Chapter 1 - Tit for Tat

It's Wednesday, March 28, 2018 in Stockton, California. Currently 9:00P.M. The dark clouds stretch through the sky with rain sprinkling down to the valley. A boy places down chess pieces on the board; setting up a chess game in the living room of his home. He sits down after doing so and waits for his nephew to come out his room.

A creaking door is heard from the distance. It's time. His nephew walks through the hallway to find a table with a chess board on it "Nah!! I don't wanna!!" He shouted.

Seconds later, they sat down and began playing against each other. The game was intense, but ends with the nephew winning. "Fuck!" The boy shouts. "All good, you'll get better" the nephew says while walking away.

"Yeah, whatever" the boy said while walking to the bathroom "I'm gonna go out tonight, so take care of yourself"

"Oh, okay. Be careful out there then" the nephew says. The boy puts on his favorite white jacket. The boy opens the door to his bedroom and finds a his cousin sitting on a chair "Hey Chase, watch the kids"

"Yeah, alright, Newt" Chase says as he continues using the PC. Newt heads outside through the front door. The rain has stopped. Newt walks through the streets lit with streetlamps. He continues to walk to his destination, but suddenly stops to see a man with a mask standing in front of him. The mask had a face that resembles a clown with stitched eyes, red lip, red nose, and a pale face. He wears a black jacket and cargo pants with black gloves and shoes. Newt is confused "What the hell is this?... Yo?" He asked; confused.

They continued staring at each other until the man lifts his arms to reveal a gun pointing toward Newt. Newt begins to back away "Yo, is that a real gun?" He asked.

Newt continues backing away until shifting to a full sprint. He runs through the neighborhood as fast as he could while breathing heavily. The man runs behind Newt's trail; still pointing the gun at him. The man fires the pistol as Newt falls to the ground; blood dripping from his back. His white clothing is ruined.

Newt attempts to crawl away, but the man catches up. Newt watches as the man lifts up a kitchen knife in the air and rushes it down into his stomach; stabbing him multiple times. Blood spews out and splatters everywhere on the floor and his clothing. Newt blacks out and dies as the man gets up from the ground. He walks away; leaving Newt's lifeless body on the street.

SPASHELOU'S DARK DESCENT

VOLUME 1, CHAPTER 1, TIT FOR TAT

ONE DAY EARLIER, TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2018

A car drives through a road in Stockton, California with a teenage boy in the passenger seat. It's Chase. It's a windy day with broken clouds in the sky. The car parks on the side of the road in a neighborhood and lets the boy out. "Thank you!" Chase thanked while shutting the door. He picks up his luggage from the back trunk of the vehicle and walks down the sidewalk.

A few minutes of walking goes by and Chase makes it to a park. "Yo! Chase!!" Tanner greets from behind while waving. "Yo, Tanner!! What up!" He replied and they both shook hands. The both sat on the playground's steps "Damn, it's been so long since I've been in Stockton. How's everything here?" Chase asked.

"Yeah, it's alright here. Everything's the same, well not really the same. But, how's Nebraska been?" Tanner responds with a question. "Yeah, it's all good there as well" Chase answered.

The playground goes quiet as the wind blows pass the boys. "Anyways, what's with everyone in town? Ever since I arrived here, people been acting strange and weird... scared..."

Tanner stares off in the distance "Oh... It's most likely the Spashelou's doing"

"Spashelou? What the hell is that?" Chase asked in confusion. "You don't know?" Tanner replied back "He's a serial killer"

"What- wait- what!? Serial killer? Where? Here!? In town??" Chase quickly got up "Dude, is it even safe out here then!? Why are we out here if there's a murderer on the loose!?"

"Dude! Chill! It's not that serious, come on, man" Tanner shouts; trying to calm Chase down. "Al-... alright man, but if I die, I want on my gravestone to say, Tanner killed me, or, died because of Tanner" Chase jokes. "What!??" Tanner shouts back while laughing. "Nah, 'cause you have me out here, bro!" Chase replies back.

As everything tones down, Chase realizes "Oh wait, Newt. How's Newt been?"

Tanner looks up at Chase "Oh... Newt... he's..."

