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Okay, thanks for the reviews; sorry that the Death wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Hopefully, they'll get better; you have no idea how hard it is to come up with inventive stuff, all the good Deaths have been taken (i.e. Terry Chaney, I love that one!) And to ScribbleDribble, I'm glad that the last chapter gave Kimberly depth; she's my favorite actress and character (aside from Clear).Sorry that it's dragging, I'll try to pick up the pace, I just have a lot to say to make sure everything in this story makes sense. So, on with the next chapter!
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Chapter Sixteen
Drama Lesson
Altessa was still sitting in the dingy high school bathroom when her cell phone rang, startling her, the shrill ring echoing through the empty room. She grabbed the phone off the floor where it rested beside her and clicked it on as quickly as she could. It could only be Kimberly calling and Altessa figured that she didn't have good news to report.
"Hello?" She answered, as force of habit, knowing that she could have addressed Kimberly directly.
"Altessa, it's Kimberly...I just saw a Sign." Kimberly's voice was tight with tension and worry, laced with a little bit of fear. "A falling beam of lights, or something like that: lights attached to a metal beam." She explained, trying to convey exactly what she saw. "Do you have any idea..."
Altessa was silent for a moment, letting her words sink in and trying to identify what it could possibly mean. Suddenly, recognition flooded her mind and she nearly dropped the cell phone. She didn't bother to bid Kimberly goodbye, simply shutting the phone off and tossing it upon her backpack, standing up and bolting out of the bathroom. Morgan was in danger and she had to help her friend before it was too late.
* * *
Morgan sat off to one side in the drama classroom, which was simply that; the room had once been the high school's theatre, complete with a stage and stage lights, but when the school had started putting on plays for a wide audience, the room was decided too small and thus converted into a drama classroom. The teenager was lost in thought, thinking about what Altessa had said the day before; she had watched her friend that morning, greeting Shane and Altessa had looked just as anxious and frightened as she had the previous afternoon.
Her drama teacher was lecturing about working backstage, using the lights and curtains and such but Morgan wasn't even giving the woman half of her attention. All she could think about were Altessa's words, about Death coming after them because they didn't die in the house explosion. It was crazy, wasn't it? But she had heard about what had happened to the people who hadn't died on Flight 180; how often did people get splattered by city buses?
Morgan sighed deeply and pushed those thoughts from her mind, knowing that they would do her no good. What she really needed to do was talk with Altessa and sort the whole thing out once and for all, whether her friend was crazy or not. She watched as her drama teacher walked over to the light board and curtain control panel, all the knobs lumped together on a huge wooden pedestal towards the right of the room. "Working with the lights is very dangerous because these lights are rickety and weren't safe back when they were first installed. For your instructions on how to use the light and curtain knobs correctly, we'll go into the current auditorium. So, it's extremely important that no one messes with these lights because they could fall and it wouldn't be pretty." The woman was explaining.
Morgan felt a chill course through her body, though she wasn't quite sure why; she had known the lights were dangerous, her teacher was simply reiterating what she had told them on their first day of class. But something about looking at the rickety lights now, with Altessa's words ringing in the back of her mind, didn't bode well.
And with those words, the teacher broke off onto a tangent, calling for the class to step up on stage and practice their improvisation skills. Morgan drudgingly got up, eyeing the lights in spite of herself and feeling foolish for doing so. 'If you believe that crazy shit Altessa said, then you're just as crazy as she is,' She reprimanded herself, shaking her head.
Morgan's attention was distracted from the lights when two of the boys in her class started play wrestling, as immature freshmen boys were known to do. Watching them get scolded by the teacher would give her something else to think about and get her mind off Altessa's words once and for all. But her teacher didn't seem to notice the freshmen boys, too busy talking to another student.
The entrance door swung open, as through someone had thrown it open with all of their might, and Morgan was surprised to see Altessa step inside, face pale and contorted in worry. When she noticed her friend on stage, the worry seemed to vanished slightly and she stepped forward, motioning for her friend to join her. Morgan took a step forward, confused at why Altessa would have cut class to come see her but stopped when there was a loud popping noise.
Everyone in the room turned in the direction of the sound to see one of the freshmen shoved up against the pedestal control panel, the play-fighting having suddenly turned serious. The second boy wouldn't let his victim up, pushing him backward even more, the first boy's back pressing violently against the buttons and knobs.
There was a grating sound as the stage lights flicked on brightly, blinding Morgan from where she stood on the stage; the lights swung slightly, clearly attempting to the follow the motions that the buttons were directing. The large bulbs and their metal cases gyrated left and right, showering florescent light upon those in their path.
Altessa watched with growing horror, seeing slowly what Kimberly's vision had meant; she looked up at the stage lights when they began to dip slightly, a few of the nuts and bolts dropping onto the floor with a echoing ring. The beam suddenly dropped completely with a ripping crack, swinging forward. Altessa turned to face her friend, already rushing forward. "Morgan! Watch out!" She cried, praying that the lights would miss her friend or that she could somehow save her.
Morgan looked in the direction of Altessa's voice, slightly confessed, only to see at that moment exactly what had caused her to cry out. Before she could even react, the beam and its winking stage lights smashed into her body, shattering the bones and knocking her backward.
