Real Modern World

Adalynn had walked out of the school her legs shaking. She couldn't believe what had just happened. Had she just seen a suicide at the school. Someboy had shoot himself in the school. He had looked at her before, right in her eyes. His dark eyes looked scary and dark. No life were held in his eyes. Her mind just couldn't take it. The world seemed to stop that moment, now she didn't know what was happening. Adalynn heard the front door to the school open and people rushing out. Screams were few though loud. Adalynn opened her eyes and extited the buiding along with the others.

Red, white and blue lights flashed dangerously outside making Adalynn cover her eyes. She stumbled holding onto the flag pole outside of the school. It was still morning and the air was moist form the rainy night. Her feet were now wet from stepping onto the grass and the choice of wearing flip flops. Adalynn followed the crowd outside of the school without thinking, her brain was disconnected from her body. The event that had just happened to shut down her thinking. In the parking lot Adalynn saw almost all of the police cars and ambulances in the town here. They don't need that, he's dead, Adalynn thought with bitterness. They were to late. She stopped for a moment feeling as if somebody squeezed all the air out of her lungs. Her hands were sweating and her face. Adalynn leaned on her knees and took a deep slow breaths.

She saw an adult who was looking at her suspiciously. Adalynn shot him a, don't mind me, look and stood straight. Her head felt light and dizy. For the first time in a week she didn't care how she looked. Only because she knew she was sweating and scarred. Adalynn didn't know what to expect anymore. With one brave step to the ambulance she stood in front of an examiner. she knew why they were there. To make sure the boy didn't shoot anybody else. "You're good," the brown haired lady said to her letting Adalynn pass. "Do not drive home! We need you all to stay here!" an officer yelled into the air. Adalynn was glad, she didn't have to drive. She could also straighten out her head. Get her thoughts in check.

Scarlet:

Scar made her way out of the building along with the rest of the students as the teachers guided them out to the parking lot. Thoughts and emotions hit her from every direction, none of which were her's. She felt like a helpless bottle being pushed back in forth by waves of thoughts and feelings in a sea of hundreds of people. Usually, Scar could control what she felt or heard, but since everyone's thoughts and feelings had been escalated, she couldn't do anything about it. Grief and fear latched onto her like fleas that couldn't be shaken, confusion and surprise pricked her like needles. She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath, trying to at least calm the emotions swirling through her. There was so much she didn't have any time to feel anything of her own. Sure, the boy had been in the same room as her, and she had seen what had happened with her own two eyes. He was the same boy that she had bumped into this morning, the same one that had helped her pick up her books and smiled at her. And now, he was gone. She hadn't picked up any thoughts from him at all. No feelings. She remembered finding it odd but had brushed it off like it was nothing. Now he was dead.

Oh my God, I can't believe this is happening! and I knew that kid was crazy. I'm just glad he didn't kill any of us. pushed into her mind, like several other thoughts. There was so much she didn't even bother looking to see who they belonged to. The wall she had learned to place in her mind to block other's thoughts had been pushed through, and now it was like her mind wasn't her own. Not even the earbuds she had popped into her ears worked, even when she turned the volume on her iPod to full blast. She glanced around the sidewalk, seeing many familiar faces, but none of which she really spoke to. Sirens were still wailing in the distance, like more cops would be coming. She hoped not. There were at least seven cars already parked, their red and blue lights flashing. EMT and Police uniforms littered the parking lot, pushing through waves of students to get into the building. The teachers were talking with the students, going around and trying to calm each one down to no avail. Girls were sobbing, boys were holding them in their arms.

Scar pushed out of a large crowd of students and took a seat on the sidewalk, glad to be away from the bone crushing huddle she had been stuck in. She drew her knees up and rested her elbows on them, her dark eyes sliding across the scene in front of her. She definitely hadn't been expecting all of this, and she wished she could have stopped it. She felt like she could have stopped it in some way. If only she had been "gifted" with the ability to see the future, she thought to herself bitterly. Of course, she had come to terms with what she called her 'curse', but that didn't mean she liked it or was used to it. She thought she'd never get used to it.

