Fort Oakley | Part One

2 | Charly's Chemical Romance

There's only two cars in the high school's parking lot when I reach it, which means the owners of those two cars are planning to head out of Fort Oakley when school was over.

Everyone owned cars in Fort Oakley. Expensive cars that only gathered dust in their garages because you didn't need to have a car to get around town. Everything was within walking distance.

Students were hanging out in groups in the parking lot, waiting for the school bell to ring. They were all laughing and having fun, undisturbed by the fact that this town plucked it's residents off the street and took them to who knows where.

"Hey, babe," Elvin says when I walk up to his group. He throws an arm over my shoulder, pulling me into his side.

"Morning." I don't pay attention to the conversation he's having with his friends, knowing that I'd find zero interest in it.

"I heard Claire's out of of town for a few days. Why don't you come over after school and we can have some fun?" Elvin whispers and I have to resist the urge to pull away from him.

I shrug, glancing around the students in the parking lot. "I don't know yet, I'll have to see how the day goes. I'm pretty sure we're going to receive a new art project to complete."

I notice Willa rolling her eyes at me, because she heard what Elvin suggested due to how close she was standing to him. I'm pretty sure Elvin's entire friend group thought I was a prude or something, since I never wanted to kiss or do anything with him.

"I'm gonna head to art class, see you guys later." I pull away from Elvin, not missing the irritated look on his face because I was once again choosing art over him.

Sometimes, I felt guilty at the complete lack of affection I felt towards Elvin. We had been together since before I was twelve, and I kept reminding myself that I probably had to have felt something for him back then that I wanted him to be my boyfriend.

My entire mood lifts when I step into art class and see Finley Hoyles sitting in his usual seat at the back of the class.

"Morning," I whisper as I settle into the seat beside him, not wanting to disturb our art teacher who was still busy planning out today's lesson at the front of the classroom.

Finley doesn't say anything in return. He simply hands me one of the earbuds of his earphones and presses play on his phone, allowing the voice of our favorite conspiracy theorist to fill our ears.

"Hey conspiracists. Welcome back to Keep It Down, the podcast where we whisper about the wildest conspiracies in a world that's already screaming nonsense. I'm your host, Keagan Delaney—part-time caffeine addict, full-time truth seeker—and today, we're diving into brainwashing. Or as I like to call it: the ultimate cheat code for turning someone into a human puppet."

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The moment the last bell rang, I was out the door, cutting across the parking lot. A scuffle next to the school caught my eye, and I looked over at the police station, where two officers were walking Jacey Andino into the building. The two officers were grinning, but Jacey seemed anything but happy. Then again, he never did.

Jacey Andino was a generally unhappy kid. He was always being brought into the police station for something or the other, which I'm sure his father, Lieutenant Andino wasn't too pleased about. Jacey was a loner, who, as far as I knew, wasn't friends with anyone in town, except if you count Finley, because they were neighbors.

"Charly!" Elvin suddenly appears beside me, an irritated look on his face. "I've been calling you since you left the parking lot. Did you seriously not hear me?"

"Sorry," I say, even though we both know I don't mean it. "I was just thinking about something."

"You coming over to my place?" I can see the hope in his eyes — hope for all the wrong reasons.

I sigh. "I can't Elvin. I have to make dinner and finish my homework."

"Come on," he whines like a little kid. "You can stay for dinner. You know my parents would love that. Then you'll have enough time to do your homework."

"If I stay for dinner, your parents will keep me there as long as physically possible, Elvin. I'll come over tomorrow, okay? I promise."

Knowing I won't give in, Elvin reluctantly agrees and stalks off back towards the school.

"Evening Mrs. Liddiard." The old woman looks up at me with those unnerving blue eyes of hers that used to send chills down my spine when I was younger as I walk into the pharmacy.

"Refill?" she asks, looking at me over her glasses.

"Yes, please."

She stands up and walks into the storage area behind her, browsing the shelves for my anti-depressants. "Dr. Mallory wants to see you for an evaluation sometime soon."

She places the bottle of pills on the counter in front of her, types something on her computer, and looks at me expectantly.

"I'm free next week," I tell her and she dismisses me by informing me of the evaluation date next week.

I put a tray of blueberry muffins into my basket, the grocery store's speakers playing the same melody that has been on repeat for the last few weeks. How the employees hadn't gone mad at this point was beyond me.

I didn't know what I wanted for dinner tonight yet, but I didn't really want to spend the majority of my afternoon cooking in the kitchen, despite what I told Elvin.

"What Claire doesn't know..." I murmured, grabbing a tub of ice cream from the freezer.

As I turned toward the direction of the registers, a bruised face at the other end of the store caught my attention.

Jacey met my gaze from where he was holding a bag of ice, his face bruised and cut in several places. His left eye was starting to turn black.

He hadn't look that way when he was taken into the police station.

Jacey stared at me for a minute longer before he quickly placed the bag of ice back into the freezer and hurried out of the grocery store.