label chapter_14A: #Bowling for Volcano High scene room anon day "I wake up the next morning with my head cradled in my arms." play music "audio/OST/Appreciating the Moment.ogg" fadein 1.0 "My back aches from the lack of proper bedding, but that’s hardly anything new." "Groggily, I pull myself to my feet." "I pull back the curtain to reveal that a thick sunday fog had rolled in overnight." "What time is it…?" "Guess I’ll check my phone…" show anonphone at scenter with moveinbottom "Ten AM, huh…" hide anonphone with moveoutbottom "Damn, I slept a while." "...Did Fang sleep well?" A "Fang, you up?" stop music "The bed is empty." A "Oh." "Wait a second." "My phone has seventy missed calls and over a hundred texts from Naser…" "That’s right, my phone was on silent last night for Prom." "He’s probably just worried about Fang, but by Raptor Jesus’ right nut man." "I open the most recent voicemail." FD "By Raptor Jesus’ left testicle if Fang is not home within the hour I will hunt you down and mount your head on my trophy wall! You will RUE the day that-" "Whoa." "Next one…" FD "Maybe I didn’t make myself fucking clear. You will be sleeping with the fishes if Lucy is not home in the morning. I have a particular set of-" "I’m starting to get the idea." "All the texts are written in a similar vein." "I try texting Fang to see if she got home safe." "Anon: hey, you alright?" "Anon: just noticed your dad was pretty livid last night" "Anon: he mustve been writing all night long" "...No immediate response." "Well, she’ll see it when she sees it." "S’not like I can do much else for Fang right now." "I take note of the mess that Fang created, a reminder of how badly I fucked up." "Fuck me. So this is what they mean by Prom Night disasters." "I always thought it was just a euphemism for teen pregnancies." "There’s laminate… something, splinters all over the floor from my dresser." "And a check inside my bathroom reveals that The Duke managed to crack my porcelain throne." "Shit. No way am I getting my deposit back now." "I check the controller carefully, only barely relieved that there’s no damage." "After I’ve swept up the bits of broken dresser I find I have no real clue what to do." "A check of my phone again shows that Fang’s at least seen my texts." "I sigh." "How do I make this up to her?" "I feel like a fucking heel right now." "It’ll take my mind off things at least." scene black with fade "..." "Master Grug, you mind telling me what you’re doing on that boat?" "Ooga booga, finish this fight." "Guess I’ll play the next one, I really don’t feel like doing anything else today." "..." scene room anon night with fade "Wake Grug when you need Grug." "Really wish I could just float away in an iceberg like Master Grug after last night." show anonphone with moveinbottom "I glance at my phone and realize I spent ten hours playing Rock Ring." "My mind was turned off for most of that, guess I just lost track of time." hide anonphone with moveoutbottom "I’m shaken from my thoughts by a knock at my door." "The door I forgot to lock." "Oh god, I’m gonna be murdered, butchered, my body parts sold on the black market and turned into some disgusting rhinorex’s sex toys." "Hopefully in that order." "Before I can search for my knife, the door opens to reveal…" show anon neutral at aleft show fang neutral flip at sright with dissolve play music "audio/OST/appreciating_the_scenery.ogg" fadein 1.0 F "Anon? You- oh! Hey…" F "Uh… Why are you huddled in the fetal position?" A "Fang? Oh thank fuck." "I deflate, slumping lifelessly on my bed." A "I thought your dad was here to kill me." F "Ah. Yeah. Sorry." "Fang sets her backpack down on the kitchen table." F "So…" show anon sad with dissolve "Shit. Should have actually thought about what I should say to her." A "Fang, about last ni-" F "It’s fine." show anon neutral with dissolve A "-ight.. What?" F "It’s fine, Anon. I don’t blame you for what happened." "What." F "In fact, I’m sorry for overreacting last night." "There’s something about this all that is setting off alarms in my head." "I don’t know what kind though. Or why." A "I… What?" F "I said I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have blown up on you like last night." A "Even if it was my fault? I should have-" F "It isn’t, Anon." A "But-" show black with fade "My words are cut off. My mind goes completely blank." "Fang’s hands grip my dirty