“Like?”
“Us being left for later, or for last.”
“Hmm, okay; but why would that be the case?”
Quinn thinks about the boy who sits next to him.
“I’m not sure. Perhaps, this is some type of game to them?”
“Scary.”
“You almost seem, less scared now.”
“If it’s a game, then that means that their motivation, is at least understandable, if not still twisted.”
“Yes, I guess if this was completely random, that would be worse.”
“I wonder what we can do, until Monday?”
“Talking to the others, could be risky.”
“Hey, does your oddity know, of any way we might be able to stop this?”
“Find them, and kill them.”
“No, it does not seem like they do.”
“Don’t ignore me.”
“Then, I’ll do some research on everyone left, to try and find some sort of clue.”
“Okay. I’ll... Uh.”
“Help me look over their info.”
“Yes, that one.”
The next day comes, and two more names get crossed off. The day after comes, and two more names get crossed off. “Me and Neri are still fine. There are only six students left, tomorrow there will be four. One of us might not make it... We both might not make it.”
Quinn is lying in bed, watching the live feed of the board.
“Lucifer...”
“Yes.”
“...What would happen, if my name is crossed out?”
“Who knows?”
Quinn clenches his phone.
“...Isn’t there, another way to stop them, besides...”
“Murder? Hmm, maybe revert their powers. At this point, that seems nearly impossible.”
“...”
“You know, there are only two lives, among your species, that I care about preserving. Both currently at risk.”
He thinks for a moment.
“Well actually, I want to know what the One Piece is. So, either I have to keep him alive, or win his soul, and take it with me to hell. Hmm.”
“Can we stay on topic?”
“Yeah sure, heavy choice. Your life and hers, or a complete strangers. Wow, what a difficult decision to make. Truly, a morale qualm for the ages. Who could ever come to a conclusive decision? It’s just so complicated.”
“...You are not helping.”
“Really? Perhaps, my cutting satire, was just a bit over your head?”
“...”
“The silent treatment? Hmm, fine, see what happens the next time you need help.”
“...”
“The answer, is you will get back, what you are dishing out.”
“...”
“And I don’t want to hear any complaints from you, when the time comes. Because I warned you, that it would be coming, for what you had done, right now, and continue to do.”
“...”
“Stop ignoring me.”
Quinn keeps staring at the footage, on and off, for the next couple of hours.
“Mh!”
A figure walks into the frame. A person dressed in all black, with a mask covering their head. Quinn jumps from his chair.
“Hm?”
Lucifer looks to the boy, as he starts running.
“What is-”
Lucifer sees the screen.
“Kh!”
“We have to get there now!”
“Got it.”
Quinn runs, while watching the feed. “It’s the middle of the night, we can’t use a bus.”
“Mom, I need a ride.”
Quinn feels his heart drop, as he sees something unexpected. The person is writing out another name on the board, the name of the teacher. They then cross the name out.
“That’s, interesting.”
Lucifer says, buckled up in the back seat. “Watch, carefully.”
Once the figure finishes crossing that name out, they cross another off. They then leave the room. “Is that it?”
Quinn making sure they aren’t coming back, starts messaging Neri. “Wait, a car rolling up to the school at night...”
“You can drop me off here.”
Quinn gets out and sprints to the school. “I just need to catch a glimpse of them.”
Quinn looks around; but is unable to see the perp.
“Ghh.”
“What now?”
Quinn finishes sending his message to Neri.
“We check the room itself.”
“Okay.”
Quinn heads into the side building of the school. The class room has been left open. Quinn looks around, before heading inside. The boy then starts examining the area. “They took their time, writing the name...”
Quinn snaps a picture of the name, and sends it to Neri. “She might be able to identify the hand writing. Though, this is a bit... Off.”
Quinn looks over the footage again, feeling a tinge of fear, standing in the same spot. “What’s in their hand?”
He zooms in, and tries to make it out. “Hmm. I’ll check it on my monitor, when I get back.”
Quinn slips his phone into his pocket.
“What else?”
His phone buzzes. The message reads.
“What about the other magnet?”
“Huh, what other magnet?”
“The one that wasn’t by any name.”
Quinn looks at the board.
“I don’t see any other magnet.”
“Good.”
“Why is that good?”
“That means, they can’t just add new names randomly. The teacher was always a part of the grouping, it’s just their name wasn’t ever written down.”
“Doesn’t that mean, this was specifically devised, before any of this started.”
“Yes, this oddity, must have been a well thought out, specific concept, someone had.”
Quinn feels a bit nauseated.
“We should probably head out, soon.”
“Yeah, okay.”
The two take their leave. Arriving back to his house, Quinn sends the footage to Neri, and looks over it again on a larger screen. “They’re using a ruler to draw straight lines.”
