Death of a Teenage Princess

by Samuel Low

Artwork by Sunspike.

One

I would have never guessed that Orianna Banks would commit suicide. Maybe

I’m being a little naïve, but she seemed to have everything sorted out in

her life. She was beautiful, intelligent, funny, sexy and creative. In

short, she was the exact opposite of what everyone else was like at school.

Even the way she walked betrayed her differences. Her long shiny black hair

and piercing green eyes could penetrate even the hardest heart. She was a

sophisticated angel.

But now she’s dead.

Thinking about it, that’s probably what got to her - being surrounded all

the time by shallow people with shallower dreams. All the guys in her year

either idolised her as an untouchable goddess or - like most of the jocks in

the football team - simply wanted to fuck her.

She was in the trap of being popular but having no real friends. Others

adored her, but no one simply talked to her I think.

Or that’s what I like to think. It’s comforting for me to imagine that all

those popular people at school were actually having a worse time than me.

Even though everything looked fine on the outside, deep down they were as

miserable as me in my self-pity.

Coming back home from a business trip on Monday morning Mr Banks had

discovered his daughter Orianna naked in a full bath with her wrists slit.

The investigation and autopsy ruled out foul play and a verdict of suicide

was recorded. She had left no note - no message of explanation – nothing but

her dead body as an enigmatic final statement to the world. This beautiful

sixteen year old had decided on that Friday night to sleep eternally and no

one knew why.

The mourning was a pathetic sight to behold. The whole school went into

hysteria over someone that they didn’t truly know personally, especially

Principal Darwin.

Sure, they knew of her, but had they ever stopped to talk to her? To ask her

how she was?

No.

All they cared about was that an attractive piece of eye candy had been

stolen.

A trophy.

A symbol.

On the day of her funeral the school remained open. Principal Darwin had

insisted that ’life must go on.’ Unsurprisingly, only half the amount of

students turned up.

The atmosphere was false, I needed to surround myself with people who

weren’t pretending to be really sad at Orianna’s death.

‘Such a shame isn’t it Ross? A hot girl like her slitting her wrists,’ my

friend Ulrich was baseless when it came to emotions. I never liked him much,

he was spotty and had a stupid moustache that you could hardly see because

of his light blonde hair. But when you’re as unpopular as me you have to

take your friends where you can find them.

‘She should have rang me up for some action before she did it,’ said Victor,

who was to all intents and purposes, Ulrich’s clone - except he had ginger

hair, sideburns and freckles instead of a moustache. He was not as confident

as Ulrich but just as macho.

‘Yeah I bet! She probably did fuck you that’s why she committed suicide!’

Ulrich laughed and looked at me expecting me to join in. I smiled slightly

just to be polite.

’Fuck you Ulrich! You… donkey sucker,’ snarled Victor. I couldn’t help

giggling at the image of Ulrich giving a blow job to a donkey. Victor was

useless at insults but at least his attempts at being venomous were amusing.

‘So it was the funeral today. I guess most used it as an excuse to stay at

home and pretend to be sad,’ this was typical of Ulrich, he never

acknowledged an insult he simply changed the subject.

‘It’s sad, none of them really knew her. They’re all just putting on a show.

It's like the more they grieve the more attention they think they’ll get,’ I

was trying to inject some serious conversation.

‘Whatever,’ Victor was definitely not interested in what I had to say.

‘So you wanted to bone her too then Ross?’ Ulrich punched me in the arm.

‘I didn’t say that.’

‘Yes you did, just in a more fancy way,’ Ulrich laughed.

By now you may have guessed that Victor and Ulrich are obsessed with girls

and sex. Not really surprising as they are teenage boys. It’s kind of ironic

then that they are both so ugly and overweight.

‘Shall we tell Ross about the plan?’ Victor mumbled.

‘Hmm. I don’t think he’s ready.’

‘Ready for what?’ I asked.

‘Forget about it Ross,’ Ulrich turned his back on me.

‘Victor - tell me what is this plan about?’ They had certainly caught my

interest.

‘I don’t know. I think it’s up to Ulrich to decide whether you should know

or not,’ Victor looked very serious.

‘Ross if you’re really that interested, meet us up outside Victor’s house at

midnight tonight,’ Ulrich walked off without saying another word.

