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As of the thirty-first of May, Rainy City got attacked, specifically the high school that sat in the center of the city.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVaisrw8Lzf
No one expected it at first. People went about their day as usual.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA1gDU4Ud7J
Grey first noticed it when he sat with Winter during their free period, watching his artistic friend carve away at a block of wood, carving out a flower shape. It was beautiful, watching him work his magic.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjyfxjsvF0U
Winter placed his carving knife on the table, and began to feel around for a different one, gently running his hand along the smooth surface, waiting until he felt the handle of the knife he needed. Grey sat up and looked at the carving, where Winter’s other hand was gently tracing the tip of a petal.
“Do you need one of the small precision knives?” Grey asked.
Winter nodded. “Yes.”
Grey glanced at the array of tools, and found the one he thought Winter needed, with the tip of the knife coming down to an extremely thin point. He wrapped his fingers around it, gingerly took Winter’s carving hand, and placed the handle in his open palm.
With pale fingers, he felt the tip as gently as possible, as to not hurt himself. “Is that the one?” Grey asked.
“Yes,” responded Winter, the corners of his lips turning upwards. “Thank you.” He turned back to the carving and continued his work.
Shhk, shhk, shhk. The sound of the wood being shaped filled the mostly empty art room, and Grey continued to watch his friend work.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuhJKKRJGX6
The room was mostly silent, though, minus the sounds of the carving and the snoring teacher, who slept at his desk, a few empty coffee cups littered around it. So, to fill the noise, Grey hummed softly, ignoring how high his voice sounded.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs4vXCQhzJV
A few more minutes of doing art passed by, and the rose was really beginning to take shape. Even though it was solid wood, it looked so- alive, so natural.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfuZTbBKRr0
He enjoyed spending time with Winter like that, even if they didn’t talk.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE4BeIfwllu
It was peaceful… until Winter stopped carving and shot up, dropping the knife on the table.
“Winter?”
“Be careful-”
SLAM!213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡds4NKBbbFc
The door slammed open, and Grey’s head swiftly turned in the direction of the sound. At the sight he saw, he squeaked in shock and jerked back, causing him to fall off of the painted stool he sat at.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyFX6UbJoab
He got up fast, and had to rub his eyes to make sure he was seeing it right. There were a bunch of kids- children, in the high school, wearing odd-looking clown masks on their heads, jumping up and down, hooting, laughing.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnYWSOiG00
Then, they started ravaging the room. Taking boxes and throwing them to the floor, opening the shelves and chucking everything they could find out, anything you could think of. 213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNX1fs6UfvN
The initial shock wore off, and he took a few deep breaths. What were these kids doing here? And what were they doing? “WHAT THE HELL, KIDS!?” Grey shouted, and stepped forward to stop them. They were making a mess, and Mr. Principal definitely was going to blame him for that!213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoW1Xw9rh4p
Winter stood up and reached out, finding Grey’s form and putting his hand on his shoulder protectively. “Spirits.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbYX05gk4g
Spirits? They had appeared as normal children to him. Short, a little pudgy, and wearing all types of bright clothes.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡamI5tXsXDT
But then he noticed, like last time. The tips of their limbs were slightly transparent, and it looked like they were fraying at the edges ever so slightly… their heads didn’t have the same effect though, simply the plastic-like texture of a dollar store mask.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfh7l55Xjfi
So they were spirits… wearing masks. Mid-level spirits, possibly? That’s what he remembered.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3CHDbce7Qu
That didn’t give them an excuse to destroy random stuff, though! 213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfsPbnX0gFV
Grey stepped forward once more, crossed his arms, and glared at them. “STOP!” he yelled, but they didn’t. Of course. What reason did they have to listen to some random teenager?213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUoH4BCBRhX
They just kept giggling, and laughing, and smashing everything around. One particular clown-child approached the desk that they had been sitting at, and Grey leaped for it just as the kid did. 213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpp8H6Dx7q
The young spirit reached it just a few seconds before Grey did, and he stumbled and fell through the apparition. 213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQkjaenRtfF
The child raised a hand, and slammed it down on the table.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVTsbmNv9VA
Snap!213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeEE0PIbu72
No.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqw7DQNbF1
Winter’s rose, the beautiful rose that he was carving, was snapped right in half, a delicate stem broken in two and petals shattered.
