I walked through the semi-crowded streets of Savannah, Georgia. The cobblestone streets, glimmering with the recent rain, the willow trees, swaying slightly in the breeze, and the gleeful trot of the horse-drawn carriages as they walked down the street. The shops were open, lights glistening with joy, as if to say, Hey! Come buy something, maybe there's some fresh muffins! There's only one way to find out! I chuckled, shook my head, and kept walking.
Well, I suppose you don't actually know me. My name is Jacques. Let's see... I'm 17, I'm in my senior year of high school, and... Well, I love drama, or if you rather, Theatre. I put on my first "play" with my friends when I was 5. I usually left the writing to my friend, Vincent, but ever since I moved from France, (which, I'll admit, was only a few days ago) I've had to write my own. Most of the time, I just based the story on a song I like.
Anyway, I was on my way to school, and the streets were alive. The school, however, could not have the same thing said about it. Well, not positively anyway. It looked old and abandoned, grime was heavily caked on the walls, and flies surrounded the trash bins like it was a grand feast. Heh, I could imagine the flies having a Thanksgiving dinner. Hey, mom, will you pass the banana peels? Sure, honey, as long as you tell me what you're thankful for! I'm thankful for dumb humans, because they throw so much food out! I chuckled again. But my joke only lifted my mood for a moment, and I soon realized that I was still in the same filthy place.
I sighed, asked myself how I ended up here, and went inside. The interior actually wasn't that bad. The walls had a freshly dried coat of red paint, each door was painted a different color, the floors looked as if they were cleaned with great care every hour, and the halls were relatively spacious, and not many students were there. I could see about... 12. Well, I guess I make 13. I brought a slip of paper out of my bag and looked at it. Huh, Room 16. Not too far. I thought, spotting a sign labeled ROOM 9. I took off through the halls, humming quietly to myself.
When I got there, only one person was inside. When he saw me, he spit out a brown liquid and it splashed on the table, making a mess. I sighed and grabbed some paper towels, set my school bag down, and proceeded to clean.
"Oh, sorry, I just- no one ever comes here. Except for me, of course. And my friends. But that's only for the- Ahem. Free coffee." He explained, walking over to me. He stepped on a loose slip of paper, slipped, and fell before I got a single word out. He got back up and extended a hand. "Mike Closy." He said. I shook his hand.
"Yeah... I'm Jacques."
"Well, don't just stand there! Let's go!" He dug through my school bag and took my schedule out of my binder, then walked out the door. I quickly picked up my school bag and followed him. "So, here's History, there's Mathematics, and English is here..."
I stopped listening. I could clearly see what each class was, and there were so few students that the school only had one class for each subject. I was more interested in finding out where I was supposed to be at the moment. I hadn't gotten a very good look at my schedule. "And that's the end of our tour!" I snapped back to reality. "I'll message everyone to tell them to look for you. And remember that Taylor probably won't look for you, so you need to look for him instead. He has glasses and will probably be reading a Stephen King book." I nodded and pretended like I heard everything he said. "Okay! So, get to Band class!" He said, handing my schedule back to me and leaving. I hurried to class, because I only had five minutes. An old grandfather clock in the storage room rang 9 times, signaling that class had started as I sat down. A girl walked over to me and sat down. "Hi, I'm Krista, Mike's friend!" I internally groaned as she started talking. I could tell by her tone that this was going to be a long hour.
*******************************************************************************************
I went over to our lunch table and settled in. There wasn't much room, because without me they were 1 more person than the maximum capacity. With me, they had enough room to eat and talk. That was it. No one talked to me, much less even look at me. I ate in silence, and then left for the band room. Not to my surprise, the room was empty. I pushed my back against the wall and powered up my phone. After a few minutes, I got an invite to a group chat. I clicked on it and typed, "Hello?"
Dan: Ello, Jacques.
Me: What do you guys want?
Valerie: Calm down, J. This is just for us to talk before our next class.
Kyle: But, make sure to leave Mike and Krista out.
Valerie: Yes, definitely.
Dan: Oh, and Taylor doesn't want to be here either.
Kyle: He leaves us often. Kinda strange.
Valerie: Moving on, we're all going over to Kyle's place after school. Wanna join?
Me: I guess...
Valerie: You don't have to.
Me: I'll go. But I need an address.
Dan: I'll tell you in 6th period.
Me: Alright.
The grandfather clock rang a single time. I turned my phone off and walked toward my drama class, which was right across the hall. Inside, the teacher was grading papers. He raised his eyebrows when I entered, and I simply said,
"I just want to be early, so I'm not late. It's my first day." The teacher nodded and handed me a paper describing what the class was doing, and what I'd be doing until I could join them. Taylor came into the room, and had "Pet Sematary" in his hands. He sat down, put his hand out, and waited. I hesitated, then shook his hand.
