Ugly Dog

God Save the Living

Ugly Dog, Ugly Dog, close as ever!
Ugly Dog, Ugly Dog, you're so clever!

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Above is Annalise Basso as Julia. I found this actress while looking for a red headed actress who looked like she was in the age range of the characters. I'll try to keep their descriptions/ actors accurate! (Save for the green eyes instead of brown)
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My visit to NorseSkies was eventful, to say the least. The bus stop was only a block away, but as soon as I got off I could see the flashing red lights and crowds of people gathering. Living in a small town, everyone is as thirsty for juice as me.
I took my time walking up, hoping that some of the crowd would depart. There were mountain houses all around, ten times as big as the ones in town. Up here was mostly a private village filled with doctors vacation homes and climbers shabby little shacks, with no in between. The houses by NorseSkies were all old Victorians, but the erosion was incredible in their yards. Almost all of them had a sturdy brick foundation blocking dirt from seeping into the roads, and many had at least one small flight of stairs you had to climb up to get level with the home. It was snowing hard up here, and although the ground covering wasn't too bad yet it could easily get worse within the hour.
I made it to NorseSkies with practically no change in the crowd. Residents stood outside bundled up in jackets with their pajama pants still on. Police cars blocked the entrance of the school, but other than that there was no police tape or anything to stop people from getting in. I had my camera out before even entering the crowd, and gripped it in my right hand like a dagger. There was some kind of commotion going on by the entrance to the parking lot, and I thanked whatever God there was for my tiny stance.
I slithered through the crowd to see what was happening. There was a tall, slender man dressed in an officers uniform at the head. He was being confronted by a short, strong man with greying brown hair and two bright blue eyes. He had a bit of stubble on his chin, and crows feet around his eyes. Age was obvious on him. He was yelling at the officer with frantic arm movements, waving his meaty hands all around and unconsciously intimidating the people around him.
"This is ridiculous!" He screeched. "This big of a deal about some made up story?! Do you people have nothing better to do?!" He had a deep, young voice that was surprising partnered with his aging face.
I don't know what possessed me in that moment, but I raised my camera. Maybe it was his full bottom lip and thin scarred top lip, or the lack of eyelashes on one eye. Maybe it was the way that, in a trick of light, his eyes seemed to go from bright blue to deep black. His whole face was a companionship of opposites, fit together perfectly. I raised my camera towards him, and snapped a picture. The flash, by my mistake, was on. His head whipped towards my direction, and under his eyes I seemed to freeze uncontrollably. There was a dangerous white flame in his head, and for a second I was in complete and utter belief that he was about to lunge at me. He did not.
"Tell Leverin I'll see him in court." He snarled to the officer, then turned tail and stormed back towards NorseSkies.
For a while I was tempted to question the officer, but just watching the previous scene was enough to exhaust me. I couldn't imagine how the officer must feel. So I took a few snaps of the weening crowd and police cars, then made my way to a diner by the bus stop.
I spent at least two hours there, scribbling down notes and slowly eating my breakfast. Truthfully I was just biding my time, waiting for the crowds and police cars to leave. I wanted to get into that parking lot, take a few close pictures without being on Skies legal property. Of course the police wouldn't let people farther than the street, they probably didn't want any more drama with the school. But I doubt there would be a big fit over a curious, unaffiliated fifteen year old on the property.
After a while I huddled back into my jacket and tracked outside again. The snow had stopped, thankfully, and already the sidewalks were beginning to clear with the hot mountain sun on their surface. With camera in hand I went from the little HindogSkate mountain diner back to NorseSkies. I stopped about a block away, hardly believing my luck.
No police cars in sight, an empty parking lot with only very few wandering people loitering outside. I walked up and down the two blocks bordering Skies, and still found no sign that there had ever been an altercation. On my way back to the property, people were still hanging around, but not so much that I couldn't do as I pleased.
Seeing the place without the crowd, I was surprised. It was utterly mundane, something that you would pass on a drive without a second thought. The property was smaller than expected, surrounded by a flimsy chain link fence that stretched about seven feet. The parking lot was square, and bordering it were tall bushes almost completely obscuring the tiny one story school. With a cautious look around I darted in, sneaking behind the bushes and eventually coming to a break where the school stairs were. Tiny, back alley looking concrete stairs leading up to a tall black door. The building itself was practically only a concrete brick, with small dust stained windows positioned high up on the walls. This place made me think more of a messy stabbing than a carful body bag and all murder.  Still, I took out my camera and snapped a few shots. Maybe the film would capture something that I did not.
For the next half hour I circled around the parking lot, which was so small it could hardly be considered an exercise. On my second round I found another building hidden behind the bushes, straight across from the main school. From what I could see it was a metallic trailer with no car attached. Maybe somebody living at the school? It wouldn't be surprising, town to mountain transport definitely got tiring after a while.
It was maybe an hour later that boredom began to creep up on me, and I checked my watch. Ten to eleven, if I left now I could make the Eleven o'clock bus without having to wait in the freezing cold for the after lunch run. And, I couldn't forget, there was a delicious tuna sandwich waiting for me in the fridge at home. My decision was made. I turned my back to the little qtrailer and began my walk back across the parking lot.
Crunch crunch, clink
I was turned around in half a second, snapping photos like a madman in every direction. The door of the trailer house slammed shut without hesitation, and I cursed to myself for not turning faster. I checked my watch again. Five minutes to get to the bus stop. Wonderful. I hoped that my quick reflexes would help me once again.
