derivation from the Greek alphabet via Gothic contact to Byzantine Greek culture was a popular theory in the 19th century, but has been ruled out since the dating of the Vimose inscriptions to the 2nd century (whereas the Goths were in contact with Greek culture only from the early 3rd century). Conversely, the Greek-derived 4th-century Gothic alphabet does have two letters derived from runes, j (from Jer Runic letter jeran.svg j) and u (from Uruz Runic letter uruz.svg u).
The angular shapes of the runes, presumably an adaptation to the incision in wood or metal, are not a Germanic innovation, but a property that is shared with other early alphabets, including the Old Italic ones (compare, for example, the Duenos inscription). The 4th century BC Negau helmet inscription features a Germanic name, Harigastiz, in a North Etruscan alphabet, and may be a testimony of the earliest contact of Germanic speakers with alphabetic writing. Similarly, the Meldorf inscription of 50 may qualify as "proto-runic" use of the Latin alphabet by Germanic speakers. The Raetic "alphabet of Bolzano" in particular seems to fit the letter shapes well The spearhead of Kovel, dated to 200 AD, sometimes advanced as evidence of a peculiar Gothic variant of the runic alphabet, bears an inscription tilarids that may in fact be in an Old Italic rather than a runic alphabet, running right to left with a T and a D closer to the Latin or Etruscan than to the Bolzano or runic alphabets. Perhaps an "eclectic" approach can yield the best results for the explanation of the origin of the runes: most shapes of the letters can be accounted for when deriving them from several distinct North Italic writing systems: The p rune has a parallel in the Camunic alphabet, while it has been argued that d derives from the shape of the letter san (= ś) in Lepontic where it seems to represent the sound /d/.
To be honest there was no particular reason for her to take her notes in this fashion other than she loved seeing the confusion and surprise on everyone's faces whenever they saw her notes and assumed it was some insane gibberish. Explaining it time and again could be annoying at times but that look was always worth it.
Maxwell relaxed and enjoyed the lecture video, a refreshing break after the morning insanity, and continued down his own notes. While doing so he glanced over to Noire to make sure she was alright after Jade's accusations and noticed that she was still staring forward. Same intimidating intense focused glare as always. She was an oddball even among the other Goth Kids. Nothing ever fazed her and he'd never seen her lose her poker face.
When people tried to mess with her they ended up on the worst side of the confrontation even if, as far as he knew from second hand sources, she'd always give them plenty of room to leave her alone before she'd even bother with taking action. Of course he had no idea what she was like in her personal life but he thought it might do her some good to open up more. Maybe, just maybe, she wasn't guilty of Phoebe's blood bombing. Maybe, just maybe, she was trying to reach out to him. Maybe she wanted friends underneath it all. Maybe all she needed was a friend. After all, one friend can be enough to change anyone's life. Before he could continue with his personal thoughts though he looked down at what she was writing but he was completely unable to decipher it. He'd have to ask her about it after class.
The class continued until the video ended and the students packed up their belongings. Jade waited for Noire to begin walking forward and stuck out her foot in an attempt to trip her up but Noire just stepped over her and bumped Jade's shoulder with her bag. Jade grunted but let it go for now. She would get her back later.
Maxwell however went out of his way to catch up with Noire. "Hey. Noire. Hi."
"Salutations." She replied dryly.
"Right. Well. You know. I was thinking about what happened this morning and I think it might be best for everyone to stick together and you know, I noticed you eat lunch alone a lot, and I was wondering if you'd like to eat lunch with us today? You know, something different? Break up the mundanity?"
"Very well. I could use a break from the usual monotonous rut. I will see you then."
Alright, cool, one more question though, if you don't mind."
"You may ask."
"What was that weird language you were writing in your notes?"
"The Elder Futhark. One of the oldest runic alphabets, used in Old Norse society between the 2nd and 8th centuries."
"Woah. So, you know how to write and understand that?"
"It's simple to learn with a little bit of effort. The Library has books on the subject if you wish to educate yourself."
"Oh, alright, uh, I'll check that out. Thanks."
"Will that be all?"
"No, yes, I think so."
"I will see you at lunch." She walked away and disappeared into the crowd.
Maxwell sighed and watched her leave. "I think this is a good sign."
Roberto clapped his friend on the back. "My man. My man. Have you ever seen Audition?"
"Don't think so. What's that about?"
"Ohhhh boy. This will not be easy to hear. Come on. We'll talk on the way to class."
"Is it good?"
"Yeah but I'm about to spoil the hell out of it for you anyway."
Noire continued walking through the school like she owned the establishment and everybody else was a mere peasant compared to her. Not even worth her attention. Which did raise the question towards her fascination with Maxwell. Certainly he was the complete opposite of her family members and she heavily doubted he would be remotely interested in their proclivities. They were night and day. Logically speaking it would never work out between them. However that was the exact reason why she found herself gravitating towards him. He was so different from her family while still being good looking, athletic and smarter than the standard rabble around her that he held her interest. She would have to get to know him of course but Noire figured she could make it work. Whether it was just a chemical reaction compelling her to mate or something else remained to be seen of course but it would be interesting to explore.
Oh! But how would she explain Annual Events like The Hunt?
No, no need to worry. She could ease him into that.
"Hey there! Hey! Hey hey hey hey! Excuse me! Hey! Hi there! 'Sup? How's it going? Hey, hold up! I just want to talk!"
Noire was dragged out of her own thoughts and she looked over to the student power walking next to her. A tall and slender young man with neck length straight pale-blonde hair, green eyes and handsome features. His physique is very elegant. His clothes were form fitting and notably more high class than that of the usual students. This was Gideon Gordon Vanderbilt. The Prince Of Pacific Grove and younger son of The Vanderbilt Family.
"Hey Noire. Can I call you Noire? What's up? Hey, listen, I heard what you did to Phoebe and I just wanted to say that...that was damn cool. I don't like to insult people but she was a total bigoted jerk. I feel sorry for the other kids who got splashed, yeah, but as far as I'm concerned that was just karma finally slapping her in the face. Or, well, splashing her face but you know what I mean." Gideon complimented her. "But seriously how did you even do that? I've been wracking my brain since this morning but I can't figure it out. Did you have a man on the inside? Like a superspy? Did you do it Mission Impossible style? Also, why the toy spiders instead of real ones? Come on, you can tell me."
Noire continued walking. "Whether I did it or not is irrelevant. I see no reason to ruin the first intriguing mystery this establishment has ever seen."
"To be fair it isn't much of a mystery."
"There are approximately sixty-six thousand six hundred sixty-six students attending this institution and Phoebe has antagonized hundreds of them with her bigoted madness and you believe yourself such a skilled detective that you have narrowed down the culprit the same Morning of the blood prank? Impressive. But you need proof and evidence and as you can see my hands are clean. Now then, assuming that I was in fact the culprit, why should I reveal my methods? A magician never reveals his secrets."
"Ohhhhh okay. So you're playing the trickster role, huh? Alright. We'll just see what the law can find in the locker."
"And let the pieces fall where they may."
"Hey so are you really a magician?"
Noire held her hand up, waved it in front of his face circled her hand around and then she flicked her wrist and pulled a card seemingly out of nowhere which she dropped into his hand before walking away. Gideon paused and looked down at the tarot card in his hand. The Moon. A card of illusion and deception, and therefore often suggests a time when something is not as it appears to be. Perhaps a misunderstanding on your part, or a truth you cannot admit to yourself. In other words, Noire was basically telling him "Yeah, I did it, but you can't prove it, and I'm not stupid enough to admit it or tell you how I did it. Neener-neener-neener."
"Real cute." Gideon commented and pocketed the card.
Officers Marjorie Kramb and Officer Denise Kirwin looked over the locker. The blood bomb had resulted in the blood splattering everywhere! The inside of the locker was completely drenched in it! Everything inside was ruined and whatever didn't hit Phoebe had sprayed all over the walls and splattered across the floor filling the air with a pungent metallic, rusty odor like rotten eggs. It was obvious that the culprit had been planning this for a long time and while Phoebe had been the primary target the culprit obviously didn't care about anyone else getting caught up in the splatter. In all likelihood the culprit only saw them as collateral damage. In other words they were dealing with one sick son of a bitch. This left the questions of who, how and why the culprit had even done this. It was going a little too far for a school prank. This was done by someone with a grudge.
"Okay. Here's how I see it: The culprit, whomever he or she may be, filled the bag or container of choice with blood and the toy spiders, infiltrated the school, got the locker open, shoved it inside and rigged the pull pin to the locker door before shutting it. That way when the victim, whether it be Phoebe or someone else, opened it up, they would be drenched by the erupting blood bomb. As for the toy spiders it's likely that the culprit didn't trust real spiders to burst out or survive in the blood, so toy spiders were placed inside with it. When it went off they were launched out and onto Phoebe. The result was that there were now blood drenched jittering jumping toy spiders all over the floor making the scene even more nightmarish. While I'm glad that nobody was physically hurt...those poor kids are going to be in therapy for years. I'm still at a loss as to how the culprit managed to pull this off in the first place though. It had to have been an inside job." Marjorie explained.
"Ugh, the police are going to have to speak with everyone on this aren't they? We'll have to start with the night shift and students who were here last night to even begin to narrow it down. With any luck the cameras caught the culprit red handed or can at least give us a clue as to whoever they are." Denise added.
"Well there's not much else we can do here. Lets let forensics get to work while we proceed with questioning."
"You know they're backlogged for the next couple of months, right?"
"I know." Marjorie replied with a sigh. "And the press and their parents are going to be on our butts until we solve it and find the culprit. It's a pain but there isn't much else we can do. Come on."
"Yeah."
They stepped over the tape and walked up to the principal. "Sir, I ask you again: Do you know any way the culprit could have gotten access to the student's locker?"
"Not unless the culprit knew the password or somehow hacked into the locker's security system. The only ones with keys to open any locker are the school faculty and staff. Nobody else." Principal Bytheseashore replied. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black device with a button and a key on it. He held it up a locker's keypad and pressed the button. The locker's keypad numbers lit up one by one followed by the # and ENTER signs lighting up and then the locker unlocking. He pulled it open, showed them the student's locker and then he closed it. "It's just in case we ever need to help a student with their locker or get inside for whatever reason. But as to how our mystery blood bomber pulled this off? I'm at a loss."
"Okay what can you tell us about the victim, Phoebe Phillip?"
"Ohhhh boy. I think it would be best to discuss that in my office. I'm going to need a tall drink before we start discussing her history."
"Non-alcoholic I hope?"
"As much as I might need one at times I refuse to consume alcoholic beverages on campus in order to set a proper example for the students."
You're a good man, Seashore."
"Bytheseashore, but thank you. Please follow me."
"Is that your real last name?"
"God given!"
www.names.org/n/bytheseashore/about
They arrived in his office and the principal got set up with a tall drink of coffee and then he pulled out a large file on Penelope Phillip from his desk. He took a long drink from his coffee, set it back down on a coaster and then he opened up the file. "Okay so here we go. You might want to get comfortable. We're going to be here a while." He began taking out papers while listing off every complaint they'd received about her but it boiled down to: Severe or continual disruptive behavior in class in the form of Aggression Toward Other Students Or Faculty, Threats Of Violence, Unyielding Argument Or Debate, Yelling Inside Or Outside Of The Classroom, Untimely Talking/laughing/crying, Snoring In Class, Engaging In Content On A Laptop That Others Find Disruptive, Listening To Music At A Volume Disruptive To Others, Threatening To 'Cancel' People, Sexual Harassment, Potential Cyberbullying, Announcing Bigoted Views And Tardiness among many other problems.
The two policewomen were left sitting there with coffee cups of their own before he was finished.
"Well. Shit."
"Yeah."
"Hey, uh, can we have some copies of those? For evidence purposes?"
"Certainly. I'll have my secretary print them." Principal Bytheseashore poked his head out of the door. "Hey, Miss Gutierrez? If you're not too busy, could you please make some copies of these and hand them to our officer friends?"
