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It was never peaceful in Barren Pines. With all the 'gifted' students, it was literally impossible to not find someone who was playing the trumpet or the piano or singing or blowing things up in their room. Even ignoring the fact that there was always some form of 'practice' going on, the close quarters didn't allow for much privacy, unless you were in your room. You ate together, you showered together, you studied together. Unless you were up at five in the morning, it was unlikely you'd be alone anywhere that wasn't your room, and even then, you might find a surprise visitor suddenly show up on your doorstep. For those new to Barren Pines College, the sounds might have been maddening. For everyone else, they were just the natural flow of things.

A certain auburn-haired girl didn't help the noise level as she half-slid down the stairs, making no effort to silence the fall of her feet against each step, the stomping bouncing off the walls. Booted feet ran down the hall of the first floor, their owner weaving between other students, barely slowing down as the approached their destination: a room not out of the ordinary, with the exception of it's occupant. Mackenzie "Micky" O'Connell came bursting into the blue-haired boy's room with not a hint of respect for his privacy, letting the door swing open, one hand still on the faux gold handle as she leaned into his dorm, peering around for Zeke.

"Hey Fluffy, you're not doing anything important, are you?" The auburn-haired girl grinned, leaning against the door frame, unabashed to the fact that she might have interrupted something important. It was Zeke. And that should just explain everything right there.

The auburn girl smirked a little, watching him stuff the food into his mouth before bouncing up, tsking lightly. "Oh Fluffy, taquitos again?" She teased, shaking her head and folding her arms across her chest in a scolding manner. Of course, she didn't really 'judge' him -- hell, she herself drank nearly every day of the week. Or she would if she could. Still, she couldn't pass up an opportunity to see if she could make his ears turn red. "Better watch out, or your record time will go down by a whole second!"

Straightening up from his door frame, Mackenzie reached forward to fluff up his hair affectionately, grinning broadly. "Never heard of a term of endearment? It's because you're just so cute." The girl winked, shoving her hands into her pockets, sauntering into his room, looking around a little before shooing him towards his beloved taquitos.

"Go ahead and eat, you know I'm just teasing you. Hey, did you hear about that new horror flick coming out? I've heard it's wicked creepy. Wanna see it?"

"Chill Fluffy, I was kidding. I know, you're the best runner in the school. Faster than The Flash, cuter than a cuddly bunny."

She winked again, pushing a few things around on his desk so she could sit on it, leaning back a little, palms against the wood. She hadn't failed to notice how the tips of his ears had started to turn a pretty shade of crimson, and she couldn't help but feel a little satisfied by it. If she was a good person, she would have only said those things to compliment him on the truth, and make the slightly oblivious boy feel better about himself. Well... turned out she wasn't exactly a good person by those standards. Not that it still wasn't true -- he was an adorable kid, she loved him to death and wanted to squeeze him every chance she got. It was just... the fact that he got so embarrassed about it was like icing on the cake.

Bending one knee, Mack rested the bottom of one of her boots against the top of his desk, wrapping her arms around it, kicking the other one back and forth idly.

"Well, I was talking about the flesh-eating one. There's one with a girl in a pink apron? Jesus, maybe we should go see that one -- that's terrifying," Lifting one of the collars on her uniform, she hid behind it, making a clawed hand at him, making a comical-horror face behind it, "I hear they're playing a movie in the common room sometime tonight. I wonder if it'll be one of those."

Mack tried to give him a hurt look, one hand pressed against her chest as she gave him her best 'sad puppy' look. "How could you even think that about me? I would never do anything like that..." Dropping the act, she waved a hand dismissively. "Naw, I have to be good, unfortunately. The Counsel of Tightasses are getting on my case about my last incident. They say if I don't clean up my act, I'm off. They've been threatening me all year with that one... Besides. I won't drink around you, I know how you don't like it."

She really did try not to drink around Zeke, although she wasn't sure if he'd believe her or not. He was so innocent and cute, and she felt a strong fondness for the blue-haired boy. If he didn't like it, she'd try to accommodate him.

