Walking into the boys dorms early on a Saturday morning was the last thing Darren had on his mind.
It was cold, it was raining, and he hadn't had any coffee yet.
But somehow, he was there in the dreary weather to take care of some business. Unfortunately Keene had forbid him from kicking down a certain ravenette's door so instead, he had to go ask Blyke for his keys.
Other students just now waking up avoided him as he stormed up the stairs, heading to the 3rd floor dorms where Isen and Blyke's dorm was.
The man grumbled out profanities as he tapped his knuckles against the wood door with force. He was in no mood to wait around.
A groan was heard as someone stumbled on the other side, sounding like they were tripping over something. Darren stepped back as a very drowsy Isen opened the door, sleep still very much in his eyes. "Huh...? Doc? What are you doing here so...*yawn* early...?" Doc sighed. "I need to borrow Blyke. I need his keys to get into his old dorm and talk to John."
At the mention of the ravenette, Isen's eyes flew open. He was about to protest when Darren spoke up. "Isen. I'm not in the mood. I just walked through the pouring rain to get here and I haven't even had my coffee yet." Isen went pale but nodded in response. "A-Alright. L-Let me go wake him up..."
He shut the door as he went back in. The doctor raised an eyebrow when he heard yelling, something smacking against the wall before someone else stumbled to the door and opened it. Blyke slumped out in his pj's and socks, pulling his shoes on. "Hey doc...Isen said you needed me?" Darren nodded. "I need your help talking to your ex-roommate. He hasn't checked in yet and Keene needs to finish his headcount list."
The teen went pale with fear before the man huffed. "Relax Blyke. I'll be with you the whole time. It's not like I'm asking you to fight him. I just need your keys." The teen bit his lip before nodding. "Alright..." The doctor nodded and waved for the teen to follow him up to the 4th floor once his keys were securely in his pocket.
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Blyke stopped next to doc before handing him the keys. Darren mumbled a 'Thanks.' He knocked harshly against the door. "John?! Open up!" Darren rolled his eyes before using the keys and walking in. "John! Get your *ss out here!"
The teen hesitantly followed the man in. They were surprised to find that nothing was out of place. Darren raised an eyebrow, obviously confused. "John?"
Blyke walked down the hall and looked in his old room which had remained untouched, dust starting to settle on his bed frame. He gingerly brushed his hand against the soft fabric of his bedding, wanting so badly to just lay down and sleep for a year.
He and Isen had wanted to talk with Keene about switching dorms, but rumor has it that seniors were being relocated into the dorms again and they needed all the space they could get.
As much as he wanted his bed back, he had other things to take care of.
He left and went to the living room and found it tidy as well. It was like the entire dorm hadn't been used in a week. He checked the bathroom but it was also just as tidy.
Blyke had an eerie feeling start crawling up his back. The entire place looked unused, abandoned. He walked into the kitchen and saw a half eaten apple sitting on the counter.
Except, it was almost rotted into the surface.
Blyke almost gagged from the smell before he grabbed a paper towel off the roll next to the sink and swept the rotting fruit into the trash.
Ok, now something really wasn't right. Despite how little he knew about John, he knew the teen wasn't a slob. He kept everything as tidy as possible and always threw out his trash. The fact that rotting fruit of all things was sitting on the counter raised a huge red flag for Blyke.
He looked over when he saw Doc walk into the kitchen, looking around in confusion. "Have you seen John?" Blyke shook his head. The man rubbed his face with a sigh.
"He's not here. John, he's not here." Blyke raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" Darren only glared at him before Blyke backed up slightly.
"Ok, ok...maybe he's just on a morning run? I remember he would leave early to run sometimes." Despite how much he wanted to believe something was wrong, he had to keep his head. It was probably nothing anyways as the teen always did what he pleased, tending to keep to himself.
Doc scratched the back of his neck. "Most likely. Either that, or he's just out getting some fresh air. It's fine. We'll just ask Keene and come back later then."
Blyke nodded as he and Darren left the empty apartment. They were about to head back down when they saw a familiar blonde walk up the stairs, Keene in tow behind him with a duffel bag. "A-Arlo? What are you doing here?"
The blonde huffed slightly, irritation written all over his features. "In light of everything that's happened, Keene is having me move to the dorms for awhile until this madness gets sorted out. Since you moved in with Isen, I now have the pleasure of rooming with him..." Arlo finished the last part, teeth gritted.
Blyke cringed before looking at the groundskeeper. "Keene, you know they're going to be at each others throats, right?"