"Sure thing." She accepted the file and walked into a backroom to begin making the copies.
"You're the best!" He called after her.
"Forever and always, sir!" She called back.
He leaned back into the room and sat back down. "So, yeah, as you can see...unless forensics finds something in all that blood or the cameras caught the culprit, we're out of luck. We could try creating a psychological profile based on who she's interacted with and narrow down a suspect that way but her repeated rude behaviors have caused problems with so many students and faculty members that it would be impossible to narrow it down!"
"Virtually impossible." Marjorie corrected him. "For nothing is ever truly impossible! But....yeah I agree." She admitted sheepishly. "I would still like to question the students and teachers though. Do you have a list of her classes?"
"Oh certainly." He produced the list for them and the two officers looked it over.
"Okay. We'll question the teachers and students in her classes first and see if we can begin building a case from there."
"Two more questions though: Was she ever disciplined?"
"Multiple times. She even recently came back from a suspension but I can't be sure if that curbed her behavior or not when her previous punishments did nothing."
"I see. One last question for now then: Where were you last night?"
"At home with my family going over paperwork. I can call my wife if you'd like to check with her."
"No. That will be enough for now. Thank you." The officers stepped out of the room and walked away to go meet with Gutierrez to pick up the file.
Principal Bytheseashore sighed and slumped in his chair staring forward blankly at the wall, his thoughts drifting back to the decisions that lead him here.
"I have come to speak with you regarding a mutual annoyance in our lives."
"Gonna have to narrow it down, kid, I've got a lot of headaches I'm dealing with."
"Phoebe Phillips disorderly conduct is ruining the peace and undermining the authority of this institution is it not? Normally I would concern myself with such trivialities but she has become an inconvenience to me as well."
"So what do you want me to do? We've tried punishing her and it never gets through that thick skull of hers."
"That is because you are too soft. It is not your fault of course but the simple truth of the matter is that kids who are accused of bullying have lawyers too. If someone is genuinely guilty of bullying or sexual harassment in school, the current zero tolerance policies are very strict. It often results in expulsion or at least several months of alternative school. Police reports are taken. Interviews are held with psychologists. School board hearings with lawyers. In short, administrators have to make sure their i's are dotted and their t's are crossed before going forward with allegations. This is not because schools don't care, it's because our litigious society makes it nearly impossible to do the right thing without getting screwed or financially ruined. Because of this, most schools try and avoid the bullying route and simply go with a lighter accusation; one that can be quickly punished without legal repercussions due to their deluded parents who have been unfortunate enough to reproduce has deluded themselves into thinking that their spawn is either an angel or a victim. Rather than trying to work things out and figure out what is really going on, they want action that suits them. Because of this your hands are tied by the laws and morals of the world. Mine are not. I can solve this problem without physically harming anyone and leaves only psychological scars. There will be collateral in order to sell it properly but nobody will be physically harmed."
"...What are you getting at?"
"She returns to school tomorrow does she not? I can set up a surprise for her in her locker that she will never forget. One that will scare her straight."
"What do you want me to do?"
Noire leaned forward and held out her hand. "Look the other way."
"What am I becoming?" He muttered to himself.
"Okay, so, like I said: Phoebe was a jerk to everyone but she didn't deserve that! And other students getting splashed too? What the hell kind of lunatic does that to people? Was that even real blood or food dye or paint?" Jade asked. This confident girl has bright blue eyes that are like two windows looking out to the bright blue sky. Her luxurious, curly, golden blonde hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a flower's petals. She is tall and has a feminine build. Her skin is light and fair. She has high cheekbones. Her wardrobe is businesslike and unusual, with a lot of red.
"We're not making assumptions until we know for certain." Marjorie replied. "Rest assured though she was rushed to the hospital to check her for any potential infections."
"Well...that's good...but...I can only hope she recovers because that was just a nasty, nasty excuse of a prank....and I can only think of ONE kid at this school who would be crazy enough to do that."
That got the officer's attention. "Who is it? Do you have a lead? Or Evidence?"
"Her name is Noire Nightshade. She's a creepy Goth girl. Antisocial AF, doesn't have social media accounts, lives in a big creepy mansion, bad mouths everyone, comes from a family of freaks and weirdos, and most importantly? I heard through the grapevine she got in a fight with Phoebe just this Morning."
"Leaving aside the unnecessary insults that is interesting. Could you tell us more about the fight?"
"Yeah, I heard she shoved Phoebe right out of her seat on the bus. Just bodied her and bodychecked her out of it and then walked away. Literally stepped over her. If you're going to suspect anybody? Then Noire is your culprit. The inside of her locker is chock full of all this dark and edgy and gothy stuff is right out of Hot Topic! I wouldn't be surprised if she's got human blood in there. Out of everyone in this school? She outright screams Prime Suspect."
"Okay, but, just having Gothic interests doesn't mean that you're a bad person automatically. Some of them are perfectly normal people. Besides, have you seen all of those ;Blank As An 80's Horror Movie' Videos? By your logic they're all guilty of crimes as well. We can suspect people but they still have rights. We can't put the blame on someone without evidence."
Jade nearly blurted out a comment on that but caught herself in time, swallowed her words, and pushed them down before nodding. "That's fair but trust me you'll understand when you meet this girl."
"Uh huh. Can you describe her?"
"Goth. Black hair with pigtails, black eyeliner, black lipstick, black painted fingernails, a short sleeved black shirt, black skirt, black boots, black skeleton backpack with bat wings, you know, Goth and dark." Jade shrugged. "She's got swagger but zero fashion sense."
"That is in the eye of the beholder. But we will question her and see what comes up. Thank you, Jade, but try not to go around accusing people without evidence." She handed Jade back her bag. "You may return to class now."
"No officers, thank you, for everything you do." She replied with a smile and walked out of the office.
Noire was in the middle of her class taking notes when her name blared over the intercomm.
"NOIRE NIGHTSHADE TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE! NOIRE NIGHTSHADE TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE!"
Noire calmly packed up her belongings and zipped up her backpack and walked out of the room to begin her walk to the office. Everything was proceeding within expectations.
"Seriously? Blood everywhere?" Maxwell asked Roberto as he walked into the room.
"I saw the whole thing. There little spiders all over the place and blood and guts everywhere! All over everyone! Security's already roped off the area and called the police. They're calling it a sick prank but the cops are going to be investigating her locker anyway."
"Sounds like we've got a long day ahead of us. They're going to be questioning everyone and in a school this big anybody could be the culprit." Maxwell commented.
"Any idea on who it could be?"
"The likely culprit would be someone who's been antagonized by Phoebe in the past which is...about everyone in school, plus there's the chance of someone doing it for a sick laugh, and given that she's even mouthed off to teachers even they aren't off the hook, so we'd have to look into finding out just who in the world could have possibly snuck into the school, unlocked her locker, rigged all of that up, close the locker and then get out without anybody seeing them. Adivíname esto, who's the school ninja then? The most likely culprit then would be a Janitor but that's too obvious and there's no motivation there. She has a number of other students around her who would have seen her put in her locker code but..." Maxwell paused in his thoughts. "You said they were as freaked out as her, right?"
"Yeah. Screaming their lungs out."
"Pfffff....so either they're very good actors or someone else did it." Maxwell sat down and set down his backpack and rested his head in his hands. "I'll have to think about it some more. Figure out who has the motivation and narrow down the suspects."
"Or, hear me out, we could just let the school faculty handle it." Roberto pointed out.
"Yeah but what fun is that?" Maxwell asked him with a smile. He was boyishly handsome like he'd just walked out of a fashion magazine with his dark hair slicked back in a classy style and his dark eyes looking out at the room with a bright shine to them that matched the light emitting from lighting up the room. He noticed her staring at him while resting her face in her hand. He smiled politely at her. "Hi Noire!"
"Buenos días, jovencito. ¿Qué tal va tu mañana?"
"Oh hey that was really good! Have you been practicing?"
"I read a few books." She replied. A little lie, sure, but it was easier than letting him know that she could understand any language.
"You're a fast learner. Have you considered teaching the Spanish Classes?" Maxwell joked.
"I have little patience for teaching and I'm still learning myself. Perhaps in the future."
"I think you'd be a great teacher, Noire, and I'd be happy to help you learn." He told her. "¿Soñaste con los angelitos?"
"Something like that." If she told him even half of the things she actually dreamed about she would break his mind.
"That's good to hear."
"Bro." Roberto whispered to him.
Maxwell looked back to him.
"Bro. Don't you think the Draculina over there might be kind of an obvious suspect?"
"Not until we have evidence. Keep cool until then. We're not starting a Witch Hunt in our own school. Cool as ice."
"Cool as ice. Got your back."
"Thanks." They quietly fist bumped and Maxwell returned his attention to Noire and smiled.
Noire continued staring at him while pretending like she didn't hear all of that.
"OH! MY! GOOOOOD! Did you see that? There was blood everywhere! I can still hear their screams! It was like a damn murder!" Jade exclaimed. "What kind of psycho does something like that?!"
"Ahem." Lara pointed across the room straight at Noire.
"Ohhhhhhh. Yeah that checks out. Psycho freak."
Noire finally turned her attention away from Maxwell and instead stared down the two girls. Practically daring them to try starting something with her but it was the more level headed Maxwell who stood up and raised his hands.
"Hey guys come on, look we're all freaked out over what happened, but there's no reason to start throwing around accusations without evidence."
"Oh come off of it, Saunders, that little psycho is guilty! You can see it on her evil little face!"
Noire simply kept up with her poker face. Her poker face being her usual death glare. "I assume you have evidence of your accusations?"
"Oh, I don't know, how about the fact that you're the school psychopath, you're mean to everyone, you had beef with Phoebe, and now there's blood all over the hallway?!"
"I appreciate the initial compliment but I simply speak exactly what is on my mind, Phoebe has a history of antagonizing everyone and there is an entire campus full of suspects who could have set up the crime."
"Cram it psycho! We all know you did it!"
"You have no evidence!" Maxwell reminded them.
"I mean, he's right." Roberto replied. "Just because she's a suspect, at best, doesn't mean she's guilty."
"Your chivalrous defenses of me are appreciated but unnecessary. They have no proof of their baseless accusations and are merely grasping at straws. In fact their actions make me question if they are in fact the actual guilty party and that this whole song and dance is nothing but a sad attempt to frame me."
Jade walked up to her desk and slammed a hand down on Noire's desk. "You see that? That's it. Right there. That snobbish, stuck up, I'm always right asshole attitude of yours that grinds my gears so much. You wanna pick a fight you freak?! Because I'll slap the truth right out of your mouth."
"You may test that assumption at your convenience."
Maxwell shoved his arm in between them. "That's enough. Jade, sit down, we are not going to start fighting each other over this. If you want accuse anyone of anything do it after you have evidence of their wrongdoing. Until then, lets all calm down, take our seats and take some breaths. If you want to team up with us to investigate the situation with us after class and over the school day, then you can but I won't allow any infighting in our class. Got it?"
Before the situation could escalate any further the other students filed into the classroom followed by their professor.
"Al-right everybody! Listen up! This has been a rather awkward morning with the locker blood explosion, can't believe I just said that, but I want you all to know that security are handling it right now and the police are inbound to investigate it further. Let the professionals handle everything from here, alright? Nobody jump to any conclusions. Let the law handle everything. Phoebe and the others will be okay. Nobody was hurt except emotionally. Rest assured we will be investigating other student lockers to ensure that no other blood bombs or whatever that was go off on anybody else. The situation is contained and everyone will be okay. Lets just continue our day. To ensure your nerves calm down we will be skipping today's test for a video day instead. So everybody sit back, relax, calm down and enjoy your hour of rest."
A few of the kids cheered but primarily everyone was left to rest after the horror show from the morning. Jade made a face at Noire and then she sat down for class while Noire ignored her.
The video in question was an interesting lecture by Neil Turok about Physics. His presentation style was impressive and he reduced the more complex details to a level that Noire's classmates could comprehend.
