Disclaimer: Both Being Human and Becoming Human are owned by the BBC, as is everything about both shows. All the copyrights associated with Becoming Human belong to them. I own nothing. No profit is being earned by the writer of this story.
Becoming Human - Season 2 - Episode 1
Hereford,
October, 1962
The pub's music is blaring, dozens of drunks are singing inside - thinking it's their last days and nuclear war is right around the corner thanks to the Cuban missile crisis.
It was after nine, the sky had become dark and almost everyone had moved inside the pub. Alone outside the pub at a wooden table sat eighteen year old Abigail Smith - Abby to her friends, together with her two best friends; Becky and Sam. They'd finished school and gotten the grades they wanted, now the 'world was their oyster', Eighteen and free. Abby could do whatever she wanted, and she was going to start by downing as much drink as she could handle.
The table was full of empty and half-empty glasses, Abby, with her long blonde hair and blue eyes had begun the night as an image of modest beauty, but after half-a-dozen rounds, she wasn't any more.
"Well what a lousy year this has been." she nonchalantly said to her friends across the glass filled table as she sipped her newest drink.
"But, now, I'm free!" Whilst proudly standing up from her seat with her arms stretched high. Clearly tipsy, but not so much as her friends who were so sloshed they were finding it hard to sit up straight.
"To freedom!" began Abby
"To freedom!" the others chimed in.
Abby went to sit down but her stomach had other idea's, an avid drinker - she was no stranger to what was coming. She moved out of the table's seat and ran round the side of pub as fast as her legs could carry her.
As soon as she reached the bin's she began to throw up. The smell coming from the bins was disgusting, she just wanted to finish and go, but as she finished wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her top, a hand grabbed her from behind whilst another hand clamped onto her mouth to stop her screaming. She was then pushed forcefully into the nearby wall head first, for a moment she became disorientated and in her daze she heard a laugh, a man's laugh.
'What did he want? her purse, to rape her, oh God she thought, he's going to rape me!' She began thrashing around, kicking her legs, anything to get him off her but his grip was too tight. 'This is it'She thought, but instead he moved his hand from her mouth her neck, she began to scream with all her might as he roughly shifted her long blond hair out of the way. He bit down piercing her milk-white skin and bringing forth her attackers addiction, her blood, her delicious, rich blood. After that, all she felt was pain, just endless pain as she went screaming to her death.
Rathborne High School - Two Police officers walk around school corridors. There's police tape all over the Gym and the gym toilets. Christa walks down the school's walk path.
"We did it. A murder has been brought to light, all thanks to a Vampire, a Ghost, and, a Werewolf. Hilarious. Only problem is the murderer is currently on the other side of 'Death's Door', with no sign of coming back any time soon. But now everyone's talking about Roe; 'the school-kid killer', reporters and police are everywhere. Who would've thought it, all this, from three social outcasts who decided to play detective."
It had been over three weeks since the police were called to the school and the hype hadn't died down. Walking into school Christa still couldn't get over seeing a news van parked outside the school and the news reporter and cameraman filming their report on the field overlooking the gym.
"Almost four weeks ago, Rathborne high school became the centre of a murder hunt when the body of student Matthew Bolton was discovered in the school's Gym. The Police, who identified their main suspect as Mr Richard Roe, a teacher at the school, have yet to find him. As you may remember, Mr Roe disappeared soon after the discovery of Matthew Bolton's body. In an effort to find him, police have drafted in specialist dog teams, but so far they have yet to find any trace of Mr Roe's whereabouts. Police are also continuing to reminded local residents and attending students, that Richard Roe is to be considered extremely dangerous and under no circumstances should they approach him. This is Trisha Doig, for BBC Wales."
The reporter held her stance, as her smart, scarlet red coat slightly blowing in the wind as she waited. Her long brown hair was gradually becoming more and more messier as the wind picked up.
"And, were out!" confirmed the cameraman, the half-Asian reporter exhaled from stress, whilst immediately going to her back pocket for her lighter and a cigarette. 'You think your life's tough, you should try mine' thought Christa as she walked passed the BBC reporter and headed into the sixth-form area of the school.