Neri calls Quinn, having this to say.
“They masked there handwriting.”
“Yeah.”
“Though, the one thing they couldn’t mask, is there body shape. This is almost most definitely a man.”
“What do we do now?”
“If we can figure out who it is, then we can stop them, I think.”
“If it is a man, then has to be one of the two male students left.”
“Alastor and Forest.”
“Yeah.”
“Hang on with that train of thought. If they went through the trouble of hiding their face, perhaps they also attempted to hide their body, as well.”
“Meaning?”
“It could very well be the female student, Amy, as well.”
“Ah, then we really haven’t narrowed it down.”
“I would say, it’s more likely to be a male student; but not guaranteed.”
“Got it. Have you gotten any useful info on the ones left?”
“We can try to make a read on them, based on their general interests. From what I could tell, Amy likes drawing and photography. Forest likes gaming, and rock climbing. They both have average grades, and seemingly regular social lives.”
“And Alastor?”
“Nothing.”
“Hm?”
“I haven’t found a thing on him. Not online, not through the school, nothing.”
“...I see.”
“We really don’t have a lot to work off of.”
“No, we don’t. Then, should we go with intuition?”
“Nope. That isn’t in the spirit of a detective, at all. Even if the truth is obscured, it still exists out there, to be found.”
“Alright, then I guess we have one more day to fi
gure it out.”
“I know we can do it.”
“I hope we can.”
That Monday, school starts as normal, up till the last class of the day. The first one in the room, before Neri and Quinn, was Alastor.
“Can we examine the board, with him here?”
Quinn asks.
“I’m not sure.”
The five students arrive to class, as normal. The first to make a move, is Amy. She has short black hair, and a yellow hoodie on.
“How come the teacher isn’t here yet?”
Neri watches carefully, as the girl asks her question.
“It probably, has something to do with the fact, her name is crossed out on the board.”
Alastor answers.
“You mean, she’s like absent? Doesn’t that mean we’d get a substitute.”
“I asked the school if she was here today-”
He looks to the white board.
“-And they didn’t even seem to have her on record, as a teacher here.”
“w-What?”
Quinn and Neri are alerted.
“I know, strange, isn’t it?”
He looks over to the two.
“It’s also strange, that every day, since class began, two people less people have shown up.”
Forest perks up, and adds himself to the conversation. He has brown frizzled hair, and a short beard, with a green t-shirt on.
“Yeah, I noticed that. It’s really weird.”
“Isn’t it also strange, that people seemed to not be able to get in contact with them?”
“y-Yeah.”
Forest answers.
“You two have been quiet. Don’t you find it odd?”
“Yeah.”
“It is really strange.”
“If I’m not mistaken, you both talked about, how there was something off with the crossed off names, right?”
Neri looks to Quinn, and whispers.
“What now?”
Quinn leans back in his chair.
“Go wild.”
Neri’s smile grows, and she gets up.
“You are right, something mysterious is going on, and has been since school started.”
She slams her hand onto the white board.
“This white board, is causing people to vanish into thin air.”
Alastor doesn’t move an inch, Amy raises her eyebrow, and Forest gives a surprised look.
“You’re joking, right?”
Amy asks.
“Wouldn’t think of it. Since the start, something has been off. So, I started looking into it. The people whose names have been crossed out, have seemingly disappeared from existence. Even their families didn’t know who they were.”
“That seems a bit farfetched.”
Forest states.
“It’s true, I was with her when we went to their houses. Not a single trace of them was left.”
“You guys are pranking us, right?”
Amy restates. Neri looks around the room, soaking in the atmosphere.
“This world is full of odd things, that are difficult to explain; however, there is absolutely nothing in it, that can’t be understood. Right now, this is the truth of the situation. If we want to make it through this, we have to figure out the true form, of that truth.”
“Meaning, figure out the mystery of the disappearances?”
Alastor asks.
“Yes.”
“Alright.”
He steps up to the white board. Grabbing an eraser, he tries to erase the names; but they do not come off.
“That seems fairly strange already.”
“That could be permanent marker.”
Forest states.
“True.”
Alastor picks up a regular marker, and draws a rectangle, with some squiggles in it. He then attempts to erase it, to no results.
“Once it’s on the board, it can’t come off.”
Neri examines the markings. She then walks over to the row of magnets. She tries to move the magnet by Quinn’s name; but is unable to move it.
“Hmm.”
She then successfully moves the one by her name.
“Hey Quinn, check this out.”
Quinn gets up, and attempts to move his magnet.
“Mh!”
“Did you feel that?”
Lucifer asks.
“Yeah.”
Quinn looks at the other side of the names, opposite of where the magnets were initially placed. “I almost feel, an energy guiding my hand to that side.”