Grey let out a garbled cry in his throat, and Winter must’ve sensed that something was wrong, as he rushed over to the table, frantically grabbing around to reach the carving. His fingers touched the tip, and he pursed his lips as he did so.
The clown children destroyed a few more things before running away, cackling amongst themselves at the destruction left.
There Winter sat, holding his broken carving. Simply blinking.
“I’m sorry,” Grey apologized. “You worked so hard on it…”
“It’s okay,” Winter said, but Grey knew it wasn’t. He was already quiet, but his voice was now reduced to the smallest of whispers that could’ve been lost in the wind. His broad shoulders slumped a little as well. “Not your fault.”
Still, Grey moved over and hugged his friend, leaning into his chest. “I’m still sorry.”
They stood like that for a few seconds, until a small crashing noise echoed from the back of the room, where the teacher had been sleeping.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJRosEObW5l
“What the- what did you do to my room, kids?” came a tired voice, the tired sound of the teacher. He had somehow slept through most of the reckoning, but now he was awake, and pretty mad.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe5a7RwdV0e
“I can explain,” Grey said, the worst sentence one could possibly tell when they actually could explain.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE4RNPZO2kR
The teacher rolled his eyes, and pinched his nose bridge. “Don’t care.” He took out his left hand, one with a small, silver band on his ring finger, and pointed it at them. “You kids are going to have to clean this up. And I’m going to call the principal to deal with you.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3JyOxfLlcD
Grey’s heart basically stopped then and there. “Not Mr. Principal. Anything but Mr. Principal-”
213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNADbYw6yXZ
He had called Mr. Principal.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgu2XfTRkj
The man in yet another ugly pinstriped suit stepped in through the door, this one a burnt orange and puke-colored yellow. Was he trying to wear hideous suits on purpose? Grey had to strain his eyes to look at it.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFco2G12NgS
He surveyed the damage with his usual judging eye, making a displeased sound in his throat. Then, his eye landed on Grey.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEfSBmxtkLO
“Pierce. Of course this is your fault.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8MmCQdpFB8
Grey wanted to do nothing more than yell out that he didn’t do it, but there was no reasoning with Mr. Principal. That man hated him, and he hated the man in turn.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiEMfCC9ny4
He huffed and simply crossed his arms, looking at the ground. No point in covering for himself. It wouldn’t work.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd73b6WHjyj
But then he looked up at Winter, and the subtle mourning for his artwork that was laced in his expression, and Grey sighed internally. He didn’t want to be responsible for his friend’s sadness. Or even look responsible for it. Especially when the blame lied on some stupid spirit clown-kids.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ILvAfOoWP
Well, he could at least try to explain. 213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjldWTSzpPG
“I didn’t do it, Mr. Principal.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2r97ZXhe35
“That’s what someone that did it would say,” he replied, raising a nearly hairless eyebrow. 213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOVFY9UgSA
“I mean, fair point,” Grey said, and he scratched the back of his neck, huffing to himself. He felt warmth overtake him, not a nice one, but the kind that appeared when one got interrogated and began to sweat with nervousness. “But, still, I didn’t. There were these clown ki…”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz5yO3eoAIV
He then promptly remembered that normal people were not able to see spirits, and it would look… suspicious, if he did. And he wasn’t from an exorcist family, either.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjf47pEh5q3
To a normal person, it would probably just look like a bunch of floating clown heads attacked them, since they were spirits wearing masks.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1gRhmNh3W6
Ignoring the cold stare of the principal, he cleared his throat. Ah, okay, so… how could he say it? Shoot, this was hard.
