| “That’s what they gave Tom.” Mulder added in. Scully quickly dropped the wrapping paper and ran out of the house. They drove in the car, going as fast as they could. Scully’s cell-phone rang and she answered it. “Yea.” She said into the phone. “Agent Scully, this is Erin Pierce.” The voice said. “Tom’s dead.” “Where are you, Erin?” Scully asked looking at Mulder. “I’m at school.” She said. “On the bottom floor.” “We’ll be right there.” Scully said. She hung up her cell-phone and looked over at Mulder. “He’s dead, isn’t he?” Mulder asked. “Yea. That was Erin. She’s at the school.” Scully said. Mulder immediately turned around towards the school. He and Scully drove in silence until the reached the building. They quickly ran to the door of the building and banged on it loudly. No one came but Scully and Mulder persisted. They began to yell and scream for someone to find them. “Agents.” Someone said from behind them. Scully and Mulder both turned around and saw Piper running towards them. She went up to the door and unlocked it with a set of keys. She quickly ran down the stairs and down the hallway. Mulder and Scully followed close behind. “Why were you and Erin here?” Mulder asked still running down the hall. “We were having a mourning for Rose. Basically, the entire eighth grade is here. They said we could hold it in the gym.” Erin said running towards Piper. They took a sharp turn and went straight into a room that said the boys locker room. Piper and Erin led them into a bathroom. “We found him like this. He was wearing a sweater before it happened.” Piper said. “It’s the sweaters that kill them, isn’t it?” Erin asked. “It might be.” Mulder said. “But we can’t be sure.” Scully added. Scully stayed at the crime scene to check for evidence while Mulder went into the gym. He looked around at the students who came to mourn Rose’s death in their own separate ways. There were signs hanging from different places that said different things. Most of the students were dressed in black or at least dark colors. All of them sat together, huddled in one corner of the gym. Usually, they would be split apart by gender, race, and certainly social class but tonight they had all pulled together to be with each other and feel each other’s pain. Piper and Erin walked into the gym a little after Mulder did. He was just standing in the corner staring. The girls walked over to him and looked at the sight he saw. They did find it odd when they saw some of the people who were sitting in the stands. But then they thought why find it weird? Rose was a kind, caring person whom everyone seemed to get along with. Her death certainly hit the entire school. “Who knows about Tom’s murder?” Mulder asked. “Just me and Piper.” Erin said. “After Tom and Will we didn’t want to alarm the entire school again.” Piper explained. “Good idea. Right now, though, I think we need to get these students out of her before they do find out what’s going on.” Mulder walked in front of the entire body of students. He heard a faint guitar in the background and a few voices singing a familiar song. Mulder places his arms up to silent the crowd. “My name is Fox Mulder, I’m a water technician.” Mulder said. Piper looked over at Erin wondering what he was saying. She gave her a weird look back. “There’s been a malfunction in the water system so I’d like to ask all of you to exit the building as soon as possible. I’m sorry to have to cut this short.” The students all groaned but did as the man said. They made their way out of the building. Mulder waited for the last kids to exit before he turned back to Piper and Erin. “Why did you lie to them?” Erin asked. “I couldn’t tell them the FBI was here to investigate another murder. They’d all panic and go home scared to their parents. Their parents would get angry and contact the school probably resulting in the closing of the school for the rest of the year.” “I could deal with that.” Piper said. “Not when it results in summer school.” Mulder said walking back to the bathroom. He saw Scully with a black glob on her gloved fingers. “It’s gasoline.” She said. It looks like he died in the same way.” “Why is this happening?” Erin asked as tears rolled down her cheek. Three murders in four days were too much to deal with. She was good friends with all three of the victims. “Girls, this is the boys locker room, right?” Mulder asked. “Yea.” Erin answered not sure of what he was getting at. “Then why were you girls in the boys locker room to begin with?” Scully asked realizing why Mulder was asking them that question. “We realized that Tom had said he was going to the bathroom, that he felt warm.” Piper explained. “After he was gone for more than five minutes, we knew something was wrong.” Erin said. “We decided to see what was going on so we went down to the girls gym. We walked around and entered the guys locker room from the other entrance.” Piper said. “At first we hung around, not wanting to walk in if there was anyone in there. We called out but no on answered.” Erin explained. “So, we decided to enter. We went in and then looked around the locker room. There was no one there so we decided to look in the bathroom.” Piper said. A tear rolled down her cheek, as well. “Then we found him on the floor lying there just like Tom, and Rose.” Erin said. “You suspect us, don’t you?” Piper asked. “Girls, it is true that the thought has crossed Mulder’s mind as well as my own. You always seemed to be present at every crime scene and you know details of the case that no one except us knew.” Scully explained. “It just happens that we’re extremely good eaves droppers and finding the bodies is just a coincidence.” Erin said. “We’d like to believe you but we need other witnesses. Someone to place you at a different location while the victims were being murdered.” Mulder said. “Ask our science teacher, Mr. Haming.” Piper said. “Ask my Spanish teacher, Mr. White.” Erin said. “Why?” Scully asked a little confused. “The dance before I found Rose’s body, I was dancing with mine and Erin’s science teacher, Mr. Haming. It was a dare.” Piper explained. “And because I dared Piper to dance with Mr. Haming, she made me dance with Mr. White, my Spanish teacher.” Erin said. “So, if you need a witness ask them. You can ask any of our friends, too. They can tell you exactly what song I danced to and when I went to the bathroom.” Piper said. “As for Will’s death, Piper’s mom was in the room with us when we heard Will’s scream.” Erin explained. Mulder knew they wouldn’t get anywhere with the two girls. He also knew Piper and Erin were telling the truth about them being witnessed before each murder. “Piper, you said you weren’t very good friends with the other two victims.” Mulder said. “Were you any better friends with Tom than you were with the Will or Rose?” “I was really good friends with him last year. We talked a lot last year in our science class but we didn’t talk too much this year. I was better friends with him than the other two, though.” Piper said. “Did you see a sweater attacking him?” Scully asked. “We saw the sweater wrapping the arm around his neck but that was the only time we saw it.” Piper explained. “Was it the sweaters?” Erin asked. No one answered her. Two coroners arrived to take the body away. Erin was interrupted but she wanted an answer. The people took the body away and left the Mulder and Scully standing there with the two girls. “Come on, we’ll take you home.” Scully said. The girls walked out of the school. They knew that everyday when they walked into the school they would think about what they had seen. Piper decided she would never use the bathrooms again. Erin promised herself she would forget about the entire thing but she knew the memory would always be lodged in the back of her mind. They kept thinking if there would be any more victims. They drove to Piper’s house in silence. Piper and Erin had already arranged to have Erin sleep over Piper’s house so they wouldn’t feel alone. Mulder parked outside the house. “Girls, we’ll contact you when we find out more information.” Scully said. She expected the girls to exit the car but they didn’t. “We want answers.” Piper said. |