Realistic or Modern Sounds IC

[SomebodyElse]

It's a uncanny story to tell. One of shadowy men, students attending an old university and hidden plots. Maybe one day that will decide to make a movie out of this story, or perhaps it will end up being turned into a book itself and become a bestseller. For now it remains to the confines of my leatherbound journal and the ink that the words are written of.

Frost could still be seen forming on the windows of the classroom. Everyone was sitting in their desks as Professor Goodwill was talking. He was going on the Roman Empire, it was more of an open discussion than a lecture, he always ran his classrooms with open discussions on the premise that anyone was free to ask questions and speak themselves on their own thoughts of the topic.

It was one of Elsa's favorite things about his class and also that he often involved activities rather than just having everyone write out essays or listen to him all period. Some students took the period to doze off or read instead of participating which wasn't a big deal. It was college and it wasn't mandatory education so you weren't forced to do anything, after all it was you that was paying for the education unless you got a scholarship. Either way college was a much different nature than High-School. Nobody cared what you did as long as you didn't disrupt the class.

"We make water pipes today that don't even last a couple decades yet we can find the remains of the ancient aqueducts the romans built almost completely intact....." Simon Goodwill said.

Much of the discussion flickered in and out of her ears. She was half paying attention and more staring at the window in which she could see the forest beyond the university, the cold weather having turned the trees into dark leafless trees. There was one such rumor that had been floating around the university and it was that of a superstition. If at least five students would come to the forest during a full moon and chanted "Ring Around the Rosie" then the next day someone would mysteriously die. Of course it was nothing more than a silly superstition.

"And with that I think we will have to wrap up today's lesson. I want you all to read your textbook from page 347-356. And please as always I always stay behind for at least an hour after class incase anyone has any questions."

Elsa clutched her books the bindings only reminding her how cold her hands felt. She should definitely go the the ladies restroom and put on something warmer before leaving the university.
Rushing through the crowd of students, many of which would only stick around in the classroom or in the hallways near the lockers to chat she walked towards the women's restroom only to notice a long line of students standing outside the restroom.
"What's going on? Why is everyone standing here?" She begun to ask. She was answered with a loud scream only to be greeted by the view of a dead corpse by one of the sinks.
What. The. Fuck. It was disgusting and smelled terrible too. There were flies flying around the body and it only further horrified her. She felt paralyzed both by the thoughts racing through her mind and the horrid stench of rotting flesh.

Hiuly of Starmoon DrBezendrine kakemha truthofself Majjicka SharkBark

 

[SharkBark]

Donny tried to stay asleep for as long as possible. He just needed at least twenty more minutes. He had spent his entire night reading mystery books. It was a bad habit but, it damn sure was worth it. He was reading "Cain's Jawbone", a mystery book published in 1953 where in order the solve the all six murders is to is to read find details through all 100 pages. But the catch is that all of the pages are completely scrambled. There are no numbers, no chapter headers, there's no way to distinct which pages match besides reading them all. And even then, the way it's worded makes it even harder. Donny had put 7 pages in the proper order, or at least, he thinks he did. He spent 7 hours on it and hadn't even solved one murder. Now, Donny is mentally worn out and Professor Goodwill is not helping with his boring lesson about, hell, Donny doesn't even know.

Since he couldn't fall back asleep, Donny gives in and begins to listen to the lesson and the first thing he hears is Professor Goodwill say something about wrapping class up. Donny immediately sits upright in his seat and grabs his bag. He listened a bit more. Blah, blah, blah, pages 347 through 356. Just end class.

Once everyone else started getting up to leave, Donny stood up, bid farewell to the Professor, and exited the class. The hallways were the same. Well, besides the crowd of students surrounded the girl's bathroom. Donny pushes through a few students with a, "Sorry. Pardon me.". Once he makes its through, he's assaulted by a smell that makes hims gag and pinch he nose. It's coming from a girl. A dead girl.

"Wh-What happened?" Donny muttered. A girl in his 4th period lay on the floor before him, lifeless.