‘Midnight? But it’s a school night, my parents will freak,’ I reasoned with

Victor.

‘Well Ross,’ Victor started to walk off too, ‘if you don’t want to know,

then you just don’t want to know. I guess we won’t be seeing you tonight.’

They had me hooked, we all knew that I wouldn’t be able to resist turning up

to find out what their plan was.

Two

It was cold and dark, as usual for this time of year. Victor’s house was on

the outside of town, but the distance wasn’t too bad on a bike. As I cycled

I imagined what it must have been like at Orianna Banks’ funeral today. I

wondered what the priest would have said. I doubt he would have mentioned

that Orianna would be going to hell for committing suicide.

Hypocrites.

The wind made my cheeks feel sore and my nose was running too, I wasn’t

feeling too well but at least I was near Victor’s house. It was ten to

midnight.

‘ROSS YOU MADE IT!’ Victor shouted as I came to a halt outside his house.

‘Sssh! What if you wake up your parents?’ I was feeling nervous.

‘They’re on holiday so don’t worry,’ Victor shined his flashlight in my

face. ‘C’mon let’s go, leave your bike.’

‘Where’s Ulrich?’ I was chaining my bike to a fence.

‘He’s waiting. Let’s hurry he’ll get pissed off if we’re late.’

‘I gotta lock my bike.’

‘Leave it! There’s no one around to steal it at this time of night is

there?’ Victor walked off into the darkness.

‘OK, just wait!’ I leave my bike unlocked and run after Victor.

Into the dark.

Three

‘The cemetery? What are we doing here Victor?’ I stumbled in the dark trying

to keep up with Victor’s hectic pace. He was the one who had the flashlight

and really annoyed me by pointing it into my eyes whenever he talked at me.

‘C’mon Ross,’ Victor sounded disappointed in me, ‘use you brain, why do

think we’re here?’

‘Orianna?’

‘Bingo! We’re here to pay our last respects,’ Victor threw his bag over the

fence and then jumped and clambered over, ‘c’mon Ross, Ulrich is waiting for

us.’

‘Okay,’ it was cold and my hands felt numb. I doubted whether I could make

it over the fence without help, but a surge of adrenaline helped me just

crawl over.

I heard a ripping sound as I landed the other side.

‘Shit! You’ve fucked your trousers up man!’ Victor laughed out loud at the

sight of my torn jeans.

‘Oh fuck!’ The left leg had split all the way down the side, I had only just

bought them a few weeks ago.

‘Let’s go!’ Victor ran off whilst still giggling. I got to my feet and

chased after him as I didn’t want to be left alone in a cemetery at night.

‘Do you know where you’re going?’

‘Of course, trust me my little one,’ Victor’s run had now slowed down into a

jog.

‘Concentrate then,’ I could feel the cold night air against my left leg. ‘I

don’t want to get lost. This place is creepy.’

‘Oh, I see,’ Victor came to a halt. ‘Um, actually Ross I think I took a

wrong turn somewhere.’

‘What?’ I knew I shouldn’t have trusted Victor’s sense of direction.

‘But, let’s see. I think if we retrace our steps we can find out where we

went wrong.’

‘WE?’ This annoyed me as Victor always tries to deflect the blame. ‘It was

you who got us lost. I had nothing to do with it.’

‘Calm down Ross, it’s only a graveyard,’ Victor shined his flashlight in my

eyes again.

Suddenly two hands grabbed my sides.

‘AAAAGGGGGHHHH!’ I screamed and dived on the floor.

‘Boo,’ it was Ulrich who had sneaked up behind me.

‘God Ross - you even scared me with that girlie scream!’ Victor burst out

into more laughter.

‘Did you see that?’ Ulrich started to laugh too. ‘He pissed his pants.’

‘Very funny guys,’ I slowly got to my feet - this time with two flashlights

blazing in my face.

‘Look at his jeans!’ Ulrich pointed and laughed.

‘I know. Get this, he split them when he climbed over the fence!’ added

Victor.

‘Ross! You are such a clumsy shit!’

‘I get it. So you guys thought it would be really funny to scare the crap

out of me. Is that the plan? Very funny,’ I was cold and wanted to go home.

‘Wait Ross,’ Ulrich managed to calm his laughter. ‘Sorry about that, just a

little joke. Look over there behind you, see that patch of dirt. That’s

where Orianna Banks is buried.’

