Chapter Two

On the Floor Dead

Von was awakened the next morning, not by his alarm, but by the sun, which shone bright and sadistic through thin blue curtains he’d forgotten to close the night before, stinging his eyes.

He turned on his side away from it, pulling his blanket back over his head in a last effort to return to sleep, but it was too late. His eyes were open and his mind was awake. Rubbing the last bit of sleepiness from them he sat upright, giving a quick glance at the clock. He still had half an hour before he even had to get up!

Sighing, he climbed out of bed and dressed quickly.

Now what?

He had nearly an hour until breakfast and his stomach was burning from the lack of meal the night before.

He needed to find something to do. Restless, he thought that if he stayed closed up in his room he might just go insane. Sitting at his desk and spending the morning studying just didn’t seem appealing anymore, not after his adventure the day before.

Maybe that’s what he’d do! Revisit Brayton Hall and look through that mysterious dustless room once more. It had haunted his dreams all night; what he could remember of them. Very seldom could he recall his dreams.

Von made his way quickly back to the building after dressing, pausing and turning every now and again through the campus. Evan had taken so many extra turns to get to the place the prior day it was impossible to determine the most direct route. He passed few people and those he did failed to acknowledge him. He preferred it that way; he liked going about unnoticed.

There was no one around Brayton Hall when he reached it. He quickly pushed through the heavy double doors in the front of the building whose locks had been broken away long ago.

It seemed the same as yesterday, nothing had been changed. The same smudges and hand prints dotted the walls as he climbed the stairs. It would be the last door on the left hand side, wouldn't it? Yes, definitely. Since it had been the second to last one he’d gone through the day before. He’d gone through that last door and into the closet to reach it, so that must be it!

But the knob didn’t turn when he tried it. Well that was peculiar. Was it locked? He stared at the door quizzically.

Von ran to the other door and followed his same route threw the closet again.

Had the door been locked yesterday? The coke can and candy wrapper were still in the corner and appeared unmoved. He found neither of them to be empty upon closer inspection, but didn’t dare try either of their contents to determine their age, though he doubted they had spent the entire summer in the dark room. Which meant that someone would have had to have left them there during the last week since school had begun. They could’ve belonged to Evan and Kamryn, he supposed, but something told him that wasn’t it.

He examined the rest of the room for comings-and-goings, but for the lack of dust, found nothing.

The door swung out easily when he opened it to leave. It must’ve been the type that could only be accessed from the inside, automatically locking when closed. Stepping out he closed it and tried it once more. Locked. Definitely that kind of door.

Since he was there he might as well use the time to his advantage and explore the building further, and maybe find some good hiding spots. He might very well indeed come play with Evan and Kamryn again. He made mental notes of a spot here and there, including a closet facing the hall with a tinted window. Like that dustless room at the end of the hall, it too, was locked, but he found another door leading into it from a classroom. Truly, a fascinating maze.

His stomach’s aggravated rumbling reminded him of breakfast. Looking for a clock, he saw nothing and headed quickly to the cafeteria building to find how much time he’d wasted.

Seven twenty-one! He had only nine minutes before his first class!

When he called home he would have to ask for a watch.

He was annoyed as he stomped into his math class late, having had to make the quick stop at his dorm to fetch his book bag. His stomach was growling. He tore out his homework notebook, slamming it on the desk.

“You’re in a bad mood,” a voice said to his right.

Looking up he saw the orange-haired girl from his English class smiling at him from the desk beside him. She had a pale face with a small spray of light freckles across her nose and cheeks, bright green eyes, and a mass of wavy coppery orange hair. Like dull fire. “I’m Avalon,” she said. She normally sat more towards the front.

“Hi,” he said simply, taking his seat. Why was she talking to him?

“I really liked your story yesterday.”

“Really?” he asked, taken aback. “You didn't look like you liked it when I read it.”

She nodded, blushing with embarrassment. “Yeah, it made me sad that the boy was eaten. I thought it was horrible. But I’ve been thinking about it ever since, so that means it was good, wasn’t it? I wouldn’t be thinking about it so much it if it wasn‘t.” She ran her hand through her hair. “So what was the fly really?”

