“That’s some heavy stuff,” Harrison said, placing his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He shook his head and looked down to the floor.

She got up out of the seat and took the drive out of the computer.

“Well, what’s next?” Harrison asked.

She looked back at him, “Well, this I’m keeping. Consider it a trump card.”

He nodded blankly, “Yeah, but what next?” He took something out of his pocket—he’d been playing with it. It was a small bag—the contents the both of them knew very well. She eyed him first then the bag.

“You crazy?”

He shrugged, opened the bag and stuck his hand inside. He grabbed a tablet not bigger than his fingernail and scooped it out on the tip of his finger. “You know...seeing as this place has gone to shit I don’t see much purpose in charging. You want in?”

Sidney stood there in silence as something deep rose inside her chest, and she found a powerful memory rising to the surface. It bubbled through her mind and screamed its way forward. Bubbled and burst as her lungs filled with water—the world was upside down. On the right side was Ashley Evans—ten years old standing over Sidney’s body bent over the ladies room toilet. A mad look shone across her face as she clamped a fistful of Sidney’s hair in her tiny hands, slamming them down into the bowl.

Sidney’s vision exploded into a fiery red as her forehead slammed against the bottom of the bowl. She had tried to hold her breath, but it came undone as she hit. It sucked the wind out of her lungs and filled them back up with the disgusting used toilet water.

Ashley hadn’t gone this far before. She had moments where she would seek me out after school and punch me once or twice then act like it never happened. Maybe she’d spill my food or even steal one of my books, but they were always isolated incidents. Nobody would do anything. None of the other students knew...she was always smart to pick me off at the worst possible times.

I really thought she was going to kill me.

All of a sudden Ashley let go and she stared at Sidney with a dazed curiosity, confused. She pulled Sidney up by the shoulders and held her there as she spat out the water and coughed up the gunk inside her body.

That day she ran out of school crying. She told her father everything—he was a cop; she believed now that something was really serious that there’d be no way it’d be ignored. There was no possible way with the blood dripping down her forehead and the chip in her tooth that Ashley could get away with it.

No way.

She did.

Her father tried, she could give him credit for that, but no matter where she started with a complaint or how high up she went it always led back to Rothbert Evans, and he would not have anything tarnish his family name, much less his own daughter take the blame for a severe case of assault.

Sidney was ultimately suspended for the fight. She spent those days wandering around Nasseu. Her parents worked endlessly and tirelessly to keep up on their house. Even back then Sidney knew that they probably should have sold their manor and moved somewhere more moderate—three stories seemed a bit too much if they had to work constantly to keep ahead.

Whatever the situation could have been—the fact of the matter was that Sidney had a lot of time to herself. She met Harrison outside of the Jasmine—this was the movie theater propped up right on Prosperry Lane. Both west and east ends of Nasseu considered the theater a sort of cultural melting pot. That and the district’s school were the only two real places that the two ever coincided.

Harrison had been suspended that week too—he had a long string of complaints from various teachers for behavioral problems. It mainly dealt with taking orders—Harrison wasn’t the biggest fan of listening and following directions.

That day he was kicking cans outside of the entrance to the Jasmine by himself. Sidney was going to pass him by and let that be that, but there was something in how he looked at her. His big brow furrowed and he put his arms to the side, slowly. “Who the hell beat you to a pulp?”

Sidney didn’t have any energy in her to fight, or to run, or to do anything but talk. Her parents wouldn’t listen; Mr. Herondale surely wouldn’t have listened. Something inside her just wanted someone that would listen.

I don’t know why I thought that the kid that was out of school because he wouldn’t listen would...but he did.

He stood there and listened as she started to talk, kicking the can aside in a note of finality and gave her his full attention. She told him about all the times Ashley had done something awful to her, and just how much it all stacked up. He didn’t offer any words of pity, any words of comfort, or any of sorrow. He just stood there—his winter coat almost making him seem larger than he really was.

When she had finished she felt like she talked for an eternity. It had all broken loose like a dam destroyed. He scratched the back of his neck and didn’t say anything for the longest time. When he did, it was only one word.

“Here.” He had reached into his pocket and grabbed something out; it was a small bag with little tablets inside. “You can use one of these more than me right now.”

“What is that?” She asked.

“Make you feel better. Just put it under your tongue and let it dissolve.”

“Is it bad?”

“Would I have it if they were?”

“I mean...are they like...”

“Illegal. Yeah.” He nodded, looked to the bag, then back up. “If you don’t want it I’ll just put it back.”

“Wait...” she said, not sure why she was continuing. “How...good does it make you feel?”