“Well?” Mr. Principal asked, arms crossed. “I don’t have all day, say something.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNEqP8FQkgM
“There were these… floating… clown… heads?” he tried to say, but what was meant to be a confident statement ended up sounding more like a question. Dammit! “And, and… they came and destroyed everything! It was so chaotic! They wrecked it all, and even destroyed my best friend’s rose!” he waved his hands up in the air to symbolize the clown-children.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBr8niDH0DG
If Mr. Principal's eyebrow could raise up even higher, it would, and Grey heard a small snicker from behind him.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzz5VA82mfD
He turned to face the sound, and Winter was smiling a bit. He was… laughing at him? Come on, the first time Grey ever heard the serious boy laugh a lot, and he was laughing at him213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXNjeo5hq6E
As if he could feel Grey’s stare, Winter raised a hand to cover his mouth and turned his head away slightly. “Sorry.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9AL2I9HJcA
“Let me guess. It sounds like a lie?” he whispered exasperatedly.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSaEXTa82UC
Winter nodded.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZglZ4cQXic
“That absolutely sounds like a lie,” the principal declared loudly. “You, Ms. Pierce, are getting detention.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBNhWxP9sn5
A nasty taste formed in his mouth. “Seriously?”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38N8yppfEn
“Yes, seriously,” said the principal.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSupPBLECIR
“There are witnesses,” Winter mumbled, putting his hands in his pockets. “Grey’s innocent.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoaHg6G6wLm
Grey smiled at his friend standing up for him, but the principal didn’t seem too happy. “Well, what did the teacher see?” God, that man was just desperate for a reason to throw Grey in detention.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBwg3iKksAb
He walked over to the man that slept at his desk, snoring once more as brown curls covered his face. “Mr. Cooper, wake up.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUTfbfiqquY
The man grumbled, and woke up as if he was a zombie rising from the dead. “What,” he asked rudely, but when he realized who he was talking to, he brushed his hair out of his face and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Apologies, please don’t fire me. What is it?”
“Did Ms. Pierce destroy the classroom?”
The man simply shrugged. “I dunno.”
“Were you asleep again?”
“Yeah.”
“I am going to fire you.” 213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWe1gZMosRD
“Please no.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4RJDqsfRr7
The two men began to bicker, and Grey took it as a sign to escape the classroom before Mr. Principal called him to his office once more. He silently grabbed Winter’s hand, and the two of them tried to tip-toe out of the rubble the clown-children created.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKaDeBc8XKC
In fact, the duo had almost reached the door, had it not been for Grey stepping on a pencil on the ground, causing him to slip ever so slightly. He shouted involuntarily, causing Mr. Principal and Mr. Cooper to look at him.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmtL4XfD9hl
“Oi, Pierce!”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBfKdODtDAB
Grey sighed, and turned around. “Yes, Mr. Principal?” 213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxIViVYtEF
“No escaping. Clean this mess up and then go to my office.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGO6kermKbD
Aw man. That absolutely sucked. “I’m telling you, I didn’t do it-”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXIVjq3cPN
“Yes yes, floating clown heads did. Unless you can get them to clean this mess up, somebody is going to have to. And that somebody is going to be you.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJehP0RkWSo
“You don’t believe the clown heads?”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxBP2z4yM0Z
“Of course not.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOEkO9pebm
“It was spirits,” Winter mumbled.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSNr4PsLIi
“Detention for talking back, erm… What's your name?”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqCdCb70tKP
“Winter Duke.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmcp8nIu2cc
“Detention, Mr. Duke. For aiding Pierce in her lie.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYzmE7lrk0
“His,” Grey corrected quietly, but Mr. Principal continued on talking.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDzu5PorfW
“Oh, and even if it was spirits, I still highly doubt it. One of our local exorcists would have taken care of it by now. There’s really not that many spirits anymore, you know.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZ3bDySYeD
Grey let out a quick chuckle under his breath. Sure. He’d let Mr. Principal believe that. He couldn’t see the sheer amount of spirits that wandered about the world, he could only see hostile ones.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQPLHztAz0P
Wait, hold on a second… normal people could only see spirits with harmful intentions. Which meant that they’d be able to see the spirits under the masks… and so they would just appear as kids with clown masks. Aw man! He should've just told the truth. Say they were clown-kids. Maybe, if someone else saw them too, that would make his claim believable.
