Silent City

1. The Warning

 The bell rings for first period. All of the children late for class gasp and start sprinting down the hallways. Maybe if they make it in time, their teacher won't mention it--

"Carl! That's the second time this week you've been late. I'm writing you a note. Make sure it gets to your parents." the woman at the front of the classroom barks. She takes a slip of paper out of her desk and scribbles something on it. "There. Make sure it gets home."

Ashamed, the young boy grabs the note and mumbles something on the way to his seat. It's near the back, next to this boy with shockingly white hair and sunglasses that he never takes off. Apparently it's because of some medical condition.

"Okay. class, I'd like you all to take out last night's homework, and lay it on our desks. I'm going to go around and check that you've all done it, and then we're going to start our day with reviewing..." the teacher's voice continues around the room, like the monotone ringing in the white haired boy's ears. He didn't need to listen to her. It's not like he could speak anyway, and she knew that. In a way, he was her favorite student. He followed directions perfectly, he never spoke over her, and he was always wonderfully behaved. It never really crossed her mind that no normal child could have ever acted like this.

The teacher had encircled the room. "Good work. Today, I wanted to assign a partner project that you will be completing in class on our vocabulary words."

A few of the students groan, and the teacher smiles reassuringly. "Don't worry. It should be fun! Now, turn to the person next to you, and introduce yourself."

The boy who had been late to class, Carl, turned immediately to the girl on his right, who scoffed at him and turned away. He looked at the boy in front of him, and then behind him, before sighing and turning to the weird kid. He was staring at his paper, his sunglasses glinting.

"Uhh, hi? I guess we're partners." he wasn't happy. Carl had hoped for a partner that he could at the very least talk to. "Umm... you... you alive?"

The boy looked over at him. In class, he was known as Quirrel. At least, it was what he told his sister he wanted to be called. In reality, he didn't really have a name. His sister called him Ghost, since he was small, silent, and almost unnoticeable, at least early on.

Quirrel nodded, and turned his chair toward Carl. He looked uneasy as he smiled and gave Quirrel a thumbs up, and then turned back towards his desk.

The rest of the class was used up by the teacher, who explained what this project was going to be, and how they were going to complete it. By the time the bell rang, Carl had been eagerly waiting to complain to his friend Ben about his partner. He sprung out of his seat and ran to catch up.

"Hey!"

"Carl! I'm paired with Jess, which is okay, I guess, but who are you with?" Ben turned around to meet him.

"That kid. The freak." Carl lowered his voice and gestured toward Quirrel.

"Aw, that sucks." Ben frowns. "I heard he was pacing during recess yesterday, like some kind of robot."

"I heard he's dead, and he came back to life. That's why he wears those glasses. To hide his zombie eyes."

"I heard he killed someone, and now he's haunted by their spirit." Ben said creepily. "It's gotta be one of them. He isn't a normal kid."

"Yeah..." Carl's eyes dart back to where Quirrel was standing, but he was no longer there.

Of course, Quirrel had heard everything they said. Everybody assumed he was half deaf, because he never really acted like he heard anything. But he might as well not have heard anything, because nothing he heard about himself from other people ever affected him.