The tired man shrugged. "Look, I wasn't expecting to have to relocate half the graduating class back into the dorms. I'll make adjustments as I go, but for now, since they're both the strongest males in the school, I have to room them together. Anyways, where's John? I have to somehow explain this without him slamming the door in my face."
The redhead and the doctor both looked at each other before looking at Keene. "Actually Keene..." Blyke finished the sentence. "We were going to ask you the same thing."
Keene raised an eyebrow before Darren continued. "I had Blyke let me in to John's dorm because he hasn't checked in for the headcount yet. But when we got in, he wasn't there. We were actually on our way to ask you if he left campus to go on a morning jog or to run some errands."
Keene's eyes went a bit wide. "I...I haven't seen him either...I also haven't been letting anyone leave campus since the fire happened. Are you sure he wasn't there?"
Blyke looked back and forth slightly, weary of this new information.
This...wasn't good.
"Well...if he's not here, where could he be?" Darren looked at the redhead, hearing the slight edge in the teens voice.
"Calm down Blyke. There's no reason to lose our heads. He's probably just be wandering around campus to get some fresh air." The doctor crossed his arms, silent as thoughts raced his mind. "Alright. Blyke, go grab Isen and tell him to meet me outside. Keene, help Arlo settle in and meet us outside. We'll just go and ask around if anyone has seen him."
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Isen groaned as he stumbled down the stairs. "Tell me again why we're out here?" Blyke sighed. "Because Darren needs your help tracking John." At the mention of the ravenette, Isen went bug-eyed, starting to back away as he raised his arms. "What?! Hell no!" Blyke only raised an eyebrow. "Isen-"
Isen shook his head once again. "Blyke, there is nothing in this world that can get me to go looking for that maniac! He already hates my *ss enough as it is! If he finds out we've been tracking him-"
"Isen, relax. We have Doc and Keene with us." The orange haired male huffed as he eventually started walking with him. "That's what I'm afraid of..."
They eventually met up with the others outside. Darren looked miserable as he rubbed his arms, huddled in his rain jacket.
The doctor looked to Isen. "Can you use your ability to scan for John?" The teen huffed before nodding. "Sure. Just give me a second." Isen's eyes glowed a bright red as he looked around. "So far I'm not seeing anything, but let's go ahead and split up." Keene nodded. "Sure. Keene and I will take the area around the school. You and Blyke can take the dorms."
The duo felt their pulses pick up. They didn't want to run into the schools wild card, the Joker of all people, without at least one teacher to keep him at bay. Isen now really did think that the teachers had it out for them.
Eventually, the three teens nodded before going to find the ravenette, despite their better judgement.
The duo decided to start off in the boys dorms. Blyke decided to take the area outside the building to look along the sidewalks while Isen took the inside to search.
Floor after floor and dorm after dorm, Isen didn't see any trace of the teen. He eventually came back outside and walked over to the other teen. "Any sign of him?" Blyke shook his head and only crossed his arms as he spoke up. "Nothing. We didn't see him anywhere on the paths around the school."
Isen sighed. "Alright. Let's head towards the girl's dorms. Maybe he's passing by."
The other nodded but Isen could see the worry in Blyke's face. He stopped next to the teen as they walked. "Bro, are you ok? You look like you've seen a ghost." Blyke bit his lip before lowering his voice. "Honestly Isen...I'm worried."
The orange haired teen raised an eyebrow. "Why? I mean, we may be looking for a monster we know is going to maim us, but as long as we don't get close or antagonize him, we'll be fine." Blyke only looked at Isen and shook his head. "That's not what I meant."
His friend raised an eyebrow before the redhead continued. "I mean that this all seems really suspicious. We get ourselves involved with EMBER and all of a sudden, the school catches on fire, Vaughn ends up in the hospital and is claimed to be helping them, not to mention that my former roommate is now missing-"
Isen raised his hands. "Hold up Blyke. We don't even know if he's actually missing. He could just be wandering around campus since there's nothing to do. But...I will admit, this is all a bit suspicious. Let's at least keep our guard up..."
The teen nodded as they continued to walk down the path. Isen looked around the area of the girls dorms. "Still not seeing him..." They went through floor after floor, their panic building up when they got to the fifth floor as still found no sigh or trace of the ravenette.
Blyke huffed as he placed his hands on his knees, tired from jogging up so many stairs. He and Isen looked up when they saw a familiar girl walk out in her pj's, teal hair pinned back and a coffee mug in her hand. She arched an eyebrow in annoyance when she saw the two and stood in front of them.