‘So where’s the gravestone then?’ I strained my eyes staring out into the

darkness.

‘Idiot!’ Victor has finally stopped laughing. ‘It takes a while to carve a

gravestone y’know. It’s not something that they’re gonna rush.’

‘Oh, um. Well shall we go and pay our respects?’ I look over to Ulrich who

nodded in response.

‘That’s the plan,’ he folded his arms and walked over to Orianna’s final

resting place, we all followed him single file.

We stood around the freshly filled grave in silence, unable to look at each

other as we stared at the floor.

‘Shouldn’t someone say something?’ I suggest.

‘We once knew a girl called Orianna, she was special and we’ll all miss her.

I hope that in some way she’s found the peace she was looking for,’ Ulrich

sounded serious.

‘I never knew you could be so touching,’ I was impressed.

‘OK that’s enough foreplay let’s get down to business,’ Victor put on some

gloves. Then he picked up some spades by the side of the grave and threw one

to Ulrich.

He also offered me one!

‘What is this?’

‘A spade!’ Ulrich answered sarcastically as he put on some gloves.

‘What… uh, why?’ I was disorientated.

‘We’re digging up Orianna Banks! That’s what we’re doing,’ Ulrich had a

menacing look in his eyes.

‘Why? What’s the point?’ I felt a bit scared of Ulrich and Victor.

‘What do you think we’re gonna do Ross?’ Victor offered me the spade, but I

still didn’t accept it. ‘We’re gonna fuck her. She’s only been dead a few

days!’

‘I bet you never thought you’d ever loose your virginity to Orianna Banks

did you Ross?’ Ulrich started digging away, disturbing the freshly laid

dirt.

Four

I was felt sick inside, but at least I’d managed to avoid Ulrich and Victor

for a few days. I had also avoided school. But one thing I couldn’t avoid

was work. The boss at my part time job at the Pizza Palace was a tyrant who

accepted no excuses for non-attendance.

‘You’re late Ross,’ my boss, Mrs Viper, stood rigid with her old wrinkled

face skewed in anger.

‘I’m sorry Mrs Viper, my family…’ I was interrupted as I put on my uniform.

‘Shut up!’ Mrs Viper shouted. ‘Don’t insult me with your lies, just get to

work. Table eight needs serving. Do it now.’

‘Okay, Okay,’ I run to table eight, fixing on my cap as I ran. ‘Hi - can I

take your order?’

‘Yes Ross, we’d like a plain cheese and tomato pizza,’ Ulrich smiled.

‘Thin base,’ added Victor.

‘What are you guys doing here?’ I was thrown off balance by seeing them

there. I felt vulnerable.

‘We’re just here for some delicious pizza aren’t we Victor?’ Ulrich smiled.

‘Indeed Ulrich my fine friend,’ Victor picked up the salt seller and started

to pour it over the table.

‘What is it? What do you want?’ My patience and nerves were severed. The

last thing I needed was to see these two again.

‘Are you deaf Ross? What do you think Ulrich - is he deaf?’ asked Victor.

‘I think you’re right Victor. Ross must be deaf otherwise he would have

heard us ordering a pizza.’

‘A plain cheese and tomato pizza, right no problem,’ I scribbled in down in

my notepad. If they wanted to play games then I was ready to play games.

‘Anything to drink Sirs?’

‘No thanks,’ Victor shook his head.

‘A glass of water with ice please,’ Ulrich winked at me.

‘OK, coming right up.’

‘Ross wait!’ shouted Ulrich, I stopped and turned around. ‘A thin base - 

don’t forget!’

‘Yeah!’ added Victor as they both burst into laughter.

***

The whole night was just unbearable, Ulrich and Victor sat there all the

time. They whispered as I walked by their table and laughed when my back was

turned. I felt their eyes on me all the time, I thought the night was never

going to end.

Finally it came to closing time, but Ulrich and Victor where still there.

Perhaps they were going for the world’s slowest pizza eating record or

something. Mrs Viper told me to throw them out. I just knew it that she

would ask me.

‘OK guys, it’s closing time. Time to go home.’

‘What if we don’t want to leave?’ Ulrich stared into my eyes defiantly.

‘Yeah? What if that we like it here so much that we don’t want to leave?’

added Victor.

