THE BEAUTIFUL ONES
Part Six: In our midst
Dib studied every student that passed his way. He was in the skool corridor on the morning following the discovery of Gretchen's body. The police had been around to investigate the murder, but they simply put it down to another child abuser. They hadn't even been around to the skool, though some people had managed to pick up the basic gist of the killings, since the press had dubbed the killer 'the geek exterminator', sucessfully making the crime less sinister than it really needed.
He stared at every child, compiling his own personal list of subjects. Mary skipped round the corner. Maybe the pressure of having different parents every week had finally got to her, thought Dib. Torque lifted a couple of weights as he passed him by. Perhaps he fancied testing his athletic skills on targeting actual people. A cold shiver ran down Dib's spine as he caught sight of Morla. He might be sacrificing people for arcane rituals. He was concentrating on Brian as he ran into Gaz, letting out an involuntary scream. Gaz could only look perplexed.
"...what?" asked Gaz, infuriated that her brother wasn't keeping to his promise to leave her alone. Dib picked himself up, but seemed reluctant to talk to his incredibly scary sister, resorting to sweaty glances and an overriding fear that she may abruptly produce a knife.
"G...Gaz," Dib stuttered, "y...y'know you do have s...something of a re...reputation..."
"You were with me the entire night," informed Gaz, "I should know, you nearly threw up all over me. You promise to leave me alone, then you start accusing me of killing people? You should know I'll have to destroy you now." Gaz threw Dib out of her way and stomped down the corridor in the opposite direction, deep in her plans of horrible screaming malice. Dib looked back with a funny look on his face, then continued on.
Every little sound in the corridor seemed to grate against Dib's senses. It was one thing to compete against an evil creature from outer space, and completely another to never know WHO may be considering ripping your lungs out. His severe nervousness made people look at him with bemused glances, which only deepened his nervousness as a bemused expression was only a short step away from an 'I'm planning to do horrible things to your spleen' expression. His paranoia subsided as he began hearing the sound of gossip and platform shoes in the distance. The Beautiful Ones were approaching...
"So Tae said 'yeah', and I said 'yeah', and he was soo 'yeah', so I y'know talked to Poonchy and he was like 'yeah', so I said 'yeah' and he said 'yeah' and Torque was REALLY, like, y'know, 'yeah'," Jessica wittered, dazzling her subjects with tales of romance and intrigue. If only serial killers can be let loose on people, Dib thought cruelly. He turned to leave the other way, as so much as seeing them in his presence was enough to make him throw up, but the following events took his interest.
Melvin entered the scene from the toilet in the side of the corridor and walked towards the cafeteria on the other side, across the path of The Beautiful Ones. Sarah couldn't resist sticking her foot out and letting his face impact on the floor in front of Jessica. Melvin whimpered as he got up from the floor, about to face the wrath of the skool's high court. Dib really pitied him.
"Well look, it's the nerd," declared Jessica at the frightened little child in front of her, "I guess you're off to masturbate over comics or something." The rest of The Beautiful Ones burst out laughing at this incredibly lame joke.
"Or play Dungeons & Dragons with your loser friends," chirped in Alex, who had somehow managed to sneak into the group, but all she met was silent incomprehension.
"What's that?" asked Zita, angered that this interloper dared enter Jessica's presence.
"It's a game that...losers...play..." Alex stammered, losing confidence fast. Jessica looked upon this pretender in disgust.
"So how do YOU know about it then? Go away you loser," Jessica intoned, crushing Alex's hopes for the umpteenth time, "and as for you..." Jessica turned her attention back to Melvin as Alex slunk away, and indicated to Chunk, her voluntary lackey, to approach him. Dib winced as Chunk's fist buried itself in Melvin's stomach while the rest of The Beautiful Ones laughed at his pain. It was only then that the significance of this hit Dib. The same thing happened to Gretchen and Spoo. This could only mean one thing.
Unless he did something, Melvin was going to die...
