Vᴀɴɪsʜᴇᴅ {ᵃᶰ ᵃᵈᵛᵃᶰᶜᵉᵈ ʳᵒˡᵉᵖˡᵃʸ} discussion

Ethan stumbled his way out of the library door and found himself in the hallway. The lights were broken and the walls cracked, but thankfully nothing too catastrophic had happened. "Zel? Zel?!" He called out, cupping his hands around his mouth. He squinted in the darkness as he made his way down the hallway, looking for other signs of life.

?

((I'm sorry I haven't posted here, my silly self didn't realize that we had moved to this area hahaha.))

After finding his footing - and pushing broken objects out of his path - Zel moved towards the door of the classroom. Letting his eyes adjust to the dust and darkness, he listen, focusing on the cries of his fellow classmates. He hear cries of confusion and frustration, but most of all the fear in their voices. The fear in every word they spoke. But he ignored all of it, because Zel knew that nothing else mattered, all he cared about at that moment was to locate his brother and only then would he spare the time to muse over the events of the day.

((your ok haha))

Ethan sighed and squinted a bit as his eyes continued to adjust to the growing darkness. His hands ran along the wall guiding him through the dismal hallway. "Zel?!" He called again in a loud whisper. "Seriously dude, where are you?!" His heart began to pound a little deeper in his chest. What if something happened to him? What if he was... No. Stop Ethan, you'll find him. He cursed himself, continuing on with his search.

A few times Zel stopped to look around at the other students, trying to see if any of them was his brother. Once he notice that none was his brother he didn't know whether to be happy or concerned. Deciding to brush the mounting fear that was settling in the pits of his belly he continues and just then he thought he heard his name being called.

Zel pauses, listening for a few minutes. He tilts his head up, "Ethan?" He travels down the hall just a little more, noticing that the sounds around him are getting lower, he'll be able to hear better now, he hopes.

And just when he was going to call out to the voice he thought said his name, he heard it again, his name being called. He knew who it must be and relief washed over him. "I'm over here!" he called out, continuing his trek down the hall for a few more steps. "Finally, where the hell did you get yourself into!?" He says, more out of frustration for tacking to long to find Ethan and also out of that relief he felt for finally locating him.

"Are you alright?"

Tacking no time to listen to Ethan's reply, Zel proceeds in looking over his brother, making sure that he really was okay.

Ethan let out a huge sigh of relief as Zel came into sight. Before he could ask his own questions his brother bombarded him. "Dude chill..." Ethan said attempting a feeble laugh. "I was in the library... What class were you in?" He answered running his fingers through his hair as if trying to brush off how worried he was. Zel then proceeded to examin him for injuries, but Ethan eventually battered him away.

"History."

Stoned face he glares at his brother with frustration for a few seconds for brushing him away. Noticing that his brother does seem okay he let's it slide, "This is a twists of events, isn't it." not a question he's asking, just a statement, which reflects his thoughts and feeling over it all.

"I'm alright." he answered with a nod. He's sure that his brother would appreciate the confirmation.

Ethan nodded. "Well I'm thankful were both ok..." He said pushing his glasses back up his nose. "We should walk around and see if anyone needs help...

Shrugs, "Yeah we should." Zel then starts walking the way he came. "There are some classmates over this way that seem to need help."

Following Zel, Ethan couldn't help but notice how eerily quiet everything was. He peeked inside classrooms and noticed that there were no adults telling everyone to 'remain calm'. Only frightened pupils huddled in close nit groups trying to figure things out for themselves.

Juliet wandered down the hallway, looked confused and upset. Her face was wet with tears, her eyes puffy and red. Juliet avoided everyone's eyes, and stared at the dusty old ground in the hallway. My friend was just murdered! And people think that it was a suicide! They would never do that! Never in a million years... I... Ugh. No! She was careful not to let herself start tearing up, no matter how sad she was.

((Order, Julia, Jess, Melissa :D))

Ethan nudged Zel's shoulder and nodded up ahead where he saw something moving in the flickering lights. As they got closer they saw that it was just another classmate. Ethan tried to remember her name... she was the girl who sat behind him in history class.... Jennifer? Jul... Julia? Oh! Juliet, right. "Juliet?!" he called down the hallway as loud as he dared too, hoping to get her attention.

He almost paused in confusion, "Who?" raising an eyebrow he followed along after his brother. "Juliet? Who the hell is Juliet?" he asked but more to himself than anything else.

Zel is quite the popular guy in school, but it still doesn't mean he knows everyone by name - or face really.

Juliet looked at them, holding something in her hand. She paused, confused and even a little afraid. She quickly realized that it was only Ethan and "Zel", she relaxed. Juliet glared at the flickering lights, eyeing them with untrustful eyes. They were rather popular kids, and she was not. Quite the opposite, in fact. Juliet was genuinely surprised that Ethan knew her name, but that didn't phase her. "What do you want?" she inquired of him, not at all unkindly.

Ethan frowned a tad when he saw that her face was damp with tears. "Er... well, I was just wondering if you were ok... did something happen?" Of course something happened, we all just survived a huge earthquake Ethan scolded himself inside his head. "Besides the quake I mean." He added, hopefully not sounding like a complete idiot.

Taking the moment to inwardly laugh at Ethan, he did sound like a complete idiot, Zel thought, and he was going to voice it out, but decided against it this time. Instead he gave Juliet a once over from afar but he guessed that she must not have injuries, aside from her tears - which he assumes is because of the earthquake - he doesn't see her in any form of pain.