 

[kakemha]

Alice took notes and listen in Professor Goodwill's class but her brain was only thinking of how she could turn this into an interesting fiction story. But Alice still maintain pretty high grades since she was a very good listener, so she uses that to her advantage. Taking note of the assignment given to them, she packed up everything in her satchel and walked out of class. She understood the material pretty well so she doubted she would come back for questions, she was just excited to get on with her day. She was currently working on a mystery novel, so she needed to go think of an interesting idea to turn into a novel. Once class ended and everyone stood up to leave, she spotted Donny. He definitely helped her with her murder mystery novels in the past so she was trying to catch up to him to ask for some ideas.

She tried to push through the crowd but everyone crowded together, especially near the girl's bathroom. She saw Donny head there as well. She was curious about why everyone was crowding near there, nothing interesting was ever in the girl's bathroom. After pushing through the crowd, she finally got to the front, she noticed Elsa and Donny also here. But that wasn't the thing that caught her attention.

The smell hit her, she covered her nose and mouth with her palm in shock. A dead girl, one she had seen in the halls and around the school often, she'd even talked with her and worked on projects with her. She was shocked, who would do this and why. She didn't scream, she didn't run away, Alice just stood there in shock, with tears running down her face.

 

[Majjicka]

It would be a lie to say that Bennet was the most engaged person during Professor Goodwill's lectures. In fact, he was notorious for spending most of the lecture finding ways to distract Professor Goodwill. With the thrilling subject of ancient Roman aqueducts, Bennet's mind turned towards random facts he knew about ancient Rome civilization. He could always bring up the myths of vomitoriums which would absolutely cause a wild debate of whether the Romans actually had rooms specified for purging after lavish meals. Or he could make a joke about indoor plumbing, but that seemed to be hitting a low-hanging fruit. Bennet found himself lost in his train of thought, while viciously tapping his pen against his notebook.

The scraping of chairs against the floor threw Bennet out of his thoughts. Suddenly, he was one of the last students sitting in the classroom, his materials all arranged in disarray on his desk. Bennet ran a hand through his hair, exasperated with himself. He looked at the board and wrote down the reading assignment for the next class. How was he going to make it through his freshman year at Carlton House if he couldn't make it through the end of one lecture? At least the other students in his class were smart enough actually pay attention. He took a mental note to ask one of his classmates for notes on the lecture, even though he knew he would paying for it. The students at Carlton House were competitive, to say the least. Lecture notes were never easy to come by and he knew he would need a good excuse to get them. He could always pull the dead mother card, but he would need to find someone gullible enough to take pity on him.

Bennet packed up his things in his leather backpack and began to head out of the lecture hall. He heard a blood curdling scream erupt from the hallway which caused him to pick up the pace. Normally the Carlton House hallways were kept to a dull roar in between classes. Students would walk through the hallways in gaggles, laughing and chatting amongst their friends. When he entered the hallway, there was no laughter to be heard. Students piled around the girl's restroom with pale faces, hands were covering open mouths, and whispering was beginning to fill the hallway. Bennet noticed some students from his class and walked over to the somewhat familiar group of faces.

"What's with the crowd? Did some chick smear her shit across the walls or something?" Bennet asked, a smirk blooming across his face. When he saw Alice crying, his brow furrowed with confusion. "I mean there's no reason to cry about it, my old public school used to have kids do that all the time," he began before turning to look into the restroom. His smirk dropped when he saw the body laying on the floor. He felt his chest tense. Bennet's hands balled up into fists and his knuckles turned white. He turned away from the scene and shook his head. "Fuck," he mumbled under his breath. He looked over at his peers and tapped Donny's shoulder. "Maybe we should uh, get them out of the crowd," Bennet offered as he took notice of Elsa's still stature and Alice's tear-stained face. "Should we go get a faculty member? Just staring at it isn't going to do anyone any good," he offered, crossing his arms against his chest. The stench was beginning to fill his nostrils and his stomach turned. How long had the body been laying there for it to smell that bad? Didn't anyone see it before now? Bennet couldn't even think straight with the crowd of people staring into the bathroom. All he wanted to do was leave, but his feet were planted into the marble flooring, keeping him anchored with his classmates.

