Death's Double Trio

Chapter 11

~At lunch~
Masky’s Perspective

       “There's a new girl at the table. And she's cute!” BEN goes into a drooling fit after saying this. I raise an eyebrow but go to the table  anyway. Before I can sit down, Sapphire hugs me. I hug her back almost immediately and she starts spinning us around in the middle of the cafeteria. ‘I can only think of one thing that could make her this happy.’
        “I take it that everything's been taken care of?” She nods.
        “On your part anyway. Thank you for your help Timothy, I owe you one.”
        “How about you don't go hugging me in such public spaces and we'll call it even.”
        “Oh please, you loved it.”
        “Singlehandedly, the most embarrassing thing to happen to me ever.”
        “I can think of one thing.” She smirks.
        “No, oh no, no no no. That never happened and I refuse to let it happen again.”
        “You and I both know whose fault it was, thinking you could get away with something like that. And I still remember your reaction. Don't you?”
        “Of course I do. You won't let me forget! Which, by the way, I would like to forget about that entire stupid thing.”
        “Wow. For someone who was super shy yesterday, you seem pretty eager to cause a scene Timothy.” I look around and find that she's right. Half the cafeteria had gone silent. ‘Crap!’ I hide under the table.
        “Oh, so you're only confident when you're mad. Is that it?”
        “For Underworld’s sake, not now you bewitching death bringer.” I whisper yell up to her.
        “You realize you're actually bringing more attention to yourself like that, right?” I sigh and sit in the chair next to Sapphire, laying my head down on the table. She pats my back.
        “Aw, poor Ma-“ I glare at her and she moves her hand from my back.
        “T-Timothy.” She laughs nervously and my glare lessens. We both start eating. ‘The table is way too quiet.’ I look up from my food to find them all staring at us. I growl and they go back to their own food. I sigh and go back to my food as well.
        “Well, this is an awkward way for me to introduce myself but, oh well. Hi, I'm Caroline Artumoros. And you better watch your wording around here mask-boy. I'm one of those bewitching death bringers and I would prefer it if you didn't insult my crew.”
        “KK please. You're going a little overboard.”
        “Oh, come on. You know just as well as I do both Lucy and Peryn want to hit him just as much as I do.”
        “As true as that is, not everyone here knows.”
        “But I thought you said-“
        “He does, but they don't. If you want to yell at him for it, you'll have to wait till later. Okay?”
        “Fine. Anyway, it's nice to meet you all.” She says cheerily. ‘That's one hell of an attitude change.’ We all say hi and introduce ourselves until it gets to me. Before I can introduce myself, Caroline butts in.
        “Oh no, I know all about you bub. Blue here has told me so much about you. With ‘Timothy this’ and ‘Timothy that’ and ‘Did you know that Timothy’. Honestly, I'm pretty sure my girl here can't keep her mind off of you.” Sapphire sighs.
        “You'll have to excuse Caroline, she's insane.” Caroline starts laughing.
        “Only according to people who don't have a k-streak! Besides, that court-appointed psychiatrist had it out for me.”
        “You're not the only one who had to go through that psych evaluation, you know.” I decided it would probably be best to change the subject.
        “So Caroline, where've you been for the past year?”
        “Blue, I thought you said none of them knew anything about that day.”
        “KK, I know what I said, but this guy might be good for our crew. I didn't tell him anything, he figured it all out on his own.”
        “So he knows everything?”
        “No no, not everything. I wanted you to check him out before we told him anything. Though I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to figure it all out on his own anyway.”
        “Fine, I'll check him out. But you gotta know, they're looking for you.”
        “What?”
        “And they're really close too.”
        “What if we tried to distance them from us?”
        “They'd just become more suspicious.”
        “So there's nothing we can do?”
        “Hey now, I never said you couldn't do anything. I just said that distancing yourself from them would make it worse on you. I'm pretty sure you could just keep doing what you're already doing and be just fine. Maybe even break their lines.”
        “And if they do nothing?” I butt in.
        “Then they'd join me and our k-streak would go up since we would all have more time to work on plans. We could also have more targets.”
        “As true as that is KK, we would also lose a crucial factor, the information distribution.”