Jordan was was coming back to school for thrid period since he skipped out to go work a shift at Starbucks and then go jam alittle bit with his nephews. But while walking back to school, he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. As his eyes watched the cars go by and all the shop windows, he could here fire engines and police cars zooming by on the other side of the road.

He stopped and squinted, shielding his eyes from the light so he could see. Far off into the distance, he could see his school and half the student body was piled out onto the front lawn.

" What the.." He mummbled as he slid out his phone from his jacket pocekt. He dailed up Scarlet's number, the girl who sat infront of him in English, to find out what's happening. He didn't know her well, but he knew her well enough to have her number atleast.

Juliet sat under one of the trees in front of the school. Anger and sadness striking deep within her. She was sad because someone at her school was now dead but she was pissed at herself for not doing anything about. "What's the point on being able to heal if I dont use it?" She thought to herself. At first she tried to tell herself that it wasn't her fault. She didnt know where the boy was at. Then when she thought harder about it she could have ran back into the school the second she heard where his bosy was. With a deep sigh she out her headphones in her ear and drifted of into a daze.

Eric Reed sits on the steps leading up to his highschool, taking little notice of the chaotic swarms of his bickering classmates about him. He rests his forearms on his knees, his eyes downcast. Everyone looked pretty shaken up, and they ought to be. A kid had just shot himself in the middle of class, and Eric had seen it with his own eyes.

...well he hadn't actually "seen" it. He had been far too occupied with a crumpled piece of paper (scribbled all over with the begginings of a free-verse) to notice the young student turn a gun on himself in the middle of a lecture. The loudness of the shot got his attention though, and he was quite certain he had never heard anything so loud before in his life. Then the next thing you know, people start screaming, the teacher starts yelling frantically, and suddenly every damn cop and ambulance in town were at the doors of the highschool. Now the entire student-body was running around outside.

Eric exhales quietly. He didn't want to talk to the myriad of conversations ensuing about him. He didn't want to talk to anybody. Eric wanted to go home, have something warm to eat and salvage his poetry. He had to admit...looking down at the lifeless corpse of a kid his age was pretty disturbing. Eric could only wonder what motives the young man had, what strange depravities induced him to end his very existance...

Eric coughs a bit, immediately filled with an insatiable curiosity. What was this boy's past?

Scarlet:

Scar kept her eye on everything that was happening around her as people continued crowding around and comforting each other. What else could she do? No one was allowed to leave, though she just wished she could go home and drown herself in her music as she danced. Where no one's emotions or thoughts could reach her because no one was around. It was her only safe place. She sighed and leaned back on her palms, her eyes following the EMT's that led a gurney out of the building with a body on it. Wrapped in a black body bag. It was him. She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to ignore everything that was swarming around her. It was all almost too much.

Just then, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She considered just letting it go to voice mail, then thought better when she realized it would be a good distraction. She pulled out her blackberry and glanced at the caller ID. She furrowed her eyebrows as she stared at the name that flickered across the screen. Jordan. She wracked her mind, trying to think if she knew a Jordan. A face flashed in her mind, connecting with the name. Jordan was the cute guy that sat behind her in English. Right. She clicked the little green button to pick up and brought her phone up to her ear, glancing up at the sky.

"Hello?" She greeted, keeping her voice at it's usual calm tone, despite all the emotions that were clinging to her from those surrounding her.

He wasn't expecting her to answer, but he swallowed. " I'm really sorry I called..I just wanted to knwo what's ahppening at school? All I see are police cars adn ambulances, Jerry finally crack or something?" Jerry was this guy who was very into his science adn all, he was typically one to stay away from others, but Jordan took a liking to him and had talked to him a few times.

He didn't expect Scarlet to pick up thou, it still bothered him abit she did. Jordan didn't know why, but it did." You know what, wait a few mintues, I'm coming up the street" As he rounded the corner, he sped up then just started to jog towards the school, holding his guitar case close to him.

