Becca had been at Jefferson for a week and a half, and had already become the most common topic of gossip amongst the "clones"; as she'd dubbed her classmates, and she'd flustered almost all of her stoic teachers with her effervescent personality and out spoken nature.
Tonight, she'd gotten bored pretending to be interested in the soap-opera the other girls insisted on watching every night, and had decided to explore her new school..
She'd been wondering about "North Hall", a section of the school she'd read about it the brochure her father had given her when he'd told her they were moving. "North Hall" was an old tower that sprouted from the north east corner of the building. It had been closed and locked for so long that no one here now, knew or remembered what was inside. Becca was curious to see what was hidden there.
It took her almost half an hour to find the the hall way that led to it since this part of the school housed the boys dorms, and the athletic department. Her schedule and living space kept her mostly on the other end of the school.
Becca finally found the tarnished bronze plaque that announced the corridor leading to North Hall. Voices around the corner had her pausing in her steps. She hugged the wall, and peeked around the corner.
Two boys sat against the wall about six feet away from her. They were polar opposites in looks. The first was tall, with an athletic build, unkempt curly black hair and vivid blue eyes. His pants and blazer were wrinkled, his shirt was half untucked, and his tie was loose and crooked.
The other had an almost sickly look. He was several inches shorter, and stick thin. He had ash blonde hair, and almost colorless blue eyes. His apparel was almost ridiculously neat with perfect creases, straight tie, and a pair of gold framed glasses perched on his nose.
The athletic one was in mid sentence, "... just doesn't disappear. Something happened to him, Terry."
"Maybe his parents withdrew him," the blonde one said nervously.
"Are you kidding? The Slandrovs bearly know Alexei exists... at least I hope he exists..."
"Chris... are you saying... you think he's... dead?"
"I don't know," Chris, ran his hand through his dark hair. "I'm beginning to wonder. The last time any one saw him was at dinner that night in January, when we had that big storm. He didn't go to the rec. room, that night, and he wasn't back in the morning. He either wandered out into the snow and froze to death, or ... or something else happened to him."
Becca leaned her head against the wall, dizzy from the shock of what she'd just heard. A kid from this school had disappeared, and nothing had been done about it. She decided to wait on exploring North Hall. Something bigger held her curiosity now.