While Mr. Principal continued to lecture Grey about how absurd his lie (or half lie, really) was, on the other side of the school, a certain student council president happened to witness them as well…
213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxLrfu0RoHk
Vesper was crowded by people as always, however, she was not fooling around during study hall like many other students had.
She was actually helping one of her teachers grade tests, sitting next to Ms… ah, what was her name? She didn’t exactly remember, the history teacher was quite forgettable. But that didn’t matter, she was happy to help whoever needed it.
With a red flare pen, she crossed out wrong answers and wrote the correct ones, what not to do next time, going above and beyond so that they could learn from their mistakes.
If they even read her notes. She knew a lot of people wouldn’t, but if at least one person got help, she was fine with that. She just wanted them to know that she was helping, and that she was nice enough to do that.
Other students crowded around her in the classroom, talking to her about random things. She didn’t know half of them very well, but she tried her best to keep up the conversation while grading.
It did get very tiring, though. She wished she hid in the janitor’s closet like Mika did during most study halls, because at this point, most of her energy was drained.
Still, she kept going. But… she did hope the bell would ring soon.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrcz98pIW7
However, something other than the bell happened to interrupt the grading time, and it came in the form of… floating… masks?213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsf2cznnTAw
A wave of confusion overtook her, and she squinted, trying to see if she was seeing that right. The masks were made of cheap plastic, paint smeared over it to look like the makeup of a clown. Curly wig-hair from the dollar store was also glued onto it.
A really sloppy job, as if a child had crafted it for halloween.
But also… Why were they floating?213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqMHK5Hrf2P
Her fellow students, (and the history teacher) stared at the hovering masks in confusion, and the painted faces stared back.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCo0E5jXhWR
Then, all hell broke loose. The masks launched themselves all through the classroom, to every corner, messing it all up. Throwing desks, grabbing the papers she was grading and crumpling them up, breaking every single piece of chalk on the chalk-board.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUgPjVS3LHs
People screamed, and a lot of them pushed and shoved to get out of the room in a panic.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfW1xE64FOj
Vesper was scared as well, but she stood her ground, and motioned for the few students left in the room to get behind her. A guy with glasses, a cutesy girl with pink afro hair, and some other people frozen with fear.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs8nsvKbIvd
They got behind her, as she motioned, and she took a deep breath. She didn’t know what to do, but she hoped they would at least feel a little safer.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrp5vz5SK8p
Ignoring the shaking of her hands, she yelled out to the clown heads: “STOP!”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡruOx55jMUH
Of course, they didn’t listen to her. One of them glanced at her for a second, but then it laughed, and random items continued flying across the room, these creatures beginning to delight in chaos.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBXGV7GJWPj
A clown head picked up a blue school chair and threw it against the window, causing the loudest shattering noise to echo across the room. 213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbS4ebz6QT
The rain that was pouring outside as always started to drizzle in through the window, spraying water everywhere.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYmhX0pT3yQ
Vesper looked at the chaos that wasn’t ending anytime soon, and took a step, then turned around to face the group behind her. “I’m going to try to find Mikaela. Or the principal, at least.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc0CyFllvJM
The poor things were too shocked to respond, but she noticed that they nodded or mumbled “okay.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq8GBcewuyt
“Stay safe, okay,” she said, then gestured to the empty space under the teacher’s desk. “I recommend hiding there or going out to find a closet.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuGI1tAfSX1
They followed her instructions, and one by one, crammed themselves beneath the desk. One kid, the one with glasses, got hit in the face with something the clown-head threw, and he jerked back, clutching the injured area with his hand. Through his fingers, blood was leaking out of his nose and down his hand.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzOmKmnLy3K
