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TW: mentions of suicide
Marcus' POV
"What the hell?"
The corridor empties and no one else dares to step foot outside of their rooms.
There isn't a time where Saya is not intimidating, but I've never seen her have to raise her voice like this.
This is very much not good.
Saya's always been able to control the environment around her. But this school teaches rebellion, and there was bound to be someone who incites the first wave.
It was that rainy night she first stepped into these corridors that triggered the conciliation of King's Dominion. Polar opposites and sworn enemies joined hands when it came to hating Jun.
People here don't like killers without a cause. And Saya, for the first time, found herself fighting for the losing team.
The sound of rushed footsteps became louder, but it is Lex. Disheveled and crazed. "Shit has hit the fan, everyone."
The bottom of his sneakers makes a screeching sound as he hits the break right in front of us.
"What happened?" Petra questions.
"The bloody Kuroki apocalypse, that's what!" He waves us over and we follow.
We turn the corner, and with no ceremony, my eyes lead me straight to the ones of a boy.
I feel sick. A young boy was being dragged across the floor by one of the members of Saya's Syndicate, while she speaks tensely with Master Lin.
Seconds later, the monks bring a gurney and place his body on top. They cover him with a white cloth, but I've seen enough. He is dead.
After you've seen so much death, you'd think you'd get used to it. But I, even after seeing people die of starvation, freezing to death, burned alive and shot, never seem to stomach it any better.
"Fuck." I mutter, his glazed eyes still in my head. "Saya?"
"Marcus,"
"What happened to him? Who was that kid?" I interrupt her.
She sighs, saying one last thing to Master Lin before coming closer.
"I don't know." She looks troubled. "Someone left him in the meat-store's front door."
"Why?" Billy seems equally as troubled.
"To send a message." A bit of anger hints in her response.
"How do you know?" I look beyond her and see the monks come back with mops to clean the red puddle on the ground.
She turns her head and watches the floor go back to its usual color. Like nothing ever happened.
"They... Wrote a letter on his arm." The way she struggles to say the word makes it obvious that they didn't use a sharpie. "My family is demanding my return."
"So they killed a boy." It's not a question, but indignation can be found in Petra's voice.
"After the last time with my cousins, they know they can't just take me." Saya explains. "This time, they are trying to scare me into going to them willingly."
I grab her arm and she looks back at me. "You are not going, right?"
"I'm not. But this cannot happen again. I don't even know how they managed it." She massages her forehead. "I was out with Jun when it happened" then, her eyes snap open. Wide and panicked. "Shit." Saya looks behind me, then to the other side of the corridor. "Where is she?"
"Maybe she went to her room like everyone else." Billy suggests.
"No, you don't understand. She can't be alone right now." As I am about to contest, she adds: "I took her out and we snorted some. She was out of it when we saw the boy and freaked out."
"We can help you find her." Petra does not consult the rest of us. On purpose, I don't doubt.
"I appreciate that." Saya bows her head at us before bolting away.
My friends all scatter to a side of the school, leaving me behind.
Fuck me.
***
I groan as another room I enter is empty of a high, slightly annoying, morally loose girl.
She's been in this school for the time span of a week and still manages to hide somewhere I haven't found in my several months. Maybe she simply walked through the front doors and left to anywhere in the world.
Deciding I've had enough of her shit, I direct my steps, not to the many rooms I have already entered and screamed her name into, but the roof.
Don't get me wrong. I'm no stranger to being high and high people don't bother me. However, when you start to become a nuisance to others, that is where I draw the line.
It's basic common sense.
I open the door and light my cigarette. Inhaling the smoke, I let it rest in my lungs before blowing it out.
It warms up my chest and I feel myself calm down.
"That will kill you, you know." I hear a voice behind me.
I startle.
"Jesus fucking Christ!" I turn around to see the one and only Jun Kuroki.
My breath hitches.
"Hey, hey, hey. What are you doing up there?" My vision is set on her feet. They dangle on the air as she sits on top of the wall.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" She laughs. "I'm going to jump."