SCHOOL

Newt gets pinned to the wall by Shad, a bully. Newt tries to escape, but Shad slams him back to the wall, holding him in place by pinning him toward the wall "How 'bout a lil' chat, Nude? You know, to remind you of your place!" He laughed. "You know, the bottom of the food chain, where you belong" Shad finishes his sentence.

"What? Is that all?" Newt says in anger while struggling. "Nah, heard you been talking shit, eh? Care to explain?" Shad adds more. Newt stares into Shad's eyes while saying "Go to hell"

Shad glares at Newt with rage in his eyes; Newt still struggling to come lose of Shad. Two other teenagers walks toward them "We'll, well, well" one of them says. "Hey Mar, Makoto, let's kick his ass again"

Newt socks Shad in the face as he lets go of Newt. Newt runs out of their way and into the hallway of the school. "Get him!!" Mar shouts. The three bullies chase Newt through the hallways. Newt makes it to the stairs and climbs it. The bullies trip on the stairs. Just as Newt thought he was safe, he turns his head to find Mar directly behind him.

Mar grabs onto his sleeves and pulls him to the ground. The others catch up and begin kicking and trampling on Newt until a boy from the distance dashes to the situation, Timmy "Hey!! Stop right there!!" He shouts. "Fuck you Nude!!" Shad shouts while brutally kicking Newt in the stomach. Timmy grabs Shad from behind, but Shad kicks him to the ground "Get off me!!"

"Who's this?" Mar stops kicking Newt and slowly walks toward Timmy "Another geek?" He laughed. Makoto watches from behind; breathing heavily. "Fuck you!" Timmy shouts. Newt from behind watches in confusion as Timmy quickly gets up and attempts to swing at Shad. Shad ducks and slams his fists into Timmy's face, knocking him to the ground once again.

Mar takes control and begins beating Timmy on the ground. Shad and Makoto resumes kicking Newt. The both of them scream in pain, but no one's in the empty hallway.

Later, the bullies leave. Newt and Timmy are on the floor with a bloody nose and a bleeding lip. Timmy lays flat on his back and Newt lays on his side. Newt gets up and sits while leaning his back on the wall. "Ahh" Timmy groans "Man my head hurts" He sat upright and looks at Newt. "You crazy?" Newt asked. "What? No. Not at all. I just saw you and I decided to help out 'cause you were being jumped" Timmy answers "How about a thank you?"

"Thank you" Newt says. "You're not that talkative, are you?" Timmy asks. "There's never a reason for me to talk" Newt answered "When I do talk, no one pays attention. When they do pay attention, I either get a punch in the face or an insult, so... there's no reason for me to talk"

"Hey man, I feel the same way, but we have each other now, okay?" Timmy said. Newt looks up at him with his hands out "I'm Timmy"

"Newt" Newt introduced himself while grabbing his hands; hopping off the ground. "Alright then, welp, goodluck on being a victim" Newt pats him on the shoulders and walks off in the distance behind Timmy. "What??" Timmy faces Newt. He sighs and falls to the ground "God damn, my nipples hurt"

RESTAURANT

Yu and Otori, two high school students, emerges from the corner behind a building; walking through the paths of the plaza. They enter a restaurant. "Table for how many?" The waitress asked. "Table for two" Yu answers while raises two fingers up to their face with a big smile. "Right this way, gentlemen" she says while pointing them in the direction of a table with two chairs.

They both sat down as Yu sighs "Otori, I can't believe we got called to join this investigation group" Yu sounded tired. "I mean, we are the smartest students in our school" Otori sips on the cup filled with water. "Yeah, but why us" Yu sounded even more tired. "I just... said? Nevermind" Otori responded.

