It Lurks in the Darkness

Chapter 2: Murder

     Hey everyone! Before this chapter begins, I would just like to warn you all it's a bit on the longer side! I got carried away a little bit and wrote more then I originally intended for this chapter, however, I hope it's enjoyable nonetheless. Thanks for reading and make sure to leave comments below :)          -Sara

     The time was 3:00 PM and Harmony was currently sitting in the waiting room of the police station. After she saw the murdered body she sprinted to her towns local station to report the incident right away. Within a few minutes of alerting authorities, sirens were going off loudly as police cruisers raced down the street to tape off the crime scene. Harmony was told to wait until a detective could speak to her about what she saw, hence here she was anxiously biting her nails awaiting someone to call for her. At last a detective appeared and called out for Harmony. She quickly rose to her feet and joined the officer in the interrogation room, her heart beating rapidly. For the next 15 minutes, the detective questioned Harmony about how she came across the body and the state she found it in. Her stomach turned as she described the bloody scene she had quite literally fallen into. Finally the detective was pleased with the details she had given and released her to file an official report.

2 Weeks Later
The next two weeks flew by at a rapid pace. The entire town of ScarletVille was in upheaval after the murder and since then, there had only been more gory deaths. Every other day another new dead body was found in a random location by an undeserving guest with blood spilling everywhere and the knife going straight through the side of the victims body, splitting through vital arteries and organs. Police were working day and night to uncover the mystery but whoever was committing these crimes was doing an impeccable job of extinguishing all evidence. No footprints were evident anywhere, no notes, no fingerprints, no nothing. And yet, ScarletVille high school was still in session in the face of it all. However, they did not go completely as normal. After multiple more murders took place over the weekend, the school decided it was safest to guard the school as much as possible from any of these unknown threats. The following Monday morning, as students piled into the school, they quickly took notice to the officers surrounding the perimeters, armed with large guns. Some students were visibly uncomfortable and frightful of their new surroundings, while others carried about their normal shenanigans as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on. At last, the warning bell rang signaling that there was only five more minutes before class officially began. Once the bell rang through the campus, last minute students toppled over each other as they raced to get to their classes quickly and the group of boys playing a rough game of football in the parking lot finally grabbed their backpacks and slowly made their way into the school. By 7:35 AM, everything was completely silent once again and all that could be heard was the fiddling of guns and chirping of birds.

