The Beginning

Darcy

October 2nd, the Monday when Darcy came to school with a whole new pack of mints and an assumption that Autumn, her frivolous friend, had gotten into another fandom. It was going to be a pretty normal day, which by that. . . she knew it was going to be boring.

Darcy had woken up in the morning with a frown on her face and frizzy hair. . . so a pretty normal morning. She just brushed and did her best to tame the brown waves on her head until she looked presentable enough.

The last thing she did before getting in her sister’s car for school was straighten out her uniform. The odd green polo looked terrible with her kaki skirt, but she had gotten used to it by now. Darcy scowled at herself in the mirror, noting her small figure and short stature. It’s always the same.

She had gone through the same routine for years. . . actually, just ever since her family had moved to Austin, Texas.

She had been attending a private school in the city for about three years now. Though that didn’t make her any less awkward than she was the first day she arrived in Austin. Nothing was ever easy for her. . . especially when her family was the founder of one of the most popular Mexican restaurant chains in this part of the country.

She never liked attention. . . never liked the fame that her family had. Especially since it was an odd fame: Most people just wanted free gift cards and free food or whatever. . . So, she somehow managed to keep her family’s work a secret at her school.

It wasn’t that hard because almost everyone at her school was rich. She did after all go to a private school. Ugh! She sort of hated her school sometimes. It’s not exactly the fact that there was barely any diversity that bothered her, but the fact that whenever any somewhat diverse person came along, they were viewed as rare. Her school was borderline racist and they didn’t even know it. To add on to that, the school’s overwhelming desire to make everyone social was terrifying. Some people were freaking antisocial. . . Like herself!

After a scary car ride with her older sister (she wasn’t the safest driver), she arrived at the school she had been dreading. Darcy found that her anxiety had made her consume a third of her mints as she walked down the pathway to the high school building.

Her private school was fairly large, being made for kindergarten through 12th graders. The first building you would reach from the parking lot was the elementary school building, with the school gym right across from it. Next was the Cafeteria and the elementary school playground. Lastly, after walking down a long mulch path through some woods, you could reach the middle school building and the high school building right next door.

After reaching the end of the mulch path, Darcy walked across a small courtyard and opened the front doors to the high school. Here she was yet again for another day of sophomore year. . .

As soon as she had grabbed her books from her locker, Darcy was bombarded with exclamations of some show she had no idea about. She wasn’t surprised that it was just her friend, Autumn Cruz. She was a quiet fangirl whom she had befriended in eighth grade, having bonded easily over their introverted qualities.

Darcy watched and tried to pay attention as Autumn ranted about a ship. The girl’s dark short hair bounced up and down as she excitedly described a specific scene. It was too early in the morning for Darcy to get excited about anything, so she just nodded as her friend continued.

Minutes later, Darcy felt a weight on her left shoulder and sighed, turning to see her friend, Zach, leaning his arm on her with a giant grin on his face. His sandy-blond hair was swept perfectly with jell, the way it always was. She smiled at the tall boy, as he spoke to both her and Autumn, “How were y’all’s weekends?” Only a few seconds after, Zach’s sister, Jessica, walked up to Darcy, Zach, and Autumn, her hair slightly falling in front of her face.

Jessica Davis was usually called “Jess” by her peers. She was a girl with straight blonde hair that went just past her shoulders, her skin was somewhat pale, and her face was almost always contorted in a look of confusion or worry. It’s complicated to describe how Darcy and Jess became friends because she can’t recall a certain instant that caused their friendship. Maybe it was the fact that they both had to struggle though PE together in eighth grade. . . or maybe her awkwardness. Whatever it was, Darcy doesn’t know. It’s just that all of a sudden, they were best friends and its been like that ever since.

At seeing her closest friend, Darcy hugged Jess and asked quietly, “Is everything okay?” Last Friday, Darcy had witnessed a terribly rude interaction with Jess and a guy, which ended with her friend almost in tears. Darcy, like Jess, was pretty awkward around people, so she felt embarrassed and sad for her.

“Yeah. I’m fine”, Jess answered with her usual small smile. Darcy had no idea how she was “fine”.

That last Friday, Jess had been assigned partners with one of the worst guys in their grade for a lab in Physics. While Jess was trying to just get the lab done, she ended up arguing with him. . . and Jessica never argues with anyone. Of course Darcy sadly hadn’t done anything to help her friend while she watched everything unfold. She felt terrible about it.