The beam swung backward again, pushed by its own momentum, the lights winking out, bulbs shattered. Morgan's limb body was stuck onto the middle light, impaled in the chest by the sharp metal tip; glass had shattered into her face, marring her features with tiny cuts and incisions. Her body was twisted at an awkward angle, shoulder bones jutting through skin, her legs appearing to hang on only by tight cords of muscle.
Altessa found that she couldn't take her eyes off the grotesque sight, seeing her best friend hanging like a rag doll. The sound of someone's strangled scream brought her out of her revere and she realized numbly that she was the one that had started screaming. She finally turned away, falling to her knees and vomiting, tears streaming down her cheeks.
She was too late, too late to save someone else.
* * *
Kimberly's heart sank when she heard the shrilling ringing of the black cell phone; she knew it had to be Altessa, calling to confirm her premonition. The way that the teenager had quickly hung up only minutes ago caused Kimberly to feel that Altessa knew exactly what her premonition had been about. She only prayed that it wasn't too late but she knew that it was.
"Altessa." Kimberly said by way of a greeting when she answered the black phone. Thomas looked over at her with confirmed interest, body tensing slightly.
Kimberly's question was met with the sound of choked sobs, as Altessa tried to speak but couldn't. "Kim..Kimberly..." Her words were smothered once again by cries and this time the teenager couldn't control them. Kimberly stood up, her feeling of dread growing.
"Altessa, Altessa, are you all right? What happened?" She questioned, glancing over at Thomas, who was concerned as well, waiting impatiently to know exactly what she was hearing on the other line.
With a deep breath, Altessa attempted to reign in her sobs, trying to compose herself long enough to answer her friend's question. "Kimberly, Morgan is dead...your premonition was of stage lights killing her." By the pain in the teenager's voice, Kimberly knew that Altessa was speaking from first-hand knowledge, the knowledge of actually seeing her friend killed. It was a feeling that Kimberly knew all too well.
"Altessa..." Kimberly trailed off, knowing that she didn't want to give the teenager comfort over the phone, that wasn't the place for it. So instead she said, "Be outside the school in ten minutes, Thomas and I are coming to get you." She paused, having made her up mind, looking over at Thomas and holding his gaze. "There's someone we need to see."
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Just some useless info but I have drama this year in a room like the one described and I was trying to figure out a Death for this story when my teacher was like "if you horse around in here and mess with the lights, they could fall and kill someone" and I was like, how ironic, I'll use that. But, let me tell you, it's kinda creepy seeing those lights every other day...
Okay, thanks for the reviews; sorry that the Death wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Hopefully, they'll get better; you have no idea how hard it is to come up with inventive stuff, all the good Deaths have been taken (i.e. Terry Chaney, I love that one!) And to ScribbleDribble, I'm glad that the last chapter gave Kimberly depth; she's my favorite actress and character (aside from Clear).Sorry that it's dragging, I'll try to pick up the pace, I just have a lot to say to make sure everything in this story makes sense. So, on with the next chapter!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter Sixteen
Drama Lesson
Altessa was still sitting in the dingy high school bathroom when her cell phone rang, startling her, the shrill ring echoing through the empty room. She grabbed the phone off the floor where it rested beside her and clicked it on as quickly as she could. It could only be Kimberly calling and Altessa figured that she didn't have good news to report.
"Hello?" She answered, as force of habit, knowing that she could have addressed Kimberly directly.
"Altessa, it's Kimberly...I just saw a Sign." Kimberly's voice was tight with tension and worry, laced with a little bit of fear. "A falling beam of lights, or something like that: lights attached to a metal beam." She explained, trying to convey exactly what she saw. "Do you have any idea..."
Altessa was silent for a moment, letting her words sink in and trying to identify what it could possibly mean. Suddenly, recognition flooded her mind and she nearly dropped the cell phone. She didn't bother to bid Kimberly goodbye, simply shutting the phone off and tossing it upon her backpack, standing up and bolting out of the bathroom. Morgan was in danger and she had to help her friend before it was too late.
* * *
Morgan sat off to one side in the drama classroom, which was simply that; the room had once been the high school's theatre, complete with a stage and stage lights, but when the school had started putting on plays for a wide audience, the room was decided too small and thus converted into a drama classroom. The teenager was lost in thought, thinking about what Altessa had said the day before; she had watched her friend that morning, greeting Shane and Altessa had looked just as anxious and frightened as she had the previous afternoon.
Her drama teacher was lecturing about working backstage, using the lights and curtains and such but Morgan wasn't even giving the woman half of her attention. All she could think about were Altessa's words, about Death coming after them because they didn't die in the house explosion. It was crazy, wasn't it? But she had heard about what had happened to the people who hadn't died on Flight 180; how often did people get splattered by city buses?
Morgan sighed deeply and pushed those thoughts from her mind, knowing that they would do her no good. What she really needed to do was talk with Altessa and sort the whole thing out once and for all, whether her friend was crazy or not. She watched as her drama teacher walked over to the light board and curtain control panel, all the knobs lumped together on a huge wooden pedestal towards the right of the room. "Working with the lights is very dangerous because these lights are rickety and weren't safe back when they were first installed. For your instructions on how to use the light and curtain knobs correctly, we'll go into the current auditorium. So, it's extremely important that no one messes with these lights because they could fall and it wouldn't be pretty." The woman was explaining.
