"We were just walking through the woods, It had been her idea. We were chasing each other and she stopped, and then I saw him."

  "Do you know why she chose that part of the forest?"

  He shrugged, "I think she'd said she'd never been in that part before, wanted to go."

  The detective wrote something down and nodded, "You knew who he was when you found him?"

  The room was cold, and despite the cold weather the AC was on. He was sat across the table from an officer, a woman who looked to be in her forties.

  "Yeah," Being interviewed after finding a body wasn't exactly how he expected to end his Halloween, but there he was. "Everyone at Goode does, he's always talking to everyone he can."

  "Do you know of anyone that'd have a grudge against him?"

    "Not that I know of." He sighed, "I transferred here a few weeks ago."

The officer set down a file with his name on it, "I'm aware. But I do have to tell you, Mr. Jackson, that your criminal record doesn't look good right now. Especially since you did find the body."

"My criminal record is because of drug dealing, I'm not a murderer."

She nodded, "I believe you, but you do need to keep in mind that you are a suspect. Not just a witness."

"What, do I check all the murderer boxes?" He groaned and stood up, "I barely even knew Charles. So, are we done here?"

"Sure. Tomorrow we might have you come back in, but you can go back home."

  "Whatever," he mumbled, opening the door and leaving the room. Annabeth was sitting down on one of the chairs in the main room of the police office. "You ready?"

  She didn't say anything, just nodded and stood up. Percy decided to drive them back, their car had been taken to the station while they were being questioned. He turned the volume of the music all the way down, leaving them in silence. Music didn't feel right.

  It didn't take long to arrive at the gates of the school, Mr. Chiron was standing there waiting for them. Police cars were parked along the road, but no students could be seen except them. Percy parked the car in the student parking lot and stepped out. Annabeth took a moment to do the same.

  "Are you both alright?" Mr. Chiron asked, he stood in front of them with concern marking his expression. Slanted brows and a sorrowful frown, Percy was getting tired of that expression.

  "As fine as we can be," he sighed, "Can we- Uhm- go to our dorms?"

  He nodded, "Yes, of course. Classes are cancelled for the week, so you don't have to wake up as early. Even so, they may wish to speak with you again."

  Percy nodded, "We figured."

  Annabeth started walking towards her dorm, Percy sighed and followed behind her, "Will you be okay?"

  She nodded, "I just need some time to think."

  He stopped walking and frowned, watching her walk away. Their evening had been perfect, and then it all crashed. He walked towards his dorm and opened the door, Jason was sitting and staring at the floor.

  "Percy!" He stood up quickly and ran towards him, "Do you know what's happening? There's police everywhere and Mr. D cancelled class for the week!"

  Percy frowned as he nodded, "Beckendorf was murdered."

////////////

Some things are hard to forget, no matter how hard one tries. Sometimes people succeed, though it's usually not on purpose.

Percy tried to forget about Halloween. Not even just the way it ended, he tried to forget everything. But the thing is, he couldn't. He couldn't even forget the way Annabeth smiled at him, or the way she spoke. The more he thought about it, the harder it was to forget.

But, the school was quieter afterwards. Police and detectives searched the whole campus, even interrogating random students. There were no leads, not even a hint of how it happened. He was just dead, a slit to the throat. No knife was found anywhere.

Beckendorf's girlfriend, Silena, was devastated. She hadn't left her dorm at all, only eating when food was delivered to her and practically forced into her mouth. Apparently she was supposed to be on a date with him that night and he never showed up, she'd thought he decided to change his plans and she'd been upset with him.

Percy hadn't seen Annabeth since he watched her walk to her dorm, but he barely even left his dorm either. He barely even knew Beckendorf, not like the rest of the school did, but seeing anyone's dead body was pretty traumatic.

  "We Go back to classes tomorrow," Jason sighed, breaking the silence from their dorm, "Still no suspects. What if a student did it?"

  Percy shrugged, "Them Someone Else might die, I dunno."

   Jason looked down at the floor, there was this void in his eyes. A dull stare. He was thinking, but Percy did not not what, he wasn't a mind reader, as cool as that'd be.

