A Deception of Sorts-Chapter 1

Alison yawned and gripped her books closer to her body, not even bothering to cover the embarrassing display of her lack of sleep. First period had been a bore and, as expected, Phoebe was not in class. After what happened to her father the night before, Alison hadn’t expected to see Phoebe at school. Maybe if Phoebe had been there, Alison wouldn’t have gotten in trouble for drooling on her history book.

The hallway cleared fast and by the time Alison wandered over to her locker, the bell rang. Groaning, she slammed the door shut, after not taking anything out and headed to the library. She saw no point in going to class seeing as she would simply fall asleep again.

“Hey, Alison, come sit with us!”

She turned around to see her friend Carlos sitting at a table with his girlfriend Marcy and her friend Jessie. Groaning inwardly, Alison wandered over to join them. It wasn’t that she wasn’t happy to see them, she had just been hoping for a nice quiet nap. Hanging out with her friends would not be an opportune time for a nap.

“You look horrible,” Jessie commented as Alison sat down. She shot a nasty look at Jessie before speaking.

“I didn’t get any sleep,” Alison didn’t like Jessie. It wasn’t as if they hated each other, they just simply didn’t get along. “I broke curfew last night and my mom gave me an hour long lecture.”

“Again?” Carlos asked. Alison nodded and buried her head in her arms. “You’ve gotta stop doing that. You’re gonna get grounded forever.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“What?”

“You think I don’t know that?” Alison repeated, picking up her head.

“Why are you always out so late anyway?” Marcy asked. “We were going to invite you to go bar hopping with us last night, but we kind of guessed you wouldn’t be able to come. What were you doing?”

Alison wanted to yell at her that it was none of her business, but she didn’t have it in her. She had no problems with Marcy, so why take out frustration on her? If Jessie had asked, her whole reaction would be different. Truth be told, Alison had never thought up of an excuse to tell her friends if they asked why she was never able to go clubbing with them or hang out with them at night. What would she tell them?

“Well, you see my dad had this thing and…”

Alison was saved from explaining by the librarian who called for silence. “There’s a very important message being shown on the TV now that you are all required to watch.” She fumbled with the remote for a few minutes before someone got up to help her.

Mrs. Gertrude had been the librarian at Eastwood Prep for nearly sixty years. She always dressed like it was the eighties again and her hot pink glasses clashed with the curly grey hair on her head. Almost all of the students were taller than her and she picked special students to help her shelve books because of it. Alison had been selected once, but had been promptly stripped of her job after she was caught mixing up the books. It had all been a dare set up by Phoebe, but Alison couldn’t complain about not having that job anymore. It really wasn’t any fun.

All of the helpers thought they were special because they got to get their lunches first. Mrs. Gertrude’s only free period was during the lunch block so that’s when the library was closed so they could reshelf the books. Alison hated having to scarf down her food in order to help put books away. The job was stupid. Not to mention Jessie was one of the helpers which made Alison want to stay away from the job even more.

The television screen finally clicked on and the students cheered and whistled. Alison rolled her eyes. Was she the only mature high school student on earth?

Everyone turned their attention to the screen and stopped talking. A scene was painted in front of them that Alison immediately recognized as the boardwalk, specifically the place she had been last night. Gina Sutton, the only news reporter in town, was facing the camera, microphone in hand.

In other news, the Archeads are beginning their search for a certain Snake member this morning. After a few silent months from this terror group, a very well planned attack was orchestrated just last night. At around 11:30 pm, a group of Snakes broke into the house of know Archead leader Mark Sheeble and dragged him out to the boardwalk.

“This is all theory of course,” a policeman commented. “We have no eye-witnesses as everyone was asleep. We can only assume that Mr. Sheeble was dragged out against his own will.”

We are sorry to report that Mr. Sheeble was found dead this morning, a bullet found in his body, placed just correctly so he would die instantly. I ask that we all take a moment of silence to remember Mr. Sheeble.

There was no need for Gina to call for silence. Alison couldn’t hear a single sound coming from anywhere. The library was in the center of the school so there were usually noises coming from the classrooms and office. But at that moment, the school was so quiet that Alison wasn’t even sure that there was anyone outside of the library.

“Poor Phoebe,” she heard Marcy mutter under her breath.

You have no idea. Alison thought. The news cast continued and everyone’s eyes were glued to it, sad expressions on their faces.

The Archeads, led by their newly elected leader, Jason Buck, are searching for the Snake responsible for this crime. Jason has refused an interview, but has shared that he will stop at nothing until this person is found and justice is served. Search parties have been sent all over the area and DNA tests will be taken on the gun to figure out who’s finger prints are on it.

Alison couldn’t take any more. Heart pounding, hands shaking, she bolted out of her chair and ran out of the library. She sprinted to the nearest bathroom and locked herself in a stall. She sat on the toilet, and put her head in her hands. She took deep breaths in an effort to calm herself down.

But she couldn’t.

They were coming for her; how could anyone be calm after knowing that they were being hunted down?

Once the lab results come in, the whole town will know that Alison Crawford was a murderer. The whole town would know that Alison was a Snake.

And the whole town would know that Alison killed her best friend’s father.