The three weeks since sending Roe through Matt's door had passed slowly. The police forensics team had scoured the school with a fine tooth comb leaving no place untouched. They has deduced the timeline of events; Matt drowning in the toilets, Roe moving the body, and of course, Matt's body being hidden in the gym s equipment room.
The police had Raided Roe's house, finding the missing CCTV footage - at the bottom of his wheelie bin, ready for the bin men to empty the next day. As to why their investigation of the school had taken so long had perplexed many, but on the quiet it was suspected the police were under orders not to leave anything to chance, especially in light of the very public and increasingly fruitless 'Box tunnel 20' investigation. They were not prepared to be humiliated by another unsolved homicide, especially when the victim was a kid.
After the initial test results by the police s post-mortem, Christa and Adam were cleared as suspects, as had Mr Swam. However, after finding them at the side of a dead body, he had become more-and-more suspicious of their activities even giving them another week of detentions. The reason; 'being in school outside of school hours'. "What a dick." Was Christa's only response to hearing this. But it was a cross she had to bear, or risk having him and others finding out about her Condition.
'If being a freak wasn't bad enough.'
The Sixth-form room was empty, too early for the masses to barge in and fill the room with talk of highlights, designer clothes, football, make-up, shoes, PC games, iPhone apps and other such crap. She put her bag on the coffee table and reached inside, she could finally steal a moment to herself and enjoy a chapter of her new book without any interruptions.
But the bliss of reading in silence was soon shattered. As she sat on one of the sofa's and began reading the novel she'd brought from home, a single pink rose was shoved in front of her face, she looked up at who's hand it was. 'Adam, great'
"What's this?" she spoke her eyes going back to her book.
"Chrisa, I'm howling for you." Adam replied in his best smooth lady-killer impersonation trying his best to stay in character.
'Another Werewolf joke' Christa admitted to herself. 'How long have you been practicing that one? No doubt in front of the mirror'. Upon realising what she'd just thought, a small grin escaped across her mouth, slightly hidden from Adam by her book. 'That would ve been hard for him - Vampires don't have reflections'.
"Hey, I saw that." going back to his usual voice "I'm winning you over aren t I?"
She ignored him. After the morning she'd just had, she was in no mood for his antics. At least not this early in the morning.
Seeing that he d failed, again. He placed the rose at the side of her and wandered off to the drinks machine getting himself a coke. After gulping down half the can, he grabbed a newspaper from the coffee table and relaxed on the sofa opposite to her.
"So I see were in for another day of sharing the school with 'the thin blue line'"
"Yep." The grumpy Werewolf was clearly not interested in talking.
"But we kinda did the work for them, they may have gone on thinking he ran away if we haven t have taken up the investigation."
"Right, and they could both give us awards. Get our pictures taken by the newspaper, oh wait, 'Vampires can't be captured on film'. Or how about an interview, reveal how we found out he was murdered after we talked to his Ghost in detention. And then maybe if were really lucky, we can get carted of the 'loony bin'." Although she said it with a thick vail of sarcasm, she was totally right.
"And then on top of everything, for our trouble, we've been graciously given another week's worth of detentions." she grumbled.
The bell rang there moment to themselves had ended. Christa quickly grabbed the rose and shoved it roughly into her backpack. Adam winced. And now with others crowding the room, he couldn't as ask how she was after her recent transformation, all the other questions rattling around in his head like; weather or not she'd thought about telling her parents about her condition? Or would she be more comfortable having a Werewolf-to-Werewolf chat with Nina?
Whatever, it was time to go to his first class of the day, Maths. He frowned at the thought of his maths teacher babbling on about stupid equations he'll never use outside of a maths exam. He threw the now empty can in the bin and took the paper with him, he quickly ran out of the room to catch up with her.
"Hey Christa, Wait up!"
The Canteen bustled with activity, all the younger school kids were chattering away eating their school dinners, in all this commotion the trio managed to find a table away from everyone else, taking a moment to relax.
The morning had passed slowly. Matt had popped in soon after Adam's arrival. Now that justice had been done, and the police were hunting Roe, Matt's personality had started to change, he was becoming more confident, less and less bothered about fitting in with a crowd, and now was only to happy to speak his mind, whether Adam and Christa wanted to hear it or not.
"So." Adam began, looking at Christa.
