It was dark out. Eric Marshall sat perched on the edge of the fountain, a cigarette held to his lips by two slender finger. Robert pulled out a lighter, lighting his own. He glanced over to Kian and Fitz who stood beside him.

"You want one?" Fitz offered his hand but Kian simply shook his head.

"I'm good." Smoking in the middle of campus at night was a bold move but one the White Rose boys weren't afraid to make. Eric glanced to Kian, his eyes half shut.

"How are you holding up after the other night?" Kian shook his head slowly.

"I...I don't want to talk about it." Robert smirked and a wisp of smoke curled out of his mouth when he spoke.

"Listen buddy, I had a soft spot for Norman too but the truth is he was breaking the rules almost as much as Bentlee. We all know you covered for him when you said he was 'sick' after he missed the White Rose meeting after Jacob died."

"He was sick." Robert let out a snort of laughter.

"Suuure."

"After he saw Jacob's grieving parents come to the school he felt guilty. The parents had heard he had been a friend of Jacob's and even had come to him to ask about what their son's final days had been like. Knowing that their pain was on his shoulders made him physically sick." Robert brought the cigarette back to his lips, inhaling deeply.

"Then it's good he's dead. He was weak. Killing him by mistake was a happy coincidence-" he was cut off when Kian brought his hand down hard across his cheek. The sickening whack of the slap didn't even make Eric bat an eyelid though it caused Robert to stumble a few steps backwards, a hand clasped to this throbbing cheek.

"What the FUCK Kian?"

"How...dare you speak like that about my brother," Kian choked, a slight glimmer of tears could be seen in the pale moonlight.

"You wouldn't have cared if Bentlee had been the one to die," Robert snapped back. Kian didn't respond, he just continued to stare off into the distance.

"Speaking of Bentlee," Fitz said slowly. "He's taking it even worse then you Kian, it's getting to the point that I almost thought about going to the headmaster and asking to switch rooms, at least for just a little while. He hasn't slept since the murder. That means he's been awake two nights in a row and I have to listening to him sobbing which keeps me awake." The bags under Fitz's eyes were hard to make out in the night but none the less they were certainly prominent.

"He's started skipping class too," Robert added, bringing his cigarette back to his lips. "I was going back to my dorm to grab a book and I saw him outside, crouched down next to the wall of the science department. He was crying, shit man he looks terrible. I tried to come over to him and ask how he was but he just started shrieking at me like I was Satan or something so I just left." The boys stood still a moment in the chilly early November night, staring at the stars as they smoked. None of them were really registering how beautifully they twinkled and glowed amidst the clear sky tonight, things like stars and and skies seemed bland and boring to boys who had realized that they could control someone's life and death as if it were a play thing.

------

Mika glanced over the stack of books that sat at the foot of his bed. He had just finished reading The Brothers Karamazov and as he slowly shut the novel he realized that he was now in need of something new to read. He scanned the pile quickly. Most of these he had started and was either halfway through or he had tossed them aside and had just been too lazy to walk them back to the library. They were so used to him now that the librarian pretty much just let him take whatever he wanted. He noticed a book peaking out from the others suddenly and he leaned over to grab it. He stared down at a dark green book with the words Faust written in gold on the cover. Right, he had totally forgotten about this. As he went to open the book three slim pieces of paper slipped out, drifting onto the bed. The paper was old and yellowed, it must have been wedged inside that book for at least fifty years if not more. Mika picked them up carefully one by one, being cautious not to tear them he arranged them into a little stack. The writing on the letter was faded and barely legible. Words written in thin cursive were crammed into the piece of paper curling across it. The first two of the letters seemed to be addressed to the boy who had checked out the book all those times before Mika finally had come along and found it, Quintin Chambers. 'My dearest Quintin', it read at the top. For a moment Mika had thought he had actually found something interesting, some sort of old relic from over a hundred years ago that he could bring to the school board...hell maybe it would be the clue to some kind of hidden treasure or school secret or something. When he actually started to read the letter however, Mika's face immediately fell. It pretty much read as a cheesy love note with lines so over the top and cliche it made Mika want to puke. Without even finishing it he tossed the first one aside and looked to the next one. Again, it was the same deal, some old ass shit comparing Quintin's eyes to the color of a thawing river...whatever the fuck that was supposed to mean? Whoever had sent these to Quintin was clearly no writer. His gaze finally slipped to the bottom of the page and for the first time he actually was surprised. A name was written there in thin, tight cursive,

-Yours forever and always, Daniel Emsworth-

Daniel Emsworth...Emsworth. Was this person related to Andreis? It would make sense, the Emsworth's were a family who came from old money. He looked to the final letter now. It was almost completely blank and appeared to have been written by a different person, Mika assumed the person in question was Quintin Chambers. He looked over the few lines that had been written on the page,

Daniel, I want you to know how much your companionship has meant to me these last four years. But, my dearest friend, (and I know it is silly to agonize so about this) but, you must know that I am worried that...

 And that was it, the sentence simply stopped abruptly. Mika wondered why Quintin Chambers had never finished the letter. He stared at the mostly blank sheet of paper, it was almost sad really...a love note that would never be finished or sent, both the writer and it's intended receiver long dead. No matter as depressing as it was, even more depressing was how terrible Daniel Emsworth had been at poetry. It felt almost invasive to be reading their letters even though Mika knew both boys must have died decades ago, before he was even born. Slowly he slipped the letters back in their place in the book before he turned to the first page of the novel and began to read.