Chapter 4: An inevitable end
I woke up and got dressed and soon realized the two roommates I had already left for class. It seemed early for them to have already left, but I already was dressed and well groomed. I decided to leave my jacket in the closet and put on my black hooded jacket. I don't understand how it is this cold already; it isn't even the middle of fall yet. I pulled on a pair of jeans and forced on my skate shoes. I sprayed some of my cologne on and walked out the door to see the hallway was empty. I questioned why nobody was here and looked at my watch. It was still at least an hour before class. I walked outside the dorm and didn't even see a prefect around and soon my questions were answered when I saw many people gathered around the infirmary.
Some people were crying, and I noticed there were police cars and ambulances close to the building. I saw photographers' flashes of cameras around the area and I caught sight of my two friends. "Hey Anthony what is going on?" I asked. "You know the kid you fought a while ago? They just found him murdered in his bed. Blood all over the place, it is a fucking mess in there." He said shuddering at the thought. I soon saw the paramedics wheeling out Jimmy's lifeless body on the gurney. I couldn't believe in the month I was here I had just gotten to know him and now he was all over the place. I saw the principal try to move things along and get kids back to their dormitories. They announced over the intercoms that the police were going to do a full investigation and interrogation of certain students. Dr. Crabblesnitch came into the boys' dorm to seek out a few people; he caught hold of Jimmy's friend Pete Kowalski, Russell, Johnny, Damon the jock, and me. We had been the last boys to see Jimmy alive, and he only took one girl from the dorm, Zoe.
We all went up to his office so he could talk to us as a group before being sent into the interview room they had set up on the balcony of the auditorium. One by one we were sent in and finally all that was left to interview was I; I was Jimmy's most frequented visitor so I was more than likely a prime suspect. That didn't make me feel very good knowing I was innocent and them probably thinking I committed a murder. "Come on in." The officer said to me. "So tell us your name please." The officer asked politely. "Angel." I replied. "I know this is probably tough for you, but I need you to cooperate as much as you can. First off what can you tell us about Jimmy?" He asked. I really didn't know how to answer this. "I've really only been around here for a month, I can tell you he isn't as bad as he seems though. Kind of rough around the edges, but he could have used a little sharpening." That didn't come out right.
"Okay. That wasn't what I was asking, I meant did he have anyone that could potentially hurt him in any way?" The officer asked remaining patient. "Not very many people. People respected and feared him, and I don't see anyone trying to kill him. Maybe except for one kid." I said. "May I ask who?" He asked. "Some kid named Gary Smith or something. Jimmy was telling me something about Gary wanting revenge, and all of this other stuff. I thought he was being paranoid but the moments I saw Gary last, he seemed crazy, but not crazy enough to commit a felony. Nobody knows where he is now." I stated bluntly. "When did you last see this Smith fellow?" He asked. "A month ago. A fight happened under the school, Gary showed up, and he left after threatening everybody. Mostly Jimmy and I." I stated truthfully. The last thing I need is a criminal record.
"Why toward you and Jimmy? Why not just towards him?" He asked. "To be honest Jimmy and I were a little worked up and we fought. I ended up winning and Gary showed up to torment Jimmy I guess. It worked and he was getting me a little worked up. I would have lunged at him but he just strolled away laughing like a maniac. I helped Jimmy up and soon we forgave and forgot, we became friends despite his time in the infirmary. I never actually thought somebody would kill him, and I don't know for sure, but I do believe it was Gary Smith." I finished sounding out of breath.
"You do realize you could be charge with battery right? This is a very serious charge, you were not directly related to the murder, and in fact it doesn't seem like it at all. However, if you did in fact visit James regularly, I am fairly convinced that you would have held back if you could. You don't seem like the type that would just beat or even kill anybody. If you hadn't visited James as much as you claim, I could easily believe you were a prime suspect. However, this is a very serious accusation on your part of believing this boy, Gary Smith, despite his anger and best efforts to threaten, and even carry out a murder, makes him a prime suspect and on the wanted list if this goes through. I hope you are fully aware that an accusation like this is not to be toyed with lightly, an innocent boy could get thrown behind bars, and murders will still be carried out. I truly hope you are one hundred and ten percent sure it is Gary. We will keep him in mind if you aren't completely sure, but we need to know how convinced you are of this." The officer explained.
"Just keep him in mind, I would rather not take the chance either." I was honest. "Thank you for your time. You may go." The officer dismissed me and I was on my way to the dorm room to find the boys. It seemed pretty empty save for the two nerds watching some sort of science fiction show. I crossed Jimmy's room and looked in and saw a small boy in a pink shirt. He seemed pretty upset, and I assumed he was a good friend of his. I walked in to try and comfort the small boy. "Are you alright?" I asked. He looked up from the tears running down his cheeks and didn't look too happy to see me. "No. My only friend was murdered in cold blood. How do you think I feel? You just had to beat him and make him defenseless huh? If he was up and ready he could have beaten the guy up!" He was nearly yelling.
"I didn't mean for him to get killed, I only just got here and shit hit the fan! I had no idea that Gary kid was back, or even who he is, and all I know is the kid I visited for weeks despite beating him up, is now dead and gone. I feel just as much regret as the next guy in line, and of course I had no idea that anybody here or anywhere had the balls to kill a kid in cold blood, if I had been there I would have fought back."