Despite all of this, she didn’t talk to Jessica again, as more friends started to show up. Soon, Darcy had to part ways with her friends after she heard the five minute bell, meaning she had to go to homeroom. It’s not that she didn’t like or enjoy her homeroom. It was just that after homeroom, she had to go to class. Class meant people and people meant awkward conversations and eye contact.

Darcy walked into her homeroom, hearing Raven’s voice as soon as she entered, “And I thought, Wow that’s the craziest thing since sliced bread!” The brunette turned around from talking with Autumn and yelled, “Darcy!”, and ran up to hug her. Raven Malloren was an extrovert, unlike Darcy, and loved to talk really loudly and use finger guns a lot. She had light brown skin, dark curly hair, and almost always talked about anime. How they became friends was both a mystery and unquestionable really.

So, Darcy relished in the last 15 minutes of her freedom, until she had to leave. She shared some candy corn with her friends in light of the fall season. A minute before she had to leave, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. It was a flash or a sparkle of some sort coming from where Raven’s water bottle seemed to be on a desk.

Darcy walked slowly over to the desk, noticing that the water bottle was open. Wasn’t it closed a few seconds ago? “Well, it’s almost time guys. We don’t have classes together, so I guess I won’t see any of you until we have that assembly”, Raven suddenly said loudly as she walked over to where Darcy was.

Darcy couldn’t do anything but watch in silence as Raven picked up her water bottle and took a large gulp. After slamming it back down on the desk, Raven commented to Darcy with a grin, “Gotta stay hydrated.”

Darcy didn’t know why she was expecting something to happen. It was just a trick of the light. She was tired and hungry. Raven was fine.

Following that last thought, Darcy turned around to find Autumn slumped in her chair. The girl looked far paler then normal, breathing quite quickly. Maybe she was sick? Nothing odd is happening here. It’s fine.

Finally, she sadly left her homeroom for class, partly still thinking about Autumn’s sickly look and Raven’s water bottle.

After that, time flied. She found herself leaving her third class of the day. She couldn’t wait for lunch, but everyone still had to go to a high school assembly for some reason. Her two friends, Alexa Wilson and Stella Summers, walked next to her on the pathway to the gym, where the assembly was being held.

Stella whined, “What is this assembly even for?”

Alexa answered,” About how everyone should be nice to each other. . . Or something like that.”

Stella was a short and somewhat stout girl with brown hair. She was covered in freckles, which gave her a look of innocence. Darcy had found that the girl was not gullible or annoying, unlike what some people thought of her, but rather honorable and innovative. So Darcy and Stella became quick friends shortly after interacting in freshman year.

Alexa was vaguely the opposite of Stella, being a good 6 feet tall and having long strawberry-blond hair. Alexa was quiet and shy like Darcy, but had more poise snd politeness in her step. Anytime she walked into the room, you would think, “Now there’s female empowerment.” Darcy had met the shy girl in her art class in eighth grade. Their companionship started when Darcy first complimented Alexa on a self portrait she had made using charcoal. Then the compliments continued basically every art class because Alexa would always have another sketch or painting that she was working on.

During their walk, Jessica ran up behind them, out of breath, saying, “Hey, Raven said to save her a seat on the bleachers. She’s going to the bathroom.” Darcy immediately thought of Ravens water bottle. She mentally slapped herself for getting so worried all of a sudden. Raven’s fine. She's just going to the bathroom.

The girls promised that they would remember to save a seat for Raven and entered the gym. Darcy, Stella, Alexa, and Jess sat down on the farthest row of the bleachers, trying to be as far away from everyone else as possible.

Darcy knew that Zach and his best friend, Henry, were probably sitting towards the front of the bleachers, hoping to to get out of the gym before everyone else. She saw Autumn a few rows in front of her, sitting with her freshman friend, Brigitte Montgomery. . . Well she was actually leaning on Brigitte, as if she was gonna fall down. Finally voicing her worry out loud, Darcy whispered to Stella, “Is Autumn okay?”

“I don’t know,” the short girl responded with a shrug, while putting her hair in a bun, “I had chemistry with her right before this and she didn't seem okay. Maybe she’s sick with a cold or something?”

Suddenly, the principle started talking, cutting off all conversation in the gym. . . and Darcy started to doze off. She thought about Walt Disney, one of her favorite people, and dank memes. She tried her best to stifle a laugh after her mind recalled a particularly hilarious meme involving a turtle.

