CHAPTER EIGHT – THE RAVE
EDWARD POV
All lesson I was fidgeting, I just couldn't keep still because my gut instinct was telling me that something bad had happened to Eric. My eyes were fixated on the door because I thought that somehow if I stared at it long enough then I would magically see in x-ray vision. All these questions kept flying around in my head and I couldn't just focus on one to try and come up with an answer. Where was Eric? Why the fuck did Mr. Harding have his necklace? And the most important one was why was there blood on it?
For most of this lesson I kept telling myself that my eyes were seeing things but I knew for a fact that it was Eric's necklace, there was no two ways about it. Even if it was just a random gold chain that Mr. Harding coincidentally found the only way I could tell if it was Eric's was if I actually got close enough to see the engraving of his mother's name on it.
Could it have been a possibility that Mr. Harding killed Eric and the answer was yes, and if that answer was correct then how many others has he killed? And if there had been other killing then did he do it on his own free will or was he told to do it? I knew that I was probably jumping the gun a bit because there could have easily been a reasonable explanation and besides if Mr. Harding was killing then it didn't mean that Conner's and Bryans were as well.
This could be the department's way to eliminate us one by one without anybody knowing about it and if so then the principle must be involved as well and if he was then this was a whole different ball park all together. If he did know then why the fuck did he send his daughter to the same school as the rest of us. Did he plan to kill her as well? Was this a whole conspiracy thing?
I groaned inwards at my thoughts, ok maybe I was blowing this whole thing way out of proportion. I knew that there was something weird going on with the teachers like the way they dressed, acted and shit, even Bella noticed it. I could believe my other theories that they were on drugs or they were special trained in defence techniques but I couldn't grasp my latest theory about them killing students?
The bell rung and I was out of seat faster than a cheetah on speed. If the principle was involved then I would have to explain my theory to Bella. I didn't no if she would believe me but I had to do something. Everybody trampled on each other to get to the exit as I turned the corner there were loads of students loitering in a crowd. I stood back and watched the commotion from a distance. I sin Mike at the other side of the crowd so I whistled to him. He looked up and came running over to me.
"What's happening?"
"Its Eric man, his dead" He said running his hands through his hair.
As the words left his lips my latest theory started to become all too real.
"How?"
"He Od'd man big time" He informed me.
That was believable beings as Eric was edged up about ninety eight percent of the time.
"How do you know that?"
"Jessica found him lying there about twenty minutes ago. He was foaming at the mouth and shit, his throats the size of basketball and when the guards searched his locker he had bags of Edge in there man, fuck knows how he got it into school"
"Does Tyler and the rest know?"
"Yeah, there pretty fucked up about it man, it's always bad when we lose one of our own"
The guards that surrounded his body stood up and wheeled Eric away on a stretcher. I couldn't see his face because he was zipped up in a body bag.
"We having a memorial for him at the rave later" Mike informed me.
"Alright" I told him before walking off.
I walked down the main hallway and out the exit. This whole fucking thing was bizarre. Considering the state Eric was in when he entered history then it wouldn't have came to shock to me that he actually Od'd but the weird thing was that Mr. Harding went with him. Did Eric die before or after Mr. Harding came back in the class?
I walked through the detectors and down the steps. Bella's car was still in the parking lot so she hadn't had left yet. I walked across the parking lot and put my books inside the seat compartment of my bike. I leaned up against the side of my bike and tried to make sense of my thoughts.
If what Mike said was true about Eric's condition then that was a perfectly good reason why there was blood on the chain, but yet again why did Mr. Harding feel the need to take it? There were two reasons why his throat could have swelled up one, he could very well have Od'd and chocked on the Edge or two, he could have been strangled. Both assumptions could be true but yet again I didn't even know if that chain even belonged to Eric so the only way I could know for sure was if I sin the chain with my own eyes.
"Hi" I heard a soft whisper.
I looked around to see Bella standing next to me.
"Hi" I replied.
"Nice bike" she smiled.
"Thanks" I replied half heartedly.
I shook my head to try and place my thoughts about Eric in a straight line but it didn't work. What the fuck was I suppose to say to her? Hey I think the history teacher killed someone and I think your dads involved?
"Um, did you hear about Eric?" I asked.
"Yeah Rose told me, was he a black heart?"
"Yeah, um" I paused.