"Are you going to go?"
She stared back blankly.
"To my funeral." Said Matt, quite saddened that Christa was not keeping up.
"Matt, Of course I am. I just didn't think a date had been set yet."
"It's in the paper. The cops must have finished with the body." he said, pushing the newspaper in front of her, and turning to the obituaries:
BOLTON Matthew
Died 16th October 2010, aged 17.
Beloved Son of Isis and Paul,
nephew to Debbie and Sam.
Will be sorely missed by all who new him.
Funeral service for Matt is on the 19th October,
at St. Mary's Church, Rathborne, at 12:30pm.
Flowers from family only please.
Tell:
555867
"I hope they put on a good buffet afterwards. I bet there'll be egg sandwiches and everything." Commented Matt.
"I don't want to put a dampener on things but, can you even go? I've never seen you leave this school." Said Christa, it was an awkward question, but it had to be said.
"Now I can, After we confronted Roe I tried going outside. Only just outside the gates, but then yesterday night I got all the way to my home. They were watching some old home movies when I was a baby. They couldn't stop crying." He looked down, saddened.
"Just don't start popping into my house in the middle of the night, or there'll be problems." She looked him straight in his eyes. He got the message.
She then leaned over to Adam. "What about you?"
He looked at her puzzled.
"Well I seem to remember you saying something about Vampires being allergic to cross's and things."
"It depends on the wearer. And their feelings toward me. Like your raging horn for me, eh baby?" Said Adam his innate 'sex-pest' nature rearing it's head once again.
"Shut up."
"You could watch from the sidelines." Interjected Matt.
"Can't, anything religious will affect me: Bibles, crosses, you name it, next thing you know I ll be dragged outside the church and burnt at the stake." The whole thing sent a chill down his spine.
"What about if you sat between me and Christa at the back, couldn't we protect you or something?" His eyes sad it all, he wanted his friend at his burial, even if he is a blood sucking Vampire.
"The way to stay true is to surround yourself with good people." It had been what Mitchell had told him. It was worth a shot. "Alright, I'll give it a go." he said in a defeated manner. Quickly bouncing back to his chipper self he said "Besides I'll get the chance to feel you up as you cry onto my shoulder." The next thing he knew, he had a bright red handprint on his left cheek. Luckily no one else saw it - his manhood was still intact. 'Ok, To far, that time.' He though as he mentally kicked himself.
"Just a joke Christa."
"You can make the funeral right Christa, your parents won t mind you missing half a school day?" Inquired Matt, quickly changing the subject, hopeful she would.
Christa let out a huff of frustration.
"Something wrong?" asked Adam, something was clearly up with her, she'd been moody all day. More so than usual.
"No, no, it's nothing. I'm just getting an earful at home for the whole 'breaking into school to screw some boy', thing." she said in her sarky manner.
"Well if they want to meet me-" He showboated.
"No!" Christa shot out, the last thing she wanted was to introduce her fake-Vampire-boyfriend to the family, who just happened to be 29 years her senior. 'Adam the 46 year old cradle-snatcher' her mind chuckled.
"I suppose, on second thoughts, it would be awkward explaining to the folks how miss 'grumpy guts' here, managed to snag guy like me."
"She, went blind?" pitched Matt. He couldn't help it. Ever since he had uncovered his unfinished business to it's end. Matt had become more open, started to join in it their humour. Even last week he pulled a very comical particle joke on Swan after finding him asleep in the teachers lounge. Why he wrote 'SLUT' on Swan's forehead, he wouldn t say, but Matt was starting to figure out being a Ghost had its perks.
Adam just stud the amazed, with Matt inching away from him whilst chuckling at his own humour. Christa on the other hand, couldn't stop laughing. With three little word's, Christa's current mood had been overturned by one of shear laughter. The endless jabs he had given her throughout the day, about being a Werewolf and her moodiness, he'd now gotten a taste of his own medicine. 'Payback's a bitch.'
As the laughter came to an end, two police officers wearing reflective jackets walked through the Canteen towards the car park.
Adam and Christa both looked uneasily at each other, as their minds drifted back to their police interviews.
