Lucian

Lucian

Lucian heard the whole thing, and by the end he felt even worse.

"Yeah, the Darkridge High Light," Charlie Brent was saying. " I seriously don't think anyone reads that crap. Did you see this weeks story?"

"No man, what was it?"

"Some wall of text about astronomy."

"What the hell." Danny Cowell, a kid who seemed to have a permanent cold,blew his nose loudly and snorted. "Lol."

Lucian stared down at his lunch, his fists clenched and a lump in his throat. B******s. Did they have any idea how impossible it was to run a school paper? The competition between papers at Darkridge High was like world war three, they'd be dropping bombs on each other if they could.

Kids like Danny and Charlie had no idea. But that didn't stop their words from stinging. Luckily, Lucian was rarely acknowledged by other people at all - that was the way he liked it - so they had little idea that they were sitting two feet away from the editor of the Darkridge High Light. Lucian ate his sandwiches quickly and slung his bag over his shoulder, then grabbed his camera and made his way out of the cafeteria.

As he was passing by another table, something hit him on the head. It wasn't hard. It was like a ball of paper had been scrunched up and thrown at him. He looked up sharply and caught the eye of Arthur LeRoy, a smirking, athletic a*****e who was popular for reasons that had eluded Lucian since he'd come to the school. Arthur was handsome, even Lucian could see that, but somehow despite his brutish sense of humour and lack of manners towards anyone, he had become the most popular guy in the year.

Arthur said nothing, just hissed a laugh like a quiet hyena and fist bumped a friend across the table.

Lucian stared at them, uncomprehending, for a long moment.

Then he looked down at his feet.

There was the scrunched up front page of the Light. It suddenly felt like he'd been hit by a wrecking ball. There was the astronomy article he'd spent six hours perfecting, with obscene artwork scrawled all over the picture of a nebula. His head thumped like a beating heart, a throbbing anger. Lucian looked up again at Arthur and his friends, and they fell into a fresh round of laughter.

Lucian felt his face flush a deep red, his ears burning, and fury rising up from his core like a volcano brimming with lava on the edge of eruption.

But he couldn't do it. He couldn't fight back, he'd only get hurt worse. He'd been beaten up before; not by Arthur but it was beginning to feel as though that was only a matter of time. So it was that he left the cafeteria that afternoon on a wave of stares and laughs that cut like broken glass, and walked fast across the grass, the hard packed earth his only focus, trying to force the shame and hatred into a place deep inside where he wouldn't have to think about it.

He felt a little better by the time he'd reached the clubhouse. The sky was a watery grey that threatened rain, the kind of weather that darkened everything by a few shades, so that the old shed looked mulchy and ramshackle. She could do with fixing up,but it was her flimsiness and imminent collapse that had swung the principle over to their side, and allowed them to use it as their publishing house for the Light.

And it was called the Light for a reason. The old shed shone like a beacon for Lucian, even when he was cursing himself for his weakness, his inability to stand up to pricks like Arthur, Charlie and Danny. He was by no means an underdog, or at least didn't feel like one, but the newspaper he put his heart and soul in to was largely ridiculed and that hurt. Worse still was that he was too weak to do anything about it.

He pushed through the door a little more roughly than was necessary.

He was barely through when two arms wrapped around his middle, and he was pulled into a big hug.

"Lucy!"

Lucian jumped and looked down into sea-blue eyes sparkling with admiration. His mood softened in an instant.

"Hey," he scolded the girl. " I told you not to call me that. It's a girls name."

"It's because you're so sweet and gentle, Lucy! You're just like a princess on the inside."

" I wouldn't go that far, Lily. And whats the hug for anyway? I only left for lunch."

She laughed melodically and danced back to her desk. Lily had the kind of amber-blonde hair that would make most people classify her as a bit of a ditz, but was in Lucian's eyes a natural wonder of positivity and kindness. Incredible considering how shy she was outside of the clubhouse.

"Ah, but we missed you," she said.

Lucian smiled and shook his head, moving to his own workspace. The clubhouse was a tiny room with three desks, and stacks of paper on every surface - piled high against the walls, on shelves and in boxes in each corner. The place smelt of must and old letters.

Lucian took off his bag and camera.

"Kazuo," he said."How's that formatting going?"

No reply. Lucian looked suspiciously over at the messiest desk in the room. Behind a pile of books, a boy with dark hair had his face planted on an open paper, and was snoring softly.

"Ugh, he's asleep again,"  Lily groaned.

"Get him another coffee," said Lucian distractedly. "The stuff is like an Elixir of Life for Kazuo."

"You want one too?"

"Sure."

She set about finding the electric kettle.

"Hey, Lucy?"