I didn't even know where to start, I knew she wouldn't believe my assumptions and I knew that I had no right to accuse her farther of anything. What I wanted to say would have ended with me either going to prison or Bella never speaking to me again because this was a huge accusation to accuse a person of with no evidence. It seems too much of a risk to say anything just because I had a hunch.
"Um, see you tomorrow" I chicken out.
I climbed on my bike and that gave her entry to the driver's door to her car.
"See you tomorrow" Bella replied weakly.
I nodded then sped off out the parking lot.
I arrived home in little under ten minutes. I parked my bike up on the front yard and headed inside. I didn't even acknowledge Esme as I went straight to my room. I threw my jacket off and fell backwards on my bed. I rubbed my eyes and let out a growl. Today started out really good and for once I was in a happy mood then it came crashing down again in last period. Why the fuck couldn't Eric just control his habit, Why the fuck did I even have to notice that gold chain anyway as Bella would have said Mr. Observant, I fucking was.
I couldn't say anything to Bella, at least not yet anyway. I could tell her about Mr Harding's involvement and let her make up her own mind but I couldn't tell her that I thought that the department and especially her farther was involved. I let out another growl, this day officially sucked big time, well the last part did I corrected myself.
I closed my eyes and pushed out what happened today at the back of my mind. I knew I would not find out the truth so why bother worrying and getting wound up about it. There was one good thing that came out of today and that was knowing that Bella actually wanted to speak to me so I was going to continue to speak to her, and as far as that fucking dog Jacob was concerned then I would have to try and keep him away from her because know body messes with my friends.
Yes Bella was my friend, well I considered her to be anyway even if she didn't consider me one. The night she lied to her father to keep us both from getting into trouble was the moment she became my friend considering she hadn't even barley spoken to me. My eyelids felt heavy as I tried to open them so I didn't fight against them. Tonight was Jaspers rave so I had to have all the energy I could get, not energy so I could help him on his journey to become a black heart, but the energy to smack the fuckers who helped him on his way.
I opened my eyes and my room was pitch black. I let out a yawn as my eyes strained to see the time from my watch. It was just past six pm, I let out another yawn before I sat up and grabbed my jacket. I put it on as I left my room. I headed down the hallway and into the bathroom. I used the toilet before I entered the hallway again and headed downstairs.
"Jasper" I called out.
There was silence so I presumed he was already at the rave. I pulled my keys out my pocket and headed out the front slamming the door behind me. I climbed on my bike and sped off.
I headed over to the far side of the north side and pulled up outside a warehouse just under an abandoned freeway bridge. I could already hear the loud music coming from inside and a few black heart members sat on the steps just outside of the doorway. The warehouse was covered in spray paint and black heart pictures. This was our main HQ if you like. I parked up and climbed off my bike.
"Don't worry, Eddie boy his still got some fight left in him" a male member laughed by the door.
I locked my jaw and my fists clenched into ball. I ascended the steps and grabbed him by the collar. I threw him off the steps and sent him crashing into the metal railing. I walked through the door and down a flight of stairs and into the basement. There were crowds of member laughing, shouting, jumping and dancing as I shoved past them and into the middle of the room. Jasper was being tossed around to everybody as they punched him back and forth. I stopped dead in my track and Jasper hurled over to me. He face was black and purple and there was blood everywhere as I caught him in my arms.
"I'm one of you now man" He laughed.
I could tell from his pupils that he was high on fucking edge.
"Glad you survived" I sarcastically spat shoving him off me.
He stumbled and somehow managed to stand up straight.
"We saved the last hit for you Eddie boy" Tyler smirked.
"Fuck you" I spat at him
I turned to leave but I felt his hand grab my arm. In that split second I decided my fate. I spun around and connected my fist with his face. He flew backwards and crashed to the floor. I knew that from hitting him it would cause the gang to retaliate and defend him because that's how it worked so I knew I had a lot of enemies against me now. Mikes fist came towards me put I grabbed it and kicked him in the gut causing him to fall to the floor.
"Get him!" Somebody shouted.
I felt a fist connect with my face so I stumbled backwards. I lost my footing and crashed to the floor then body upon body dog piled on top of me as they threw punched and kicks at me. My adrenaline kicked in causing a huge growl to erupt of my chest.
I somehow managed to crawl out from under the pile and began smacking everybody as they ganged up on me. I was getting punched left right and centre, I knew I couldn't take them all out but I made fucking sure that I would take a few of them down with me. I could already taste the blood in my mouth but I was that pumped with adrenaline I didn't allow myself to feel the pain.
