Dexter's life was... complicated at the moment.

He was going through the motions of his daily morning routine, which begun and ended with him practicing a newly discovered flashing ability. It had become somewhat of a daily ritual, since the accident, and he had really thought he was starting to get a handle on his new party trick. Today was different though. He had been training himself to trigger his flash by snapping his fingers, but he just couldn't do it this morning. After that incredibly... gruesome dream. Every time he snapped, it would fizzle, almost like he was striking a flint, and eventually it stopped doing anything at all. Once his fingers started to hurt, he decided to give it a rest and just go about getting ready for the day. He had flipped the light switch in his bathroom on, and had gotten through brushing his teeth when he decided to snap again. Dexter sighed, still nothing. He leaned against the wall, and as soon as his shoulder came in contact with the wall socket just above his kitchen sink the lights and electricity around the house went out.

Dexter furrowed his brow and fiddled with the light switch, which would turn on for a split second and then turn off again. He called out from his room to his mother, "Mom! I think the power is out!"

He thought again for a moment and realized, it must be the fuse box in the basement. He snapped his fingers in realization, and his little party trick in all of it's impossibly bright light decided it wanted to work again. So now, Dexter was currently in the bathroom. On the ground. In the dark. His hands were holding his eyes and generally, he was not having a good time. He spent a few minutes groaning on the floor, attempting to bring his vision back at least somewhat. His phone, which was on his bed, buzzed. and stumbled to his feet and out of the dark bathroom. He blinked rapidly in an attempt to bring his now fuzzy vision back into focus, and stumbled over to his phone to answer his snapchats from various people in the school sending out their daily streaks in an attempt to distract himself the small headache that was now forming as a result of his strained eyes.

The lights in the house came back on, a telltale sign that the power was back on in house. Dexter groaned and turned the re-awakened lights back off. This wasn't the first incident that had occurred in the past month. Since the tragedy that had sent the headline of TOWN REELING AFTER MASSACRE, Dexter had found strange occurrences with his person as of late. Sometimes his hair would raise randomly, he'd shock his mom accidentally when he gave her a hug even though he hadn't even TOUCHED carpet throughout the day and hadn't been to Target (seriously, their carts have so much static they could charge his phone). His phone always stayed charged, high lights would flicker when he came near an outlet and he found a very curious burn mark on his desk after resting his forearm on it while playing a particularly frustrating video game (Kirby's Epic Yarn was the Dark Souls of platformers and no one could convince him otherwise).

Oh, and when he made hand motions, or couldn't see in his room when he woke up late at night, sometimes light came out of his hands. And eyes. Sometimes other orifices too. It was extremely alarming the first time it had happened and Dexter largely wishes he could forget about the whole thing.

Dexter looked away from his phone and to his watch, because he was trying to train himself out of relying on his phone for literally everything. He squinted his eyes in an attempt to discern the small lines with his still somewhat blurry vision. It was, what 8:35ish? Most people their age wouldn't be awake yet. He had an excuse with his flight training to be an early bird. He usually finished flights early so he could do classes in the afternoon. Dexter continued his daily routine, spare of any flashes or other unidentified activity, and was ready to leave his house at 8:45. Because of the incident, he had lost his Miata. However, insurance had been kind to him, and with his clean record of no speeding and the unrelated deaths in the area- he had gotten the value equivalent to the car he had been driving. So, he and his mother replaced his vehicle with a 2015 Mazda 6. It wasn't quite as fun as his previous car, but it did the job more than well enough and it was red so at the end of the day Dexter was pretty happy.

He leaned against the wall near the doorway of his house. He and Britney had very similar class schedules and carpooled as a result to save gas. He sent her a quick text, and would wait for her to reply before taking off for class. If there even was class- apparently there was a bomb threat?

---

Grand Ridge Academy - Rita's Dorm.

---

Another morning, another nightmare. Rita Vorona lied awake in bed, her eyes finding hidden figures in the stucco ceiling of her dorm as she tried to forget the dream. She had tried to forget a lot of things over the pass month, to push them into the deep recesses of her subconscious where they would fester and manifest years later in therapy sessions that she would inevitably stop going to before any real help could be done. So far, her success rate at forgetting was nonexistent. She could still remember the panic. She could still remember being within arms length of the murderer. She could still remember the hurtful things she had said to Martin, and to the cops, and to the classmates that had prodded her after the fact. Ever since that night the girl had been cursed with an unfiltered tongue, the stress of the events leaving her only with brutally honest words.

Eventually, she reasoned that the best way to avoid saying shit was to stop saying shit, and so she once again became the quiet wallflower. College had been a chance for a reboot, a rebranding, a reimagining of herself, and she had flubbed it as hard as one possibly could. When she went to class she would sit in the back, avoid eye contact, and not ask any questions. She had found that asking questions lately was a great way for her to get herself in to trouble. Conversations turned weird fast, and people grew uncomfortable and suspicious of her presence.

For example, a simple probing of a professor on why they needed to actually purchase the exorbitantly expensive books on the syllabus resulted in a controversial revelation that the teacher was only trying to help their friend, who had authored the book, get a healthy stipend. Asking the person next to her if they’d mind if she borrowed a pen got her trapped in a rant about “how come everyone always wants to take my stuff just because I came prepared” that had resulted in Rita switching seats so they would never have to interact again. And God forbid if she ever asked someone if they were okay. There was only so much information about a stranger’s sex life that she could deal with, and that amount was somewhere in the range of zero to none.

And if she said something back to them? Yeah, it was better if she just remained the creepy quiet kid.

Saturday morning meant no classes for Rita. Normally she would’ve stayed in her dorm and read a book or watched TV until it was time to sleep again, but she felt completely uncomfortable in the room. Largely this was in part due to not having a roommate to share her double sized dorm. Many would kill to have been so lucky to have a room all to themselves that wasn’t the size of a closet, but considering that her roommate had literally been killed by that lunatic in the woods it felt a little off to be happy about the personal space. Her roommate, judging by the posters and knick knacks that she had left behind that nobody had come to claim, had a taste for horrible country music and pride in a horrible Southern state. Naturally, the admission office must’ve felt like Rita would’ve enjoyed the company of a fellow Texan. Naturally, they were wrong, but spending time stuck in a room with another yokel was far superior than spending time stuck in a room with the possessions of a dead girl.

So now she had to get up and get out. It was too early to take a shower—even one person in the communal bathroom was too many for her. Dressing herself in the mirror, Rita frowned as she worked her left arm into the long sleeve of a white blouse. At first she had thought the lines were some kind of cut she had taken while rushing to the boats that horrible night, but they were too perfect and too dark to be scars. Scrubbing at them had only made her skin red and irritated, and no amount of aloe vera would make them fade. She raised her left hand up, the lines like the cut strings of a marionette taunting her with their persistence before she buttoned up the sleeve and threw on a black, oversized sweater in a desperate admittance of defeat, hoping that the long arms would hang over and conceal her fingers. She finished dressing, fussed with her hair, fussed with it again, and took a step back.

Yep. She looked like shit.

Sighing, she shoved her phone in her back pocket—no new messages, typical. The only one who would have texted her would’ve been Martin, and she had been giving him the cold shoulder lately out of fear of making a bigger asshole out of herself. Rita grabbed a dog-eared book off of her desk and made her way out of her room, careful not to look at anyone if she passed them in the hall. She walked with the hurried pace of someone who was late for class but determined not to appear that way and kept the book close to her chest, covering the title and author up just so that nobody would try and strike up a conversation about dead Russian writers that would inevitably turn into their take on how to properly run a socialist society.

---

Grand Ridge - Outside Main Building

---

Popping through the front doors of the girl dorms, she almost instantly regretted her decision to wear so many layers. She would melt if she stayed outside, and the anxiety of someone watching her turn around and go back inside to sit in the common room froze her with fear. If someone was actually watching her, they would’ve seen Rita scurry around the campus looking for a quiet place to hideaway before she decided on the library, her pace shifting into one of laser-focused guidance as she beelined to the main building. Her focus was once again scattered by the sound of a fire alarm going off, and her head snapped around as if her very being there had somehow triggered the blaring noise. She was so busy looking for the source of the alarm that she didn’t even realize there was a person in front of her until she smacked in to their back, her book dropping from her hands. She almost found herself asking if they were okay before remembering what roads that question lead her down. So instead, she tried to apologize.

“I’m sor…” started Rita, the words fading as she recognized the shape of Claire O’Sullivan, the girl who had promptly tried to kick her ass for something Rita had no control over. She had successfully ducked Claire for the past month, even though the reasonable part of her told her that there was little likelihood that the girl even remembered her. Still, logic did little to quell her worries, and now there was nobody around the wrangle the woman back. The blaring of the fire alarm rang in unison with the own alarms going off in Rita’s head as she was instantly transported back to the night of the massacre. She shrunk back so that she wasn’t blocking the door for any escaping students, but as she did she managed to step in to a bit of her spine.

“Are you going to try and hit me again?” asked Rita, the judgment heavy in her voice as her dark eyes glared up at Claire. Hidden within her sleeve, her sigil faintly glowed. She already had enough to be afraid of between axe-wielding maniacs and realistically violent dreams. She wasn’t going to allow Claire to wiggle her way onto that list.

---

^@Atrophy
Grand Ridge - Outside Main Building.

---

Right when Claire was wondering what in the hell was going on, some gal bumped into her.