‘Yes. What would you do then Ross? Beat us up and throw us out? Is that what

you’d do?’

‘Or call the police? Is that it Ross? Are you gonna call the police?’ Victor

stretched making himself comfortable in his chair.

‘Can you just go, please?’ I had no energy left for arguing with them.

‘What do you say Ulrich?’ Victor asked his friend imitating my voice.

‘Well…’ Ulrich ran his fingers through his transparent moustache. ‘Since you

asked so nicely Ross, we’ll go.’

Victor and Ulrich got to their feet and walked slowly out of the restaurant.

I locked the door immediately.

‘What was their problem?’ Mrs Viper eyed me suspiciously.

‘No idea,’ I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

‘How come they knew your name?’ She wasn’t letting this go.

‘I think that maybe they go to my school, y’know Darkwood High.’

‘Oh, the school that Orianna Banks used to go to?’ She commented dryly.

‘I’ll get on with the cleaning.’

‘You do that.’ Mrs Viper went back into the kitchen.

***

It took me around an hour to finish cleaning the tables and to mop up the

floor. I was in no hurry, the last thing I wanted was to bump into Ulrich or

Victor outside.

Finally I left for home, it was dark and cold outside. I walked over to

where my bike should be, but it wasn’t there. I was sure I had chained it up

earlier.

‘Oh dear Ross!’ It was unmistakably Victor’s voice. ‘Has someone stolen your

little bike?’

‘Look just give me my bike back,’ I pleaded.

‘But we didn’t take it. I swear,’ said Ulrich. I could now see them both in

this dimly lit carpark.

‘What do you want?’ I was frustrated at all these games.

‘Look at this Ross?’ Ulrich held up a spade. ‘Unlike me and Victor you

choose not to wear gloves. Imagine what would happen if this spade with your

fingerprints on was found by the side of a dug up grave?’

‘Indeed? The consequences would be tragic,’ Victor smiled.

‘STOP THESE FUCKING GAMES!’ I yelled making my face turn red.

‘Calm down Ross,’ Ulrich put down the spade, ‘all we want is your help. Help

us this once and you can keep this spade.’

‘What do you want?’ I asked, but I felt I already know what the answer is

going to be.

‘It’s hard work digging. It tires us out,’ Victor said.

‘That’s right. It’s hard work. So will you help us?’ Ulrich offered me the

spade.

‘Who is it this time? I don’t want to join in,’ I asked taking the spade.

‘What?’ Ulrich looked offended. ‘Orianna you idiot!’

‘What? Did you think we wanted to fuck some random corpse like a freak?’

Victor snarled.

Five

‘OK you guys have had your fun, now let’s bury her and get this over with. I

am not going to help you again,’ I felt sick.

‘Put her back?’ Ulrich started to laugh as he zipped his trousers. ‘Did you

hear that Victor? He wants us to put her back?’

‘What?’ Victor joined in the laughter.

‘You’ve both had your fun. Now let’s put her back before anyone notices,’ I

picked up my shovel.

‘We’re not going to bury her again. We’re going to keep her this time,’

Ulrich smiled.

‘That’s right. She’s far too beautiful to be locked down, a prisoner under

the earth,’ Victor looked lovingly at Orianna.

‘BUT SHE’S DEAD!’ I yelled at them to try to make them understand.

‘Ssssh!’ Ulrich put his finger to his mouth. ‘Do you really want to get

caught here Ross? If you do then why don’t you scream some more!’

‘For god’s sake Ross, don’t be so overemotional,’ Victor shook his head.

‘Orianna is coming home with me! We’ll just fill the grave in again and no

one will be the wiser.’

‘No. Orianna is coming with me!’ Ulrich snapped. ‘It’s your turn next week.

That’s what we agreed.’

‘I guess so,’ Victor forced a nervous smile, ‘now let’s fill this grave in

before it gets light.’

Six

‘Ross?’ someone knocked on my bedroom door, ‘Ross can I come in?’

‘Okay,’ I didn’t mind since it was my brother. He opened the door and sat

down beside me.

‘How are you feeling? Better?’ he looked very concerned.

‘A little,’ I faked a cough.

‘Do you think you’d be ready to face up to school again?’

It looked like he had been sent in on a mission from our parents.

‘I don’t know,’ I stared out the window.