Vesper swallowed. She had to hurry up and find Mika so that he could get rid of these spirits.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRrpGPdV44F
She rushed to the door, and placed her hand on the doorknob, but then she heard footsteps behind her. Turning around once more, she came face to face with the pink-haired girl, who… she didn’t believe it, but she just socked a clown head in the face. Like with a punch. It was sent flying to the ground.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmaWe0Dm4HR
Vesper’s mouth hung open. “I- why are you coming with me? Please stay safe.” 213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8hkYMoi0c
“In here?” the other girl responded, an expression of disbelief on her face. “You think this is safe?”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxo3NKOliVW
“Fair point,” Vesper mumbled, but pointed to the window in the door. Through that window, it was clear to see that the hallway was overrun with even more of the spirits, chasing students and terrorizing everybody. “There’s more outside, though,” she warned.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡENEhNgoX2z
“I can see that, are you stupid?”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHozNEkzAIt
Vesper swallowed her words. Okay then.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPgOUE41tG
“Anyway, I’m going with you. After all, I can clear a path for you through there by punching them smack in the face.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnGxfx1xhpg
“Yeah, how did you… do that, even?” Vesper finally asked. Normal people can't touch spirits, right? She could certainly touch the mask, as it was a solid object and not connected to the spirit, but it would just fly through the mask and put it back on, right?213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5uuG2HjbTh
The girl just laughed. “You remember me, right? I’m Cherry Glass,” she said, though she didn’t really answer the question. “I’m just special that way.” Then, before Vesper had time to respond, she punched yet another spirit that strayed too close. The plastic mask it was wearing smashed into the wall, then fell, crumpled. “Let’s go.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaoPNuaLvZe
“Er… well, thank you for helping, even though you might get hurt.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6RVKmSaRfj
Cherry laughed again. “I won’t get hurt, I promise.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaQQR1Dk72m
Vesper opened up the door, and the two girls rushed into the hallway, looking for somebody, anybody to help, but they were immediately swept away by the flow of people rampaging down the hallway, bodies pressing against bodies and screams echoing as people rushed to the exit.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb18y2q1Std
Spirits gaped and threw items, backpacks, heavy textbooks.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPaHcplnhW
This was a mess! An absolute mess!213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEOblJdqUkS
Where was Mika? Any of the local exorcists!?
213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMeSoOiFvR
Mika was in the janitor’s closet.
He was reading a book, something boring from a couple hundred years ago, a stupid book about a silver-haired vampire and a beautiful vampire-hunter. It was written in the form of letters that were supposedly “discovered.” 213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU259h2qGX5
The book was from before the time of Dracula, but it still sucked.
(Better love story than Twilight, though.)
The redhead shut the old book and sighed, rubbing his temples with his fingertips. At least it was quiet. Ever since that dumb idea he had, it was so hard to get quiet. Everyone was always crowding him. “Oh, Mika, you’re so perfect!” this or “Mika, are you free this afternoon!?”
It was… a little annoying, to say the least. Okay, very annoying. He hated annoying things. Especially that guy.
He enjoyed the lack of sound for a while, simply the ambient noise from the hallway and the soft blowing of the fan from the ceiling.
“AAAAH! RUN! EVERYBODY RUN! DOOM IS UPON US!”
Mika’s eye twitched. So much for peace and quiet.
However, screams of terror usually meant something was wrong. Most likely, spirits.
He stood up and sighed, brushing some wavy red hair out of his face. Duty was calling him, and he hoped he could get it over with quickly. Eliminate one or two spirits, then find a different hiding place. After all, once he exited the janitor’s closet, someone was sure to see him leaving, and then he’d have a whole fanclub waiting for when he returned. He didn’t exactly want that.