'Course she didn't know who bumped into her until she whipped around, mouthing out, "Hey, you got eyes don't cha'..." And saw that girl. "That girl" being the girl that gave her the bad blunt. She almost killed that girl that night, and if it wasn't for Zoey, she would had went all the way... but, she was conflicted. She was still a bit pissed off about it, but the only thing on her mind was Zoey. Compared to what happened at camp, what Rita did was nothing.

Still, she didn't want the gal to think that she could just do things like that to her. She pursed her lip, and narrowed her eyes at Rita. The girl asked her if Claire would hit her, Claire wasn't sure of how to answer that question - but she felt strangely compelled to speak her mind. Which was strange for Claire, but there was something that felt oddly alien... like was it really her that was making her speak?

"... I don't want to hit you... but keep up with the Bambi act and maybe I will."

Claire near harshly said.

---

^@Junkmail
The Williams Manor.

---

Despite what had happened, Britney's morning routine hadn't changed much.

She did her morning yoga routine - sans clothing - and this time she had one leg out forward, other leg folded against her body. She put her head to her knee the best she could - it was difficult due to her sheer size, but she managed to make it work - and held it for a few seconds. Before she stood up, putting her feet apart twice her shoulder width, keeping both her feet straight as they can go. Both heels were aligned, as she leaned over her right leg, and pressed her fingers against the floor to hold herself up. It was a tough position... but nothing Ms. Williams couldn't handle.

She let out a sigh as she stood straight up, and walked over to her dresser to get her water bottle. Sitting down on her bed as she drunk all of it. Her phone which was right at her side buzzed, and she grabbed it and saw a little text message from Dexter.



Britney's classes didn't start for another hour or so but, there were some things that she wanted to get worked out - with Dex included. She looked at her bare hand, at the sigil of a glowing tree, and shook her head. The sigil began to glow as a vine and root came out of it... and she created a perfectly red apple. She took a bite out of the apple as she replied to the text with a sure.



Britney held her phone as she went on a little march through the house. The Williams household was usually empty at this hour, daddy's at his office (as always), and her mother was asleep. Which means that she could do some of these nude treks through the house with minimal awkwardness - long as she stays quiet. She kept taking bites out of the apple as she walked over to the shower, and turned on the hot water, before stepping in. She washed away the previous night, and this morning's workout... after she was done, she just merely stepped out and grabbed a towel on the way. She dried herself off little by little with every step, before making it back to her bedroom.

She put on underwear, before walking into her walk in closet. She had so many choices - she always dressed to impress at Grand Ridge - and then just closed her eyes... and reached for something... before she grabbed something made out of a smooth silk. Her white sundress! It was a little cold for it, but she'd be able to handle it. She quickly put on the dress, before she grabbed a matching pair of white shoes, and her wide-brimmed sunhat. She got out, and started walking, grabbing her sunglasses, keys, and bookbag on the way out the door.

... Dexter should be here by now.

---

^@Prosaic
Grand Ridge - Bathroom.

---

Lynette was still a bit dazed by the explosion - it was more out of shock than actual injury.

Which was why she didn't notice her friend Aliana coming to her "rescue." She just reached down to rub her eyes of all the smoke, and saw Aliana, holding up her shirt (which was still in a good condition). After collecting herself, she shook her head as she said,

"I'm fine." She hurriedly said, as she grabbed her shirt and put it on. She didn't want to seem immodest in front of her friend. Oh boy... how in the world was she going to explain this to her. She couldn't just say 'I wrote a symbol and it exploded', she'd sound like a lunatic. She shook her head, as she thought of what to tell her. Aliana scolded her in Spanish - which she understood clearly, and didn't exactly appreciate the implication, but what else was she going to think.

So, she just decided to say, "I'll tell you later!" As she decided to just go for the door - but, she heard sounds of footsteps coming up. Shit, probably staff coming to investigate. She had no idea of what they were going to think of them - she thought about just hiding.

But where?

Grand Ridge - Male Dorms - David's Room

---

David awoke from his dream.
It was unlike any he had recently, for sleep provided the only comfort from the memories that played throughout his mind. As long as he was awake he would remember. This time was different, he wasn't there - at least not as he was used to; instead of seeing from a third-person view he was within himself, observing the scenes unfold.

David stood up from his bed, slips of morning light shone into his room from the cracks in his curtain. Dust flowed through the air and glinted in the light-yellow rays.
From the incident, hours began to spread into days for David. It became a chore to differentiate one day from it's prior, to live within them was a virtual impossibility. Not with what David has seen, what he had felt, what he had done... After the woman attacked him, after he had set her ablaze, how could he simply continue on as though nothing changed as those around him expected him to do? He didn't deserve to live after taking a life, so he shriveled back into the Academy day to day. He secluded himself within his room most hours - the only exceptions being to acquire food, lessons and hospital check ups.

David raised his arms to eye level, observing them in the dim-lighting of the room; Slowly turning them around to view them at different directions.
Several layers of clean, white medical bandage still coated his injuries and hided them from view. Underneath them were stitchings than bound his separated skin together. The wound he received would have begun to heal and would no doubt leave a scar as a reminder. Although his shoulder was worse off. In the lowly-lit room the scar tissue lit up, the discolouration seemed more noticeable when the light didn't shine so strong. The wound itself spread like roots from the source, that further from meant the wound would be thinner.

David rests his finger on the source and then traces it downwards, careful not to inflict pressure that would causes him to stiffen or recoil. He shouldn't be doing that, the wound also had stitches although it had previously been covered by what could be thought of as a large plaster - a fabric kept in place over his shoulder with a large, transparent tape which had since peeled off. All that protected the wound from infection would be David's morning shower and the applying of clean bandages. Orange eyes appeared in David's mind. He sighed and pulled his hand back down to his side, the constant barrage of reminders that showed in his mind no longer shocked him, guilt was the only feeling it brought. Guilt he could live with, if you can call his sorry state a life.

David stepped over to his desk, to his side mirror and to examine himself. He'd gained weight for sure, if only a bit. His stomach stuck out a tad he could pinch more skin than he used to. His face had changed greatly, the lack of shaving had caused a beard to begin growing - much too long to be a stubble yet not enough to officially be a beard. David ran his fingers through it before pinching a tuff and gently pulling it, now that he knew beards could hurt he'll have to make sure to shave before he ever really gains one. His near-bald head of hair had grown out to a similar style as Bear Grylls and his eyes kept a squint, almost non-existent and unnoticeable yet it's effects could still be felt by David, feeling the slight strain on the muscles.

All in all he felt different, although not enough to get a tattoo... David looks at his left shoulder, what should be clean untouched skin lay a black smear. David didn't remember acquiring the inking, and he certainly didn't lose any money. He had attempted to scrub it off numerous times yet all it caused was red skin. It was a mystery, luckily one that could be hidden simply with a shirt - to which he put one on. Though crumpled it was relatively clean, dry and scentless. The light gray colour barely visible within the room.

As he changes into school-worthy apparel, he thinks back over the month after the incident... They were interviewed by the police and fellow students alike - those who hadn't been at the scene wouldn't stop asking the same questions over and over. Of course there were several times when one of the survivors was accused, though they never amounted to any real trial or investigation. Everyone was at ends about what occurred, nobody in power believed the story of a mutated 'Scott Reese' a name David had learnt over time. Still, everybody expected him to continue as normal - lessons and all. People questioned him after he missed the first lesson after the ordeal, David not being aware that he was expected not to pent up or mourn in school time. He kept to his schedule, though his revision fell behind what it could be. He didn't have the willpower any longer, not while he was by himself.

Shuffling on the other side of the room turned into a groan, David's roommate was still asleep at this time. God knows how that was possible, David usually woke up around seven and either waited in bed till a later time or packed and headed off to grab breakfast. Sleeping till eight was off-putting. I could do with a pack of crisps. The idea pops into David's head before receding to whatever recesses of his mind it came from. Needing not to wake up his roomate, David slips on a pair of shoes, stepping over his penny-board, grabs his satchel and steps out of the room into the hallway only to bump into the back of a passerby without looking.
"Uk-" he begins whilst turning to whoever he hit, yet he didn't finish the action. The fire alarms blared out across the hallways and into the surrounding rooms.
"Sorry mate, looks like we've got to go." David states before walking away from the still unidentified person - towards the exit of the building.

Little did he realise, his tattoo faded from a faint luminescent blue to the unlit black David had come to expect.

---

---

Tuyen’s Dorm Room

---

Tuyen woke with a start, the restless sleep she’d finally attained interrupted by a strange dream. It wasn’t quite like the nightmares she’d been having for the past month, but it still startled her awake.

Waking up wasn’t much less of a nightmare. The first thing she saw was her shadow – though she’d long stopped thinking of it as that. This morning it’s feet touched hers and it loomed over her. No matter which way she looked it followed her. She couldn’t escape the featureless face.

She’d thought when she first saw it during the massacre it had been a hallucination, something she’d seen out of pure fear. It was probably still a hallucination – something she’d conjured to pretend all her dark thoughts weren’t her own. But it couldn’t really be put down to fear anymore. She didn’t know what it was and couldn’t come up with any explanation outside of seeing things.

It was the reason that she’d almost entirely shut herself in her room. She still made it to the bare minimum of classes. Just enough so that they didn’t start chasing up after her for low attendance. She’d even seen Min once. He’d insisted even though she tried to be busy. At least she’d managed to convince him to let her leave after an hour or so.

It was hard to pretend to be fine when you were constantly seeing things. But she couldn’t explain that to him. How did she explain it to anyone?