"What's up?" said Lucian.

"Is something wrong?" she said.

He watched her fill the kettle with water from a clunky sink, and dig out some instant coffee from underneath.

"It's nothing," he sighed. "Some people are just b******s. About the Light."

"It's alright, they just don't understand how hard it is to run a newspaper."

"That's what I always think. You know what, I don't care about them. I'd rather focus my anger, into making the Light better, you know. Being angry about things doesn't fix them at all."

"That's the spirit," Lily sang." I told you, you're just like a positive princess! I could imagine you in the dress and everything..."

She looked lost in a daydream, possibly picturing Lucian in a Cinderella outfit. Again. He buried his face in his hands.

"You need to stop with the princess stuff. I'm not your girlfriend. Come on, act our age."

"At seventeen you can still like princesses," she said with a pout.

Lucian chuckled. Even though they were the same age, Lily had forced her way into his life as a sort of little sister. It was no replacement for his own sister, but then nothing had quite filled the gap her death had left. Not since she'd gone missing around the time of the Mirror Face incidents. That was years ago now. Lucian had decided to focus on other things , and that was why he's started the Darkridge High Light. He had promised himself he'd put everything he had into making it a success, to help him get over his sister and to refocus his life, and that was why it stung so much when careless b******s like Charlie Brent made such hurtful comments.

He opened up his notepad and began to flip through the day's stories, the possibilities. Things looked bleak. Astronomy was one of his and Kazuo's main interests, but it hadn't been received too well; the alternatives were a feature on an upcoming eclipse and one he'd been considering about the composition of photographs - his other fascination.

Lily placed the coffee down on the desk and he smiled at her.

"Thanks."

"That's OK," she said, her cheeks flushing pink. "I put in two sugars just as you like it, but there's no need to thank me, you know."

"You're too modest," he said. "Hey, could you help me out? Do any of these look interesting?"

"I wouldn't know really."

"Don't be ridiculous. The photography or the astronomy?"

"WHOOOOOOYAAAAAH!"

The two of them jumped and swiveled around. Kazuo had sat up in a blurry-eyed scarecrow-haired mess, and was grinning like a wild monkey.

"That's good coffee, Lily," he said, stroking his stubble. "How are things going? We selling well?"

"If you ever left the Clubhouse you'd know, Kaz," Lucian said, grinning himself. "And what did I say about falling asleep on the job? You're a slacker!"

"In Japan I slept through every class and lecture. Old habits die hard."

"Then maybe you should have stayed there. Anyway, what do you think? More astronomy or a dash of composition?"

Kazuo's weary face lit up.

"That's a hard one, bro. They both sound incredible. No wonder we're such a hit."

Lucian sighed.

"You really need to get out more."

"Er...you know what I think?" Lily frowned a little as she stared down at the notebook. "I know you guys love stars and stuff, and Lucian is a big photography nut, but not everyone is. We might sell better if we went for more general news."

"No way!" Kazuo cried. "Are you mad? We have to stick to what we know!"

"No, Lily is probably right," said Lucian, tearing out the page of ideas and scrunching it up. Kazuo's jaw dropped. Lucian looked up at them, his face set. "If there's one thing I'm willing to do, its change. I'm kind of getting sick of people hating on the Light. And I have to say, it hurts whenever people don't like it."

"It's them, not us," Kazuo said.

"No, it's us," Lucian shot back at him. "I'm understanding more and more that it's us."

He stood up and climbed onto his chair, theatrically, and Lily stared up at him, clapping her hands.

"Staff of the Darkridge High Light," he announced.

"Yeah?" the other two said.

"We are changing up our strategy! For too long, we have been trampled on by the other school publications! Its time for a revolution. Forget astronomy, forget photography. People don't want to read about taking photos, they want to look at them. They want the latest juicy gossip, the up to date news on everything at Darkridge High. A long time ago," and he felt a lump in his chest as he said this. "I swore to my sister, before she disappeared, that I would make this newspaper the best in the school. And if this is all it takes, if different news is what the people want...then that's exactly what we'll give them!"

"Woohoo!" Lily cheered.

"Plus," said Lucian. "That a*****e Arthur LeRoy threw the front page at me today."

"Fine, you're the editor," Kazuo sighed. "Wherever you steer the light, I'll be with you. And if Arthur makes another move like that we'll crush him." He flexed his wimpy muscles and grinned his crooked grin.

"In that case," said Lucian. "It's time we pulled our heads out of our asses. What happened today was the last straw. We need fresh news. Lily, get out there, find out what's happening. I'll go looking for some photographs."

"On it," Lily said.

Lucian grabbed his camera, and made for the door.

"Oh, and Kazuo."

"What now?"