“What?”

“I mean, it couldn’t have been a fly, could it? Since the boy could climb on his back. Or was it the boy who wasn’t what he seemed. Was he like an ant or something that thought he was human?”

“Why are you reading so much into it?” Von asked, genuinely interested.

“I’ve just been thinking about it. I want to know.”

Von paused, choosing his words carefully. He hadn’t thought much about it, but its explanation came easily to him. “You see,” he began in a tone reminiscent of his father‘s whenever the man had taken the time to explain something to him, “the boy was really a normal boy. It was the fly that was something else. He was everything the boy had ever done wrong. And when he realized its’ truth, it destroyed him.”

“‘The fly consumed him till he died,’” she whispered. “That makes sense.” She laughed. “Where do you think of things like that?”

Von shrugged simply. He had no idea.

“Did you do last night’s?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I read it?”

“If you want.”

She nodded gleefully.

Weird girl.

Sighing, he pulled his English binder from his book bag, taking the assignment he’d printed the night before, and handed it to her just as the bell rang.

Mr. Vandermiller stood, asking for their homework, beginning the lesson.

Avalon handed him the paper back at the end as they were getting ready to leave and began to load her backpack. “That was really funny,” she told him. “My favorite part was when the jellyfish commissioned the sharks to attack people. You should be a writer when you grow up.”

Von said nothing, his dark eyes following her as she exited the classroom.

xXxXx

He was able to avoid Evan until fourth block Science, one of the three classes they shared together. Evan took the seat beside him as always.

“You coming today?” he asked earnestly in a hushed tone. Didn’t want the classmates to overhear, of course.

Shrugging, Von replied, “I spent all night trying to think of something better to do, but since I couldn’t I guess I’m stuck wasting my valuable time with you and that girl.”

“What do you think of Kamryn?” he asked, curious.

He shrugged again. “She’s a girl.”

“I’m going to marry her someday,” the blond told him, laying his head on the desk, absolutely serious.

“Good for you,” Von muttered, taking out his science notebook and flipping it to an empty page. As though he cared.

“So you’re coming?”

Von stared at him, annoyed. “Did you hear me?”

“There was far too much sarcasm in there for me to comprehend what you were trying to say,” he told him with a smirk.

The day passed by quickly after that. He’d forgotten he didn’t have English again till the next morning. There's no logic to this school's schedule, he thought.

The two sat together for Assembly, a half hour of the day set aside for class representatives to make the school announcements. Afterwards Evan grabbed him once more, practically dragging him back to Brayton Hall.

This time he kept a careful eye on Evan’s route. “You know,” he began. “There are much quicker ways to get here.”

“I know,” he said. “But there’s no fun in that. Besides, this way if anyone tried to follow us, they’d get lost.”

“That’s a brilliant deduction.”

“I know,” he replied, jumping the last three steps and pushing the door to the building forward.

They entered into the dark hallway and slipped into the schola where Kamryn sat waiting for them. How was it she managed to get there so quick?

Probably didn’t go Evan’s excessively lavish route.

True to his word, Evan asked Von to be It first, much to his delight. He was overly careful to hide his pleasure from them. He counted loudly in the schola, hands over his eyes. When he reached one-hundred he ran into the hall and quickly began his search.

Surveying the dark and shadowed hall he tried to deduce where the two would be hiding, as well as being quick to observe the slightest difference from when he’d come mere moments before. One door he saw was slightly ajar, though he couldn’t think if it had been that way before the game had begun.

No choice but to check.

The hallway seemed so much longer cut off from the presence of his compatriots. Every shadow and groove seemed alive in the dimly lit passage. Even the air felt thicker, pregnant with tension and anticipation; almost familiar. And not in a good way.

Peering into room 107 he saw nothing odd, but a quick movement from behind him caught his eye. “I see Evan!” he yelled, pointing to the blond. “Evan’s dead!”

Evan stopped and began to laugh. “I’m dead?” he asked, oddly amused.

