| “Ian!” She shouted out loud. No one responded so she shouted again. Still, only silence hung in the still air. Piper ran into the boy’s bathroom and looked on the floor. Ian’s body was sprawled out on the floor. She screamed, louder than she had ever screamed before. Adults and owners of the theater came to the aid of the scared, teenage girl. They huddled her out of the room and into the center of the lobby. She cried hysterically, as people tried to calm her down. The play continued, and the rest of Piper’s school watched it as she went. No one knew what was happening outside of the walls of the theater. * * * * Six hours later, Piper walked tiredly off the bus. Her tears had dried to her face. Y this time, no one else knew of the murder besides Piper and Erin. They had told the student on the bus that Ian was on the other bus, instead. They didn’t want to spread the news and cause a panic throughout the students. Mulder and Scully waited in their rental car for Piper, Erin, and Hannah. They both thought it would be better for the girls if Erin and Hannah would sleep over again. Piper’s parents were still stuck in the snowstorm so there was still no one at Piper’s house. “So how was it?” Scully asked. “The play was good.” Hannah mumbled. The three girls still hadn’t decided who or how they were going to tell Mulder and Scully about what had happened. “It was interesting.” Erin said. “A lot of weird things happen in New York.” “What did you think of the play?” Mulder asked Piper. She seemed to be acting especially quiet. Mulder suspected her to be jumping up and down and more hyper than she usually was. “I don’t know, I didn’t get to see it.” Piper said. “Why not?” Scully wondered. Piper couldn’t answer Scully’s question. The thought of remembering what happened was too painful. She walked by herself towards Mulder and Scully’s rental cars. She went into the back seat and put on her seat belt. She tucked her arms around her legs and cradled her own body. She promised herself she wouldn’t cry but more tears began to roll down her cheek. “What’s wrong with Piper?” Mulder asked. He began walking to the car. Scully and the two girls followed. The cool night air made a slight chill in the air. It was cold enough for Hannah to shiver. Erin wasn’t sure whether she was shivering due to the coldness of the air or whether it was because of what they had seen throughout the past week. When no one answered Mulder’s question, Scully persisted to ask more. “Why did she get to see the play?” “Because Ian was murdered and she was the one to find his body.” Erin explained. Scully gasped and quickly ran to the rental car. She knew Piper felt like being alone, but that she shouldn’t be. After a long day, it wasn’t good for anyone to feel alone and deserted. * * * * “Do you want to talk about it?” Scully asked later that night. Piper was lying on a mattress in her basement. The TV bleared an old black and white TV show. The sound was turned off but Piper seemed to be mesmerized by the TV. “I guess.” She responded. She sat up. “Where’s Mulder?” “I thought you might feel more comfortable talking to me.” Scully said. “I’d be more comfortable writing down what I have to say, but I guess you’ll have to do.” Piper said. “What happened when you guys went into the theater?” Scully asked. “Well, we all took our seats but I got up before the show began to use the bathroom. I went inside the girl’s bathroom but I didn’t have to pee. I wanted time to think by myself. A time where no one else would bother me. I began to cry, and Ian poked his head in to see if I was okay.” “Were you?” Scully asked. “No.” Piper responded. We talked a little about how I was feeling but then an announcer came on to say the play was about to begin. Ian went into the bathroom and I went to go take my seat. A couple minutes after the play had started Mr. Almond took his seat. He looked at me so strangely. I looked down the row and noticed Ian wasn’t in his seat.” Piper’s voice began to crack. “What did you do?” Scully asked. She felt the girl’s pain, having seen her own friends and family members die. “I went back into the lobby and I searched for Ian. I thought he would still be in the bathroom so I opened the door and saw his body on the floor. I know it was Mr. Almond who murdered him. Who else could it have been?” “I think we have more insight into that.” Scully said. “We talked to an old FBI agent who, about thirty years ago, had worked on a case dealing with teenagers whose bodies had been drained