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They saw the boy standing in the middle of the common room, dripping wet and cold from the thunder outside. It wasn’t uncommon in the autumn to have storms, though the picture presented by this rat in from the cold wasn’t one the Windsors wanted to repeat. He was skinny and pale, with dark eyes and twitchy fingers. He was dressed all in black and was clutching a small burlap pouch to his chest. The emblem on his trunk was one a couple students recognized, a show called Supernatural, although as the butler left the boy in their care they started to wonder if there was more than just an admiration for a television show about ghosts.
“Show us your weaponry.” The twins declared with smiles.
He didn’t kick open his trunk or smile as if he was starting to make friends. Dwight Houston merely narrowed his eyes, muttered something in latin and dragged his trunk up to his room.
“What did he say?” Blaine asked.
“Your heart will bleed.” David answered. The omens were all there, but no one seemed to want to see it.
---
Dwight never spoke to anyone except in Latin, snarling like a dog when people touched him. He didn’t join in on the various activities or parties. His initiation was the tip of the iceberg of how frightening he could be. They snatched him from his bed but he clawed Wes’ face with sharp fingernails and then disappeared into the shadows of the third floor. They tried to report it to the prefects but it was waved off as scaring the new kid so they let it go.
Todd was the only one who was in any means close to the new boy. He would often report midnight rituals and occult chanting, although whenever he asked Dwight would say nothing. He explained his sister was a little like that, maybe Dwight was just a goth. Some of the teens even looked up Supernatural to see if the show was dangerous in anyway, as it was the only hint of what was going on in that boy’s head. Although everyone relaxed a bit when they found out the show was about defeating the supernatural, so it wasn’t as bad as they thought right?
The twins looked up the anti-social boy’s background, but they couldn’t find anything. The teachers told them it was not Thomas’s decision to come to Dalton, but he was doing well in all his classes, thought maybe they could help the boy come out of his shell?
Three attempts were made on trying to force the boy to socialize: a birthday party from the twins, a study session with the other freshman, and a marathon of Supernatural in Blaine’s room.
No one could explain how the streamers caught fire, but the look in Dwight’s furious eyes as he was carried off into a video game themed house of horrors indicated he actually knew how to use the lighter he’d flick open every so often when they caught him smoking outside the house at midnight.
The study session was cancelled as every freshman came down with violent food poisoning- except Dwight.
They thought the marathon might actually make him socialable- and he did smile and laugh, although it was when people were being eaten alive by insects and demons were possessing innocent people. A vow was made never to mention the incident again as the older boys tried to rid themselves of the sound of Dwight’s laughter, cracked like broken glass.
He carried a knife with him, and they spotted pinpricks on his fingertips. Todd attested he didn’t do anything dangerous to himself, but there would be night’s that the boy would disappear without a trace and took his trunk with him. No one knew what was in the trunk but they didn’t want to find out.
It was from there they left him alone, fearing every moment they were in the boy’s presecence even though they couldn’t prove a thing. Every video tape became erased, every witness was incapacitated and made so frightened they wet the bed each night, and when the twins finally decided to confront the boy Dwight just stared them down and didn’t answer before disappearing into the rafters. Even the twins had yet to master that skill.
---
“I’ve got it!” Han yelled over the cellphone to the twins. The brothers called over their fellow conspirators to the corner out fo earshot of any of the other boarders.
“What is it?”
“His name isn’t Dwight Houston, it’s Thomas Perry. Dwight is his middle name and Houston is his mother’s maiden name. I got it through some searching Florida birth records.”
“Florida?” Wes sounded shocked.
“Yeah, the gothic wonder is from one of the hottest states in the country get over it. But no the heat isn’t why his brain is fried.” Han continued. “I found a record of divorce for his parents, as well as a death certificate and some articles.”
The whole group held their breath, the boy couldn’t be a… could he?
“Apparently ‘Thomas’ has a brother named Alan. Alan was just a kid when he was murdered, no one has found the killer but they suspect one of the local sex offenders.” Han read off from his screen. “Since then there has been a spike in the crime records around Serendipity Hill, petty things like vandalism but also some arson and mutilated animals showing up in the middle of local parks.”
“And you think it’s Dwight?” Blaine asked.
“According to juvenile records, which are to be sealed this year, it’s actually four of them: a cousin and two family friends as well who have been tried for the arson of an abandoned barn, but nothing has been proved for the other incidents.”
Suddenly the group’s blood went cold as a shadow fell over them, a rush of cold air across their backs as a black shape dropped from the rafters. They turned around, shutting off the phone in an instant.
Dwight’s dark eyes bored into them, his mouth open slightly revealing threateningly sharp teeth. Science lessons about the human jaw being able to snap bone came to mind at the sight of the furious freshman standing in front of them, black treanchcoat weighted with iron crosses and pentagrams.
“My family is mine. Stay out of it.” The first real words they’d ever heard him say and there was more frigid venom in them than a simple threat could ever muster.
“But we were just-”
Dwight lunged forward. “Stay. Out.”
The ‘or else’ was implied.
---
No more incidents passed for the rest of the year, but there was a feeling of doom every time someone passed by the door with the black paint chips stuck to it. The following year though on moving day no one felt good when they saw Todd moving in with Blaine, leaving Dwight’s door locked and singularly inhabited.
Sometimes they heard music, other times it was just Dwight’s hushed tones in strange languages, other times chanting, though it was terrifying when it was three am and it was just silent- then a crack, like a neck being snapped by a young boy’s hands. But still nothing could be proven so they couldn’t get rid of him.
