The further backward you look, the further forward you will see

Chapter 7: First day

So it was probably about twenty minutes of waiting when I finally decided to go looking for Lexington. I had the original impression that she was a puppy that would easily be lost. I had hoped that that wouldn't be the case. I think I was wrong.

I wandered around aimlessly, trying to find where she wandered off too. I found the girl's bathroom but it was empty. I even went so far as to look beneth the stall doors. There was no one in the room. I left again and looked around. She didn't go left, I was close enough that I would have seen her, so she had to of gone right.

After a bit of wandering, I finally concluded that she was gone and tried to find my way back to the Death Room. My stuff was there and Lord Death could tell me where I'm staying tonight. I was a little annoyed that Lexington just left me alone, but I couldn't blame her. I wasn't her friend, she had no obligation to look out for me.

And the door swung both ways.

I pulled up my red hood and stuffed my hands into the pockets. I walked about a bit, realizing that I won't be able to get to the Death Room unless I get back to the entrence of the school and retrace my steps. This place must not have a lot of kids that stay the entire night at the school. I stopped in front of a board with what appeared to be requests for aid.

No, they were missions. Like secret ninja missions. Some were completed and others weren't. And there was numbers next to them. No, they were dollar amounts. This wasn't just some mission board. This was a bounty board. This school sent out kids to collect bounties.

My eyes scanned the papers and I couldn't stop the amazement that filled my gut.

Jeffrey Dahmer. 

Richard Trenton Chase.

Jack the Ripper.

John Wayne Gasy.

Ted Bundy.

BTK (Dennis Rader).

Charles Manson.

The Zodiac Killer.

So on and so forth. Some of them have been considered "completed". Some have been considered "handled by the police". And the rest were still open. I ran my fingers along the zipper of my jacket in thought. They had children hunting serial killers. I could only assume this was what Lord Death meant when he said we would be fighting evil.

I shook my head and found my way to the stairs in the front of the building and retraced my steps back to the door leading into the  Death Room. Spirit wasn't there when I walked in, but Lord Death was sitting at the table, drinking tea.

"Welcome back," he said, turning slightly to look at me.

I sat down across from him, the chess board in between us. I stared at it for a long moment before looking at him. "Do you play?"

"I do," he said. "Do you?"

I ran the tip of my point over the top of one of the rooks. "Sometimes. It's hard to find fame partners."

Lord Death laid down his cup to stare at me. "I know exactly what you mean, Trinity. How about this, after school Monday, you come back and we play. I'm sure you will want the weekend to prepare for classes Monday anyway."

Actually no, I wanted to tell him. I'm sure I would do fine without studying nonstop until Monday, but I think I would anyway. I'm not accustom to being behind in classes and I wasn't about to start. The next two days should be ones to at least get the general idea of what's going on. I couldn't complain, but I was a bit excited to be able to have a chess opponent.

"Okay," I said instead. "Monday, don't forget."

Lord Death laughed. "I wouldn't dream of it."

"Father, I need to talk to you about-"