Death Is Strange

TWO

Helena Academy. A prestigious school for artistic youth. Big campus, no personality. Brick buildings loomed ahead of Frank as he shifted his suitcase from one hand to the other, making his way across the well-kempt lawn, his tongue nervously fiddling with his lip ring, gaze flitting from building to building. Fuck. I don't know where to go.

A boy with a light brown fro had spotted him, and was walking in his direction.

Just pretend you know what you're doing.

The boy reached him, and thrust out his hand. "Hello. I'm Ray."

Frank shook his hand. "Yeah. Frank Iero." Ray looked down at Frank's tattooed fingers. "Nice tats, man. I'm guessing you're new. Want help finding your room?"

"Uh... yeah. Sure," Frank said, feeling the tightness in his chest begin to relax. Ray's nice. I'm not going to get murdered.

"Do you know your room number?" Ray asked, smiling. Ray smiled a lot. A gentle, comforting smile. Frank found himself smiling back. "Yeah. Uh..." he fished his schedule out of his pocket. "Yeah. 323."

"Oh, that's funny. We're roommates. Glad I showed up when I did." Ray laughed. "Come on, man."

Frank followed Ray to the junior dorms, to a room with a whiteboard on the wall beside it that said Mikey loves unicorns. "This is it," Ray said. "Make yourself at home. That whole side of the room is yours, buddy."

Frank quickly unloaded his suitcase and backpack onto the bed, throwing his clothes into the top dresser drawer, everything else into the bottom.

"This is really cool," Ray said. "You seem pretty dope, and I've really missed having a roommate."

"Oh, sweet. Why haven't you had a roommate?"

"Well, Bob was my roommate. He got kicked out a few months ago. But you'll see him around. For some reason they never try to stop him from loitering around the campus. He's cool. I miss him."

"Wow. What'd he do?" Frank shoved his emptied suitcase under the bed.

"The question is more or less what did he not do," Ray said. "Oh well. What's done is done. Do you want me to show you around campus?"

Frank kicked his backpack under the bed. "Yeah, sure."

There was a missing poster outside the dorms as they walked out, but Frank barely glanced at it. However, by the end of the tour, he'd seen them everywhere. An odd heavy feeling settled in his stomach. "Who is this?" he asked, stopping to read the poster.

MISSING PERSON: Robert Edward McCracken

AGE: 19

HEIGHT: 5'7"

LAST SEEN: April 30th 20––

"Bert" has blue eyes. Has long black hair; may have red streaks. Has a tattoo of a heart on his right pinky finger.

The picture looked like a selfie that had been cropped around Bert. A pale hand with chipped black nail polish rested on Bert's shoulder.

Bert himself was clearly the rocker type, with long, straggly dark hair, red eyeshadow, and a cocky smirk.

"Damn. Does he have a girlfriend? It's been a month, she must be a wreck."

"Bert's gay." Ray shifted his gaze from the poster to Frank. "His boyfriend, Gerard, made the posters. Gee is one of my best friends, and struggles with a lot of issues. Bert had helped lift his depression, and now Gerard is in a downward spiral again. Won't even get out of bed for classes. I'm afraid he's gonna fail the semester. Not gonna lie, man – I've been doing his assignments and turning them in for him."