Scarlet:

Scar was about to answer Jordan, when he spoke again, saying he was coming up the street. She sighed and ended the call, then stood up and walked towards the street, waiting for him to show up so she could explain what happened. He had obviously skipped the first part of classes to do God-knows what. She sighed and tucked her hair behind her ear, glancing down the street as she saw him jogging up, guitar case in hand. When he finally reached her, she tucked her hands into her back pockets and averted her gaze for a moment, trying to think of how to explain all of this.

"Someone committed suicide." She said bluntly, not sure how else to say it. She lifted her dark chocolate eyes to look up at him, just now realizing how tall he was compared to her. He was at least a foot taller, maybe a little more. Not that it was surprising, since she only stood at five foot. "I'm not sure if his name is Jerry or not though." She added, shrugging her small shoulders. "They told everyone to stay in the parking lot, so no one can leave."

As he came up to her, he smiled. But it fell when he heard the news, " Shit. Really?" He looked down and ran a hand into his newly cut hair. He had trouble wrapping his mind around it, Someone died? Thatt..That never happens here..

He set his guitar case down and leaned against the tree. He frowned abit as he thought," So, we stay here the whole time is that it?" He looked down at her. He never knew she was this short, but she seemed more elflike to him now. It was sortof cute.

Scarlet:

"I suppose so." She shrugged her small shoulders and glanced back towards the parking lot. She could hear his thoughts, they rang loud in her mind. His feeling of surprise latched onto her, like everyone else's. She wanted to shut it all out, but she knew she couldn't, and it frustrated her. Still, she kept a calm air about her, refusing to let everyone else's emotions and thoughts get to her. She turned her gaze back to Jordan, studying him for a moment. Though he sat behind her in English, she never really talked to him that much. She even forgot he had her number until he called today. It wasn't like they were complete strangers, but they weren't friends either.

He sighed and looked down at her again," I'll just go find my Phys. Ed teacher. I'm sorry for disturbing you and all. Didn't know who else to call" He smiled alittle bit and took his guitar case, then slid past her to disappear into the sea of people. He was going to head out to his brother's place and then go back to work some more shifts.

Jordan felt tired and needed something distracting.

It didn't take long for Arthur to get wind of what was happening. The twitter-sphere was all aflutter and police radios and walkie talkies told him everything he needed to know. Some kid pulled out a 9mm pistol half way through second period, stuck it up his throat and all hell broke loose. It was almost amazing how quickly things could make their way online these days, but the phenomenon had long lost its celebrity to Arthur. He could barely tell the ever-present waves of the internet apart from his own brain anymore. It was all there, except for one thing. The one question everyone seemed to be asking but nobody knew the answer to: Who was it? It didn't make sense to him. The kid had to have a name. Everybody knew somebody. Even the loners had a reputation somewhere.

It irked him, facing a question whose answer he couldn't just look up. Make no mistake, it took him a dozen seconds to access the school database through his phone and pull up the list of all twenty students in that class. He knew it was a guy, which eliminated the eleven girls. That left nine guys. It narrowed the search down, but he would have to go looking for all the guys left around the school grounds--a slow and tedious task without letting everyone see him blurring past them. It didn't help that people kept moving around and were pretty widely dispersed around the school. At least the police weren't letting anyone leave.

Arthur was so caught up in his empirical deductions--There's Hank! That makes two. Seven to go--that he wasn't watching his own path very closely. He bumped into someone--hard--sending him tumbling onto his butt. "Ow!" He rubbed his backside as he stood back up and said, "My bad. Guess I should watching where I'm walking a little closer!"

Adalynn took up her cell phone and pressed in one. The ringing made Adalynn desperate with every individual ring. She wanted him to pick up. "Yes This is Mr. Fleur," A deep voice stated from the opposite side. Adalynn sighed, he picked up. Normally her father was so busy with his business that he barley picked up the phone for himself. Normally his secretary Miss. Rooney picked it up and talked to Adalynn. "Hey dad, can you come to the school?" she asked loudly. The noise from the student was too loud. "I can't hear you!" the man shouted into the phone causing Adalynn to pull the phone away from her ear. "Pick me up!" she yelled into the phone desperate for him to come. Adalynn didn't want to be alone now. She had just saw a boy kill himself in her class and she did not want to be alone. "I'm sorry call me back. I can't hear you," her father stated hanging up.