 

[Hiuly of Starmoon]

Raven always kept to herself. Always sat in the back of every class, as far away from the others as possible, though none of the teachers actually cared. She was a good student and always getting good grades and always paid attention in class and turned her homework and papers in on time, so the teachers weren‘t too worried about her never seeming to have any friends or talking to any of her classmates.

Truthfully, Raven wished she could just walk up to the others in her classes and start a conversation with them, but she was too scared to do that, because what the others didn‘t know was, she was a lesbian. She liked girls. She had known that for a while now, but still feels very embarrassed and insecure about it. Besides, who would want to talk to someone with a mental illness. That‘s not the only thing she‘s terrified of. If the police knew, she‘d get put in a mental hospital probably, same as if her parents or brother found out. She had also witnessed a few of the women, who sometimes come to the bar where she works at to make some additional money, tell her that their families had found out and sent them to camp, where they were going to be cured of their illness. They never came back and Raven obviously assumed the worst. So yeah, she was going to die before someone found out.

She was sitting at her favorite spot underneath a tree on the campus, writing a new song on her guitar, when the news of a girl that died reached her. She had heard that a girl was murdered in the bathroom earlier, but also that she was supposedly a zombie now. 20 year olds definitely weren‘t better than teenagers in sense of immaturity sometimes. Nevertheless, she paid her respect to the girl, whoever she was, by playing a song especially for her and also a bit for anyone else listening in that moment.

 

[SomebodyElse]

The crowding of students was broken by Simon Goodwill rushing to the scene. The professor spoke up seriously. "Okay that's enough everyone get back to their dorms immediately, this is not a spectacle to watch. This is a serious incident."

The students were slow to disperse and much noise could heard of people talking about what had happened. A half hour later everyone was back to their dorms and some could see the dead student being taken away in a body bag, an ambulance and many police and hospital workers were seen outside the buildings of Carlton House. The dorms of Carlton were seperated by gender. The student was later identified as Elizabeth Hartford. A 3rd year at Carlton and one was studying the theory of music. Some even said she had already made demos of some of her songs and had even sung them to a couple of other students in person. That was three days ago.

Ofcourse that only left Elsa to be left with some of the other girls that had seen the tragic remains of one of their peers.
She however didn't know if talking about what had just happened was even the best idea, but here she was.
"How long are they gonna keep us cooped up in here? I mean I am shocked by what has happened but this is just strange. It's like we're purposely being kept in the dark here." She said outloud.

Perhaps the males in their side of the building were having a similar conversation.


Hiuly of Starmoon DrBezendrine kakemha truthofself Majjicka SharkBark

 

[SharkBark]

Elizabeth Hartford.

Donny didn't know much about her, just that he had 4th period with her.

"A dead girl?" One of Donny's dorm mates said. "Shit, you think she wasted herself? Or did someone do it to her?"

All of the other boys laugh. They laugh about death. How sick could people get? This is a serious matter, and they're laughing?

"Hey, this isn't anything funny." Donny speaks up. "A girl just died. The least you could do is not ridicule her death."

The boy who made the original joke gives Donny a look.

"Oh, don't kid yourself." he says. "You act like you're not gonna go full detective mode and try to solve her death. Admit it, Donny, you find a sick joy in this too."

Donny doesn't reply. He knows he can't say it's wrong. Deep down, Donny found a little joy in this. Sure, he was still a bit shook from seeing the dead girl but, this could be his chance. He came to the school to solve the rumors, this is the first step. Donny grabs his notepad and a pen then flips to a page and writes,

SOLVING THE CARLTON HOUSE MYSTERY

STARTING WITH: Solving the death of Elizabeth Hartford.
Where was the victim found dead? In the girl's bathroom near Professor Goodwill's Classroom.
What was the cause of the victim's death? Not known. Yet. I'll find out.
Your prime suspects?
​

Donny takes in a deep breath. He thinks about how people reacted to the murder. Some people cried, others looked away in fear. And to top it off, there were so many people there, he couldn't investigate them all alone. So Donny wrote,

Also unknown. I'll need some help finding this out.
​

Donny closes the notepad and puts in into his coat pocket.