dress shirt tightly as her beak presses against my parted lips, her tongue invading my mouth." "She pulls away abruptly, leaving me confused and lightheaded." A "I..wha...Fang?" "Her hands guide me down onto my bed and she straddles my lap." stop music fadeout 1.0 show black with fade "..." "Sometime in the night the bed shifts." play music "audio/OST/The Hunt for more (You)s.ogg" fadein 1.0 "I hear the bathroom door close so I pay it no mind and drift back to sleep." "Eventually my internal clock wakes me up." scene room anon day with fade "Stretching and yawning, realize that it’s a lot brighter than normal." "Did I sleep in?" "The alarm clock on my table has been unplugged…" "I reach over to grab my phone to check the time." "Nine-o-two AM?" "Oh shit, Fang and I are beyond late." stop music fadeout 1.0 "Wait, where is Fang?" "Her backpack is gone, too." "Oh come on, she went to school without me?!" "I rush to put my clothes on and get out the door as soon as possible." stop music fadeout 1.0 "About halfway there my phone buzzes in my pocket." "Unread texts from Fang?" "{i}Fang: ♪ Control over my life you denied, And now death approaches from the sky, Why'd it be me you had to vilify? I guess this is Goodbye, Volcano High ♫{/i}" "The cryptic message stops me in my tracks." "Something is definitely wrong." "This almost reads like…" "The adrenaline pushes my feet back into a desperate bolt towards the school." scene outside school fog show anon neutral at aleft with fade "The whole time my mind floods with horrid worst-case scenarios." "I tell myself I’m just worrying, but my mad sprint betrays the lie." "As I approach the school, I notice a crowd through the haze." "Surely it’s just a drill." "The deceit is shattered when I see the crowd consists of students huddling and crying, with teachers quietly making sure everyone is accounted for." "...Where’s Fang?" "She has to be in this crowd." "There’s just a fire in the school that scared people." "She’s in this crowd somewhere." scene a02 with fade $ unlockCg("a02") T "YOU!!" "The voice calls out through the silence for all to hear." "Trish moves to stand a dozen feet in front of me on the pavement." "A shaky finger directing malice towards me." "She’s redfaced, streams of tears running the mascara down her face." T "WHY DID YOU COME HERE?!?" "Blurred heads turn to the commotion." T "YOU BASTARD!!" T "WHY COULDN’T YOU JUST LEAVE US ALONE?!" T "NOW JUST LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!!" T "LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE!" T "ARE YOU HAPPY?" "I can’t say anything." "Is this really happening?" T "LEAVE US ALREADY!!" T "YOU SHOW UP, GET THEIR ATTENTION, AND NOW… AND NOW…!" "She chucks her phone through the air." "It misses by inches and smashes on the ground somewhere behind me." T "I WAS RIGHT ABOUT YOU THE WHOLE TIME!!" T "I WAS RIGHT ABOUT YOU!! YOU!!" "By now her tirade becomes incomprehensible screaming." "A teacher has to hold her back and try directing her to a nearby curb to sit." scene black with fade "...I don’t have time for this." "Where is Fang?" "I gotta get in that building." "I turn around and dash away into the fog as Trish is being consoled by a group of students." scene hallway with fade "The side door is still unlocked, and I’m able to slip in without being noticed." "The halls are silent, despite it all." "My footsteps clatter through the empty halls." "It’s third period now, Fang always talks about having to deal with Naomi in Econ." "That’s not on this floor, fuck!" scene black with fade "I pause when I reach the stairwell upwards." "I can’t say for sure what, but my instincts are screaming at me to not go up, to turn back now." "... I can’t." "My hand lightly glides along the handrail while I cautiously cross the stairs to the second floor." "The first thing that hits me is the smell." "That electric, almost metallic stench of wet ozone." "I’ve never been in a real fight before, but even so…" "It’s a smell everyone instinctively knows." "I couldn’t tell what sound I made, because I frankly don’t remember." "All I will ever remember from this is the sight of my former classmates splattered across the halls like bags of waste." scene a04 with fade $ unlockCg("a04") "The spills and trails of blood tell the story of their final moments." "Two were trying to run and still remain face down in their final resting places." "One