Grabbing the old book with dark hands, he stood up and placed his hands on the door. Okay. Time to go. 213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2JpSRTduC7
The door to the janitor’s closet creaked open with a single push, and Mika saw…213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe5EenoLR6L
Children with clown masks!?213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYAJqur6gM
They were storming the hallway, chasing students and causing chaos, a barrage of mischievous children and terrified teenagers everywhere.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDqkn4eqeCt
But his focused eye could see just the tiniest thing in the children with masks. They were a little bit blurry at the edges, the tiniest bit transparent at the ends of their limbs. Middle-level spirits.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY3j6xBTbyg
Oh well. He could deal with it, even if it was a headache.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUS12cHIt6f
He chucked the book behind him, (he would get it later), cracked his knuckles, and reached into his pants pocket to pull out his golden scissors.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡurJrHsVhY0
Okay, well, the time was as good as any.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdCOPr3mKN8
Time to eliminate some spirits.
213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6y9AqBlKs
Grey had gotten dragged into the principal’s office, along with Winter, for another lecture and a call to his parents. Winter was there too, for… aiding Grey, or something.
Honestly, Grey didn’t know what Mr. Principal was doing. He was scribbling some stuff down on paper and typing stuff into his computer, but for what? He didn’t know, didn’t really care, either.
He slouched in his chair, (it was a nice chair with a cushion, he could at least admit that,) and just stared at the green floral wallpaper, listening to the maddening ticking of the clock.
Tick, tock, tick, tock.
Eventually, he just got tired of it. “Mr. Principal, why are we here?” he finally asked. “You’re not even lecturing us.”
Winter nodded, agreeing with Grey.
Mr. Principal sighed, as if it was such an inconvenience that he had to explain to them why they were there. “Well-”
The door to the office slammed right open before he could fully give a reason, two out of breath girls ran in, slamming the door right behind them.
Grey recognized one of them, as it was Vesper. Her long, dark hair was tied into the usual ponytail she wore at school, and her clothes were… cut up and damaged?
The other one was someone with tan skin on the darker side, adorned in accessories that looked like they were for five year olds. Her coily hair was dyed a bubblegum pink.
Vesper’s eyes were wide as she leaned against the door, looking through the peephole. “I’m sorry to interrupt, sir,” she apologized, her voice breathy as she tried to keep up a steady breathing pace.
Mr. Principal furrowed his brow, wondering why such a perfect star student was bursting in unannounced. “It’s all right, Ms. Solaris, what is it?” He quickly forgave her offense because of her shiny clean track record. “Oh, and Miss…”
“Glass,” replied the pink-haired girl that was next to Vesper.
“Sir, I think we’re being overrun with spirits. There are these floating clown heads everywhere.”
“Spirits, you say…?” Mr. Principal questioned, genuinely surprised, and he looked over at Grey, wondering if perhaps the troublemaker was actually telling the truth.
Grey, on the other hand, was equally shocked. He went over this before, but he knew that normal people couldn’t see spirits, and the only exception was if they had hostile intentions, like to cause harm. That was the only way that normal people could see them.
Those in exorcist families could see all spirits at all times, though.
Anyway, spirits running around and causing mayhem seemed pretty hostile. How could it be that she couldn’t see them?
“Yes,” Vesper confirmed.
“Well, surely Mr. Crowmore should be taking care of them, correct?”
Vesper hesitated, and held her other arm. “Well, I haven’t been able to find him, but I’m sure he’s taking care of as many as he can.”
“As many… as he can?”
She nodded. “It’s not just a few spirits, sir. The school is full of them.”
“I can attest to that,” the cutesy girl agreed, jumping into the conversation. “They first ran into the classroom, and destroyed stuff. We thought it was just their group, but then there were more, and more. They’re flooding the hallways.”
“I…” Mr. Principal trailed off, the crease in between his brows even more prominent. Of course it was, what other reaction would there be for learning that your school was full of mischievous spirits?
“I’m not lying,” the cutesy girl said, as if that was the reason why he was at a loss for words. “I don’t lie.”
“Right, right,” Mr. Principal finally said, standing up and adjusting his tie. “Thank you for telling me, girls.”
“Of course, sir,” Vesper said, nodding. “What should our next course of action be?”
