Highstorm High

CHAPTER 1

PROLOGUE
Szeth Son Son Vallano wore white the day he was to kill a principal. That is, lab coat white, as he was dressed as a medic. Funny how he was dressed to heal, but came here for darker purpose. 

The dark night reflected Szeth's soul. Turbulent. Raging. Bald. Szeth's bald head was caressed by the wind, flowing over him in great sweeps. He wished he could be taken by that wind. Somewhere else. Somewhere he didn't need to commit this heinous crime.

Szeth was only a freshman at Everstorm High, but boy oh boy did he seek to be but a part of Everstorm's Football Fencing team. Thus he was sent on this odious mission by the upperclassmen. If he wanted to be on the team, he needed to be cold blooded.

The rain beat down piercing Szeth's bald head with heavy drops. The tempest raged, metaphorically and literally. It was half time, that meant it was time. Tied, 0-0.

Everstorm High needed to cement a victory. It was the final game of the season, and everyone at Everstorm High just really wanted to win. Drastic times call for drastic measures. Principal Gavilar needed to die, and his play book be burned.

Principal Gavilar was to be cut out of the equation, exterminated, terminated, if you will by Szeth's pale bony hand.

The marching band began their decent onto the soggy field, the half time show commenced, led by Usher.

Principal Gavilar who also turned out to be the coach of the flag twirling troop led the teens in a warm-up. The flags, emblazoned with the Highstorm High mascot, a Ryshadium, whipped through the air, wet with rain.

After finishing up his pre-show stretches, making sure to give his quads some extra love, Gavilar faced the roaring crowd. Before he could count the team in, Eshonai, Everstorm High's quarterback, sprinted onto the field with a large metal pole. Szeth noted the strange instrument from the sidelines, only he knew its devious purpose. It was not a specially made baton like Eshonai claimed as she handed it to Gavilar for his baton twirling solo, but a superconductor, able to attract lightening from miles away.

What would seem in a few minutes to be a tragic accident was actually the result of an evil ploy led by High schoolers.

Gavilar accepted the "baton" and began twirling to Usher, rhythmically swaying his shorty short clad hips back and forth. The crowd starting whooping at the magnificent display. Szeth watched the crowd closely, his eyes locking on Gavilar's wife Navani, HSH's chemistry teacher, who was visibly cringing at her husband's performance. Szeth couldn't understand the reason for her embarrassment-- the man was beautiful. He moved in ways Szeth did not believe possible, his golden skin glistening in the rain.

Gavilar, breathing heavily, struck his final pose, arm raised above head triumphantly. The crowd jumped to its feet, cheering. After a moment, the lights faded to darkness, signaling the start of the second half, one Gavilar unwittingly would never witness.

The rumbling of thunder signaled the Principal's end was imminent. As if in slow motion, Szeth saw Usher march over to Gavilar, clapping him on the back in congratulations.

Final words were sometimes the most important words a man could say, Szeth knew this all too well.

Usher poked at Gavilar's tank top, "Where'd you get this sick tank top?"

Gavilar smiled, handing Usher the pole so that he could use his hands to gesture to his tank top, "Justice."

Szeth felt a spike of regret as the lightning found its target, incinerating Usher on contact. Gavilar's burned corpse fell to the ground, not incinerated.

Szeth was not expecting that... Usher. Dead. How could this be?

But now it was Szeth's turn to play a part in this fatal game.

The crowd grew restless unable to see what happened though the dense rain that was just gushing out of the sky. Tentatively Szeth, remembering the plan that was decided on before hand, used a fake carnival barker voice, "Someone get a medic!"

Szeth looked around, "Yes who said that?" He said as he pretended not to know that Szeth himself was the one who called out for a medic.

Szeth picked up his stretcher and jogged out onto the field. The game had started up again, players seemed to have not noticed the death that just occured, or at least they didn't care. Death was a common element of Football Fencing games. If a player wasn't stabbed in a game... well, you weren't playing Football Fencing.

Sliding in the mud, Szeth fell to his knees and began pushing Gavilar's gloriously muscular yet crispy body onto the stretcher. The stretcher was made of paper, though, and immediately dissolved in the mud. Szeth, panicking at the sight of fencers trampling down toward center field, grabbed Gavilar by the boot and began dragging the corpse.

A sudden force shoved Szeth on top of Principal Gavilar, whose body had grown soggy from rain exposure. Navani had run onto the field, "USHER!!" She screamed, falling to the ground,, picking up the ashes and holding them close to her heart, "WHY STORMFATHER WHY??? THE KING OF R&B, MR ENTERTAINMENT HIMSELF!" Navani grew more quite, her pain internalizing, "Gavilar always said I would never be as talented as him, but Usher, Usher knew. He believed in me," She broke down sobbing.

Szeth, wiping the mud, blood, and bits of crispy flesh from his face, continued dragging Gavilar. As the Everstorm High players ran by they stabbed the corpse for good measure.

There was one final part of this plan.

Szeth dragged Gavilar to the top of the bleachers, passing many fans who congratulated the principal on his wonderful half time performance.

At the top, Szeth picked up Gavilar. Many would suspect the body was too heavy for weak freshman arms, but Szeth was different. He was corn fed. He hoisted Gavilar's juicy frame over his shoulder and unceremoniously dumped the body over the edge.

"You jost killed the principol," cried out a guy. As the crowds closed in on Szeth, pointing their long ugly fingers at him, Szeth menunvered his way under one of the bleacher seats and climbed down the metal rods that held up said bleachers.

And just like that, he disappeared into the night, leaving only a scrap of his white lab coat that caught on a spooky branch.