Noire followed along easily while writing down her notes in The Elder Futhark.
ᚲᚢᚨᚾᛏᚢᛗ ᛈᚺᛁᛊᛁᚲᛊ ᚠᛟᚱᛗᛊ ᚦᛖ ᚠᛟᚢᚾᛞᚨᛏᛟᚾ ᛟᚠ ᚲᚺᛖᛗᛁᛊᛏᚱᛁ, ᛖᚲᛊᛈᛚᚨᛁᚾᛁᛜ ᚺᛟᚹ ᛗᛟᛚᛖᚲᚢᛚᛖᛊ ᚨᚱᛖ ᚺᛖᛚᛞ ᛏᛟᚷᛖᚦᛖᚱ. ᛁᛏ ᛞᛖᛊᚲᚱᛁᛒᛖᛊ ᚺᛟᚹ ᚱᛖᛚ ᛊᛟᛚᛁᛞᛊ ᚨᚾᛞ ᛗᚨᛏᛖᚱᛟᚨᛚᛊ ᛒᛖᚺᚨᚢᛖ ᚨᚾᛞ ᚺᛟᚹ ᛖᛚᛖᚲᛏᚱᛁᚲᛁᛏᛁ ᛁᛊ ᚲᛟᚾᛞᚢᚲᛏᛖᛞ ᚦᚱᛟᚢᚷᚺ ᚦᛖᛗ. ᛁᛏ ᛖᚾᚨᛒᛚᛖᛞ ᚦᛖ ᛞᛖᚢᛖᛚᛟᛈᛗᛖᚾᛏ ᛟᚠ ᛏᚱᚨᚾᛊᛁᛊᛏᛟᚱᛊ, ᛁᚾᛏᛖᚷᚱᚨᛏᛖᛞ ᚲᛁᚱᚲᚢᛁᛏᛊ, ᛚᚨᛊᛖᚱᛊ, ᛚᛖᛞᛊ, ᛞᛁᚷᛁᛏᚨᛚ ᚲᚨᛗᛖᚱᚨᛊ ᚨᚾᛞ ᚨᛚᛚ ᚦᛖ ᛗᛟᛞᛖᚱᚾ ᚷᚨᛞᚷᛖᛏᚱᛁ ᚦᚨᛏ ᛊᚢᚱᚱᛟᚢᚾᛞᛊ ᚢᛊ.
Quantum physics forms the foundation of chemistry, explaining how molecules are held together. It describes how real solids and materials behave and how electricity is conducted through them. It enabled the development of transistors, integrated circuits, lasers, LEDs, digital cameras and all the modern gadgetry that surrounds us.
The Elder Futhark, also known as the Older Futhark, Old Futhark, or Germanic Futhark, the oldest form of the runic alphabets. It was a writing system used by Germanic peoples for Northwest Germanic dialects in the Migration Period. Inscriptions are found on artifacts including jewelry, amulets, plateware, tools, and weapons, as well as runestones in Scandinavia, from the 2nd to the 10th centuries.
In Scandinavia, beginning in the late 8th century, the script was simplified to the Younger Futhark, while the Anglo-Saxons and Frisians instead extended it, giving rise to the Anglo-Saxon futhorc. Both the Anglo-Saxon futhorc and the Younger Futhark remained in use during the Early and the High Middle Ages respectively, but knowledge of how to read the Elder Futhark was forgotten until 1865, when it was deciphered by Norwegian scholar Sophus Bugge.
The Elder Futhark runes are commonly believed to originate in the Old Italic scripts: either a North Italic variant (Etruscan or Raetic alphabets), or the Latin alphabet itself. Derivation from the Greek alphabet via Gothic contact to Byzantine Greek culture was a popular theory in the 19th century, but has been ruled out since the dating of the Vimose inscriptions to the 2nd century (whereas the Goths were in contact with Greek culture only from the early 3rd century). Conversely, the Greek-derived 4th-century Gothic alphabet does have two letters derived from runes, j (from Jer Runic letter jeran.svg j) and u (from Uruz Runic letter uruz.svg u).
The angular shapes of the runes, presumably an adaptation to the incision in wood or metal, are not a Germanic innovation, but a property that is shared with other early alphabets, including the Old Italic ones (compare, for example, the Duenos inscription). The 4th century BC Negau helmet inscription features a Germanic name, Harigastiz, in a North Etruscan alphabet, and may be a testimony of the earliest contact of Germanic speakers with alphabetic writing. Similarly, the Meldorf inscription of 50 may qualify as "proto-runic" use of the Latin alphabet by Germanic speakers. The Raetic "alphabet of Bolzano" in particular seems to fit the letter shapes well The spearhead of Kovel, dated to 200 AD, sometimes advanced as evidence of a peculiar Gothic variant of the runic alphabet, bears an inscription tilarids that may in fact be in an Old Italic rather than a runic alphabet, running right to left with a T and a D closer to the Latin or Etruscan than to the Bolzano or runic alphabets. Perhaps an "eclectic" approach can yield the best results for the explanation of the origin of the runes: most shapes of the letters can be accounted for when deriving them from several distinct North Italic writing systems: The p rune has a parallel in the Camunic alphabet, while it has been argued that d derives from the shape of the letter san (= ś) in Lepontic where it seems to represent the sound /d/.
To be honest there was no particular reason for her to take her notes in this fashion other than she loved seeing the confusion and surprise on everyone's faces whenever they saw her notes and assumed it was some insane gibberish. Explaining it time and again could be annoying at times but that look was always worth it.
Maxwell relaxed and enjoyed the lecture video, a refreshing break after the morning insanity, and continued down his own notes. While doing so he glanced over to Noire to make sure she was alright after Jade's accusations and noticed that she was still staring forward. Same intimidating intense focused glare as always. She was an oddball even among the other Goth Kids. Nothing ever fazed her and he'd never seen her lose her poker face.
When people tried to mess with her they ended up on the worst side of the confrontation even if, as far as he knew from second hand sources, she'd always give them plenty of room to leave her alone before she'd even bother with taking action. Of course he had no idea what she was like in her personal life but he thought it might do her some good to open up more. Maybe, just maybe, she wasn't guilty of Phoebe's blood bombing. Maybe, just maybe, she was trying to reach out to him. Maybe she wanted friends underneath it all. Maybe all she needed was a friend. After all, one friend can be enough to change anyone's life. Before he could continue with his personal thoughts though he looked down at what she was writing but he was completely unable to decipher it. He'd have to ask her about it after class.
The class continued until the video ended and the students packed up their belongings. Jade waited for Noire to begin walking forward and stuck out her foot in an attempt to trip her up but Noire just stepped over her and bumped Jade's shoulder with her bag. Jade grunted but let it go for now. She would get her back later.
Maxwell however went out of his way to catch up with Noire. "Hey. Noire. Hi."
"Salutations." She replied dryly.
"Right. Well. You know. I was thinking about what happened this morning and I think it might be best for everyone to stick together and you know, I noticed you eat lunch alone a lot, and I was wondering if you'd like to eat lunch with us today? You know, something different? Break up the mundanity?"
"Very well. I could use a break from the usual monotonous rut. I will see you then."
Alright, cool, one more question though, if you don't mind."
"You may ask."
"What was that weird language you were writing in your notes?"
"The Elder Futhark. One of the oldest runic alphabets, used in Old Norse society between the 2nd and 8th centuries."
"Woah. So, you know how to write and understand that?"
"It's simple to learn with a little bit of effort. The Library has books on the subject if you wish to educate yourself."
"Oh, alright, uh, I'll check that out. Thanks."
"Will that be all?"
"No, yes, I think so."
"I will see you at lunch." She walked away and disappeared into the crowd.
Maxwell sighed and watched her leave. "I think this is a good sign."
Roberto clapped his friend on the back. "My man. My man. Have you ever seen Audition?"
"Don't think so. What's that about?"
"Ohhhh boy. This will not be easy to hear. Come on. We'll talk on the way to class."
"Is it good?"
"Yeah but I'm about to spoil the hell out of it for you anyway."
Noire continued walking through the school like she owned the establishment and everybody else was a mere peasant compared to her. Not even worth her attention. Which did raise the question towards her fascination with Maxwell. Certainly he was the complete opposite of her family members and she heavily doubted he would be remotely interested in their proclivities. They were night and day. Logically speaking it would never work out between them. However that was the exact reason why she found herself gravitating towards him. He was so different from her family while still being good looking, athletic and smarter than the standard rabble around her that he held her interest. She would have to get to know him of course but Noire figured she could make it work. Whether it was just a chemical reaction compelling her to mate or something else remained to be seen of course but it would be interesting to explore.
Oh! But how would she explain Annual Events like The Hunt?
No, no need to worry. She could ease him into that.
"Hey there! Hey! Hey hey hey hey! Excuse me! Hey! Hi there! 'Sup? How's it going? Hey, hold up! I just want to talk!"
Noire was dragged out of her own thoughts and she looked over to the student power walking next to her. A tall and slender young man with neck length straight pale-blonde hair, green eyes and handsome features. His physique is very elegant. His clothes were form fitting and notably more high class than that of the usual students. This was Gideon Gordon Vanderbilt. The Prince Of Pacific Grove and younger son of The Vanderbilt Family.
"Hey Noire. Can I call you Noire? What's up? Hey, listen, I heard what you did to Phoebe and I just wanted to say that...that was damn cool. I don't like to insult people but she was a total bigoted jerk. I feel sorry for the other kids who got splashed, yeah, but as far as I'm concerned that was just karma finally slapping her in the face. Or, well, splashing her face but you know what I mean." Gideon complimented her. "But seriously how did you even do that? I've been wracking my brain since this morning but I can't figure it out. Did you have a man on the inside? Like a superspy? Did you do it Mission Impossible style? Also, why the toy spiders instead of real ones? Come on, you can tell me."
Noire continued walking. "Whether I did it or not is irrelevant. I see no reason to ruin the first intriguing mystery this establishment has ever seen."
"To be fair it isn't much of a mystery."
"There are approximately sixty-six thousand six hundred sixty-six students attending this institution and Phoebe has antagonized hundreds of them with her bigoted madness and you believe yourself such a skilled detective that you have narrowed down the culprit the same Morning of the blood prank? Impressive. But you need proof and evidence and as you can see my hands are clean. Now then, assuming that I was in fact the culprit, why should I reveal my methods? A magician never reveals his secrets."
"Ohhhhh okay. So you're playing the trickster role, huh? Alright. We'll just see what the law can find in the locker."
"And let the pieces fall where they may."
"Hey so are you really a magician?"
Noire held her hand up, waved it in front of his face circled her hand around and then she flicked her wrist and pulled a card seemingly out of nowhere which she dropped into his hand before walking away. Gideon paused and looked down at the tarot card in his hand. The Moon. A card of illusion and deception, and therefore often suggests a time when something is not as it appears to be. Perhaps a misunderstanding on your part, or a truth you cannot admit to yourself. In other words, Noire was basically telling him "Yeah, I did it, but you can't prove it, and I'm not stupid enough to admit it or tell you how I did it. Neener-neener-neener."
"Real cute." Gideon commented and pocketed the card.
Officers Marjorie Kramb and Officer Denise Kirwin looked over the locker. The blood bomb had resulted in the blood splattering everywhere! The inside of the locker was completely drenched in it! Everything inside was ruined and whatever didn't hit Phoebe had sprayed all over the walls and splattered across the floor filling the air with a pungent metallic, rusty odor like rotten eggs. It was obvious that the culprit had been planning this for a long time and while Phoebe had been the primary target the culprit obviously didn't care about anyone else getting caught up in the splatter. In all likelihood the culprit only saw them as collateral damage. In other words they were dealing with one sick son of a bitch. This left the questions of who, how and why the culprit had even done this. It was going a little too far for a school prank. This was done by someone with a grudge.
