Chapter 2

Chapter Two


Richard rode on his red and white scooter through the town. Covering his head was a red rounded helmet and around his torso was the casual red jacket. As he passed the cafe, he waved to an middle aged waitress who was taking out the trash. She waved back with a smile.

As the scooter sped through the town, Richard glanced around him every so often to the morning risers opening shops around the town of Bridgewood.

The Bridgewood High School sat in the middle of the town, just a few blocks away from the Bridgewood University. It was a complete duplex of tall brown brick buildings. One was degsinated as a gym, while the others were for classrooms. The parking lot in the front was already filled expensive looking cars.

Richard parked his scooter next to a red sports car that had been restored from the nineteen-seventies. The convertable car had its top down and sitting in the driver's seat was a young man with a heavy set frame. Around his torso was a red and green Hawwian shirt and tanned cargo pants ran down to a pair of black and white sneakers. His hair was blond with black roots and his face was long, mainly his forehead was long and seemed to protrude out further than the rest of his face. A pair of silver framed round sunglasses sat on his face as his feet were propt up on the dashboard of the car. He leaned back with his left arm resting on the passenger seat.

Richard shut off his scooter as he smiled to the young man. "Good morning Wally."

Wally smiled. "You know something, you have spent way too much time with that Zach guy." He turned and lowered the glasses to the tip of his nose, exposing his dark blue eyes to the daylight. "Good day to you, kind sir." Wally said in a fake British accent.

Richard gave a snort. "Speaking of my home, I want to express a word of warning. They have installed an I.D system. So, you won't be able to go in whenever you want."

Wally sighed and pulled his feet into the car. "That's why I've got friends like you, Richie." Wally stood up in the car and jumped over the door. "You are my inside man and can get me in whenever you want."

Richard shook his head as he removed his helmet. "I thought you were my friend because of my charming nature."

Wally walked around the back end of the car, pulling out a pack of cigarettes from one of the many pockets on his cargo pants. "Oh hell no. Your charm is only good on my sister."

Richard gave a smile and watched Wally pull out a cigarette out of the pack to place on his lips. As Wally searched for a lighter, Richard pulled down his kick stand. "You really shouldn't smoke, Wally. It isn't good for your health."

Wally nodded as he began to puff on his cigarette. "Yeah, but then again, Twinkies are too, but that doesn't stop people from eating them." He pulled the cigarette from his lips and stared at it over his sunglasses. "I thought about trying out those electronic cigarettes."

Richard hooked his helmet on the side of his seat and stood off the scooter, pulling out the ignition key. His eyes darted around them. "Oh really? They have things like that?"

Wally nodded, puffing on his cigarette and waving to two girls walking into the high school. "Yeah, you haven't heard of them? They are crazy all over London."

Richard sighed. "I am not much of a smoker." He walked over to the side of Wally's car and leaned against it. "So, what is Chloe up to?"

Wally laughed, smoke shot out of his nostrils as he did. "Let me get the record straight, I thought you were friends with me because of my charm, not my sister."

Richard laughed and shrugged. "To be honest with you, I am not that attracted to you."

Wally laughed. "Good! Because all of this is for the ladies." He shrugged and sniffed before taking another drag off his cigarette. "I'd watch out for Chloe, she is going crazy about Halloween."

"Halloween."

"Yeah, the holiday. You remember."

Richard smirked. "Why? Is she a big Halloween fan?"

Wally snickered. "Yeah, its that witch thing."

Richard nodded and glanced to the school doors. "I still do not understand why you have a problem with Chloe's religion."

Wally shrugged. "Other than it is weird, it caused my dad and mom to separete. It hasn't been a fan favorite in my dad's house." He sighed and threw his cigarette to the side. The young man pushed his sunglasses up onto his face. "Plus, it isn't a fan favorite around the school."

Richard gave a chuckle. "I would believe being the Sheriff's son is not a fan favorite."

Wally nodded with a smile. "Not really, but it has perks. I know a lot of drug dealers." Wally glanced to Richard with a grin and then pointed to the young man's glasses. "Are those new?"

Richard gave a forced smile. "Um ... Yes they are."

Wally nodded with a frown. "What happened to your other ones?"

Richard shrugged. "I ... Well I broke them."

Wally raised his right eyebrow. "Dude, you are accident prone." He walked around Richard and started to strut across the parking lot.

