Darkening World I

A dark night of may, three individuals trespassed the surroundings of Horace Mann's highschool in the Bronx, New York. The school's premises had been closed for all students, undergoing refurbishing works after an unknown incident took place in the premises, destroying a great chunk of the campus.

"So this is the place...?" Beatrice flickered her auburn hair away and asked, walking behind Andrew who was simultaneously tailing Sophia. She wore tight black leggings and an equally tight jumped with hoodie, her gun and two magazines were discretedly hidden on her butt, tightly clutched by the leggings.

'I-I think this is where she died...' Sophia stated and Andrew relayed the message, she wore her usual high school uniform, the one she died with while Andrew wore a rather sporty gear. Black shorts, trainers and a jumper just like Beatrice.

"We have to be careful, she could be nearby" Andrew stated, referring to the objective of their research, Sasha.

'If I sense anything I'll tell you, just be ready to fly away in case we catch a glimpse of her'.

...

Following Sophia's trail, they managed to get a hold of the campus' basement... the rubble had already been removed so it was a simple entry.

"The building company stops their work at five, the last of the contractors departs at seven and only two security guards remain through the night" Beatrice snickered, "It is good that the useless ghost can at least lead us through a secure path... at least you do something".

'Not today, not tomorrow... but I will kill you and those huge tits of yours!'.

'I don't think you can kill her boobs... that's not how it works' Andrew deadpanned.

'The hearing is in two weeks... we need to get as much evidence as possible. My father is doing his best, I can't be any less!'

Andrew nodded and looked around, two weeks had taken place ever since his life turned hectic. Sophia, Beatrice and lastly... Maya.

He sighed and checked his phone to see that he had a message.

'Andrew, I have an important meeting in the hospital but I left you some paella, be sure to eat and leave me a review, alright?~ I'll be back home by two in the morning, I hope you're sleeping by then!'

He blushed think about a beautiful lady with apron cooking paella and checked the time in his phone, it was 11:42pm.

"Beatrice... we have to be back by midnight... I don't want to upset Maya" His voice contained seriousness and commitment, in the last two weeks... he finally knew the true meaning of being 'spoiled'.

Everyday was wonderful. A morning of adventure, breakfast cooked by Sophia, Homeschool afternoon together with Beatrice's homemade lunch. Cardio training with Maya then Yoga with mature beauties; a private session of self defense by Beatrice, everything finished by Maya's wonderful dinner just so he could hit the bed for the day together with Sophia and Beatrice, ocassionaly Maya.

The boy was living the American dream early in life... sadly, everything was bound to change eventually.

"Tch! yeah yeah..." Beatrice scratched her head in irritation and the trio kept walking forward.

After a few minutes of threading across the campus, the finally reached the infamous basement, Andrew and Beatrice took out their lanterns and began researching for anything of importance. The court hearing for Sasha's case was in two weeks, 'Mr Leon hired a group of professional investigators, they came here with authorisation but found nothing... what can we possibly find that they couldn't?'

"Why do you think it was here, Sophia?"

'Because... Sasha's ghost was here... I wasn't present during the whole ordeal. It was said to be suicide but I never saw her corpse, everything was shrouded in mystery from the start to finish... when I sought to hire my own detective, that was when I was murdered as well... I have no idea where to begin, Andrew... but her ghost was here'.

"Think about it... the girls was being bullied... things got out of hand and she likely received a hit stronger than anticipated" Beatrice started talking with her arms crossed, looking around the empty basement and finding nothing aside from some eerie aura that gave hew goosebumps.

'Your flames didn't leave any trace either' Sophia stated, reminding Andrew of the incident that happened in this very basement where he got 'injured'.

He shook his head, trying to ignore questions he didn't have the answer to, "... don't say it so coldly, Beatrice".

"It is not 'cold' it is reality... they likely moved the corpse away from here... this is not done by kids either. She called her father, her father then fetched in someone to do the cleaning job, bribe the forensic and the whole bronx police department to release a public statement of the case being 'suicide' it happens more often than you'd like to hear".

"Would they go so far as to hide this?" Boy and ghost inquired.

