ARCANE — 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑶𝑵𝑬

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐎𝐍 in the town of Maywood? Divorced parents maybe, family feuds or drama, yes of course but most importantly blood money. Yes, there were some rich people that had been able to make clean money but most of the towns money was made from blood feuds. Gangs and Murders. Kidnappings and Disappearances.

It wasn't uncommon for families to have rivalries between themselves but most kept to themselves even the descending children of those families.

The Maywood High School were a very clear example of feuds from different families, from the Alférez family — they owned the town's tailoring factory — to the Murasaki family, it was the mayor's family. Matters were left unresolved and untouched up until one of the children would interact with one another.

But these weren't the most important things that were happened at the Maywood High School. Taking off from where we left off, the bell rang and the halls were flooded again with chattering and noisy teenagers. The cafeteria was submerged with the almost routine talks and rumours. The cafeteria line was as long as they usually were during school days.

Hundreds of unexpected students flooded the cafeteria and courtyard to get their well deserved lunch time. The few teachers were surveying the surroundings, they had lunch duty — not really paying attention to the kids as they ran around with their friends. The lunch lady and teachers were too busy working that they didn't hear the announcement that was loudly speaking in the intercom.

The sun hadn't gone out that morning, the clouds were replacing it and they made a dark cover over the town. The school looked even darker than it usually did, the hallways were drunken into a pitch black void only being illuminated by the dimly lit classrooms that littered the school grounds.

The few teenagers that weren't in the cafeteria or courtyard, were mostly behind school grounds or in some classrooms. Most of the people that were behind school grounds were smoking and drinking, skipping school was their specialty. The group was known around school for their mysterious and lonely personalities. They usually smoked and skipped a few classes but fortunately for them, they were one of the smart cliques.

Some teachers had shushed them away, after they were found smoking outside by one of the english teachers, and into the cafeteria and courtyard, but by that time it had been a good ten minutes after the bell had rang — they had been hanging out in the corner.

But everything would change after the passing few more minutes, the cafeteria and courtyard were still loaded with teenage chatting and talking, the peace of this routine day has now been broken by the intercoms but of course nobody heard the frantic voice of the principal and that was their mistake.

The intercom was going on as loudly as it could, the noise mixing in with the chatting of the teenagers . It drowned into the noisy cafeteria and no one heard a thing. The principal was screaming in the intercoms, "EVERYONE TAKE COVER, THEIR IS AN EARTHQUAKE!"

As the teachers were realising the situation at hand, they started moving around and talking to groups of kids to take cover. Chaos seemed to have taken over in mere seconds, teenagers were screaming and crying while tumbling as the ground started shaking. At first it was kind of slow but the more you'd wait the more violent it got.

The morning of this somewhat normal day, our main protagonists were still sleeping in their respective homes, the moonlight shining through their windows — their obnoxious minds still at ease while dreaming about their future. None of them knowing that they would have to live through a terrible day that was ahead of them. Their families had heard about the 'possibility of an earthquake', but as usual they didn't really do anything about their kids safety, it could be a hoax for all they knew? Maybe even a prank from a stupid high schooler that didn't want to go to school. It had happened last year, some kid had made up a false record of a tornado and the school had shut down for a whole two days. But let us go back to right before the accident.

𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐘 𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐒, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐁𝐄𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐖𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇, was walking alone down the dimly lit and eerily quiet hallway that showed the way towards the bathrooms when the intercoms had started screaming about an earthquake. "Oh shit, i knew it— goddamnit," she huffed under her breath as she walked faster towards the bathroom that were only a few meters away from her.

She hadn't really thought about the fact that this stupid thing could have been true but what could she do about it — she couldn't go back and make her parents let her stay home. Well, nothing really could have happened that morning. She had been walking alone for a while before the intercoms had started to grow louder and louder. Her steps had grown from slow and quiet ones to louder and faster ones as the hallways grew less and less crowded by the teenagers.

Hailey had always been a sort of celebrity in her school not that she liked it, she just wanted to be done with school so she could move away from this crappy town and go to college, she had always wanted to become a criminal psychologist. It had been her dream since she had started watching documentaries and tv shows at just the ripe age of 9 years old. Yes, 9 years old. She had just been fascinated by the idea of understanding those cruel things people could do, but most of all her decisions had been influenced by the many crimes that occurred in the town of Maywood.

CALEB BRADLEY, was a loner — everyone knew him as one of those loners in the school, he had been one of the kids that were behind the school. He had been walking towards the school cafeteria, he had gotten caught by a teacher who told him to go back. It had been so stupidly awkward when the teacher had caught him smoking.