Her phone buzzed insistently but she didn’t look at it as she rolled out of bed, trying to ignore the constant whispers in her mind. She wasn’t surprised to see messages written across her wall echoing the thoughts of worthlessness. She didn’t even know if they were real or not. It wasn’t the most disturbing thing she’d seen. It was wearing her down to the point that she was constantly tired and doubtful. At first she’d constantly felt fear but now it was just an emptiness that dragged her down. What was the point anymore?

She knew that her appearance in the mirror wasn’t a hallucination. The dark bags beneath her eyes came from the lack of sleep. Her hair was messy and untangled from her avoiding the showers, not wanting to be around other people. She looked a mess. Really, she was.

The disturbing tattoo that she’d discovered after the events of the camping was visible with the loose pyjama top she wore. It itched a bit, the dark figure being all too similar to the shadow that now haunted her. They were probably part of the same hallucination.

Tuyen stopped herself from looking at it before it started adding even more doubts to her mind. Methodically she dressed herself in a skirt and a sweater and trying to unknot her hair at least a bit.

She jumped as a loud bang interrupted her crowded thoughts, dark eyes widening. What the hell was that? Whatever it was, and even if the alarm was going off, she did not want to leave her room.

---

_{@Surtr Inc}
Grand Ridge Academy, Rien’s Dorm

---

Rien was hungover. Again.

They’d had a bit of coursework to do and with that came the need for a drink. Of course it had gone downhill from there, until they’d had enough to have a hangover this morning. At least it wasn’t a bad one. The alcohol fuelled dreams, on the other hand, were something they could do without. One had been particularly weird. They didn’t really want to think about it. Not that they could remember any of it.

Sadly they had things to do otherwise they would’ve just spent the rest of their time in bed. And if they were going to get through said classes they’d need coffee. There wasn’t any other way to prevent them from just falling asleep. If they left now they would be able to take their time to wake up with a nice cup of coffee.

Easier said than done, though. With a groan Rien rolled out of bed. They quickly got to pulling on some clothes – just the basic jeans and t-shirt combo. They were too hungover to actually put any kind of effort into it. Though a look in the mirror, and the horrendous curl of bed hair, told them that they should maybe put the effort into showering at the very least.

It was the pain of having such curly hair along with tossing and turning from dreams. They knew they didn’t have it as bad as everyone else though – they’d been passed out for most of the camping trip went awry. For once it had been a good thing as they didn’t remember anything. They couldn’t blame those who had for having a hard time.

Stopped themselves from getting distracted by their thoughts Rien grabbed a towel and threw it over their left shoulder. Might as well get the showering over and done with. Maybe having it a bit cold at first would be helpful with the hangover too.

They were half way they when they spotted Jordan and Kimberly – looked like they were just fresh out of the shower themselves. Then there was a loud sound, like a pop or bang or something. Rien winced, covering one of their ears. Too loud after a night of drinking.

“Did you guys just hear that?” Rien looked a bit confused as they approached Jordan and Kimberley, not caring one bit about how dishevelled they appeared just now. “Think someone set of some fireworks or something?”

---

Grand Ridge Academy – Outside The Dorm Building

---

Min had woken up early, taking the time to have breakfast with his parents before driving to Grand Ridge. While his cousin stayed in the dorms on campus, wanting to break away from his parents, he’d decided to stay at home. It was easier and he was quite fond of the private study he had in his parents’ rather large house. It made for easy study.

That why he was waiting outside of the dorm building, instead of being outside it. He had sent Tuyen a text saying that he was there to see her. He could just go in and knock on her door, as he knew where her room was, he decided not to for once. It was in part because he was worried about her. She had acted strange since everything that happened a month ago and avoided him. He figured it was easier to give her privacy – the last thing he wanted was for his cousin to stop wanting to see him altogether.

He could understand how she’d felt. While in the moment he hadn’t shown it Min had been terrified after people were killed in front of him. He’d just done everything he could do make sure him and Tuyen made it out. Sometimes he still was woken up in the middle of the night feeling as if he was being chased. He had never had nightmares before so it was an unexpected effect.

Not to mention the other strange things that were happening. Sometimes when he touched items or people he saw flashes of images and felt like he knew things about them. Maybe he was just getting smarter or more observational. He just had to assume he’d learned the information beforehand. But still, it was strange.

And there were still all those murders going on. That’s why he had come to check up on Tuyen, just in case.

---

The Baird House

---

Caelea had to say that her brother’s sudden appearance wasn’t the first thing she wanted to deal with on a Saturday morning. What didn’t improve her mood was how much her mother was fawning over him, a man who was almost thirty, while leaving her to get her breakfast around whatever her mom was cooking. The thought of the upcoming classes in the afternoon didn’t make anything better.

She didn’t even want to be going to them. What had happened a month ago still stayed with her. Caelea might be a bit of a violent person but she had never wanted to see someone hacked open. Nor had she feared for her life as much as she had that evening.

Not to mention the weird bird tattoo on her back that she swear she’d never gotten. She didn’t really drink, so it couldn’t be put down to that. She had no idea how to get it and wouldn’t have spotted it if the bathroom didn’t have a full-length mirror. That had been quite a shock to find when getting out of the shower. At least she could cover it up.

“What’s got you looking so grumpy, Cael?” Blair’s shit eating grin just made her glare as she sat down at the table with her toast.

“You’d be grumpy if you had classes on a Saturday too.” And had watched people from your college being slaughtered along with still having recurring dreams related to it. Never mind the one last night, stranger than the others. She didn’t even want to think about it.

“True, I’m not jealous of you for that,” he laughed. Caelea didn’t even give him a response, quickly grabbing her backpack and heading out the door without even a goodbye. She just wasn’t in the mood for talking.

Headphones went in and soon she was doing her normal judge towards Grand Ridge.

---

Grand Ridge Academy – Outside the Main Building

---

Caelea got to the Academy a bit out of breath, but not much since where she lived wasn’t too far and she ran all the time. It was a nice start to the morning anyway.

What wasn’t was some kind of alarm going off, so loud that it was ringing right through her headphones. What the hell? Did someone decided to hit the fire alarm just for fun? Because that really was a dick move.

As she moved closer to the main entrance, just to see what was going on, she spotted Claire – and some other girl who seemed to be confronting her. Caelea didn’t know the background there but damn was she happy to watch from a distance. She wouldn’t say she was an awful person but she did enjoy a good fight. So why not stick around?

---

"He's... an awakened."

Light spilled into the room through where the curtains had been left parted, momentarily blinding Nate when he first opened his eyes, startling him further. Only half-undressed, he still wore the same boxers and shirt he'd thrown on the day before, the rest of his clothes haphazardly draped over the back of his chair at the other side of the room. "Ugh," he barely mouthed, his mouth feeling dry to the point it was like stone, before fumbling around the side of the bed for the bottle of juice he'd left there the night before. First time he felt it, he knocked it over, but a half-assed effort to lean over the bed and pick it up rectified that and his notions of thirst were quenched with a couple of gulps. Despite actually getting down at a reasonable hour last night, he felt as tired as he would've if he'd been sat at his desk until two or three in the morning - he even checked the clock to make sure it wasn't an early hour.

The dream was probably to blame for that.

Awakened?

In that dream, Nate had seen something that looked like a tattoo on the kid's chest. There was a familiarity to it, one he realised when his thoughts drew back to the mark he'd noticed out of the corner of his eye whilst toweling down from the shower, an abstract symbol seared into the back of his neck. Touching it didn't seem to bring about any sort of sensation different to what it normally would've felt like, but the fact it had just appeared overnight was enough to raise questions. The weirdest part? At first, he'd thought it was pure luck that Aunt Viv and Quent hadn't yet seen it, plus his own habit of wearing a hoodie or a shirt which allowed him to keep it covered up. That in itself would've taken some explaining to do, not to mention it would have probably meant getting a lecturing call from Dad about impulsive decisions. Yet, in the end, it seemed only he could see it - Quent had caught him quickly making his way back through the house after a shower with just a towel around his waist and made no mention or glance towards the new 'tattoo' and these suspicions had been confirmed when Aunt Viv had noticed a 'discoloured patch' on the back of his neck - not quite yet healed from the night of the party - but made no mention of the brand either.

It was yet another reminder that this wasn't a long-term hallucination induced by the shrooms.

People had died, seen some fucked up stuff. He almost died and he'd definitely seen some fucked up stuff there, no amount of desensitisation able to blot out the thoughts of people stampeding to get out of that fucking camp, dead bodies left right and center.

Blinking, he checked the clock again and realised that about five minutes had passed since he'd last taken notice and groaned, eventually shifting his weight out of bed. There was a faint, almost musty odour in the air and Nate quickly figured out the cause - himself. Grumblling again, he slipped out of his old clothes, kicked them towards a small heap on the corner to put in the wash pile later, then gave himself a quick spray of deodorant. Better.

Once that was done, he threw on some fresh clothes and headed downstairs, ready to grab something to eat. Viv would probably be sat downstairs or something whilst Quent, he figured, would've been out working again. No surprise there - it had been a busy week for the man since that clusterfuck at the camp. The way Nate had heard it, Sheriff Reese was barely a couple inches from becoming an exhausted wreck in the wake of hearing from over a dozen eyewitnesses that it had been his kid who'd gone on a bender, butchering people left and right, to the point he'd left most of his deputies to pick up the pieces, taking witness statements and co-ordinating with other agencies from out of town.

This shit was on the national level, even.