I took off down the road, slowing my pace only when crossing a particularly icy part of the sidewalk. Down the street, I could see people milling around just in front of the stop. They were agitated like a herd of spooked horses, stamping the ground waiting for what was about to come. A sigh of relief left me, only a block away. I could make it home before my stomach decided to rebel on me.
As I was turning my mind once again to thoughts of delicious fish and possibly some salty chips, a cold hand grasped my neck and pulled me to the right. I swung my arm around and drew in a gasp of cold air, unable to scream. Just as I was about to slam the person with my bag, there was a burst of high pitched laughter.
Julia Els was practically on her knees laughing. Her long orange hair whipped around her body with the wind, and she looked like a traffic cone with her neon pink coat.
"God Jules, what the hell?!" I huffed without much anger. Anytime Jules laughed, it was hard to be mad at her. She had an essence of pure, unaffected joy that could lighten the darkest souls spirit. She had pure brown eyes, like little pools of creek water. Constantly moving, constantly alive with things too small to see. She had a cute laugh, too. Her tiny nose would scrunch higher than most, and her dimples shone deep and true.
"I'm sorry! You just looked so serious, I had to snap you out of it." Her laughter faded into a content smile, and we began to walk to the bus stop together with aligned steps. We had been friends since kindergarten, ever since the branches of her project flower began to wrap around mine, and our teacher used it as a metaphor for our friendship. Since eighth grade and the past year of high school, our friendship has been slowly drifting apart. As my studying and her babysitting began to clash with one another time wise, we just faded away. This never stopped her from giving me a warm welcome, though.
"So, how come you're all the way up here?" I asked. I had guessed for babysitting, because there weren't many of those up here in the mountain, but Julia proved me wrong.
"Visiting Grams" Julia told me. "Mom has early shift at the deli today, and dad's went out climbing for the next week."
I had forgotten about Julia's grandmother who lived up here. We went to visit her together after school once, in the sixth grade. She was a conservative, nationalistic woman who would not stop referring to me as a 'halfling' no matter how many times Jules scolded her. I didn't mind it much, racism was a rare thing to encounter while most people were complaining about the cold, so one rude comment in a sea of neutrality was ignorable. I did not, however, visit her again. The memory bought my eyes down to my light brown skin, when I was little I used to try and trace the lines with my eyes where I thought my mothers white skin had mixed with my fathers dark skin. The color of my skin and my high cheekbones were all I had to remember him, since I never actually met the guy. Luckily, Novice and I were in the same boat. Same mother, different dads who neither of us ever met.
"How is she?" I asked of Julia's grandmother. I didn't much care, but the bus wasn't here yet and I was too hungry to get into any actually interesting conversation.
Julia snorted. "Senile." She answered, and then gave me a peculiar look as we squatted down next to the bus bench in the snow. "But I know why you're up here, miss NewsDay, don't try to distract."
I cracked a smile, happy to not be the only one in town who heard about this. "You know it, body bags and creepy schools are totally my thing."
Julia huffed out a breath, and watched the white cloud of her heat slowly dissolve in the air. I peaked down the road and saw the shuttle bus heading up. Julia and I, along with everyone else at the stop, stood up and shuffled towards the street.
"Skies is really weird." Julia muttered. "Especially after what happened with Ravens sister."
My attention snapped to her just as the bus pulled up. People began clambering to get on, and my head was filled with a variety of questions. I practically clung to Julia's coat as we got on, so eager I was almost jumping. As soon as we sat down, I let my mouth fly loose.
"What happened to Ravens sister? Did she get in, does she have their number, were they doing something illegal?"
"Calm down there, Nancy Drew." Julia chuckled. The bus had an intense amount of heat on, and Jules began to strip off her jacket. Underneath she wore a low cut green tank top, which unlucky for me I found extremely distracting. I don't know if I could say that I had an actual crush on another girl, but if I did, Jules would be the top candidate at the moment. However, Gay Mixed Racial Journalist seemed like much too big a title for me to handle right now. I cleared my throat and continued with the questions, though at a much slower pace.
"Alright, what happened with her sister?"
Julia settled her coat on her lap and bit her lip. "Camille, Rays sister, I'd into technology, right? And she's not a big out of state gal, so of course she's looking for a school close to home. NorseSkies is the obvious choice, so she sends them a few emails. The first time they reply with a little 'thanks for your consideration! We'll send you more information soon!' Thing back, but from them on there's nothing."
I lean my head back on the bus seat as Jules stares straight ahead. I try to concentrate on the story, imagining it as if it was happening before my eyes.
"So obviously, she's pissed. By now it's a month later, and they plain refuse to answer her emails. After a little scrounging she finds their phone number, and the lady on the other line starts trying to bullshit her. "Your test scores weren't high enough, you had too many absences" yeah right, she's a nearly A+ student with two days out from school in the past year. So she charges over, demanding answers, and what does she get? Cops up her ass and a restraining order so long she can't even go up to the mountains anymore."
To me, that sounded awfully defensive actions for a public college to take, and Julia wasn't done yet.
"But that's not even the weirdest part. She actually got into the school. Through the doors, before anyone could stop her. She said it was like a janitors closet, you could barely fit two people in the hallway, and from what she saw the classrooms were closet sized and filled with junk in cardboard boxes."
My mind was ringing with ideas and clues that I would write down when I got home.
"Not much of a school." I said absentmindedly, beginning to let my stare drift out the window.
"Yeah, unless it isn't one." Julia replied, so quietly that I hardly even heard her over the voices in my head.