Mr. Principal scrunched up his face, trying to think of something. “Well, just try to keep people calm.”
“In this situation? Ha, keep dreaming if you think people are going to be calm,” the cutesy girl interjected, referencing the crowds of people rushing down the hallway earlier, but then she quickly shut her mouth when the stressed man glared at her. “Sorry. I forgot I’m supposed to be nice. I just say whatever I’m thinking usually.”
“Well, hold your thoughts,” was all Mr. Principal said, and Grey was even more shocked. Not giving people detention at the slightest offense? He must have really been under a lot of pressure. “Vesper, at least try to keep people calm. I trust your judgment, so do whatever you deem necessary. I’m going to phone the rest of our local exorcists to help with this.”
“Yes, sir,” Vesper said, and Mr. Principal then turned to Grey. And Winter too, of course, since he was sitting next to him.
“I’ll let you off the hook for now, Ms. Pierce.”
Grey smiled. “So you were wrong and I wasn’t lying?” he asked, trying to get him to admit defeat.
Mr. Principal sighed, as it really wasn’t the time for it. “Yes, you were… wrong. You weren’t lying. But you’re still a problem.”
The boy grinned. “I’ll take it.”
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The next day, everybody went to school as usual, and there were actually minimal mischievous floating heads around. 213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBYywJJ7AHR
For some reason, after a couple of minutes, they all floated out and disappeared into the city around them, leaving the school wrecked… but alone.
So, despite the damage, people still went to school. Apparently there was nothing more important than education.
Classes went surprisingly smoothly, despite the damage everywhere. Students and teachers alike were tense at first- would the spirits come back? But soon they all started to settle down and lower their guard, it happened.
Grey was almost about to fall asleep in class, as usual. He didn’t understand it, and nothing made sense, so there was no point in staying awake and wasting precious energy.
Head in his arms, he started to get groggy, and then…
CRASH!
He jerked back awake at the loud noise, eyes wide.
Everybody was looking towards the source of the crash, a broken window with glass scattered all around the floor of it. A rock lay in the shattered glass, with a paper wrapped around it.
The class stared at it, confused. Nobody wanted to pick it up and look at it.
But a brave soul stepped forward, wading her way through the cluster of desks and bending down to look at it.
Vesper Solaris.
She picked up the rock, flipping it over and examining it on both sides, then staring at the paper that was wrapped around the rock. It was still pretty crumpled, and she hadn’t unfolded it to look at it yet, but it was obvious that it had some type of handwriting on it.
“Well?” the math teacher asked, waiting for a response. Everybody was tense. “What does it say?”
She uncrumpled the beaten-up paper and read over the words. Her eyes narrowed in confusion, then widened.
“Run.”
“Excuse me?” asked the teacher, stepping back, worried.
“That’s what the paper says,” Vesper explained, standing up and holding the paper out for everybody to see.
Grey leaned over to look at it, along with everybody else.
Sure enough, it was scrawled out in big, sloppy red letters, and written in the brightest colored marker anybody could imagine.
Run?
Run.
It set in for everybody just a moment too late, and then they appeared.
Through the broken window, tons of those horrible clowns appeared, their heads popping up over the edge of it first, then the rest of their bodies. At least, that’s what it looked like to Grey. To everybody else, it was just a bunch of floating clown masks, the masks that had terrorized everybody just a day before.
They came pouring in through the window, laughing and giggling and causing as much mayhem as possible.
Grey stood up out of his desk in shock, and a few students ran out into the hallways, which were already filled to the brim with those mischievous spirit-children.
But, alas, there was nothing they could do, and the chaos repeated once more.
It went exactly as it had yesterday. Screams. Cries. The sounds of crashing and yelling and pulling.
A panic set in quickly. It was horrible.
However, a couple of minutes later, everything was completely silent. As if they had done their jobs, the clown-children simply cackled at their pain once more, and then simply left without a fight, floating out as quickly as they had come.
What?