And Nate, for his part, had bullshitted his way out knowing any part of it - when Quent had inevitably checked by to figure out where he'd actually been that night (and if, by extension, he'd seen or heard things happen at the party) he played dumb. To corroborate his story, that night he'd got home, slumped into the shower and stuffed his clothes under the bed, out of sight and acted as if he'd got lost, wouldn't have known how to get there. Most of the other folks who'd been there couldn't have known him yet, so he'd hoped that nobody could ID him.

Besides, even if he told the truth, how could he have explained it without causing any more bullshit for himself? Oh gee wiz, Uncle Quent - you sure aren't gonna believe this, I went to a party to get wasted and have a good time but instead had to steal a boat so I didn't get skullfucked by Bruce Banner's redneck cousin! Aunt Viv didn't need any of that crap on her plate and neither did Quent, not when they'd been good to him like that. It's why he'd kept it a secret and slipped out the moment he could, narrowly dodging half a dozen Deputies (Quent probably one of them) in the woods. That call he'd made to 'Quent' had never gone through, which meant it was probably just a hallucination he'd had - maybe from all the stress.

On top of that, there was one other thing that definitely went beyond explanation. And guess what? I'm dreaming about phasing my ass through shit! Nate had no means of explaining it, no idea what it meant - but the morning after the shitshow at the camp, he'd woken up from a shitty dream about it, only to find himself half-sunken into the bed, a distorted sensation of being immersed in water overwhelming him - it was just a dream, but it felt real. Another time he imagined that he'd been caught off-guard by Viv's early return from work when he had first been trying to hide the mark on the back of his neck, accidentally backing into a closed door - only for colour to bleed out from sight and for him to step through, almost seamlessly. Or at least that's what he thought had happened, tired as he was. A dozen other dreams where accidents of the same caliber had occurred, all supposedly caused by necessity or by something catching him off-guard.

His thoughts drifted back to the latest dream again, of the two kids who'd narrowly been saved from that thing by those three weirdos in renaissance garb. Never before had he dreamed about something with that degree of clarity, nor had he ever come up something like that before.

What would Mom have figured?

No, Nate shrugged the thought off. She wasn't here, no point thinking on it now. Instead, he gave off a low chuckle at just how fucking stupid it all sounded, even more stupid that it had actually happened.

"What's funny?" A feminine voice asked, jolting him from his thoughts. His gaze shifted over to find Aunt Viv, reclining on the couch as she filtered through the newsfeed on a tablet. She remarked again, "Something must be, otherwise I wouldn't be seeing you down here so early."

"That's very observant of you." Nate shot back, deadpan. Living with Viv and Quent was like living in a boxing ring, only instead of sparring with fists they used words. "But the only thing that's funny around here is your taste in daily propaganda." He thumbed towards the crappy reality show that was being broadcast on the TV.

Sucking in a breath, she idly reached out with the remote and shifted to another channel - the news this time it seemed, judging by the faint noise about the recent spate of murders in the area, "You can skip the sarcasm."

"Hey, don't hate a critic for peddling his craft," Nate threw his hands up for a moment, then turned towards the direction of the kitchen and headed over to the fridge, leaning down to get a peek inside. "On rations?" he groaned, finding it relatively sparse. Viv didn't take long to call back, "Forgot to fetch some groceries last night and I don't have the heart to make your poor Uncle Quentin head out when he's busy with things already."

"Sorry I asked," he said, a pang of genuine remorse for his blunt remark hitting him, "Screw it, I'll get something in town, I guess. Any suggestions?"

"Breakfast there is good for the money." There was a pause, just for a moment, before she spoke up again, "You good on that front?"

"Yeah." Nate admitted. He wasn't about to bullshit and try and bum more cash off Viv of all people, especially not when Dad mostly had him covered. It wasn't like she couldn't afford it, but there was something in that which felt wrong - like taking advantage of their decency. After all, they never had to take him in, Dad could've easily got him a spot in a dorm at Grand Ridge if that had been the only option on the tables. "Thanks, though, Aunt Viv. I'll see you later, yeah?"

One more time, he heard a reassuring note, "Call me if you need anything."

The only thing on his mind that he needed right now, food aside, was beyond her help. Repressing a faint, half-assed snort, Nate stepped out and set off - on the way, he could at least drop by Grand Ridge - see what was going on there, maybe catch up on some work. It wasn't like he had anything better to do.

---

Grand Ridge - Bathroom
_{@Surtr Inc@Prosaic}

---

It hadn't taken Nate long to reach the place - for all the shit people might have given him for his weight, he could cross a good walking distance in short time. Setting up in the library, he logged into the student account set up for him and began to check up on some of the work he'd not quite caught up on in the week. It wasn't long before he found himself tending to other [i]needs[i] however, but as he washed up, looking at what remained of his submission that was due for the next week, he realised in hindsight could've done it from home on his own computer. Fuck it, he'd-

A loud pop and clatter erupted from somewhere close by, definitely, followed almost immediately after by the shrill sirens of the fire alarm. Was that a gunshot? It almost sounded like those you'd hear popping off at the shooting range, like Quent had shown him that one time. By all rights, he should've run - should've at least left it, but something stupid told him to go and investigate - or so he figured as he stepped out.

---

^@FernStone
Grand Ridge - Justin's Dorm.

---

Huh... another dream, huh?

If Justin was more spiritual, he'd probably say that the dreams had a deeper meaning. Though, dreams are based off of subconscious desires, and innate knowledge - what part of his subconscious was he pulling this shit from? He got up out of the bed, and sat on the edge. God damn, he needed a smoke right now. He was wearing boxers, and a T-shirt, he sure as hell wasn't going to get far wearing all of this. He shook his head, he didn't have time for this. He made his way over to his laundry basket, and pulled out an old pair of sweat pants, throwing them on with sneakers.

Right as he was about to run out the door, his phone began to ring, and he just remembered that he left it on the bed. Okay, he briefly wondered who in the hell would be calling him this early, and realized just who would when he saw caller ID.

Mom

Oh, it's her, Meifeng. Justin grabbed the phone, and answered it in Chinese, "Hello, mother,"

"Oh, hello Justin," Meifeng said, "I'm calling to ask how you've been..."

"Everything has been going well, I believe,"Justin felt awkward as he replied, he knew the tone that his mother used when wanted something. It was quick, would keep formalities brief, and ask about what she wanted right afterwards.

"Doesn't sound like it," Meifeng said as bluntly as Justin knew of it, "Are you getting an adequate amount of sleep? Is everything okay since what happened?"

"I can't say yes..." Justin said as he wiped a hand across his face. He really couldn't say yes... the sights of what happened, and almost getting murdered by that nurse - especially the fact that he practically killed her in self defense. He felt a bit justified given that she was trying to kill them, and she ended up killing herself... but, those just felt like flimsy reasons to avoid facing the real problem. He yawned. The guilt was starting to creep up on him since the months that went by. He's been avoiding social interaction to the best of his abilities, and just trying to focus on his classes.

"That town is not safe," Meifeng bluntly said. "First... then what happened at the camp. That town is going to kill you!" Meifeng said, slowly losing her composure with every word.

Avoiding bringing up her, aren't we? Justin thought to himself. It was true, he'd rather not mention what happened here just a few months ago. Which was why he couldn't spend one more moment in that house. Even though there was nothing stopping him from staying there... there was just something stopping him from even going near there. Which was why it rests, the physical reminder of something that Justin would rather not face right now.

"Whatever this town's got," Justin confidently said, "I can take it."

Meifeng went silent for a moment... and Justin considered asking her what was even wrong.

"Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer, Justin," Meifeng flatly said, devoid of all emotion, "You won't realize that it even killed you until it's too late."

For a moment, he contemplated what she said, "Alright... but, I'm staying in Grand Ridge until I graduate..." He said. He, deep down, wanted to get the hell out of this town, but there was the mystery of what happened to his grandmother on his mind. He wanted to get to the bottom of what happened to her before leaving this helltown behind - or else the lingering guilt of not doing enough would haunt him forever.

"Fine," Meifeng started off, "But I'll have you know that Katie is worried about you, too." She said, before saying, "I'll talk to you later."

"You too," Justin said, before they both hung up the phone. Justin really wanted to get to the bottom of what the hell was going on in this town... he got up and moved over to his bathroom, and turned around, looking at his shoulder. He saw the weird ass tattoo that he had on his shoulder. One with the upper half of a phoenix, and lower half of a tiger. Did he get fucking drunk again? Because he never got another tattoo in his memory. Though, it brought to mind that weird flaming tiger that samed Claire. What in the world was that...? He stomped his foot, and shook his head. God damn it. Camp slaughter had driven him not only to alcoholism, but also insanity.

Right now, he just... actually, maybe he would skip smoking. Or do something before smoking. After all, he has an hour or two before class. There was somebody he needed to talk with. He took a brief glance at his phone, and saw that Tuyen hadn't replied to a single one of his text messages or phone calls. Great. Even though she's just a... ruse, more or less, he still cared about her well-being, and how she was handling the incident at the camp.

The urge to be a good person, overtook the urge to smoke, as he quickly went out the door to the female dorms. Boys were "soft-banned" from this section of the school, as in the staff (and some of the gals) didn't want a bunch of boys wandering around the girl's dorm. But, he knew Tuyen's exact dorm room - and he was greeted with a less than welcome sight - Min, and he looked less than thrilled. Still... there was no need to escalate things.

"Heeey, Min," Justin said, "Funny seeing you here..."