Flashback - Rathbore Police Station
Adam was placed in a small room, four chairs, a metal table, a CCTV camera and the tape recorder. After summing up his current situation it was the CCTV recording that gave him the most course for concern. All he could do is place his life - and that of every other Vampire in the world, on the diligence of a brunette police sergeant, another Vampire, who some how managed to stick to the background of things like glue.
This attractive yet fairly tall and skinny woman, with shoulder-length hair, she had come to his attention when he passed her on his way to the interview room, her eyes turned black and she winked at him, as . He reckoned she was about thirty, or at least thirty when she died. His nature was safe, she would see to it that any footage of 'invisible teenagers' would promptly disappear.
After five minuets of waiting, the detective that was investigating Matt's murder finally walked in holding a plastic cup full of bad coffee, He was wearing a fitted black suit, a crisp white shirt and had polished black shoes, everything about this man projected formality. Flanking him was an unknown butch man, his grey suit was unbuttoned with his khaki t-shirt clearly showing underneath, which did little to hide his bulging stomach. Here was a man who looked like he'd eaten too many steak pies in front of the TV.
They sat down on the opposite side of the table. Detective Daniels pressed the record button on the machine; "Rathborne Police Station, 24th October, 2010. Detectives Daniels and Tanner interviewing Adam Jacobs, in connection with the murder of Matthew Bolton. As is his right, Mr Jacobs has refused legal representation."
"Only guilty people need lawyers." Adam retorted.
At this, Daniels turned his head towards Tanner, giving him a look. Tanner shrugged with half a smile on his face, the two detectives proceeded with their questions regardless.
"We would like to discuss the events that took place at your school, yesterday and this morning."
"Fire away."
"Can you tell us how you came upon Mr Bolton that night?" asked Daniels, he had no time for anything but cold hard facts pertaining to his murder case.
Adam nodded.
"From the beginning Mr Jacobs. How did you get in the gym?
"Right." he cleared his throat and leaned forward.
"Me and Christa had finished our time in detention, and we-"
"Detention? What for?" asked Tanner.
It was clear Adam was going to get annoyed with these two rozzers really quickly if this is how the interview was gong to carry on.
"Nothing special, if that's what your thinking. We both gave Swan a bit of grief." Tanner shifted in his chair, Adam slumped back into his.
"We swore at him ok, and he gave us a week's detention for it."
"Please go on." said Daniels moving the conversation forward.
"Right, well, the day before we snuck into the gym Swan found us making-out inside the vaulting horse." Both Daniels and Tanner looked at him, Adam threw up his hands in surrender. "I know, I know. But she found it fun."
"And you decided to go for the same thrill again?"
. . .
Christa just stared at him, If looks could kill, Detective Tanner would have just died. She looked around the interview room in hesitation, she gritted her teeth and replied with a quick "Yes."
Daniels took a sip of coffee "And then what?" he asked.
"We waited until everyone cleared out and-"
"Ok, skip forward to entering the Gym." Daniels interjected.
. . .
"What did you do whilst in the gym?" Daniels repeated. Adam glanced up.
"We we're going to have some fun ok, you've seen her right?" Adam blurted out, as if the two cop's had accused him of doing something sinister.
. . .
"So you two in a serious relationship then?" Asked Daniels. Christa remained silent. The questions were becoming uncomfortable. This whole fake boyfriend-girlfriend thing was getting out of hand; First Brandy, then the rest of the school, Matt gave his blessing, and now the police. When was this going to end?
"Something wrong?" Daniels verbally prodded her. Christa wasn't going to speak about her private life to a copper, when she didn't even tell her own parents. How could she, half the stuff they wouldn't even believe.
"I just don't see how Adam being my boyfriend going to help your murder investigation."
. . .
"Her legs, man have you should see then, in fact the whole area where her legs meet her body, and of course her tits too. And then, everything else I guess." His mind drifted back to the interview room.
"Look know she doesn t look like much with the hair, and whole Goth-Emo thing going on, but when she's naked it a whole different story. You know what I m saying?" He told the two detectives as he gave a cheeky grin at the thought of Christa in the nude.
. . .
"You intended to have sex in the Gym then?"
"Well err..." Chrisa Stuttered.
. . .