"Okay. Here's how I see it: The culprit, whomever he or she may be, filled the bag or container of choice with blood and the toy spiders, infiltrated the school, got the locker open, shoved it inside and rigged the pull pin to the locker door before shutting it. That way when the victim, whether it be Phoebe or someone else, opened it up, they would be drenched by the erupting blood bomb. As for the toy spiders it's likely that the culprit didn't trust real spiders to burst out or survive in the blood, so toy spiders were placed inside with it. When it went off they were launched out and onto Phoebe. The result was that there were now blood drenched jittering jumping toy spiders all over the floor making the scene even more nightmarish. While I'm glad that nobody was physically hurt...those poor kids are going to be in therapy for years. I'm still at a loss as to how the culprit managed to pull this off in the first place though. It had to have been an inside job." Marjorie explained.
"Ugh, the police are going to have to speak with everyone on this aren't they? We'll have to start with the night shift and students who were here last night to even begin to narrow it down. With any luck the cameras caught the culprit red handed or can at least give us a clue as to whoever they are." Denise added.
"Well there's not much else we can do here. Lets let forensics get to work while we proceed with questioning."
"You know they're backlogged for the next couple of months, right?"
"I know." Marjorie replied with a sigh. "And the press and their parents are going to be on our butts until we solve it and find the culprit. It's a pain but there isn't much else we can do. Come on."
"Yeah."
They stepped over the tape and walked up to the principal. "Sir, I ask you again: Do you know any way the culprit could have gotten access to the student's locker?"
"Not unless the culprit knew the password or somehow hacked into the locker's security system. The only ones with keys to open any locker are the school faculty and staff. Nobody else." Principal Bytheseashore replied. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black device with a button and a key on it. He held it up a locker's keypad and pressed the button. The locker's keypad numbers lit up one by one followed by the # and ENTER signs lighting up and then the locker unlocking. He pulled it open, showed them the student's locker and then he closed it. "It's just in case we ever need to help a student with their locker or get inside for whatever reason. But as to how our mystery blood bomber pulled this off? I'm at a loss."
"Okay what can you tell us about the victim, Phoebe Phillip?"
"Ohhhh boy. I think it would be best to discuss that in my office. I'm going to need a tall drink before we start discussing her history."
"Non-alcoholic I hope?"
"As much as I might need one at times I refuse to consume alcoholic beverages on campus in order to set a proper example for the students."
You're a good man, Seashore."
"Bytheseashore, but thank you. Please follow me."
"Is that your real last name?"
"God given!"
www.names.org/n/bytheseashore/about
They arrived in his office and the principal got set up with a tall drink of coffee and then he pulled out a large file on Penelope Phillip from his desk. He took a long drink from his coffee, set it back down on a coaster and then he opened up the file. "Okay so here we go. You might want to get comfortable. We're going to be here a while." He began taking out papers while listing off every complaint they'd received about her but it boiled down to: Severe or continual disruptive behavior in class in the form of Aggression Toward Other Students Or Faculty, Threats Of Violence, Unyielding Argument Or Debate, Yelling Inside Or Outside Of The Classroom, Untimely Talking/laughing/crying, Snoring In Class, Engaging In Content On A Laptop That Others Find Disruptive, Listening To Music At A Volume Disruptive To Others, Threatening To 'Cancel' People, Sexual Harassment, Potential Cyberbullying, Announcing Bigoted Views And Tardiness among many other problems.
The two policewomen were left sitting there with coffee cups of their own before he was finished.
"Well. Shit."
"Yeah."
"Hey, uh, can we have some copies of those? For evidence purposes?"
"Certainly. I'll have my secretary print them." Principal Bytheseashore poked his head out of the door. "Hey, Miss Gutierrez? If you're not too busy, could you please make some copies of these and hand them to our officer friends?"
"Sure thing." She accepted the file and walked into a backroom to begin making the copies.
"You're the best!" He called after her.
"Forever and always, sir!" She called back.
He leaned back into the room and sat back down. "So, yeah, as you can see...unless forensics finds something in all that blood or the cameras caught the culprit, we're out of luck. We could try creating a psychological profile based on who she's interacted with and narrow down a suspect that way but her repeated rude behaviors have caused problems with so many students and faculty members that it would be impossible to narrow it down!"
"Virtually impossible." Marjorie corrected him. "For nothing is ever truly impossible! But....yeah I agree." She admitted sheepishly. "I would still like to question the students and teachers though. Do you have a list of her classes?"
"Oh certainly." He produced the list for them and the two officers looked it over.
"Okay. We'll question the teachers and students in her classes first and see if we can begin building a case from there."
"Two more questions though: Was she ever disciplined?"
"Multiple times. She even recently came back from a suspension but I can't be sure if that curbed her behavior or not when her previous punishments did nothing."
"I see. One last question for now then: Where were you last night?"
"At home with my family going over paperwork. I can call my wife if you'd like to check with her."
"No. That will be enough for now. Thank you." The officers stepped out of the room and walked away to go meet with Gutierrez to pick up the file.
Principal Bytheseashore sighed and slumped in his chair staring forward blankly at the wall, his thoughts drifting back to the decisions that lead him here.
"I have come to speak with you regarding a mutual annoyance in our lives."
"Gonna have to narrow it down, kid, I've got a lot of headaches I'm dealing with."
"Phoebe Phillips disorderly conduct is ruining the peace and undermining the authority of this institution is it not? Normally I would concern myself with such trivialities but she has become an inconvenience to me as well."
"So what do you want me to do? We've tried punishing her and it never gets through that thick skull of hers."
"That is because you are too soft. It is not your fault of course but the simple truth of the matter is that kids who are accused of bullying have lawyers too. If someone is genuinely guilty of bullying or sexual harassment in school, the current zero tolerance policies are very strict. It often results in expulsion or at least several months of alternative school. Police reports are taken. Interviews are held with psychologists. School board hearings with lawyers. In short, administrators have to make sure their i's are dotted and their t's are crossed before going forward with allegations. This is not because schools don't care, it's because our litigious society makes it nearly impossible to do the right thing without getting screwed or financially ruined. Because of this, most schools try and avoid the bullying route and simply go with a lighter accusation; one that can be quickly punished without legal repercussions due to their deluded parents who have been unfortunate enough to reproduce has deluded themselves into thinking that their spawn is either an angel or a victim. Rather than trying to work things out and figure out what is really going on, they want action that suits them. Because of this your hands are tied by the laws and morals of the world. Mine are not. I can solve this problem without physically harming anyone and leaves only psychological scars. There will be collateral in order to sell it properly but nobody will be physically harmed."
"...What are you getting at?"
"She returns to school tomorrow does she not? I can set up a surprise for her in her locker that she will never forget. One that will scare her straight."
"What do you want me to do?"
Noire leaned forward and held out her hand. "Look the other way."
"What am I becoming?" He muttered to himself.
"Okay, so, like I said: Phoebe was a jerk to everyone but she didn't deserve that! And other students getting splashed too? What the hell kind of lunatic does that to people? Was that even real blood or food dye or paint?" Jade asked. This confident girl has bright blue eyes that are like two windows looking out to the bright blue sky. Her luxurious, curly, golden blonde hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a flower's petals. She is tall and has a feminine build. Her skin is light and fair. She has high cheekbones. Her wardrobe is businesslike and unusual, with a lot of red.
"We're not making assumptions until we know for certain." Marjorie replied. "Rest assured though she was rushed to the hospital to check her for any potential infections."
"Well...that's good...but...I can only hope she recovers because that was just a nasty, nasty excuse of a prank....and I can only think of ONE kid at this school who would be crazy enough to do that."
That got the officer's attention. "Who is it? Do you have a lead? Or Evidence?"
"Her name is Noire Nightshade. She's a creepy Goth girl. Antisocial AF, doesn't have social media accounts, lives in a big creepy mansion, bad mouths everyone, comes from a family of freaks and weirdos, and most importantly? I heard through the grapevine she got in a fight with Phoebe just this Morning."
"Leaving aside the unnecessary insults that is interesting. Could you tell us more about the fight?"
"Yeah, I heard she shoved Phoebe right out of her seat on the bus. Just bodied her and bodychecked her out of it and then walked away. Literally stepped over her. If you're going to suspect anybody? Then Noire is your culprit. The inside of her locker is chock full of all this dark and edgy and gothy stuff is right out of Hot Topic! I wouldn't be surprised if she's got human blood in there. Out of everyone in this school? She outright screams Prime Suspect."
"Okay, but, just having Gothic interests doesn't mean that you're a bad person automatically. Some of them are perfectly normal people. Besides, have you seen all of those ;Blank As An 80's Horror Movie' Videos? By your logic they're all guilty of crimes as well. We can suspect people but they still have rights. We can't put the blame on someone without evidence."
Jade nearly blurted out a comment on that but caught herself in time, swallowed her words, and pushed them down before nodding. "That's fair but trust me you'll understand when you meet this girl."
"Uh huh. Can you describe her?"
"Goth. Black hair with pigtails, black eyeliner, black lipstick, black painted fingernails, a short sleeved black shirt, black skirt, black boots, black skeleton backpack with bat wings, you know, Goth and dark." Jade shrugged. "She's got swagger but zero fashion sense."
"That is in the eye of the beholder. But we will question her and see what comes up. Thank you, Jade, but try not to go around accusing people without evidence." She handed Jade back her bag. "You may return to class now."
"No officers, thank you, for everything you do." She replied with a smile and walked out of the office.
Noire was in the middle of her class taking notes when her name blared over the intercomm.
"NOIRE NIGHTSHADE TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE! NOIRE NIGHTSHADE TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE!"
Noire calmly packed up her belongings and zipped up her backpack and walked out of the room to begin her walk to the office. Everything was proceeding within expectations.
Noire walked down the school hallways on her way to the Principal's Office. She took the time to admire her work around Phoebe's locker that was still being cleaned up while still walking and soon ended up at the office. Officer Marjorie Kramb and Officer Denise Kirwin were waiting for her alongside Principal Seashore. Noire set down her bookbag and took her seat. "Hello Principal."
"Hello Noire."
"I noticed you have made new friends. Good for you."
"Thank you. These are Marjorie and Denise, officers with The Tranquillum City Police Department and they're here to help us solve The Mystery Of The Bloody Locker."
"I'm going to steal that title for a Horror Novel."
"All yours but they'll need to ask you some questions first."
"You may commence your examination."
"You're an original aren't you?" Marjorie joked. "In that case we'll need to know where you were last night."
"At home breezing through my homework and contemplating existential nihilism. You may contact my family if you wish for clarification."
"Nihilism?" Denise asked her. "So you believe that nothing matters then?"
"That is something that I find myself ruminating on often and I seek evidence that I am wrong."
"And have you found it yet?"
"The search is ongoing."
"I see. Lets get back on topic then. Could you provide us with your phone and contact information?"
"Very well." She opened up a pocket in her backpack and handed them her phone which had a blacked out gothic phone case with a Gothic Black Rose design on the back.
"Cute." Denise turned it on and began looking through her contacts. Which were significantly less than either of them were expecting. As far as they could tell her only contacts were family and relatives and she didn't even call them that often. She didn't have many apps or Social Media links. Her gallery only showcased her rather creepy looking bedroom, the interior of her house and her family. Even her E-Mail was empty. The phone was surprisingly bare bones so they just copied down the contact information for her parents, as well as her own, and returned the phone to Noire. "Everything checks out so far but what was your history with Phoebe?"
"The same as everyone else: She spewed forth bile and playground towards me and others under the delusional belief that it would give her validation and fill that lonely empty bleak void inside of her heart. Considering the frequency of her childish insults she never found it."
(Well, aren't YOU just a fun filled little lollipop triple-dipped in psycho...) "We understand you had an altercation with Phoebe on the ride to school this morning. Could you elaborate on that?"