Zel continues to move ahead a few steps, stopping along the way to turn and ask, "Was there any other students with you when all this happened?" Directing the question to Juliet as he continues to gaze down the hallway.

?

((Should we wait a little longer for her to answer?))

((yeah :D ))

"I was in the bathroom with my friend... And then she disappeared... I went to look for her.. And... And she hung herself!" Juliet said, trying not to start crying again. "And my friend... Well, she never would have taken her own life... Never in a million years..." Juliet shook her head sadly, feeling depressed.

Ethan was stunned. He swallowed and ran his fingers through his hair with a long sigh. Then he pushed his glasses back up his nose and looked at her. "Where?" he asked biting his lip and then looking at the ground.

"The better question is why?" Zel said, "Granted that it seems like she doesn't know."

Something like that doesn't sound so good, in fact it sounds down right weird, but what could Zel do or even say. He knows how tragic it is and looking over at Juliet he can see how hurt and sad she is about it all. So he decides not to speak a word about it, perhaps it's better that way, he thought, clearly it's not easy to talk about.

"She has a name." Juliet said, glaring at Zel. Looking back at Ethan, she replied, "In the bathroom. I didn't see her at first, because... There was no noise. And on the wall... There was..." Juliet choked on her words, and paused to collect herself. "On the wall was the letter, or word-whatever-I. That's it. 'I'."

Ethan took a quick glance at Zel as Juliet glared at him. He cleared his throat and turned back to face her as she answered his question. "A... a word?..." That didnt make sense... sure people left a note sometimes but... 'I'? What did that even mean? "Should we check it out?" he finally asked after a couple minuets of silence had passed.

Brushing off that glare - it did little to affect him, especially coming from someone he didn't even know the name of until that moment and knowing that his question was a valid one - he turns towards his brother, "If you think we should, then standing here will do little to help." Turning to Juliet, "Lead the way."

.

"Fine." Juliet snapped, turning on her heels. She quickly walked down the hallway, not caring to see if they were behind her or not. Stopping at the ladies room, she know nobody was in there. Juliet took a deep breath and went back into the bathroom. She glanced away from her dead friend, and at the bloody word on the wall. It's like in Harry Potter, but it's not a possessed Ginny doing it this time. she thought to herself.

Ethan sighed and shook his head slightly. He looked over at his brother and shrugged. What in the world are we about to see... He and Zel started after Juliet, closing the gap between the two parties.

Following in after Juliet he too gazes at her friend, she was the first thing he saw. Ripping his gaze from her, Zel moved in further eyes resting on that bloody word.

"Strange." he whispered more to himself.

Still rather confused at this particular situation, he remains still, looking over that bloody word, just musing. Unable to form words to explain any of it.
Why? it's the strongest question that keeps popping up in his head. And on top of that an earthquake. The whole situation is unnerving. Not to mention confusing.

"Very," Juliet agreed. Moving closer to the wall, she looked closer at what it actually was on the wall. "This really is blood... And it's not from... From my friend... Nor is this her hand witting." Juliet turned to look at the boys, curious as to their opinion on this... Strange incident. "What do you think?" she inquired, directing the question more so to Ethan, since he had been nicer to her.

Ethan shrank back a bit as he entered the room. Making a point not to look at the girls body dangling in mid-air. He shuddered a bit and looked pointedly at Zel. "What in the world..." he huffed running his fingers through his hair with one hand and messaging his temple with the other. He looked up once he was addressed by Juliet. "Well... well you dont think she had a reason to.. you know... do that to herself?"

He gave the bloody word one last look before moving closer to the body. Deciding to leave the other two to talk and try to answer their question as he studies Juliet's friend.

Obviously Zel doesn't have experience with understanding dead bodies, but he is rather curious for the reasoning behind this girls death. As Zel looks her over he realized that he has seen her around the school, but he never knew her name, nor that he ever bothered to learn it. So why would he be so curious to know the reason for taking her own life. Dropping his gaze he goes to stand closer to the door.

Eyes away from the body, but Zel's mind as always million miles away, trying somehow to understand this particular situation on top of the earthquake.
And the question remains, why? If Juliet say's that she would have never thought her friend would kill herself, then why did she? Unless, Zel thought, someone forced her too ... What other explanation could there be ...

"No. She was the one who was always helping me out. She was really happy... She had no reason to kill herself." Juliet said. Turning around, she looked at her friend, frowning. She was a pretty girl, though very petite. Gorgeous blonde hair and perfect porcelain skin. Juliet let out a soft sigh.

Ethan frowned and crossed his arms. There was no amount of book smarts that could help in this situation, and Ethan had plenty. Never before had he felt so utterly useless. He moved closer to the girls dangling body along with the others. There was no blood except for that on the wall. "You're right Juliet... that can't be her blood. She doesn't have any wounds..." he moved his gaze up to the girls face, which appeared to be relaxed. There wasn't any sign of a struggle except for the fact that the girls fists were clenched... and where did she get the rope? How did she tie it to the rafter without a ladder? How did she tie... herself to the rope? There were so many questions that caused Ethan's head to spin slightly.

Shouldn't there be something she would have stood on in order to get the rope all the away up there? Zel thought, She doesn't seem that tall to reach up there without something to lift her up.He continues to muse that even he would need some assistance to reach that far up. So the common sense would be some sort of object that helped her reach that far up with the rope. And even then ... it's still rather odd to Zel. As opinionated as he is, Zel decides not to speak a word. He rather have all the facts.