An Old Friend

The blinking lights in the small room were beginning to annoy Finn, it was like Josh trying to solve math problem in class. It was trying, but they both knew it won’t make it. He yawned and looked at his friends sitting near him, staring into many black and white screens in front of them. They were in the janitor’s room, waiting for four figures to appear in one of the screens. Michael, who was sitting to his left, started to type something on his computer, probably making sure that they could start live online translation any time. Finn looked at his laptop and noticed that the viewers were getting impatient, some of them were arguing on their forum about who’s going to make it tonight. Apparently “#teambrian” were the most dedicated fans. His friend on the right, Josh, took the microphone in his hand and stared into the upper left corner of the maze of screens.

“How will you delete the recordings from the data base?” Asked Finn.

“I will replace them with the recordings from Monday night. I have already copied them.” Michael waved in the air with his USB flash drive.

Computers, Finn shook his head and concentrated at the same screen as Josh. It was the entrance hall of their school. Suddenly the lights went on and Josh’s face lit up with excitement. Michael ran his fingers on his keyboard and solemnly announced:

“It begins.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our annual Fried Sharks games!..”

That’s where you lost me, thought Finn, what a stupid name. It sounded fun in the 9^th grade, but now it was just ridiculous. Josh went on and on about the rules, being the charming lad of the team that he was, making jokes and sexual metaphors. Popping cheering messages on their online forum seemed to enjoy his way of introduction. After a few minutes of inappropriate stories about the last Fried Sharks party Josh came back to the main part:

“… now let me introduce you to our four candidates, who are just D-I-S-P-E-R-A-T-E...” Finn had to contain himself from laughing, so he stared at the dark screens. One of them, which was the security camera in the basketball hall, flickered and he thought that he saw something, but that was probably just a shadow on the ground. He heard Michael laughing, so he let out a small laugh himself. Josh wasn’t the brightest team member, but at least he was a damn good basketball player.”… to join our team. The problem is that we have only three free positions. So as the traditions dictate, we set up different challenges for our young team members that they have to accomplish faster than the others. Now, let’s hear something from our candidates!”

Josh asked them a few questions about how they were feeling and who they think will fail tonight. Finn was about to stop Josh thinking that it was stupid to ask them something, since they can’t respond, but he heard Luke roaring:

“Jake is going DOWN!”

Finn threw an amazed look to Michael, but he was just sitting there, smiling, obviously proud of himself.

“I’ve given them microphones and earphones so they could talk to us. And we will hear only one person that is currently on the screen so that it would be easier to watch it for the others.”

“How did you get money for that?”

“Oh, please.”

Michael waved his hand in a careless way and went back to coordinating the show. It is fun to have a fun, sporty and basically a genius friend. But having a fun, sporty, basically a genius friend who happens to have an access to his father’s IT-shop items was even better. Finn patted on his shoulder and pretended to talk in an old man’s voice:

“Back in our day we didn’t have those damn cameras with security, those phones that were micro small or those notebooks with no books! We had rocks and sticks and it was enough! You spoiled kids!”

“Ah, only 1920s kids will get it.”

“It’s really amazing, I owe you one.”

“My pleasure, captain.”

Finn could see their show on their forum, the viewers could only see one security camera at the time and Michael was the one deciding which camera was currently shown. Now it was the school entrance hall security camera with four excited guys in it. All of them were wearing black clothes and each had a backpack in their hands, which they got from Michael earlier. Jake, Luke, Brian and Kevin were jumping up and down, pretending to warm up. Ironically, Fried Sharks games didn’t have much to do with physical strength or agility. The competitors had to use their imagination and find a way to complete their tasks in the fastest and most creative way possible. And Josh was just about to announce their challenges:

“Gentlemen, the rules are always the same: do not use anything, but the things that are in your backpacks, your tasks are also in there, do not use your phones, do not leave any traces, of course, besides the challenges and for God’s sake, don’t forget to take your personalized team jacket that we left in the areas of your challenges. You can’t be a member if you don’t have the jacket! In a few seconds you will hear the room that you need to go to, try to get there as fast as possible. I’ll let you know when you can start running. Jake - swimming pool, Luke - basketball court, Brian - teachers’ room and last, but not least Kevin - playground. Have fun gentlemen, and GO!”

Michael with the help of some witchcraft divided the screen into three parts, so that the audience could see the guys running into different directions of the building, scattering as rats in a boat. Kevin had the shortest path, but only the team members knew how nasty his task was - rubbing all of the swings with grease. Brian was on the same way as Luke, so there were a lot of swearing and pushing to be heard and seen. Finally they split up, because Brian was already at the teacher’s room and was trying to break in and Luke ran swiftly past him, complaining to Finn and others out loud:

“Why does he get to do something in the teachers’ room? Basketball court is way further!”

