Castle High's After School Horror

"P-puppet?" Gerard asks, in disbelief.

"Reading minds is annoying," Mikey says. He chuckles. "Controlling them is fun."

Gerard doesn't want to believe what he's hearing. His whole body is shaking from the thought that his brother could possibly be a murderer.

"No, I'm not a murderer," Mikey says sternly, staring at his brother. "It's a loophole. I am simply the puppet master and the murderer is my puppet. I haven't killed anyone."

"You might as well have!" Gerard yells. "How the fuck-"

"You know how I can put images into peoples' heads?" Gerard nods, fists clenching. "I can also put thoughts and feelings into someone's head. And when someone is vulnerable enough, well...those thoughts and feelings turn into actions." Mikey's grin grows. "Like killing your precious Macey."

"Asshole!"

Gerard runs down the hall. Mikey shakes his head almost condescendingly as Gerard grabs him by the collar.

"You fucking killed her!" Gerard yells. He wants to just…hurt Mikey for standing there and smiling, for what he'd done. For the blood and the tears he caused to spill. It's all his fault. Mikey said things. He was manipulating the situation and Gerard never noticed. Macey's dead because of him.

Mikey taps his nose, still grinning. Gerard clutches Mikey’s shirt more tightly, ready to slam him against the lockers and beat him to a bloody pulp.

"Get your filthy paws off 'im!"

The strange voice comes from behind Mikey. The voice is strange because it's a yell with no emotion. Gerard swallows hard as the girl that he'd seen with her arm hooked around Macey approaches them. She's short and still wearing that ski mask and full black attire. Gerard’s fists loosen around Mikey's collar. She's holding up a gun.

The same one she killed Malone with.

"You better step back, bro," Mikey says with a chuckle. Tears welling up in his eyes and anger boiling the blood in his veins, Gerard steps back as the girl approaches Mikey. Gerard walks backward until he's standing in between Bob and the lockers.

"So, are we all gonna stop secretly planning ways to take me down and listen to the guy that controls the girl with the gun?" Mikey asks. He sounds like he's talking to a class of first graders. The girl wraps her free arm around Mikey's waist. Mikey spits his gum out. Gerard flinches.

"Why are you doing this?" Bonnie asks. Gerard dares to look down at her. She's shaking from head to toe, her face entirely wet with tears. She sobs. "Y-you were such a good kid, Mikey."

Mikey frowns. "I never meant to hurt you, Bonnie. I'm truly sorry about your sister. But we'll get to the 'why' after we get to the 'who'."

Gerard swallows as Mikey reaches his hand to the top of the girl's head. He pulls off the ski mask and wraps his arm around her neck.

Gerard is about to faint. He hears someone fall and imagines that one of the girls actually did faint. No one speaks. No one moves. No one even breathes.

"I love how speechless you are," Mikey says, pompously amused.

"You're dead!" Chelsea screams. She's on the floor, on her knees, running her hands through her hair. "You're dead!"

"Obviously I'm not," says Beth.

The brown of her eyes is lost to her unnaturally dilated pupils, her eyes sunk in as if she hasn't eaten or slept in days. Distant and empty, allowing no emotion in her face. Her voice is almost robotic, programmed by some strange rewiring in her thoughts, almost impossible to distinguish as hers without watching her speak. She's got the gun pointed at Chelsea, who's sobbing hysterically on the floor. Bonnie goes down and wraps her arms around her, letting tears silently drip down her face. Gerard stares at Beth in disbelief.

"No, no, no, this is not happening!" Chelsea yells. She rocks back and forth, staring at Beth. "You...you're dead, we saw you!"

"It's amazing what a little bit of fake blood and the illusion I put into all of your minds can do," says Mikey matter-of-factly.

"Can I kill her now?" Beth whispers, loud enough for everyone to hear. “You said I could.”

Chelsea screams.

"Chelsea, please relax," Gerard says, eyes stuck on the gun in Beth's hand. His ears are thudding painfully from her screaming.

"How can..." she starts. Gerard looks over. Chelsea's eyes flutter close and she falls into Bonnie's arms. Bonnie sighs and holds her tight.

"Wow, she fainted," Mikey says. “No fun killing someone that’s unconscious.” He shrugs. "Oh well... Point it at Bonnie."

"What?" Gerard, Bob, and Bonnie all screech at the same time. Bonnie lets Chelsea down gently onto the ground and stands up.

"I-I thought you said...you didn't want to hurt me," Bonnie whines. Bob stands in front of her protectively, holding onto her wrists. Gerard looks over at her nervously.

"Let's get to the why now," Mikey says. He frowns deeply, giving his brother a dark stare. Gerard hisses, his head burning. "I don't like the way I'm treated, Gerard."

Gerard rubs his head painfully, mirroring his brother's look of disdain.

"It's assholes like Bob," Mikey says, his loud voice echoing in the tension-filled hall, "that take this...strange vibe I give off and turn it into something they feel the need to destroy." Mikey's face turns red and he seems to tighten his grip on the arm around Beth's neck. She doesn't complain. She looks as unfazed as a statue. "And I get pushed and picked on and beat into a bloody pulp every day! And no one in this fucking hell of a school cares! No one defends me, not even my so-called older brother."

Mikey glares at Gerard. Gerard's heart stops. Beth points the gun at Bob. Bonnie cowers behind him. Gerard thinks Mikey's lost his mind.

Mikey chuckles suddenly, making everyone jump. "Maybe I have lost my mind," he says. "But you're dying tonight either way."