She felt like crying out. Her father or mother wouldn't pick her up. Her mother was in France right now on a trip and her father couldn't hear her and didn't have texting. That was it! Adalynn was sick of not being able to have her parents. Adalynn felt her throat start to close and her eyes started to burn. No, don't cry now, Adalynn thought angrily at herself. No matter what Adalynn had a reputation for, she was strong enough to hold out. She took another deep breath and stood up from her position on the ground.

She looked out to the street where she saw a few students run across the street into freedom and probably punishment fro leaving. Suddenly Adalynn was pulled out of her center and onto the ground. She was pushed forward and onto her arm. A sharp pain his her arm and she held in a scream quickly. Jerk, she thought with pain as she turned onto her butt. "It's fine," Adalynn forced out with a fake smile. After all she was still the Prom Queen and President of the school. She had to present herself even in an emotional state.

"It's fine."

"Adalynn! Adalynn Fleur! Hi!" Arthur spewed out as he grabbed her arms and helped her to he feet. This girl was one of few students he didn't even need to look up to identify. Everyone knew her. He'd read enough papers on sexual stimulation in the mind of teenage boys to know what was happening to him in the back of his head, but that didn't stop him from suddenly wanting to do anything to redeem himself in her eyes. Adalynn Fleur was pretty high up on the list of people he wanted to--but didn't have a chance of--becoming friends with. "Arthur. Arthur Salomon. Maybe you knew that already. I don't know. Um. Nice to meet you.. officially--I am so sorry!" He continued. "I was walking and looking at my phone and looking every but where I was going and I would have stopped except I didn't even see you there and I will just go away now."

Arthur let his mind drift back to the waves again, picking up on more messages between startled teens and bumbling cops as he turned and started to leave. His eyes drifted back to the list on his phone screen again and her name caught his eye. She was in the class. She might know who it was. I have to talk to her. Wait. Why do I even care? It's not like knowing who it was is going to change anything... But I have to know. He stopped, turned one-hundred-and-eighty degrees and walked back to Adalynn, trying to focus as much as possible on the task at hand and not so much on... her. "This might sound like a really weird question and I totally get if you don't want to answer, but, um, you were in the class, right? Where the kid... you know... did it?" he asked, but he didn't have to wait for her to respond. He knew the answer, so he moved on. "You don't, by any chance, know who it was, do you?"

Adalynn took his hand and pulled herself up. He kept stating her name over and it made Adalynn giggle a little. What was this boy's problem. She looked him over for a moment, he looked familiar, maybe she had a class with him. She would of remembered him though, he seemed to have a weird way to greet people. "You already know who I am then who are you. I'm sorry you look familiar though. Are you in any of my classes?" she asked him wondering if she was correct. She also knew she had to get her mind off of it's current train of thought. Maybe this young man could do that.

So his name is Arthur Salomon, it rang a bell. Though she didn't know the source. 'You don't have to apologize, I wasn't paying attention either," Adalynn said with all honesty. Arthur seemed like a nervous wreak that could break with any passing moment. "You mean killed himself," Adalynn said coolly. If she could think of this logically maybe she could stop being so emotional. "Yes, I didn't know his name though. I don't think many people did. I know he had just moved here this year though if that helps," Adalynn said her blue eyes now steely. She was going to think of this as if it wasn't her in this position. Suddenly a mega phoned voice rang out, "Eric Reed! Juliet Wright! Adalynn Fleur! Neil Jamesson! Scarlet Nelson! Arthur Salomon! Come to the flag pole!" Adalynn looked over to Arthur emotions coming back. Worry was the first one. "What do yo uthink they want?" she asked him curiously with fear. She didn't do anything.