---

^@Prosaic
Grand Ridge Academy - The Hallway to the Male Dorms.

---

"Nice tattoo, faggot!"

Martin heard the words coming from behind him, before he felt the massive arm of Hagan Rosefey wrapping around his neck. Martin was one of his favorite targets, especially since he was so small and gay that he made it easy! He gave Martin's little tattoo a heavy poke, before taunting him with, "I thought a little faggot would never be able to go through with it." He laughed, "I'm proud of you, I really am."

Hagan laughed, before he opened a supply closet, and shoved him inside, before saying, "Try gettin' it off with this!"

---

^@FernStone
Grand Ridge Academy - The Showers.

---

Rien's approach definitely wasn't noticed - just a little harder to notice - given that the female showers were small, and they were frantic as people were fleeing the building in fear because of the fire alarm. Kimberly turned towards her, and raised an eyebrow at the mosshead - it was unexpected that they were being approached in the shower of all places, of all times, but she had a simple answer to her question.

"I hope it's some idiot with fireworks," Kimberly answered, "I can't take anymore stupid bullshit!" She hissed. "I'm tired of people interfering with my classes..."

"We should probably get out of here," Jordan said, loudly over the sounds of girls fleeing the bathroom, "Ya'll hear the fire alarm? There could be a huge fire in here!"

---

_{@Surtr Inc}

Grand Ridge Academy – Dorms

---

“I could say the same to you, Justin,” Min didn’t even try to keep the disdain from his voice as he folded his arms, stepping in a way that would stop Justin from getting closer to Tuyen’s dorm room. It wasn’t that he was trying to be confrontational – he just didn’t want the other going near his cousin. She clearly wasn’t feeling good and there was no way Justin would be able to help with that. And Min certainly wasn’t leaving (even with the fire alarm now blaring) unless he saw his cousin.

Really, Justin was the last person that he wanted to see. It wasn’t that he wasn’t in the mood for dealing with him. It was more that the last thing Min wanted was to Tuyen to step out and see any kind of confrontation. He cared about his cousin and cared about her not disliking him. Still he had to put his foot down.

“What brings you here?” It was clear from the way he spoke that he thought Justin had no right to be here. And, just in case the message of what he was asking wasn’t quite clear, he went on. “What business do you have with Tuyen?”

---

Tuyen’s Dorm Room

---

Through the ringing of the alarm Tuyen heard voices outside her door. It only took a few words for her to recognise both of them. Great. There was a reason that she was ignoring the fire alarm and it was to avoid bumping into anyone.

If she was honest Min was not someone she wanted to talk to right now. What if she couldn’t keep up the act of being okay? He’d just think she was insane. And she knew there was no way he would understand. She couldn’t even explain anything to him because he caused so many of her insecurities. Justin? She wasn’t so sure, but he was better than Min in this situation.

“They’re not here for you anyway.”

This time she tried to ignore the whisper, forcing herself up and taking a step towards the door. She wasn’t going to open it – not yet. Still she went to stand near it. The shadow followed her, as it always did. She’d figured out that it was always attached to her in some way early on.

For now she concentrated on trying to push away and ignore it, while getting up the confidence to actually step out of her room.

---

_{@Surtr Inc}
Grand Ridge Academy – The Showers

---

“Damn, and I was just about to shower,” Rien frowned with a light shrug. “Guess we should be getting out, though doesn’t look like a fire is coming here soon!”

Still they pulled their towel around their shoulders and took a step towards the door. Keeping it slow, because they weren’t really panicking as much as all the other girls running out. Also wouldn’t be fair to just speed away knowing Jordan wouldn’t be able to keep up with that.

“I hope they don’t cancel classes, I actually have some interesting ones today.”

---

Grand Ridge - Main Building.

---

Three dimes, two nickels, and six pennies. Five playing cards of assorted suits. A bottle cap and a pop tab. Two pens and four number two pencils. Nine paper clips. Three bobby pins. One dart. All in all, thirty seven small, miscellaneous items peppered the makeshift styrofoam target as if they had been blasted from a cannon. The sixty three other items were strewn about the floor, lost in the mix of chemical bottles, mopheads, dustpans, and discarded trash. Penny wiped the blood from her nose with the back of her arm and glared at the mess around her. She needed to work on her accuracy, but first she needed to work on this disaster scene around her before the janitor came back on Monday to discover what she had done to his closet. She took one step and, oh, the world spun and she spun with it, dropping to her knees as a sharp pain shot through her brain like a ice pick. Okay, okay, first things first, she needed to recuperate as she sniffed and tasted the iron in her mouth. Gross.

It had happened the first time while she was on one of the boats getting the hell away from the unstoppable JuggeReese. She had been gripping tightly onto a splintered piece of door when that entity—monster—whateverthefuck had reached out towards them with one of its black tendrils. Instinctively, Penny had chosen to fight, and without a thought the piece of wood blasted out of her hands and flew through the air like a missile at the living nightmare. If it had hit, if it had done anything, Penny would never know; the tendril had gone for another boat, and she had made it safely to shore with the others, her only thought being What the actual fuck? repeated ad nauseum.

Since that day she had been trying to replicate the incident. After a prolonged period of trial and error in the woods behind her house, she finally managed to repulse a ground stake from her hand into a tree—when she had a grip on the items they seemed to struggle to move, but when she tossed them it was almost second nature. She didn’t know how, but it was somehow tied to the new tattoo that had been imprinted on her chest since the incident—or at least she assumed, because the more things she pushed away the more her chest tightened and ached, as if her heart was about to explode. It wasn’t nearly as painful as the headaches that came with this unnatural ability, nor was it nearly as terrifying as the occasional bouts of blindness and flood of blood from her nose like they were the elevator doors in the Shining.

Her newfound vision was even harder to control. Seemingly at random, she found herself shifting into the, for lack of a better term, psychic plane...or would it be more accurate to call it a physics plane? The first time it had happened while she was driving she had nearly crashed her car, the trajectory of all of the other vehicles on the road completely overflowing her senses. And then she had discovered what happened to her body when she just let the vision keep running its course. She was lucky it was Billy that had seen her collapse and not her parents, otherwise she would’ve spent the night in a hospital bed instead of shivering, vomiting, and wanting to die in her own room. At least the latter didn’t come with any probing questions.

She coughed into her hand and felt something wet in her palm. She didn’t need to look to know that it was blood. Even with all of this practice, she was still stupidly pushing her limits. She felt like the night her father had made her smoke an entire pack of cigarettes as a lesson to stop smoking (which had the opposite effect) or the one time she had drank a liter and a half of wine in a desperate attempt to attract a boy that definitely wasn’t interested in her. Smearing the blood on her thigh so that it would be hidden by her dress, she stumbled to her feet and then continued stumbling until she collided into the wall, shaking loose a couple of brooms as she steadied herself and tried not to vomit in fear of spitting up a few vital organs with the refuse. She let out a pained, shaky laugh, took a deep breath, and...paused. A few more minutes on the wall. The wall was safe. The wall was a friend.

Why was she even doing this again? She knew it was tied back to the incident, but outside of the fleeting vision on the boat all she remembered from the campsite was a feeling of fear that was heavily outweighed by a feeling of duty. Of course, she knew what had happened at the campsite—it was too fresh for the town to pretend that it had not happened—but the events of it all seemed blurry. Distant. Nearly erased from her mind. A defense mechanism, perhaps? Forgetting traumatic experiences to preserve her sanity. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it was the Illuminati, or the Government, or the PTA putting shit in the water so that they could conveniently cover-up the fact that the Sheriff’s son went on a killing spree. Whatever it was, things were foggy, and getting foggier by the days.

Okay, let’s try this again. Stand up, walk to the door, don’t pass out. Penny pushed off of the wall and slowly, slowly, slowly eased her way towards the door. Unlocking it, she slipped the key back into her jacket and stepped tepidly out. The goal was the bathroom—clean the blood off of her face, maybe drown herself in the sink until the splitting headache went away. It took her a second too long to recognize that the throbbing in her head wasn’t entirely her own mental strain but also the sound of a fire alarm. Okay, so bathroom it wasn’t, new goal was outside. Which...happened to be right past the bathroom. Well, that worked out. She guided herself along the wall, feeling a slight hint of strength coming back with each step, and she no longer felt the blood trying to escape from her nose. Good, these were all good things, everything was going to be okay, everything was going to—

“Lawson!”

—aw, fuck me to the moon and back.

---

Grand Ridge - Bathroom.

---

“Norris,” said Penny, hiding her bloodied arm behind her back so that the professor and the security guard with him wouldn’t see the drying blood. “There’s a fire. I figure you’d be smart enough to know that means you should be going outside, not in. Now, if you would excuse me, I very much would like to not be burnt to a crisp.”

“Not so fast Lawson. I’m willing to bet you have something to do with this,” said Professor Norris, grabbing her by the shoulder. “I believe you were supposed to be in my class five minutes ago.”

“Are you fucking serious? It could’ve been bumblebutt over there,” she said, gesturing towards Nathan as he stepped out of the men’s room. Professor Norris gave the boy one quick once over before returning his stone cold glare to Penny. “I’m a little beyond pulling fire alarms to get out of school. I don’t go to your goddamn class because if I wanted to listen to an idiot lecture me about politics for an hour I would go have dinner with my tightwad W.A.S.P. of a father. It’s not like I don’t blow your kindergarten level tests out of the water regardless of whether I show up or not, so—shit!”