slumped from a locker, smearing his remains all the way down like a puppet string." "And the last one, who tried fighting back, now clumped in the middle of the hallway soaked in the collective pooling blood." "It was Naser." "This isn’t real, none of this is real." "I’m just having a nightmare after last nights’ episode." "Things are just fine, I’ll return to reality soon…" "..." "..." "..." "Please…" "...God...Damn it..." "...Where is Fang…?" "I just need to find her." "There’s one open door in the hall, the one closest to the battlefield." "I already know I’m not going to see her." "Fang hasn’t been in that room since she started." "The only thing in there is the huddled corpse of our student council president." "...Guess she didn’t get that ‘perfect highschool life’ in the end." "..." scene black with fade "The stairs." "There’s only one place she can be." "One place where she’d go." "When I turn back to the stairwell, something makes a wet thud behind me." "Somehow, Naser’s still alive." "He’s moved his arm in my direction, and still has the strength to move a bit." "His eyes meet mine for a moment." "Disappointment." "Sorrow." "Mourning." "..." "I can’t focus on him." "He’s got seconds left, anything I tried would just be a waste of time." "His hand makes a wet slap against the hard tiles one last time while I start up the stairs." "Somehow, the remaining two flights of stairs have gained another several hundred steps." "I haven’t seen who it was yet, it might not be her." "You know well it can only be her." "How could I have known this would happen? This isn’t my fault..!" "You had just as much a hand in this as she did." "Fang isn’t here. She’s at home being grilled by her father for seeing me again." "She’s behind that door with a loaded gun." "...How long have I been standing here, staring at the doorknob?" "...How much longer could I get away with putting it off?" "As it is, it’s not the worst case scenario." "Even if Naser and Naomi are gone…" "There’s a chance it’s not Fang up here." "I’d rather just stand here forever." "Relishing in the possibility that there’s some hope left." "However." "Time stops for no one." "Not even me." "The police sirens have been outside for a while." "I can’t ignore them any longer." "I owe Fang this much at least." "..." "The doorknob is still cold on my hand." "I turn it and exit to the rooftop." "In the dense morning fog the only thing to stand out is the silhouette." "One that I easily recognize." scene a10 with fade $ unlockCg("a10") A "Fang." "She’s silent. I can’t even tell if she’s looking at me or not." A "Fang, please. Say something." "My legs feel leaden as I approach her." A "Fang. Come on. T-this is all…" "Slowly more and more details come too." "The revolver that hung limply from her fingers." "The splatter of blood on her pants." "Her wings with multiple bald patches on them." "And the sound of her ragged breaths." A "Fang…" "My fingers brush against her shoulder." scene black play sound "audio/effects/shot.ogg" A "ARGH!" "Hot, searing pain." "My left leg crumples under me." "As I fall I see Fang’s beautiful amber eyes." "They’re red and puffy, with makeup-less tears running freely down her cheeks." F "A-Anon… WHY ARE YOU-!" A "Aaaah… haaaah… Fang… Why…?" F "Y-you weren’t supposed to be here!" F "You shouldn’t have come here!" A "Fuck… Because… Because I love you! Haaaaaah." scene a10 with fade $ unlockCg("a10") "I struggle to balance on my left leg. The hole in my shin dribbles blood down to the floor." "I don’t care though." "I hobble forward." "Fang steps back." F "S-stay back!" "The revolver clatters against the concrete, spent on ammo." A "Fang… please…" "A painful step forward." "She takes another back." F "Anon!" A "Just come downstairs with me… It’s not over, it doesn’t have to be this wa-" "With a crunch, my shin gives out completely, lurching me forward onto my hands and knees." scene black with fade "I have to keep going." "Even if it’s on my knees." "I can feel myself slowing." "My thoughts cloudy." "The blood loss..." "The pain is so intense, however." "It brings some clarity to my mind." "Enough that I can drag myself forward." A "Please, come down with me." F "Oh-oh god. Oh my god. S-stop…" "The sharp bone pokes and tears through my leg muscle." "I briefly look behind me, the trail is spilling out and making my other leg wet." "Bile rises up my throat at the