He places the magnet on the opposite side of his name. The atmosphere of the room shifts. At the top of the white board, bold red letters begin to form. They spell out: The first vote has been cast.
“What the heck is that?!”
Amy seems freaked out. The letters begin to fade.
“Seems not everything that appears on the board, sticks.”
Alastor says. Both Alastor and Quinn look to Neri, and at the same time ask.
“Any ideas?”
The two men look at each other.
“If something came up, when we moved one, what happens if we move the rest?”
“That makes sense.”
Quinn says.
“Wait, should we be messing around with this, so haphazardly? What was that voting thing, even about?”
Forest asks.
“That’s a fair point.”
Neri says, while thinking it over.
“Perhaps, its voting for something that will happen, to the person who gets voted?”
“And that thing, could be good or bad.”
Alastor states.
“Okay, then let’s get a tied vote. Everyone, vote for yourself.”
“Alright.”
Alastor moves his magnet to the other side of his name. The second vote has been cast. Forest, reluctantly does the same. The third vote has been cast.
“There’s no way I am touching that board.”
Amy says.
“You’re the only one who can move your magnet.”
Neri states.
“Yeah; but why should I?”
Neri looks at Quinn.
“Should we?”
“Hmm, I guess so.”
Quinn pulls out his phone.
“Everyone, I want you to watch the footage on Quinn’s phone.”
The group gather around, to watch as someone breaks into the class, to write a name down and cross it out.
“That’s...”
Amy and Forest seem shocked, and scared.
“I think it’s clear, that someone is attempting to cross out all our names. Meaning, it’s best to figure this out, before we all disappear.”
“You mean, we could die?”
Amy asks.
“Yes.”
“No way...”
“Wait, we don’t know if it’s death.”
Forest adds.
“We don’t know, that it isn’t.”
Alastor counters with.
“Amy, move your magnet, and we might be able to figure something else out, to help save us. To save everyone.”
Amy, after thinking it over, moves her magnet. The fourth vote has been cast. Finally, Neri moves her own over. The final vote has been cast. The text fades. The vote is a tie, no one is eliminated. There is still a traitor in your midst. The game continues.
“So, it was a game.”
Neri says.
“What does that mean for us?”
Quinn asks.
“It means, most likely, this won’t end, until we vote for the correct person. The traitor, so to speak.”
“Meaning, one of us, is attempting to kill the rest of us?”
Forest asks.
“That would appear to be the case.”
Alastor says, calmly.
“This can’t be happening!?”
Amy seems like she is on the verge of tears.
“Wait, if this person needs to cross our names off, can’t we just protec
t the board?”
Amy asks.
“No, they can do it remotely. We have recordings of the names being crossed out, without anyone here.”
Quinn answers.
“No...”
“Then how do we stop the traitor?”
Forest asks.
“We use the clues, available to us.”
Neri answers, before continuing.
“The board confirmed that the person behind this, must already have their name written here. There’s also the footage, which looks like the traitor has a masculine figure.”
“It’s one of those three?”
Amy points towards the male students.
“It’s leaning towards that direction, yes.”
“Then, can’t we lock them up?”
“That probably won’t work.”
Alastor begins.
“The ability to cross names out, seems to be remote, meaning they probably just have to think about it, and it will happen.”
“Not quite.”
Neri interrupts. Alastor gets a surprised look, though overall, his facial expression doesn’t change much.
“These lines aren’t perfectly straight, if they were done mentally, that wouldn’t be the case. Beyond that, they all match up to each other, including the ones written in person.”
“Meaning, even though they tried to mask there hand writing, they couldn’t completely do it.”
“There is one thing they didn’t cover up. Most likely, because they didn’t realize the camera was watching them.”
“That is?”
“There dominate hand.”
“Interesting.”
“With that said, which hand do you use prominently?”
“What about him?”
Amy asks about Quinn.
“I already know, he’s left-handed.”
“Oh.”
Quinn hesitates. “Should I say, that I write with my right hand?”
Forest raises his right hand.
“I’m right-handed.”
Amy also raises her right hand.
“Alright.”
Alastor raises his left hand.
“Left-handed, however-”
He picks up the marker he had earlier.
“-As you saw, I write with my right hand.”
“That doesn’t really narrow it down, then.”
“Do you think, this vote will actually end things?”
Quinn asks, while looking at the board.
“Hmm, I would think so.”
Neri answers.
“You felt that surge of power, right? Obviously, this vote isn’t anything good.”
Lucifer replies. “It honestly, somewhat reminds me of Samuels games. Though, it doesn’t have the same feeling. How to put it? The energy is different.”
Oddity Specialist: Purgatory Page 8