     Harmony was currently sitting in her first period Calculus class, dreading the day ahead of her. Ever since she had stumbled into the mutated body, she had been the center of everyone's attention. Left and right throughout the day people would corner her questioning her about how she came across the body, how disgusting it was, what it looked like,  if that was her first time seeing a dead body, and even asking if she committed the murder herself.  Harmony had never been popular nor did she wish to but nevertheless she did wish she had more friends to talk to and just do normal teenage stuff with. For instance the last time Harmony had actually hung out with anybody was in 6th grade with Daniel Combs. Yup, when Daniel Combs was actually not an asshole. That's how long ago it was. Reality sung back in when the late bell rang in her ears internally making her groan inside. Mr. Cooper happily skipped to the front of the classroom and exclaimed, "You guys ready for the quiz today?!" Everyone muttered curses under their breaths suddenly remembering that they forgot to study the night before. Harmony being one of them. Typically, she exceeded at math and was always prepared for her tests so she could pass them with flying colors. This time around was a different story. She had been so preoccupied with all that had been going on that she had been struggling immensely to even pay attention in her classes let alone study when she was actually at home. In fact, not only was she utterly unprepared but she was unaware that they even had a quiz to begin with. Shit, she thought to herself, I'm in trouble now. Mr. Cooper grinned and said, "Ok everyone, so considering all that's been going on lately, I know it is not the easiest to focus in classes especially on math so early in the morning. So I decided to help with this, I'm going to allow you guys to partner up for this quiz! You can work with one other partner of your choosing to help guide you in areas that may have slipped your mind. You can pick your partners now and as soon as you found someone I'll hand out your quizzes! You have the rest of class and if you have any questions as always I am more then happy to help." Pleased with his gracious decision to help out his students, Mr. Cooper gleefully skipped back to his desk to give people time to pick their partners. While Mr. Cooper was currently thrilled, Harmony on the other hand, was now more displeased than ever. Great now I not only have to fail this quiz but I have to deal with another idiot in this classroom for the rest of class, she thought. As everybody else paired up, as usual with any partner situation, Harmony stayed put and waited for the last straggler to reveal themselves to her. Surprisingly the person who Harmony locked eyes with once everyone was settled, was Lexi O'Neil. She stood off to the corner, hands buried in her pockets and a stripe of her blue and black dyed hair dangling in her face. Mr. Cooper asked, "Does everyone have a partner?!" Following his question, came a chorus of yes's and nods and then Mr. Cooper noticed Lexi and Harmony separated on opposite ends of the room, partnerless. He said, "Oh look girls, it appears neither of you have partners yet! Perfect, you two can pair up." Begrudgingly, Lexi sauntered over to Harmony and sat down at the desk beside her where two clean sheets of white paper awaited them. With a clap of his hands, Mr. Cooper said, "Alrighty everyone once you are ready, go for it!" For a good minute or two Lexi and Harmony awkwardly stared at their own papers without exchanging a single word. Finally Harmony cleared her throat uncomfortably and said "So I think the answer to the first problem is f(x)= 3." Lexi simply nodded her head and wrote down f(x)=3 without asking how she did it or showing her work. Harmony wanted to tell her that she wouldn't receive credit for her answer if she didn't show work but she decided to keep her mouth shut anyways, not wanting to poke the bear with a stick. The two continued through through the first page of the quiz successfully, but once they reached the last two pages, Harmony began to struggle due to her lack of preparation and naturally Lexi was of no help. Looking up at Lexi defeated, Harmony sighed, "I'm sorry but I honestly don't have any clue whatsoever on how to approach the rest of these problems. I've been having trouble focusing lately. Do you by chance know how to?" The question was her last grasp at hoping to obtain somewhat of a decent grade but as expected, Lexi shook her head looking extremely bored and unbothered. For the next ten minutes, both of them stared at the problems trying to figure out what guesses they could jot down. All of a sudden, Harmony noticed out of the corner of her eye Lexi leaning over trying to see what the partnership next to them was doing for the problems. Harmony whispered harshly, "Lexi what are you doing?! That's cheating!" Lexi retorted, "Duh, but it's the best chance we got at passing this damn quiz, plus school ain't no fun if you don't cheat every once in a while." Harmony sighed and reluctantly said, "Ok I guess your right but please be careful and a little less obvious. Also just look at how they are solving the problem please, not their answers. I already feel guilty enough as is." Lexi smirked pleased, and "accidentally" dropped her pencil so it rolled right in between the chairs of the excelling partnership composed of two boys named Mark and Colin. As she slyly picked up her pencil, she made sure she moved slowly to give herself an adequate amount of time to observe how to solve the problems. Satisfied, Lexi scooted back over to Harmony and explained what she saw. Harmony understood instantly and scribbled down her work for the problem while she processed it. Much to her dismay, she got stuck at a standstill by the end of the problem, completely confused on how to execute the final step of the equation. Sighing, Harmony said to Lexi, "Can you take a look at their final step? I got everything so far but I can't figure out the last part." Lexi growled, "I cant exactly drop my pencil in that exact location again smart ass. It would be too obvious. You figure it out." Squinting her eyes shut in focus, Harmony debated on the best way to approach the task at hand. An idea suddenly struck her and she grinned sneakily. As Harmony strolled over to the desk of her two classmates that were practically finished, she was unaware of Mr. Cooper watching her closely. Once she got to the table, Harmony tapped Mark on the shoulder and cried, "Mark, there is a spider on your back!" The arachnophobic Mark started frantically swatting at himself yelping for help and Colin instantly backed away from Mark eyes wide. While this was taking place, Harmony not so slyly, glanced at Mark's paper to see how he calculated the last few steps of the equation. Once pleased with her newly acquired knowledge, she stepped back and exclaimed, "Mark, you got it, you got it! It's not there anymore." Relieved Mark thanked Harmony for alerting him to the invasion and him and Colin returned to their quiz. Thinking she had succeeded, Harmony started to walk back over to Lexi confidently when suddenly Mr. Cooper sternly said, "Harmony, Lexi, can I please see you two over here for a minute?" Realizing her mistake, Harmony felt her stomach drop and her heart start racing as she approached Mr. Cooper's desk. The usual joyful Mr. Cooper did not look so happy as he surveyed them both. He calmly stated, "I am very displeased with you both. I just witnessed the unjustly cheating off of other students by deceivingly playing off of ones worst fear of spiders. To be quite honest, I am not surprised to catch you in line with this sort of behavior Miss O'Neil due to your previous records at Juvenile High, however, with you Miss Harmony Jones I am utterly shocked. Usually you are one of my top students but today you went against your own morals and I caught you in this unlawful act. I typically am not one to give out detentions but given the circumstances, I feel it is only right to." He scribbled down both their names, grades and reasons for detention down on a slip of paper and handed it to each of them. "Here are your detention passes for this afternoon in the library with Mrs. Oliver. Not only will I be giving you these detentions, but your also going to be receiving a F on this quiz. I hope next time you think about your actions before doing something like this again. Cheating is the one thing I have no problem giving out punishments for." Disgusted that Harmony got them caught, Lexi glared at Harmony and whispered under her breath, "Bitch" before sauntering off. Harmony felt like she was on the verge of tears as she stood there staring at the pass in her hand. Great, she thought, my mom is going to kill me, I can't believe I let Miss Juvenile High get the best of me. For the rest of class, Harmony sat in her chair dreading her first ever detention in the library later with Lexi.
    