"Normally? no... but Mariah's father is the candidate to be New York City mayor this year and his ambitions are even greater. A scandal like this could end his rocketing career, he probably doesn't care that much about his daughter... but during this junction, they can't admit the crime, it wouldn't ruin the reputation of the Belles or their politician party, but it would end Xavier's hopes of becoming the mayor, a heavy blow that would cost years of hard work, trust building and campaign investment".

"..." Andrew was flabbergasted, almost not believing that the current nonchalant Beatrice was the same girl behind a counter of McRonards, 'S-She does know how to do her job...'

"Come, you two..." Beatrice sighed and hopped on the stairs, leaving the premises.

"Huh?" Both Andrew and Sophia were confused, they had just come here and she already wants to leave?

"We're not going to find any evidence here... trust me. I have seen those underground organizations before, ever watched Django?"

'Eh?'

"Pulp fiction?"

'Why is she mentioning Tarantino's movies all of the sudden?' Sophia's eyebrows twitched, floating next to Beatrice while Andrew more or less knew what she was talking about.

"You mean the part where they're cleaning the crime scene?"

'You watched those movies!?'

Andrew ignored Sophia's surprise, awaiting Beatrice's response. The more she spoke, the more interested he got in her 'experience' in the field.

"Yes, these people are contracted to fabricate an scene believable enough for the forensics and the police department to not get in trouble upon further investigation either from other departments or the private sector. The chief of new york is not going to handicap his position for some politicians' spoiled brat daughter. Don't even bother to check the cameras inside the main building, I bet if you ask you will be told they weren't working at that time... those people are quite meticulous but humans aren't perfect by any means. They use to make mistakes once the job is done though, that's the evidence we need, if we're lucky enough they should have left something".

...

Beside the campus there was a small forest, the storage room connected to the basement and also to the backdoor of the campus, straight ahead there was this small forest that was bordered by a metallic fence.

"There are no burning marks in the basement, so... it wasn't burnt there, it had to be done somewhere else".

"Why do you assume the corpse was burned?"

"Because that's what I would do... if I was cleaning a crime scene. If the statement says suicide and yet the corpse hasn't been shown or documented, there is only one reason, Andrew..."

"There is no corpse..."

"Correct, now we only have to-"

'Careful, Andrew!'

!!!

After hearing Sophia's trigger shout, Andrew went into full alert, standing in front of a clueless Beatrice, the only one of the three who wouldn't be able to even sense a paranormal threat. Upon watching Sophia, he took a glimpse the way she was glaring daggers nad found her standing amidst the branches, her silhouette wasn't completely visible.

What was visible were her piercing purple shining eyes.

"S-Sasha..."

'...'

She was there, her skin as pale as always but the usual cracks on her face were gone, instead... there was the silhouette of a girl in highschool uniform, with short white hair and deep purple eyes, nevertheless... her expression didn't look happy.

'We have to run!' Sophia got ready to fly away, but Andrew, upon seeing Sasha's unmoving

"Wait".

"What is going on, Andrew?!" Beatrice, watching that he got in guard, took out her gun and prepared to engage with anything in this forest... what she feared the most was to once again find that silhouette with crimson eyes.

"Just wait... don't do anything... just... stay calm" Andrew didn't see the same hostily from Sasha as he had seen before, in the basement, in the train... this time, she was just looking at them, not doing anything.

The girl didn't say any word for the first few minutes and instead... she started walking away through the branches, leaving them confused. Andrew and Sophia looked at each other confused, wondering what they had to do. It was then that she turned around.

When she saw that she wasn't being followed, she glared at the group with a gaze not filled with killing intent but once again, not happy.

'Sophia'.

'Sasha...'

Both girls addressed one another, Sophia had the urge to cry, that voice was Sasha's, not the monster they had seen prior, but her behaviour was completely different. Once again Sasha started walking away but by now they realised she wanted to be followed.

"It could be a trap".

'I think we should go...'

"I don't get it..." Beatrice was confused, she felt frustrated being the only one that never understood anything, but Andrew reassured her by taking her hand as they started to walk in the direction of the forest.

"Just follow us and don't ask questions... there is someone else with us now".

"That person... is not alive, right?"

"No..."