of blood. There were three males and two females all together. The only suspect was an English teacher man named Scott Almond.” “Mr. Almond’s father.” Piper guessed. Scully nodded. “The man Mulder and I spoke to seems to think Mr. Almond and father are genetic mutants. If their body is not soaked in blood, animal or human, for more than forty-eight hours, their true self would be revealed.” “The man thinks they’re monsters?” “Something like that, yea. I’m thinking the reason no one had heard about this before is because Mr. Almond moved around from city to city, state to state. If he had done that, then no one would question the killings but instead put them down as suicides.” “One more girl has to die, and it’s going to be me.” Piper thought. Scully expected her to cry, but she fought to keep the tears back. “Piper, no one else is going to die. You are going to be fine. Agent Mulder and I won’t let anything happen to you, we promise.” “I heard they’re shipping ian’s body to the local morgue here. You can autopsy tomorrow. They found one of those claws. It must have been left by Mr. Almond.” “We’ll catch him, Piper, we will.” Scully said. “You don’t have to go to English tomorrow if you don’t want to. You, Erin, and Hannah can stay home from school.” “No, I need to face this. I can do this. I am going to stop Mr. Almond from murdering again. Whether it be me he’s praying on or a classmate, I will not let him do this.” “You have a good heart, Piper. If I were you, I would be scared out of my mind.” Scully said. Piper smiled thinking of a time when Scully was actually scared. “I know you’re not supposed to get personal with cases you work on, but I want to thank you.” “What for?” “For being there for me, for Erin, for Hannah. For coming to me when I need help. For protecting me against genetic mutants.” This time Scully smiled. “Well, you’re welcome.” Scully paused. “Why don’t you go up to bed.” Piper shook her head. “I feel safer down here. Erin and Hannah can come down if they want to.” Scully nodded and walked up the stairs. Piper listened as her footsteps could be heard going up a second flight of stairs, up to the top floor. Piper rolled over and turned off the television. She put the blue blanket over her entire body and snuggled under with a small, dog stuffed animal. For once, she felt safe and unaware of any danger she might be in. Chapter 7 February 18 11:19 AM Piper swallowed a hard lump in her throat. She opened the door to her English room and walked back to her seat. There was no longer anyone next to her nor sitting behind her. She felt alone and scared. Two of the people from her group had been killed within the past couple days. Kyla sat in the back of the room. She managed a weak smile to Piper but she couldn’t return it. Melanie walked to where Piper was seated and tapped her lightly on the shoulder. Piper spun around quickly, afraid of who had just touched her. Ever since the first time she witnessed a murder she wouldn’t let anyone touch her. Both physically and emotionally. She had made up her mind that no one would be able to scar her. “How are you holding up?” Melanie asked. “I’m okay.” Piper answered. “I was trying to call you last night but no one was answering the phone.” Melanie proclaimed. “We decided to take the phones off the hook so we wouldn’t be disturbed. Scully decided I needed my sleep so she went to the extreme.” “Okay class time to settle down.” Mr. Almond said walking into the room. He put his bag on his desk and took a seat in his chair. “Piper, take your seat.” He commanded. Piper did as told and sat down. “I’m sure you all heard about the misfortune that happened yesterday at the theater. I want everyone to know that there’s full investigation going on to find out who did this to poor Ian.” Mr. Almond said. “You might know more than you realize.” Piper mumbled under her breath. Mr. Almond heard her faintly and smiled to himself about her remark. He knew she had to be the next to go. She knew the truth and she had to be taken out. “Kyla, can you pass out the journals. I want everyone to write how they felt about the play yesterday. Highlight the good and bad points. I want at least four paragraphs.” Mr. Almond commanded. The class groaned, not wanting to write so much. Kyla passed out the journals, as she was instructed. As soon as Piper got hers she read the outside. She had decorated it with pictures and quotes from her favorite TV shows and people. She tried to smile, remembering the good times but it was hard. |