Chapter II: The Forgotten Frequency.
***Monday, September 15: Morning***
Royal Springs was a large school. An old building in a modern city. The tall gates opened to a long passageway, decorated with trees and flowers, which ended at the towering double doors made of thick wood, with the school's badge taking pride of place above the frame.
Jackson was in 3b, along with Alex. They chose to sit next to each other, as they knew no one else.
"Nice! Looks like we're in the same class!" said Alex, "this is gonna be fun!
"As fun as Californian high school can be." Jackson remarked nervously.
Alex didn't reply. Their teacher was a tall man with little to no hair. His eyes were those of vultures. The kind you remember as always staring at you, even if their owner had their back turned.
"Hello, class. I can see a lot of empty seats today. Lucky its not the first day of term or anything." the voice was course and worn. "I'm you're new teacher. Aren't you lucky? Assembly starts in five. I trust you all know the way."
As the class was leaving, Jackson noticed a girl looking at him. "Can I help you?" he asked.
"Oh, sorry, you're the new guy right?" she looked embarrassed. She was wearing the school uniform over a green, skinny fit turtleneck shirt. Her hair was long and lightly coloured, and she had a pleated skirt.
"Yeah, I'm Jackson, and this is Alex. We're roommates," Jackson answered. "What was your name again?"
"Ah, sorry, yeah. Well my full name is Samantha Jane de Beulieu." There was a pause. "Yes my family is French, and yes they are comparatively wealthier than most."
"I wasn't going to say anything" Jackson smiled uncomfortably.
"But I go by Sam, so hopefully that's easier to remember."
"Much" Alex Muttered.
"I live in the school flats too. We're practically related, heehee," Sam seemed a little uncomfortable.
Jackson entered the school hall with Sam and the rest of his class. He found a seat next to Alex.
The hall was a large room with dim lights hanging from a yellowing ceiling. The walls were red, and the curtains orange. Someone had clearly gone all out with the colour scheme. The stage at the front was tall and long, with a small podium at the centre, bearing the school's badge.
A small man walked on to the stage and approached the podium. "Ahem! Err is this thing on? Welcome back, students, to Royal Springs High school. I'm sure any newcomers will be happy here over the next year and I hope you can all get along well. I am of course the school's principal, Roy Carlson." The man had thin grey hair and was small and fat. He had a moustache and wore round glasses that looked like they needed constant cleaning. No such attention was given to them by Roy, however, who endeavoured to squint on through his speech.
After the assembly the students were dismissed, and Jackson went back to his homeroom to collect his bag. He checked his student help sheet from the package he had been given and headed to his next lesson: Biology.
Alex had opted to take physics instead of biology, and the only person Jackson knew in this class was Sam. He had some questions about Falcon City that he wanted answering, so he sat with her.
"So, did you watch the news last night?" Jackson asked.
"The thing about the forgotten frequency?"
"Yea"
"It's a load of crap if you ask me"
Jackson thought about how he may be coming across and dialled back a little. "I was just worried cause of all the people ending up in hospital here recently. Maybe it has nothing to do with it. Still, I'd like to check it out."
"I guess you think you have a fresh perspective coming from out of town." Sam frowned. "Don't get caught up in the craziness that this place attracts. I mean you don't honestly intend to sit in the middle of town, trying to find a radio frequency that probably doesn't exist?"
"Yep that was the plan. Wanna tag along?"
"You mean with you?" Sam was clearly against the idea… "Sure."
"Err… are you serious?"
"I'd just like to see the look on you're face when you realise that you were wrong…" Sam sneered. "Then maybe you'll forget about it all and people wont think you're mental. I'm only helping you fit in." She smiled.
"Ok, then we'll meet outside the school gates after class. I'll tell Alex."
"He's coming too?" Sam was no longer smiling.
***After school***
After meeting at the gates, Jackson instructed Sam to lead the way to the star's satellite, as she was the only one who knew how to get around town. They arrived and each of them took a radio out of their bags. The star's satellite was exactly at the centre of the city and stood taller then any other object in Frequency Central. It was a radio tower with a star symbol on the framework, halfway up the front face. It had become something of a tourist attraction, especially because of the new rumours, and so there were benches and shops around it.
"Wow! I've never been here before!" Alex was stumbling around in noticeable enthusiasm.
"Calm down idiot, you'll attract attention." Sam was opting to try looking as casual as possible.
"Alright, lets sit over there," suggested Jackson, who was getting agitated about testing out the rumour.
They sat where he had pointed (a small wooded bench next to the tower, facing the arcade.) and began searching through the frequencies on their radio sets.
All that could be heard was white noise, interrupted by the occasional DJ talking to his fans about new music.
"Feeling silly yet chaps?" Sam smirked "I knew we wouldn't find anything."
"We've only been here for like thirty seconds, give it a minute." Said Alex.
"Ugh fine. But I'm gonna go get a drink, you want one?" Sam asked Jackson.
Alex butted in, "why yes, I'll have a mad bull"
"I don't think I was asking you." Sam looked annoyed.
"I'm fine thanks." Said Jackson.
Sam wandered off.
"She's getting me that mad bull, right?" Asked Alex
"Not even a little bit." Jackson chuckled.
"Fine, I'll get it myself!" He stormed off in the direction of the nearest stall.
***Evening***
"Sigh, Dude how long are you gonna take?!" Alex was getting restless.
"Just a minute, we'll be done soon." Jackson, however, was still determined.
"You said that like 3 hours ago!"
"Calm down! We'll leave in a minute." Jackson was getting angry now.
"Alex, if you want you can just leave," said Sam, "I'll stay here with Jackson."
"Err, no! If you're staying here, then I'm staying too. It wouldn't be safe for you to be out alone at night." Alex was standing proud, with his hands on his hips.
"Are you saying I'm weak?" Sam had forgotten about her radio, along with Alex, and was engaging in some form of menacing staring contest with him.
"Guys wait I think I'm getting something!" Jackson stood up fast, with his radio at the ready.
"Are you serious? Holy crap!" shouted Alex, "Turn it up!"
"I know, I know" Jackson turned the volume dial as far as he could.
…
"All I hear is static." Sam was not amused.
"I swear I heard something!" said Jackson, solemnly.
"It was probably some random DJ," Alex said
"It was not!" Jackson was defensive, "Just listen!" The radio was fussing and buzzing to the tune of nothingness. Occasionally the three could catch the start of a word or the brief end of a sentence.
But then they could hear full words. Short words, but words nonetheless.
"What is that," Sam leaned an ear towards the speaker, "that doesn't sound human."
Now the strange voice began to string words together. A sudden silence occurred, and it was these words that broke that silence. "Found you." It came from the strange voice on the radio and after that all that was heard was static.
"What the-" Alex looked scared, "that's messed up!" he ran off. Sam followed.
Jackson was finding it hard to admit that he too was scared by what he had heard and he dropped the radio as he ran after the others.
It smashed on the ground and all was silent.