Beechwood Academy

chapter eight

"You're going to die—"

"More emotion, Duncan!"

"You will die by my hand!" Duncan cringed at his own voice and he could see Sammy holding back giggles in front of him. Duncan rolled his eyes, sending the blond a subtle unkind gesture, immediately causing his giggles to slip out and drop him into a fit of laughter. Miss Drake sighed in frustration and sunk down in her seat. Duncan shoved Sammy backwards, making the boy lose his balance and fall over. Duncan smiled and stepped off the stage.

"This is going great, you guys are naturals." Daisy nodded and gave Duncan a light pat on his shoulder. Sammy was still gasping for breath as he stepped of the stage, letting Rudy help him so that he didn't go tumbling off the side.

"This is the most embarrassing thing I've ever had to endure." Duncan mumbled and looked at Sammy. "You were mad at me this morning and now your laughing at me flipping you off! Today is something else."

"Mate, theatre is only embarrassing if you make it embarrassing." Sammy stated, falling into his seat beside Daisy.

"Oh no, Duncan is right. Why do you think I dropped this curricular?" Rudy said, leaning against the stage.

"If you dropped it, why are you here?" Susie asked.

"Study hall is lonely so I volunteered to help with the lights and sound effects." Rudy clicked a button on the machine hook to his belt and a low growl sounded throughout the theatre room causing Sammy to jump. Daisy smiled at him and he rolled his eyes as if he was just messing around.

Suddenly, a dark hair boy who looked as if he hadn't slept in days scurried up to Duncan and held up his notepad. The boy's eyes were as black as his hair and the bags under his eyes made him look nearly dead against his pale skin. Duncan stepped back and raised his eyebrows at the kid's notepad, it read; ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴅɪᴇ.

"Yeah, that's my line. I've got it down pat, don't you think?" Duncan asked the kid, shooting skeptical glances at his friends. Each of them wore the same expression. The kid shook his head and started flipped through his notepad, allowing Duncan to look over his shoulder at the drawings. Duncan's eyebrows furrowed and he snatched the notepad from the boy's hand, flipping through the photos and examining each one. "What the hell?" He mumbled.

"What?" Wren asked, stepping up to Duncan side to look at the drawings as well. The one he'd stopped at was a rather morbid drawing of Sammy with a knife in Duncan's stomach. Duncan's entire shape in the drawing was covered in red marker. Wren's mouth fell open. She flipped to another drawing, it was of Susie. Her eyes were black and her mouth was curved in a menacing grin. Wren flipped to another page and brought her hand up to her mouth, it was of a collapsed building that looked way too familiar and each of her friend's corpses lay on top of the rubble, their bodies drawn over with red marker.

"What the hell is this?" Duncan asked the kid. The boy snatched his notepad back and scribbled words on the next clean sheet; ᴍʏ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ɪꜱ ɴᴏᴀʜ, ᴍʏ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍꜱ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴛʀᴜᴇ. He shoved the notepad back into Duncan's hands and pulled off his backpack and begin to dig through the piles of loose paper that was crumpled inside. He pulled out a sheet and pushed past Duncan to get to Sammy, shoving the paper into his hands and tapping violently at the date in the corner. Sammy's breathing stilled as he looked over the drawing. It was like it had been pulled directly from his memory. In the drawing Jared sat on the ground with Rudy's unconscious body lying in his lap, he was screaming at Sammy who stood in the corner with blood covering his face. Sammy tore the drawing up into as many pieces as he could.

"Is this some sick joke? What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" Sammy practically screamed at the boy who was now backing away in fear. He grabbed the notepad from Duncan again and scribbled down another sentence; ɪ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ. When Sammy read it, he seized Noah by the collar of his shirt and practically threw the boy into the seat he'd been seated in moments before.

"Sammy! Stop!" Wren screamed. Duncan grabbed Sammy's shoulders and pulled his off of the boy. Sammy's eyes were closed and he allowed himself to be pulled away. Daisy grabbed the blond's hand and yanked him towards the restrooms, Sammy's eyes were sealed shut the whole way there and he didn't open them until the bathroom door was closed. He stared at the red eyes looking back at him in the mirror and Daisy cupped his face to pull him away from the reflection.

"Calm down." She said sternly.

"He showed me a drawing of Jared. That day that Jared disappeared, he drew it." Sammy whispered, trying to get his breathing under control.

"A lot of people know what happened, it's not a big deal that he does too."

"He wrote I know what you are. He's taunting me."

"Nobody's taunting you. You aren't doing anything wrong, it's not your fault. Okay?" Daisy still held the boy's face in her hands, she pulled his down so that their eyes were level. She wrapped her arms around his neck and didn't let go until his breathing was steady and his eyes were blue.