" Oh, that's just my plaque for archery I recieved at the city-wide fiinals." Kelly boasted in response to Melissa's question. Kelly smiled a bit as she looked at the her face in gleam of the golden metal imprinted into the plaque.
" Archery?" Jesse asked in disgust. " Why are you so proud about doing well at something that isn't even useful today?"
" Please Jesse, I don't see you waving any awards given to you." Kelly rebuked. She disliked Jesse and always was trying to better her. What the hell? She doesn't even show any jealousy in her face or voice. How can she be so self absorbed. I hate when she does this! Kelly felt that her confidence was being challenged by someone who had more self assurance than anyone she had ever known.
" I don't need a piece of metal to know that I am good at the things I know I'm good at. Besides, your face has never appeared on the pages of four different magazines, know have they?" Jesse nudged Kelly further knowing that she was getting really pissed off.
" Well that's because putting a glob of every type of make-up ever evented on my face doesn't appeal to me." Kelly responded with a comeback she thought was appropriate.
" Oh, thanks for reminding me. I'm just going to slip in the washroom for a bit. After all that rushing around, I haven't had a chance to fix myself up all day." Jesse said as she headed to Kelly's washroom.
Kelly was screaming inside her head, feeling very enraged that Jesse was able to make a fool of her again. " Why are we friends with that thing?" she asked.
" Because that thing has connections." Melissa answered.
" She is like some character taken out of a movie from the sixties where there is this lead cheerleader that cares more about her looks than anything else." Kelly stated.
" She is but she has more spunk." Melissa added.
" Common guys, she's not that bad." Kathryn said.
Kelly and Melissa both turned to Kathryn with perplexed looks on their faces. Why does she do things like this? Doesn't she see that Jesse deserves something really bad to happen to her like lightning striking her and crisping her face or something to that degree. She even forgave Edwin for Godsakes. Kelly took a hard look at Kathryn remembering her friends past. Kathryn stood at about Kelly's height but was not as thin. Parts of her were a bit chunky such as her thighs and stomach. Her light red hair hung loose down to her neck unlike Kelly's ponytail. Her hair was brushed to one side and covered a sliver of one of her pale blue eyes. Her eyes were so pale that they actually looked to be grey and the blueish taint could only be seen at close range. Kelly remembered meeting her at school assembly of her first year at Sellbain. As Kelly began to chat to her, she noted the timid and tranquil behaviour of the girl named Kathryn. As the school year progressed she began to hang out with the red-head more and more. She was very good listener and Kelly loved to talk to her one on one. If presented with a group situation, the timid girl would usually stay quiet and listen. Kelly knew very little about Kathryn's past but she did know that she came from a broken home. They always talked about problems and life's annoying challenges and Kelly knew after all their time together that she could trust this girl to always be there for her. She couldn't recall home many times Kathryn had help her but she knew it was a lot. She knew Kathryn didn't like insulting anyone and that she always managed to see the good side in people. This and the fact that she was so mysterious annoyerd Kelly but she knew that Kathryn's good qualities outweighed the bad. Kelly didn't force Kathryn to speak about her past because she knew she had gone through a lot of pain and that's why at times she despised Edwin for what he had done. Of course, she never let him know.
" good in people." Were the only words that Mick heard Melissa say as he went to see what his other friends were up to.
" I don't always see the good in everyone." Kathryn said not noticing Mick standing behind her.
" Hey girls. Whats up?" Mick asked, scaring an unexpecting Kathryn who just had someone sneak behind her. She let out a small shriek as she spun around to see Mick's brown eyes. " Calm down. It's just me."
Kathryn blushed a bit and apologized.
" It's ok. No harm done. So whatcha guys up to?" Mick asked again.
" Just bad-mouthing Jesse." Kelly answered.
" Cool. Why don't you guys come join us." Mick suggested as he pointed to the other end of the room which held the males. " It feels like the first school dance I went to with all the guys at one end and all the girls at another."
