Castle High's After School Horror

Bob watches Chelsea wander down the hall until she's turned a corner and he can't see her anymore. He can't help wondering if it was a good idea to send her away on her own. Nonetheless, she was gone and Bob knows what he has to do now. He turns on his heel, giving Bonnie one last sad glance, and starts down the hall in the direction the others had gone.

A clap of thunder makes Bob jump and the lights start to flicker again. The eerie quiet is a constant nagging of his loneliness - walking down the hallway, alone and unarmed, toward a psycho bent on revenge. Bob sighs, knowing too well by the persistent throbbing in his head that the only reason he is after Mikey is because Mikey wants him to be. But maybe, just maybe, luck will be on Bob's side. Maybe he'll be able to resist as he'd done before although that obviously didn't go well. He shudders at the thought of Bonnie lying helpless, bleeding to death. What he needs is determination, confidence, a strong mind as his shield to kill Mikey. Or at least to stop Mikey from killing him.

Bob's slow, fearful walk comes to an abrupt stop when he sees two bodies lying on the floor. He approaches the first one, heart thudding painfully against his ribs. It's Beth. She's lying on her side, a hole in her head. Bob is perplexed. Who'd killed her? Gerard, angry because she'd killed the twins? Or Mikey, who really has lost his mind?

Bob swallows as he approaches the next body. He knows it's probably Gerard. His steps get slower and slower as he walks toward the corpse until he stops all together, in disbelief of what he's seeing. Gerard is lying on his back, lying in a pool of his own blood. There are nasty cuts on his arm and leg, decorated crimson. There's a hole in his shoulder, which seems twisted and out of place. The position of his body looks unnatural, as if he'd convulsed until he was lying as uncomfortable as possible. But the sight that makes Bob's stomach churn the most is Gerard's face.

He's barely recognizable. There's a cut going across his face diagonally, his face sliced in half. The cut goes from somewhere on top of his head to the side of his neck. It looks almost as if he'd been given a small cut that was torn open. There's blood all over his face, pouring over like a waterfall. Bob can see Gerard's bleeding gums, the raw skin on the slit, a hint of the white of his skull. A clear liquid pouring out of Gerard's sliced lids from his eyeball, which had been stabbed. The sight is horrendous. The eye that isn't stabbed is slightly open and completely red. The look of pain is stuck on what is left of his facial features.

Bob gapes, shaking all over, and stumbles back until he hits the lockers. Gerard had been tortured to death by his own brother. His mouth is wide open. Bobs feels as if he can still hear Gerard's tortured screams coming from it. Bob doubles over, swallowing the acid crawling up his throat. Could he have done something to save Gerard? Bob shakes his head to rid himself of the thought. There is no point of bemoaning with "what if's". Gerard is dead and there is nothing Bob can do to bring him back. He gives Beth a sidelong glance and then nervously looks at Gerard again.

He turns his head to the side and vomits pure stomach acid onto the linoleum. He wipes away the residue with the back of his hand and starts down the hall again determinedly. The least he could do for Gerard, and Beth, and the Harts, and Frank and Ray, is get their revenge.

As Bob walks down the hall, silent tears roll down his cheeks at the deaths of his classmates. He even shed a tear for Mr. Malone. People he barely new and didn't care about. Except maybe Bonnie...

Bob's feet lead him as he finds a staircase door that's wide open, as if asking him to dare to enter. He does. He watches the rain pour down the windows in the staircase like waterfalls, wishing to be outside so that the water could wash away some of his anguish. He flinches as a flash of lightning erupts in the sky, followed by the angry roar of thunder. With a heavy heart he starts down the stairs. He knows where he’s going, which is bad. He shouldn’t have the slightest clue where he’s going, but he continues down the stairs slowly and with purpose. The first floor. That’s where Mikey will be. Waiting to kill Bob and finally be done with his revenge.

Bob passes the doors that lead to the third floor and to the second, and each time he has the itch to go through them and ignore the trail that is set up in his mind. But his head aches and he groans. He has to keep going. The more he tries to fight it, the more it hurts. Mikey’s gonna get what he wants.

No he’s not, Bob thinks quickly. Bob stops when he gets to the door that leads to the first floor. Right across from that door is another, painted red with a bright “EXIT” sign over it. He reaches his hand for the knob to the exit. His head burns, a throbbing ache infecting the inside of his skull. He moans painfully. Bob can’t leave. He needs to face Mikey. He has to try and get his revenge. He can’t let Mikey get away with what he’s done. He has to find him and-

“NO!” Bob screams. He has to resist what Mikey’s trying to do! If he goes after Mikey, he’s gonna get a bullet in the head like Beth and Malone. Or worse. He could get tortured to death like Gerard. He can’t just walk straight into his trap. He needs to escape, run away and hope that Chelsea got away too. And call the cops so that they could take care of the psycho.

Bob grabs the knob and pushes open the exit door. Immediately, a bucket of water drenches him. He breathes in the outside air, a slight relief washing over him. But as soon as it starts, it’s over. He stumbles backward, away from the exit. He feels numb yet his entire body is in pain. His senses dim; he can barely hear, see, breathe. He feels like he’s choking but his sight is sharp. He’s watching himself as he pushes through the door leading to the first floor. He can barely feel himself touching the cold metal. He’s amazingly light as he walks through the door. He tries to walk away but he can’t. He doesn’t…know…why… He can’t…control…

Bob continues down the hall, seemingly toward the gym. He turns into a corridor lined with banners of team spirit and exclaiming about all the awards Castle High sports teams have won. He can’t even feel pride for his school or fear for what is to come. He feels like he’s watching a movie that he knows nothing about. He feels completely empty.

Bob abruptly stops and the strange trance he’d been in fades. He screams at the aching sensation he feels and rubs at his temples. He hears the sound of one of the huge metal doors of the school gym slam shut. He stares blankly down the hall, frozen to the spot by the lingering pain. Mikey appears from the opening where the gym doors are and Bob swallows. Mikey’s got a towel in his hand, wiping clean his arms. He looks up Bob and grins.

“Nice to see you, Bob,” Mikey says. “I get to kill you now!” Bob swallows. Mikey throws the towel, which is dripping with water and blood. Bob looks at it quizzically, fearfully. “Had to clean off the blood, you know? Don‘t like it on me. Especially not if it's my brother's.”

Bob shakes his head. Free from Mikey’s grasp, his mind is clear. He had been right in thinking that he was walking into a trap. He could have run away with Chelsea. He could’ve saved his own ass. But instead, he’d let himself be controlled by a psychotic murderer. It wasn’t his fault, he couldn’t stop it.

“That’s true,” says Mikey. “I guess this isn’t fair, though, because you don’t have a weapon.”

Bob stares at the gun in Mikey’s belt loop and the knife poking out of his pocket. “Not fair at all,” Bob says.

Mikey frowns. “Well, was it fair when you and you’re friends beat me up every day?”

Bob rolls his eyes. “Mikey, you’re insane. You need help.”

Mikey points the gun at Bob. Bob tenses.

“You’re the one that needs help,” Mikey says. He smiles and pulls the trigger.