The Monthly Mystery

february

Thursday | February 1st
It's had been one week. One extremely hot week and already I'd got chemistry homework. I lugged the heavy textbook to second period beneath my English books as the bell went. Leaning against the wall I waited outside glumly, dread over my third-period chemistry class growing. Xavier rushed up to me, heavy footsteps running down the hall before skidding to a stop.
"Do you think I could become a famous artist?" He asked, tilting his head. I blinked at him before shrugging.
"Uh, possibly," I replied. "Why?"
"We were talking about the likelihood of getting your work in a museum, in art." He explained, pulling out his sketchbook from beneath his much-needed dictionary. "I don't know of any other careers in art and we're in year twelve."
"Good observation."
He rolled his eyes at my sarcasm. "My back up plan is a comic artist, but I don't think there are any comic books made on A1 paper." He sighed and opened his sketchbook. Photographs of much larger scaled paintings took up the first few pages. Flicking through he stopped near the end on an image of a blonde boy on a rock. Behind him, ocean waves sprayed up as a large flame flickered in his hand. The image was coloured with paint that had seeped through to the next page.
"Is that based off Harvey?" I asked, looking closer. "Nice detail."
Xavier gasped dramatically, "Was that a compliment." I rolled my eyes and looked around.
"I haven't seen him back at school, have you?" I asked.
"Nope." He replied. "I thought Marlene told you he'd been put in St Shelly's?"
"He was. I'd just assumed he'd be back." The line outside our English classroom began to move forward and we filed inside.
"He's in our class, we can check if he's here," Xavier whispered.
"I've been doing that for the last week," I replied as we walked to our usual desks, Xavier and I seating beside each other. I turned around looking to the back corner, Harvey's usual place in any class. The desk remained empty. I turned to Xavier who noticed too and we exchanged a concerned look.
After English, I trudged off to chemistry across the school. The upside to living in a small town meant that practically everyone in Fallen Shores attends my school. I looked across everyone who I passed faces, searching for the one of the blond spiky haired boy. None matched up and I marched silently onward.
Not many of my friends took chemistry. It would seem I had surrounded myself with people far more creative than myself and thus, art students. My closest friends were Xavier, Marlene and occasionally Louise. Her flippant personality made it quite difficult to figure out when she considered me one of her friends. Most of the time, it was when arguments arose between Harvey and herself. Other friends often came and went, usually lasting the length of the period.
I took to my seat in the second row silently, laying out my pens. Someone drenched in deodorant sat beside me as the bell went, the clock striking 11:30. He dropped his folder down with a thud and slunk into his chair, turning to me with a pleasant grin.
"Mornin," Peter greeted, his round face far too jolly for a school day. "Did you do the homework?"
"Yep," I replied, glancing around the room. In the back row, a line of three boys watched on, exaggerated silent laughing coming from their mouths. I turned back to Peter. "They been bullying you?"
He shook his head, "Not exactly."
"If they've been ripping up your notes again-."
"They haven't!" He cried suddenly before whispering. "It's fine. One more year and I'll be in university studying biochemistry and they'll be working at the Hummingbird for the rest of their lives."
"The Hummingbird is a nice place though. They're not worthy to work there." I whispered with a laugh. Peter cracked a smile and we both turned our attention to the board.
What I was saying before about some friends who only last a period? Peter's one of them. I'd see him in chemistry three times a week but once that end bell went, he'd be gone. Dealing with his own bullies, which you'd think would be gone by year twelve, he would always stray away from sitting with my friends and I. If you ever needed him, he could be found in the library with a pile of flash cards at his side. Something, or someone, in his life had enabled a need to succeed causing him to turn to isolating behaviour. But don't take what I'm saying the wrong way, I too had been found to turn to isolating behaviours in times of stress and lows.
The lesson was mostly smooth sailing, filled with chemical equations to solve and me attempting to understand stoichiometry until the faint sound of sirens hit our ears. I looked to the window, the winding road clear outside down the hill my school sat atop. The sirens wailed closed and people began inching up and running to the window.
"Oi, go sit back down." Said our chemistry teacher, who was powerless against the flow of twenty teenagers looking outside. I glanced to Peter who shrugged back and I stood atop my chair to see out. Two police cars had arrived at the front gates, aka two wooden fences permanently sunk into the rain bogged ground behind the proper fences. One car had a large boot, the one they might use for someone under arrest. Four officers clambered out and made their way into the school and out of our sight.
"Are we supposed to be on lockdown?" Asked Andrew, the A+ student of the class. He looked as scared as I'd imagine he might if he saw an A- on his report card. Our teacher just shook his greying head and waved us all back to our seats. He gave us some talk about it probably being for the junior school or an accident. Someone questioned why they'd use the sirens as they drove to the school, instead of just at the school. He didn't answer.
At lunchtime I rushed to find Xavier, almost running into his locker. I clung to the side as my feet skidded and he grabbed my arms.
"Woah, you alright?" He asked laughing at my frantic run. I nodded and composed myself before unlocking my locker beside his and swapping textbooks for lunch.
"Did you hear the sirens?" I asked, tapping my tiny locker door in thought. "And the police cars? Any idea why?"
"Plural police cars? I only heard the siren from my art classroom."
"Yeah, there were two cars," I explained. I shut my locker door and turned around, Louise popping into my face. "Ah, hi." Her eyes were frantic as she looked about. At her side stood a shorter Asian girl with shoulder length frizzy black hair, Daisy. In her ear a hearing aid was placed, bright yellow in colour. I'd only ever talked to Daisy a couple of times before. She was deaf, having lost almost all her hearing four years before. Yet the first time I'd talked to her I never would have known. She could lip read quite well and through muscle memory spoke almost fluently.
"I heard you two talking about the police," Louise said before waving her hands. "Sorry for listening in. It's just that I know how much you two love mysteries."
"She's more mysteries, I'm more sci-fi," Xavier muttered.
She gave him a stern look before continuing, "Georgia in my class was taken by the police."
"Taken?" I exclaimed. "Define taken."
"Well, first of all, something weird happened." She glanced to Daisy who watched Louise's lips before looking to me.
"Georgia Davis is in our music class. She suddenly fell forward on her piano beside me and fainted. When she woke up she began... flying." Daisy explained.
"Flying?" Asked Xavier, grinning. "Like an alien."
"Xavier you can't keep equating everyone to aliens." I hissed.
Louise nodded, "She sort of floated to the ceiling. Before she fainted she was screaming and crying too while clutching her head. I think she was in pain."
"That does sound like symptoms of pain," I muttered sarcastically before looking around. "And the police took her somewhere, any idea where?" Both girls shook their heads.
"I'm not sure where they take people with superpowers," Daisy said, looking to Louise who suddenly looked alarmed.
"St Shelly's!" She cried, pulling her phone from her pocket and bringing it up on google maps. She showed it to Daisy, looking around for any teachers. With the buzz of teenagers back, no one would see us in the crowd. She shoved her phone back in her pocket and fiddled with her signet ring. "I'm going there next weekend, to see Harvey. I'll see if Georgia was sent there too."
"Can we come?" I asked, my brain thinking at speed. "This must be a coincidence. How can it not be? I need to figure out what's going on."
"And me," Xavier added.
"You're included in the 'we'."
"Oh, cool."
Louise looked relieved, "Sure. He'll be glad to see someone other than me." She turned to Daisy. "You coming too?" Daisy shook her head in response and Louise clapped her hands. "Okay, I'll see you two there."