" Yo know, you're right." Kelly agreed. " But I have a better idea." She walked over to her desk with held her CD player. " We had the music off long enough, don't you agree?" She asked as she pressed down the play button releasin a noise which could only be describe as earthshaking. Kelly began to move to the techno beat. Then Melissa followed, joining her most trusted friend on the crude dance floor. Then Kathryn brought her slow, rhythmic moves to the floor.
" Now this is more like it!" Prest screamed as he lit up the dance floor with all his clubhopper dance styles. Edwin bopped his head up and down to the beat being very careful not to do anything too crazy. Mick grabbed Seph and forced him to join the party. Mick began to do a wave action with his tree trunk arms. Seph swayed to and fro. Poor Seph. I guess with his lifestyle, he didn't get a chance to dance much. Mick, why should you care. He having fun so lets leave it at that. Mick scorned himself as he watched Seph out of the corner of his eye. He had known the over-achiever with his patent wire frame glasses for the last three years. Compared to Mick, Seph was a match stick. Mick was 5'10 and weighed 205 lbs. His chest barreled outwards and his muscles were hard and built. Seph on the other hand was 5'7, weighed 130 pounds and didn't have a shred of fat on him. His brown hair was craggy when left alone but Seph always combed it to perfection. His brown eyes seemed to beam with intelligence. He was intelligent and disciplined but his three years with Seph openned up his eyes and made him more into a human. Mick noticed how much fun Seph was having being away from his robotic programmed to study self. Mick knew it wasn't his fault that he studied do hard, he had to because his parents were very stricted. Hell, were he came from, the whole school system was strict. Seph had been born in China and his real first name was Zhang. He decided to changed it when he had been living in the U.S.A for a while. Mick head sometimes hurt when Seph went on about his major, chemistry. Seph had been changed a bit by Seph but it didn't mean he had lost his passion for a subject he loved. He was forced to study hard as a child but after so many years of doing it Seph began to love studying certain subjects and this was something Mick could not understand. Seph might have been strange but that didn't matter to Mcik because he knew the genious meant well.
Mick's eyes cought a glimpse of Edwin bumping into Kathryn and immediately he thought oh shit!
Edwin was to busy concentrating on dancing that he didn't notice the young woman behind him. He took a step back and felt a body press into his. He turned to find himself staring right into Kathryn's grey eyes. His brows raised and for a second, he didn't know what to do. She also had a look of confusion of her face being in the same perdicament as Edwin. " Kathryn, ummmmmm hi." Edwin somehow managed to spit out.
" Hi!" she quickly answered.
Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit! Brain, do something! Get me out of this situation! Help me! Edwin's mind was going berserk. Kathryn had forgiven him and they did still talk but only short conversations that were full with tension. After a while, Edwin began to avoid bumping into her because of sheer terror. It had been weeks since he had actually talked to her and his hiding had made things worse. A lot worse. Then all of a sudden, she smiled at him. He pushed his head back in confusion. " Edwin," she said slowly and softly. Edwin began to feel anxiety drowning his brain. " I...."
Suddenly the dorm room flew open and there stood Dean Stilmeyer. His brows were furrowed and his arms were crossed.
Noooooooooo! Edwin's moment with Kathryn had been smashed by the dean. He just stood there, sternly scanning the room and it's occuputants.
" Mrs. Knight, you shouldn't leave your door unlocked." He said, making curving the left side of his lips upward. " I knew you were the one behind the music." .
Kelly quickly scrambled to turn off the music. She didn't want to get in anymore trouble than she already was in. " C'mon, Mr. Stilmeyer, it's Christmas vacation!" Prest tried to explain.
" Mr. Prest, if it was up to me, you wouldn't have Christmas break. Student's today have it too easy. You should be working as hard as I had to." Stilmeyer said like he had earned everything that he had through studying.