Scarlet:

Scar had taken a seat on the sidewalk again after Jordan had walked away and rested her forehead in her hand. There was no one to call, and she wasn't allowed to leave, though every fiber of her being was yelling at her to run to her motorcycle and hop on. Take off into the sunset and leave all the raw emotions and thoughts behind, never to disturb her again. She rubbed her temples, hoping to get rid of what was starting to become a headache. The roar of thoughts, and the loud voices of students was making her head throb and she knew taking an asprin wouldn't do her any good.

"Eric Reed! Juliet Wright! Adalynn Fleur! Neil Jamesson! Scarlet Nelson! Arthur Salomon! Come to the flag pole!" Scar glanced up when she heard her name bellowed out in a man's deep voice over a megaphone, along with a few other's. She furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what was going on as she stood up and brushed off her shorts. She slung her bag over her shoulder and shoved her phone into her back pocket as she made her way towards the crowd. The students had gotten quieter. Verbally, anyway, and she felt several gazes on her, none of which she returned as she shouldered her way through a group of tightly knit students.

When she finally reached the flagpole, she saw a few cops, the principle, and a few teachers standing around there. The cops looked serious, arms folded across their blue uniforms as they rested their stern gaze on her. She bit the corner of her lip as her dark chocolate eyes jumped from one face to the other, completely confused as to why they had called her out to the flag pole. She picked up on a cop's thoughts, there was something about a note. With her name on it, among other's. Their emotions were serious and down to business. She could tell one of the officers didn't like her already. She glanced around as a few other students reached them. She recognized Adalynn; they'd had quite a few classes together. She wouldn't exactly call them friends, but they used to be lab partners and talk when they were sitting close to one another. She also recognized Arthur from around in the halls, though she wasn't sure what his name was.

Even though Juliet had her headphones in her ear they were on low so she could still hear. When she heard what sounded like the principal calling Her name she jerked up. With a sigh she got up from the tree and walked over to the flagpole. Her hair instantly falling in front of her face and her summer dressed danced in the wind. She let out an irritated moan. She was not in the mood for teachers and cops to ask her any questions about someone she didn't know. When she got to the flagpole she noticed a group of kids standing there and they didn't look familiar. I mean she saw them around school but she never really talked to them. One of her brows arched in curiosity. "What do they want with me?" She thought to herself.

Neil heard his name as he was about to rev up is bike, he frowned adn turned the ignition off. What in the hell...
As he started back across the parkinglot and over to the flagpole, he was looking through his mental rolodex for anything he done during the past weeks that would call for a teacher to bring up. He couldn't think of much, just the usal skipping of class and missing gym.

His guitar case was getting pretty heavy, he set it down next to his feet when he got there and rested his arms on top of the case. He looked down as he waited for a lecture.

What the...had they just called his name? His name? No. How could they have? What could they possibly want him for? He had heard wrong. They had made a mistake. No one said Eric Reed's name, because no one ever needs Eric Reed. And the young man was just fine with that.

But the blatant truth could not be masked in reasonable doubt. His name had been called. It was not respect for the police or his teachers that lead him to approach the small circle of school-staff and cops that glared onward as he walked foward. He was curious, really; nothing more.

Others had been called, of course. Here was one, her name was Scarlet, wasn't it? Pretty face, deep eyes...they had a few classes together. He recognized Adalynn immediately, arguably one of the most popular girls in the school; and a smaller-looking kid at her side. What was his name? Adam? Artemis? Eric thought about it for a few more seconds before deciding he didn't care enough to waiste anymore thought on the matter.

Then there was Neil, he knew this one's name for sure. He had seen him sometimes practicing with the after-school band. He seemed like an alright guy. After all, music was something Eric could respect. There was one other, a girl with headphones in her ears. Seeing as how Scarlet and Adalynn were already here, this one was probably Juliet by default.

Eric puts his hands in his pockets, fingering the crisp, folded paper lying peacefully there. He looked up at one of the cops glaring at him, giving off his best, 'the fuck do you want?' kind of look. He didn't have time for whatever this was. He just wanted to get out of here.

"What do you think they want?"

