The minutes hand of the clock above the chalkboard landed on 12. A ssecond later, the last bell of the day rang throughout the school. Montgomery sighed as she turned her final exam over and stood up. There were still ten questions left unanswered by the time the bell rang. She had performed similarly on all her other exams today.

As she got ready to leave and join the rest of the students in filing out and leaving school for once and for all, a girl wearing a blazer and flower print skirt, entered the room and waved at her. She waved back.

The two walked together, heading towards the main entrance. "So, how’d it go?" the girl asked.

"Probably got an F," Montgomery said. She flicked her hand upwards as if she didn’t care that she had just bombed the final. She had already been accepted to Georgetown on an athletic scholarship and she felt confident that her teachers would pass her out of pity.

"How come Julian wasn’t waiting for you?" her friend asked.

"He finished his exams yesterday. He’s supposed to call," Montgomery said as she let out a visible sigh. She moved close to her friend and whispered. "I think I’m going to dump him."

"Why?" her friend asked.

Montgomery looked around. She quickly picked out George and Greg, two of Julian’s closest friends, walking nearby. "I’ll tell you when we get home," she said.

"All right," her friend said. Suddenly, someone grabbed her arm. She shrieked.

"Earchon Franche! It’s just me," said the boy who had touched her.

"Pernwall! That was highly inappropriate," Montgomery said to the Indian sophomore.

"No no, sorry, I just didn’t know how else to get your attention," Pernwall said with a bit of a stammer. He didn’t appear comfortable talking to girls. "Hey, can we go somewhere private?" he asked.

Montgomery turned to her friend, Earchon Franche. She studied her face to see how she would react. Strangely enough, Earchon Franche’s face had turned pale, as if she had just seen a ghost. "Something’s up, isn’t there?" Montgomery said, intervening. "I mean, I’ve never even seen the two of you talk before."

"I’m really sorry to involve you in this," Pernwall said to Montgomery. "But, this is really an important, private matter. Now, if you please," he said to Earchon Franche as he motioned to the nearby hallway that led to the band room and girls’ gymnasium.

"I’m coming, if you don’t mind," Montgomery said to him. She stood in front of her friend, shielding her from the lecherous boy.

"I swear I do not have bad intentions, and she knows it," he said firmly.

Montgomery sighed. "Okay, but I’m still coming."

*

The three gathered at the door at the far end of the hallway that Pernwall had pointed to. Montgomery surveyed the area to make sure they were alone. Outside, she saw students heading towards the parking lot and away from the school. Inside, students emptied their lockers and walked away. Nobody she knew had tried to come up to them. She turned to Pernwall and Earchon Franche. "Okay, what’s going on?"

"Do you remember Jermaine Banks?" Pernwall asked.

"Yeah of course, there was a big hoopla a couple years ago over his disappearance, along with the others," Montgomery said.

"And you knew about Earchon Franche and Jermaine, right?" Pernwall asked.

Montgomery didn’t know anything about her friend and Jermaine. She turned to her. "What happened between you two?"

"We dated when I was in 8th grade," Earchon Franche said. Her face flushed red as she stared at the ground.

Montgomery could not contain her surprise. "That was you? The middle school girl whom Jermaine constantly bragged about being with? Wow. Girl, I had no idea! Why didn’t you tell me?"

Earchon Franche looked at her blankly. "Well, you know what happened to him and all."

"Oh right," Montgomery said. She then looked at Pernwall. "Okay, so that’s the background for all this. What crazy thing happened that you needed to bring this up to her?"

Sweat drizzled from Pernwall’s forehead. He trembled nervously. He appeared hesitant to spill the beans, but he mustered the courage to do so. "I… I got a message from him today."

"What?" Montgomery blurted out. "Is this a joke?" she said angrily.

"N-no, it’s not! And, it bothered me all day. I really wanted to tell you, Earchon Franche, because I knew about your connection with him."

"Go on," Earchon Franche said.

Pernwall continued. "I was in the computer lab this morning, just checking twitter before class. I still had Jermaine on the list of people I followed, never took him off, and twitter hadn’t canceled his account or anything. Anyway, I log on and there is a message from him."

"Wait, it could have just been some prankster who hacked his account," Montgomery said.

"I’m not finished. He had a link to a photo in his message. It was a photo of him."

"A photo? What kind of photo?" Montgomery asked.

"I don’t know, but he wasn’t the only person in the photo. He…" Pernwall started stammering.

"Go on, who else was in it?" Earchon Franche asked.

"I, I don’t know. Here, I saved it on my phone," Pernwall said as he pulled out his Treo, punched a few buttons, and then showed it to the two girls.

"Oh my God," Montgomery shrieked.

The photo was of Jermaine, dressed in tattered clothing and sporting a full beard. He looked incredibly skinny, like he had lost more than 30 lbs. But what freaked Montgomery out was not Jermaine’s strange appearance, but what sat near him.

It was Mike Wilcox. He sat upright near Jermaine, with a spear protruding through his chest. Blood seeped from his mouth and from the spear wound. His eyes were blank and his face expressionless. He was most certainly dead.

Earchon Franche looked away. She dropped to her knees and shivered. "Jermaine…" she said softly.

"You’ve got to show that to the cops! He’s probably being held somewhere! Maybe they can trace where it originated," Montgomery said.

Pernwall shook his head. "I already tried tracing it, the IP address… indicated it was coming from within the school."

"What? What are you talking about?" Montgomery said.

"I’m serious! It’s from within the school. Specifically, from the computer in room 208," Pernwall said.

Montgomery froze. She felt shivers up her spine. She had heard stories about that computer. The computer, when off, would turn on randomly and start buzzing. It would stay online even when disconnected from the network. She had even heard claims from some fellow seniors that faint voices could be heard from the computer’s speakers, while it was off.

Montgomery dismissed every rumor she heard. Who in their right mind would believe in a haunted computer? She looked to her friend, still cowering in fright. "It’ll be fine, this is probably some prank by some of the seniors," she said.

"I’m not done yet," Pernwall said. "I didn’t tell you what Jermaine’s message was." He paused for a moment to get the girls’ full attention. "Room 208. Tomorrow."

"That’s it? Room 208. Tomorrow?" Montgomery asked.

BOOM.

A loud explosion shook the hallways. Montgomery staggered as the ground vibrated. Pernwall fell backwards, hitting the floor hard. His phone hit the floor and shattered into a couple pieces. Earchon Franche covered her head with her hands and screamed.

…