“Yes,” replied Von pointedly. “Now fall over, you walking corpse.”

Still giggling, Evan conceded, jerking his body about lavishly till he collapsed to the floor, his left foot continuing to twitch in an extravagant death scene fit for a stage. Von couldn’t help but smile.

“What are you doing?” Kamryn’s voice rang out. Von turned in time to see her running out of the classroom he’d been inspecting when he’d seen Evan. I knew it.

“I see Kamryn! Kamryn’s dead!” he yelled, raising his finger to her.

Stopping, a blank look of confusion marred her pretty face.

“Com on, Kami!,” Evan yelled. “Now you have to fall down dead.”

“What?”

“Fall down dead,” he repeated, climbing to his feet. He proceeded to reenact his death scene for her, albeit a slightly shorter rendition. “Like that.”

Kamryn smiled slightly, raising an arm dramatically to her head and falling onto the cold tiled floor.

“My turn to be it!” Evan practically screamed, jumping once again to his feet and running to the schola.

Von and Kamryn darted away quickly, heading off to their separate hiding places.

The three played late into the afternoon, each trying to make their death scene more extravagant than the last.

When Evan finally found Von the last time after twenty minutes of searching, he shouted. “I see Von! Von’s dead!”

The dark haired boy threw himself back against the wall, as if he’d been shot, sliding down slowly with his eyes closed in a crumpled heap.

Breathless with exhaustion, they entered the second floor landing to leave for dinner when the sun hanging low in the sky made him pause. Beyond the athletics field visible from the windows in the stairwell Von watched it sitting on the horizon.

“Why do you think the sun looks so much bigger at sunset and sunrise than any other time of the day?” he asked.

“Maybe it comes closer,” Kamryn volunteered.

“The sun doesn’t move closer to us,” Von told her icily. “The Earth moves closer to the sun, but not by that degree over the course of one day.”

She shrugged, and Evan said nothing, following Von’s gaze to the setting orange orb. “It doesn’t hurt when you look at it now. It does during the day.”

Declining their invitation to join them once more, he sat at the back table in the balcony alcove across from Daniel, who didn’t try to make conversation today.

Having learned his lesson from the night before, Von made himself choke down at least a portion of his food, before pulling out his notebook. Covering it with one arm so Daniel couldn’t take a peek even if he had wanted to, he began to sketch a quick map detailing the first floor of Brayton Hall. He would find every classroom, office, closet, and hidden passage. And he wouldn’t show it to Evan and Kamryn.

xXxXx

The following day he had English again, it was his first period on Wednesdays. With a devilish grin he waved his hand wildly when Mrs. Sumarly asked for a volunteer to read their journal. She ignored him with great care. Easing back in his chair, he was unable to hide a self-satisfied smirk.

“And the fish swam all day together in harmony. The end,” the pudgy boy who’d also volunteered concluded. Von couldn’t care to remember his name.

“Thank you, Darren.” She stood, walking around the desk to stand before them. “That was a lovely tale. Now,” she said briskly as the boy took his seat. “It is time for the first of several long-term projects I will be assigning you this year. I went over this briefly last week, if you remember, those of you who were paying attention.

“For this project I will allow you to choose your partner. If you are unable to find one please come to my desk and I will assign one to you. Since there are an even number of students in the class, I trust this will not be a difficult task.

“After you are in pairs you will interview your partner in depth, even going so far as to interview friends. I want a complete biography on your partner, including a fully illustrated collage representing their life. You will be giving your presentations in two weeks. You may have the rest of the class period to get started.” She walked back around her desk, signaling them to begin.

Evan rolled his head back on Von’s desk. “Would you like be partners?”

“No.”

“It’s either me or someone she picks. It’s up to you which is the lesser of two evils.”

The boy did have a point. “Fine; you.”

“I thought so.” He turned around in his chair, placing his notebook on Von’s desk.

“Von.”

They glanced up to see Avalon’s big green eyes looking down at him. “Would you like to be partners?” she asked sweetly.

“Sorry, luv,” Evan told her. “He’s taken.”

