It had been four months since the shooting. It had been three months since Jade was found again. Tori sighed as she sat down in her desk; she was at Greenbay High, a public school filled with bullies and a shitty arts program. Tori hadn't seen Jade in four weeks; she had refused to let anyone but her mother in her room, and her tutor. She had been recovering just fine for a month or two, but after a while her life seemed to go downhill. She didn't eat, drink or speak. The hollow look returned to her eyes. Constantly, she'd wake up screaming in the middle of the night, begging Beck to stop, or other things.
Long story short, things weren't going great. Jade wouldn't answer her texts or her phone-calls. Or her emails, letters and everything else she had sent her. Tori was extremely worried, and the only reason she didn't run through Jade's bedroom door was because her mother said that the doctor prohibited it. So instead, she sent her a letter every day, even if she didn't reply, maybe she'd be reading them. Maybe she just couldn't put her words on the page, like Tori often wasn't able to do. A lot of the time, she had gone through over 20 pages of paper before she finally got what she wanted to say down. Then she'd go through and write it again until it was perfect.
Tori sighed; it had been a pretty un-eventful four weeks without Jade. Cat wasn't her happy self. Most of the time she sat in her wheelchair, eyes glazed over, and she hardly ever ate. Sometimes, she'd show a bit of life and flinch when someone threw a ball of paper at her. But other than that she was pretty much dead. As for her sister, Trina, she wasn't in school anymore. She had come home from college as soon as the shooting happened, but had left two weeks before. So Tori was virtually alone, constantly bullied by the students and teachers. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the bodies. Robbie, Andre, Cat, Sikowitz, Sinjin, Beck, "Jade.." she thought in her head, and let her eyes snap open. She couldn't handle the image of that.
A loud bang brought Tori from her thoughts, and instantly she was on the floor, hands over her head, under the tables. "Not again, not again, not again…" Tori begged God to let the killer make it quick, and she let out a strangled scream when the gloved hand came down on her shoulder. "Please! Please!" She screamed, "Don't! Please!" The figure held a black pistol, and wore a ski-mask over his face. He grinned down at her. Then pulled the drigger.
It was water.
Around her, laughter erupted from the kids in the cafeteria. The boy with the mask and fake gun pulled his mask up, laughing so hard he was crying. He finally stopped laughing and looked at her, grinning sadistically. The same smile Beck had…his eyes too… the same shade of brown. Suddenly, she was back in the school, facing Beck, watching him with Jade…
Tori flew at him, raking his claws across the boy's face, screaming profanities. A teacher ran over, pulling her off of him and dragging the sobbing girl away.
She was sent home, and there she turned on the television, slumping onto her bed, furious. The school had done NOTHING to stop the bullying. NOTHING. The teachers let the students walk all over her. They were all despicable.
It wasn't until she heard a familiar name being said on the news that she paid attention. It was a young man reporting at the bridge over the harbor. He was explaining the situation at hand, a young girl, 17, was standing, perched, on the side of the bridge. She looked hauntingly familiar. Colour streaked hair. Finally, she wore make-up, her hair pulled up into a flawless ponytail. Her eye shadow complimented her face shape, making her look striking, bold and in control. Tori let out a gasp once there was a close-up. She dropped the controller.
It was Jade.