"No, like don't they have real investigators who are way smarter than us? I mean, we know nothing about investigating!" Yu complained. "Yu, chill. They said they'll give us money. So, let's not do shit all day and we'll get free money" Otori laughs. Yu laughs with Otori, but his smile disappears "I don't know. You know what, maybe it's alright. It's like trying something different. Plus, you're right, we get money and we don't have to go to school"

"Yep" Otori responds while looking down at his phone. "Alright, let's start" Yu says. "Huh?" Otori looked up. "Let's start... the investigation" Yu answered. "Oh..." Otori says "Okay. Uhhh, so Spashelou. He's a serial killer on the loose here in Stockton; on a killing spree for the past week; taken a life of a seventeen-year-old student named Mark Lee; making it his thirty-seventh victim this week"

"Gosh" Yu replies with a disgusted face "Maybe we can get the Investigation crew with us and search abandoned buildings and houses around Stockton to possibly find his place. If we can't find anything, we can look around the sewers, creeks, under bridges, train tracks, rivers, and forests"

"So, this'll be a searching squad?" Otori asked. "Yes, best shot we got. If we still find nothing, we might need to search people's houses with a warrant" Yu added. "Uhm... is that possible?" Otori asked. "No idea, maybe we look through their surveillance cameras instead"

"Okay, but there's only one victim confirmed dead and thirty-six that are missing. We'll search at the recent crime scene to find any clues today" Otori says. "Okay, got it" Yu says. "Got it" Otori leans back on his chair to rest. He raises his hands and calls the waiters.

A boy runs pass the windows of the restaurant and inside the building "Please, please! There's someone trying to kill me!!" He shouts at the waiters. "Who? What!?" The workers shouted. "It's the Spashelou!!" He shouts. Otori and Yu overhears with widened eyes. "Where is he!? Where was he last seen!??" Otori shouts at the boy. Yu gets up and runs outside to look for the Spashelou.

"Uhh... uhhh! Right behind me! Please, help!" The boy shouts. "Yeah, the workers got you" Otori said as he runs outside. "Yu! Did you see him!?" Otori shouts. "No" Yu answers "But he shouldn't be far from here" they both split up and runs the opposite direction. The boy in the building sits down on the chair, trying to calm himself with some water.

SCHOOL

Shuhan, a tutor, walks through the hallways of the school. He stumbles across Timmy "Hey, have you seen a guy named Newt? He's Asian, has uhm- uhh- emo hair, blue Nike hoodie-"

"No idea" Shuhan interrupts with an answer. He looks in the distance to find the boy he's gonna tutor "Hey" he points "You're that guy that needs tutoring, right?" Shuhan asks. "Yeah!" The boy smiles while rushing toward Shuhan. "What's your name, man?" Shuhan asks. "Chimmichong" Chimmichong answers with a smile on his face.

"No, be serious, man. What the hell's your name?" Shuhan said with an irritated tone. "Chimmichong" he kept a smile. They stare at each other in silence until "Why?" Timmy asks. "My parents wanted to name me chimmichanga or chow mien, so they put it together and made Chimmichong!" He answers proudly. Shad suddenly walks pass them while looking at Shuhan. Shuhan recognizes Shad and they both stare at each other while Shad walks away.

Timmy finds it as his chance to ask another person for Newt "Hahaha!" He laughs while tapping on Shad's shoulders, not recognizing him as the bully "Hey! Have you seen a guy named Newt?"

Shad continues walking while ignoring Timmy. "He's tall, emo, has some Nike tec and joggers" Timmy continued to explain, but Shad walks without paying attention. "Hey, hey, hey! Hey, dude!!" Timmy grabs Shad "I'm talking to you!"

"Who?" Shad asked. "Newt! He's emo, tall! Has camouflage blue hoodie, y'know??" Timmy explained. "Oh, you mean Nude?" Shad adds. "What!?? No, I mean Newt! He's a my friend- wait, you were the guy who beat me up upstairs! I remember you!" He realizes. "Yeah, and I better not see you around again or I'ma beat you up again" Shad walks toward him with a death stare. "Okay, man. Take a chill pill bro" Timmy says with his hands in the air.

"You better scramble like an egg or I'll fold you like an omlette" Shad threatens while making Timmy flinch. He falls to the ground in pain "Aah!"

"You better scram!" Shad yells. Timmy quickly gets up and runs away. Shad sighs, relieved that he's gone. He walks through the hallways until making it to Mar and Makoto who seems to be arguing over something. "What's going on here?" Shad asked. Mar pushes Makoto "Makoto here thinks we should be going easy on our targets! Says we're being too harsh!"