"I'm gonna step out for a moment." Donny tells the other boys.

"Oh.."step out", huh?" One of the boys said. " Are you sure you're not going out to solve the mystery? Or maybe you're going to kill your next victim? MWAHAHA!"

The boys laughed themselves silly. Simpletons.


Donny walks across the school to the girls dorms. Of course, he felt weird doing this, but he needed someone's help. Alice Williams. He had helped her with her novels a lot in the past, and now he needed help from her. With her quick thinking, she should be able to help his find some suspects. Or at least the cause of the death.

Donny knocks on her dorm door. He knows that Alice isn't the only person in there, so he prepares himself for another girl to open the door.

Hiuly of Starmoon SomebodyElse Majjicka kakemha

 

[kakemha]

"You aren't wrong, I feel that way as well." Alice replied to Elsa. They were being kept in the dark and it just made her nervous. Elizabeth Hatford was the victim. She was one of the people Alice would go to for help sometimes, if her novels involved music in any way. Alice was well crying, but not as much as she was earlier, now it was just the occasional tear rolling down her cheek when she thought of Elizabeth. She had some tissue in her hand and she wiped the tears that were coming out before they could fall onto her skirt.

Her mind then went to Donny. She knew he would be all over trying to solve this murder. It was his thing, he loved solving murders and mysteries, he's done it before, it was why she always sought him out for her murder and mystery novels. And there was no doubt in her mind that if anyone could solve this, it wouldn't be the detectives that would come around, it would be Donny. He was there when Alice was there, although she didn't see his face since her eyes were fixed oh the dead body of Elizabeth Hatford, she had heard him say 'Wh-What happened?' over all the murmurs and her our sobs.

She then heard a knock on the door of her and the other girls dorm room. "I'll grab it." She told the girls as she stood up to grab the door. Twisting the knob to open the door, she saw Donny. "Ah, hello there Donny. Sorry about my appearance." She referenced and gestured to her red eyes and tear streaked cheeks. "What brings you to the girls dorm?" She asked as she wiped the tissue across her cheeks once more as she tried to stop crying. She wondered what Donny needed from the girl's dorm, maybe to ask if the girls knew Elizabeth.

SharkBark SomebodyElse Hiuly of Starmoon Majjicka

 

[SharkBark]

Surprisingly, it was Alice that opened the door. Her eyes were reddened and tears were rolling down her face.

"Hey, Alice." Donny started. "I know you're still a bit shaken by this incident, so am I but, I need your help."

Donny felt bad doing this. He knew she was still in shock, yet he came to bother her for his own self needs. Alice and Donny had been friends for quite a while now. They met when Donny found one of her books laying around and he read it. It was a mystery novel. Her name was on it and when he gave it back to her, he gave her a few tips to make the mystery more realistic. Ever since that day, they've been helping each other a lot. Over lunch, he'd give her writing tips, sometimes he'd even give her the plots for her books.

"I'm going to try to solve Elizabeth's murder." Donny said, this time in a low whisper. "I need to find some suspects. You have a way of finding out things so, please? Could you help me out here? Together, we'll avenge her."

Donny looked to the girls in the room. They were all leaning in a bit closer and trying to hear what he was saying.

"Hello, ladies." Donny said.

They gave him small waves and the acted like they weren't listening afterwards.

