Castle High's After School Horror

"Oh my God," says Chelsea. "Oh my God, oh my God! No, no, no, no, dear God make this stop!"

Bob comes out of the frozen, painful state he was in. He takes fistfuls of his hair and doubles over as the pain slowly subsides. He hears someone crying.

"Nice resistance, Bob!" says Mikey enthusiastically. "You tried real hard not to be controlled by me... But I still got you on your knees!"

Mikey laughs heartedly. Bob flinches at the disgusting double-meaning in Mikey’s words. He wants to kill Mikey. But it suddenly clicks in his head what had just happened. He looks back at Bonnie. There's blood coming from his nose, from a wound in her stomach. Her body is convulsing and she’s choking up tears.

"No," says Bob, on the edge of hysteria. Mikey didn’t. He couldn’t have. "No!"

Bob hovers over Bonnie, looking down at her lovingly. He gently grips her hair. His chest hurts watching her in pain. Because of him. She opens her eyes, groaning in pain.

“Bonnie,” Bob croaks. “Bonnie, hold on. Please…please don‘t…”

Gerard says something to Mikey and Mikey walks back and away from the scene. Gerard follows. Chelsea falls to her knees and the three of them - Bob, Bonnie, and Chelsea - are alone. But the only person that matters to Bob in that instant is Bonnie.

“Bob,” Bonnie breathes. “Ch-chels…”

“This is all my fault,” Chelsea moans. “This is all my fault!”

“Don’t say…th-that,” Bonnie says. She moans painfully.

“Don’t talk,” Bob says quickly, worry clutching his heart in a hard fist. He hears yelling coming from down the hall.

“I’m gonna…die anyway,” Bonnie says.

“Don’t say that,” Bob says shakily. Bonnie smiles.

“You’re sweet, Bobby.”

Bob swallows as Bonnie raises a shaky, bloody hand to Bob’s face. Bob puts his hand over hers and their eyes lock, a spark occurring as her green eyes and his blue eyes melt into each other.

“I’m sorry,” Chelsea moans. “I’m s-so sorry.”

Bonnie’s dim eyes fall onto Chelsea. “Don’t say-” she starts. She coughs and convulses, moaning painfully.

“This is all my fault,” Chelsea says distantly. Bob looks up at her. She’s staring at the wall opposite her, tears silently streaking her face. Bob brings his stare back to Bonnie.

“You’ll be fine,” Bob says. “You’ll be okay.”

“No,” Bonnie says flatly. “If it were that easy…” -she takes in a deep breath and coughs again- “…cops would’ve been here a long time ago.”

She’s probably right. Mikey probably used his psychic powers or whatever they’re called to keep the police far from the school, or to stop anyone from calling. It’s only 6pm, after all. They’re parents can’t think anything is wrong if they aren’t home by that time. Bob sighs, not wanting to believe that this beautiful girl is going to…

“I don’t want you to…” Bob starts, shaking his head in disbelief.

Bonnie’s eyes are drooping. “At least I‘ll be with my sister now,” she says.

“I’m sorry,” Bob mutters.

She coughs again and blood escapes her mouth. Her hand falls to her side. Bob wipes away the blood with his thumb. He lays down next to her and places a hand on her face. She turns her head toward him. They stare into each other’s eyes for a long time, enveloped in the tranquility of their silence. And he leans forward, presses his lips onto hers. She responds for just a moment, pressing her lips firmly into his. It’s like magic; Bob has never felt so…safe. There’s the sound of a gunshot. Chelsea screams. Bob pulls away and sits up, looking around. Then he glances at Bonnie. She smiles at him and closes her eyes. And her smile fades.

“Oh my God,” Chelsea says quickly. “Is…is she…”

Bob brings a shaky hand to her neck, though he knows the answer to her question without checking. There’s no pulse.

“Yeah,” he says solemnly. “She’s…she’s gone.”

Chelsea starts sobbing hysterically again. Bob tries to keep his cool, at least for Chelsea. But he can’t and he finds himself moving over to Chelsea, wrapping his arms around her and letting tears roll down his cheeks. He will never make it out of there alive. And if he does, then what? He gets to go home and get beat by his father every day? There’s no safe alternative. His life is over.

Bob rubs Chelsea’s back comfortingly. Bonnie is dead because, even for the shortest while, he cared for her. He realizes what he has to do. He has to kill Mikey. He has to go after Mikey and get revenge for every person that died that afternoon because of Mikey’s sick and twisted game. He deserves to die.

“Chelsea, I’m gonna need you to do something,” Bob says silently. His head is hurting and he has a bad feeling that everything going through his head at that instant aren’t thoughts of his own. But it doesn’t matter. He knows what he has to do.

“W-what?” she mumbles, shaking from head to toe. Bob opens his mouth to talk and is interrupted by another gunshot. Chelsea screams. Bob has to hold her and rock her back and forth to calm her.

“Don’t follow me,” Bob says. “Try to find a way out of here. Because if you don’t, Beth’s gonna…”

Chelsea sobs in Bob’s chest and shakes her head furiously. “Why aren’t you c-coming with me?”

Bob holds her tighter. He hears screaming coming down the hall and flinches. Chelsea whimpers. “I-I have to do something.”

Chelsea pulls away from Bob, looking at him with dark and shattered eyes. She seems to be searching for an answer in his features.

“Don’t worry,” says Bob. “Just go, try to get out.”

“You’re going after him,” Chelsea realizes. “You’re going after Mikey.”

Bob nods. “And I don’t want you to get hurt, so-”

“You can’t!”

More screaming down the hall. It’s louder, more pained and persistent. Bob looks in the direction fearfully and then back at Chelsea. Her determined expression has faltered back into something so beyond broken that it hurt Bob to look at her.

“Just be careful,” says Chelsea, defeated.

Bob nods. He stands up, extending his arms out to Chelsea. She shakily accepts the gesture and wraps her arms weakly around Bob one final time. They are practically strangers but Bob can tell that she needs some form of reassurance. So he hugs her back, trying not to think of what lay ahead.

He could die. He is going after a guy with a killer under his control. But it doesn’t matter. He has to get Mikey back for all he’d put them through. He thinks of Bonnie and his anger and sadness grow.

Chelsea pulls away from Bob, looking at him unsurely. And she turns on her heel and starts down the hall. Bob watches her, shaking and worn from all the distress. His head aches painfully as the thought enters his mind again: Go after Mikey…