Haunted High School (Thomas Sanders Analogical Fanfiction)

17

Warnings: mentions of drunk drivers and car accidents (all past events, not described in any detail)

"Hey," Patton nudged Virgil's shoulder with his own. "You okay?"

"I'm-" Virgil frowned, glancing at Roman sitting in the front seat of his parents' car. Roman was the only one of them who could drive, and since they couldn't exactly ask their parents to take them to school on a night they weren't allowed there he had been the only one who was able to take them. He stared at the back of his seat for a moment, before nodding his head. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Just, y'know... a little nervous."

"It's going to be okay." Patton promised, offering him a smile. "Logan's there to keep us safe, and you're here to keep him calm so we don't have a repeat of the Sebastian incident. We've got a good plan thanks to you."

"Thanks." Virgil said softly, gaze falling to his hands in his lap. They were shaking slightly, so he clasped them together to try and stop it. "It's not just the plan, though. Big crowds... aren't really something I like."

"At least you won't have to talk to anyone. Me and Roman can take care of that."

Virgil nodded, sending Patton a grateful look. He did appreciate his friend trying to calm him down. He just didn't know if it was really possible. They weren't quite as reckless as the last time they interrogated a possible murderer. This time he wasn't being possessed by an angry spirit, and they knew that they had a way to calm Logan down this time. They could keep him levelheaded, and he would protect them if the need arose. Hopefully it wouldn't, but at least they did have some kind of plan to prevent it. Even if they did have more of a plan though, they were still confronting two people who might have killed someone. No matter how much they planned ahead nothing could truly make that thought less terrifying.

Far too quickly they were arriving at the school which was already filled with cars from people coming to the reunion. Roman managed to find a parking space towards the back of the parking lot, stopping the car but not completely turning it off. He twisted in his seat to look back at his two friends, looking surprisingly serious. "Are you guys ready?"

"Absolutely not." Virgil huffed, but he was already undoing his seatbelt. "But we should get in there soon anyways. It wouldn't be good if Logan caught sight of one of them before we could be there to help."

"Let's not think of that," Patton said, for once not sounding so bright and cheery. Virgil felt a little reassured in knowing he wasn't the only one shaken by their last encounter with one of Logan's bullies. He and Roman both unbuckled themselves as well, exiting the car and beginning their trek to the gymnasium where the event was being held.

Not long after entering the building Virgil felt a shiver run down his spine and a hand brush across the back of his. There were other people around so he couldn't speak to Logan, but he turned to Roman and Patton to let them know he was there.

"Oh, hey again Logan." Patton said with a smile in Virgil's direction.

"Remember to stick by us and not attack random partygoers." Roman added. Virgil was going to respond rather rudely when cold fingers draped around his wrist and his lips moved on their own.

"I'll promise to hold Virgil's hand all night, if that will make you feel better." Logan joked through him, something the four of them had learned that he could do after the whole possession thing. It only seemed to work with Virgil for some reason.

Virgil flushed at the joke, Roman's following laughter only darkening the color in his cheeks. "Yeah, you'd love to do that wouldn't you?"

"Roman!" Virgil glared at his friend. "Can we please just focus on the reason we're here today? It's kind of important."

"Oh come on, I'm not allowed to lighten the mood at all? You and Logan are too serious sometimes, you should be glad you've got Patton and I around to balance things out." Roman said, wrapping his arms around Patton's shoulders. Patton laughed softly and nodded in agreement, his cheeks turning pink.

"And it's a good thing you two have us, or else you would never get anything done." Logan spoke through Virgil again, and Virgil nodded afterwards to agree. Before the four of them could continue with their banter they had reached the gym, finding themselves surrounded by hundreds of past students from the school. All of a sudden the task of finding two people in this crowd became a little more daunting.

"Well," Patton looked over at his friends. "We've made it this far without being stopped by teachers. We'd better start asking around before we're noticed."

Roman mentioned that with so many people around, it would be wise for them to split up as they asked around about their suspects. Patton had agreed, but kept to his word about Virgil not having to talk to people. He let Virgil trail around behind him as he made polite conversation with people gathered around the gym, trying to casually bring up the names of their suspects and asking if anyone had seen them around.

Virgil was a little too distracted to keep up with Patton's conversations as Logan had also decided to keep his word. His hand was loosely curled around Virgil's, cold thumb rubbing circles on the back of it. Virgil found it odd how Logan felt so cold and yet had the ability to bring warmth to his cheeks and his chest.

After a while of basking in the feeling of Logan holding his hand Virgil finally forced himself to pay attention again, tuning into the conversation between Patton and a woman he was talking to.

"Aren't you two a bit young to be at the reunion?" She asked, looking between the two students with a raised brow. "I thought current students weren't allowed after school today."

"Oh! Uh..." Patton looked between the woman and Virgil, trying to think up an excuse. After a moment of pause Virgil felt Logan grip his hand tighter, using him to speak once again.

"We are Ms. Spirits grandchildren. She's allowed us to be here tonight." He explained, Patton quickly nodding along to the lie. The woman frowned.

"Really? I could have sworn Ms. Spirits never had any kids."

"Oh, yeah. That's because she only had the one." Patton rushed to explain. He frowned, looking sad all of a sudden. "She doesn't like to talk about her much because she... well, she died."

"Oh, you poor boys." The woman put a hand over her mouth, drawing in a sharp breath. Virgil was surprised at Patton's acting abilities. He must have picked it up from Roman. "I apologize for bringing it up."

"It's... its okay," Virgil spoke up, his free hand fidgeting with the end of his hoodie. "We were wondering though, if maybe you had seen Desmond Martinez or Christopher Sheridan around? They knew our uh... our mom, and we'd like to meet them."

"I'm not sure about Christopher, but the last I heard Desmond had passed away about a year ago." She told them with a frown. "He wasn't exactly... a well behaved kid. He got into trouble, drank a lot. And he didn't quit drinking as he got older, which is what got him into an accident."

Patton and Virgil shared a worried glance. If he was dead, then they only had one suspect left. If Christopher wasn't the culprit then Logan may never get closure. They might never find out what happened to him, and he could be stuck here forever.

"Oh," the woman spoke again, disrupting their thoughts. "I actually think I saw Christopher's dad earlier. His name is Lee, he's a police officer. I'm sure he would know whether Christopher is here or not."

Patton and Virgil shared another look, this time more hopeful. They actually found out that someone important was here! Now they just had to find him.

"Thank you so much," Patton smiled at the lady. "We'll go try to find him now!"

After politely smiling at the woman who had helped them the three of them were walking away, deciding to look for Roman first and each of them feeling more hopeful than ever about finding out the truth.

Wow there's only about two maybe three chapters left in this book (plus an epilogue)

Get ready to be sad lmao