“You would get there faster if you wouldn’t talk that much.” Josh cut off.

Truth be told, his task was one of the easiest - write something on the wall and get back. But it was only fair, because he really needed to run more than others. Finn looked at the third screen where Jake was running without even making much sound. Jake was his favorite and he really hoped that he will find a fast way to throw ten toilet paper rolls from different directions without throwing it into the pool. Michael closed Jake’s, Kevin’s and Brian’s cameras and left only Luke on the screen.

“He’ll probably be the first one to do his task, then we’ll move on to Brian.”

The three young men in a dark janitor’s room with a blinking light above them stared into the security camera at the basketball court. Finn could feel his heart involuntary beating faster. Ever since he has joined the team he loved the Fried Sharks games. He frowned and made a note to himself that as a team captain he shall initiate a new team name. They changed a lot about the games during the past few years. Before Michael, Josh or Finn were in the team, the team consisted of a bunch of b******s making fun of the freshmen, insulting and humiliating them. After one unpleasant story Finn put a lot of effort into changing not only the rules, but also team's perspective. Now they were just having fun, which of course was seen as vandalism from the teachers’ point of view. But that wasn’t completely true, since it was more or less pranks that caused work, but not humiliation. And it was somehow exciting to watch your friends pushing themselves out of their comfort zone.

Luke got into the basketball court, the others didn’t see anything because he still hasn’t turned on the lights. They were listening to his deep breathing in silence and after a few minutes a single light went on at the court.

“Turn on the rest of the lights.” Commanded Josh.

“I can’t, either I’m doing something wrong or they are broken. Let me just do my task.”

Michael gave Finn a tired look, suggesting that Luke was definitely doing something wrong. Finn focused on the screen, where in the middle of a basketball court Luke opened his backpack. It took him a while to get the items out, finally he found the note and read it out loud, so the viewers could understand what he’s doing.

“Write a cheerful slogan for our next game against Timberwolves on Friday.”

Luke put his right hand in the air, so it would be visible what he had in hand - a black graffiti paint can. He left the bag in the middle of the court and went to the right wall. Due to lack of light in the room, it was hard to see anything else. Finn knew that it will cost Luke a lot of time to find the jacket afterwards, it was hanging on the upper edge of the basketball board. Luke shook the can a few times and started to spray the paint on the wall. Luke wasn’t the most creative man in the world, it simply said “Go Fried Sharks!” Finn moved his eyes to the corner of the screen, he thought he saw someone moving.

“Did anyone stayed at school for the games?”

“No, the team went home after we set up everything, why are you…”

The screen went dark and the three teenagers stared at it surprised. Suddenly they heard a ball bounce up and down on the court’s ground.

“Luke? Did you turned off the lights?”

There was no answer, but the light went on again and they saw the same scene. Luke wasn’t in the center of the court anymore, but his backpack was still there. The ball was bouncing, but it didn't sound like the ball fell down from the shelf, it had a rhythm, someone was dribbling it.

“Luke? Where are you? Stop messing around, you’re losing time, man! And why on earth are you playing basketball?” Michael said into the microphone.

The light flickered for a second and Finn felt how Josh tensed his muscles. He shoved the microphone to the side and whispered to his friends without leaving the screen with his eyes:

“Look at the slogan.”

Finn and Michael shot with their eyes to the freshly sprayed graffiti on the wall. The word “go” was crossed out, above it there was written something else. Not it said “DIE Fried Sharks”. Finn couldn’t say what colour the other paint was, because the screen was black and white, but it was definitely a few tones lighter. The dribbling sounds became less rhythmical, the ball was just bouncing and soon it reached the middle of the court.

“What the hell?” Michael narrowed his eyebrows.

He started to bang the keyboards and zoomed in the ball. There was a hand print on it, as if someone has touched it with a wet hand. It took Finn a moment to calm down - it was blood or at least he thought that it was.

“Change the cameras, show Kevin or anyone else, I don’t care, just do something.”

Michael started to tap again, Josh was at the microphone, trying to make some jokes about how Luke was setting a scary mood and Finn took his phone and dialed Luke’s phone number. They didn’t hear anything and he exchanged a worried look with Michael. The microphone that Luke has is on his body, there was no way they couldn’t hear it ring or vibrate. And Luke wasn’t that type of guy that could survive without his smartphone. Michael gave Finn a sign to come to him and said in a quiet voice:

“Let’s just assume that he is messing around. You know Luke, he’s probably detached the microphone, left it in the backpack and thinks that he’s the most hilarious guy in the world. There is no one in the building, we would see it otherwise.” He made a dramatic gesture towards the screens.