"It's not about going easy, it's about being decent human beings!!" Makoto retaliated by pushing back. "Decent human beings!?? We're the ones in control here! We gotta show everyone here that they can't walk over us" Shad added.

"They're already walking over us!" Makoto shouts at both Shad and Mar "Don't you see!?? Don't you get-"

"Makoto, shut the fuck up!" Mar grabs onto Makoto's hoodie and shakes him. "Is it worth it to hurt people just to prove a fucking point, Mar!!" Makoto yells at Mar in anger until Mar punches him in the face. He falls to the ground in pain "Get out of here or I'll kill you" Mar threatens. Makoto rushes out of their way and runs down the hallway. Shad and Mar watches. "Yo, Mar, I saw Shuhan earlier. He came back as a teacher" Shad laughs. Mar laughs along with Shad "Let's go jump his bitch ass" they both walk the opposite direction of Makoto. Makoto continues to run while thinking about what he did "I ruined it!" He shouts at himself "I ruined my chance to stay safe at school!"

THE INVESTIGATION

Yu and Otori continues searching for the Spashelou in their separate ways. Otori looks through an alleyway and spots no one but a homeless man "Hey, you seen a guy with a mask anywhere?"

"What do I get out of it?" The homeless man asked. Otori sighs "Here, twenty dollars"

"Give it first" the homeless man says. Otori hands him the money and the homeless man answers "No, I didn't see him"

"What!? Hey! I only gave you money to tell me where he is! If you haven't seen-!!"

"No, you said you'd give me money if I answer the question and I did. I said I don't know where he is" the homeless man says. He walks away with a cash as Otori sighs and continues searching for the Spashelou.

Yu on the other side of the plaza finds no sign of the Spashelou as well. "Hey, have you seen a-" Yu was about to ask a stranger until he finds something on the ground. A beanie. He picks it up and heads back to the restaurant.

Otori and Yu meets back at the restaurant "Hey, you find anything?" Otori asked. "Yeah, I actually did. It's a beanie" He shows it to Otori. "Take it inside" Otori says. Inside the restaurant, they examine the beanie. "See if you can pull out a hair" Otori says. Yu sticks his hands in the beanie and tries to grab a hair. He manages to get a piece of hair "Straight hair" He says. "Welp, that leaves curly haired people out of suspicion" Otori added. "How do we know if it's not his hat?" Yu asks. Otori looks at the distance of the restaurant to find the boy sitting at a table.

They both walk up to him "Describe how he looked" Yu demanded. The boy looked up at the investigators "He was wearing all black. His shoes, jacket, and pants. He had cargo pants on. He had a hood on and a clown mask with stitches on his eyes and mouth"

Yu and Otori looked at each other "He didn't have a beanie?"

"No" the boy answered. Yu and Otori sighs "Man, I just grabbed a random beanie off the floor" Yu throws the beanie on the table. "Let's just head to the crime scene" Otori gently places his hands on Yu "Thank you" He looked at the boy and says.

TUTORING ROOM

"You dumb fuck" Shuhan says while slamming the table. He sighs and slaps his forehead with his palms. "I- I'm sorry, I failed math" the boy says. "Okay, look" Shuhan gets up and points at the whiteboard filled with math problems. He begins explaining to the boy until the door suddenly opens. Newt walks in "Newt?" Shuhan asks "What do you want?"

Newt sighs while standing from the distance "It's Mar" his words echo through the room. Shuhan looks up at the ceiling "Leave. I'll deal with him"

Newt listens and walks out of the room. Shuhan continues teaching to the boy until an unexpected guess arrives; Mar and Shad. "Who's this?" Mar begins laughing "Shuhan?" Mar says. Shuhan continues teaching while ignoring them. "What? You a teacher now?" Mar asked. Shuhan continued to ignore. "Okay, you wanna ignore me, huh? I'll take your shit" Mar picks up Shuhan's backpack. Shuhan stops teaching and faces Mar with a serious face. "What? What you gonna do about it? Take it back. Bitch" Mar says.

"Hey, hey" the boy sitting on the table tries to intervene with words "You don't have to take it this far, man"

Shad yells "Shut up, chink!"