"Took you long enough. I'm Taylor. You probably already know that, but Mike told you I'd leave you to find me, didn't he?" I nodded. "Figures. He thinks that just because I read books, I'm antisocial. Not true. Anyways, have you read the script?" He asked.
"No." I answered.
"You should. I wrote it. It's something like Hamlet, yet more modern. There are, of course, differences. There's also a few inconsistencies, might I add. I'm still working on it. And we need someone to play the lead role. Are you interested?" He turned his attention back to the book as people started entering the classroom.
"Really? I'd love to!"
"Great. I'll catch you at rehearsal after school. Don't worry, it's only a half hour long. You'll still have hangout time with everyone else. I'll probably head there myself."
*******************************************************************************************
After the rehearsal, of which I did nothing, I headed home for permission to leave again. My father was at work and my mother was taking care of my hyperactive siblings. A four year old girl, Rema, and Billy, a three year old boy which we called Bull, because of his muscly body. She very reluctantly let me go, and I grabbed a cup of coffee before leaving. Once I reached Kyle's house, I saw it was empty, and the door was locked. I waited for a minute, then knocked. Nothing happened, then something fell. A wooden ladder fell beside me and almost landed on top of me.
"Dammit. Put that back up and get up here, Jacques." I looked up and Krista was leaning over the edge of the roof, arm outstretched. "We have something you need to help us settle." She said, eyebrows furrowed.
I put the ladder back up and she backed away. As I climbed up, many angry voices rang out, getting louder and louder. When I reached the top, Mike was yelling at a frightened Dan and a defiant Kyle, while also trying to hit them, while Val screamed at Mike and held him back. Krista simply sat to the side, eyebrows still wrinkled, and Taylor was nowhere to be seen.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"WHAT'S GOING ON, JACQUES," Mike started, "IS KYLE AND DAN ARE GAY!"
****************************************************************************** It had been a week since everyone found out about Kyle and Dan. No one knew until then, not even Taylor, Dan's own brother. Apparently, no one had arrived except Dan, and, of course, Kyle, and while the boys waited, they kissed. When that happened, Krista reached the roof. An argument started, and when Val got there, she sided with the boys. The argument heated up. Then, Mike got there, and had punched Kyle once before Val got in his way. Finally, I arrived, and said, "No one is correct. Everyone was confused, at least, long enough to keep Mike and Krista distracted while Kyle, Dan, and Val left. By the time Taylor arrived, the only ones there were Mike and Krista, who were cursing themselves for letting everyone get away. Taylor climbed down before he was noticed, and left for his house, where he cared for his brother, never getting why the fight started out of him. Taylor, since he never found out, hung out with a girl named Helen one day, Me, Val, and the boys the next, and the third day with Mike and Krista, who, to protest homosexuality, got together and made posters, school advertisements, and even a club. Taylor didn't really care for any of that, and actually used most of his time with them to protest their protests. Most people didn't know Taylor was with Helen, she was transsexual, and she preferred not to be prominent. Kyle knew about her, and so did Krista. That was it. Val, Mike, and Dan believed it was an odd work schedule. I said I didn't think so, but never told them what I knew. The next day, I entered my seventh period class to see Dan, Kyle, Taylor, and Val all huddled up, talking about their dreams. They were strange, but the same story came out of them. "Tragedy struck me, and I died." To Dan, it was Mike kidnapping him and torturing him in horrendous ways until he died. To Kyle, his father found out about his sexuality, and shot him to death. To Val, she was a detective on a case before she discovered all of her friend's bodies. Then, she died. Taylor had become depressed after Dan died and hung himself. I didn't believe much of it, but did listen how they died. After the bell rang, I wondered, Was this truly a coincidence? Or is something else happening?, then I left. I decided that staying home would be a good idea. On the walk home, I found Helen standing by the school gymnasium. She held something resembling a gun. She said it was a prop, and then showed me a mask she had. It was also a prop. I nodded, and kept going. When I reached home, I got a call from Krista.
"I'm about to get into the shower, but listen to this. Mike wants you guys to help him. He's upset that your friendship ended after such a short time, and he wants to fix it. I'll talk more later. Goodbye, Jacques."
I paid little attention. Or rather, I could only pay a little attention. My siblings were everywhere, and my parents ran around trying to clean, solve problems, and cook. I grabbed both of my siblings by the hand and led them to their rooms, before heading downstairs. I told my mom, "You have five minutes, make it count." She nodded and hurried off to clean, while my father ran to go cook the food. I got another phone call from Krista.
"Jacques..... Mike is dead."