The House of Grey Prologue - The Original Modern Fantasy Thriller

The House of Grey - Chapter 10 The Original Modern Fantasy Thriller

Chapter Ten

The Voice

Upon arriving in their first class, the trio took seats at the back of the room. Casey and Artorius followed an already irritated Monson, who simply wanted to avoid bringing attention to himself. Because it was the first day, many of the students arrived early, waiting for the teacher to show up and start class. They talked in low voices unpacking computers and tablets while they waited — in vain, as it turned out, as the start of class came and went with no teacher.

     "Where the heck is she?" whispered Monson, although he didn’t know why, as there wasn’t anyone in the classroom who cared if he talked.

     "I don't know,” Casey whispered back "I heard that she's a little weird. Maybe she’s planning a sort of dramatic entry. You know music, lights, and such."

“Oh, you’d love that, wouldn’t you?” Monson placed a binder on his desk. “You and your movie mania.”

“Of course,” replied Casey indignantly. “I maintain that life would be a great deal more interesting if people broke out in random song and dance, supported by a laugh track.”

"You’re mental. You know that, right?”

“Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” 

They lapsed into silence, though the room was far from quiet, the students getting more boisterous as class time continued to tick away.

"Where could she be?" asked a pale frumpy-looking boy in the front row.

"Maybe she's sick?"

     "Isn't there a fifteen-minute rule?"

     "This is BS!"

     "Well, she'd better get here soon," said Monson, "or she's going to have a mass walkout. Probably not the best thing to happen on the first day of class."

     "I'm sure she's coming,” said Artorius absentmindedly, flipping through his textbook. "My cousin told me Ms. Blake has a great love for the theatrics. Apparently last year she showed up in a gorilla suit."

     "Creepy," said Casey. “She must have been a drama major in college. Only people that can't cut it in the outside world pull crap like that. I mean really—" A snicker from his other side cut him off and made them all shift in their chairs.

     A girl with lank, shoulder length brown hair and thick, square glasses with ridiculously large rims sat next to them giggling as she looked down at the same textbook as Artorius. Her eyes were a bit on the glassy side.

"Whoa," said Casey in surprise. "Where’d you come from?"

The girl blasted him with a face full of pout. “I’ve been here since you sat down. Am I really that unworthy of notice?”

Her voice sounded overwhelmingly forlorn.

 Casey cocked his head to the left, clearly indicating that was exactly what he thought. Monson punched him on the arm.

“Ouch! What was that for, Grey?’

“You know dang well what that was for.”

Casey held up his hands. “OK, OK, I wasn’t going to say anything.”

Monson turned towards the girl, searching for something to say. He saw the book she was reading.

“So, do you like to read?”

      The girl did not answer at once. She continued to look at her book, and then turned towards Monson. To everyone's surprise she asked, "Aren’t you the new Horum Vir?" Her voice had changed, however; it now sounded girlish and annoyingly high-pitched.  She also stared at his face with a mix of horror and wonder. This annoyed Monson. It annoyed him a great deal.