Letting her leg drop from the desk, she leaned back again on one palm, watching the other boy eat, her eyes turning up to the ceiling. "Gooseberry pie huh? Is that suppose to be scary? Because really it just makes me hungry. But I guess to each his own... maybe she'll crawl backwards out of the oven with a knife sticking out of her gut or something."

"I know, I know," Mack replied, feeling that 'heart-melting' awww feeling at that concerned expression of his. Zeke was such a sweetheart, she just wanted to squeeze him like he was some sort of cute teddy bear. She refrained, of course -- if his ears turned pink just from a compliment, he might explode if she hugged him, "I'm always careful, you know that. I won't be doing it forever, just until I get out of this stressful 'YOU MUST BE AMAZING' school. Don't tell me you don't feel the pressure."

Reaching over to take the oozy taquito, taking a bite, surprised and flattered that he would offer up one of his 'treasured' foods to her. That was another thing about Fluffy -- not only was he cute as a button, he was so endearingly generous.

"Fluffy, I like how you think," She replied, chewing a little before twisting a little so she was looking upside down at him awkwardly, "She'd crawl around on the ceiling and you'd never know she was there until she GOT YOU!"

To say that Zeke jumped out of his skin would be cliche, but he did leap off of his bed in the way only a long-limbed athlete could. He looked at his window, which was covered in ... oil?

"What was that?!" asked Zeke. "All we need now is a threatening offer of gooseberry pie."

He laughed, but his joke (as usual) fell short, and he gulped.

"You, uh, you okay there, Mack?" he glanced over at her, but his eyes shot back to his window when he watched the gunk-- was the gunk moving?! It didn't drip... it almost slithered away. The boy took a step back, standing next to Mackenzie and watching the odd sight.

"There's no way I'm opening that window," stated Zeke. "I'll clean it when I'm sure that whatever is out there isn't going to crawl in. Should we call someone, Mack?"

The two students were alone with the sounds of their heartbeats for just long enough to consider it all a joke. Then something began to stir, causing the inky smears on the window to slide downward with unusual haste.

A hand reached up toward the window from below and slapped against it, a long hand attached to a long arm. It was slick, oily, and deep black, like the greasy trails that it seemed to be wiping away with its movement. Between each of the unnaturally long fingers grew a translucent, spongy red film. The hand slid along the length of the glass, making hardly a sound while the 'blood' seemed to gather back into it like metal filings to a magnet. It paused as it reached the opposite end, the spindly fingers gathering together as though it were debating simply punching through the glass to get at them.

And then the hand reopened and waved out of sight. Only a couple of wiggling rivulets of ink in the corner of the window were testimony that it had ever been there. The students had both seen it. But did they believe their own eyes? Monsters only existed in horror movies...

Micky's green eyes grew wider with fear, and she was hard-pressed not to scream, her throat closing up a little. The only thing that caused her not to was the high-pitched whine from Zeke. That's right, she had to watch out for Zeke. This was no time to panic. Panicking got people killed in monster movies. What they needed this to be was an action-film, where the good guys lived. And the good guys never cried for their mommy.

"This is where zombie movies come in handy," Mack replied, starting to get the hang of herself. There was no point losing their heads about it. So there was an otherworldly hand that was trying to get in and do who knows what to them (she couldn't even crack a sexual joke with that one). Grabbing the lamp, she jerked it roughly from the outlet, handing it to Zeke and turned him around so he was facing away from the window, pressing her back against his. As an added thought, she grabbed his running cleats, the kind with the sharp metal points at the end, just in case, "Don't worry Fluffy, everything's gonna be alright."

She kept her upbeat attitude, despite how her heart fluttered against her chest, the sound of the hand against the window ringing in her ears. Damn, if they got out of this, she was going to have nightmares for months. She couldn't believe it, but those other kids had been right... something weird was going on at Barren Pines, and not just your 'run of the mill' pranks.

"I'll guard this way, you keep an eye that way. When we leave, I'll close the door, just in case it tries to get in again. There's gotta be an RA for this damn floor!"