Chapter 2

Medium: The Origins finds a young man setting out to avenge the death of a beloved family member and to recover forgotten memories, only to find himself with a new case and a unknown assailant on him.

Chapter 2

 

            It is that time of the year again. School time. A large crowd of people are sitting on benches in the cafeteria. The cafeteria is actually dim, and too brown. I don’t mean the people, I mean the walls, ceiling and such. Most of these people here look strange, but probably because I’m by myself often. Anyways, the principal comes in, holds both his hand up, and then silence is there.

          “Hello ladies and gentlemen, students, teachers, and other staff members. I hope you had done many great and fun things over the summer, because you might write a paper report on it. I would like to welcome all of you back for another year at Jean Bender High…”

          Everything else from there is just blah, blah, blah. It’s not like I would just sit there and listen to introductory speeches, not when the only thing I can think about is who is the killer. I thought I is so close, I thought I closed it on that guy. The things I found, it keeps telling me it’s him. But once I finally got to him, he is never the guy. He is the last guy I can think of. If he didn’t do it, then who did? Nothing that I found brings in other matches.

          I notice a small kid hiding his face, and three other kids picking on him.

          “What’s the matter Harold, why are you hiding your face? Don’t you know you can’t cover from us?” Said the bully.

          “What does he know Steve, he doesn’t know anything. He doesn’t even talk.”

          “You’re right, he doesn’t. You hear that Harbald? We’re going to be seeing each other a lot.” Pounding his fist on his hands. “Should be fun, right boy?” And out of nowhere, a rubber band snapped at his head. “Ow! Who threw that?” He looks around, and he can’t find anybody. He turns back, and goes back to picking on Harold, but it is me he is calling. He didn’t suspect Harold to move to another spot, and me moving towards Harold’s spot. Steve didn’t expect to see me, and he didn’t pick on anyone after that.

          After school is over, everyone walked out of the building. As I is walking home, I notice a lot of people were whispering to each other while looking at me. What the hell are they looking at? And are they talking about me? I wonder what they’re talking about. I continued walking and then the answer is in front of me.

          Steve and his friends came close to me.

          “Hey there man?” He approaches me.

          “What?”

          “We were just wondering, are you friends with Harold?”

          “No, I don’t even know him.” I said sarcastically.

          “Damn right you are. Don’t lie to us you sat in his spot. What makes you think you can mess with me and get away with it huh?”

          “So you like blaming other people for your own shortcomings. That’s not a very smart move you’re making now, is it? All I did was sit on some spot that a kid happened to be sitting before I took it, what difference does that make? If anything he should be offended, I don’t know where the hell you guys are coming from.”

          “Watch your mouth kid…”

          “Screw this, you’re wasting my time. I’m out of here.” I was about to leave, but one guy comes up to me and block my way.

          “Cool it, you wouldn’t want to get hurt now, would you?” He takes a few steps closer to Chester with a closed fist.

          “You can’t even if you would, so why are you wasting your time?”

          Steve then punched me in the face, and I goes down. His friends came in to restrain me, and he proceed to land a few blows on me. I kick him away from me, and I twist his buddie’s wrists and push them away from me before getting back up. I subdued his friends before facing Steve ahead on. He goes in for a kick, but I grabbed his legs, push his chest back, and tripped him on the ground. This guy made a big mistake messing with me, and he shouldn’t have messed with other people. As I was about to leave, I notice a staff member is there watching the whole thing. Ah great, I didn’t really thought this through did I? What do you expect from staff members that can’t even tell a physical fight from self-defence? I might as well get this nonsense over with.

          I opened the door to Mr. Van Horne’s office. “Chester Raxton, please sit down.” I walk inside, and take a seat. “How do you feel about yourself Chester? Huh? It’s the first day of school and you already got into a fight with three kids? Is this how you make friends at your new school?” No but I show more action than you ever would, and I don’t make friends with just about anybody here. “Those are hardworking students that were with us for three years now, and you just switched schools, given the fact you were expelled from your last one.” Hard working my a*s. If they know their stuff then they wouldn’t be outsmarted by me in the first place. “Are you even listening to me?”

“Yeah.” Will that shut you up? Now finish up your speech so I can get out of here.

“You have no friends you know. And it will remain this way if you keep picking fights with random people.” Fitting in with people is not exactly on my agenda, but then again I’m smart enough not to tell you my plans.

“Today you were going around just punching people out of nowhere when one of our very rules is to never fight on school grounds.” Never fight on school grounds? Did you just implemented that rule this year? I hope you’re telling the truth. “Put that on an expulsion record, and what does that make you look like?” I already know where this is heading, what I want to know is when it’s going to be over so I can get back to my investigation, and live up to your policy only to end up back here again. “It’s time you give up your rebellious ways and start acting like one within our school. You’re even lucky this is your first day and you’re new to this school, otherwise I would’ve suspended you. It’s time to set yourself straight young man, you need to think about your future. Now I don’t want to see you in my office ever again, is that understood?” I nod in agreement. “Good, now go to class.” I pack my things and leave his office. Is this man oblivious to his own school? There are kids being picked on by other kids, and he doesn’t really give a damn about safety. There’s also the staff member who saw and heard the whole thing but only brought me in. God help this school if they don’t find new staff members.

Even the visit to the principal’s office didn’t get my mind off of my goals. I spend the whole first day of school thinking of how to catch the killer. I look at my footsteps, and the sound of each step doesn’t sound accurate. Even when I already took a step, I heard a stomp a few seconds after it. Those sound aren’t coming from my legs. I turns around to see if anyone is behind. I try looking at the bushes, the benches, the walls. But as it seems, no one is there, so I turns back and continued walking. Rattling is heard, and coming from the direction above me. Is someone following me? I wonder. I turn around and look up and suddenly, the rattling stop. Whoever is following me is very good. He might stink at hiding when following me, but stop and find him, and he disappears like Henry Houdini. I start walking fast, I want to see if there’s a change of paste with the sound. I hear the sound of a garbage can slamming on the ground rolling over. I look behind, and find the garbage can still rolling. This is getting creepier than it needs to be. Then I realize I have no time for this, I’m getting out of here.

Author's Note

Medium: The Origins finds a young man setting out to avenge the death of a beloved family member and to recover forgotten memories. He shuns himself from having a normal social life for the sake of vengeance. Just when he thought he ran out of leads, he was involved in an incident which leads him to start a new case. This particular investigation changes him greatly while he is being hunted by an unknown assailant whose victims never got to see before they met their doom.

Note: This is my first book and I plan to write more. Criticism, praise, or any feedback of some sorts are welcome.
Read more at http://www.booksie.com/action_and_adventure/novel/mamatters/meduim:-the-origins/chapter/3#xgCQJaLz0QJWr8ZZ.99

Reviews

[D.S. Dirck]

Great read. Thanks for sharing.