Finn had to admit that it was plausible and just when he was about to tell Michael to change the security cameras on the live show, they heard a sound. It sounded weird and unnatural and when they realized it was a laugh, the shivers went down the Fried Sharks spines.

“Did you miss me?” The owner of the laugh whispered.

Without any words Josh pointed at the screen of the basketball court. Just right behind the backpack and the ball, where the shadow began, there was a man standing. You could only see his lower body, but one was clear - Luke wasn’t the owner of those blue jeans. And then the view disappeared.

“Why did you turn it off?!” Josh asked Michael.

“I didn’t do anything, I didn’t even touch the keyboard!”

Josh was just about to say something angrily, but then the rest of the screens went down as well, except for one - the teacher’s room with Brian in it. Michael was desperately clicking and typing something into his laptop, but it was useless, now Brian was the star of the show.

“Guys, I can’t do anything, someone is interfering with my connection to the security cameras.”

“What now?” Finn demanded.

“I don’t know how it’s even possible, no one at school knows how to do such things!”

At this point the forum was going insane. They demanded explanations, glance at Luke or just anything at all. Josh didn’t know what to do, Michael was sitting in front of the screens, trying to figure out the problem and Finn grabbed the microphone:

“Brian, you’re alright?”

“Yeah, I was just about to do my task.” He hold the note in front of him and read out loud: “Put in A’s for every team member in history class.”

Brian looked really disappointed with his task and Finn had to admit that it was lame, but Josh needed some good grades to pass this year. Brian went to the book shelves where the teacher’s books were held and started to skim through the books and write in them. Michael was still working on the security cameras, Josh got his cool back, grabbed the microphone and told a funny story about Mr. Jollson, their history teacher, and the audience loosened up a little bit. He thanked Brian over and over again for being his hero, which cause a lot of comments on the forum, but it had a way more important use - it distracted the audience from the fact that the weird sounds were appearing and now the second camera, in the hall in front of the teacher’s room was turned on. Finn looked at Michael hoping that it was him, but he raised his hands and shook his head apologizing. Brian put the last book back to the shelf and put on his backpack.

“And now what, guys?”

“You forgot your jacket.”

Finn, Josh and Michael couldn’t even move. All of them were silent. The other man was controlling the show now.

“Brian, just stay in the teachers’ room, we have problems.” Finn said.

“Don’t listen to him, Finn just wants the others to win. The jacket is in the right hall.”

It was the opposite hall from the one that Brian get in the room at the first place. He hesitated for a moment and then looked directly into the camera.

“You’re an a*****e, Finn.”

Finn wanted to shout out of anger, he knew how stubborn Brian was, but this was just ridiculous. He looked desperately at the camera view of the hall. On both ends of the hall there were glass doors, but the area in front of them was covered with red party cups filled with water, and in front of the teachers’ room there was a row of lockers. On one of the lockers was a note, saying “Jacket” and it had the same lighter tone as the word “die” in the basketball hall.

“Who is responsible for the cups and the note?”

“Ron and Josh put them there a few hours ago. Don’t worry, it’s just water and the jacket is in the locker.” Michael told Finn.

“We didn’t put up the note.” Josh pointed out.

The three of them exchanged uncomfortable glares. There was still no sign of Luke anywhere, they called him ten times already. And some strange man was onto Brian, but they still couldn’t tell why. Brian went out to the hall and looked around. Without any further hesitation he went straight to the locker.

“Brian, don’t open it!”

“Screw you, Finn!”

With one confident movement he pulled the door of the locker and jumped back out of shock and terror. He started to scream and ran towards the left door of the hall.

“What is it?” Michael wanted to know.

He tapped on his keyboard and this time he could make the camera zoom in again. Finn was on the phone trying to get to Luke, Jake or Kevin, but no one picked up, then he looked at the screen and smacked Michael on the back, wanting to make him stop, but it was too late - everyone was staring at the locker and the body in it. It was headless Luke crushed into the small space, holding his head in his hands at his chest.

“Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off!” Finn shouted to Michael.

Finn’s voice woke Michael from the shock and he started to work on it. But it seemed that they lost the control over the cameras again and eventually he stopped.

“Turn off the show, we can’t show a dead body online, it’s LUKE!” Finn shouted again.

“I have already tried doing that. I can’t turn it down.” Michael said defeated.