sight." "I swallow hard and look back to Fang." "I have to reach her." "I can still fix this." "I can still save her." "Fang keeps backing away as I try to get closer, remaining out of my reach." "Fang stops and catches her balance." "Her foot is halfway over the edge." "We’ve reached the edge of the rooftop." "End of the line." A "Fang." A "Look at me." scene a11 with fade $ unlockCg("a11") "Her head shakily turns from the concrete below to meet my eyes again." A "Back away from there, please." F "I-I… I…" A "It’s not over." A "Stay with me here, please." F "I…" A "Don’t leave me alone." "We stare for an eternity, all through the police’s screaming below." "Fang looks below once more, down the three story drop to the walkway below." "The walkway we’d passed through so many times to get to classes without a second thought." "The walkway we crossed daily with our friends through all our trials." A "Please…" "She looks to me again, less shakily this time." "The sides of her mouth curl into a warm smile." "The last of her tears falls." scene a12 with fade $ unlockCg("a12") "She jumps." A "Fang!" "I can’t look over." "I don’t want to see it." "The authorities betray my final wish of death by bursting through the door at that exact minute." "I drift into unconsciousness when they start wrapping my leg." scene black with fade pause 5 "..." "Three weeks pass." "Probably." "All I can remember is the sterile hospital room and an endless lineup of reporters." "The whole incident made national news." "Apparently I had become ‘the brave soul who took a bullet to stop a school shooting.’" "But to everyone I know I’m just the one who caused all this." "After I refused to answer the constant pestering enough, I was finally left in blissful solitude." "I expected a visit from Spears, or Reed, or Stella or someone." "But they never came." "I got discharged just yesterday." "I’ll need to stay on a crutch for a few months, but that’s hardly the wound I'm worried about." scene a13 with fade $ unlockCg("a13") "...Her funeral was today." "I wasn’t invited, of course." "But I can’t just leave it either." "So I wait out of sight several hundreds of feet away for the remaining family members to trickle out of the crowd and go home." scene a14a with fade $ unlockCg("a14a") "The last figure lingers for over an hour." "If anyone, he’s the one who deserved this the least." "He was right the whole time, about me." "And here I am, defiling her grave with my presence." "Eventually, he too leaves." scene a15 with fade $ unlockCg("a15") "The alternations of footsteps and the crutch make me feel more mechanical than human." "Then again, that may be true regardless of having a crutch." scene a14 with fade $ unlockCg("a14") "The two graves are right next to each other." "Various flowers pollute the fresh mounds." "In memory of Naser. Loving son and brother." "... I’m sorry, man." "I hobble over to the other headstone." "{i}Here lies dearest Lucy. Heaven restores you in light.{/i}" "God damn it." "This is all my fault." "None of this would have happened if I noticed something was wrong." "If I just supported Fang more instead of getting into a fight." "If I never got between her and her friends by telling her how I felt." "If I never bothered Fang and just stayed to myself." "...If I never moved to Volcaldera in the first place." "Fuck." "And because of me Naomi and Naser and Fang and the others are gone." "Because I’m too fucking stupid to see any of the warning signs." "I should be crying right now." "I should be screaming to the world why I should have died instead." "But I instead I just feel…" "My final plea to Fang races through my head." #fade in wind blowing here play sound "audio/effects/wind.ogg" loop volume 0.3 "{i}Don’t leave me alone.{/i}" "I just feel completely and utterly and hopelessly alone." "The sprinkling rain stops." "Seems the world is tired of my monologuing." "Like Trish said, I’m just some nobody from the middle of nowhere." "And the only person I ever cared about is gone." "The split second I thought I was somebody, I ruined everything." "So now, I’m back to being nobody." "..." "It’s better this way." $ quick_menu = False window hide play sound "audio/effects/wind.ogg" loop volume 0.2 play music "audio/OST/Sad!.ogg" fadein 1.0 volume 2.8 noloop pause 20 stop sound fadeout 1.0 scene black with fade pause 30 scene 1of4 with fade pause 15 return