"Phoebe rambled on her usual hate filled drivel while I ignored her for the entire ride. Upon arrival she attempted to forcibly prevent me from disembarking the school bus so I removed her from my seat with just enough force to throw her from my seat by grabbing her face, dragging her upwards and shoving her away. Following this confrontation she continued to chase me through the school while I continued to brush her off until she forcibly grabbed my arm before she ran away when I made it clear that I wanted her to leave me alone. Her locker accident happened soon after."
"About that. Considering the screams of everyone who witnessed the event why were you not affected?"
"As you may have noticed I embrace the dark and the macabre. Horror Movies and Novels in particular. Stardust Pictures' Dreamland is a favorite of mine. The Classic. The Remake just didn't have the heart."
(This kid....a riddle, surrounded by a mystery, wrapped inside an enigma, and stuffed inside a body bag.) "So I see...and has she harassed you on multiple occassions?"
"Many times. I ignored her."
"Like she was beneath you?"
"Yes." Noire replied bluntly.
"Al-right. Would you mind if we took a look at your notes?"
"Go ahead if you can read Elder Futhark."
"Elder what now?"
Principal Seashore chuckled. "Elder Futhark. A writing system used by Germanic peoples for Northwest Germanic dialects in the Migration Period. It symbolizes Wealth, Abundance, Success, Security and Fertility. She writes her notes in the Runes to troll everyone around her. Trust me though it's legit. I've had to explain that to people before."
"May we see them?"
She unzipped her backpack and passed them her binder. They unzipped it and began looking through her notes and yep! It was all in the runic language she mentioned. "Be honest? Do you write in this language just to lord it over everyone else?"
"Yes." Noire replied bluntly.
They weren't going to get anything from this so they returned the creepy Gothic Binder to Noire and she packed up. "Miss Nightsade would you mind if we had a look at your locker?"
"Of course not. Shall we proceed?"
"Hello Noire."
"I noticed you have made new friends. Good for you."
"Thank you. These are Marjorie and Denise, officers with The Tranquillum City Police Department and they're here to help us solve The Mystery Of The Bloody Locker."
"I'm going to steal that title for a Horror Novel."
"All yours but they'll need to ask you some questions first."
"You may commence your examination."
"You're an original aren't you?" Marjorie joked. "In that case we'll need to know where you were last night."
"At home breezing through my homework and contemplating existential nihilism. You may contact my family if you wish for clarification."
"Nihilism?" Denise asked her. "So you believe that nothing matters then?"
"That is something that I find myself ruminating on often and I seek evidence that I am wrong."
"And have you found it yet?"
"The search is ongoing."
"I see. Lets get back on topic then. Could you provide us with your phone and contact information?"
"Very well." She opened up a pocket in her backpack and handed them her phone which had a blacked out gothic phone case with a Gothic Black Rose design on the back.
"Cute." Denise turned it on and began looking through her contacts. Which were significantly less than either of them were expecting. As far as they could tell her only contacts were family and relatives and she didn't even call them that often. She didn't have many apps or Social Media links. Her gallery only showcased her rather creepy looking bedroom, the interior of her house and her family. Even her E-Mail was empty. The phone was surprisingly bare bones so they just copied down the contact information for her parents, as well as her own, and returned the phone to Noire. "Everything checks out so far but what was your history with Phoebe?"
"The same as everyone else: She spewed forth bile and playground towards me and others under the delusional belief that it would give her validation and fill that lonely empty bleak void inside of her heart. Considering the frequency of her childish insults she never found it."
(Well, aren't YOU just a fun filled little lollipop triple-dipped in psycho...) "We understand you had an altercation with Phoebe on the ride to school this morning. Could you elaborate on that?"
"Phoebe rambled on her usual hate filled drivel while I ignored her for the entire ride. Upon arrival she attempted to forcibly prevent me from disembarking the school bus so I removed her from my seat with just enough force to throw her from my seat by grabbing her face, dragging her upwards and shoving her away. Following this confrontation she continued to chase me through the school while I continued to brush her off until she forcibly grabbed my arm before she ran away when I made it clear that I wanted her to leave me alone. Her locker accident happened soon after."
"About that. Considering the screams of everyone who witnessed the event why were you not affected?"
"As you may have noticed I embrace the dark and the macabre. Horror Movies and Novels in particular. Stardust Pictures' Dreamland is a favorite of mine. The Classic. The Remake just didn't have the heart."
(This kid....a riddle, surrounded by a mystery, wrapped inside an enigma, and stuffed inside a body bag.) "So I see...and has she harassed you on multiple occassions?"
"Many times. I ignored her."
"Like she was beneath you?"
"Yes." Noire replied bluntly.
"Al-right. Would you mind if we took a look at your notes?"
"Go ahead if you can read Elder Futhark."
"Elder what now?"
Principal Seashore chuckled. "Elder Futhark. A writing system used by Germanic peoples for Northwest Germanic dialects in the Migration Period. It symbolizes Wealth, Abundance, Success, Security and Fertility. She writes her notes in the Runes to troll everyone around her. Trust me though it's legit. I've had to explain that to people before."
"May we see them?"
She unzipped her backpack and passed them her binder. They unzipped it and began looking through her notes and yep! It was all in the runic language she mentioned. "Be honest? Do you write in this language just to lord it over everyone else?"
"Yes." Noire replied bluntly.
They weren't going to get anything from this so they returned the creepy Gothic Binder to Noire and she packed up. "Miss Nightsade would you mind if we had a look at your locker?"
"Of course not. Shall we proceed?"
oire led Principal Bytheseashore and the two police officers back outside and down the hallway until they reached her locker. Like all of the assigned lockers it had a nametag on it so that the students would always be able to find their locker. She punched in her Locker Code on the Keypad and then pressed her thumb on the reader to unlock it. This was set up so that nobody except the student who used the locker or a staff member who had the Digital Keys could unlock them. With the locker opened up she stepped aside to reveal the most Gothic Locker Interior either of them had ever seen. It was blacked out, it had black wallpaper inside of it, an upside down Gothic looking cross, Halloween Decorations, assorted Gothic Paraphernalia, a mirror, a Lunchbag and her books, both horror and otherwise. The officers looked through the locker but they didn't find anything linking her to the Blood Locker. They opened up the Lunchbag and looked into it. Her Lunchbag contained an Arkansas Black Apple, Goth Toast With Fruit, Milk and a small Gothic Coffin Cake. There was nothing here for them to use. They closed it back up and after one more look through they parted and closed it. There was nothing here linking her to The Blood Locker after all. She was innocent until proven guilty.
"Okay, alright, well then, that clears that up. Apologies for the locker investigation but we're following any leads we can find."
"Of course Officer. Do not worry about a single thing. You're a credit to the force and we appreciate your assistance in keeping our schools safe." Noire assured her. "May I return to class now?"
"You may. If we have any further questions we'll call."
"Thank you." She shook their hands and walked away with an unseen villainous smile on her face.
-
BGM: Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta!
"Okay, alright, well then, that clears that up. Apologies for the locker investigation but we're following any leads we can find."
"Of course Officer. Do not worry about a single thing. You're a credit to the force and we appreciate your assistance in keeping our schools safe." Noire assured her. "May I return to class now?"
"You may. If we have any further questions we'll call."
"Thank you." She shook their hands and walked away with an unseen villainous smile on her face.
-
BGM: Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta!
hile the forensics teams were cleaning up the bloody locker and pig guts and bagging everything Officer Trent Quigley was sitting down with Mr. Ernest Carino and watching yesterday's security footage. The cameras picked up the audio of the students interactions and the noises in the hallways and general hustle and bustle of everything but it was all so jumbled together that the audio gave them nothing to work with. So he just focused his attention on the locker. The various girls around the lockers opened and closed their own but nobody touched Phoebe's locker. Even when fast forwarding through the day nobody touched Phoebe's locker. So Trent ended up just looking at the overnight security footage. 6:00 PM. Nothing. 7:00 PM. Nothing. 8:00 PM. Nothing. 9:00 PM. Nothing. 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6....nothing until Phoebe opened her locker and the blood sprayed over her and everyone else. Trent sighed and rubbed his head. Whoever did this was one sick son of a bitch. He questioned how nobody had smelled the blood however. Even factoring in the products the girls had in their lockers masking it, along with whatever perfume, cologne, deodorant, hairspray, hair gel, or whatever else was in the air around the hallways, surely somebody would have noticed if it had been there for a while, right?
"Can you show me the previous days?"
"Sure. Our cameras store footage of up to 90 days so if anything happened to her locker in between then and now we'll be able to find it." Ernest went back to another day.
They watched closely. Nothing happened to the locker.
The previous day. Nothing.
The previous day. Nothing.
They went back a whole week and the locker was never touched. They went back to yesterday and the locker was never tampered with then either. Trent rubbed the back of his head. "Okay, we're going to need to look through all of this back at the station because I have no clue as to how the hell the locker could've been tampered without cameras picking it up."
Please, feel free to comb through it we'll be doing the same. If we find anything significant we'll let you know but just so you know, Phoebe had an extended suspension prior to her return today. 60 days. So if you want to pick up anything regarding her actions in our school you'll have to look through the prior footage."
"Thanks for the tip Ernest. Alright I'll go call this in and get a warrant and come right back. We'll do this by the book and get it done."
"Can you show me the previous days?"
"Sure. Our cameras store footage of up to 90 days so if anything happened to her locker in between then and now we'll be able to find it." Ernest went back to another day.
They watched closely. Nothing happened to the locker.
The previous day. Nothing.
The previous day. Nothing.
They went back a whole week and the locker was never touched. They went back to yesterday and the locker was never tampered with then either. Trent rubbed the back of his head. "Okay, we're going to need to look through all of this back at the station because I have no clue as to how the hell the locker could've been tampered without cameras picking it up."
Please, feel free to comb through it we'll be doing the same. If we find anything significant we'll let you know but just so you know, Phoebe had an extended suspension prior to her return today. 60 days. So if you want to pick up anything regarding her actions in our school you'll have to look through the prior footage."
"Thanks for the tip Ernest. Alright I'll go call this in and get a warrant and come right back. We'll do this by the book and get it done."
"Rest assured, Officer, you will have our school's full cooperation."
As the day continued on and they drew closer to lunch the locker was gradually cleaned up and cleaned out, mess and books and all. Air fresheners were sprayed around the immediate area and others were attached to the walls to continue clearing the air of the pigs blood's stench. It mixed with the cleaning chemicals to create a very different aroma in the air but at least the pig's blood was gone now. While multiple students had gone home after that, understandably so, the rest continued on with their day in relative normalcy with the teachers giving the students a break for today and letting everyone relax. Either having study periods or watching videos for the day. Despite this the students would be talking about The Blood Locker for weeks so Noire could at least amuse herself with their wild theories while walking around in plain sight. The police and faculty continued questioning everyone but they were just spinning their wheels. Everyone had reason to hate Phoebe and without evidence they could not prosecute anybody. The investigation was stuck in the mud until further notice.
-
After finishing another one of her classes Noire packed up her belongings and left her class. She walked down the hallways towards her locker to retrieve her lunch and then join Maxwell and his friends for lunch when Jade suddenly popped up in front of her. "Hey freak. Come with me. I need to have a few words with you."
"I have no interest in what few thoughts you have in your empty skull. Leave my presence."
"Oh sorry, this is non-negotiable." Jade replied as two of her friends, Lara and Ashley, walked up behind Noire. She paid them no mind and simply coldly stared down Jade. "You better be sure about this. I will not accept responsibility if you continue down this path of self-destruction."
"Cute. Bring her."
Noire calmly followed Jade into the Ladies Room flanked by the two girls. Once inside one of the stall doors opened and another of the girls, Tamra, stepped out to join her friends while one of the girls, Darlene, closed the door behind her and leaned against it to trap her inside of the ladies room with them.
Jade, Lara, Ashley, Tamra and Darlene. A five-on-one brawl in the ladies room. "How juvenile. This will not go the way you think. Get out of my face and tell your mongrels to stand down."