‘It’s just that people are starting to ask questions. Did you know your

friends Ulrich and Victor haven’t been in school either?’

‘Really?’

‘Yes, they’ve been phoning in sick too,’ my brother looked uncomfortable,

like he was about to approach an uncomfortable subject. ‘Ross, look I know

you’ve had a falling out with them. But you can’t just hide from them

forever. You have to learn to stand up for yourself.’

‘I think I’ll try giving school a shot tomorrow,’ I surprised my brother by

agreeing so easily. Since the other two weren’t in school I had no reason

not to go.

‘Oh… good, good! That’s good!’ My brother smiled and stood up. ‘I’m glad we

had this talk Ross. You get some rest and I’ll see you in the morning.’

‘You bet. Goodnight.’

‘Night,’ My brother turned the light off as he left the room, leaving me in

darkness.

Under my bedcovers I felt safe, like no one could touch me. It was so

tranquil that night, I started to drift off into a deep sleep.

***

There was a noise on the window that disturbed my sleep. Then another, it

sounded as if something was hitting my window. I slowly got out of bed and

crept up to the window. As I reached for it I saw something hit the glass,

it was very small. I looked out the window and saw who was throwing the

things - it was Ulrich. I opened the window a little.

‘I have nothing to say to you, so go away,’ I whispered.

‘Ross I need your help, Victor has gone mad. We’ve got to stop him!’ Ulrich

looked much stressed.

‘What’s happened?’ I asked.

‘Come down, I’ll tell you. We need to find him,’ Ulrich was very pale.

‘Please Ross, I need your help.’

‘Okay, Okay. Wait a second,’ I put on some jeans and a jumper. I found shoes

but no socks. I climbed out my window and jumped. It’s not too far down and

the leaves helped cushion my fall. I looked around and see Ulrich walking

over towards me.

‘I feel guilty now. I want to put Orianna back in her coffin where she

belongs. I told Victor this and he freaked out. So he’s taken her. Victor

has taken her for good. He won’t answer the door to me. You need to talk to

him. He needs to see sense. I mean, his parents will be back from Europe

soon for god’s sake!’ Ulrich's speech was slurred, like he had been

drinking. He was so pale, as if the colour had been drained out of him. His

blonde hair was now almost white and all his spots were red and rash like.

‘You look ill Ulrich, I think maybe you’ve caught something off her.’

‘DON’T BE SO FUCKING STUPID!’ Ulrich exploded in anger, but then regained

his composure. ‘I always used a condom. Now enough about me, let’s stop

Victor before we all get into deep shit.’

‘What can he do?’ I asked.

‘Only like tell everybody what has happened. I bet if he gets caught he'll

take us down with him!’ Ulrich put his hand on my shoulder. ‘We have to stop

him. You need to make him see sense.’

‘God… OK let’s go,’ I was annoyed at all this crap, I just want to be done

with the whole situation. I grabbed my bike and we headed out to Victor’s

house.

Seven

‘Victor?’ I knocked politely, ‘Victor it’s Ross, open up. I just want to

talk.’

There is no reply and all the lights were off. It was a cold night and I was

wishing that I could still be snuggled up in bed rather than stuck out in

the chilled night air. Ulrich was hiding in the bushes, he reckoned that

Victor would panic if he saw him - so he hid. I was knocking on the door for

fifteen minutes. I suspected that Victor wasn’t at home.

‘Victor? VICTOR? Are you home? It’s Ross. I just wanna talk, that’s all.’

At last the door opened partially. It was on a latch so it couldn’t be

opened more than a fraction. Through the little crack I saw Victor in the

darkness - like Ulrich he was very pale.

‘Ross what is it?’ Victor spoke only in a barely audible whisper - it was

like all the breath had been pushed out of his lungs.

‘How’s it going Victor? I haven’t seen you in school, I was worried,’ I

tried avoiding Victor’s eyes, as looking into them had sent a shiver down my

spine.

‘I don’t need school,’ Victor looked exhausted.

‘Ulrich wondered if you were okay too?’ I ask.

‘Fuck him,’ Victor barely managed to spit the words out.

‘Uh… can I come in for a coffee or something as it’s really cold out here,’

I was starting to shiver - I really wished I had put socks on.

‘No.’ Victor closed his eyes and shook his head. ‘No, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no.’

