lethal //phan

t w e n t y - n i n e

Warning: a hell of a lot of dialogue with very brief mentions of death - nothing graphic/detailed but I'm just letting y'all know :)

Phil
"You and Alfie? You hate each other!" Phil exclaimed in disbelief.

"We do now - but we haven't always been that way. Why do you think him and his friends are asked trying to pick arguments with me? I should probably explain this chronologically, it'll get confusing if I don't."

"You can leave things out if you don't want to talk about them."

"What's the point in telling half a story?" He shrugged.

"I came here when I was ten years old, but before that I lived in a small town down south. The powers have been a thing for as long as I can remember - and for that reason, for as long as I can remember I haven't been particularly well-liked. I'm not sure if you being 'different' gave some sort of popularity or social status, but for me it was total opposite. Different wasn't a good thing according to the people in my hometown, even the adults gave me funny looks. Back then I was pretty shy and couldn't defend myself, suppose that made matters worse.

Being sent here was actually a good thing in my eyes, I thought I'd be a little more accepted, feel less of a freak. Things began to look up when I'd made some friends, one of them being Alfie, the other being my partner before you came - his name was Connor."

Phil noticed he used the past tense, but allowed Dan to continue with his story.

"Connor and I were close - inseparable even, did everything together; there weren't as many people our age there as there are now so really we were all each other had. Alfie of course had someone but he preferred to tag along with us, and Evan - I think that's his name - found other people as well.

Over time Alfie formed a friendship with a girl named Cat; she's in our class - they both have pretty scary abilities so I guess they found comfort in the fact they weren't alone in that.

Alfie then started playing the occasional prank on people - not like the kind Joe plays, more the kind that only a select few found funny, including Connor and I in the very beginning. But the 'pranks' slowly became less funny to the two of us; they'd send some innocent student into some unknown place that they couldn't get out of or fossilise a persons hand for ten minutes with no explanation as to why; the reactions they'd get were amusing in their own opinions. Then Marcus came to the academy and it only got worse."

Phil could briefly recall who Marcus was, he was the one who almost shot him after Dan had frozen half of his face.

"Fast forward a few years and it stopped becoming pranks and more of a sick method of bringing social justice. They'd hurt people who they believed did wrong, it was also a source of entertainment so ultimately a win-win. I'm not sure who's idea it was, they have a pretty sick mind either way.

Another kid was forced into their group out of blackmail; his ability brought a useful method of interrogation and he was told if he didn't participate there'd be 'consequences'."

That was the reason Shane had gotten involved with them Phil thought to himself.

"The four of them became tyrants, using their powers on 'wrong-doers' - or basically whoever they disliked. It was all in secret, of course. Students and the occasional teacher would just vanish in the middle of the night, search parties go out scouring campus each time it happens but the missing people never get found."