        “Whoa, it's not like you'll be a vampire. You can still go out during the day if you need to. Plus if you ever think you'll be recognized, the big guy’s got a whole shelf of books to help out.”
        “So which is better, doing something against or doing nothing at all?” I butt in again.
        “Doing nothing, of course. They're bound to go easier on you that way. I mean you get caught either way, one option just delays them, that's all.” I glare in Sapphire’s direction with my arms crossed.
        “What?” ‘Oh she knows exactly what.’
        “I'm telling Coleen.” She looks surprised and confused.
        “Are you still on about that? I thought I told you I didn't do it.”
        “Whoa, Blue, what does he think you did that could make him look so pissed?” Coleen asks.
        “He's pissed? How can you tell?”
        “I can't, I just wanted to say that.” Sapphire rolls her eyes.
        “He thinks I killed your parents.” Coleen starts laughing like a crazy person.
        “I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just that, Blue? Kill my parents? Impossible! I know, for a fact, that Blue didn't kill my parents.”
        “Then who did?”
        “Take a look at the description I gave the police department. Besides, Blue was right next to me when our parents died.” I look at the police report on my laptop.
        “What? But, how-? That's not even possible, unless-“ I turn to look at the trio of friends next to me. ‘They killed their own parents.’ I close my laptop before the others can look.
        “What did they do that could warrant that much violence?” I put my head on the table. I get pulled into someone's arms.
        “You want to know a secret Timothy? They accepted it. We were model students, perfect children, but they hated us. They knew what would happen, what we were. In the end, they had begged us to end it, just like we had so many times before. But the difference between us and our parents? When they asked us to stop the pain and humiliation, we did. They hated us, so much.”
        I feel something wet hit the top of my head. ‘Tears?’ I lift my head up and see Sapphire crying. I hug her back so that she's crying on my shoulder. ‘Please please please don't crack a joke right now.’ I feel her breathing even out. ‘She must have cried herself to sleep.’
        “How much sleep did she get last night?”
        “We were busy all last night. I don't think we got home till about one in the morning. We got to bed around two but I fell asleep before she did. Then she woke me up this morning around six so we could get to school on time. To be honest, I'm not sure if she slept at all.” I frown under my mask and look at the sleeping girl in my arms, making me smile a little.
        “I'm sorry I brought them up. If I would've known-“
        “You would've brought them up anyway. You're curious, and that's okay. Just be careful how you ask and make sure you have all of the information first. Then again, we gave the cops all the information they needed to put us away for a long time and they still haven't made an arrest almost a full year later.” I nod and get up, picking up Sapphire bridal style afterwards.
        “And where exactly are you taking my friend, mask-boy?” Caroline pops in.
        “Tell the teacher that Timothy took Sapphire to the nurse. If she doesn't believe you or asks who Timothy is, tell her the same thing except use the name Timory instead of Timothy. I'll see the rest of you at home around four.” I walk to the second music room that's used for storage and set her down on the couch. I head to the nurse and bring her to the music room.
        “If she just needs sleep, then why is she in the music room and not in class.”
        “She's already in a deep sleep. Why bring her to class when she won't hear a word they say?”
        “Then why isn't she in my office?”
        “She needs sleep, not to be woken up every time a student needs a Band-Aid or a reason to leave gym class.”
        “Alright here's the note, but I want you to come to me for another note for every class she's asleep during and you need to check in with me as soon as she wakes up. If she's not awake by four o'clock, you need to bring her home. Or else you'll be locked in overnight.”
        “I understand, and thank you.”
        “You're welcome. Just take better care of your girlfriend.”
        “Okay, but she's not my-“ The nurse leaves, not listening to another word. I stick the note on the teacher’s desk since the bell for class hasn't rang yet and walk back to the music room I put Sapphire in. I grab the sheet off the grand piano and lay it over Sapphire, sitting on the piano bench afterwards. I feel my eyelids start to fall and see a spot on the couch by her head. I sit in the spot on the couch and take my mask off, putting it in my bag. I put my arm on the back of the couch and lean my head back, falling asleep.