| Later that night, Piper laid on her bed writing on a lined piece of paper. She was disturbed when the phone rang. She picked it up and heard her mom’s voice on the other line. “Hey, honey, how’s it going?” She asked. “Great mom, where are you?” Piper asked. “Um…there’s been a huge snow storm up here in Maine. We can’t leave Uncle Ernie’s house. We don’t know when we’ll be home but it doesn’t appear to be for a long time. Now, I want you to call Suzanne and Lynn and tell them that one of them has to come home to take care of you.” “No, Mom, it’s okay. Mulder and Scully are here investigating that boy who was murdered while I was playing manhunt. I invited them to stay at the house for as long as they need so I wouldn’t alone.” “That’s great, sweetheart. Look, the phone’s breaking up. I love you.” Her mom’s voice began to become broken up so Piper hung up the phone. Piper smiled, thinking the time alone with Scully and Mulder would be great. She began to think about the game of manhunt. The night hadn’t been a total loss. She had fun and Mulder and Scully did have that interesting moment but they hadn’t gotten anywhere farther on the case. She wanted it to be solved and done with, but she loved having Mulder and Scully’s company. Piper looked up when she heard a knock at the door. It was about ten at night but she wasn’t tired. “Come in.” She said. “Were those your parents on the phone?” Scully asked opening the door. She hung outside, just sticking her head in. “Yup.” Piper answered looking up. “How’s your Uncle?” “Fine.” Piper answered. Her words were all short and sweet as if she were trying to hide something. “When are they coming home?” “I don’t know. It’s snowing up there and they’re stuck.” Scully realized Piper wasn’t going to give her much more information. She had something else on her mind and Scully wanted to know what. “You’re trying to get agent Mulder and I together, aren’t you?” “The thought had crossed my mind, as well as Erin’s and Hannah’s.” Piper confessed. She smiled to herself, knowing Scully was closer to her thoughts than Piper was herself. Scully took a seat on Piper’s bed. “So you weren’t the first to think about it?” She asked suspiciously. “Well, we all discussed it last night when they slept over. Or rather, Erin and I did. Hannah was too busy being grumpy about wanting to sleep and we wouldn’t let her.” Piper said. “Agent Mulder and I are content with our interesting relationship. We’re there for each other when we need support but we don’t need you or your friends trying to help us get together.” She stood up and began walking out the door. “Good night.” She said before closing it. Chapter 5 February 16 7:55 AM Gorton Junior High School “Mulder, we are getting no where.” Scully said. She was standing outside Gorton’s main office. She leaned against the wall and sighed. Mulder sat on a bench across from her. He put his head in his hands. “What to do, what to do.” He said quietly to himself. He listened as the bell to end homeroom rang. Students flooded into the hallway from all directions. “Mulder, Nick doesn’t appear to have many friends so I don’t see what following Piper around will do for us now. If anything, we should be calling around local medical bays to see if there have been any drugs given out that would cause the side affects of blood leading or…” A scream filled the air. Mulder quickly stood up and Scully boosted herself away from the wall. Mulder wasn’t sure where the scream had come from but he saw teachers running into the hallway from different classrooms. “What was that?” Mulder asked. “Oh my God, Mulder, Scully, come here!” Piper screamed. She ran out into the hallway from a room full of computers. Mulder and Scully went into the room and stopped short when they saw a body on the floor. Kids crowded around it. Among them were Piper, Ian, and Erin. Mulder pushed through the crowd and looked down. Scully looked to her right and saw Mr. Almond sitting on a large desk. Scully pushed the students out of the way. She crowded them back to their regular homerooms. She held Piper and Erin behind, to ask them questions about what happened. Mulder had stayed with the body and called the morgue. Outside the room, Piper and Erin were sitting down on the floor. Scully kneeled next to them. Piper’s eyes were glossed over with tears but they didn’t fall down her cheek. The two girls were silent not knowing what to say or do to comfort each other. “That was Jim Guild who was murder, wasn’t it?” Scully asked. Piper nodded. Scully looked to Erin and then Piper. She knew the girls were in no condition to talk but they needed to know what happened. “Please excuse this interruption.” I voice said over the loudspeaker. “Due to some difficulties in the school we’re closing it for the rest of the day.” Scully listened as a huge cheer hummed through the entire school. She knew if the kids really knew what was going on they wouldn’t be cheering. The voice continued. “Buses will be here in thirty minutes to take students home. Until that time, no one is allowed to leave their homeroom. If you were in the computer lab this morning and if you do not take a bus, please report to the main office when the rest of the students are dismissed.” Scully left Piper and Erin sitting where they were. She went into the computer room and walked over to Mulder. He was leaning next to the body and fingering a claw that was identical to the one they had found before. “Mulder, I’m going to go autopsy the body as soon as possible. I think you should stay behind and talk to the kids who were in the computer lab. Especially, Mr. Almond. Take Erin and Piper back to Piper’s house and interview them there. Don’t talk to them here, they’re scared out of their skins.” Mulder nodded in agreement. Scully walked out of the room, passed Piper and Erin. The two girls sat there until a bell rang for the students to be dismissed. No one seemed as happy to go home as they did when the announcement came over the intercom. The word of the murder must have spread over most of the group. The students in the computer lab varied in age, grade, friendship circle, and kids from different homerooms. Mulder walked out and sat down next to Piper and Erin. Neither of them had spoken. Piper had looked death in the eye and had seen more murders than some people would ever see on television. She was tired of it all, but she knew it had also taught her a lesson to cherish life and never take it for granted. She was sure Erin had learned the same lesson. Though she hadn’t seen as much as Piper, she was still disturbed by the things she had seen. “Looks like no one’s going to show up.” Piper said a little while later. The students from the computer lab should have been there to talk to Mulder by now, but no one had shown up. Piper doubted it was because they all took a bus. She knew no one wanted to talk about it, including herself. “Let’s take you girls home.” Mulder said. He stood up and walked out the door. Erin and Piper followed in silence. They passed a few students who had stuck around to set the rumors straight about what happened. Piper could hear a few of them whispering to each other. She was sure that such rumors had passed that said either Piper or Erin were the murders or they were accomplices. She knew Nick’s death would be the topic of discussion for the next month if not for longer than that. Something like that, could never be forgotten in a school so large. Piper opened the garage door to her house and stepped inside. She quickly found the hidden key that her family had left for her, and she opened the door. As soon as she entered, she ran across the dining room and into the kitchen. Mulder and Piper heard as she bounded down the stairs to her place of comfort. Erin quickly ran after her, wanting to comfort Piper, as well as herself. “You okay?” Erin asked walking down the stairs. Piper was sitting on her couch, hugging a large stuffed bear. Erin closed the door to the basement and sat down on the couch next to Piper. Tears streaked Piper’s face but she buried it into the fur of the bear. “Why me?” Piper sobbed. “If I had never gotten involved. If I had never met Mulder and Scully would any of this happen? Would any of my friends have to die? I’ve lost so much and no one can ever give you back a life.” “Meeting Mulder and Scully was probably one of the best things that ever could have happened to you.” On the landing of the stairs, Mulder sat listening to Piper’s and Erin’s every word. He knew they were afraid but he also knew he needed to get the truth out of them of what happened.. “Is it?” Piper questioned. “Everyone is always looking for someone to blame. When something happens, when someone is murdered, they have to find a killer or a reason why a person would do this. But is there somewhere that says I’m as much to blame as the killer?” “No.” Mulder said coming down the stairs. Piper looked up and quickly brushed the tears from her cheeks. “Piper, none of this can be your fault.” |