"Tomorrow, meet me outside, at the tree that girl with the guitar is usually at."

kakemha Majjicka SomebodyElse Hiuly of Starmoon

 

[kakemha]

Alice nodded when Donny said that he needed her help. So she listened to hims intently. Donny was a friend, and a good one at that. So she knew that she would help him to matter what, plus it would be nice to know what the hell is going on right now. And Alice trusted Donny wholeheartedly, This could be a scary time for the girls, the killer could strike again, they didn't know anything. They could be targeting the girls of the school, so everyone would be cautious and the school might enforce stricter rules for the students and even faculty to follow, she trusted that Donny would protect her. And selfishly, she knew in the back of her brain someone, she wants to turn this into a story. She felt it was wrong, but it could be interesting to write about, really.

Leaning in to listen to him when he started speaking into a low whisper. "Sure, I'd be happy to help." She whispered back, and a small smile on her face. "Oh, and Donny. I trust you." She said before leaning back again to stand up properly once more. It was true, she really did trust him.

When Donny greeted her dorm mates, Alice looked over her shoulder and say them wave. She knew that they were probably trying to listen in, but paid it no mind. She saw them give Donny some waves before she turned her head to look at Donny once more. Nodding when she heard him tell her to meet at the tree. "Oh also, would you rather me not tell anyone?" She asked before he decided to leave or ask her to do something for him

SharkBark Majjicka SomebodyElse Hiuly of Starmoon

 

[SharkBark]

"Uh..I would prefer to keep this between us but, I don't know if we can do this alone. If you find anyone truly trustworthy, tell them please." Donny says.

Donny waves goodbye and leaves the girl's dormitory.

Now, he had a partner. He's certain Alice would be extremely helpful. And maybe after this, they'd write a book about their findings. Next, Donny needed a good liar. He sure wasn't the best at it and, Alice? She plays with her glasses when she's nervous. She'd definitely get caught too. Donny knew someone who wouldn't get caught though. Bennet.

Donny didn't know much about him but, he knew he had gotten away with a ton of things. He needed someone to divert people's attention. And Bennet seemed to be great at that.

Donny arrived at Bennet's after 5 long minutes of having forgotten where it was. He knocks lightly. When the door opens, it's a muscular boy with a toothpick in his mouth.

"Who're you? And what d'ya want?" The boy says in a gruff voice.

"Uh..I'm here for Bennet. Is he available?"

Majjicka kakemha

 

[truthofself]

DION VERDA.

RESIDENT BAD BOY

There was an uneasy feeling that kept pulling at Dion. Today was normal, right? It wasn't, it was supposed to be, however, fate had a different outlook on what would be normal for Dion and the rest of the students at the academy. His brain hadn't shut off since the news broke, and it only got worse when he himself had the briefest of moments to see her. Elizabeth Hartford was just another girl he was aware of. Yeah, he talked here and there with her, in and out of class, had a couple of projects in the past together. But it wasn't a strong or normal connection he had with her. He didn't even think of her when they weren't in an interaction. She was just a girl that he saw at school.

But the image of her, her dead body, the lack of life and essence and colour in her face and form. it was so strange to him. Even now sitting in the lounge of the dorm, hearing the bits of discussing coursing thought, all the little rumors people are coming up with already. Not to mention all the people trying to poke jokes at one around as if it were a healthy way to cope with the current situation. But that isn't what bothered Dion. What bothered him was the lack of information the school wished to disclose to the students to give them ease, it was the lack of information and the demand to keep them all locked within the dorms to prevent them from doing what exactly? What if Elizabeth was killed, ran through Dion's mind, what if the killer was still on the campus. Everyone in one spot could be dangerous to them.

He wasn't even lost in his thought, he was more focused on those in the lounge all those trying to come and go, but the ones who left and came back caught his attention. Donny. Another character he was faintly familiar with due to passings, he mostly was aware of his name and based off his rumored need to be solving riddles and his love for mystery. Dion was quick on his feet, keeping his eyes on Donny as they traveled thru the dorm, before stopping at the end of the hall from where Donny had stopped. Dion leaned against the wall at the end, watching and waiting, curious about what the murder mystery fiend was up to.