"We opened the equipment room, I started to help her take of her clothes off, we shifted a few things around, made some space and when we got down on the floor..." he trailed off, knowing the detectives already knew what was coming.
"And that's when you found Mr Bolton?" Enquired Detective Tanner.
. . .
"I saw his hand, I screamed, he was just. Lying there. It was horrible!" Christa said looking down at the table.
"It's ok Ms Stammers, here, have some water." he handed her the cup of water she had brought in with her from the waiting room.
Tanner leaned forward "Do you want to continue?" It was the first bit of compassion she'd heard from the man, taking her slightly unawares. She nodded.
"And what happened after you found the body?"
. . .
"Christa screamed, she grabbed a handful of clothes off the side and began getting dressed. I tried ringing you guys but there wasn't any signal an my crappy phone."
"And that's when you tried to leave?" Daniels interjected.
. . .
"Yes, Adam tried the gym doors but they'd been locked."
"By Mr Roe?" Christa nodded. "We thought it was Mr swan who locked us in not knowing we were inside."
"And what did you do next?" said Tanner in his uncompromising 'everyone's a criminal' way.
"We shut the doors. after a few hours we both fell sleep." Christa explained whist praying to God that they didn't ask her about all the strange claw marks inside the equipment room.
"And in the morning?"
. . .
"We opened the equipment room doors again, and moves some of the gym stuff out of the way. Then Swan came in and we confronted him, thinking he killed him. The gym is his domain after all. But after he saw Matt's body he thought we'd killed him." He took a breath, Adam was beginning to get tired, of all the questions.
"He told us Roe had lost a set of his keys and got out his phone. Then the man himself turned up, knocking Swan unconscious with a rounders bat."
. . .
"Adam chucked a chalkboard at him, sending the bat out of his hands, then tackled him to the ground."
. . .
"A gutsy move, taking on a murderer." Said Tanner, not really believing Adam's heroicness.
"Yea well, 'Do or die' and all that." He shrugged like it was nothing out of the ordinary.
. . .
"They scrambled around a bit and then Roe ran off out the gym doors." Stated Christa.
"Ran off?" asked Daniels.
. . .
"I guess when we were fighting, he figured his secret was out and decided to run for the hills." Daniels ant Tanner were not convinced.
"Three sixth-form students all going missing in the space of a week? Come on detective, surely even you would think something fishy was going on at Rathborne high."
. . .
Detective Daniels nodded, "Well." he moved closer to the microphone. "Interview terminated at 14:58" He pressed 'STOP' on the machine "Thank you for your time Ms Stammers. That will be all for the time being."
"What, if he comes back?" asked Christa nervously, knowing that one day he could return from that blinding white light on the other side of Matt's door.
"To the School? Doubtful." Tanner snorted, "He's most likely fled the area by now, and besides, Roe can't hide forever."
"Not to worry, we'll get him." Finished Daniels, Christa smiled at this, but knew it was unlikely.
Mid-Day - Chemistry Class
The 18th October was a drab day, 'but that's Autumn for you' thought Christa, but at least the school was finally returning to normal - all be it after a week of closure and two agonizing weeks of walking through the school with everyone staring at you.
It was coming to the end of the day, Adam and Christa were seated at the back of the science class - one of the few class's they shared. Today's science assignment: Something to do with Bunsen burners and distillation. What ever it was, it was boring.
The teacher, Mrs Simmonds continued to prattle on about what would happen to the liquid solution, the class scurried round the room collecting the necessary equipment while she talked non-stop.
It was an easy assignment, at leased, nothing that challenged Christa anyway.
"Do you think they suspect anything? The police?" She whispered to Adam.
"Na, we were great. And that Twiggy look-a-like at the station will see to it that we don't get any of the spotlight."
"You mean the one that growled at me on the way out?" The woman clearly hated her.
"Vampire." Adam stated. "Oh" replied Christa, still getting over the fact that she had met another vampire.
"I see the police have finally removed the crime scene tape from the gym." He continued.
"But why has it taken them so long, shouldn't they have done everything and left in a few days?"
"They did, three weeks ago, but the school just left the tape up because the PTA decided we 'children' shouldn't be going in there until it had been thoroughly cleaned. The toilets as well."
"But three weeks for a professional cleaner? Come on." said Christa.
