Castle High's After School Horror

The silence is disturbed by another of shock of thunder, which fills the hallway with eerie blue light. Bonnie shrieks and grabs onto Bob's arm. Bob flinches but tries to relax his muscles in her tight grip.

"It's just a little bit of thunder, Bonnie," Bob whispers gently to her. Bonnie clears her throat awkwardly and pulls away.

"I-I knew that," she mutters.

Bob, Bonnie, Frank, and Mikey had been wandering the halls for barely a minute. They are slow and tentative with their steps, on the alert for the signal from the other group or for any other sound that reaches their ears. They'd already reached two different exits, found them to be locked, and moved on, disheartened. There is a gloomy air surrounding them, threatening to suffocate them with the memories of what they'd seen and the fear that they would be next. And at times like these, when everything seems hopeless and all there is to do is hide from it all, Bob turns to Mikey.

"Hey, Way," Bob says, looking at Mikey from the corner of his eyes. Mikey is almost possessively holding Frank's arm, as if Frank is his safety blanket.

"What?" Mikey responds. There are only two tones Mikey's voice ever takes when he addresses Bob: fearful or bitter. With the given situation, Bob isn't surprised that Mikey's response came out almost like a frightened whimper.

"I know it's not my business and that this is probably the worse time to ask, but..." Bob knows from experience that when things get tough, the best thing to do is form a distraction. That's why he picks on Mikey, after all. Besides, his curiosity is getting the better of him. Asking will keep his mind off of worse things. "Why are you and Frank always holding hands?"

Bonnie's head automatically turns to Frank and Mikey, who are taking up the left side of the hall. Mikey's face turns red. Frank chuckles nervously then abruptly stops, as if he wasn't supposed to laugh.

"Why do Ray and Chelsea hold hands?" he mutters.

"Or Mace and Gerard?" Mikey offers.

They find their third exit. Bob and Bonnie give the right door a futile shove. Frank and Mikey do the same for the left door. Locked. They begin to move on and Bob's heart beats fearfully against his ribs. They are all screwed.

"But they're together," says Bob quickly.

"Exactly," Frank says.

It takes a moment for Bob to take this in. He'd suspected, but he didn't really believe... "Holy shit, you are fags."

Frank shoots Bob an angry look. Bonnie smacks Bob in the stomach. Mikey's face gains a few more shades of red.

"Oh my God, you guys are actually gay!" Bob says. "I can't even...wow."

"Shut up," Bonnie says defensively. "I think it's nice that--"

"It's not normal!"

"God, you're such an ass," Frank spits.

"God didn't intend men to fuck men," retaliates Bob. "Or should I say boys?" Frank makes to lunge for Bob but Bonnie puts a hand at both their chests and Mikey holds Frank back by his arm. They pause for a moment, frozen in awkward poses, then start walking again.

"What I was going to say," Bonnie states sharply, "is that it's nice that they have each other. With a situation like this, it's important to have someone that cares about you and is there to comfort you. I know I'd be better off if I had a hand to hold." Bonnie turns to smile at Frank and Mikey. They smile back. "Besides," she gives Bob an angry glare, "I am not a homophobe."

Bonnie turns away with a humph, holds her hair inside her hand, and bends down over a water fountain. Bob shakes his head disdainfully. He watches her take a sip.

"Psst," Bob hears. It sounds like Frank. Bob looks at him apathetically.

Frank releases himself from Mikey's hard grip, earning a shocked expression from both him and Bob. Frank grabs Mikey's shoulders, turns him to give Bob a better view, and presses his lips hard against Mikey's. Bob's jaw falls to the floor. At first, Mikey's muscles are tense and his eyes are wide with surprise. But as he eases into the kiss, Bob notices his cheeks burn red again and his muscles turn to jell-o. Bob is somehow more compelled and intrigued than disgusted and disturbed. Mikey's eyes droop close and his arms wrap lazily around the shorter Frank. Bob flinches as their lips gently press and move into each other. When Bob notices their tongues slipping across the threshold of each others' mouths, he has to look away.

Bob instead looks down at Bonnie, who has taken a very long time with her drink. Bob notices her hands are shaking and she's not really drinking the water anymore. She's just holding the button, staring at the metal with a look of fear in her eyes. Bob grabs her wrist and waist gently, pulling her away from the fountain. She bites her lip nervously and pulls away from Bob.

"Are you okay?" Mikey asks. Bob is more than happy to hear that Fag #1 and Fag#2 are done with their make-out session.

"Just a little nervous is all," she says, seemingly trying to regain her confident demeanor. This fails. Bob doesn't know how to comfort her because he is just as scared.

"Don't worry," Frank says. He gives her a sickeningly sweet smile and rubs her arm softly, comfortingly. "You have to remember to stay positive. We'll be okay."

Bonnie nods. The four of them start to walk down the hall again. Bob reaches for Bonnie's hand but decides better of it. Bonnie is walking close to the wall, staring blankly ahead of her. Everything is eerily quiet again and Bob feels himself getting consumed by fear.

As they turn right on a corner, Bob feels Bonnie disappear from his peripheral vision. Before he gets the chance to react, he hears a grunt followed by a thud. It all happens quickly after that. Bob turns on his heel to look back at Bonnie. She’s on the floor, eyes closed, unconscious. Bob feels a sharp pain in the back of his head. He groans and is suddenly disoriented. His vision clouds. He feels his feet fall beneath him. He tries to reach for something, anything to keep himself from falling. But it's of no use. He hits the ground hard. Everything fades...