Richard sighed and followed right behind his friend. "I was moving some furniture around and they fell off. It doesn't mean that I am accident prone."

Wally chuckled. "Richie, this will be the third pair I have seen you wear in the month you have been here. Trust me, you are accident prone."

Richard rolled his eyes. "And I am certain that you aren't." He said in a sarcastic tone.

Wally pointed to Richard as he continued to walk with his friend. A smile formed on his face. "Hey! I told you, she was wild. How was I suppose to know that my dad's handcuff's were going to come in the mix?"

As the two walked up to the brown double doors that led into the high school, sharing a laugh about Wally's joke, Wally stopped and stared forward at the doors. His body gave a quick shiver and his face ran pale. His eyes held the very image of fear. He gave a smirk and slowed his walk to fall right behind Richard.

Wally's sudden change in attitude was enough for Richard to notice. He gave a gentle chuckle as he opened his side of the doors. "What is it?"

Wally shook his head and pushed gently on Richard's shoulders. "Nothing, just keep moving."

The two quickly walked into the school hallway, decorated with tanned colored lockers. Framed notices of school events and warnings were posted on the walls between rows of lockers. The floor was made of a thick dark brown tile. Once inside the hallway, Wally walked around Richard and continued his stride on this friend's right side.

Richard shoved his hands into his pockets. "Did you see something?"

Wally shook his head. "Just let it go Richard."

"From the look of it, you were staring at that door like death awaited you, do you hate school that much?" Richard laughed.

Wally sped up his walking. His face was blank. "I told you to forget it. Someone just walked over my grave or something."

Richard skipped a step to reach Wally. With his arm outstretched, Richard gently grabbed Wally's shoulder to stop his friend. "Hey ... Hey wait." He said with worried voice.

Wally stopped with a sigh and turned to face Richard. "What? I don't want to talk about it."

Richard nodded. "What ever you did see, just remember, it cannot hurt you."

"That isn't it, Rich. Whenever I see those ... Things, I remind myself how screwed up I am." Wally said, pointing to the double doors.

Richard nodded and adjusted his thick framed glasses. "Well, those things are spirits of the dead." He said in a whisper. "They are lost and they are looking for people with your kind of sight to help them."

Wally scoffed and rolled his eyes before leaving Richard to head to his locker on the right side of the hallway. "Oh sure, let me get my tarrot cards and we can find a way to set them free. I thought I went over this with you and Chloe, I am not going to play Medium."

Richard lowered his head and ran his fingers through his hair. He slowly turned to approach his friend, when his eyes lit up and look of shock covered his face. "I forgot my tablet."

Standing in his open locker to pull out a set of textbooks, Wally pulled his wrist watch to his face. "You better hurry up and get it, class starts in two minutes."

Richard did not wait for Wally to finish his sentence; he was jogging towards the door and pushing himself through the double doors to the outside world. He passed the parking lot to run over to one of the two red saddle bags installed on the side of the scooter. He opened the small door on the left saddle bag. Inside were the contents of a phone charger, a half eaten bag of chips and his tablet covered in a protective case. Richard eased the tablet out of the saddle bag. As he stood up straight with tablet in hand, the sound of footsteps heading towards his back caused Richard to glance over his shoulder.

To men, one dressed in a loose V-neck t-shirt and a pair of dirty jeans, the other dressed in a black and white suit, pressed tightly; approached Richard quickly.

The man in the suit looked older than the man dressed casually. His brown hair was cut short and combed perfectly. The other, the casual young man, looked to be Richard's age and had long black hair.

"Richard Thomas?" Asked the man in the suit, who had a calm sense about his voice.

Richard darted his eyes to both men without answering.

The man in the suit smiled. "We mean you no harm."

"What ... Do you want?" Richard finally asked.

The man in the suit pointed to his chest and to the young man beside him. "I am Dennis Wingfield and this is Tim Powers. May we have a second of your time?"

Richard gave a small shake and swallowed hard. "I have class in about a few minutes."

The man in the suit, Wingfield, placed a large hand on Richard's shoulder. He gave a smile to him along with a wink. "It will only take a few seconds."

Tim looked over his shoulder with hasty eyes. He pulled out a small tazor gun and aimed it at Richard before returning his glare to the young man. "We don't have time for this."

Wingfield quickly laid a hand on the gun and pushed it down. "Are you crazy?! We can't have him changing here and now!"