MENTIONS:: Donny ( SharkBark )

 

[SomebodyElse]

Elsa nodded her head at Alice. Elsa could tell Alice had been crying and to be honest walking up to the dead body of Elizabeth literally shook Elsa herself to her core.
Alot of the girls did seem to be fearing for their life as if some killer was going around targeting girls but Elsa didn't seem to think she could've seen any signs of murder when she saw the corpse. Although it so far decaying that perhaps it was too unrecognizable at that point to notice if someone had murdered her.

Her thoughts drifted to the forest and the rumor that she had heard earlier in the week. Elsa could've sworn she did see Elizabeth hanging in the forest in the couple recent weeks leading up to her death. She also had overheard from some of the professors that they had caught a student sneaking into forbidden areas of the university.

There was a pause when a knock presented itself to the door. It was Donny and he seemed to be set on solving the murder of Elizabeth Hartford. Elsa wasn't sure this was such a good idea since they were students and delving into the death of Elizabeth could probably get themselves in trouble but she did feel as though it was strange the way that the university was handling such a situation and how strange Elizabeth's actions leading up to her death was.

"You're really gonna go try to solve the murder too?" Elsa said after he had left. She had overheard the entire thing and probably more easily than any of the other girls given her closer vicinity to Alice and having already been talking to Alice when Donny had knocked on the door.

"We aren't exactly supposed to be roaming around too much though. You could get in trouble if you get caught going to prohibited places during the lockdown." Elsa said.

Did Elsa want anything to do with solving the death? Maybe. She did for her own curiosity want to know exactly what could be found in the more secretive areas of the school and the whole forest rumor was something she wanted to know more about.
"I did hear a rumor about the forest before she died. Something about if atleast five students went into the forest and played Ring Around The Rosie that the next day someone would die. Although I'm not exactly sure it really means anything or has anything to do with Elizabeth's death."

Mentions: SharkBark kakemha

 

[kakemha]

"Well, I'd like to help out Donny as much as possible." Alice responded to Elsa's question. She was a bit surprised that she over heard the conversation but it was probably because she was closer to the door at the time of the conversation. "As for getting in trouble, it's true that we might, but isn't it better than sitting ducks in our dorms?" She argued. She strongly believed that doing something, anything at all, is better than sitting in a dorm with stirring ideas about a murder.

Walking over to her bed, she rummaged through her school bag until she found a pen and her notebook. That notebook was full of her novel ideas and basically any creative thought she had. Flipping to an entirely new and clean page, she wrote in her neat and pretty handwriting at the top of the page; 'Murder of a Hatford'. She thought she would work better if she looked at this like a murder novel, it could giver some ideas and patterns that the killer may use.

Overhearing Elsa talking about a forest rumor, she made sure to write it down in her notebook. She then remembered what Donny said to her at the doorway. Ask anyone truly trustworthy to help out. Did she trust Elsa? She wasn't too sure, but Alice knew she could provide some valuable information. She debated in her head whether or not to have her come with her and Donny. She ended up deciding to ask her, if she didn't want to go, she didn't have to.

"Hey, you can come tomorrow, if you want." She whispered to Elsa, it was up to her to make her own decision.

SomebodyElse

 

[SomebodyElse]

It was the day of the meeting. Although Elsa still felt uneasy sneaking out but perhaps there could be something found out with some investigation after all. Although she felt like whoever murdered Elizabeth could still be lurking around. She didn't really want to end up as the next dead person.

Still her and Alice were supposed to meet Donny by tree so that's where they would be heading. Hopefully Donny was already there and preferably not dead or else that would mean that whoever killed Elizabeth was already onto them.

Elsa made her way to the tree where Elizabeth would hangout and found out that neither Alice or Donny had yet to be there. Hopefully soon they would both arrive and whatever Donny was planning he would tell her.

Her thoughts once again drifted to the forest rumor. She felt like sooner or later she would have to get to the bottom of the rumor. Her own curiosity about the rumor had only been amplified by the death of Elizabeth.

Hiuly of Starmoon DrBezendrine kakemha truthofself Majjicka SharkBark