‘I take that as a “no” then Victor?’ I laughed trying to lighten the mood.

‘C’mon let me in. Let me see that you’re okay.’

‘No.’

‘Um…’ I started to lose my patience. ‘How’s Orianna Banks then?’

As soon as I mentioned her name Victor’s hand shot through the crack in the

door and seized my throat. His grip is impressively strong as I could hardly

breathe.

‘YOU MENTION HER NAME ONCE MORE AND I’LL FUCKING RIP YOU APART!’ Victor

screamed, his eyes were intense and black. ‘I’ll let you go now, but if I

catch you or that cocksucker Ulrich around here trying to steal my princess

then I’ll make you not live to regret it!’

‘Urrgh!’ I squealed as I dropped to the floor. The door was slammed in my

face. It appeared Ulrich was right, Victor had totally lost his mind. I ran

back over to where Ulrich was hiding.

‘That could have gone better,’ Ulrich was sat with his legs crossed.

‘He’s totally lost it!’ I sat down next to him, my throat felt bruised. ‘I’m

scared to go back there, his eyes… I mean his eyes were strange.’

‘He’s obsessed with her.’

‘Oh yeah, that’s something,’ I remembered what Victor had said to me. ‘He

called her “my princess”. Is that fucked or what?’

‘His princess?’ Ulrich shook his head and let out a laugh of disbelief. ‘You

are right he has lost it.’

‘What do we do now?’ I yawned.

‘I’m gonna sit here and wait.’

‘Wait for what?’

‘Wait for the right moment to strike,’ Ulrich’s glare did not deviate from

the house.

‘Well I promised to go to school tomorrow so I better get back. It’s late

y’know?’ I walked back over to my bike. ‘Are you really gonna wait here all

night?’

‘As long as it takes - I’ll be here,’ Ulrich stared at Victor’s house with a

look of hatred on his face. ‘He must be stopped.’

‘Be careful, he’s dangerous,’ I started to cycle home.

‘Don’t worry,’ I heard Ulrich say. ‘So am I.’

Eight

‘And remember, Principal Darwin wants everyone to attend assembly tomorrow.

He says it’s important so don’t miss it or I’ll kick your asses.’ The

teacher yawned shortly before the bell went.

I got to my feet and walked slowly out of the classroom, I was the last one

to leave. I felt very tired because of staying up so late the night before

and then having to make it through a whole day of school. There had been no

sign of Ulrich, I wondered if he was okay.

At school people had giving up mourning for Orianna Banks as some new fad

had arrived to grab their attention. Only her closet friends and goths still

wore black. I made my way outside unnoticed to the bike sheds. I started to

unlock bike and got ready to go home when a weak voice distracted me.

‘Ross? Ross?’ It was Victor, his skin was pure white and his hair grey. He

had loads on red spots covering all over his skin. He looked as if he had

lost a lot of weight.

‘Victor!’ I backed off, my bruises underneath my turtleneck sweater were

still fresh from last night. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Ulrich…’ Victor looked really weak as if it was a hard job just to stand.

He leaned against my bike for support. ‘Ulrich has stolen her…’

‘What? What has happened? Speak louder I can hardly hear you.’

‘Ulrich has taken her. Help me, help me get her back…’ Victor was breathing

heavily.

‘Look I’m not going to play in your silly games anymore,’ I took a step

closer to my bike which Victor was leaning on. ‘Now let me have my bike and

go.’

‘But… Ulrich… My princess…’ Victor was breathing fast. ‘You talk… talk to

him…’

‘You know were he lives Victor. You go and see him and sort it out between

you. I don’t want to be involved anymore,’ I tried to take my bike but

Victor was holding onto it.

‘You… help… me?’ Victor looked into my eyes, it seemed like he was heavily

sedated.

‘No,’ I grabbed my bike from him making Victor fall to the ground. ‘No, no,

no, no, no, no!’

‘My princess…’ Victor was still slowly getting to his feet as I cycled off

home.

I cycled fast, riding with the strong wind. I looked behind to make sure

that no-one was following me. The way Ulrich and Victor had been acting

recently had got me really paranoid. All I wanted to do now was to get home

and lock myself up in my room.

***

I dumped my bike on the lawn and ran inside my house. I almost leapt up the

stairs to my bedroom. I stopped at my bedroom door because it was slightly

open.