"Oh, it's you two...what are you doing here so early? Came to see Remi?" Blyke rolled his eyes. "No. Look, we don't have time for this-" He tried walking past her but Cecile activated her abilities, pushing the two back. "Look, I don't care what business you have here. Boys aren't allowed in the dorms before 9:00 am. Leave."
Blyke let a beam start charging up in his hand before Isen held him back. "Blyke, no. We have to find him first."
This comment earned a confused glance from the press leader. "Wait, find who?" The two teens looked at one another.
They could not trust Cecile. Knowing her, she'd just use this whole situation to her advantage. The last thing anyone needed was for John to be claimed as missing in the school paper when he could just be taking a jog around campus.
Isen shook his head. "Doesn't matter. We'll just come back later."
They briskly made their way back down to the fourth floor, leaving Cecile standing there in confusion and slight irritation.
When the two boys got to the fourth floor, they spotted Elaine. Isen felt the light bulb go off in his head and raced after her. "Elaine!" The bluette almost spilled her orange juice as she looked behind her. "I-Isen?! W-What are you doing here?" Isen shook his head. "I'll explain later. Can you please get Seraphina? We need to talk to her." Blyke rushed over, wiping the water out of his eyes that was still dripping from his soaked hair. "Please! It's urgent!"
The girl only nodded slightly before rushing back inside. The two heard someone grumble as they approached the door.
Seraphina yanked open the door, sleep in her eyes. Her extensions were gone, leaving her short hair free. She looked absolutely done with everything despite the fact she just woke up. The two were lucky she didn't have her abilities, otherwise they'd be on the other side of campus by now.
"It's barely 7:50 in the morning. You two better have a good reason for having Elaine wake me up early on a weekend."
Isen looked at Blyke before back to her, his face set in a stern expression. "Seraphina, when was the last time you've seen John? And have you seen him around campus at all?"
The magenta haired girl raised an eyebrow. "No, why? What's going on?" Her voice filled up with concern when she saw the growing panic in the two boys faces. The two looked at each other, now really worried. "We're looking for him. Darren went to talk to him this morning and he wasn't there. We were wondering if you've seen or heard from him?"
Seraphina's eyes went a bit wide. "I haven't seen John since before last week..." The two teens standing in front of her all went pale, their eyes going wide.
They looked at each other before turning their heads towards the stairs. Keene and Darren raced up, rushing over to the group. "He's not here...! We checked all over campus but he's not here!" Keene looked at the teens.
Seraphina felt her blood run cold. She quickly ran to grab a jacket and her shoes before racing out the door. "Are you sure he's not somewhere off campus?!" She fumbled with her keys as she locked the door. The two adults nodded as Keene cleaned his glasses off of all the rain water. "We haven't been letting anyone on or off campus besides the authorities. I would've felt him pass through the security barrier if he had left!"
Seraphina tossed her hood over her head. "Let's keep looking then! He HAS to be here somewhere!"
The five of them raced out of the girls dorm into the pouring rain, desperately looking for the ravenette.
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Seraphina raced across campus through the pouring rain, soaked to the bone as she ran back and forth from sidewalk to building and back again.
She yanked out her phone, using her hood as an umbrella to allow her to see her screen. She quickly pulled up the contact and pressed call, the tone ringing through as she continued to run across campus.
'Please pick up...! Please, please, PLEASE pick up!' The call dropped as it went to voice mail. The girl swore under her breath as she continued to run.
She kept calling, over and over again and the answer was still the same: silence.
Seraphina stopped when she reached the other side of the campus, the call dropping again as the voice mail pulled up again. "John...I don't know where you are but please pick up..." She hung up as she let her voice mail sit in his inbox.
Maybe the others had some luck?
She met with the other four members of their little search party in the landing of the boys dorm.
She yanked off her soaked jacket as she looked at the others standing before her. Despite their shocked and overall terrified expressions, she needed to ask. "Please...please tell me someone found him..."
Doc only looked at her, his face pale and expression grim as he shook his head. Blyke shook his head that rested in his hands. He was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. Isen stood next to him, bearing the same expression Blyke wore. Keene was pacing back and forth, running his hands through his hair.
Isen spoke up. "We looked everywhere Seraphina...we didn't see him anywhere...it's like he's just vanished..."
Seraphina felt herself sink down to her knees, shock starting to take effect.
Her best friend was missing...
He had gone missing less than a week after a fire at the school...
The strongest student in Wellston was now unaccounted for...
Seraphina stared at the floor in front of her, the words playing in her head starting to flow through her lips.
"John...where are you...?"
Chapter 11: end.
A/N: Hehehe...get ready for chapter 12. >:)
-KittCat.