It was about fifteen minutes into the assembly, when the gym doors loudly burst open, awaking her from her daydreaming. Because of the sudden noise, everyone, including the teachers, looked over to see who made the noise.

Darcy, taking in the sight before her, slapped her hand to her face. Raven Malloren was standing in front of everyone. Darcy squinted to see that something that seemed like blood was running down her neck. It took her a few seconds to say something because she was so exhausted as if she had ran to the gym, “. . . We have a freaking problem! There’s some. . . people coming. . . ” Many teachers started scolding Raven for causing a scene, but before the teachers could actually yell at her, a loud howl was heard. What is going on right now? People are coming? What is that supposed to mean?

Darcy noticed one of the English teachers whisper something to the principle and get up, walking towards the gym doors to see what the howl was from. Then, Mr. Vince, the vice principle, started to walk towards Raven. Raven obviously noticed what was happening and ran to tackle the English teacher, yelling, " Don't go out there!" That time, everyone in the gym gasped. Raven had just tackled a 67 year-old man to the ground.

“Dangit, Raven”, Alexa said under her breath, along with a few curse words, right next to Darcy.

Now all the teachers were yelling at Raven. The principle said something abut being expelled, but Raven didn't seem to care. Darcy grew frightened, noticing Raven’s face was utterly pale with fear and worry.

******

Brigitte

“What the fluff is happening right now?”, Autumn whispered to the speechless Brigitte, while she attempted to lean forward, despite how nauseous she felt. It was a few seconds after Autumn asked that, when the lights went out. . . only for a few seconds, but it was still enough to freak everyone out.

“We gotta run, n-!”, she heard Raven yell, but Mr. Vince had clamped his hand over her mouth.

Brigitte heard a thud come from quite close to her. She noticed the empty seat right next to her that Autumn had just been in. She instead found Autumn lying face first in an uncomfortable-looking position on the ground. Thank goodness they were on the front row.

Looking around with frightened concern, she quickly pulled Autumn off of the ground by her arm. She snapped her fingers in front of Autumn’s closed eyes, while continuing to hold the girl up. She was out cold.

******

Darcy

“Umm...I hope I'm not the only one who sees the person who just randomly appeared in the gym…”, Stella whispered to Jess and Darcy. Darcy noticed a tall man in a dark suit start to walk towards everyone.

What is happening?! Is this because of Raven’s water bottle?! Of course its not because of the water bottle! That’s stupid! Darcy sat in worry as many more figures appeared in the gym.

She watched one of the janitors run in front of the group of strangers, asking them to identify them selves. One of the strangers, who was short and chubby, ran to him and yelled. . . Darcy didn’t know what he yelled actually. . . but it sure had an affect on the janitor. The janitor abruptly burst into flames, not having enough time to even scream, before turning to ash.

So, Darcy could understand why everyone was reacting to this sight the way they were. . . People were screaming, others were crying, and most were running to get away from the people that had just arrived. The bleachers were a hell-hole of chaos and madness and Darcy had no idea what to do.

During all the madness, she witnessed Raven punch the chubby guy who killed the janitor, but was bombarded by a a bunch of the strangers. That was the last time Darcy thought she’d ever see Raven alive. So much for being worried about a water bottle.

Jess pulled at Darcy’s arm, snapping her from her daze. Darcy could barely hear her over all the noise. “We need to get out of here!,” the blonde yelled to Darcy. So she, Jess, Stella, and Alexa started to make their way down the bleachers.

As she ran down the bleachers, Darcy saw a senior guy, she didn’t know the name of, choking his last breaths as a grim-looking creature squeezed his neck. Oh my gosh people were dying! They were being brutally murdered for no reason! How would anyone, including Darcy get out of here alive. . . And yet she managed to dodge any oncoming monster that came her direction, while she fled down the bleacher steps.

Stella tripped on the last step, falling to the ground, so they yelled at her as Jess tried to pick her up. However, because of the setback, the people running off the bleachers behind them shoved the group of girls, causing all of them to fall.

Darcy saw Alexa had caught herself before she fell, but hadn't been able to do anything in time to help the others. They scrambled to get up, but couldn't because they were still being shoved and pushed down by other anxious people. Oh my gosh, they were going to be trampled to death. Darcy’s vision went black right after that.