I was sure I had closed it in the morning. I silently sneaked up to the door

and listened. I heard someone breathing in there.

Nine

‘Ulrich!’ What the fuck do you think you are doing in my room?’

Opening my bedroom door I was greeted by the unpleasant sight of a withered

Ulrich sprawled out across my bed. He looked seriously ill, his hair and

skin were both now completely white. All his colour was drained from his

body.

‘Victor… trying to kill me…’ Ulrich’s voice was so weak I could hardly make

out what he said. His breathing sounded laboured.

‘Victor? I just saw him at school,’ I sat on the edge of the bed, ‘he says

you stole her.’

‘I DIDN’T STEAL HER!’ Ulrich screamed suddenly as he came alive. ‘SHE

BELONGS TO ME! SHE’S BACK WHERE SHE BELONGS!’

‘What?’ I jumped off my bed in shock. ‘YOU BROUGHT ORIANNA BANKS HERE?’

‘It’s not safe at my place,’ said Ulrich as he looked out the window. ‘She

needs to be protected from that psychopath.’

‘OK time-out! Time-out!’ I made a ‘T’ sign with my hands. ‘Time to check

back into reality here Ulrich. You’ve brought some dead bitch into my house,

I want you to take that rotting slut and leave.’

Ulrich jumped off the bed onto his feet, he walked slowly over to me. He

smelt bad, it was really overpowering, almost like he had forgot to wash for

the past three years. I stood my ground and tried to avoid looking in his

eyes, but they were too powerful to ignore. So dense and dark, they reminded

me of Victor’s eyes when he strangled me. Ulrich stood almost nose to nose

with me. He wore a blank expression, I felt afraid and the sweat was

beginning to gather.

‘I’ll say this only once,’ Ulrich took a deep breath. ‘Never, ever speak

like that about my princess again. If you do I’ll peel your skin off and

roll you around in salt for the rest of your life. The rest of your life.’

‘Uh, sorry,’ I apologised immediately out of fear. Ulrich had a vice like

grip on my arms. He was holding them so tightly that the blood flow to my

hands had stopped. ‘I meant to say it’s not safe here either.’

‘What do you mean?’ Ulrich frowned.

‘Well Victor came looking for me before. I was the only other person to know

about all this,’ I was thinking fast, my mind racing for a excuse to get rid

of Ulrich. ‘It’s logical he’ll come here at some point. You need to take

your princess somewhere safer than here…’

‘Oh,’ Ulrich let go of my numb arms with a confused expression on his face.

It looked like he was trying to process an incredibly difficult calculation

in his head. ‘I see… Yes, yes, yes, you have a point Ross. Maybe it isn’t so

safe here.’

‘Great! Go! Go! Quickly before Victor gets here. He could be here any

second!’ A surge of adrenaline made me exaggerate. ‘Take your princess and

find somewhere safe for her.’

‘Yes!’ Ulrich nodded as he strode out the room.

‘Where is your princess?’ I asked following him. I didn’t need to wait for

the reply as I saw Ulrich walk into my bathroom. Looking in I could see the

bath was full and had loads of foamy bubbles on top. Ulrich walked over to

the bath and pulled out a something human sized wrapped in a wet blanket.

‘She wanted a bath. She felt unclean,’ Ulrich cradled the body in his arms

and walked out the bathroom.

‘Ah, I see,’ I was too nervous about my parents or brother coming home to

care about the weirdness around me. All I wanted was Ulrich and “Orianna”

out of my house. As he walked a trail of water followed him soaking the

carpet.

‘What's that?’ Ulrich stopped at the bottom of the stairs and held one of

his ears closer to the wet blanketed body. ‘I see… Ross?’

‘Yes Ulrich?’ They were nearly at the door - I wanted them go so badly.

‘My princess wants to thank you. She says you’re next,’ Ulrich then stood

there staring into space for a while. As the minutes passed I keep glancing

over at the clock - if he didn’t leave soon my parents would be here.

‘Okay say thank you back. Now go Ulrich, Victor might be here any second!’ I

ran over to the front door and opened it. ‘Now go! NOW!’

‘Yes! Thank you my friend!’ Ulrich ran out of the house carrying ‘Orianna.’