Thousand thoughts were going through Finn’s mind. But the most important question left the same - how do all of them get alive out of here. The other man zoomed out the camera and pointed it to Brian, who was struggling at the door, which was locked. He banged the glass with his fists and shouted with all his lungs for help. He turned around and wanted to go for the other door, but he stayed put. Josh grabbed the microphone:

“Bro, RUN! Run to the other hall through the teachers’ room.”

“Oh, but he can’t. He’s too afraid.”

Michael even jumped up out of fear when he heard the man speak. There was something about his voice, something blood stopping. Brian was staring to the direction of the camera from the far left end of the hall. He was standing in front of the door, the water cups were scattered around him, and he flipped most of them over while trying to break free. His face was pale and Finn was surprised to see him like so, he knew that Brian wasn’t the type who avoids the fight. And now he had a chance to have a fight, the man was obviously standing underneath the camera.

“Guys…”

“Forget your friends, Brian. They won’t help you. When it comes to death, you’re out there alone.”

The man took a step forward and the three teenagers saw his back. He took another step and then another one. Finn grabbed for his chair to hold to it, he now understood why Brian couldn’t bring himself to move. He knew the man. Everyone knew the man. It was more appropriate to say a boy. Or at least he was a boy when they saw him for the last time.

“Ian?” Finn finally said.

“Oh, you remember me! How nice of you, Finn. But that won’t really help your friend.” He nearly spit out the last word. “You see, I will get to you later, Finn. Brian and I have some unfinished business. Remember how you told Maggie that I was in love with her and read my poem out loud at the cafeteria? Or how you shoved my head down the toilet every single day in the 7^th grade? Or, oh my God, I almost forgot it myself, how you once tied me to a pole at the parking lot and made sure that everyone would punch me in the face?”

Ian was getting closer to Brian who was just staring at him. Ian was wearing some blue jeans and a brown sweatshirt. But that wasn’t the features that helped everyone to recognize him. It was his albino-like white hair, shining even through the black and white screen.

“You’re a dead man.” Brian whispered.

“Frankly, Brian, thanks to you, I’m no man anymore.”

Brian took a step back and now he was touching the glass door with his back. Ian pulled something out of his pocket but because he was facing Brian and not the camera, Finn and the others couldn’t see what it was.

“Maybe if you would have spent more time in the class and not making me want to kill myself so much, you would have known one thing, Brian. Acetone or in other words the liquid that you have just spilled all over your pants is flammable.”

And at the same time he threw the thing he had in his hand towards Brian. Finn managed to see a lighter landing in a sea of cups which set on fire at once. Brian ran to the other side of the room, but it was too late, his pants and shoes were burning, he tried to pull them off, but while he was trying, his shirt got on fire too. He ran around screaming and shouting for help, Josh got up and wanted to get out there to help him, but he couldn’t - they were locked from the outside. Michael stared at the screen in terror, Finn grabbed his phone and called the ambulance, but the phone had no signal. Fury came over the fear and he shouted:

“Ian, God damn it, if the police won’t get you, I’m gonna find you and kill you with my own hands!”

Ian turned around and that was the first time that Finn saw his face after three years. His skin was as pale as before, his eyes were still bright and moving fast as the eyes of a wild animal. There was one difference though, and it was his face, it was emotionless, not even a muscle was moved when he looked into the camera. Behind his shoulders Brian was lying unconscious from pain and still burning. It seemed as if he was about to say something, but instead he shook his head and the screen went dark.

“What has just happened?” Michael whispered.

“He’s dead. He’s supposed to be dead.” Josh added.

“Well, apparently he’s not.”

Michael pointed to Finn’s laptop.

“How do we want to deal with this?”

Finn had no clue. Was there a way to deal with a few hundred teenagers who have just seen two of their friends being killed live on camera? The forum was booming, everyone typed after the other, Michael started to read it.

“I can’t believe it. They think it is a part of the game. They think we set it up and it’s creepy because we made it Halloween themed. Although they think that we went too far with Ian.”

Finn wanted to cry. What a bunch of morons and idiots. IDIOTS. 200 people have just witnessed a murder and instead of calling the police they typed their opinions online. And afterwards they will feel sorry, they will ask how could they known that it was true. Finn will tell them how they could have known. There was a dead mean on their screen. They buried him three years ago, that’s how they could have known.

Finn wanted to deal with the other problem, mainly getting out of the building, but one of the screens went on. It was the school pool. Finn grabbed the microphone:

“Jake, get the hell out of there, now, this is not a joke, this is not a challenge, just leave everything behind and run out of school, if you make it, call the police.”

Jake was standing near the pool, he was almost done with his task, there were toilet paper trials from one wall to the other and also from the diving platforms, he was holding the last roll and wanted to throw it to the other side of the pool. He opened his mouth to object, but Finn cut him off:

“NOW!”

