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« on: October 03, 2016, 03:01:26 am »
Mary Rothchild.
Chase knew her, hell, it was hard not to know someone in a town as small as Winchester. If you didn't know someone personally, you at least knew of them, heard their rumors, their stories told through the mouths of others who heard them from someone else who also heard them from someone else.
They weren't close by any means, not in the way that Chase would define being "close" anyway. He stayed distant with most, letting them know enough to feel like they knew him, but not enough to form those kind of friendships that were popularized in the books he read as a kid. He was no damn Hardy Boy, that's for sure.
Mary was popular, friendly, and not half-bad to look at when your eyes had to pick between her and the vocabulary posters their teacher put up on the white walls. He hadn't dated her, although he had thought about it, but found it too much trouble (dating tended to be). She ended up dating a fellow teammate, Thomas Winters, which was probably a good choice. Thomas was a decent, dependable guy that wouldn't be caught cheating on her behind the bleachers with some freshman cheerleader.
He'd done that twice, not his finest moments to be sure.
And now, walking into the cafeteria, seeing Thomas sitting alone, Chase wished he knew Mary better, maybe not the way Thomas knew her, but enough to be some kind of support, enough not to feel like a fucking stranger to it all.
But he was a stranger and that made him turn away, leave Thomas to his mourning, while he debated if the pizza in the cafeteria was really worth eating.
Turns out it wasn't, Chase looked the greasy slice over, plucking off a pepperoni. It didn't smell quite right and Chase pushed the plate away, deciding he'd rather starve in this instance. He'd chosen a booth, his usual spot in the cafeteria, although he typically wasn't sitting alone.
Today, however, things were different. It wasn't everyday that a sixteen year old girl died, and it left a mark at Winchester High, an ugly one. The police report wasn't out yet, nothing was official, other than the obvious fact that Mary Rothchild was indeed, dead. So far, the consensus was that it was an accident, but of course, there were rumors that it wasn't, some going so far as to say it was murder, suicide.
Chase stretched out on the booth, his legs dangling off the far edge of the seat, his head resting against the wall. He could sleep, he thought, no one would bother him. As far as everyone would know, his group of friends were in turmoil, still dealing with the death of one of their own. Chase was supposed to be in mourning as well, whatever that was.
He closed his eyes but sleep seemed far away, the hum of the noise of the cafeteria in his ears. Everyone was talking about Mary, whether they knew her or not. The funeral was supposed to be sometime next week, after they figured out exactly what happened, after the police had finished putting all the pieces together.
But Winchester High was already forming their own idea of what happened
murder.