The Edge of Paradise

Chapter 4: Hometown Glory

A lumped formed in my throat upon looking up at the city wide penitentiary otherwise known as Solomon High School, an ancient decaying building about as old as dirt, and as lively as a corpse, it was two stories tall, built out of fading red bricks and adorned with very few windows. A bell tower emerged from the middle of the roof, which had gruesome looking gargoyles hanging at it's corners.

Classes were canceled following the discovery of Isaac's body and Luke's disappearance, school officials decided the events were too "traumatic" for students to handle. Concerned parents guarded their kids closely, not wanting to risk being the next victims of "bad luck". It'd been a month since both incidents occurred, and slowly but surely, life in Solomon began to return to normal. Chats became whispers, prayers died down, the searching stopped, and everyone choose to "forget" what happened. To pretend would be more accurate: anything to make the masses feel better.

Today was the first day back since the "incidents", I was dreading the moment I would have to go inside and have to stare at the empty seats that Luke once occupied. I sighed. With a heavy step and an even heavier heart, I took a step in.

Immediately my senses were overwhelmed, the hallways reeked of toxic cleaning fluid, harsh fluorescent lighting attacked the eyes, oblivious teenagers chattered away beside me. "Oh my gosh Tracy I LOVE your shirt" spat Olivia Felix. "I'm throwing a party at my house on Friday, you should totally come!" projected James Michael "Did you hear what Jamie did with Jason the other night? She's such a slut!" spewed Katie Carlson. It was as if I was in a completely different world than the one I've been living in for the past month. I don't see why the school even bothered to have guidance counselors on site for "grief management", clearly no one was affected.

I made my way to my locker, keeping in mind the daunting note I found in Luke's jacket. It would be ridiculous of me to assume it meant anything, right? Luke was a lot of things, I mean the wording was so vague, it could mean anything. I was so lost in thought trying to convince myself I was overthinking things that I didn't notice that Alexander Murphy had taken place behind me.

"BOO!" he boomed suddenly

A frighten gasped escaped my mouth as I turned to face him, wide eyed. "ALEX DON'T DO THAT!" I yelled breathlessly. Alex found himself unable to respond as he was too busy laughing at me to correlate words properly. "OH MAN" he said between distorted laughter "YOU SHOULD SEEN" even more distorted laughter "YOUR FACE". At this point he was exhaling no noise and had resorted to clapping his hands like a seal. I rolled my eyes at him.

Alex was one of the very few people I would consider a friend. Don't get me wrong, I'm not unpopular or bullied by any means, I just found it hard to form a genuine connection with a lot of people. Luke and Alex were exceptions.

"Oh c'mon Max lighten up." He said whiningly. Lighten up? How could he be so positive despite everything that happened? Granted, he and Luke weren't exactly... Close. Ok fine they hated each other. Luke thought Alex was just another brain dead muscle head who couldn't tell his ass from his elbow and Alex thought thought Luke was a stuck up and I quote "twat-faced twat". They were polar opposites, but they tried to get along when they were with me, for my sake.

At least Alex was trying to make me feel better, so I threw him a bone. "Heh yeah, sorry man. How you been?" I asked. He smiled at me "man, this whole no school thing has been great. No homework, No sleep, No stress." He sounded as good as he looked. His face lacked any traces of crows feet or eye circles, his short caramel brown hair was neatly kept, his brown eyes were shining and his sun kissed skin radiated a healthy glow.

I looked like a corpse next to him. Dark circles plagued under my eyes from a lack of sleep, my hair was messy and lazily kept, and if it was even possible my skin appeared to have gotten even paler. Of course, he made a point of mentioning it out loud.

"Jeez dude you look like death" he said bluntly. I scoffed but I didn't say anything because it was true. I did look like death. It's as if I was slowly dying on the inside and it began to show on the outside. Which I wasn't!

I was about to say something when I was interrupted by the bell, an old fashioned one in desperate need of rewiring as it's riiiiiing noise now sounded incredibly low pitch and depressing. It only added to the creepy atmosphere of the school brought upon by the old decaying statues and religious paintings that seemed to follow your every movement.

"Welp, there's the warning bell. I'll see you later." Alex said quickly before rushing off. That meant the beginning of first hour: Criminology.

Dr. Kieran Evans took extra caution taking attendance so as to not call out Luke's name, making sure to skip directly from "Tansey" to "Taylor". A minor detail, subtle. very easy to miss if you weren't paying attention, which most people weren't.

"Now class" he said excitedly, "today's topic is a very intriguing one, one of my personal favorites." he projected himself into a wave of uninterested students, silently staring. wishing, begging, dying to be anywhere else but here.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm, he continued. "Today we shall be examining mental disorders and their connection with criminals." That caught my and other people's attention as we all sat a little bit straighter.

"Now," he went on, "the two most commonly associated with crime are psychopaths and sociopaths." He explained.

Just then, Jenna Marbles exclaimed "Aren't they basically the same thing?" Dr. Evans smiled, "I'm glad you asked."

"What they both have in common is a lack of empathy, the lack of ability to feel guilt or remorse, and clear display of antisocial behavior." He said as he paced around the room.

"But the most important difference, is in the way they act" he said lowly. "a sociopath, is more likely to take risks. They're prone to anger, erratic behavior, violence, and rage. They have the ability to become attached to individuals, and any crime they commit tends to be spontaneous. As such, the tendency to leave behind evidence is high."

"Psychopaths, on the other hand, are much more controlled. They tend to see people as pawns to forward their own goals and they can come off as charming and trustworthy. Many may seem to hold loving and caring relationships. Don't be deceived. While taking steps to minimize evidence in any crime, they are still extremely dangerous."

"How can you tell if someone's a psychopath?" I asked, suddenly interested. I raised my gaze to meet him dead on.

His eyes met mine. "Most of the time, Mr. Bauer, you can't." He said seriously. "They are extremely manipulative" he said as paced closer to my desk. "A psychopath could be anywhere, at home, at work, at school, even in this very classroom." He said eerily, his piercing blue eyes scanning the room side to side. The air suddenly felt thick and heavy. I began to feel uncomfortable, squirming in my seat. The silence that had spread over the classroom was deafening, and not a single soul dared to break it.

A wave of relief rained over me when the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

I quickly bagged my stuff and took off. In my haste to exit the room, I bumped harshly against Jacob Swanstrom, causing his unzipped backpack to spew its contents all over the floor.

I apologized sheepishly as I helped him pick everything up. He waved it off. "No worries" he said with a smile as he walked away.

Just then I noticed something

"Hey, wait! You forgot your... pen"

His red pen.

A quick examination revealed the initials "I.A.M" on the side.

Jacob turned and walked back. "Oh, thanks. See ya later Max!"

In that moment, I felt the eyes from the statues and paintings stare deeper into me than ever before.

- AN:

Hello,

I hope you're enjoying The Edge of Paradise so far. Thanks for taking an interest in it.

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Thank you.

- Charlie.