“Okay.” She gave him a lingering smile before walking over to another girl.

“You know her?” the blond asked.

He shrugged. “She talked to me in math yesterday.”

“Do you like her?”

Von looked at him perplexed, unsure of his emphasis of the word like. “What do you mean?”

“Nevermind. So,” he went on without a beat. “Shall we get started? Where were you born?”

“Malone.”

“Is that in New York?”

“Yes.”

“How about your parents?”

“Why don’t we each do our own and then switch them and present each others.”

Evan grinned the fake smile of a game show host. “Now that’s an idea. But I don’t think she’d buy that.”

xXxXx

That afternoon was the first Sports Day of the year. At Assembly the president of the junior class, Jessica Smythe, explained mostly for the benefit of the sixth graders that every sporting event was held on Wednesday afternoons, which was why they only had only three classes and made up the others on Saturdays. And that this particular Wednesday would be the school tryouts.

It was a quick Assembly held in the bleachers overlooking the football field and afterwards they remained seated in order to watch.

The varsity teams had long since been decided the previous spring. It was tryouts for Junior Varsity and what the girl had explained as the Thirds, a nice name for people who weren’t very good, though Miss President hadn’t put it that way.

Evan had practically dragged him by the hand to the bleachers where they found Kamryn waving at them from the very top. Von hated heights. They waded up the steep steps and Evan sat next to the girl, Von on his other side.

“It sucks we can’t try out,” Evan commented.

Only seventh graders and above were allowed to join the sports teams, though they were mandatory from that point on. Von didn’t mind. He didn’t see much to interest him. He preferred books to real life, anyway. If bad things happened in the book you could just flip through to the last page and read the trite happy ending.

“How long do we have to sit here?” Von groaned, but his complaint went unnoticed. Probably ignored.

“I don’t get American Football,” Evan said to him. “Do you understand how it’s played?”

He shrugged, leaning his head against the back supporting bar. It was a long way down. Mustn’t look. Mustn’t look.

Kamryn smiled. “It’s not so difficult to follow. Dad’s a big Giants fan. He took me to a game last year.”

“Somehow, I just can’t picture that.”

She grinned. “I know. Dad’s just too proper, isn’t he? But it was a lot more interesting in person than on TV.”

Von had never really heard her speak in conversation before. Her accent held a distinct hint of Brittish flavor to it, but she had undoubtedly been in the U.S. far longer than Evan.

“Are you from England, too?” he asked.

Nodding, she lowered her eyes with a small smile, playing nervously with the hem of her dress. “Originally. We moved here when I was six. Have you lived here your whole life?”

He nodded to her. He’d never moved, and couldn’t begin to imagine what it would feel to leave Rosencrance House, the old Victorian he’d always called home, let alone go to a completely different country.

The seventh graders were divided up far below and the sixth graders watched as they tried for the different teams. A handful were good, most were average, and some downright horrible. That was probably where he would end up the following year. Not a prospect he much looked forward to.

The older kids came next. Not so many as most of them were already on teams. Or they were trying out for different ones.

He suppressed a yawn, quickly growing bored. “I’ll see you’s later,” he told them, standing and making his way very carefully down the bleachers, lest he fall to an ill-contrived death, his head caved in on the gleaming silver metal, his blood baking in the sun.

“Bye, Von,” they chorused together.

He ambled across the lawn slowly, unsure of his destination. The weather was nice today. Warmth flowed over and threw him from the gleaming sun high above, but the wind blew in from the north, signaling the beginning of another crisp New England winter. It was a nice balance and it made him long momentarily for the walks he once went on with his mother. The moment passed; he walked faster.

In the distance stood a lone figure, attempting to carry a cardboard box much too big for her. She stopped every few steps to readjust the box in her arms and attempt to get a few feet forward. Her back was to him, but her orange hair burned red in the sun.

Before he could stop himself he had closed the distance between them and casually asked, “Would you like some help?”

“I can handle it,” Avalon replied.

“I can see that.”

“Fine. You can help.”

That didn’t take much convincing, now did it?

