The siren wailed, drowning the entire campus in the dreadful cry of yet another murder. Lucianne's heart roared in her chest and she sped to the window right next to her which was some steps away from the window Harper was at. She threw the windows open and stared down.
Lying on the floor was a boy. Students ran towards his body, crowding around him amid cries of fear. They did not dare to touch him and his body jerked a little as he spurted blood from his mouth.
In horror, Lucianne separated herself from the window and raced down the hallways to the main winding stairwell of Ravenspire. She descended the stairs as quickly as she could, even nearly tripping over some steps. When she was at the bottom of the stairs, she flew out the doors of the campus and looked everywhere.
The crime scene was on her left and she picked up her pace again, running towards the boy who was crumpled on the floor in a messy heap. She pushed through the crowd and dropped to his side. Wiping the blood from his face, she shook the boy's face slightly.
His eyes fluttered open, the agony in his irises plain. His mouth opened and closed like a goldfish as he gargled blood. She rested a hand under his head to protect it from the rough stone and his chest heaved.
"I - I - " he said, choking out words.
"Don't speak," Lucianne told him.
"I d-don't want t-to die…"
"You won't," she said.
"Do-Doesn't seem like i-it."
"Shush, everything will be okay," she said. "I'll find out who did this, I promise you. Everything will be alright."
"My mom…"
"What about your mother?"
"She's s-sick. I have to take care of h-her."
"You'll get through this, I know you can," she said. "Fuck the Hex Beast."
The students gasped aloud at her words.
Lucianne looked past her shoulders at the cowards. "Tell him to come after me! I'll put him in his place."
"You fool!" a student said.
Lucianne returned her attention to the boy. He choked out more blood. "What happened? Tell me everything."
"I was going to the fo-fo-food hall," he said through the blood.
"And what happened?"
He hacked and hacked a violent cough, his entire body shaking. A shower of blood spewed from his mouth, drenching his face and collars with his own blood. His eyes rolled back into his skull and his breathing grew weak.
"No! Tell me what happened!" Lucianne said.
He mumbled gibberish and Lucianne held her ears close to his mouth, trying to make out what he was trying to say.
"It h-hurts!"
"It's going to be okay," she reassured him.
"I'm scared…"
"Listen, the guy who did this to you is still out there, and he could do this to others. I need you to tell me what happened to you, alright? Can you do that, please?"
He closed his eyes as he wheezed repeatedly. His body stilled for a while before it sprang to life again. This time, his hand twitched at his side.
"What happened to you?"
"I - I fell."
He raised his hand, trembling hard. With a finger pointed upwards, he lifted it to the sky. Lucianne blinked in confusion, until finally, his finger lowered at an angle and neared Ravenspire.
Lucianne followed his finger. Tracing the line, she raised her head. He was pointing directly at a window high up in the building. She squinted her eyes, and that was when she saw the person.
Harper, glossy eyes staring down at the body. She gradually parted from the window before leaving it entirely, disappearing into the shadows. The boy's bloody finger was still pointed at the window.
The window Harper was at.