stay, Inez ~ xavier thorpe

outreach day p1

I quickly finish up my toast as I hurriedly pack up my backpack.

"Nessy! Your going to miss the bus!" Dad yells from his office.

Finishing the last bite of my breakfast, I grab an apple and my shoes and run out the door. After struggling to put my shoes on while walking, I bend down and begin to tie my shoelaces. When I look up, I notice the bus had already left my stop.

Great I mumble while walking back to my house.

"Pops! Can you drive me today? I missed the bus." I ask, slightly raising my voice so he could hear me.

"Dad!!" I repeat myself.

After not hearing a response, I start walking over to his office.

"Dad?" I say, slowly pulling open his door.

There he was, laying in a pool of dark liquid on the hardwood floor.

"Papa?" I ask, turning him onto his back.

I pull out my phone from my back pocket, hurriedly calling the police.

My voice quivers as I tell the operator my address, begging for them to be quick.

Just as I turn back to my father, he pops up, staring directly at me.

"You. You did this to me." He says angrily.

"What? Pa please, take it easy" I say, crying.

"You killed me. It was you." He says, before his body disappears, leaving me alone, crying in a pool of blood.

I wake up to my alarm, crying.

"It was just a dream. Just a dream Inez." I tell myself while standing up.

I brush my teeth, wash my face, and put on my uniform.

I make my way down to the quad, where Principal Weems was giving a speech on today's schedule.

Today was Outreach day, a day where the students of Nevermore would go to the small town of Jericho and do volunteer work for the town's businesses.

After her speech, the teachers began to hand out our assigned locations for our service today.

I open my pamphlet and am greeted with the word 'Weathervane' printed in bold black lettering.

I'm just glad I didn't get Pilgrim World.

I would hate getting stuck handing out fudge and translating to the foreign tourists in an itchy pilgrim outfit.

Then, the students make their way to their respected busses.

Luckily, I spotted Wednesday in my bus, sitting in the very back corner.

"Morning Day! How'd you sleep?" I ask enthusiastically.

"Good. I wish I never woke up. What about you?" She says.

"Like a baby!" I lie.

Only one person in this world knows about my nightmares. I had only ever told Xavier, because I knew he would understand.

"We probably wont find anything else out about our investigations today, so dont do anything stupid without me." Wednesday says, changing the subject.

"Okay, okay. I wont." I say.

"Weems is making me perform with my cello at the statue unveiling, so I wont be able to sneak away then." Wednesday says.

"Really?!?! You've never even let me hear you play, let alone the whole town." I say excitedly.

We exit the bus, going out respective ways.

"Hey Xav." I say playfully, walking up behind him.

"Hi." He says blankly.

"Are you coming or not?" I ask, still walking.

"Yeah in a second." He says, still staring at that wall.

I run and catch up with Enid.

When I turn back, Wednesday and Xavier are talking. Thats odd.

Wednesday

I part ways with Inez after exiting the bus, walking over to a water fountain and filling up my bottle.

When I turn back, Inez is already gone, so I decide to take this time to further investigate with Xavier.

"Why are you staring at a blank wall?" I ask, now standing beside him.

"It wasn't blank last outreach day" He says, lacking emotion.

Maybe I am rubbing off on the students here.

"Are you still stewing because we rejected your invitation." I ask.

"I did go out on a limb for you two."

I roll my eyes.

"Oh please, you literally kidnapped us, what did you expect? Besides I have more pressing issues on my mind." I say annoyed.

"Yeah? Like what?" He asks.

"Tracking down the monster that attacked Inez and Rowan."

"For the last time, you're hurting Inez. Stop getting involved in this, shes going to get hurt. Even worse than she already did. Besides, Rowan was expelled. Everyone saw him leave."

"Oh yeah? Have you spoken to him since?" I ask, knowingly.

"I texted him a few times, but I never heard back. Just figured he wanted to leave Nevermore in his rear view mirror." He says blankly.

"Or hes dead." I suggest.

"I don't know why you care so much. It's not like you knew the guy." He says, walking away.

"I'm not sure why you care so little. Even Inez is worried about him more than you. People can dismiss us and make a million other excuses but I'm not going to stop." I say, pulling out the purple book from my bag.

"Oh, great. I guess you could add thief to your resume. I don't know what the whole deal is with an old nightshades journal anyways."

"You didn't seem surprised when Inez showed you this last night. You've seen it before haven't you?" I interrogate him.

"Yeah. A couple days before the harvest festival. It was open on Rowans desk so i just assumed he stole it after we kicked him out of the nightshades. Then I confronted him about it and he kind of went ballistic on me." Xavier continues.

I think back on my past visions, and of Rowan throwing Xavier against their dorm wall.

"He threw you against the wall with his telekinesis." I say blankly.

"Yeah. How did you know that?" He asks me, confused.

"Lucky guess."

"Its weird that your in this. I mean, this journal is like, what, 30 years old? And what the hells Crackstone doing in a picture with you?" He asks.

"You know who that is?"

"Yeah, Joseph Crackstone. Hes like Jericho's founding father. Hes kind of a big deal around here. Yeah look, that's him." He says, pointing to a poster.

Maybe today wont be so useless after all.

Authors note:

Im sorry to split this chapter in two parts, but it just seemed like such a long chapter without the split.

Ill try to post p2 later tonight or early tomorrow morning

some more backstory for inez

Thank you so much for reading and voting, it really means a lot to me :)