The five girls laughed at her and Jade kicked up a mop and grabbed its handle. "Oh you'd like that wouldn't you? We know you're guilty, Noire, now we're going to make you confess. You can do this the easy way or the hard way but one way or another we're going to make you confess."
"I was unaware that Phoebe had such loyal friends. Apparently I underestimated her social skills. Good for her."
"Oh I don't give a shit about Phoebe but I refuse to allow a psychopath who would do something like that to another person. School's hard enough as it is without needing to worry about two psychos running around. The way I see it? You don't belong here with us, with the normal people, so it's time you left."
Tamra got in her face and sneered. "You get it now, ugly? You can either get on your hands and knees and beg for mercy and confess everything you've done or we can kick the shit out of you until you do."
"Oh shit! Black Swan isn't talking back now is she? What's wrong, freak? Lose your nerve? Not so hot when someone actually steps up to you?"
Noire slid off her backpack and set it aside on the floor. "Are you sure about this? Have you thought out the ramifications of challenging me? Are you prepared for what is about to transpire?"
The girls laughed again. "Bitch really is crazy, huh? There's five of us, we're all cheerleaders, we're bigger than you, you're built like a twig and Jade's armed! You haven't got shit, Hot Topic." Tamra mocked her. "You know what? You know what? Go ahead. Take your shot. Show me what you got." She backed up and motioned for her to bring it on. "Come on, come on, what do you need a written invitation?"
"Your call." She replied and buried her left hand in Tamra's stomach before she could react and Tamra doubled over and her mouth opened in a gasp of pain! Noire immediately grabbed her head and dragged her towards the sink and slammed her face into it and threw her to the floor. Dropping the taller girl in mere seconds. The rest of the girls paused to look down at Tamra and then back up at Noire. "So. Are we going to stand around here all day, or are we going to fight?" She asked as the temperature in the bathroom began to noticeably drop.
-
After finishing another one of her classes Noire packed up her belongings and left her class. She walked down the hallways towards her locker to retrieve her lunch and then join Maxwell and his friends for lunch when Jade suddenly popped up in front of her. "Hey freak. Come with me. I need to have a few words with you."
"I have no interest in what few thoughts you have in your empty skull. Leave my presence."
"Oh sorry, this is non-negotiable." Jade replied as two of her friends, Lara and Ashley, walked up behind Noire. She paid them no mind and simply coldly stared down Jade. "You better be sure about this. I will not accept responsibility if you continue down this path of self-destruction."
"Cute. Bring her."
Noire calmly followed Jade into the Ladies Room flanked by the two girls. Once inside one of the stall doors opened and another of the girls, Tamra, stepped out to join her friends while one of the girls, Darlene, closed the door behind her and leaned against it to trap her inside of the ladies room with them.
Jade, Lara, Ashley, Tamra and Darlene. A five-on-one brawl in the ladies room. "How juvenile. This will not go the way you think. Get out of my face and tell your mongrels to stand down."
The five girls laughed at her and Jade kicked up a mop and grabbed its handle. "Oh you'd like that wouldn't you? We know you're guilty, Noire, now we're going to make you confess. You can do this the easy way or the hard way but one way or another we're going to make you confess."
"I was unaware that Phoebe had such loyal friends. Apparently I underestimated her social skills. Good for her."
"Oh I don't give a shit about Phoebe but I refuse to allow a psychopath who would do something like that to another person. School's hard enough as it is without needing to worry about two psychos running around. The way I see it? You don't belong here with us, with the normal people, so it's time you left."
Tamra got in her face and sneered. "You get it now, ugly? You can either get on your hands and knees and beg for mercy and confess everything you've done or we can kick the shit out of you until you do."
"Oh shit! Black Swan isn't talking back now is she? What's wrong, freak? Lose your nerve? Not so hot when someone actually steps up to you?"
Noire slid off her backpack and set it aside on the floor. "Are you sure about this? Have you thought out the ramifications of challenging me? Are you prepared for what is about to transpire?"
The girls laughed again. "Bitch really is crazy, huh? There's five of us, we're all cheerleaders, we're bigger than you, you're built like a twig and Jade's armed! You haven't got shit, Hot Topic." Tamra mocked her. "You know what? You know what? Go ahead. Take your shot. Show me what you got." She backed up and motioned for her to bring it on. "Come on, come on, what do you need a written invitation?"
"Your call." She replied and buried her left hand in Tamra's stomach before she could react and Tamra doubled over and her mouth opened in a gasp of pain! Noire immediately grabbed her head and dragged her towards the sink and slammed her face into it and threw her to the floor. Dropping the taller girl in mere seconds. The rest of the girls paused to look down at Tamra and then back up at Noire. "So. Are we going to stand around here all day, or are we going to fight?" She asked as the temperature in the bathroom began to noticeably drop.
The girls lost their cocky attitude after seeing her dispatch Tamra so quickly and the room growing colder around them but they still had her outnumbered and surrounded which meant Jade could still rally her troops. "D-don't just...just stand there! Kick her ass! Come on! We have her outnumbered! This is our chance!" She shouted at her friends. "Lets get her! Now!" She swung the broom at her but Noire just caught the handle and shoved her away sending her careening backwards a few feet until she fell on her back. Lara attacked her from behind next but Noire turned around, grabbed her, turned around again and threw her into the stall. The door banged open and she kept falling forward until she hit the toilet, fell onto it and hit the handle. It was only her quick thinking in covering her face that prevented her from hitting her face on the cold hard steel of the toilet's flusher. She hit her arms on it instead and slipped off of the toilet. Tamra and Lara were down and Jade was still recovering from hitting her back on the cold hard floor and the other two were left shivering from the eerily cold room. It felt like they were trapped inside of a walk in freezer growing progressively colder around them. Ashley and Darlene were left looking at each other while shivering from the cold.
"Th-th-tha...that's...that's im-possible. How the f-fuck did she do that?" Ashley asked.
"I-I don't...h-how is it so cold? How's she doing this?"
"I don't know either....come on! We've got to stop her now! Back me up!"
"Got your back!"
The two girls ran towards her at the same time. Ashley and Darlene ran towards her side-by-side and Darlene spun around and attacked her with a spinning roundhouse kick to her stomach while Ashley jumped in the air and kicked at her head. Noire simply raised her hands up and caught Darlene's foot and brushed it aside while hitting Ashley's ankle and brushing her off. As a result Ashley ended up falling on her side while Darlene's foot ended up hitting the sink countertop. She recovered however and tried to hit Noire with a swinging backhand but Noire stopped her arm mid-swing and stepped in and drove a fist into her rib hard enough to make Darlene cry out in pain! This accomplished she grabbed her head and slammed her face against the counter hard enough that a bang echoed through the room. She threw Darlene down to the floor on top of Tamra and walked over to Ashley. She to punch her but Noire caught her fist and stopped it cold, punched Ashley twice in the stomach, grabbed her hair, yanked her face up, punched her in the stomach again and then she grabbed the back of her shirt and shoved her forward, sending Ashley face first into the countertop. She hit her nose on it and dropped to the floor.
"Damn you!" Jade cried out and swung the broom at her from the side but Noire just stopped it with her hand without even turning around. "DAMN YOU!" Jade cried out again and brought it back and leaped in the air and tried to bring it down on Noire but she just stepped to the side, reached out, grabbed it mid-swing and yanked it out of Jade's hands with enough force that Jade ended up falling on her hands and knees. Noire discarded the broom and turned back around to face Jade.
"Pathetic." She scoffed dismissively.
"I-I'll show you who's pathetic!" Jade cried out! She scrambled to her feet and swung on her but Noire swatted her punches like she was brushing aside drapery and then drove her fist into Jade's stomach with enough force to knock the wind out of her! As Jade fell back gasping for breath like a cannon ball had been launched into her Noire advanced on Jade, grabbed her and threw her against the counter. Jade crashed against it and fell over and hit her head against the mirror and her nose on the faucet! She started to fall over but Noire grabbed the back of her shirt and flung her to the floor! Noire kicked the broom back into her hands and walked over to Jade and stepped over her.
"Yes you certainly did." Noire commented dryly and knelt down to practically sit down on top of Jade and pressed the handle of the broom against Jade's throat! Jade tried in vain to push it away but she was completely unable to overpower her despite the size difference and what should've been a clear edge in physical ability but it was like trying to push off a full grown adult! She was solid as a rock! Jade could only desperately gasp as she struggled against Noire. "Now listen to me you insect. I don't care about you. I don't care about your pathetic posse. I don't care about your grievances against me. You are beneath me. However, you chose to raise your fists against me and dragged your idiotic friends into the struggle as well. You brought this upon yourselves so I don't want to hear any of your pathetic groveling or crying over it later. Let this be a warning to you and the rest of the school: If you choose to challenge me, if you choose to raise your fists to me, I will snap you like twigs and crush you beneath my feet. One and all. Is that clear?"
"G-gaaahhh....accckkkk...."
"Good." She stood up and tossed the broom across the room and walked away from Jade and retrieved her bookbag and left the bathroom, retrieved her lunch bag and walked to the Lunchroom to go meet up with Maxwell. Never sparing Jade and her cronies another thought.
Noire arrived at the Cafeteria slightly behind schedule but not horribly so. She scanned the room amidst the chatter and babble of the other students and what faculty members were among them until she spotted Maxwell and Roberto and their friends and proceeded towards them. The ramblings of the students died down briefly as she passed by everyone but quickly resumed until she reached Maxwell and Roberto's table. She dragged an empty chair away from another table towards their own table and she sat down across from Maxwell and set down her backpack and her lunchbag. "Salutations." She greeted.
"Oh hey Noire! You're running a little late. Did something happen?"
"Nothing to be concerned about." She replied and looked around at Maxwell's friends. She knew Roberto already but there other faces here she had not interacted with much before now.
Ridley Crouch is a 17-year-old teenager who enjoys helping old ladies across the road, drone photography and extreme ironing. He is brave and friendly, but can also be rather loud and boisterous. Physically, Ridley is in very good shape. He is very tall with healthy skin, copper hair and hazel eyes. He lives in an upper class neighbourhood. His weakness is a tree nut allergy.
James Warrick is a 16-year-old teenager who enjoys swimming, working on cars and spending time with his crew. He can be a bit moody compared to the others but always stuck by them. He is roughly the same height as Maxwell with a dark brown bowl cut hairdo that, when combined with his boyish good looks, made him look like the singer of an emo boy band, but he had a good heart. James's best friend is a teenager called Melanie Russell. They are inseparable. He also hangs around with Reggie Cooper and Kay Lloyd. They enjoy reading together.
Vickie Bronson is a 16-year-old teenager who enjoys martial arts. She probably had other hobbies but Noire cared so little about her that she didn't bother looking into them. She is brave and friendly, but can also be very jealous and a bit impatient. Physically, Vickie is in pretty good shape. She is very tall with tanned skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. She lives in an upper class neighborhood with some of the others. Her golden blonde hair is generally worn in a long braided ponytail. As far as she bothered understanding Vickie was reportedly crushing on Maxwell but so long as she didn't get in the way or pull a Jade and try to fight her then Noire would leave her be.
All in all they were not a threat. Even Vickie was barely a blip on Noire's radar. Besides after she dealt with those insufferable dolts in a five-on-one where she didn't even receive a scratch she felt confident she could dispose of Vickie just as easily if it became necessary.
"Toilet trouble?" Vickie joked.
"In a manner of speaking I was in fact disposing of waste. But lets forget about all of that. You requested my presence so here I am. Hello."
"Heh. Well it's good to have you here with us, Noire." Maxwell greeted her. "Personally I don't think anyone should be alone today and it's nice to branch out and extend olive branches so...you're welcome to be part of our friends group if you want. We'll always have room open for you."
"As I stated before I do enjoy breaking up the mundanity of life. So I might stick around for the foreseeable future."
(Oh. Wonderful.) Vickie groaned internally.
"Hey, so, since we're all together, is it cool if we ask each other some questions? You know, break the ice? Get to know each other?" Maxwell asked her.