With a yank, Norris pulled Penny into the wet bathroom. He made a tutting noise with his mouth and waved his hands out in front of him, motioning to the flooded floors and shattered glass.

“Look at this. Destruction of school property. Triggering a false fire alarm. You’ve always been trouble, but now you’ve gone too far Lawson.”

“Yeah, for some reason I trashed a bathroom as a desperate cry for help. I’m so glad you’re here, Professor Norris. A smart fellow like you Sherlock will definitely be able to set me on the path of the straight and narr-are you an actually this stupid? Even if I did this, which I fucking didn’t, you have no proof, you have no right to hold me, and frankly I can sue you for endangering me because neither of us knew if there was or was not a fire until you dragged me into the women’s bathroom which, oh yeah, I also believe counts as a violation of privacy, you old fucking cre—”

Penny had begun waving her arms around as she protested; Norris, noticing the blood on her arm, snatched her wrist and held it hard.

“Cut yourself on some glass, did you? Looks like we got the proof we need right here. Johnson, make sure Ms. Lawson doesn’t leave. I’m returning to my office to make a few calls.”

Penny glared at Norris as he took his leave, and then she turned her stare to the security guard. “He doesn’t even know your name is Jackson? You aren’t going to let that twat tell you what to do, are you?”

“Listen, Penny, you did go a little far with—”

“No, you listen, Chris,” said Penny, pointing a finger at the security officer and taking a step forward. “I didn’t do this, but if you keep me here so that I can be framed for some freshman’s fucking prank then I’ll be sure to let them all know that you regularly buy pot from my brother which...I’m pretty sure would result in you being terminated. I doubt your wife will fucking let you see your son if you can’t even hold down job, so how about you make up some story about hearing another firecracker go off further down the hall and you fuck right off before I sing like a goddamn bird.”

There was a pregnant pause, and then Jackson gave a sigh of resignation and slowly shuffled away. Smirking, Penny washed the blood off of her hands and thigh and then headed to the door, pausing with her hand on the handle. What had caused this mess? she wondered, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the room. They narrowed momentarily, focusing on an empty spot a few feet in front of her, and then she shrugged. It wasn’t on her to prove her innocence by finding a guilty party.

“Well, whatever,” she said, opening the and heading out of the bathroom. She was feeling fired up now, discounting the still throbbing headache, and hoped that the baby-faced boy was still hanging around. It’d be nice to continue to build herself back up by playfully tearing someone else down.

---

Grand Ridge - Outside Main Building.

---

Rita’s face creased as if she had bitten into something sour when Claire replied to her, but the girl did not break eye contact. She could feel her nails bite into her palms as her hands balled into fists, and felt bitter words push up and try to break through her clenched teeth. She swallowed them and turned her head away. It would be better to just move on from this. It wasn’t quite a reconciliation, but it was probably the best thing Rita could expect to get. She felt her pocket buzz. A message. A distraction. An easy out. She reached back with her left hand, the black lines on her fingers revealing as she touched her back pocket, and then she stopped.

Was she really going to let another person push her around? Was she going to spend college like her years in high school, between eating lunches in the bathroom and crying underneath the stairway? Caelea wasn’t the only person who had stopped to watch; a few of the students filing out of the building had stopped to gawk at the girls. School was Rita’s prison. If she didn’t stand up for herself now, she’d be viewed as a dumpy loser for the rest of her career her.

But, no, that wasn’t the right thing to do. Who cared what others thought of her? Wasn’t it better to forgive and forget? She should just make peace with Claire here and now and drop the whole thing. Nothing good would come from egging the other girl on. Plastering on a tender and fake smile, Rita looked back up at Claire and prepared to say something nice and sweet like the little timid deer that Claire despised her for being. Instead her smile turned vicious, like a rabid animal baring its teeth before it goes for the jugular, and her arms crossed over her chest. Her eyes burned with a quiet fury. Her left hand, tucked under her right armpit, glowed ever so slightly as the words came out of her mouth before she could even think to stop them: ”What gives you the right to always be such a bitch?”

She clapped her left hand over her mouth.

"I...I didn't mean..."

---

^@Atrophy
Grand Ridge - Outside Main Building.

---

Claire was hoping that bambi would back off while she had the chance, so she could get to class and try and work out how she was going to handle this pile of shit that she ignored.

Course, there was only so much that hoping could go.

First she starts to smile, in a way that slightly unnerved Claire. She didn't know what the fuck was up with it, but she knew that the girl was up to no good. Then it turned to a more rabid look, that reflected what she was probs feeling deep down. That cocky kind of smile that those little alpha bitches liked to give before being well, bitches.

”What gives you the right to always be such a bitch?”

What? Claire was wondering if this bitch had some kind of death wish. She was just some bookish nobody that wandered into this town (and Claire can tell a stranger 'round these parts), and she was really trying to go there? No, oh no. Claire would let the weed thing slide by her being stupid, but now, she was pushing it. She took a step forward, and bared her teeth, giving Rita a heavy poke in the chest. Making sure to dig her finger in really deep.

"You wanna know just what gives me the right to be such a bitch...?" Claire hissed at Rita, leaning in real close, and staring her right in the eye... before she felt that strange outward pull that she felt so much earlier. "Three fuckin' years of beatings, and other bullshit, at the hands of my asshole parents. That's what, motherfucker!" She growled as she revealed way too much than she ever should have in one second - in front of so many people.

"So next time you wonder 'why am I such a bitch'," Claire said, very annoyed, before she gave Rita a shove with the same hand she was just poking her with, "There's your fuckin' answer."

Then she just realized what she said - what slipped out of her mouth in anger. She covered her mouth with both hands out of shock. "What the fuck!?" She whispered into her own hands. This... this just wasn't like her. Claire normally would never reveal that much about herself even to close friends - not even in anger.

There was some fuckshit going on!

---

^{@Prosaic@Atrophy@Zombiedude101}
Grand Ridge - Bathroom.

---

There were some chatter outside, and some people quickly stormed inside. It felt like it was the end for Lynette, and Aliana was too busy gawking to really understand the weight of the situation. But, right when she was about to apologize, she noticed that they didn't even notice her - Or Aliana for that matter. She raised an eyebrow, then started to figure out just what Aliana was gawking at. She saw the rest of the mirror, and realized that her reflection wasn't showing.

Okay, this was weird... but, not exactly unwelcomed. The people were arguing with each other, it took one quick look for Lynette to realize that it was Penny. It was Penny taking the fall for what Lynette did. She couldn't say that Penny didn't deserve it, but it didn't exactly feel right. She noticed the blood that was on her arm, and wanted to question if she had a hand in it.

But, she knew that she had to take advantage of this while it lasted. She took a step, and there was some light glass crunching that was unnoticed in all the screams and shouts. She leaned forward and put a finger up to Aliana's lips, and gestured towards the door. The both slowly walked towards the door - right as Penny stormed out the door stayed open unnaturally long while the two girls slipped out under the cloak.

After getting out the room, Lynette tried her best to catch up with Penny as the cloak inadvertently wore off - or she outpaced how fast it could keep her cloaked. "Penny!" Lynette called out.

---

^@FernStone
Grand Ridge - Outside Tuyen's Dorm.

---

"... What business do I have with Tuyen?" Justin parroted what Min said in a near-mocking tone. "I'm here to check up on my girl, the fuck do you think?" He decided to cut the passive aggressive bullshit short in favor of active-aggression. He wasn't in the mood for Min's condescending bullshit - he never was, really, but now especially. He narrowed his eyes, as he took a step towards Min, making his intentions that he wasn't going to back down clear.

Taking another step until they weren't too much further away from each other, he stared him down. "How's about you mind your business for once?" He spat out "Your bitch-ass will last a little longer."

He clenched his fist - but his passion was flaring, and that triggered that abstraction. Not exactly in a noticeable way. That sigil on his back began to glow a bright red color that burned through his shirt, and there was a wave of heat that came off his body. A light flicker of flames appeared on his hands.

---

^@FernStone
Grand Ridge Academy - The Showers.

---

"Then take your shower," Kimberly teasingly said as she walked to the other side of Jordan.

"We're in sooooooooo much danger of catching fire," Jordan bitterly spat out as she began her march outside. She was slow and deliberate not just because of her leg, but because she was afraid of somebody knocking her over. With how fucked up her leg is, it only took a bump before she needed crutches for a few months (again). Kimberly was at her side, fortunately, supporting that bad side of her as she tried to move. It took them a little while, they eventually made it outside the building to the parking lot.

The parking lot was where they were told to meet if the fire alarm ever went off - though, Kimberly was wondering if there was even a fire. She shook her head as she found her car, and the two girls leaned up against it. Kimberly quickly whipped out her phone and started checking her youtube stats - she was getting some new subscribers. She could only pump her fist.

"You seem awfully excited for school almost being shut down," Jordan asked as she sighed... just trying to start up a conversation.

"Nah, it's nothing," Kimberly put her phone in her pocket, as she reached into her satchel for something. She was bored - she didn't know what to really do, or talk about, while she waited for this to blow over. She pulled out her camera... and while she didn't exactly like photography like she used to, she just fiddled with it.

"Hey Rien, by the way..." Kimberly just shrugged as she asked, "Do you still draw?"

---

[/center]

_{@Surtr Inc}

Grand Ridge Academy – Dorms

---

Justin’s words only annoyed Min further – pushing him more into the realm of anger. His girl? As if Justin had any right to call Tuyen something like that. That wasn’t something that Min was ever going to accept and he couldn’t believe that his cousin allowed it.

