Niko

Finally, classes are over for the day. I didn’t have to answer any questions, so my silence remains unbroken.

I got the ketchup. Luck, fate, karma, whatever it’s called, it was on my side for once. Lunch was hotdog-like things in chili-substitute, so there were little ketchup packet available in bulk. I have decided to use a gouge instead of a knife to carve the insanities, and leave one of my smaller blades in the wall.

I’m back at the willow. They kick us outside for two hours after classes while the teachers go on break. Never mind that there’s three feet of snow out here, or that there is only one hour of daylight left. No, its: "The little buggers need fresh air, and if they freeze to death while they get it, then so much the better!"

I can see nearly everything from up in this tree. Hear everything too, because the willow is in the corner of the grounds, with two walls converging behind me. It makes a perfect sound dish. I can hear all.

Oh, NO! Spaniels at two o’clock, headed for me! Blank face, blocked ears, I don’t see them, they don’t see me, I can’t hear them and they don’t say anything...

I wish.

Spaniel #1: Look, it’s Doom and Gloom!

I don’t hear them, I don’t hear them...

Spaniel #2: What, in the tree? I thought that was a vulture.

I’m not here, I’m not here...

Spaniel #1: OOOOH, I’m scared! Big Black Vulture, come to kill us all!

Spaniel #2: Hey, what do you get if you barbeque Niko?

Spaniel #1: What?

Spaniel #2: A roasted nut!

They aren’t laughing, they aren’t laughing...

Spaniel #1: Look, she’s trying to ignore us.

Yes I am, yes I am...

Spaniel #2: Burned little freak.

Spaniel #1: Yeah, freak.

I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry...

Jack

Her room couldn’t be more different than the other girl’s. It smells vaguely of... is it salt peter? There’s an elaborate chemistry set covering the better part of her desk, and a bookcase nearby, crammed with spiral-bound notebooks. Not surprising, really, considering how fast she goes through them. I go to her desk and open a drawer. I’m snooping, this is wrong, but somehow I can’t help it. I don’t seem to be in control of what I’m doing, like my need for answers has possessed me. I have to know more about her.

The drawer is lined in green velvet, containing enough daggers, knives, and blades to cut a brick wall into ribbons. I shudder and close it, only to open the next one. This one is full of what I can only assume she considers the bare essentials: toothbrush, first aid kit, a case of black ballpoint pens, and several empty notebooks.

Notebooks...

I return to her bookcase, and pull out the last one on the last shelf.

Her other ones don’t have her name on them, and hearts probably would have made her gag, so this must have been one of her first notebooks. Maybe even her first.

Wait, where did she get a bookshelf? It seems like a cinderblock and board job, but where did the boards come from? I look around. Her mattress is on the floor, so she must have used the bed boards. Clever.

Books are piled next to the mattress. I look at them. "Macbeth," "The Inferno," "Oliver Twist," "Othello," and the inevitable, "Anarchist’s Bible: Terrorism for Dummies." Hands up everyone who’s surprised.

The door closes on it’s own, and I almost jump out of my skin. The prickle of fear has penetrated the curiosity, and I am filled with a sudden desire to get the hell out of there. I have a mental image of Niko bursting into the room, to find me in the middle of it, and holding her first notebook. This image is accompanied with another: the inside of a slaughter house. I turn around to go, but stop when I see the back of the door.

It’s a bulletin board, entirely covered with a photo of every single person in the school, from the first-form lesbian to the dean. Some have names under the picture, but most do not. I reach out and unpin one. I flip it over, and there is listed the person’s name, personal information and... room number. There’s also a series of tally marks, done in red permanent marker. I replace the photo, and look at the others. It seems like the ones with the most marks are coagulated at the top, and the closer to the floor they are, the less marks they have. The photo at the very top of the board is that of Jillian, the cheerleader I’d met yesterday. The back of her picture was really just one big red splotch, it was so coated in tallies.

I’m still holding her notebook. Without thinking, I stuff it into my bag, then hurry from the room.

Niko

I hate them all. To. The. Grave.

Jack

Damn, I missed lunch. I go outside with the rest of the crowd, but I don’t know what to do once I’m out there. I stand under an awning, where the snow isn’t so deep.

WHAP

The sting of ice on my face makes me drop my bag. Ow, ow, ow...

WHAP

"Stop it!" I yell in a random direction. The snow is in my eyes, I can’t see. I can hear, though: crunch, crunch. Whoever threw the snowballs is coming towards me. No, two someones. Maybe three.

I brush away the ice as best I can, but a lot of it is melted and is soaking my shirt. The someones assume identity: James, Dominic, and the boy who’s pushed me this morning. They have almost surrounded me, but for the wall.

This definitely does not look good. Dominic and the other guy are both a lot bigger than me.

"I understand you’re gay." James says this like, "I understand you killed your mother."

"We’re cool with that, man. You can be as fruity as you like..."

"I’m not!"

"You can be as fruity as you like..." he continues, ignoring me, "in the afterlife." I don’t like where this is going.

"Oh, Daniel." He addresses the big guy. "Kill him for me, would you?"

Oh, shit.

Niko

Three troglodytes at 9:00; they look like they’re extorting money out of some hapless first-former. Evil bastards. Ah well, nothing I can do. It’s best not to mess with nature if it can be helped, and that definitely looks like natural selection going on over there. If their victim is weak, he won’t live long enough to breed. I almost envy him: his worries will be over in a minute, but I have to remain alive, at least until I finish my business in this lifetime. Lucky stiff.

Jack

Dominic grabs my collar and pulls me close to his face. I am momentarily reminded of the ice running down my back, mingling with sweat. He pulls back his face and fist. I brace myself.

WHAM

Right on the jaw. I taste blood, and feel a burning sting on my lip.

WHAM

Things could get very violent at this pace.

WHAM

I flash back to when I was ten years old, and had broken my arm. My dad is there, yelling at me for crying. I remember his kind words: "Pain is weakness leaving the body." Now I come to think about it, I hated my father.

WHAM

At some point, I will pass out and they will have to leave me alone. How come nobody makes them stop? Dominic shoves me into Daniel, who goes for my stomach with his third knuckle extended. I gasp for air, taste more blood, and fall down into the snow, retching and coughing. I curl up into a ball as best I can; desperately trying to breathe, just a little.

Someone’s boot connects solidly with my ribs, and another kick lands in my kidneys. What a lovely less on in human anatomy: everything that can hurt, does.

One last kick, this time in my face, and the white world fades into black.

Niko

Someone should tell the troglodytes that kicking someone while he’s down is not very nice. They lurch off, leaving the mutilated body in the snow. Oh wait, he’s not dead yet, just unconscious. Maybe he could use a hand. Or at least some first aid. I may be a cynic, but I’m not barbarian!

Somehow, I think these people were not his closest friends.

He still hasn’t woken up. I take advantage of that and patch him up as best I can, ice and gauze aplenty.

The bell rings for us to come in and go to dinner. The open the doors and everyone floods inside. I can’t go to all the trouble to heal him and then leave his comatose form out in the snow (waste of bandages if he’s going to die anyway.) so I drag him into the hall. I prop him up against a wall, and drop his bag next to him. Then I head off to get my food. End of Good Samaritan episode, back to cynicism. Good luck, newbie.