I slammed the door shut and almost collapsed with relief. Looking around I

noticed the carpet was soaking wet in patches. I then remembered the full

bath so I ran back upstairs to pull the plug. As I waited for the water to

drain I fanned my hands through the foam bubbles in effort to destroy them.

Then I felt my hand brush something. Without thinking I grabbed this object

out of the water.

In my hand was a decomposed finger.

Ten

It was morning assembly at school, I thankfully felt fine despite throwing

up several times last night. My parents had freaked when they saw that the

carpet was soaking wet, but I lied saying I had got out of the bath to

answer the phone. At night I had barricaded myself in my room when I slept,

but I still felt uneasy knowing that Victor and Ulrich were out there. The

finger made me feel all the more uncomfortable, it was a nagging reminder of

what had happened.

‘OK settle down, settle down,’ Principal Darwin spoke in firm voice that

echoed in the large assembly hall. The chattering subsided gradually.

Principal Darwin stood before a row of teachers sat on chairs upon a

slightly elevated stage. The teacher’s chairs were much more comfortable

than our hard ones, the fact that our posture was being helped was little

consolation.

‘Today I was going to give a lecture about contraceptives. But I’m not going

to give that lecture today. Something had happened last night which affects

us all. I’m afraid another tragedy has befallen us…’ Principal Darwin spoke

slowly, he dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief before resuming. ‘Only

recently we lost a beautiful talented student Orianna Banks, and now I’m sad

to report that two more students have followed her to a tragic early end.’

The talking exploded immediately and everybody looked around seeing if

anyone was missing. Hoping to notice if anyone they knew was dead, like some

sort of morbid sport.

I had I feeling that I already knew.

‘Please settle down,’ Principal Darwin gradually regained the hungry

audience’s attention, ‘last night the parents of Victor Benning came home

from travelling to find their son - dead. Also this morning the parents of

Ulrich Lalader fold him in bed - dead. Their deaths were near identical,

they both looked drained.

‘Now I know It’s a too early to speculate but I believe that these deaths

are drug related. So I appeal to you all, if anyone knows anything please

come and see me. You won’t be in trouble, I promise you.’ It looked as if

Principal Darwin could not handle this extra stress - his speech was broken

and disjointed.

The gossiping resumed. I scratched my forearm - it was really itching for

some reason. Looking down I almost jumped out of my seat. My forearm was

pale and had the same kind of spots on it that Victor and Ulrich had had.

The itching was so intense that it felt like burning.

I could only half-listen to Principal Darwin as he resumed talking.

‘…their bodies contorted… a real waste of your youth… not believe that they

were alone… connection here that someone in this… devastated. Imagine if

your sister or… cool? Cool? Is that what you are scared of not… and life is

precious. We should… help. Any at all…’

Darwin’s drone was hard to follow. I was scratching my forearm so hard now

that blood starting to come. I stopped and looked around, but I couldn’t

concentrate as the irritation was all consuming. I held onto my arm hard

just as Ulrich had done last night. I used all my remaining energy to

concentrate back on Principal Darwin.

‘I know it doesn’t sound “cool”, but that’s the way it is. Imagine…’

Darwin’s voice was interrupted by a loud knock coming from the side door. He

frowned as he looked over at the door, he hated it when people were late for

his assemblies. ‘Who is it? Come on in.’

The door opened slowly and in to a stunned audience walked Orianna Banks.

She looked perfectly healthy, and somehow, she was alive.

‘Sorry I’m late Principal Darwin, I’d overslept. I felt like I’ve been

knocked out for weeks,’ Orianna took no notice of the stunned expressions on

everyone’s faces as she walked to find a seat. She was walking in my

direction and shimmied along my row and sat down right next to me. Everyone

was still silent in shock. ‘Look I said I’m sorry!’

‘Uh, right. OK Orianna. Um… So as I was saying…’ Principal Darwin had lost

the plot totally. He was so confused that all he could think of doing was to

resume talking to try gain a handle on the situation.

‘Ross!’ Orianna whispered in my ear, I looked over ignoring the antagonising

pain on my forearms.

‘Y-y-yes Orianna?’ I stuttered.

Orianna winked and then raised her hand. The hand was missing its middle

finger. She pointed at the gap of where it should be and smiled teasingly.

Then I remembered what Ulrich had told me last night before he left my

house.

‘My princess wants to thank you. She says you’re next.’

I was next.

I was next.

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