Innocent Bystander

Chapter Ten: Wolfsbane and Crossbows

AN: TW: There are dead bodies in this chapter - either that or they're unconscious.

We also have death and despair.

*Junko Enoshima has entered the chat*

Anyway, here's the chapter. It starts out kinda intense since the first paragraph is literally "(SPOILER) was dead." and literally nothing else, but I feel like that's what makes the beginning of the chapter that much better. I would also like to apologize for any inaccuracies in terms of how this person died. With that, please enjoy.

Aaron was dead.

While Ms. Fleming was taking attendance during first period on Monday, she discovered an email from Aaron's mother explaining how authorities had ruled Aaron as "presumed dead" after a girl's body was found in the library on Friday evening, along with security footage of Aaron turning into a horrifying red creature with light purple glowing eyes. I assumed the creature in question was that Anuk-ite thing Liam and Theo had been talking about the other day.

Ironically, Katie didn't seem too happy about Aaron's passing. They could never seem to go a day without getting into a spat about something. Yet, Katie had ceased to be her cheery, optimistic self the entire day. To be honest, I never blamed her; They may not have gotten along too well, but they'd known each other since the second grade, so the loss must have hit hard.

Gabe and Nolan didn't take Aaron's death too well either, as neither of them showed up to school until that afternoon. This further cemented my decision to not tell Nolan about what was on my wrist, as I didn't wanna freak him out even more, even if he did like me back. Outside of everything that had been happening recently, he was a very anxious person. In fact, according to Gabe, Nolan suffered from social anxiety, depression, insomnia, mania, and paranoia. I guess I was so enamoured by him because I had problems like those too.

When Gabe did turn up at school that day, he told me that Brian wouldn't be in for at least a few weeks. According to him, Brian and Aaron had the same kind of friendship he - Gabe - and Nolan had; They'd been like brothers for as long as they could both remember. Brian found out about Aaron's death through an article on Twitter during Miss Monroe's arming spree, which could only be the worst possible way to find out about the loss of a friend. Nick had to drive Brian home afterward, he was sobbing that much (context, all three of them, and Nolan, hung out with their friend, Carter, at his place after the arming).

Third period came around and we noticed that Mrs. Finch had a sub in for her. The sub told us that Mrs. Finch's daughter, Quinn, had been the body identified in the Library that evening. After doing the math in my head, I quickly realized that this "Quinn" girl was supposedly the "other half" of the Anuk-ite. I tried not to dwell on it too much - After all, the Anuk-ite did feed off fear - but I couldn't help but be worried about what damage that monster could do.

Other than Aaron's permanent absence, the day went normally until I arrived at my locker at the end of the day. Mom (who had no idea I knew about Dad's gun) was picking me up to take me to the hospital for an appointment with my therapist, so I knew I had to be speedy. I was just about to close my locker when;

"Alice!" I turned around to see Gabe walking towards me with a small vile of purple liquid in hand.

"Hey Gabe," I greeted him, "What do you have there?"

"Don't tell anyone you have this," He said in a hushed tone as he handed me the vile "You're gonna need this if you're seeing your therapist after school."

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"Wolfsbane."

"What the heck do I need Wolfsbane for?"