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The day after that went exactly the same way. So did the day after that, and the day after that, until they had a solid week of clown attacks.
No one had been hurt, somehow, but it was terribly disruptive.
It was always brief, and at a random time in the school day, but it had left everybody exhausted. The school board was considering shutting down the high school temporarily, with how much destruction the place had undergone.
Yet, despite their consideration, no action had been taken.
None, none at all.
Eventually, Grey figured that someone had to do something about it. If the school wasn’t going to take action, he would.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu4ld4SxSqz
He didn’t care much for school, but he cared even less for children that paid no mind to others. For example: they didn’t care that he was just trying to take a nice, peaceful nap in class, and instead made it an environment that was hard for him to sleep in.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Abjh78rf2
So, he figured he’d go to Aeris’ library, to find out how to defeat them. After all, it had the answers to everything there.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9P7Fc07qK
As the bell to leave class rang throughout the school, he swung the straps of his backpack onto his shoulders and prepared to leave, but was stopped by a girl just a bit taller than him.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDsxHKhpWpH
“Grey, I have something to ask you,” Vesper said, sounding just a tad bit nervous.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzlbHcMBqH
“Shoot,” he replied, ready for anything.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEk7Pc5qsUF
“You seemed to be quite knowledgeable on shadow spirits the other week,” she started, and brushed some stray hair that had fallen out of her ponytail out of her face. “So I was wondering if you also knew anything about the spirits that had been attacking recently?”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3V98wKp8gX
His expression dropped. “No, I’m sorry,” he said. “Have you tried asking Mika?”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWtQdSVLPI
“I have asked Mikaela. He simply said that it was an exorcist’s job, and he would handle it, so I had no reason to worry.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqCDTEvRkBj
Grey nodded. He recalled Mika had said something similar to him as well.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6HvF5tKREf
“But clearly he hasn’t been able to handle it,” came another voice, interrupting their conversation. The two people turned towards the speaker, the pink-clad girl named Cherry. She continued speaking, without mercy towards the exorcists: “I mean, he’s doing his job pretty badly if we’re still getting attacks. Do you also see how destroyed the school is?”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkbGP61Q97x
Grey nodded. It was true. Vesper also agreed, nodding a bit, but first she checked the room to make sure that no one would be offended when she did so. It was empty, so she nodded as well.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW1ksOcdVx0
Cherry sauntered over to a desk near them, and sat on top of it, confidently crossing her legs. “So,” she said, throwing herself into the conversation even more: “I was eavesdropping, and I think Vesper here wants your help in order to stop the spirits and leave the school safe, so she can continue her perfect, smart, intelligent persona.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QMovFIXjk
“I-” Vesper said, but Cherry spoke louder than her, cutting her off.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb85sDgsE8h
“Well, am I right or what?”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZWj3WgnfI
Vesper pursed her lips. “Yes, you’re right. But…” her voice was smaller as she spoke the next part of her sentence, “the second part is wrong.”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkXSNwEfTzU
Cherry giggled, as if she knew she was lying, but didn’t say any more. “Well, Grey? Will you help us?”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZuLc9eYFs
He kept looking from Vesper to Cherry, Cherry to Vesper, trying to figure out what was going on, but he ultimately failed, and just shrugged. “Sure! I’d be happy to help. And how do you know my name…?” He didn’t recall telling her.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezBkIbHmDA
Cherry didn’t answer her question, and instead clapped her hands together and smiled. “Wonderful! We get to stop the spirits!”213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLm69KSMNn
“Yes, well, I’m glad you agreed to help,” Vesper said, though she did feel a little overtaken by Cherry. She had just butted into the conversation, as she had done with several other things in the past few weeks. Nonetheless, the point was across, and she had help now, so she had no reason to complain about the method in which she got help. “How are you going to, though, if you don’t have any knowledge on these spirits?”
“I know a place,” Grey said, not even thinking as he said it. He never really thought things through. He was more of an impulsive guy, and at that moment, that was his impulse.
And so, they were off to learn more about those spirits.
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