He took one end of the box and together the two maneuvered it into the history building and up a flight of stairs. It wasn’t heavy, it was it‘s sheer size that required two childrens’ arms.

“Where are we going?” he finally asked.

“To my father’s room.”

“He lives here? In the history building?”

“No!” she laughed. “He’s a teacher. He teaches Medieval History to the upperclassmen.” She couldn’t tell if he was serious or joking. Neither could he.

So she was a teacher’s daughter.

“I told him about your stories,” she went on. “He though they sounded neat. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Why would I?”

She shrugged and the box nearly tumbled to the floor. They caught it in time and with Avalon blushing in embarrassment they proceeded on towards the classroom.

A thin man with shortly cropped dark hair sat at his desk inside. He smiled at the sight of his daughter, the skin around his dark eyes wrinkling slightly. “I told you I would get it, Avalon.”

“And I told you, I would.”

“Who’s your friend?” he asked as they set the box on the floor.

“Von Crowley,” he introduced himself.

He noticed the flicker of recognition in the man's dark eyes. “It’s nice to meet you, Von,” the man said, rising to greet him. “I’m Andrew Lake, Avalon’s father.”

Nodding, he replied, “Nice to meet you, sir.”

“So, what’s in the box?” Avalon asked loudly, her eyes glowing with excitement.

“You mean you didn’t look?” her father exclaimed in mock surprise. “Don’t shock me like that, Av. You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Dad!” she yelled. “Don’t be stupid!”

“Stupid? Von, do you think I’m being stupid?”

Von shrugged nervously. Was he supposed to agree?

“You just don’t know Avalon yet,” he said with a teasing grin at his daughter.

“Quit it.”

Von smiled softly.

“So what’s in the box?” she repeated.

“Look and see.”

Ripping the tape off without a seconds hesitation, she tore back the flaps and her features twisted into a frown of confusion. “Bubble wrap. Lots and lots of bubble wrap.” She looked at her father. “Bubble wrap?”

Von peered in closer, curious. The box was indeed full of clear plastic wrap covered with small bubbles. “What’s this for?”

“My class,” he explained. “I’m having them use it for armor as they reenact the Crusades.”

“Sounds like fun,” Avalon said. “Do you think I’d be allowed to be in your class when I’m in tenth grade?”

Mr. Lake shrugged. “If you want to take Medieval History, they can’t stop you, and I’m the only one who teaches it.” He looked at Von. “How do you like the school so far?”

Shrugging, he stepped back from the box. “It’s a lot different from home. A good different, though.”

For nearly an hour he stayed in the classroom talking with Avalon and her father, watching them banter back and forth. Upon the realization that he was actually enjoying being with them he quickly excused himself to return to his dorm.

Or rather, his sanctuary.

The picture on his nightstand mocked him with merciless eyes as he walked through the door. He had brought it on a whim, dashing back inside the house at the last possible moment before he’d left for school to fetch it from his mother’s room. It was a portrait of his family. He posed, nine years old then, with his mother and father. She was smiling with bright teeth and gorgeously large cerulean eyes.

He didn’t look much like her. He had inherited her deep brown hair and had sort of the same nose, but he had his fathers dark brown eyes. Intense eyes that she’d had often told him would be the first thing a person noticed about him.

Vaan Crowley stood in the portrait behind his wife and child, not a tall man in life, but one with such an imposing aura that it had even been captured in the photograph. He was fair haired with such dark eyes they appeared almost black. He wasn’t smiling. He seldom smiled.

The picture was wrinkled in places and there was a dark brownish stain in the right bottom corner, as though someone had carelessly spilled their morning coffee. But it was the only picture he had of the three of them together.

He turned it face down against the wood. He couldn’t handle them looking at him right now.

He started his laptop and began his homework.

xXxXx

Long finished he had retired to his bed to read, his favorite past time. He hadn’t really read anything other than school books since he’d arrived, and had just become engrossed in the plot when there was a knock on his door. It opened.

“Hullo,” Evan said, closing the door and taking a seat on the adjacent bed.