"Yes, Hello, is that crime scene cleanups? This is Rathborne high school. I've just found a week old dead body of a school kid in my gym, and I need the place to be given a good scrub and clean. Be real, besides the school hasn't got that much money to flash around, it'll cost them hundreds for a proper job." She lowered he head back to her work, she conceded the point.
"It's no doubt taken so long because they've properly had to scrape all the money together from what's left of the school's budget." He added.
"Well I don't think those police detectives believed you, they've been going through everything; lockers, bags, computer accounts." Said Matt whilst rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous manner. Interjected Matt.
"Nah. It's could their suspect has disappeared of the face of the Earth, literally, they need a lead that s all. We just need to keep out heads down and wait for this to blow over, it'll get marked as unsolved, and they'll move on to the next murder."
Christa stared at Adam in disbelief. 'What were they, criminals' Anybody listening in would have thought them to be Matt's killers by the way he was talking.
"Hey, you live for as long as I have, you pick up a few things." He retorted.
"This whole thing is turning into more and more trouble." Christa moped.
"Yea, but you solved my murder. That's good right?" Matt announced. Trying his best to put a good spin on things.
"Yea." Both Christa and Adam admitted together. They were coming around.
"You know, now that I can leave the school, I was thinking we could celebrate, perhaps go somewhere? Like the arcade." Matt suggested happily.
"And what? You watch us as we loose all our money? No thanks." Christa countered.
"You could both come over to mine, I ve got the space. And a Playstation." Adam ventured.
"Sure, why not, my parents already think I m sleeping with you." She said with a 'what the hell' expression. Matt simply replied with "Cool."
They heard a girl scream, and then a lot of commotion outside the classroom's door. Adam looked at her. Christa just rolled her eyes and when back to her assignment. "She probably just broke a nail." She told him. He looked back towards the door, unconvinced.
The school day passes by - Detention
Adam slammed through the science room's back door, rushing up behind Chrisa, she had not long finished her homework. "Why are you so late?"
"Swan wanted some help shifting stuff on the second floor. Then I got bogged down trying to pass all the goody-goody volunteers that have taken over the canteen." He sat down before revealing his shocking news to her.
"By the way, did you hear the news?" He said.
"What news?" Not really interested, but bothering enough to look at him. It was bound to be another sexual innuendo or something else just as immature.
"Brandy was attacked in the girls toilets. She got slammed into a wall, and not in a rough sex way either. Blood was dripping all down her face. Who ever did it, left her for dead." Christa face was filled with shock. 'Could Roe be back? Was he after revenge? Would she or Adam be next?'
"Overheard the blonde one say she got carted of to hospital. Fine now thought." Adam added.
"Roe?" She asked, still shocked.
Adam shook his head and lowered his voice. "I don't think were dealing with Human-on-Human here babe, apart from the gash on her head, she's got two puncture wounds on her lower right arm. We've got company." She knew what he meant.
"And your sure it wasn't you, maybe after a mid-day snack?" She quizzed with a light smile and raised eyebrows.
He didn't say anything, he didn't have to, his face said it all. Adam's face began to crumple, just like someone who had been punched in the stomach. How could she have said that? After everything with confronting Brandy by the bins and Roe when he'd confessed. She had no doubt meant it as a sly joke, casually stabbing at Adam's own dark nature. But it still hurt all the same.
"Sorry" She said softly, knowing all to well her stab at him had backfired.
"That means," she took a short breath.
"There's another Vampire here. And this one IS feeding." Finished Christa, Adam nodded in agreement as they both got up and walked out of the science room and down the corridor towards the Canteen. Now on the hunt for Brandy's attacker.
Unbeknownst to them, As Adam and Christa walked through the Canteen, an attractive blonde girl intensely watched them from her seat at a corner table directly behind them. Wearing a pink and white top, with stonewashed jeans and black boots, she didn't stand out amongst the crowd, but what did, was that she was wearing dark sunglasses, on a dismal autumn day.
Whilst finishing up some sixth-form paperwork in the Canteen, the mysterious girl had been doodling on the front of a her new Science book - given to her by the school. On it's cover was her name;
Abigail Smith.
- End of Chapter 1 -