"Fire away If the subject matter becomes too personal then I will just pass."
"Alright, cool, feel free to question us as well. Who wants to go first?"
"Have you ever had an exorcism?" Vickie asked immediately.
"Come on, Vick, be nice."
"It's alright. There was in fact an attempt to cleanse and purify the darkness of my soul by an old priest and a young priest. It failed and they were excommunicated by reason of insanity. They remain institutionalized to this day."
James leaned in closer. "So were they insane before or after?"
"After. They appeared comparatively sane beforehand but came out of the experience as pale as I am and babbling like madmen. It was quite the afternoon."
"Hey speaking of your complexion, how much makeup do you have to use everyday to look like that?" Rocco asked her.
"None. I'm naturally pale."
"Hey, wait, I'm gonna fact check this. What were their names?" Ridley questioned while taking out his phone.
"Father Leighton Carvel and Father Matthew Leys." Noire responded. "Good men, kind, faithful, gave to charity, but not as strong as they thought they were."
Ridley googled their names while chewing on his lunch. It didn't take long for him to find the two names. "Okay...alright, lets see now...Priests Attempt A Rogue Exorcism, Deemed Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity, Remain Institutionalized At Holy Oak Psychiatric Hospital, Suffering From Hallucinations, Schizophrenia, Paranoia...and we're supposed to believe you did this and that they weren't bonkers already?"
"You may believe whatever you wish but I am telling you the truth."
The kids looked at each other and continued eating in silence for a moment before Maxwell spoke up again. "Hey, uh, if we're making you uncomfortable at all, we apologize. We're just trying to get to know you. I'm sure whatever happened that day was traumatizing. You didn't deserve to be kidnapped or whatever it is they tried to do."
"I was more curious to see if they could pull it off really. If I'd chosen to leave they never would have been able to stop me. But your kindness is appreciated."
Vickie chewed her food thoughtfully before she spoke up again. "Can you do that one line from The Exorcist though? You know? The your daughter line?"
She ate some more of her apple, chewed it, swallowed and then leaned forward and spoke up again. ""Do you know what she did? Your cunting daughter?" She asked in an uncannily pitch perfect replication of Burke Dennings' voice.
The kids gasped and whooed in amazement as they applauded her. "That was creepy but that was cool!" Rocco complimented her.
James smiled and nodded in agreement. "That was cool. How are you running The Drama Club?"
"I have no need for the Drama Clubs constant validation. It's the same reason why I avoid Social Media."
"Smart!" The rest of the kids agreed.
"Thank you. Next question?"
"Did you bomb the locker?" Vickie finally asked.
"Now what fun would it be if I spoiled the mystery?"
Confessing without confessing. Tricky. "Hmmm...." Vickie leaned back in her seat and enjoyed her meal while their lunch period continued. While the others continued their conversations between each other and with Noire her eyes narrowed as she looked around the cafeteria curiously before she stood up, pretending to stretch, but actually taking the chance to scan the cafeteria before she put her hands on her hips. "....Hey guys?"
"What's up?" Maxwell responded.
"....Has anybody seen Jade Delafontaine?"
"Now that you mention it I couldn't help but notice the lack of haughty mocking laughter in the air." James quipped. "Maybe she went home?"
"I can't blame her. Not after what happened this morning. I saw a few people puking after that."
"Jade and her friends are currently in the ladies room licking their wounds." Noire replied casually.
"What did you do?" The kids asked her simultaneously.
"Defended myself. Jade and witless minions somehow got it in their empty heads that they could gang up on me in a fight and win. I gave them ample time to walk away of course but they refused to listen to reason so I taught them a lesson." She went back to her lunch and gave her head a little shake. "A five person team for me. Insulting." Noire muttered.
"Which bathroom?" Vickie asked.
Noire pointed in the direction of the doors and she quickly finished her meal and ran out of the room to go check on Jade. Leaving the guys alone with Noire.
Vickie dashed through the school but by the time she arrived at the hallway Jade and her group were limping towards a pair of double doors leading to the outside. "Jade!" She called out and ran towards her. She turned her head and Vickie stopped as she spotted her broken nose and tear stained face. "Holy shit what happened?"
"G-goth...bitch..." Jade muttered. "Fucking...Goth Bitch...knows kung-fu or some shit."
"We tried....tried to stop her...take her down in a five-on-one...she wrecked us all." Ashley sniffled.
"Oh shit...she was telling the truth?!" Vickie exclaimed in shock.
"What do you mean?" Jade asked her.
"Uh, ah, she sat with us at lunch and we were talking and getting to know her, and I noticed you weren't there, and then she dropped the bombshell. Look, look, it's not important. Let me help you. I can get my friends, we can take you to the nurse, we'll talk to The Principal...we can get this whole thing resolved. Get her suspended, I mean you guys will probably be too but..."
"I don't want her suspended." Jade spat. "I want her to pay." She hissed.
"Uhhhh what?"
"She's going to pay for this....you tell her that Vickie...she's gonna pay."
"But, like, why?" Vickie asked. "Didn't you guys try to gang up on her? How is your resulting asskickings her fault?"
"We were trying to force her to confess about what she did to Phoebe's locker..." Ashley admitted.
"Ashley what the fuck?" Vickie asked her. "You? Of all people? Really?!"
"I-I..." She sniffled and looked down. "I just wanna go home." She mumbled while sobbing.
The others were in a similar state of shock and sorrow and horror as Ashley except for Jade who was still seething in rage.
"Just stay out of the way, Vickie, because I'm going to rain down hellfire on that bitch." Jade hissed and the group limped out of the school.
Vickie just stared in confusion as they limped outside. "What the hell...is everyone in this school crazy?" She asked and put her hands on her hips. "Okay, shit, I need to go talk to the others and warn her." She turned around and returned to the cafeteria.
-
The group were in the middle of talking and finishing up their food when Vickie came storming back into the cafeteria, marched right up to their table and slapped her palm on it. The guys jumped in surprise and it earned them a few looks from the surrounding students but Noire looked completely nonplussed. "I take it you found them?"
"Noire...what the fuck did you do?"
"If you do something foolish you will learn from the consequences." Noire explained as if it was basic knowledge.
Vickie groaned and rubbed her head. "Noire...honey...Gothy...you just pissed off Jade Apricot Delafontaine, injuring her in the process, and now she's run off swearing and planning revenge on you. Do you have any idea how bad this is?"
"Let her plan and scheme her petty revenge all she wants. The consequences of this plan will be dealt with if and when they present themselves." She stood up and gathered her belongings. "If she wants to challenge The Nightshade Family she should be prepared for said consequences."
"Hold on, back up, what happened?" Maxwell asked.
"I caught them on the way out. They were limping and they confirmed what Noire said. They tried to jump her and Noire kicked their asses but-"
"Hold up! Again!" Rocco pointed at Noire. "Her? That little thing? No offense Noire, but, she took on five bigger girls and won? The hell did we miss?"
"There wasn't much to see. They fought like amateurs."
"And you're, what, some kind of crazy Kung-Fu Master?"
"My mother has tutored me in the art of Self-Defense."
"So you beat their asses?"
"I told you before that they were given ample opportunity to deviate from their chosen path. It is not my fault that they chose to keep driving until they crashed into a tree. Will that be all?"
Vicky clapped her hands in front of Noire's face but she didn't give a reaction. "Listen to me! Jade isn't like Phoebe. She's rich. Really rich. Her dad is going to hear about what happened and then you are going to be in major trouble. Jade was crazy enough to pick a fight with you already. What do you think is going to happen when her parents start giving her whatever she wants to get revenge?"
"Let them come. We are more than capable of matching and exceeding anything she can send our way. Whether in a war or court we'll grind them into the dirt."
"And what if Trevor Payne comes after you?" James asked bluntly. "The guy's massive and a massive asshole and you're tiny. Again. No offense but...if she siccs that prick on you...you could end up being seriously hurt."
"That's not going to happen." Maxwell replied firmly.
"Second verse same as the first. If they push their luck I'll put them in a hearse. Good day to you Maxwell." She packed up and walked away depositing her trash on the way out.
"Uuuugggh. It's like trying to herd cats with that girl!"
"Awwww maaan why'd we have to get to know her? Now I'm gonna miss her." James moaned.
"We're going to need to talk that idiot aren't we?" Maxwell asked. "Ridley? Rocco? I'm going to need you to back me up. Vickie? You're a witness to both sides of what happened so we'll need you to talk to The Principal and get the word out. If something does happen, God forbid, then word will be out about it on Social Media so the police will know who to look for. James?"
"I'm with you guys. I'm with you. You guys are my friends. Ride or die."
"Thanks bro."
"So when should we do this?"
"We'll talk to Trevor after school. Give Noire all the time she needs to get home to safety. Vickie? You talk to The Principal around that time too. Noire will probably be annoyed with a phone call and needing to come up to the school to talk to him but they'll be in a group so they'll be safe. Until then just keep an eye out. If you see the douchebags gunning for Noire you step in and get her out of there. Clear?"
"Clear!" The friends fist bumped, finished their lunches and exited the lunchroom together.
Noire meanwhile returned to the humdrum mundanity of her school life. Fortunately her next class was Study Hall so she just had to check in and then she could go wherever she wanted. So she just walked into class and took a seat long enough for her attendance to be counted and then she walked out. She heard her phone playing its 'Me&TheDevil' by Soap&Skin Ringtone so she quickly exited the school and stood outside and looked around before she simply jumped up to the roof, landed on top of it and sat down and answered the phone. "Noire Speaking."
"Bonjour ma cousine!" The always cheerful sunshine and rainbows puppy voice of Noémie Rugaru spoke to her through the other end.
"Bonjour. Do you need something?"
"Hey, hey, why the cold shoulder? Can't I just call and talk to my loving cousine?"
"This is about the locker isn't it?"
"HAHAHAHAAAAA! It's all over Social Media! Oh la vache! How did you even pull that off?"
"A few willing participants, donations from actual pigs, a bag, toys, jury rigging and the dark arts." She summarized.
"Beautiful, Noire, beautiful. I mean, pigs are for eating, but that's a good use for them too. And hey! You didn't even kill anyone!"
"Yet. That might still be on the table depending on how things go."
"Did something else happen?"
"Nothing worth being concerned about. Some pests tried to, I believe the term is...bully me? Is that it? Anyway, they tried to fight me in the Ladies Room. I swatted them like the flies they were, and now apparently their boytoy's are going to be out for revenge."
"Sounds like fun. You want me to call somebody?"
"Non. Peu importe. If they really are stupid enough to pick a fight with me I'll dispose of them myself. What about you, how's Louisiana?"
"Same as always. Still scaring the crap out of people on the regular." Noémie giggled.
"Same."
"Cooool. Hey, have you been looking into Camp Shadow Woods at all?"
"Non. Why? Did anything interesting happen?"
"I'm...not sure. There's just something about it that caught my eye when I was looking at some pictures. I'll need to do some more research before I can come to a conclusion though."
"Oh really? It sounds like I have something to research tonight."
"What about your homework?" She teased.
"I can tear through that in no time. The Camp has my curiosity now."
"Well alright then. We can compare notes if you'd like."
"Sounds like a plan. Is there anything else?"
"Now that you mention it there is. You might have some competition. I'll have to find it again but I remember reading about a girl who threw piranha's into a pool to maul a swim team. One guy lost his junk."
"Now why didn't I think of that?" Noire questioned. "Hmmm....it's going to be hard to top that but I will come up with something. Thank you for being a source of useful gossip."
"Oh you're welcome! You're welcome cuz! Hey so what's your plan for dealing with the idiot brigade at your school?"
"Let them plot and scheme. If they want to pick a fight with me I will smite them. If they attempt something worse then I will destroy them, their girlfriends, their allies and anyone else involved in their revenge scheme."
"Scaaaarrrr-reeee! But that's just how you live, cuz, and I wouldn't have you any other way. So go on and have your fun with the teeming masses."
"Oui. Is there anything else?"