“How about you back off from my cousin, and then I’ll start minding my business,” Min snapped in response, returning Justin’s start unflinchingly. He knew that the taller man could easily take him – but if that did happen it wouldn’t exactly look good, would it? He could deal with that if it meant Tuyen realised how Justin wasn’t good enough for her.

It was then that he glanced down at Justin’s hands, confusion briefly crossing his features at what he saw and the heat he felt. It didn’t compute with his logical brain in anyway way. A lighter? That was just playing dirty. “What the hell are you playing at?”

---

_{@Surtr Inc}
Grand Ridge Academy – The Showers

---

Rien couldn’t say that they were delighted to be standing outside having barely gotten out of bed but whatever, wasn’t like they had a reputation for caring about their appearance. And at least they had some company – could be worse than the boring wait for them to be allowed back in.

They’d sort of zoned out until Kimberley directly talked to them, turning to face her with a light shrug.

“Sorta. I do a bunch of digital stuff with my tablet when I have time to make games.” Which wasn’t often with the work load of their actual computing course. “Haven’t done just normal drawing for a while, though. Pretty sure I could still do it though!” 

---

^@FernStone
Grand Ridge - Outside Tuyen's Dorm.

---

"How about I back off your cousin?" Justin parroted again (because his spirit animal is parrot). "You're nobody's keeper, Min. If Tuyen wants to be with me, then that's her choice." He took one step closer to Min, still not breaking eye contact. Min could probably feel the heat that Justin was inadvertently giving off. He didn't notice, because he wasn't backing down from Min no matter what he said. That was what his mother taught him; never give up, never give in - or they'll take everything from you.

Though, he only broke eye contact when Min looked at his hands, and asked him what he was playing out. He saw the look on his face as it scrunched up - there was something that got him worried. Well, he should be worried of catching these hands....

"... What the fuck?" Justin asked as he looked at his burning hand. Out of sheer surprise, his hand erupted into a torch of flames. His hands were open, so Min could see that it was clearly no lighter in his hand. "It's like..." When Scott was about to kill Claire... He finished the sentence in his head.

---

^@FernStone
Grand Ridge Academy - The Parking Lot.

---

"Well..." Kimberly said, as she went through her photo gallery on her camera. "I've always wanted to see how my favorite photos from photography class would look in art form." She knew that she was asking a lot from Rien... but, she was utterly bored to tears right now, and would do anything for something interesting. She finally found it... it was a picture of a butterfly on an old camera that Kimberly used photoshop to make appear blue. She handed the camera to Rien so she can get a look at it.

---

???

---

Step, step, step...

Karma ran desperately, fast as she could. Clutching her open wound as she left behind a trail of blood. She was feeling very light-headed - but she was pushing on regardless. She didn't know what would kill her - blood loss, or this fucking thing after her. She didn't know how it started, she just went to Arcade Blues, and then this giant thing in a mask showed up, and cut her with a knife. She's been running, adrenaline keeping her alive, to any kind of safety.

She turned a corner, and felt a massive hand wrap around her neck. It was so strong that it was crushing her throat - she weakly tried to pound on him to get him to release her, but it was no use. Scott pulled the blade back, then shoved it deep through her chest. Her eyes went down as the fight died in her - Scott threw Karma onto the ground.

However, that wasn't all. Scott kicked over her body until she was on her back, and saw a glow through her shirt. He reached down, and ripped off her shirt with one motion and revealed her sigil. Scott grabbed her by the side of her body and an orange light overcame her, and burned away pieces of her flesh - the parts of her that had the insignia on her. He dropped her body, wiped the blood off his blade, and began marching off towards the next target.

His master told him to collect these symbols, so that was what he's going to do.

---

Amidst the cries of the ringing a foul call could be heard from behind David, the voice was low and yet felt strained though the speaker was forcing the words out as unnaturally as he could. This shouldn't of raised David's interest. Really it shouldn't have except that the word spoken was an insult, a demeaning one at that - it caught David by surprise and so he turned his head towards the voice. The caller was a tall kid, looked like somebody who could have been an extra in Pulp Fiction with his gelled blonde hair and the boots, oh jesus the boot. Nothing described a grunt more perfectly than wearing boots like that! Though the guy seemed to be grappling another person; long coat, tattoo on their neck, dark hair. The punk prodded at his victim, muttering several words that David couldn't overhear as he travelled further away, though suddenly the grunt turned and threw his victim into one of the rooms, following suit and closing the door behind him..

"Nope, I'm not going to have any part of this." thought David, turning back around and walking away, outside the entrance way and out into the open expanse known as the outside world - out into the college campus and towards the parking lot where there was none other than the drunk as well as someone he didn't recognise. Nervously at first, David strode up to them before beginning to talk. "Now I know it's been a while," he narrows his vision as he checks the green-haired kid over for injuries of any kind, with concern in his voice he continues "though are you doing alright now?" Without realising it at the time it seemed he had interrupted their conversation somewhat, the stranger had her camera held out towards the drunk.
"err... sorry if I interrupted." he laughs nervously, simultaneously scratching his occiput.

---

---

_{@Surtr Inc}

Grand Ridge Academy – Outside Tuyen’s Dorm

---

Min could only look in shock as Justin’s entire hand erupted into flames with no cause in sight, taking a step backwards and away from the radiating heat. His anger reduced slightly, but only because of sheer shock and confusion. How did he do that? It shouldn’t be physically possible. There was absolutely no explanation for that.

“How did you do that?” he practically demanded an explanation – not exactly changing his tune to be nice and all. He wanted to know how on earth that happened but it wasn’t exactly making him like Justin anymore. On the other hand, getting him to keep away from Tuyen could wait until after he understood what was going on.

---

_{@Surtr Inc}

Grand Ridge - Tuyen’s Dorm

---

Tuyen heard the raised voices outside, though she couldn’t quite make out the words. It was easy enough for her to guess what it was about. It exhausted her. The thought of having to go out there when there was still an argument just didn’t appeal. Not to mention the fact she wasn’t in the mood to deal with Min at the moment.

At least her shadow seemed to have quieted down for the moment as she concentrated on ignoring it. It was a small blessing. The last thing she wanted was to have to deal with that when talking to the two arguing outside.

It was when everything quieted down a bit (she didn’t know why, but the less shouting the better) that Tuyen actually opened the door she’d been standing beside for a while. She didn’t do it fully and just stuck her head out. Just act like she normally did, pretend to be fine and all.

“Are you two finished arguing?” she gave a slightly tired smile before tilting her head at what she saw. She was clearly a confused – but didn’t vocalise it.

---

_{@Surtr Inc @pokemad1}
Grand Ridge Academy – The Parking Lot

---

Rien took the camera from Kimberley before giving the picture a curious look. The picture itself was certainly nice and they were pretty confident it was something they could draw. Would maybe take a while to get the full thing right if Kimberley wanted the colours.

“Yeah, I could draw this!” Rien grinned, about to say something else when someone else approached their group. They tilted their head at the person and tried to place them. “Uh, hi. Yeah I’m doing fine.”

They paused for a moment giving a slight shrug at the apology. Didn’t bother them. What did was the fact they didn’t recognise the other at all. “Do I know you? Wait, let me guess, we probably met when I was drunk.” 

---

The drunk clearly didn't recognise David, they explicitly said so and David was aghast. With what had unfolded it was difficult for David to comprehend how someone couldn't remember what had unfurled, the infirmary with the attacks and the fire, the monstrosity outside and David having to run with them of his back... How could they not remember?

"You, er," he begins, recovering from his shock, "It was a pretty big deal.."
He looked at the Drunk's face if there was any indication of a smirk or a chuckle, instead he found a look of confusion plastered all over. Satisfied that the kid wasn't joking of being sarcastic he continued again. "I was- I- I carried you around for most of the night, though we still got out in one piece..."
David chuckles nervously for a second before reaffirming his concentration to the drunk. "Sorry, I'm just finding it surprising that someone could forget a night like that... it was that night about a month ago..." he lowers his voice all the while he says what he did, words now softly-spoken.

"Look, you must remember something from then." he finished with. "Drunks don't forget something like that so easily - not any that I've seen"

---

Mason Square - Lawson Residence

---

He’s...an awakened.

Nah, fuck that, man, he’s gonna sleep in today.

Billy groaned softly as he felt bittersweet consciousness come back to him. He looked at his phone, saw the time, and dropped it back on his bed before rolling over. So he had slept through his alarms, so what? It was just an art class, and spending an hour trying to not look at the junk of the male model they had gone with was not how Billy wanted to spend his Saturday. Sleeping was how Billy wanted to spend his Saturday, sleeping like how his arm was asleep from how he had weirdly spent the night on it, turning the limb into a mess of pins and needles that was now the only thing he could focus on and, great, he was awake, weekend ruined, thanks stupid, asshole arm. Billy flopped over onto his back and let out a loud groan like a bear coming out of hibernation. Okay, he was up.

But he wasn’t getting out of bed.

He lied there and let his mind drift back to the dream he had, and after careful consideration determined that whatever it was he had dreamt up had been some fucked up shit. It almost felt as if he was really there, just floating along with those kids before Ranger Rick revealed himself to be a total dick. Then again, ever since he had watched Scoot Reese reveal to the entire class that he was a closeted ICP fan by going through such great lengths to show off his hatchet to everyone a lot of Billy’s dreams were full of fucked up shit. Visions of viscus and vicious monsters coming to consume the town, the wholesale slaughter of his friends and family right before his eyes, Henry coming back from the dead to confront Billy and his sister for being such failures, and one particularly horrifying one where Billy showed up to school naked. All of it was bizarre; especially because he hardly remembered dreams until a month ago.