Morgan felt a chill course through her body, though she wasn't quite sure why; she had known the lights were dangerous, her teacher was simply reiterating what she had told them on their first day of class. But something about looking at the rickety lights now, with Altessa's words ringing in the back of her mind, didn't bode well.
And with those words, the teacher broke off onto a tangent, calling for the class to step up on stage and practice their improvisation skills. Morgan drudgingly got up, eyeing the lights in spite of herself and feeling foolish for doing so. 'If you believe that crazy shit Altessa said, then you're just as crazy as she is,' She reprimanded herself, shaking her head.
Morgan's attention was distracted from the lights when two of the boys in her class started play wrestling, as immature freshmen boys were known to do. Watching them get scolded by the teacher would give her something else to think about and get her mind off Altessa's words once and for all. But her teacher didn't seem to notice the freshmen boys, too busy talking to another student.
The entrance door swung open, as through someone had thrown it open with all of their might, and Morgan was surprised to see Altessa step inside, face pale and contorted in worry. When she noticed her friend on stage, the worry seemed to vanished slightly and she stepped forward, motioning for her friend to join her. Morgan took a step forward, confused at why Altessa would have cut class to come see her but stopped when there was a loud popping noise.
Everyone in the room turned in the direction of the sound to see one of the freshmen shoved up against the pedestal control panel, the play-fighting having suddenly turned serious. The second boy wouldn't let his victim up, pushing him backward even more, the first boy's back pressing violently against the buttons and knobs.
There was a grating sound as the stage lights flicked on brightly, blinding Morgan from where she stood on the stage; the lights swung slightly, clearly attempting to the follow the motions that the buttons were directing. The large bulbs and their metal cases gyrated left and right, showering florescent light upon those in their path.
Altessa watched with growing horror, seeing slowly what Kimberly's vision had meant; she looked up at the stage lights when they began to dip slightly, a few of the nuts and bolts dropping onto the floor with a echoing ring. The beam suddenly dropped completely with a ripping crack, swinging forward. Altessa turned to face her friend, already rushing forward. "Morgan! Watch out!" She cried, praying that the lights would miss her friend or that she could somehow save her.
Morgan looked in the direction of Altessa's voice, slightly confessed, only to see at that moment exactly what had caused her to cry out. Before she could even react, the beam and its winking stage lights smashed into her body, shattering the bones and knocking her backward.
The beam swung backward again, pushed by its own momentum, the lights winking out, bulbs shattered. Morgan's limb body was stuck onto the middle light, impaled in the chest by the sharp metal tip; glass had shattered into her face, marring her features with tiny cuts and incisions. Her body was twisted at an awkward angle, shoulder bones jutting through skin, her legs appearing to hang on only by tight cords of muscle.
Altessa found that she couldn't take her eyes off the grotesque sight, seeing her best friend hanging like a rag doll. The sound of someone's strangled scream brought her out of her revere and she realized numbly that she was the one that had started screaming. She finally turned away, falling to her knees and vomiting, tears streaming down her cheeks.
She was too late, too late to save someone else.
* * *
Kimberly's heart sank when she heard the shrilling ringing of the black cell phone; she knew it had to be Altessa, calling to confirm her premonition. The way that the teenager had quickly hung up only minutes ago caused Kimberly to feel that Altessa knew exactly what her premonition had been about. She only prayed that it wasn't too late but she knew that it was.
"Altessa." Kimberly said by way of a greeting when she answered the black phone. Thomas looked over at her with confirmed interest, body tensing slightly.
Kimberly's question was met with the sound of choked sobs, as Altessa tried to speak but couldn't. "Kim..Kimberly..." Her words were smothered once again by cries and this time the teenager couldn't control them. Kimberly stood up, her feeling of dread growing.
"Altessa, Altessa, are you all right? What happened?" She questioned, glancing over at Thomas, who was concerned as well, waiting impatiently to know exactly what she was hearing on the other line.
With a deep breath, Altessa attempted to reign in her sobs, trying to compose herself long enough to answer her friend's question. "Kimberly, Morgan is dead...your premonition was of stage lights killing her." By the pain in the teenager's voice, Kimberly knew that Altessa was speaking from first-hand knowledge, the knowledge of actually seeing her friend killed. It was a feeling that Kimberly knew all too well.
"Altessa..." Kimberly trailed off, knowing that she didn't want to give the teenager comfort over the phone, that wasn't the place for it. So instead she said, "Be outside the school in ten minutes, Thomas and I are coming to get you." She paused, having made her up mind, looking over at Thomas and holding his gaze. "There's someone we need to see."
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Just some useless info but I have drama this year in a room like the one described and I was trying to figure out a Death for this story when my teacher was like "if you horse around in here and mess with the lights, they could fall and kill someone" and I was like, how ironic, I'll use that. But, let me tell you, it's kinda creepy seeing those lights every other day...