Arthur scanned the radio waves quickly. Nothing about any of the names called. They're keeping this quiet. Or... They were. It can't be anything good. He shrugged in response to Adalynn's question and said, "Beats me. Maybe they think we knew him?" One of the boys that was left updated his facebook status. Athur checked him off the list on his phone. Six left... Who are you? He looked back up to Adalynn and said, "Come on. We better get over there." And he was walking, gesturing with a flick of the wrist for her to follow.

He searched as he moved. Eric Reed... Juliet Wright... Adalynn Fleur... Neil Jamesson... Scarlet Nelson... and Arthur. He dug up as much information as he could on the other four--he didn't have to study Adalynn again. Mostly decent students, artsy types, minimum wage if at all... What was the link? It would have to wait, he cleared the edge of the crowed, a defined border which obviously drew the line of how close people were willing to get to cops and teachers. He felt eyes digging into the back of his head as he left the mob and dropped his phone into his pocket. He didn't want to risk any of the lawmen seeing what he'd just been doing. Only then did it occur to him to spin around and check to make sure that Adalynn was still behind him.

Neil yawned as he streched out his arms, his eyes ran over the group that was assembling around the flagpole. Strange, Scarlet was there and Juilet, he knew Juilet quite well. They weren't close freinds, but they had some stuff to talk about. He noticed some polic officers giving him the once over, he was, anyway, the only one here with a record. He didn't think any of them had done much except maybe skip one class.

He sighed and looked to his right, Eric stood there, glaring at all the officers and even some of the firemen.

" Hey, knwo what this is about man?" He leaned abit over to speak to Eric. He seemed cool, he was in his history class and he was usally the one who filled him in on what he missed everytime he skipped.

Eric shrugs numbly. "Beats me. I was in the classroom when it happened. So was Adalynn and Scarlet, I think. Maybe we're witnesses," Eric suggested. "I don't know why the hell you got called over. Or her. Or him." Eric nods towards Juliet and Arthur as he speaks.

Eric took his hands out of his pockets, crossing them over his chest. He probably knew Neil best out of everyone here, and even then, he was hardly a developed aquaintance. They had history together, the only class that Eric was doing well in (the only thing keeping him from a 100% was his "Participation and Attitude" portion of the grade).

Eric glances over at Juliet as he speaks. Why hadn't he seen her around before? She was definately pretty enough that he would have noticed her around school.

Adalynn nodded and followed Arthur to the flag pole. She was still nervous though they probably only wanted to talk to them. But, why them. She made it there and saw everyone else. She knew Juliet well, she was on the cheerleading team after all. Scarlet, Adalynn was trying to think and couldn't remember. Eric she didn't even know. She knew Neil though. She us to have a crush on him last year also which to this day she had never had a normal conversation with the boy.

Arthur looked back to Adalynn as she was thinking. She gave him a quick smile and started to pay attention to everything now. People had started leaving the parking lot. "Come with me," one of the officers said to all the teenagers. His green eyes were sharp and intelligent but deadly. One thing about the police station was that it was right behind the school, that was how they had gotten here so quickly. Adalynn didn't say a word as the officer started to walk to the station. She stayed a few feet behind him though. Everyone was so different, what did they have in common?

Scarlet:

Scar's gaze slid around the small group that had been called to the flagpole, looking for a face she recognized besides Adalynn's. There was Neil, who she'd talked to earlier. Then Eric Reed. She had a few classes to him and exchanged a small conversation with him once or twice. He was in the same class as she and Adalynn when the shooting happened. He was the guy who sat in the desk next to her's, she realized. She'd had a few classes with him last year, and remembered being interested in him sort of. Not exactly a crush, but an...attraction. So the other girl had to be Juliet. Scar closed her eyes and let out a slow breath, still a little exhausted from everything that was happening. From the emotions, to the thoughts, to the actual situation itself, it was a lot to take in. She felt like she could pass out any second, but did her best to hold herself together. Or at least look like she was held together.

As the officers led them all down the road, she flicked a brief glance at everyone, feeling their emotions swelling around her. Confusion, nervousness, frustration, a little bit of anger. She tucked her hands into her back pockets and stayed silent, lowering her gaze. She hated all of this, but there was nothing she could do.