" Mr. Stilmeyer, we have it harder than you could ever imagine. We have to worry about a girl or boyfriends, the future, people accepting us. The road we have traveled has been a long and strenuous one and ever since we entered grade nine it has been a rocky road of obstacles and dissapointments." Mick said. Mick sometimes you don't cease to amaze me. I would like to tell him that was very eloquant but he used road twice. Dammit Edwin, shut up. You don't have to be criticizing Mick just because your so good at your precious english writers craft.
" We just went through exams, the most feared word in any students vocabulary and we just need a chance to relax." I Edwin said having everyone shook their head in agreement with him.
" Mr. Coomber, there are other ways of relaxing than having a loud party. When I was young, I didn't have time to relax. Like I said, I had it much harder than you. I don't really care if you don't believe it Mr. Oriole." Stilmeyer said in a comfortable tone. This guy rattles my chains. How the hell can act so cool and comfortable like he is always right. I hate to admit this, but I see the truth behind his words. "Mr. Coomber, I was not surprised how stubborn and rude the child downstairs is considering his relation to you." Stilmeyer said.
" My brother?" Edwin asked, shocked by his statement.
" Yes, he is here on campus grounds to visit you." Stilmeyer explained.
" But he never told me..." Edwin started trying to think why the hell his brother was here. Than it hit him. " Oh no, he's found out!"
Suddenly, the sound of whirling blades echoed through the entire university. As the sound became louder and closer, a crash shook the floor beneath. Then the whirling started to fade in the distance.
Stilmeyer quickly looked in the other direction and turned back to face us. " I'm going to see what that was, but don't think I'm through here. I'll be back to set you juveniles straight." Stilmeyer warned as he left the dorm door. Pretty impressive reflexes there, Stilmeyer. Well for a dean. Edwin scoffed at his superior in his head.
Meanwhile, the party guests were throwing around statements like, "what the hell was that" or "what the fuck was that noise" or "was that a helicopter". Prest decided to speak up while turning the music back on," Hey guys, forget about the noise. This is a party remember. Let Stilmeyer handle whatever's going on cause... we're on vacation!"
Right after the word 'vacation' everybody cheered. Kelly slammed the door and locked it this time. People began to start dancing again and everyone got back into the mood except for Edwin and Kathryn. Kathryn retreated to the bar area. Edwin's mind then hit a stage of panic as his problems hit him like a speeding school bus. Not good, not good. My brother is here and with my luck he knows the truth. Then there's Kathryn who wanted to say something before Stilmeyer ruined her moment. Then there's all the other problems bothering me like what happens after university and such. Ok, ok. I have to calm down. Edwin's mind cooled from his near meltdown as Mick came over and asked," Aren't you going to go get your brother?"
" No. I'm going to wait till Stilmeyer gets back. My brother could be anywhere on the campus." Edwin explained showing Mick my reasoning.
" Oh, ok." Mick apparently ended as he turned around only to swing back to face his roommate a second time. " You don't talk much about your brother. Is there something wrong bad going on?"
" What do you mean I don't talk about him!?!" Edwin rebuked, offended by the question even though he knew it was true.
" Well I don't even no what his name is. You mentioned him a couple of times but never anything more than you telling me you have a brother. We have been close friends here for four years and you'd think by now I would know what his name is." Mick said knocking some sense through Edwin's barrier of pride.
" I'm sorry. You're right, I was just too daft to admit it. My brothers name is Ric. He's young, fifteen to be exact and he's a really great brother. But I always felt guilty from this one thing the I kept from him." Edwin said slowing his speaking pace near the end of my words because of the regret that he held inside.
" What was that 'one thing'?" Mick asked becoming more curious by the second.
" I don't feel like talking about it, Mick. We just got off on holiday break and I don't want to worry about this whole thing too much." Edwin said protecting himself from showing his true emotions.
Mick nodded at me and walked away, respecting Edwin's privacy. With all the brother talk Edwin had forgotten about Kathryn, who he saw by the drinks. Her face was still a bit flushed from being pulled away from her words. What the hell am I supposed to do know! What was she going to tell me? This is ridiculous. I can't keep on running away. I have to go over there and set things straight. It seemed like fate would take over at this instance as the dorm door began to bend forward from blows from someone in the hall.