     Later that afternoon, Harmony arrived at the library, pass in hand awaiting the next dreadful few hours. She was the first to arrive and ended up picking a chair in the corner. She laid out her books and pulled out her computer to start doing some homework. Might as well make the most of it, she thought. Before long Lexi came strolling into the library too, with only her skateboard tucked under her arm. Lexi gave Harmony a disgusted look and purposefully made sure she picked the chair that was furthest away from her. Honestly, I'm surprised she even showed up, Harmony laughed to herself quietly. The next person to arrive was Parker Smith. Harmony's eyebrows raised in surprise and she exclaimed, "Parker, what the hell did you do to end up in detention?!" The giggly gay boy chuckled, "Well I could ask the same of you. I'm here because I need to find some books to help me with my research project for Chemistry." Harmony should have known. Parker was a teachers pet and never ever did anything to get himself in trouble so it only made sense that he was here on a voluntary basis. Alison gracefully strutted into the library following Parker with her phone in hand and small pink bag hanging low in the crook of her elbow on the other arm. She hardly looked up from her phone as she walked slowly over to a table in the center to sit down in. It didn't take many brain cells to easily figure out why Alison was here. Caught texting on her phone for the millionth time in class of course, classic Alison. Then Jack Harrington came into the room backpack slung over his shoulder and football in hand. Similar to Alison, he also payed hardly no attention to the others in the room and took a reluctant seat at the same table as Lexi, tossing his football back and forth from one hand to another. Harmony thought, He probably got caught skipping class again so he could make out with some random cheerleader in the school bathrooms. Finally, Daniel Combs entered the library and upon locking eyes with Alison ran over to kiss her. Alison squealed and gave him a overly dramatic hug. "Babe why are you here?!" Alison cried. Daniel replied, "Well I overheard some people talking in the hallways earlier about how you got detention for texting again so I figured I'd cause some havoc myself. I decided to throw a few solid punches at that weird Colin kid so I could end up here with you baby!" Alison grinned from ear to ear and dragged him to her chair so she could sit and wrap her legs around Daniel's waist to continue making out with him. Harmony groaned inwardly, I swear their relationship is based on nothing more than physical touch. As if I couldn't get anymore disgusted by being in this detention, of course Daniel has to come along too. Especially after the stunt they pulled on me two weeks ago....I want nothing to do with either of them. Unfortunately there was no escape for anybody at that moment because Mrs. Oliver, the cranky librarian and leader of detention, had just set foot in the room herself. She examined everyone unhappily and looked especially displeased when she set eyes on Daniel and Alison still heavily kissing at the center table. She yelled, "Mr. Combs and Miss Reynolds, get your hands off each other right this instant. If I see any of that again I will give you each another weeks worth of detentions on SEPERATE days." Dejected, Alison pulled herself off of Daniels lap and sat in the seat on his opposite side. Daniel however, couldn't help himself and managed to sneak Alison a wink when Mrs Oliver was not looking, earning a naughty smirk from her in return. After she took attendance, Mrs Oliver announced, "For today's detention, you are all to follow me to the maintenance closet where you will work together to clean and tidy up the space until I am satisfied with your work. None of you will be leaving this school until that closet is spotless and up to par for our staff that works so hard on keeping this school clean. Parker, I am aware you are here for some studying so since I trust you, you are allowed to browse the shelves as you wish once I leave with everybody else here. If you need me, I will be outside the maintenance closet working on some paperwork." Parker nodded in understanding, anxiously awaiting everyone to leave so he could begin his research. Eventually, Mrs. Oliver lead Harmony, Lexi, Alison, Jack, and Daniel to the maintenance closet where they were instantly greeted by the stench of dirty water and  cleaning chemicals. Once the light was turned on, it revealed a 10 Foot by 15 Foot room with mops shoved in corners, shelves with tools laying in disarray, old brooms, little bottles of chemicals, and wet floor signs scattered throughout. All of them piled into the closet against their will and Mrs Oliver stated, "Ok guys, get to work. I'll be outside this door working on a few things while I wait. The sooner you all decide to work together and get this done, the sooner we can all leave." With that, she exited the room leaving the five of them alone. In less than a minute of being left alone, all except for Harmony had scattered to different corners of the room to attend to activities that were anything but starting to tidy up the room. Harmony exhaled and mused to herself, this is gonna be one long detention.