He stopped, “You know that feeling of garbage that other people give you?”

She had more than she could spare. “Yeah.”

“It all vanishes.”

“No joke...you’re not making stuff up?”

“I’ve got better things to do than write a presentation on the pros and cons for you on it.”

“Okay, okay,” she said, “Gimme one.”

She took the tablet and that was how it started. One tablet turned to two. The day after turned to three. The rest of that year it was all she could think about. She chased a high that grasped her like the claws of the devil himself. She could feel herself melting away when she wasn’t high and actively hated her life more and more each passing second. The desire grappled her brain louder and louder each day until one day she stopped. She lashed out at home and threw her room into pieces. It lasted for hours until her father got home and put an end to it.

She told him everything out of desperation to make it all stop, and he got her into a rehabilitation program where she learned to get through the pain that slashed at her mind.

She completed the program and was able to return to school without the news slipping to the public—Harrison was the only one who knew that she had a problem in the first place. This was a perk of having a father on the force. A little too late.

This was the time that Sidney started to befriend Ashley...befriend wasn’t the right word. Sidney played herself up for the sole purpose of manipulating Ashley into liking her. She carried herself with a confidence that was backed only by the trauma of past pain...but for what she wanted it was absolutely perfect. Ashley would call her a savage. She started to pick on other kids as Ashley once picked on her—she latched onto that real nice. Two easy targets were the new twins that came into their grade. They were a couple of freaks who couldn’t do anything by themselves. The other of course was Lillian Jones, a selfish stubborn bitch who couldn’t leave well enough alone. That was bitch code for stood up for herself once, so she’s dead meat for life. It didn’t hit her until much later, but she saw a lot of herself in Lilly. In some other time maybe they would have been friends, but she knew that wouldn’t be possible now. She had too much desire inside her, and if that didn’t come from pulling everything into her plan to ruin Ashley it would be from the drug, and she couldn’t have that happen again.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

She didn’t want to be friends with Ashley. Ashley may have grown to consider her something of one over the years, but those feelings were never reciprocated, because inside Sidney a black hatred for her never stopped growing. Every single time that the slightest hint of doubt came up—whenever Ashley displayed traits of an actual compassionate human being—she instantly flashed back to how terrifying her face looked as she attempted to drown her in the bathroom. How, if for a few seconds longer, she could have done it.

Have I become as mean as her? I think I’ve become worse, but I never laid a hand on anybody. I need to surpass Ashley in order to completely destroy her. I want her groveling on the ground with blood and snot running down her face. I want her to think that she could die at any moment.

I want her to fear me, and now...I finally have what I need to do that.

She was back in the present looking at the bag that Harrison held out. Yes, I have what I need to fucking end her. Ashley had a shield around her for all of her life…this was the one thing that could smash that shield of hers to pieces...but if that was the strongest desire in my mind I’d turn my back now and say good-bye without anything else.

But she stared at the bag...and wanted.

~...~

Derek and Ashley were the only two that remained in the hallway outside of Mrs. Fowler’s classroom while the others had all left to investigate their designated areas of the school. Derek winked at Aoi as he and Carlos left off toward the Library, and he even waved off Lilly and Ally as they went to the gym. Sidney and Harrison he didn’t so much acknowledge, but that was because he wasn’t as familiar with them—Harrison didn’t seem to be familiar with anybody, and Sidney seemed much too mean. He was sure that there was someone deep down that could be pleasurable, but it wasn’t his job to bring that person out.

Ashley meanwhile couldn’t keep her eyes off Derek. As soon as the others split up at the fork down at the end of the hallway Ashley grabbed his arm and dragged him down the hall to an empty classroom. God, how thick they are.

“Wh-” was all Derek could make out before his mind caught up with his body. The door slammed behind them and she threw herself onto him, grappling his tongue with hers and sending him against the wall. He struggled and tried to push her off, but she caught him off guard by swinging her arm up and latching onto the front of his pants. His eyes widened in surprise and he pushed her off.

Only, her grip was iron tight and only ended on her pulling tight on his penis. He called out as she yanked him down. “No no.” She shook her head, desire burned in her eyes like a bonfire.

Derek saw this, and froze.

“You cannot expect to sit there every single day in class, looking at me the way you do...”

“I don’t look at you...I’m...” he began.

She flashed a grin, “I don’t care how you finish...unless it’s inside me.” She slammed into him—knocking him onto his back.

“Ashley, stop!” He yelled, reaching for the corner of the desk beside them both. She pulled his arm back and held it down.