  "Have you heard from the others?" Percy asked after a moment, Jason had left the dorm a few times and Percy wanted to think that he met up with the others at one point.

  "Yeah, they're terrified. Everyone is."

  "Has anyone ever... died here before?" It was a question he'd been trying not to ask, but the curiosity was too much to hold back.

  Jason nodded, "A few, but never Murder. There were a few suicides and a few car accidents, the cause of death was always clear."

  "Do you think anyone here killed him?"

  Jason shook his head and sighed, "Not even a bastard like Octavian would do something like that."

And that was something that made Percy think, is anyone capable of murder? Obviously yes, because people do get murdered, but there are many mean people who wouldn't even think about that level of violence. Yet why do some do it? Why do people kill?

For a thrill, maybe. But that kind of thrill would only last so long. They'd kill again, Percy knew that much. But he wasn't a detective, it wasn't his job to figure out who the killer was. He was a bystander and he needed to stay out of it.

Percy sighed and stood up as he grabbed his jacket, no classes meant he didn't have to wear the dumb uniform and that was something he was happy about. "I'm going out for a run."

Jason nodded and watched as he left, but Percy frowned as soon as he closed the door. He hated running, so why did his brain make him say that?

He decided to just walk, and so he traveled along the perimeter of the school, watching as police gathered in small groups to search different trees and search the dirt. It was interesting to watch them, see how focused they were. That was their job, figure out who killed a teenage boy at a boarding school.

But it could've been anyone, even someone who didn't even live in the state, someone that somehow found Charles in those woods and decided to kill him. But it was scarier to imagine that it was someone from Goode. He had to agree with Jason, no one there were killers.

"If it isn't Percy," Percy turned around to see Rachel, dressed in overalls and a rainbow t-shirt with paint stains all over it.

"Oh, hey Rachel."

She walked up next to him and they continued walking along the pathway, "I'm not even allowed to go into the woods now, kinda sucks."

He nodded, "At least we're the ones that are alive."

"I mean, yeah. That's nice, but it's still kinda sucky that someone died at all." She sighed, "We Go back to classes tomorrow and I was wondering.. could I sit with you and your friends at lunch?"

Percy blinked, "Uhh, yeah of course. I don't mind."

She smiled slightly, "Thanks. I kinda figured eating anywhere but the dining hall would put this huge target on my back. The police are still gonna stick around to observe the students, they're convinced it was one of us."

"That's Not good..." in truth, he wasn't sure it were good or bad. Did that mean they were closer to finding the culprit, or maybe they'd start suspecting all the students and the school wouldn't feel safe. All he knew was that thinking about it was giving him a headache.

"I heard you and Annabeth were the people who found his body."

He opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't. He just nodded slightly and hoped for the best. It was a memory he had finally pushed to the back of his mind, only for it to be brought up again.

"That's gotta be rough, I'm sorry you had to see that."

  He just nodded and walked with her.

///////

  Later that night he found himself by the bleachers of the sports field, and there he saw Thalia Grace sitting there, smoking, and staring at the officers.

  "So you do smoke," he chuckled, "What're you doing?"

  "People-watching," she responded, patting the spot next to her, "Interesting day, eh?"

  He nodded and sat down, the sun was just setting. "Yeah, more like interesting week. Did you know him?"

  "Yeah, we used to be friends..." she sighed and stomped out her cigarette onto the bleachers, leaving a burnt spot on the silver, "Then we sorta drifted apart into different groups, but we still talked every so often."

  "Was Jason friends with him?"

  "Not really," she stood up, "When he started going to Goode, he wasn't good at making friends. Now look at him, a social butterfly."

  Percy nodded and stared at the spot she burned out her cigarette on, he stared at it mindlessly as Thalia picked up her bag.

  "I'll see you tomorrow," she grumbled, "I think it's time to go to bed."

  "Already? It's only five."

  She nodded, "I haven't slept that much lately."

  And so once again he was alone. It was something he was trying to avoid, but there he was. Alone, isolated, left in the bleachers to think.

   Oh well.

—————————————————————

Yo yo yo it's me, and it hasn't even been a week

Anyways sorry for killing Beckendorf but all will be explained eventually

Who do you think killed him?