Each room was equipped to house two students, but Von had been one of the rare students to end up with his own room. Not that he was complaining. Evan lived two doors over roomed with fellow sixth-grader Ian Horne that he didn’t particularly care for.

“What’re you doing?”

“Reading.” He held up his book.

“Alice in the Looking-Glass,” Evan read. “You like fairy tales?”

Shrugging, he replied, “I like this book.”

Evan sighed, laying back on his stomach. “Do you like it here?”

It was the second time he’d been asked that in the same day. He shrugged again. It was quick becoming his favorite reply.

“I like it,” he said, stretching on the bed. “I’m glad Kami’s here, though. I’ve known her my whole life, you know. So what do your parents do?” he went on. “I mean, I know who your father is, but what’s he like.”

“He‘s very busy,” he explained. “He’s very dedicated to his job.” That was too many very’s, wasn’t it? He sounded like he was trying to hide something.

“Do you know much about his work?”

Von shrugged, pausing to choose his words carefully. “Not really. He’s doing some very important research.”

“Oh,” he replied simply. “And your mother?” he asked, looking at him with deep blue eyes.

He couldn’t think who the boy reminded him of. “She runs the house. Does charity work, that sort of thing.” It wasn’t a total lie. “She’s…she was very beautiful when she was younger. Why do you want to know?”

“Call it curiosity.”

He set the book aside. “What if I don’t want to talk to you?”

“We have to do that stupid project anyway.” He sighed again, his finger following the pattern of the comforter.

“What’s with you?”

“I’m just thinking, I guess. Just a month ago I was home in England never dreaming I’d be here now. You know that feeling when something happens to turn everything in your life upside down.”

Von didn’t reply. The truth was he did know. But he was intent on keeping his gaze blank and without emotion. He didn’t need to tell Evan anything. And he certainly didn’t want to.

“I don’t want to do this project,” the blond confided.

“I don’t either.”

He sat up, his face brightening with a grin. “We could just make stuff up,” he suggested.

Von cracked a smile. “I could do that,” he told him, joining Evan on the other bed.

“Let’s see,” he began. “I know your father is a famous scientist and author. You’re mother…is a prostitute from the Bronx.”

“And you were born to Turkish circus midgets who abandoned you on tour in England because you became taller than them.”

Evan laughed. “You have a sister,” he added. “She’s ten years older than you and has just undergone sex reassignment surgery. She was once your brother.”

“And Monty.”

“Who’s Monty?”

“He's our butler. Sort of.”

“Okay…Umm…Monty is an escaped convict from Argentina who was so dazzled by your mothers…umm…giving nature, he has taken to following her around and has even pitched a tent in front of your trailer that is decorated with beer cans.

“Oh,” he added as an afterthought. “And he likes to Samba naked.”

Von started laughing madly at the thought of tall and stern Montague Thorndike in a sash dancing with maracas. “What are your relatives names?” he asked.

“Why? Just make stuff up.”

“It gives it more of an edge to mix the truth with fiction.” He paused. “What’s a prostitute anyway?”

Evan’s eyes rested on his face a moment. “I’ll tell you later. You don’t get out much, do you?”

“I was home tutored.”

“That explains it. My mother’s name is Emily and my father Lucas. And my Uncle Peter, he’s Dad’s brother.”

“Okay. So after the circus midgets ditched you, you tried to survive on your own on the streets of London as a pickpocket like your idol, Dodger, but you made a very poor pickpocket and were arrested by the Scotland Yard.”

“I see you’re chalk full of British stereotypes,” he said dryly.

The two volleyed back and forth, trying to outdo each other with the outrageousness of their stories, writing them down as they agreed on the outlandish tales.

Von smiled at his handiwork.

“When was the last time you heard from your father?” Evan asked, finalizing his rendition of the life of Von Crowley. “Not for the report.”

“That is none of your business.”

“He disappeared bout a year ago, didn’t he?”

“Nine months. Now shut up. I don’t want to talk about it!”

“I didn’t imagine you would.” Standing with the papers he had written, he flashed Von a quick grin as he exited the room.

Von couldn’t tell if he disliked Evan or not.