Then there was the spiral on his shoulder. That was a mystery. He had tried showing it off to Layne to see if his friend knew anything about it, to which the idiot acted as if Billy was so high that he was seeing shit. Which wasn’t the case, well, okay, Billy was high, but in the morning it was still there and he wasn’t high then, maybe. Well, he did partake in a wake and bake that morning which reminded him that he still needed to do that this particular morning. Reaching into his nightstand drawer, Billy rummaged around for his breakfast to inhale. He took a quick one-off and sunk back into his bed. Maybe he could lull himself back to sleep, get this Saturday really going.

Have another dream, perhaps.

Relax, perhaps.

Do not think about the park ranger shredding into that little kid aaannnd there it was, so much for relaxation. Sitting up, Billy eventually made his way to the bathroom and went about his morning routine before heading back to his room, hair still dripping wet as he searched for his glasses. He stepped into a pair of yesterday’s jeans and grabbed a tee from the “clean” pile. He grabbed his phone and went out the front door, shouting a goodbye to his folks as he ducked past them eating their breakfast. He jumped in his car and turned the key, the backfiring of the engine sounding like the blast of a rifle before it sputtered to life. As he turned down the long, pebble driveway and the ranch-style house shrunk away Billy cranked the tunes, a second-hand subwoofer kicking with the bass hit of every beat and rattling the failing infrastructure of his vehicle. Billy rolled down the window and let the air dry his hair. He had a few clients to meet at school, but not before he slammed a huge breakfast.

Before it even really started, he decided that the day was going to be a good day.

---

Grand Ridge - Outside Main Building.

---

Today was a bad day.

Rita took a step back as Claire prodded her chest. Confrontation had been a mistake, and Rita did not know how to handle that confession. She felt her throat tighten as Claire mentioned the physical abuse, but there was a callousness inside of her that still felt that it did not justify her behavior. Rita’s relationship with her parents was never physically abusive, but there was a lingering presence of toxicity in regards to her mother that left her never feeling wanted. Yet even that did not mean that she had the right to be a bully and a bitch—which, she realized, was what she was being to Claire right now.

She couldn’t figure out how that made her feel.

Rita stumbled back a few more steps before catching her balance after Claire had shoved her. Perhaps the other girl had not noticed, but she had been dangerously close to falling down the stairs. Rita’s nostrils flared. So much for not wanting to hit me. Rita let her head hang, catching Claire’s own panicked reaction out of her peripheries; perhaps the girl had noticed how close she had been to sending Rita careening down the stairs before cracking her skull open upon the concrete. It’d be best for both of them for her to try and de-escalate things before one of them said, or did, something that would have permanent repercussions.

“I’m sorry,” began Rita slowly, as if her words were trying to cross a minefield, “but I don’t care …”

...about you or your fucking shitty parents, she thought, before swallowing the words and wincing like she had just drank a spoonful of expired cold medicine.

“...er, what I meant was, I didn’t mean to drag up something so, uh, uh, painful. That sucks. That really sucks,” she managed to say, her words sounding as if she had just sight read them off of a teleprompter. They were hollow. Empty. Forced. Her eyes stayed lowered, and her lips were pulled thin as she grimaced. Unless Claire was an idiot, she’d be able to tell that Rita was being anything but sincere. She tugged on one of her bangs. “Um, oh, is that the fire alarm?”

She turned, ready to bolt down the stairs like a frightened rabbit. If she was quick enough she could get lost in the crowd of students heading to the emergency meeting spot before Claire called her out on her half-hearted apology.

---

Grand Ridge - Main Building, Hallway.

---

Penny smiled at the sound of her name being echoed by her two friends and she gradually slowed her pace to a stop, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she turned to greet them. As she saw Lynette and Aliana approach her from the direction of the bathroom her smile dipped and became slack jawed, a single eyebrow raising up on her forehead. She hadn’t seen them in the bathroom, but their hair and clothes looked damp. It was curious. Very curious. She didn’t know exactly why Aliana was calling her a life saver, but she felt the conclusion she drew wasn’t very far from the truth. The look of surprise shifted into smugness as the girls caught up with her, and she removed one hand from the pockets of her jacket, which was unzipped enough to reveal the sigil on her chest, to place it on her hip.

“Wow. Y’all look like absolute shit,” she said, turning her head to laugh. She didn’t look too good herself; there was a slightly off, almost feverish pallor pushing its way through the light fake-n-bake orange of her skin, and when she talked her lips peeled back to reveal the slight stain of red from when she had thrown up blood. She practically shoved herself between the two women and placed an arm around each of their shoulders with a playful clap as she began to guide them towards the entrance. “Let’s get the hell outta here before Professor Dickhead comes back with the entire SWAT team. All this talk about the school burning down totally shook me up really good. And I mean, who knows, maybe there’s like gonna be a ton of smoke that’ll enter our lungs and poison us if we linger around. Besides, I’m dying for a cigarette”

“So,” she said as they walked together, “did the two of you get wet by trying to hide in the toilet, or was it when you didn’t take cover after blowing up the toilet with a firework? Look, I’m not jealous or anything, but the next time you skanks decide to blow up something will one of you please give me a call. I always wanted to know what it would’ve been like to be a twelve year old boy stuck in the body of a technically adult woman.” She furrowed her brow at that last statement and quickly shook her head. “Actually, ew, God no, I don’t want to visualize that, gross.”

“But, seriously,” she whispered, “what did I miss?”

---

^@Atrophy
Grand Ridge - Outside Main Building.

---

Claire was fighting the urge to murder this upstart bitch in public.

She really was... but, what she didn't realize was that something inside of her flicked on. That same thing that turned on when Scott almost killed her in the camp. Her strength. Her aura manifested slowly, as if it was coming into existence. It started out a light-blue color, then it quickly turned a stark red. It hovered a few inches off her skin, and almost seemed like it was burning. A red smoke came off of it that faded into non existence after a few seconds. Her aura burned just as the rage inside of her did.

Claire's fists were clenched tightly, teeth were bared. She didn't buy the chick's half-assed apology even for a second - if anything, she felt even more insulted. But, even though she was angry as all hell right now, she didn't want to get kicked out of Grand Ridge. Not after all of this. She raised a hand, not in anger, but merely to point outwards in the distance.

"Go." Claire said, "Get the fuck away from me right now."
Even in all of her anger, Claire's red aura definitely didn't go unnoticed. Even if only a few people present could even see it... she was just too focused on Rita to even notice it. What in the hell was even going on right now? Why did she (she in this context being Rita and herself) say that? Now... everyone was in her business.

And it felt like she wasn't even choosing to say it.

---

^{@Prosaic@Atrophy}
Grand Ridge - Hallway.

---

Lynette wasn't as ecstatic as Aliana was, because, logically speaking, it was all one big coincidence that Penny came in at the right place, at the right time.

So, her reaction was a bit more subdued. Though, there were a few things on her mind. For starters, when Aliana used her abstraction, she saw her... outline? A glowing blue light. It was strange... well, not as strange as drawing a symbol of fire on a mirror and causing an explosion. That required a long conversation. Though, she just got Penny's attention who had a few choice words to say. Lynette almost broke out into laughter, but there was a few things that she needed to clear up. To both Penny and Aliana. She cleared her throat, as she began walking.

"It's... something like the latter, Penny," Lynette answered very awkwardly, as she walked alongside her friends, "I think I owe the two of you an explanation for what happened in there - and no, I didn't set off any damn fireworks." She was quick to say, with a playful roll of her eyes at Penny.

"What happened was..." Lynette was unsure of how to explain that she drew a symbol that exploded... but, she remembered that she didn't even have to explain it. She had the power to show it.

"... How about I show you two just what happened?"

---

^@FernStone
Grand Ridge - Outside Tuyen's Dorm.

---

"I don't know," Justin answered his question. "Magic, or some kind of bullshit."

He thought back to that night at the campsite when Scott was about to axe Claire, and a fucking tiger came out of him to bitchslap him. Okay. That night was a special kind of fucking crazy. He set a woman on fire, summoned a tiger, lived through time stopping, and getting attacked by an apparent eldritch abomination. Now his hand on his fire.

Which therapist should he talk to about this?

Once the doors opened, and Tuyen came out, the fire disappeared as Justin turned his attention away from this pretentious pain in the ass, and turned towards Tuyen. She didn't exactly look all that great... there were bags underneath her eyes, and her hair was unmaintained... and she kind of smelled bad. It was clear that she wasn't doing too good, and it broke Justin's little heart.

"Tuyen..." Justin said as he just moved towards her, and embraced her for a hug.

---

^{@FernStone@pokemad1}
Grand Ridge Academy - The Parking Lot.

---

"Well, maybe she doesn't want to remember it."

Jordan bitterly said to David, as he approached and started poking a little too closely into Rien's business for Jordan's liking. Which was why she was making it clear that she wanted him to back off. Mostly with an annoyed but unflinching stare that she was giving him. Hell, Rien would be lucky if she didn't remember it - Jordan had constantly flashbacks to it. Which didn't help her sleep at night with the flashbacks to that night... she shook her head.

But, she was stopped by Kimberly with a short. "Hey, Jordan, relax," She started off, "I'm sure... he didn't mean any harm by it."

"Hmph," Jordan said.