Ric had heard the thunderous noise emitting somewhere from the courtyard. He stood stationary for five minutes debating whether not he should check out the cause of the disturbance. " I should go see what the hell that noise was." Ric said to himself. Unlike his brother, Ric liked to think out loud. " Dammit, where is everybody! Being alone in the main entrance of a university with strange noises shaking the whole building is not my idea of fun! I should check it out, maybe a car crashed and someone is in trouble."
After his hesistant decision, Ric opened Sellbain's famous solid oak doors which had been put in during the late eightteen hundreds when Sellbain was founded. The doors were actually originally for the chapel that was built before the university in 1854. The head of the development of the university, Charles Sellbain, had decided to keep some of the pieces of architectiral art from the chapel because he didn't like the idea of beautiful pieces of human ingenuity being lost forever. The doors could be locked by putting some sort of a board between two slabs located at the back of each of the doors. Ric shivered a bit feel the frigid air blowing in through underneath his jacket. He looked around, admiring the subtle beauty of the courtyard. Five main buildings molded the courtyard into a giant pentagon. The courtyard was full of trees since Sellbain had been built right on the edge of a forest. and Mr. Sellbain decided that the trees would the inside look a lot nicer. The centre of the courtyard was in the shape of six-sided star which had four extravagantly decorated statues of angels. The angels were another relic collected from the chapel. A lunch area supported by tables polymerized with pure marble lay to the west of the the centre of the courtyard. A field used for different sports played by the students lay north of the centre. The entrance into the university was south of the centre. The other areas of the courtyard were just winding pathes leading to different areas of the compound.
Ric took one of pathways looking for anything peculiar. He got a little paranoid beinging all alone traveling in a barren courtyard in dark. Ric looked up for a second and realized how many stars there were in the sky. Since Sellbain was located right outside of Chicago, the stars were not blocked by all the city lights. He gazed up right at the moon. It was full and gave the whole courtyard a silver tint. No clouds disrupted the marvel of the starry sea. Ric smiled for an instance at the natural beauty and than continued his search. The path he was on lead to the centre of the courtyard. As soon as he was in range of the angels, he found what he was looking for. Six pieces of some sort of container that resembled a pop can were strewn about in different locations. Ric noticed T-03 imprinted in white on one of the metal fragments. Moving closer Ric saw that the middle of the six-sided star had been leveled by something big. Ric could only gues that something had fallen from a very high altitude but he had no clue of what could have made sucha big crater. Than he noticed huge footprints freshly engraved in the snow. They were at least ten times as big as his own. " What the hell?" echoed through the massive courtyard as Ric's breath immediately condensed into white vapor as it escaped his mouth. Suddenly, groans soared through the darkness right into Ric's ear. He turned, scanning the frosted darkness. He saw nothing. More and more groans filled the air. " Hello? Is anybody there?" Ric stammered in fear. A snowflake evaporated into nothingness as it came in contact with Ric's nose and it was at that moment that he noticed it had started to snow. He glanced upward from the exact middle of the six-star and caught one last glimpse of the moon as whole sky obfuscated to a sudden evil which had been sent by a greater evil. Ric's field of view drastically decreased as the darkness surrounded him. His heart was pounding, his pores were clogging, his soul was convulsing and at that moment Ric knew that something wicked had come.
The smashes against the wood became louder and one by one the guests began to notice. They all stared in curiosity and then the door burst open and a limp human silhouette stood at the door. As it's face entered the light we saw a mutilated form with pieces of flesh hanging off mutiple places on it's body. The eyes were bloodstained red and showed the ferocity of a rabid wolf. The skin had 'melted' so much that the structure of the skull could be seen in the face. It looked like someone who hadn't eaten in weeks. It glanced at all of them than lunged towards Edwin!
Their futures were so bright
with infinite possibilities...
Now their futures have grown dark
and the only possibilities are die
or survive...