"Non. I just wanted to call and check in on you. Our talks are nice."
"They are pleasant." Noire admitted.
"Sooooo? Have you found any cute boys at your school yet?"
"Au Revoir, Noémie."
"That wasn't a no!" She replied quickly before Noire hung up. Since she had some free time up here she looked up the Pool Piranhas Headline that Noémie told her about and began reading through it. "Exacting revenge for your sibling to restore your family's honor. I can understand that. But how did she get the piranha's to go berserk like that? Did she breed them specifically for torture and survival in pool waters? I should look into that." Noire noted to herself. "Regardless, A+ effort. A pity we can't have more people her at this bore of a school though." She exited out of the webpage and stood back up, stretched and packed up before hopping down from the roof back to the ground floor and returning inside to go to the library.
She arrived inside and waved to the librarian as she crossed the library to the stairs she climbed up to the second floor computer lab where she took a seat at the far end, logged in and began researching information about Camp Shadow Woods. "Okay. Lets see what we can find shall we?" She asked herself quietly as she began researching the camp.
She started with the basic information about The Camp: It was founded in 1884 by James Chamberlain and began as a boys camp before eventually opening up to girls as well. While the camp has updated over the generations it's kept its roots in traditions. The camp had the usual activities of sports and arts and crafts. That didn't matter to Noire. What did matter however was what she discovered as she dug deeper into her research.
The first note of interest was the disappearance of James Chamberlain in 1906. Mere decades after opening the camp he disappeared into thin air one day. Despite people searching everywhere he was never found. As she researched the Search Party as well she discovered that two of them also disappeared during the search under mysterious circumstances. Never to be found. The disappearances halted after that and the camp was briefly shut down before being reopened in 1908 with more precautions taken. Peace and quiet resumed at the camp until a bear attack resulted in deaths of a few counsellors.
Noire knew the school computers wouldn't let her find any photos of the deaths if she tried to look them up and hacking it would be pointless right now so she just memorized the names for future research but as she continued her current research about the 'bear attacks' on the Camp.
Curiously, despite what they found in the aftermath, there had never been any actual sightings of these killer bears around the camp aside from one bizarre story regarding a particularly crazed cocaine fueled bear in the off-season. Still, they'd found enough bloody remains that the attacks were deemed as being bear attacks. That was when the victims didn't just disappear into thin air and were never seen again.
Noire paused in her note taking and folded her arms. It was obvious that this wasn't the result of bear attacks and Vampires were right out. Dismemberment wasn't beyond them but it would be seen as a waste of blood.
Goblins? No. Not their M.O.
It wouldn't be Ghouls either.
So what then? She considered the possibilities of the mystery killer before she gasped as the realization hit her.
(Of course....that's why Noémie was so curious about it. She must have realized the same thing. Of course, it could be a Slasher but for this long? No...I think I've solved the riddle...but to think one of them would be haunting a Summer Camp...then again, I'm going to a High School so who am I to judge?)
A small smile returned to her face. "Intriguing." (This is going to be fun to research.)
Coach Jonathon Bulkin blew his whistle and Abe Hidaka crashed into Trevor Payne, briefly, before the Tranquilium High School's King Killer Cobra's Star Wrestler completely overpowered his opponent, grabbed him, forced him off of his feet and slammed him to the mat, mounted him, pushed one arm down to the mat and struck forward only stopping his punch an inch from Abe's face. "RRRAAAAAHHHH!" He bellowed in Abe's face as he grabbed his face and squeezed it. Abe quickly tapped out on the mat.
"That's enough. Let him up!" Coach Bulkin called out to him.
"YES SIR!" He let go of him and stood up, roared and thumped his chest and then helped up Abe. "Keep trying bro. You'll get on my level someday....maybe. You know if you try really, really, hard." He laughed and slapped his arm.
"Yeah, thanks Tyler." He chuckled.
"Get back to the weights featherweight." He taunted him and flexed to the rest of the class. "HOW ABOUT THAT, EH COACH? STILL #1!" Trevor's confidence was well warranted for he had an Adonis Physique with rock solid muscle. The pinnacle of physical condition for his specific age group and the Captain of the Wrestling Team who got to his position by overpowering the rest of the class and impressing the coach with his dedication to physical education and bodybuilding.
The coach nodded. "Impressive but don't get too overconfident. The other teams are going to have wrecking balls of their own so we can't become complacent. We'll keep practicing during and after school hours. I am not going to let any of you boys get rusty when I can continue to shape you into the ultimate perfect killing machines that will obliterate the competition! Trevor! You're our biggest gun and our sharpest weapon so I'm going to make absolutely certain that you're ready for anything. CLEAR?!" The Coach might've been bald but it only made him more intimidating looking and completed his tattooed tough guy look. The old man was built like an absolute tank and had the combat and sports experience to match.
"CLEAR SIR!'
"Good." The Coach turned his attention to another student. "Josh get in there with him!"
Josh punched his fist into his palm and climbed into the ring.
As the class continued on Casey Adjei barreled down the outside hallway until he arrived at the wrestling room, skidded to a stop and ran into the room.
"Yo Trevor! Trevor! We've got a problem!" He called out to him just in time to watch Trevor throw Josh across the ring into the corner, close in quickly, grab onto him and turn and slam him down onto the mat, mount him and put him in an armbar!
"YYYYEEEAAAAHHH!" Trevor called out as Josh tapped out.
"We have a problem alright young man: You're interrupting my class. STAND AT ATTENTION!" He called out and Casey immediately stood up straight into position.
"SIR! SORRY SIR! I DIDN'T MEAN IT SIR!"
"YEAH! HUH!" He yelled out and got off of Josh and walked over to the edge of the ring and leaned over the ropes. "Oh hey Casey! What's up?"
"Trevor! Oh shit man, you haven't heard it yet?"
"Heard about what?"
Casey took a deep breath, slowly blew it out, and raised his hands up defensively. "Before I tell you what happened, please keep in mind, I'm just the messenger. Alright? I wasn't involved. I just heard about it and came to tell you. So please don't hurt me."
"What happened?"
"Uhhhh...well...you see....Jade and her friends got in a fight with someone annnd...."
"Oh shit man! Whose ass did they kick today?" Another one of the guys asked.
"Yeah, about that, it wasn't a group fight. The way I heard it that psycho creepy goth chick Noire ran the ones the Jade and her crew and beat their asses in a bathroom. Solo."
There was a brief moment of silence before Trevor climbed over the ropes, hopped off of the ring and stormed over to Casey and grabbed him by the shirt. "Tell me what happened. Now."
"HEY HEY HEY! I'm just the messenger! I only know what I heard! Everyone's talking about it! Some kids saw them dragging Noire into the bathroom and apparently she beat them! She confessed to it at lunch! Other kids saw Jade and the girls limping out! They went home, man!"
"Is she okay? Is Jade alright?!"
"I don't know! Some kids said the bathroom was a little bit bloody but I don't know what happened!"
He let him go and backed away while he seethed in anger rapidly clenching and unclenching his fists as he took in the information that some...some...Goth FREAK had just attacked and brutalized his girl! His Queen! HIS BELOVED JADE! He suddenly snapped out of it and slapped Casey's shoulders. "Case...I...thank you...for bringing this to my attention. You're a good man."
--
--
Casey smiled awkwardly. "C-cool...cool..thanks...so what are we gonna do about Noire?"
Trevor sighed, patted his shoulders, and smiled. "Oh that bitch is fucking dead." He let go and turned to the coach. "Coach! I'm gonna need to speak with the guys."
The Coach folded his arms. "Officially speaking I can't condone that. Unofficially lets take a water break. I have some paperwork I need to check anyway." He nodded and walked towards his office while Trevor hurried to the locker room to retrieve his phone and call Jade.
"That's enough. Let him up!" Coach Bulkin called out to him.
"YES SIR!" He let go of him and stood up, roared and thumped his chest and then helped up Abe. "Keep trying bro. You'll get on my level someday....maybe. You know if you try really, really, hard." He laughed and slapped his arm.
"Yeah, thanks Tyler." He chuckled.
"Get back to the weights featherweight." He taunted him and flexed to the rest of the class. "HOW ABOUT THAT, EH COACH? STILL #1!" Trevor's confidence was well warranted for he had an Adonis Physique with rock solid muscle. The pinnacle of physical condition for his specific age group and the Captain of the Wrestling Team who got to his position by overpowering the rest of the class and impressing the coach with his dedication to physical education and bodybuilding.
The coach nodded. "Impressive but don't get too overconfident. The other teams are going to have wrecking balls of their own so we can't become complacent. We'll keep practicing during and after school hours. I am not going to let any of you boys get rusty when I can continue to shape you into the ultimate perfect killing machines that will obliterate the competition! Trevor! You're our biggest gun and our sharpest weapon so I'm going to make absolutely certain that you're ready for anything. CLEAR?!" The Coach might've been bald but it only made him more intimidating looking and completed his tattooed tough guy look. The old man was built like an absolute tank and had the combat and sports experience to match.
"CLEAR SIR!'
"Good." The Coach turned his attention to another student. "Josh get in there with him!"
Josh punched his fist into his palm and climbed into the ring.
As the class continued on Casey Adjei barreled down the outside hallway until he arrived at the wrestling room, skidded to a stop and ran into the room.
"Yo Trevor! Trevor! We've got a problem!" He called out to him just in time to watch Trevor throw Josh across the ring into the corner, close in quickly, grab onto him and turn and slam him down onto the mat, mount him and put him in an armbar!
"YYYYEEEAAAAHHH!" Trevor called out as Josh tapped out.
"We have a problem alright young man: You're interrupting my class. STAND AT ATTENTION!" He called out and Casey immediately stood up straight into position.
"SIR! SORRY SIR! I DIDN'T MEAN IT SIR!"
"YEAH! HUH!" He yelled out and got off of Josh and walked over to the edge of the ring and leaned over the ropes. "Oh hey Casey! What's up?"
"Trevor! Oh shit man, you haven't heard it yet?"
"Heard about what?"
Casey took a deep breath, slowly blew it out, and raised his hands up defensively. "Before I tell you what happened, please keep in mind, I'm just the messenger. Alright? I wasn't involved. I just heard about it and came to tell you. So please don't hurt me."
"What happened?"
"Uhhhh...well...you see....Jade and her friends got in a fight with someone annnd...."
"Oh shit man! Whose ass did they kick today?" Another one of the guys asked.
"Yeah, about that, it wasn't a group fight. The way I heard it that psycho creepy goth chick Noire ran the ones the Jade and her crew and beat their asses in a bathroom. Solo."
There was a brief moment of silence before Trevor climbed over the ropes, hopped off of the ring and stormed over to Casey and grabbed him by the shirt. "Tell me what happened. Now."
"HEY HEY HEY! I'm just the messenger! I only know what I heard! Everyone's talking about it! Some kids saw them dragging Noire into the bathroom and apparently she beat them! She confessed to it at lunch! Other kids saw Jade and the girls limping out! They went home, man!"
"Is she okay? Is Jade alright?!"
"I don't know! Some kids said the bathroom was a little bit bloody but I don't know what happened!"
He let him go and backed away while he seethed in anger rapidly clenching and unclenching his fists as he took in the information that some...some...Goth FREAK had just attacked and brutalized his girl! His Queen! HIS BELOVED JADE! He suddenly snapped out of it and slapped Casey's shoulders. "Case...I...thank you...for bringing this to my attention. You're a good man."
--
--
Casey smiled awkwardly. "C-cool...cool..thanks...so what are we gonna do about Noire?"
Trevor sighed, patted his shoulders, and smiled. "Oh that bitch is fucking dead." He let go and turned to the coach. "Coach! I'm gonna need to speak with the guys."
The Coach folded his arms. "Officially speaking I can't condone that. Unofficially lets take a water break. I have some paperwork I need to check anyway." He nodded and walked towards his office while Trevor hurried to the locker room to retrieve his phone and call Jade.
Comments
Post a Comment