His heart was beating hard and he froze silent.

“Don’t you dare lay a hand on me unless I guide it there first,” she said. “Don’t you fucking dare. This is my show and you’re going to do exactly what I have you do.”

He couldn’t break her grip. There was an adrenaline rush surging through her body that was stronger than anything he could muster.

She had desire.

~...~

The group reconvened an hour and a half after they had left all in Mrs. Fowler’s room. Ally and Lilly were the first back—their investigation in the locker rooms hadn’t turned up much. They’d checked each and every single locker from top to bottom, and even the entirety of Coach Sam’s office for clues just in case.

“We came up with less than shit,” Lilly said.

“Less than shit...huh, interesting image,” Jace laughed. “Maybe you can help her out with that problem, eh?”

“Gross.”

Adam and Tyson came back next. Ally noticed that the two of them seemed to have cleared whatever tension had been so obviously stuck between them, at least for the moment. They checked the cafeteria “a fuckload times over,” Adam offered.

“Huh, do all of you guys measure in profanity?” Jace wondered, stroking his chin.

“We managed to find...something. I can’t say for certain how useful it may be, however.” Tyson said, holding up an empty pill capsule between his fingers.

“That’s all? What, did you go digging through the trash?” Lilly asked.

He shook his head, “No, it was underneath the table you and the twins sat at,” he said.

Lilly looked to them instinctively, they were still unconscious on the tables in the center of the classroom. “Do you think it was theirs?” He asked. “Do they take anything like this?”

Lilly shook her head, “They don’t take anything from pills,” she said. “Doesn’t work as well considering there’s two of them, they get injections from the nurse when they need medicine.”

“Do you take anything?” Tyson asked.

“Me?”

“You sit at the table, no?”

“I’m sure a bunch of people sit at that table daily, but no, I don’t use anything.”

He looked from her to Ally.

“M-Me neither,” she stammered.

“You sound nervous,” Adam said.

“I’m always nervous,” she said.

Adam nodded, “Fair...” then looked away, turning and sighing. “God, do you think Ashley’s lost somewhere? She should’ve been back by now.”

The tone-shift was most jarring to Ally; she didn’t get to reply as right when he had said it Aoi and Carlos walked through the door with two trophies in their hands.

“Guys, we’ve got something big here.”

They set both of the trophies down on Mrs. Fowler’s desk. Ally could see etchings in the marble base that noted they were Soccer and Basketball trophies from Nasseu’s own teams. Then she saw blood on the tip of the soccer trophy and her breath caught in her chest.

“Do you think this is what they used…?” Ally asked.

Aoi nodded, “We found these in the trophy case out in the main lobby. You remember the announcements this morning?”

Ally thought back, realizing that she hadn’t. She prodded her memory for a moment longer, and then it clicked.

“Good morning, before we deliver your morning announcements we have a warning for whoever has stolen Mr. Higgins’s set of custodial keys. If you come forward now no consequences shall come your way. If we find you in possession—”

“Right, I think I remember now,” Ally said.

“Mr. Herondale tried to do that thing where he seemed scarier than he really was,” Lilly said.

“Yeah, well it seems that our thief and killer are one in the same person. The cabinet was unlocked and these two were sitting in there like this.”

“Volleyball trophy’s nowhere to be found, though,” Carlos added. “Which is weird considering you’d think that they’d rather take this one ‘n all.” He pointed toward the soccer trophy.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” Tyson said.

“I’m starting to think this might have been premediated,” Adam said.

“Pre-meditated,” Tyson corrected.

He looked confused, “That’s the one that means thought out?”

He nodded.

“Damn. Well, same thing.”

“So it looks like you’re not the most suspicious anymore, congratulations,” Lilly said to Tyson, but there wasn’t much celebration in her voice.

“There’s one more thing,” Carlos said, “I think you’re going to want to see this ‘specially, Ty.” He nodded toward Aoi. “Show ‘em.”

Aoi took out the slip of paper stained by blood and saw as each of them flinched. “I think we can consider this case related to…that one.”

I KNOW WHO KILLED CARLEIGH HEIGHTS.

Tyson clenched his fist and had an obviously distressed look on his face…but it didn’t seem like one of surprise.

“Who…is Carleigh Heights?” Ally asked.

Tyson looked up, pained. “She was my girlfriend.”

“Do…you know who wrote this?” Ally asked.

She didn’t get an answer to her question—as soon as Tyson was about to answer a blood-chilling scream erupted throughout the school.

They all turned toward the door and instantly all pretense of discussion was dropped. They all began running toward the source of the sound.