Jake was Jake, so he nodded without any further questions, let the toilet paper roll fall on the floor and started to run. Even though he was well coordinated and sporty, he couldn’t see that the ground was wet and he slipped and fell.

“Come on, man, get up.” Michael joined Finn at the microphone.

“I can’t guys, I think I broke my ankle.”

Jake was sitting on the ground, holding his leg with his both hands. You could see that it hurt a lot, but he didn’t scream. Only a second after it he tried to get up again and he could walk, but very slowly and he had to make pauses, because he just couldn’t bare the pain. Suddenly the door opened and a shadow of a slim figure appeared on the water surface.

“Ian, that’s enough, you had your fun, now leave us alone!” Finn said plainly.

“Finn, Brian has just put it in a best way possible - screw you.”

Ian closed the door behind him and walked towards Jake. Jake didn’t recognize him at first, but after a while his face showed pure terror.

“Ian..? You’re dead, you killed yourself…”

“Yeah, you don’t have to tell me that story. I was there by myself.”

And at the exact same moment the screen went off. Michael was still trying to do something with his computer, but it was useless.

“Let’s try to get out of here.” Josh suggested.

There weren’t many ways how they could break free. There were no windows and the only exit door was locked from outside. Michael tried to open the lock with a small pin that he found on the floor. But he couldn’t break the lock. A few minutes later Finn has lost all of his patience and gave Michael a sign to get away from the door.

“If violence isn’t solving all of your problems, you aren’t using enough of it.”

And with that motto he started to hit the door with his shoulders, Josh joined him at once. They were starting to make some progress when Michael called them to the screen.

“Guys, you gotta see this.”

A new screen went on, they haven’t seen this one since the beginning of the evening, it was the playground. The three friends were looking for any signs of Kevin’s existence in the screen, but there weren’t any. Finn felt a light relieve and was just about to get back to breaking the door, when Michael shook his head and stood up. When he saw Finn’s and Josh’s looks he just turned around, hit the door with his muscular shoulder and shouted in between the following hits:

“The swings!”

Finn and Josh went near the screen and looked closely at the place, where they knew that the swings were supposed to be. It was hard to see anything, because it was an outdoor playground and surrounded by trees, but they recognized the silhouette of the old swing set. The wind blew through the silent Thursday night and the swings started to move in a weird sync with something big, which was hanging in between the two swing seats. It was Kevin’s body which was ruining the swing sync.

“Is he..?”

“For f**k’s sake Josh, he’s hanging on a rope on a swing set, he’s most likely not to be alive, don’t you think?”

Finn didn’t know why he got mad at Josh, but then again, it wasn’t Josh that he was mad about, it was Ian. He wanted to apologize, but the other screen was turned on. Finn didn’t even want to guess what it was, but he had a confident feeling that Jake didn’t make it. He was right, he was floating with his face down in the pool, and his blood was making interesting swirls around his head area in the water. Finn took the microphone into his hand:

“Look, Ian, I don’t know if you can hear me, but I’ll tell you that much, you are a psycho, a disillusioned prick who thinks that this is your way of vengeance. Where have you been all this years? Have you seen how you ruined your parents’ lives? Have you seen how you hurt me? We were best friends, we were like brothers and you just disappeared, we buried and empty coffin because no one has found your body. And now you appear after all this time and hope that you will show up, kill everyone that hurt you and you will start a new better life?”

He clearly had no idea where he was going with his speech, he just felt his rage growing with every second. He wanted to beat Ian so much right now.

“But I didn’t kill everyone that hurt me, Finn. YOU are still alive.”

Finn was speechless. He wanted me dead, he couldn’t believe. He smashed his fist on the table and after sorting his thoughts he shouted into an open air:

“Do you even hear yourself? What have I done to you to make you want me dead? I was there for you, I helped you, I took care of your family after you faked your death, I mourned and I felt pity.”

“Finn, you are one of them now. You became one of them, who made me want to die.”

“Well apparently you didn’t!”

“Don’t worry about it. I won’t stick around for a long time as well.”

“I can’t even recognize you anymore. Who are you?” Finn asked silently and stood up, he wanted to break the door and get out.

“Let’s just say I’m an old friend.”

The one screen in the middle of all of the screens went on. Finn, Josh and Michael looked at each other. Even Josh did the math and figured that the only people left in the building were themselves. All three of them came to look at the screen and saw the janitor’s room from above. The camera was pointing directly to their scared faces, when they heard the lock turn behind their backs.

For Enis. Stop coming up with weird ideas, please.