TO BE CONTINUED...
Part Six: In our midst
Dib studied every student that passed his way. He was in the skool corridor on the morning following the discovery of Gretchen's body. The police had been around to investigate the murder, but they simply put it down to another child abuser. They hadn't even been around to the skool, though some people had managed to pick up the basic gist of the killings, since the press had dubbed the killer 'the geek exterminator', sucessfully making the crime less sinister than it really needed.
He stared at every child, compiling his own personal list of subjects. Mary skipped round the corner. Maybe the pressure of having different parents every week had finally got to her, thought Dib. Torque lifted a couple of weights as he passed him by. Perhaps he fancied testing his athletic skills on targeting actual people. A cold shiver ran down Dib's spine as he caught sight of Morla. He might be sacrificing people for arcane rituals. He was concentrating on Brian as he ran into Gaz, letting out an involuntary scream. Gaz could only look perplexed.
"...what?" asked Gaz, infuriated that her brother wasn't keeping to his promise to leave her alone. Dib picked himself up, but seemed reluctant to talk to his incredibly scary sister, resorting to sweaty glances and an overriding fear that she may abruptly produce a knife.
"G...Gaz," Dib stuttered, "y...y'know you do have s...something of a re...reputation..."
"You were with me the entire night," informed Gaz, "I should know, you nearly threw up all over me. You promise to leave me alone, then you start accusing me of killing people? You should know I'll have to destroy you now." Gaz threw Dib out of her way and stomped down the corridor in the opposite direction, deep in her plans of horrible screaming malice. Dib looked back with a funny look on his face, then continued on.
Every little sound in the corridor seemed to grate against Dib's senses. It was one thing to compete against an evil creature from outer space, and completely another to never know WHO may be considering ripping your lungs out. His severe nervousness made people look at him with bemused glances, which only deepened his nervousness as a bemused expression was only a short step away from an 'I'm planning to do horrible things to your spleen' expression. His paranoia subsided as he began hearing the sound of gossip and platform shoes in the distance. The Beautiful Ones were approaching...
"So Tae said 'yeah', and I said 'yeah', and he was soo 'yeah', so I y'know talked to Poonchy and he was like 'yeah', so I said 'yeah' and he said 'yeah' and Torque was REALLY, like, y'know, 'yeah'," Jessica wittered, dazzling her subjects with tales of romance and intrigue. If only serial killers can be let loose on people, Dib thought cruelly. He turned to leave the other way, as so much as seeing them in his presence was enough to make him throw up, but the following events took his interest.
Melvin entered the scene from the toilet in the side of the corridor and walked towards the cafeteria on the other side, across the path of The Beautiful Ones. Sarah couldn't resist sticking her foot out and letting his face impact on the floor in front of Jessica. Melvin whimpered as he got up from the floor, about to face the wrath of the skool's high court. Dib really pitied him.
"Well look, it's the nerd," declared Jessica at the frightened little child in front of her, "I guess you're off to masturbate over comics or something." The rest of The Beautiful Ones burst out laughing at this incredibly lame joke.
"Or play Dungeons & Dragons with your loser friends," chirped in Alex, who had somehow managed to sneak into the group, but all she met was silent incomprehension.
"What's that?" asked Zita, angered that this interloper dared enter Jessica's presence.
"It's a game that...losers...play..." Alex stammered, losing confidence fast. Jessica looked upon this pretender in disgust.
"So how do YOU know about it then? Go away you loser," Jessica intoned, crushing Alex's hopes for the umpteenth time, "and as for you..." Jessica turned her attention back to Melvin as Alex slunk away, and indicated to Chunk, her voluntary lackey, to approach him. Dib winced as Chunk's fist buried itself in Melvin's stomach while the rest of The Beautiful Ones laughed at his pain. It was only then that the significance of this hit Dib. The same thing happened to Gretchen and Spoo. This could only mean one thing.
Unless he did something, Melvin was going to die...
TO BE CONTINUED...