"Yeah, that's what I thought, you ain't gon' do anything 'bout it" Mar talks down on Shuhan. The boy watches as the scene unfolds; Shuhan chucks his fists into Mar's face. He falls to the ground as Shad backs up Mar by punching Shuhan. Shad grabs onto Shuhan and holds him tight from behind "Kick his ass, Mar!!" Shad shouted.

Mar gets up and looks at him with furious eyes. He begins smiling "Look who's so tough now"

The boy in the room watches in fear as Mar sprints toward Shuhan and kicks him in the stomach. Mar swings his fists and it hits Shuhan's face. He begins to throw combos on Shuhan; using him like a punching bag. He trips Shuhan to the ground as both Shad and Mar begin stomping on Shuhan. Shuhan screams in pain as Mar and Shad shouts "Fucking bitch! Fucking bitch! Fucking bitch!!!"

In the hallways to the exit of the school, Newt walks. He has his backpack on; ready to leave school. Right as he's about to exit, a familiar voice was heard "Hey!! Hey wait, wait, wait!!" The voice of Makoto. Makoto rushes toward Newt and stomps directly behind him. Newt stood there with his back still facing the exhausted Makoto.

"I'm sorry!!" He shouts as his voice echos through the hallway. It became quiet. "I'm sorry for everything! I'm sorry for hurting you!! I didn't mean to!!" Makoto says.

"I... The reason why I was with them for so long... was to protect myself" Makoto explains himself "When I first arrived at this school, my plan was to befriend a school bully so I wouldn't become a victim. It's been a few months since then. I'm so sorry for hurting you, Newt!!"

It was still silence. Newt moves his feet toward the door and exits the school. Makoto sighs in sadness as Newt leaves.

HOURS LATER

Newt walks through the dark streets to his house. He walks pass a dog barking at him from behind him. He gets home and throws his backpack in his bed. He sits down on the gaming chair and turns on his PC.

The door suddenly barges open as Tanner screams out "Yoo Newt!!"

From behind Tanner, Chase shouts "Why are you not answering your God damn phone!??"

"We called you two times!!" Tanner shouts while pointing two fingers at Newt. Newt watches them barge in with all the shouting, but resumes looking through his PC. "Anyways" Tanner sits on his brother's gaming chair as Chase sits down on Newt's bed "So, me and Chase have been talking about your bullies at school and we were thinking of jumping Mar together" Tanner says. Chase looks up at Tanner in confusion "What? No, I did not say that"

"You did, but then we both agree that it's not a good thing to do" Tanner explained "So me and Chase think you should fight Mar"

"Wait, so it's not a good thing for you both to fight Mar, but it's a good thing for me to fight Mar myself?" Newt questions. "No, that's not what I'm saying" Chase answers. "That's what I'm saying" Tanner says the exact opposite of Chase. "Alright well, I'ma go to the hotel" Chase stands from the bed and heads out. "I'll go walk Chase out" Tanner says "Wait, Chase, just sleep over. We got an extra bed"

"Oh okay" Chase says "Where is it?"

MAR'S HOUSE

Mar sits at the kitchen table eating chicken with rice. Jovan, his brother, walks up to the sink and begins doing the dishes "Hey Mar, can you take out the trash"

Mar ignores and continues chewing his food. His dog looks at him; hungry for food. Mar pets the dog with his opposite hands "Mar! Take out the trash!"

"I got it!" Mar yells at Jovan. Jovan turns off the sink water and goes to his room "I'm going to bed, goonight"

"Goodnight" Mar responds. He squats down and pets the dog. He stands up and lifts the trash bag, revealing his muscular build arms. He walks pass the window and walks back to see a man outside his house "What the fuck?" He says. He drops the garbage bag and curls his fists. He peaks through the windows and watches the man standing in his yard doing nothing. Mar quickly unlocks the door and sprints outside "Where the fuck are you!!?" He shouts "Huh!!?"

He looks around, but there's no man out there. "I'm not playing around!" Mar continues to shout. Behind him, the man walks inside his house without him ever noticing.

THE NEXT DAY, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2018

At Shuhan's house, he gets ready for more tutoring at the school. He looks at a picture of Newt, Chase, and him. He sighs as he continues tying his shoes.

