Tombstone

Chapter Two - A Friendly Welcome & A Fall.

The classes went on in a blur, my head swirling with all flashbacks of all the looks on these strangers faces, the recognition, the smiles, the anger, the hatred; but what mostly kept playing over and over in my mind was how both Adonis look-alike and that red spitfire stated that this is my return to Tombstone.

A tornado of thoughts began ferociously conquering my mind; have I really been here before? Did I really live here?
How do these people remember me after a whole decade as they say and why?

The bell rang grounding me from the tornado and setting me down in its ruins; mindlessly I picked up my bag and left the classroom feeling Spitfires eyes bore a hole into the back of my head. The halls were bustling with students making their way towards the cafeteria, I decided to stand by the lockers till hustle and bustle died down as I was going in the opposite direction; I'll check out the cafeteria during my homeroom period.
Eventually; finally the halls calmed down, I turned around ready to head to my locker when a short haired brunette stood in front of me wearing a friendly smile;

'' Hi! I'm Rebecca; I've been assigned to show you around Tombstone High; the in's and out's , do's and don'ts, It's history also but ...'' she said enthusiastically.

'' No, no need for the history I think enough of it is embedded in its walls and front. I wanna know more about the FBI internship here and when it starts; the bars and best hangout places; you know the best social scene.''

'' Well Fridays are at Moon-Shine Drive-in, better show up early coz Tombstone doesn't have designated parking or booking, Saturdays are usually at The Awakening club and bar; if you don't have a fake ID I can hook you up with one and Sundays well that's usually spent nursing an ungodly hangover and at Hal's Diner; I can't really answer you about the FBI internship, although interesting but I'm not interested in that and hey I'm Aiden'', said the handsome, buff jock as he fell into step with us towards the cafeteria.

'' I'm Scarlet and your gay, let's be best friends, the creepiness of this town alone shouts the need of having someone like your around.'' I answered back with a smile.

His head bent a shy smile substituted his confident one, ''Fast and observant; no wonder your applying for the FBI internship,'' he let out a breathy laugh; ''So is it true? You're the mysterious decade disappearance of Tombstone?'' he continued so casually as if he was asking me about my day or the weather.

Shocked; I stop dead in my tracks, ''I've been hearing that all day; I seriously am new in town, I've never been here before. I don't know why people keep asking me that!'' I argue back; they both freeze and stare at me then at each other, exchanging a suspicious look; '' What's that look mean?'' I accusingly ask; annoyed at the fact that everyone seems to know more about my life than I do.

'' No, nothing really; look I gotta go, football practice is about to start; I'll see you around Scarlet. Bye Becca!'' Aiden rushes out as he jogs away from us.

''Don't mind him; come on let me show you the cafeteria.'' says Rebecca as she walks off, ignoring everything that just happened moments ago.

I try to brush off the weird vibe I picked up from Aiden and Rebecca and focus on getting around the place, but it was easier said than done specially when I kept hearing the quiet murmurs of "its her" and "I can't believe she's back"; the cafeteria was huge, wide French windows instead of concrete walls; allowing the sun to illuminate the room; coffee machines and menus; couches instead of chairs, it literally looked like a small coffee house; ''Okay I've found my favorite place in this school'' I jokingly tell Rebecca in the hopes of lighting the mood.

''I don't blame you girl; it's mine too.'' She says as she fills our cups with coffee, '' anyway as you can see we have your usual social pyramid; the cheerleaders, jocks, music club and the school newspaper ''Tombstones' Voice'' which I'm head of; well those are the most common ones; and newly the FBI internship;'' she says gesturing to me smiling sweetly; '' the towns police force is definitely in need of help, if you ask my opinion.''

'' In need of help? What does that mean?''; how could an entire town need the help of high school interns?

''There's been a lot of things going on lately; although it's a small town we don't have many lining up to join the force; hence adding it to the school extracurricular activities; not many have joined it yet just about three other than you.''.

'' Interesting''; a part of me is shocked that we'd be able to partake in actual crime investigation here in Tombstone but what's actually shocking is there is crime in a town this small.

'' Anyway, I should get going too; I have some newspaper manger things to do and .... ''

'' Great, I'll join you... that way you can tell me all about this mysterious disappearance'', I cut Rebecca off, if there's anyone who'll know what Aiden insinuated it would be her.

''Uhh... yeah sure.'' She hesitantly says.

We made our way to the news reporters' room, it looked like a dust storm vomited in it, piles of papers covered the tables; desks filled with printers spitting out hundreds of copies by the minute.

''Welcome to my world; where raw truth sees broad daylight'' She exclaims happily; her green eyes shining.

'' It looks like every mad journalists' dream house'' I say as I take in the rest of the room, what catches my eye the most is the wall on the right; filled from ceiling to floor with archived files dating to decades before I was even born; a confliction of emotions rushes through my veins; determination to find out the truth yet afraid; judging by the looks on everyone's faces and spitfire's accusation, I'm afraid that there is something dark I'm about to discover.

Suddenly a tiny Asian girl with beautiful raven hair barges into the room not even noticing the presence of someone new around; '' Have you seen her? I wonder what she looks like, if there's any resemblance. Everyone's talking about it, it's just screaming to be posted about! "The return of Tombstones mystery girl" or '' A decade later she returns and is alive''; which one do you think is better? Think she'd be okay with being interviewed? After talking to Travis this morning, I have a million things I want to ask her; apparently, she doesn't even remember Travis; like who even forgets him?'' the raven-haired beauty over excitedly says in one breath as she's running around the place setting up her laptop plotting her plan to rip me to shreds with all her questions.

''Well, I'm tall, slim with blonde hair and sky-blue eyes. Not sure who I'm meant to resemble but I'm sure you'll be able to put me up to speed on that. I like the first title more, no I don't mind being interviewed provided I get to ask some questions too and although I share your dilemma about not being able to remember that Adonis lookalike because a face like that cannot be forgotten yet holds no residence in my memory.'' I say confidently, eager to start asking my questions.

The shock on her face was indescribable, she went white as if she's seen a ghost; and then the most unexpected thing happened; she fainted.