Chapter Two: Blood

She sees them enter out of the corner of her eye. For a moment, she watches. They certainly aren't students, but it doesn't take an idiot to guess that. They are dressed too professionally and are much too old. One- the man- speaks to the teacher, who nods and motions to the back of the room where the two people will be able to sit. The man thanks the teacher and they walk slowly to the back of the classroom, talking quietly with each other. As they pass her front row desk, her heart rate escalates. What if they're more people from Social Services? She wonders. Come to check up on her and see if she's still...normal?

No, they would have come to her directly, right?

I just hope they don't ask questions about mom... she thinks, and glances back at the dark haired man and the redheaded woman with him. The man notices, and she turns her head back toward her desk and hides her face. She can still feel his eyes on her. She breathes heavily, willing his attention away, but she can feel it build up inside of her. She grips her desk and breaths even more heavily.

The bell rings, and the teacher does his best to calm the class. He is almost unsuccessful, until he yells. The girl jumps in surprise and closes her eyes, willing the feeling away. She wonders if she dares glance back at the man and the woman who are dressed all too formally for such a horribly cheap school.

The class calms. The teacher, Mr. Hudson, closes the door. She glances at her desk and the pencil on it. It begins to shake. Take calm, deep breaths, she tells herself. This will pass.

"We're beginning gasses today, class," says the teacher. "The test will be tomorrow."

The test! She'd forgotten all about the test. She tightens her grip and closes her eyes. Calm, clam. In, out... she tries to tell herself, but it is so difficult to keep it all back. She feels those eyes on her again. The man's eyes. The one who notices everything.

The class begins and she tries to listen, but she doesn't understand much of it. She doesn't care right now either. The eyes of the man or maybe the woman come and go from the back of her head, and she dares not move. The teacher keeps reminding them of the things they still need to hand in. But she didn't do any of them. She was too...busy. It wasn't my fault!

The teacher asks a question. Everyone stares at him stupidly, unable to answer the question. There is a long pause until suddenly; the redheaded woman's voice is heard. Answering the question with a perfect answer. The whole class turns to stare at the strangers in the classroom. She turns and looks, hoping that the fact that everyone else was looking too would disguise her more.

The man stares at the woman, a bit shocked as well. The woman looks embarrassed. "I'm sorry," she says, "I couldn't help it."

The class chuckles a little, but all still curious, they will not leave the two people in the back in peace. The man leans over to the woman. "Who's being irresponsible now?" he asks, mocking her. She looks at him and rolls her eyes a little. She continues to stare at the woman, who relaxes a little. As everyone goes back to their work, by order of the teacher, she hears the woman say quietly to the man; "How much longer are we going to observe?"

"It was your idea. You tell me."

She feels her heart beat a little faster. They didn't sound like social workers, but there was something strange about them. The class resumes with as little tempo as before, and that only stresses her even more. Trying to escape for just a moment, she thinks of her sister and the good times they had together... but the thought leads her to her mother, and the man. She sees blood, lots of blood, all over the room...

Mulder stands suddenly, and for a moment, only Scully notices it. She grabs his arms gently. "Mulder- what is it?" she asks quietly. A few people in the back turn to them. Mulder sits and turns to Scully, whispering in her ear so only she can hear.

"Look at the edges of the room, around the ceiling."

Scully moves her eyes up to the ceiling, where the roof and wall meet. "Oh my God..." she whispers. "Is that..."

Mulder nods. "I think it is."

It slides down the wall, dripping down further and further. The red, heavy liquid drips, as if there are several litres of blood spilled in the ceiling; more and more of it, until it comes halfway down the walls all around the classroom. A spot in the middle of the ceiling turns red, and then the colour spreads, filling the whole grey ceiling with a disgusting red hue and the heavy, empty smell of blood.

The whole class notices, and for a moment, they all just stare. That is, until a young girl with short blond hair realises what it is and runs from the room, her hands clamped over her mouth. "A hemophobe," whispers Mulder, watching the girl leave. "Let's get these students out of here, Scully."

She nods slowly, still staring at the mass amounts of blood all over the room. "Yes, lets."

Mulder stands and puts on his commanding voice. "Okay, I want everyone to get into the hallway!" he calls out to the class, before anyone breaks into panic. "Quick, everyone out!"

The teacher moves first, and people get up, grab their things, and hurry out of the classroom. The last student to leave is a girl with long dark hair. Mulder reaches his hand out to Scully and helps her to her feet. "Can we get a sample of that?" he asks. Scully nods.

"Yes, I think so. What do you think this is, Mulder?"

"Well, I've never heard of a telekinetic just grabbing a whole bunch of blood and dumping it above someone ceiling in a school... so, right now, I'm thinking that either we should look into what's above this ceiling and the history of some of these kids. "

"So you think this blood might be spilled from someone hiding..." she looks to the door, to see a few kids looking in and eavesdropping. Scully goes to the door, and looks at them. "Where is your teacher?"

"Right here, Agent Scully."

She looks up and sees the teacher. "Could you take these students somewhere where they can sit for a few minutes until Agent Mulder and I are finished here?"

"Yes, of course." He nods and tries to usher all the students away from the door. "We'll be in the large conference room, Agent Scully."

"Thank you, Mr. Hudson."

Scully reaches into her pocket and grabs a latex glove. Pulling it onto her hands, she reaches out and closes the door, blocking the view of any stragglers. Sighing, she turns to Mulder, who is trying to get a sample of blood of a tissue. "I have to admit, Mulder, I was beginning to expect something paranormal as well... but I wasn't expecting this."

"I wasn't either. You might want to stands near the middle of the room... blood it getting to the floor now. What's your estimate on how much blood this is?"

She looks around. "More than the blood of one body. Mulder, do you think this might be from someone hiding bodies in the roof?"

Mulder shakes his head. "This blood is all fresh, Scully. As in, it's brand new out of the body and no one could bleed that fast, especially after death. I think that this is the work of a poltergeist from one of these students. Also, I think that it may have to do with apports. Poltergeists and spirits have been known to move things or make things appear that wouldn't normally do that. We have to run a test on this. "He holds out the tissue to her, but they both look at it sceptically. "Let's get a sandwich bag or something."

"Well, I hope it's enough to get a sample," she sighs. "Let's get out of here. The blood is spreading. It will fill the whole room soon. What do you think we should do about this? We can leave it."

Mulder looks around. "I'm going to see if there's any way to get in the ceiling. I want you to get a class list from Miss Anderson of all the people in the classes where the strange things have been happening. Then, I need you to start interviewing some of the kids."

"Mulder, where are you going to be?"

"I'm going to find out the source of this blood. I won't be long."

She nods. "Alright."