The dean heard the complaints and the head of house was sent to reprimand him for noise complaints, however nothing came of it as the noises continued and the smell of burning incense pervaded the hall every time he opened his door. Sometimes they’d smell blood and see bandages on the boy’s hand but no one spoke to him for fear of ending up cursed. They said the only reason Charlie was out of commission this year was because when he became prefect he swore to get Dwight under control- then one trip down the stairs and Blaine was at the helm. Blaine was wise enough to let Dwight be.
Kurt arrived with a flash and a bang; his entrance into Windsor being anticipated as it seemed to lift the spirits of the general population and forget there was a possible cult leader in their midst. His smack down of Tabitha brought everyone out of their dorms to watch in amazement as the new- new boy brought flair and excitement in his wake. Even Dwight showed up.
“You know if you died right on the spot with that much rage you’d make a wonderful poltergeist.” Dwight remarked with a smile to the fashionable young man. Kurt looked confused but shrugged, not knowing this was the second thing Dwight had ever said in English, and nobody liked how Dwight was looking at the young man with an appreciatory look in his eyes.
Kurt seemed unfazed by the shadow who lurked in Windsor’s hallways, and he didn’t take the warnings to mind when the rest of the house told him to stay away from Dwight. Though he didn’t got out of his way it seemed they kept bumping into each other, even having conversations in which Dwight said a word or two in response. The Windsors didn’t like it. Even Logan, who had nearly gotten decapitated by a garden trimmer (they suspected Dwight) was commenting on how terrifying it was.
Though Kurt continued on, unsettled but not unflapped by the dark boy in silver chains and black symbols on his arms (which they all hoped was simply sharpie). He even insisted that when Karofsky had almost hurt him Dwight has said something to Dave to make him go away- although he didn’t notice that Dave had piss running down the side of his legs as he bolted and Dwight smiled when he helped Kurt up.
Everyone hoped maybe since Dwight was talking more, interacting more, that Kurt was bringing him out of his shell- something they’d all failed to do. After all Reed was more confident, the twins less co-dependent, and Logan calmer by his influence, maybe Kurt could work miracles.
That was until Adam.
Adam was a new transfer, a huge fan of fellow student and actor Julian Larson. Though he was in Hanover it became quickly evident that Dwight and he made a connection- though none were sure if it was antagonistic or friendly. Though Adam seemed nice and knowing that Kurt had been talking with Dwight made everyone hope that Adam and Dwight were actually friends, maybe he was normal now.
Justin Bancroft backed up the theory, saying his sister Laura (though he hated the idea of her hanging around Ohio when she was supposed to be in England) was often seen in their company; they even hung out in the rose garden together.
Laura, Dwight, and Adam were often seen in the other’s presence in the coming weeks. Dwight still didn’t appear to talk much, but from what they noticed Laura did the most of the talking, with Adam mentioning things here and there. The twins thought they were plotting, but Charlie (once he was back) told them to stop being suspicious and let good thing run their course. Kurt of course agreed, but once he started to hang around Julian Larson he too started getting the nervous feeling that had so long evaded him.
Their suspicions were declared too late. Hell Night lived up to its name as Dwight, Laura, and Adam were nowhere to be found but suddenly Logan started falling into more deadly traps than had ever been laid before. The overdose topped it off as the events started to snowball. By the end of the night the whole Art Hall was up in flames and Adam was holding a knife to Julian Larson’s throat on the third floor.
When Dwight appeared in the flames Kurt called out for him to stop Adam. “He’s your friend isn’t he?”
Dwight didn’t answer Kurt but strode over to Adam like he had navigated burning buildings before. Adam started to grin but was struck across the face by Dwight’s fist. Julian sprang free and sprinted to Logan. Dwight grabbed Adam by the collar and hoisted him up, “You never said this would happen!”
“But you know they don’t deserve Julian!” Adam yelled, struggling in Dwight’s grip.
“This is not right, these people have done nothing wrong.”
No one could fathom what happened next but Adam tried to escape and Dwight struck him over the head. Dwight led them all the safety but falling debris blocked the way. Somehow he made it out the fourth floor window with Adam to his back. Even then Adam didn’t wake up. The real tragedy was not Adam’s death, but Justin Bancroft’s as he flew back into the house because he thought he heard his sister’s cries.
Laura wasn’t in there. She said she’d been locked up in the cupboard in Hanover after finding a collage of horror on Adam’s wall. Dwight insisted he was pushed out the window by his “so called friend” after finding out how sick the boy really was. Both Laura and Dwight were cleared of suspicion as their stories seemed clear- betrayed by a friend. No one except the conspirators noticed the way their smiles seemed to sweet and genuine for a girl who’d just lost her brother and a boy who’d just carried his dead friend to safety.
Not even Kurt went near Dwight after that.
---
That summer the Twins found Laura’s blog online, detailing the last few years of bullying and how she wished her brother hadn’t ‘abandoned’ her to the daily assault of junior high. They forwarded the posts about wishing how he’d die a slow and painful death, preferably screaming alive for her. It was called a creative writing blog, but the posts were too close to the date to mistake.
They also found articles about three teens from a London junior high who had been suspected of sexual assault of a female classmate committing triple suicide.
It wasn’t settling for them when they learned a Floridian sex offender had died in a house fire.
Or when three footballers a Serendipity Hill high school had suffered carbon dioxide poisoning in a faulty gymnasium change room.
Or when they found missing person reports on Lucas Walters, Morgan Powell, Sadie Moore, Laura Bancroft, and Dwight Houston.
They’d tasted blood and they wanted more.