Richard's eyes widened for a moment with shock. As they widened, his brown eyes faded into a solid black. His curly brown hair loosened and laid straight, turning into a solid black as well. His broad frame thinned and his nose grew more pointed along with his cheek bones rising. He smiled and exposed many rows of crooked teeth.

Tim looked at the changing Richard with shock. "Shit!"

Wingfield darted a glare to Richard and lowered his brows. "I take it ... You are the one called Bugsy?"

Bugsy smiled and tightened his belt to hold his large pants around his waist. He gently placed the tablet onto the set of the scooter and adjusted the large brown leather jacket. "The one and only, mate." He said in a crude voice and tapped one of his bony fingers on the tablet case.

Wingfield adjusted his suit jacket and cleared his throat. "We want to speak to Richard Thomas."

Bugsy cocked his head from side to side slowly, staring at the two with his black eyes like a cat would to a prey. He gave a large smile. "It don't work that way, mate. When Richie is out, I am in." He said, waving his long skinny arms over his frame. "You've been threatening my brother?"

Wingfield shook his head. "No, we just wanted to talk."

"Because, if I am here, then he must have felt threatened." Bugsy said, tapping a finger on his pointed chin. His black eyes darted to the tazer gun. "And by the look of that thing, you didn't come here just for a friendly chat."

Tim aimed the tazer gun at Bugsy's chest. "Shut up you freak!" He squeezed the trigger.

Moving at an heightened speed, Bugsy passed the moving electric rods flying at him from the gun and darted over to Tim. With a grin and with his large bony hands, Bugsy grabbed Tim's wrist in one hand and his elebow in the other. With a wink, Bugsy bent the arm, breaking the bone in the middle of Tim's forearm in half!

Tim let out a loud, pain filled scream.

Bugsy then threw his head at Tim's, colliding his skull against his victim's. Bugsy's hair became a mess, covering his face as he released Tim's arm and let the man fall onto the ground.

With a sinister chuckle, Bugsy turned around to Wingfield, who was pulling a small pistol out of a holster hidden within his jacket.

"You son of a ..." Wingfield blurted as he pulled his gun out to face Bugsy.

Bugsy quickly waved his arm through the air and grabbed the barrel of the pistol. Then, with his free hand, Bugsy threw a punch into Wingfield's throat. As Wingfield coughed, Bugsy twisted the gun free from the man's hand.

"You know, I am more of a fan of blades." Bugsy said, staring at the gun in his hands. He cocked the gun and aimed the barrel at Wingfield's head. He closed on eye and left the other black eye open to stare down the barrel of the gun. "Zach is going to like this." He squeezed the trigger, firing a shot into the man's head!

As Wingfield's body fell onto the ground, Bugsy aimed the gun over to Tim's head. He gave a grin.

Tim held up his unbroken arm with his palm exposed. "Don't ... Don't ..."

Bugsy squeezed the trigger three times, firing shots into the man's chest, head and hand.

"Oh God!" Cried out a voice from the doorway of the high school.

With gun in hand and large twisted smile, Bugsy turned to aim the gun at the voice. His black eyes twinkled in the daylight like black marbles.

In the doorway stood a very frightened Wally, who dropped his books and held up his hands. "Hey man, don't shoot. I won't tell."

Bugsy's smile faded and he cocked his head to the right. His black eyes stared at Wally for a moment before becoming a brighter brown. His black hair gained a brown color again and a heavy curl started to make his hair rise up slightly. The thing frame filled in the clothing and the nose and cheek bones shrunk. Very quickly, Bugsy transformed into Richard, who was still holding the gun and his glasses resting on the bridge of his nose.

Wally's eyes widened further as he dropped his hands. "What ... What did I just see?"

Richard darted his confused eyes to the gun in his hands. He quickly dropped the gun and looked around at the bodies laying around him. "Oh ... Oh ... God." Richard whispered.

"Richard?" Wally called out, running his hands through his hair.

Richard looked at Wally for one second before darted to his scooter. He tossed the tablet off the seat and sat down. He pulled the kick stand up and pulled the keys out of his pocket.

Wally slowly walked down the steps. "Wait ... What just happened?"

Richard shoved the key into the ignition with paniced hands. "Tell them I was sick or something." He said in a shakey voice. He started the scooter and placed into gear. With wheels rolling at top speed, Richard sped off the parking lot on his red scooter.