"But you weren't were you?" He asked rhetorically. "No. Jimmy wasn't a bad guy I know that for sure, he explained certain details of the previous year to me, and the reason he was at the top. Now it seems like everybody has a reason to be afraid of me. I don't want people to be afraid, and I only chose to confront Jimmy on the basis of him cheating on this girl." I pointed to the picture of Zoe. "So that means you think you are fighting for a good cause? That's how Jimmy was before the power of ruling the school went to his head. He wasn't thinking straight and if you even said the wrong thing to him you would get your head kicked in. Clearly you did well on shutting him up and teaching him to respect others. Hopefully the power won't go to your head like it did his. Look if you truly want to fight the right battle you have to have a clear head and an open mind. Otherwise the battle you fight will just turn into a slaughtering of innocent people. I hope you do the right thing and stay away from the school, everyone is hyped up and ready to kill each other now that they have actually witnessed a real murder." The boy finished.
"I don't understand. What do you mean they are ready to kill, and the slaughtering innocents, what do you mean by that?" I asked. "Trust me just pack your bags, find any friends you have made, and just leave. This school will just tumble into even more violent chaos than before; trust me you don't want any part in it. I know you became friends with those other two guys, Ian and Anthony, but you have to get them to leave with you as soon as possible. See you later." He finished as he walked off leaving me just sitting there. I wondered truly if any of this stuff would actually come to be. Either way I went to my room where the boy's were playing some card game. I quickly went for my closet to grab anything that I could.
"What are you doing?" Anthony asked quickly but calmly. I turned around and saw the two boys staring at me. "Sorry, we have to get out of here." I said bluntly. "Why? It actually is starting to get a little fun here now." Ian said scoffing. "Why? Because this school is going to end up in Hell, and I don't want any of us being a part of it." I said packing more things. "What are you talking about?" Anthony asked getting up concerned. "Pete Kowalski told me people are hyped up about being near an actual murder. They know something is up and now they want to kill each other off. We have to get out of here before Hell breaks loose." I said. "We can't just leave out of the blue. What if the cops or somebody catches us running and we get thrown in jail?" Ian asked. "They aren't going to jail us just for skipping school. At the worst they will probably send us back here." I said finishing my bag.
"How can you be so sure they will do anything? What if Pete is just talking a bunch of shit?" Anthony asked lightly laughing. I thought about that for a moment and realized Anthony was probably right. I decided to unpack again and Anthony nodded in satisfaction of actually convincing me. I still felt unsure but I felt like it was easier to humor the two rather than argue more points to them. I decided to take a quick walk around the school and saw a lot of people actually moping around. They must be putting on quite an act to be somewhat sad for Jimmy. Soon enough it was actually nighttime and people soon retreated to their dorms. I still wanted to just look around and check out parts of the school I didn't even know about. There really wasn't much to it, and it didn't seem very fun knowing I was probably now untouchable by the cliques. I decided to wander around to the Harrington House just to see the majesty of this palace looking place.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Someone asked when I admired the building. It was Derby Harrington himself. "Yeah I guess." I said. "You're welcome anytime. Just try and wear the proper attire." He said. I nodded my head in agreement as we continued staring. "You know Derby out of all the people you seem to be the least intimidated by me. Even meathead over at the football field is afraid of me. I don't really understand any of this." I said. "Well I know you couldn't have killed Hopkins. To be genuine even with the rage you showed in the hole, it doesn't seem like you would even want to kill a man. Besides you seemed to become friends after that, and you obviously can't hold a grudge. By the way are you with that townie girl? Zoe I mean." He asked. "No. I just wanted to be friends with her. I don't think I could ever date her in all honesty. Actually I couldn't bring myself to like any girl at this school since the majority has already had sex with everybody, or they're little kids. Maybe even both. This school has a wide range of unpredictable things. I haven't met a single girl worth talking to. Zoe is a good friend and all but I know we could never bond on a relational level." I said truthfully. He nodded his head.
"True. Not even my beloved Pinky is a virgin. She didn't lose it the innocent way either." He said. "What girl does?" I asked laughing a bit. I didn't realize the serious tone Derby had when he meant "Innocent". "Pinky was raped…" I stated regretting the last thing I said. "Unfortunately she was. I have no idea who did it, but over the summer she stayed here and I went north a little ways. She was one of the only preps still here along with Bif, Parker, and Gord. Gord I know is a homosexual, Bif is my right hand, and Parker I am not too sure about. Parker had more innocent blood than anyone in the house, and he did start dating a woman not too long ago. Still a group somehow caught her in the Harrington House, and she couldn't tell who they were since she was blindfolded and had some sort of plugs in her ears. All she could hear was her muffled yelling as it happened.
We got the news not too long after from Bif who was the first on the scene, but it was too late to see who did it. There weren't even any eyewitness accounts of it happening. It seems like they were there as ghosts and disappeared faster than lightning. I should have brought her with me. Anyways I don't want to bore you with a sob story I have a feeling you have things to get to." He said and I nodded. "See you around then." I said as he waved goodbye. He seems much friendlier alone than with a group, I don't think I ever would have guessed. I soon went to my dorm room and saw the boys asleep already. I quickly changed and went to bed on the far side since Ian took my bed. Hopefully this genuine friendship would still be there come tomorrow.