Chapter I: Arrested

It was late afternoon and a boy was walking from gym to his next class. He stopped outside the door and was about to enter when an alarm sounded and the principal's voice could be heard over the loudspeaker.

"This is not a drill; I repeat this is not a drill."

It was a code red every one was required to turn out the lights and pretend they were not inside the classrooms. After our first code red drill, many students had been skeptical. The question that had arisen was what if the student or students with the weapons happened to be in the locked class room.

It took about ten minutes for the principle to come back over the intercom and tell everyone the code red was over. Of course, we were to stay put in our classes until they told us we could leave, because they still had to make sure no one was walking around brandishing a weapon. No one knew why we had to stay put if the code red was over when all we wanted to do was go home.

A couple minutes went by, although the minutes seemed more like hours. Everyone was quiet, except for a few girls whispering in the background. Cops were checking the lockers. At an assembly two weeks after the code red the school would be told that there had been a body found in the boy's locker room.

The cops reached the third floor and began checking each locker as they went. They were hoping that no student had committed this crime when one of their own shouted, "Hey, guys! It smells like blood over here, near locker 3772."

A few more cops ran until they reached their partner. He pointed to the locker and one of the others, a female, used the keys to open it. What they found in the locker could be identified as…an unidentifiable object that none of the trained professionals had ever seen before. It was shiny and metallic and wrapped around it was a blood soaked white cloth. The weapon itself was caked in semi dried blood, indicating that it had been usedrecently. The cops took their find down to the office and the shocked principal quickly called down the student who had been assigned locker 3772.

The user of the locker was immediately called down. The boy sauntered down to the office. He approached the two surly cops who were standing by the doors. One said, "Come on in son. We have a few questions to ask you." The other nodded and said, "Take a seat," before both ushered him into the office. As he sat down he noticed how stiff and angry the cops seemed. One cop sat across from him while the other stood with his back against the door. The boy instinctively knew this was to prevent any attempt at escape. He was asked several questions, the final one being if the sword was his. He waited. It was quite nerve-racking. The cop across from him finally asked, "Do you know why we called you down here, son?"

The boy nodded and answered, "I'm assuming that it has something to do with the code red drill we're having. Something to do with a weapon or suspicion."

The cops looked at each other. This didn't help the boy's case. Then again he seemed very intelligent, and the cops guessed any student besides the boy would have given the same answer under the circumstances. The cop asked, "Does this look familiar to you?"

The boy looked down at the table to find a blood soaked sword. He answered, "Yes. It looks like one that I just received. I misplaced mine a few weeks ago"

"Oh."

"I would never use it on anyone nor would I bring it to school. I just collect them. I like learning their histories and am hoping to one day contribute them to a museum. They obviously wouldn't have any historical value, except perhaps information and looks."

The cop nodded and said, "Thank you son. Bernard here," he used his head to indicate the other cop, "will escort you back to your class."

He was dismissed and went back to class feeling rather nervous. The police would check the scene and the sword for fingerprints and he was beginning to think he didn't just misplace the sword. He nodded to the other cop before entering his English class. As the other cop walked down toward the entrance, the boy couldn't help feeling a nervous pang in his gut. The cops had told him they would recheck the crime scene for evidence and the sword for fingerprints. A haunting shadow in the back of his conscience was beginning to tell the boy that maybe he hadn't misplaced his sword like he had told the cops he did.

This time of year was freezing, since it was February. It was after school, and a girl with auburn hair that reached one inch past her chin and brown eyes walked toward a group of people. The girl was wearing a blue and white ski jacket and a blue hat. As she approached she noticed David, who had brown-blond hair and was wearing jeans and a brown t-shirt with his jacket unzipped, shifting from foot to foot. As the girl, whose given name happened to be Christine, walked up she noticed her friend Mel begin to interrogate David.

"What's the matter with you?" She asked conspiratorially.

"Nothing." He replied hastily.

"Did you hear, during 9th and 10th gym they wouldn't let anyone change?" Christine asked, enthusiastic about not having to swim.

As they continued on with their conversation David seemed rather edgy and withdrawn.

"David…," Mel said apprehensively with a bemused tone, "Why aren't you saying anything sarcastic? It's not like you."

As soon as she said that, two officers strolled up to the group behind David. One had a dark goatee, while the other had a blond mustache and long hair. Both officers had dark sunglasses and frowns on their faces. The officer with the dark goatee asked, "Are you David?" He looked straight at David when he said this.

The boy shifting from foot to foot nodded. The officer looked a little taken aback but said, "You're under arrest for the murder of Jamie Madison."

Everyone stared mouths agape. It seemed it took a long time for it to sink in because the first to speak out of the group was a boy named Davey. He turned to David and asked, "Wait, this has got to be a mistake, right?"

David looked like he only understood about half as much as Haley did and that was zero. He turned to Davey giving him a pleading look and mouthed 'I didn't kill her.'

No one standing around knew what to say. Haley, a girl with wavy red hair and green eyes, just stood there looking confused. Her counterpart, Katie, was just about to say something when Mel clamped a hand over her mouth. Everyone there knew it wasn't wise to say anything around the cops. Haley watched avidly as the cop with the goatee slid the manacles onto David's wrists. The other cop, the one with the long blond hair and mustache, began to recite the rights David was entitled to, "You have the right to remain silent…" The cop started.

"Anything I say can and will be held against me in a court of law. I have the right to an attorney, if I cannot afford one, one will be provided for me at government expense." David finished, causing one of the officers to jerk his hand and tighten his grip.

A/N: I'm not sure what anyone thinks of this, but it sure is fun to write. Anyway, I've been meaning to put this up for a while now, but it's difficult because of references to other stories I'm currently working on. Reviews are always appreciated. So is advice.