My fists were charged and I made sure whoever got in front of them would feel every bit of pain from them in the morning. I didn't know how long I was fighting for but eventually my body gave out and I became exhausted.
"Enough" Tyler shouted.
One finally punch to the head was all it look for my legs to collapse and for the darkness to devour me.
"Edward" somebody whispered.
My body felt like it had been ran over by a freight train. I felt a little nudge on arm that made me groan in pain.
"Edward" I heard again.
Whatever I was lying on was cold which made my body feel a bit numb. My eyes slowly crept open and it hurt to even do that. I could already feel the swelling around them and all I wanted to do was close them again.
"Wake the fuck up" I heard a familiar voice.
My eyes fluttered back open, my vision was blurry and it took me a few seconds to get better clarity.
"Jasper" I said clearing my throat.
"Yeah bro it's me, you alright?"
I cleared my throat and began to sit up. I was lying on stone slab in a different room in the warehouse. I groaned as I sat up because I could feel the strain in my stomach. Jasper face was bruised and cut but all the blood had been cleaned up.
"What happened?" I asked still dazed.
"You got knocked the fuck out, that's what happened?" he informed me.
I tried to remember back to the prior events and groaned.
"Here"
He pasted me a bottle of water and I took it too eagerly. I let the cold liquid fall down my throat as it soothed it. I screwed the cap back on and scanned the room. I knew we were still in the warehouse because I have been in this room before. My eyes landed back on Jasper and I noticed the little black heart now tattooed on his right earlobe.
"How long have I been out?" I groaned.
"About seven hours" he informed me.
"What?" I gasped looking at my watch.
He was right because my watch indicated that it was just past one o'clock in the morning. Just then the door slid open and revealed Tyler.
"Ah, your awake Eddie boy, how you feeling?" He smirked.
"Fuck you" I spat.
"Look, I apologize for what happened but you know how it is" He said coming into the room.
As he stood under the light I could see that his right eye had swelled up from where I had hit him.
"Whatever" I hissed.
"Jasper can you give us a minuet" he asked.
Jasper walked out and closed the door behind him.
"Edward, what the fuck happened to you man?
"What?" I hissed.
"You used to love getting wrecked and hanging out with the gang. Ever since you got out of prison it's like you have been avoiding us and you treat us like were your enemy"
"I told you before Tyler, I'm on parole if I get caught ganging ill back in prison. Until I'm off parole than I cant do shit with you or the gang" I told him.
The gang worked in a fucked up way it was like we were a big family who stuck by each other but if you broke the rules or turned on them then they would make sure you knew about it. I didn't really like Tyler but under all the bullshit exterior lay a half descent guy, he only put a mask on like everybody else. When I was the leader I did to, you had to act differently around other members, you had to show them whose boss and make sure they knew that if they broke any rules then they would pay for it. I broke one last night but hitting Tyler so I couldn't blame him or anybody else for what happened but myself.
"There's been some rumours going around that you don't want to part of the gang anymore?"
"Is that right?"
"Yes, and I must say I believe them but you and I both know that you can't just leave"
"I know Tyler" I sighed.
"Look, even though we don't agree and you can be a stubborn asshole. I can vouch for you and tell the others that the rumours aren't true, but you better fix up my friend and look fucking sharp if you want the rest to believe you" He said.
He was so wrong maybe I was his friend but he certainly wasn't mine, however he used to be a very long time ago. He was one of the boys on the block that I had skateboarding competitions with. I used to go around his house when his mother cooked dinner and we would hide out in his attic and play dungeons and dragon and the most shocking thing of all was that James the leader of the Razor Heads played with us.
I knew why he was being helpful and it wasn't because we looked out for each other like we were family it was because I had done it for him when I was leader. He too also wanted to leave and I sin it every time I looked into his eyes, but I didn't let anybody know about it. Tyler knew I wanted to leave the gang but choose not to say anything to the others and for that I was grateful because I would have been well and truly dead by now.
"Thanks" I whispered.
"Now were even" He smiled.
He turned to leave and paused as he walked out the door.
"Oh and by the way, you have a killer right hook" he laughed before he left.
So, this day didn't turn out so bad after all, I spoke to Bella, Jasper got what he wanted and survived and is now official one of us, Tyler and I kind of see eye to eye even though I still dislike him, Eric died or maybe got murdered and I look and feel like I've been run over by a train, trampled on by a bull and thrown in a vat of acid, so all in all this day has been both good and bad. I can't wait and see what tomorrow going to bring.