//Author's note: This chapter may trigger and upset readers sensitive to gun violence and the current school shooting epidemic. Reader discretion is advised.
†"Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord." - Romans 12:19 †
-Flashback: Pre-carrion virus-
The folded piece of paper hits her in the back of the shoulder, but CiCi Destefano doesn't react. In fear, of course, as always, that the teacher would catch them.
He's showing them his presentation on the smartboard. Biology, her least favorite subject and one, she had yet to conquer an "A" in. CiCi didn't want to get on the professor's bad side when it came time to make the grade this semester. Then, she'd have the summer to dread coming back for more biology, which would be an absolute nightmare.
As the teacher turns his back, CiCi is quick to grab the note on the floor. Her turn. Even though she told both Dalton and Audrey that she didn't get a kick out of these childish games anymore.
She opens the note, reading what Dalton last wrote in their conversation.
U taking notes for the rest of us, CiCi? Ur the only one paying attention to Mr. Crespo's lisp!
Glaring over her shoulder all the way to the back row, she catches Dalton's mischievous grin that never wavers. He always had that look of trouble and he was a walking troll in everyday life that often landed him in detention.
He doesn't take her seriously. None of them ever do. They didn't have CiCi's parents, or strict rules to live by.
It's her turn to write in the conversation, then pass it to Audrey in the row next to her. She hated this and always had a rush of anxiety that she'd be the one to get in trouble. Still, she always felt pressured by her friends to partake in this stupid game. This time, so to spite Dalton, she crumbles it up with her hand poised in Dalton's sights. Then, she crushes it under her boot and keeps it under her weight.
"Oh, man..." Dalton says from his seat, loud enough for everyone to hear.
The Professor turns around, "What was that, Mr. Fallon? Something to add?"
"Nothing," Dalton replies, "I just...lost the ink in my pen is all. It had too much fun taking all these notes..."
Dalton's mocking the professor and his drawn-out, repetitive lecture that took all of Dalton's energy not to laugh through with his speech impediment. Some of the students chortle. The teacher, however, doesn't catch on.
"Oh, well, I'm sure someone will lend one to you," Mr. Crespo replies as the girl dressed in goth attire seated next to Dalton hands over a black pencil with a skull emblem on it.
"Thanks, I'm just going to hope that this doesn't put a hex on me or something," Dalton jokes to her and as the goth girl's cheeks flush red, CiCi laughs without inhibition like some of the other students as the professor tries to take the spotlight away from their personal class clown.
"Alright, back to the Institute of Cytology and Genetics and the work of Belyaev..." The professor starts again but is halted by the succession of popping explosives in the distance.
"Fireworks?" Dalton asks and in the oddness of it, all of them are perplexed by the out-of-place disturbance.
"I thought I heard someone scream..." Audrey says, casting worry into their professor before the rest can grasp what all this means.
As screams and more pops sound off closer still, the professor goes to the door to close and lock it. On the other side of the door made predominantly of glass, the blur of people run past.
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HIS EVE: The Aftermath Chronicles (Book Two)
Horror🔪 Serial killer Abel is ready to take the next step of the prophecy. A prophecy, he's deemed by God to oversee, by any means necessary. His chosen, once known as Audrey Miller, is a school shooting survivor and the only to earn Abel's love. As the...