At Timmy's house, he's also getting ready, but he's eating cereal while watching his phone.

At Makoto's house, he looks out the window.

Shad's already at school, but is sitting on a bench.

And Newt is walking to school, ready to face his enemy; Mar.

LATER

"Bro Shad, last night, some random guy was standing in front of my house" Mar says to Shad. They lean against the wall in the hallway. "Geez, watch it be that Nude guy" Shad laughs in response. Mar nervously laughs "My dog also died last night"

"Oh... what the fuck... How?" Shad asked. "Poison" Mar answered "How though? I don't understand at all!"

The area becomes quiet with Shad not knowing what to say. A bottle hits Mar in the back of the head hard "Yo meatball!!" Newt shouts from the distance. Mar turns around with rage. He speedwalks toward Newt "You starting something, nudes? You killed my fucking dog, didn't you!?"

"What fucking dog? Dick breath" Newt says in response. Mar raises his arms in the air, preparing for a punch. He grabs onto Newt's shirt "We'll beat the fuck out of you, Nudes, I'm not fucking around!!"

"Do you hear yourself? We???" Newt shouts back " You always need your stupid fucking friends to help you kick someone's ass, why don't you ever do it yourself, huh?? Because you're the pussy and you need supporters because you can't fight for shit!!"

Mar pushes Newt "Say that again and I'll show you the real deal, Nude"

Shad walks by Mar, but Mar stops Shad "No, this is my fight. You wanna see what I can do, huh? Nude?" Mar says.

"You're a pussy" Newt says. Mar strikes Newt's face and pulls him back in for a headlock. Shad from the side watches in excitement as Mar punches the top of Newt's head over and over again "Ooh!! Get his ass!! Beat his ass, Mar!! Hahah!!" Shad shouts out loud while jumping in excitement. Mar throws Newt to the ground. Newt quickly gets up and tackles Mar to the ground and repeatedly punches him in the face. Mar blocks the attack and kicks him off. Shad grabs only Newt's shirt and punches his jaw, sending him back to the ground. He kicks Newt and stomps on his face, but Newt grabs onto his legs and manages to trip Mar to the ground.

Newt quickly gets on top of Mar to hold him down. He brutally punches Mar in the face over and over and over again until Timmy spots them "Woah, woah, woah!! Aye, what the fuck!!?" He sprints at the boys. Shad watches in shock as Newt continues beating Mar, turning Mar's face red filled with blood and bruises "Aaaaaah!!!" Newt screams in agony while beating Mar. "Hey, hey!! Stop, stop!!" A teacher yells from the distance and sprints toward the situation. He quickly pulls Newt away, sending them both to the nurse's office.

At the Nurse's Office, Newt sits quietly while looking at his phone. Mar sits in front of him with his left eye shut and an enraged face. Mar gets up and leaves the room. Newt sits there while thinking about what he just did. "Hey, does it hurt anywhere, Newt?" Chimmichong appears wearing a scrub. "No" Newt answers. "Yoo, Newt! Damn, you kicked his ass!! Holy shit!!!" Timmy and Makoto walks in.

Newt looks up at Makoto and gets up from the chair. Makoto realizes it's probably him being there that's upsetting Newt "Sorry, I know you probably weren't expecting me-"

"It's fine" Newt says "Both of you guys. Thank you"

"Why?" Timmy asked in confusion. "For supporting me" Newt answers while leaving. Newt walks out the building and finds Mar and Shad in the distance talking.

Mar and Shad looks at each other; with Mar having the same angry face. Mar looks in the distance to see Newt walking away "I'm gonna kill him" he says "I'm gonna kill that kid"

Newt walks through the hallway to exit the school once again.

PRESENT TIME, MIDNIGHT

"Aaaaah!!!" Newt screams loudly as the serial killer continuously stabs Newt over and over again until he falls to the ground. Newt looks up at the serial killer with a fearful look in his face "Is the Spashelou... Mar?" He asked himself. The Spashelou looks down at Newt until finishing the final blow. Newt dies on the floor with blood covering his entire upper body and his jaw. The Spashelou walks away from the scene while holding the murder weapon.

TO BE CONTINUED...