"Check on your laptop. Just see if you can find anything to help us out. And please, please, don't fall asleep."

It was drizzling lightly by the time they congregated back at the Clubhouse. Lucian got in last. He'd spent the last couple of hours pretending to have gone home sick, and photographing anything of interest in the local area. He could bunk school as much as was necessary, it wasn't like Mum and Dad were gone to stop him.

When he came through the door with his hair dripping, the atmosphere was noticeably darker. The only sound was the pattering of raindrops on the flimsy roof and the steady dripping of water into a bucket where the roof had sprung a leak. Rain speckled the grubby windows.

"What's up?" He said. "Why is everyone so quiet?"

"We have news," Lily told him. She was sitting by the sink, looking sad and a little afraid. "Big news."

Lucian smiled and took off his coat.

"That's great? Isn't it?"

"It isn't," Kazuo said gravely. He had managed to stay awake and was half hidden behind a stack of today's newspapers. He held up the Darkridge Gazette. It wasn't even a school publication.

Lucian stepped closer and examined the headline, and the smile died on his lips

"Laurie..." he breathed. "Oh, no. What happened?"

"Laurie Schuman!" Kazuo wailed. "Laurie Schuman! She was so hot."

"That isn't the sad part, you jerk," Lily scolded him. "She was amazing. Really popular, head of all the clubs. I don't think anyone saw it coming."

"I sure didn't," said Lucian. Laurie's pretty face smiled up at him from the paper, her blonde hair radiant. It felt like a horrid, dirty little finger was poking at the stitches around his heart, worming them open. The last time a young girl had been murdered in Darkridge, it had been his own family. He suddenly felt a little faint.

"Are you OK,Lucy?"

"Don't call me that," he murmured. His mind was racing now, out of control, spiralling down and making connections he wished it wouldn't. All the signs, judging by the article, were pointing to something. Something he had been dreading for the last six years.

"Look on the bright side, though," said Kazuo. "Laurie's dance troupe were funding the Darkridge Youth Weekly, one of our biggest rivals, right? At least someone's killed off the competition."

"That's not light!" Lily cried. "You twisted person, that's really dark."

"Tell me I'm wrong," Lucian interrupted them.

"What?" Kazuo and Lily said.

"Tell me I'm wrong," Lucian repeated. "It says here, in the paper, that a video tape was found with the body, but that the contents are classified until further police notice. Tell me this is just some prank. I mean, it can't be linked ... can it?"

Lily's eyes were like saucers.

"Oh my God," she said. "No. I mean, you're not talking about Mirror Face, are you? The killer was shot by police. He fell off a bridge." Suddenly she looked quite wild. She ran across the room and threw her arms around Lucian's middle. " Lucy, I'm scared!"

"Don't be dumb, you guys watch too many movies," Kazuo smirked. "What is this, Friday the 13th? Psychos like Mirror Face aren't invincible. They die, they're caught in the end, and they stay down. The guy fell off a bridge, for god's sake!"

Lucian wasn't sure. He shook free of Lily, and slid down against the radiator, staring into space, his face drained.

"It could be a prank," he whispered. "But you can't be sure. You can't ever know."

"Well, it'll be a one off, you'll see," Kazuo said, with a yawn. "There's no way Mirror Face is back."

"Actually, I heard people talking," Lily said, panic rising in her voice. "They were saying the body was never found. There's nothing to say Mirror Face hasn't been biding his time, waiting to return. Lucy?"

Lucian's face had suddenly gone very hard. He stood up, all the fear gone, and stared at the others, his eyes concrete-grey.

"I could be wrong," he said, steadily. "They could be wrong. But if its true, and Mirror Face is back, then this is our chance. Possibly our last chance"

Kazuo and Lily looked at him with confusion. Lucian felt awful, like the finger was pulling the hole in his heart wide open again, his sister's face flickering in and out of his mind's eye, smiling, laughing, crying, pale and dead. He screwed his hands into fists so tight that his nails bit into his skin.

"I won't be weak, like how I couldn't protect her," he growled. "Forget Arthur LeRoy. Forget that the Light isn't successful. If Mirror Face is back, then I swear on all the memories of Annie that I'll be the first to take his picture. And its going to be on the front page of the Light. Are you two with me?"

Kazuo laughed.

"You're mad, but if it works, you're the editor - in with you all the way, bro."

"Right, Lucy!" said Lily bravely. "I don't care how scary Mirror-butt is, let's get that photo."

Lucian's fingers closed around his camera.

"Let's hope he doesn't blink on the flash."

Reviews

[Broken Serenity]

Woah. That was... whoa. I loved this chapter, I honestly don't even know how I ran across it but I can assure you I'm going to read every chapter after.