Caleb rolled his eyes as he thought back on that moment, "God, that was so stupid," he mumbled to himself as he kick a scrunched up piece of paper on the floor — his hands in his pockets, music softly playing in his ears through his headphones. It had been then that the intercoms flooded the hallways with the principal's voice. "Shit." said Caleb. "I knew it, fucking earthquake," he added as he ran for the nearest classroom. What could go more wrong? Thought Caleb as he crouched down near the teachers table in the empty classroom.

Caleb wasn't very social around others, he didn't even know why — it was just something that came with his personality. Caleb never actually wanted to be like this, he wanted to run away from this haunted town and go on a huge road trip with his family but not every dream comes true, does it? He wasn't sure why his family had stayed here after his father died in a freak accident, Caleb didn't even know what happened. He just wanted to get out of here and maybe then everything in his life would fall in place like a puzzle but he could only dream.

MALLORY JONES MADISON, or MJ like most people called her was a jokester to the students of Maywood High. Pranks and jokes were her thing, she was the loud one. After history class, she had left to go to the courtyard where her friends awaited her. She had been sitting with her friends when the principal's voice made it way to their table.

"What the—," started Mj as she stood up from her place on the table. She looked around as her friends started questioning the sudden commotion. Mj wasn't one to get scared easily so when she was scared it was something way too bad to ignore. Mj had been one of Hailey's friends since primary school — they had always been associated with each other. "We have to get under the tables!" exclaimed one of her friends.

Mj hadn't even thought about what she was doing as she got down on her knees and under the table with her friends. Mj had one objective in her mind and it was to travel away from this cruel town and explore the world beyond her close home doors, and she was going to do this — even if she has to run away from her school. She had always thought of this as a way of separating herself from the town. Don't get her wrong, she didn't have a bad life but Mj had always wanted to make her family move away from this town.

ELLIOT MARSHALL, nobody really knew him extremely well except maybe the art teachers of Maywood High, it wasn't unknown that Elliot was one of the best artists in Maywood High. Elliot had stayed in one of the art classes that littered the second floor of the school, the teacher that had been there previously had left only a dozen of minutes before.

He had been drawing on a piece of paper that was lying on the table when he heard the faint sound of the intercoms turning on outside of the classroom. He had gotten up and walked towards the hallway until a loud voice stopped him dead in his tracks, the principal's voice roared out instructions to get below a table as he explained his worries of an earthquake. "Oh god—," groaned Elliot as he made his way back into the classroom and under a table.

Was this really how it would end? thought Elliot as he sat there and held his breath. This couldn't be the end, not before he got his scholarship to one of the best art schools in the country — not before he became a painter. He wanted to get out of this hell hole of a town and get out there to live his dream life. He had to make his parents and his sister proud, his mother worked only a couple of minutes away in a bakery while his father was probably at home writing. Elliot wanted to be like his sister who got a scholarship to a school in Paris. What was so hard about that?

AROHA KAIA CARSON, Maywood High's own little rebel — most people didn't like her, but she didn't care at all. Aroha wasn't someone to sugarcoat anything she said, only the truth came out of her mouth, and the students at Maywood High would tell you that she was bitch but honestly Aroha wasn't like that — she was the most loyal and funny person ever.

Ro — like her friends called her, had been sitting with a few of her friends in the cafeteria when the intercoms screeched into a panic. "What the fuck—," exclaimed Ro as she looked up at the intercoms as one of her friends pulled her down. Why was this happening now? Don't get her wrong, she'd love to skip school but there was never any earthquakes here, right? Aroha might not have been born in Maywood but she would have heard if there was any danger other than the crime levels?

Ro was born in New Zealand but moved when she was only maybe 3 or 4, she didn't remember anything really. Ro' father wasn't there for most of her life and her mother was more distant towards her — that was the reason of her rebellion, parents attention. Aroha wasn't a big fan of Maywood, she'd always dreamed of Marvin g back to New Zealand but knowing her parents that wouldn't happen anytime soon. But that's what made her carry on, her hope of her once called home — maybe she'd live with her other family there, but maybe after she'd survive.

MALIK ELI FADEL, what could be said about him?, well he was an extremely sweet person — if you asked everyone plus even the teachers. He was never seen without a book in hand or his friends, you wouldn't be able to know he was an extrovert by the looks of it. Books and Writing was his passion and it had remained that for almost every day of his life.

Mal had been in the library borrowing a few books that was on his 'tbr list' when the intercoms blasted out an emergency warning, he'd been at the far end of the library and wasn't able to run towards the doors fast enough. "Oh, come one!" he mumbled as he ducked behind a reading table where there laid a bean bag. Mal hadn't been at his greatest lately, he'd been talking to this boy — Matthew was his name — and Mal had been asked to meet at the library but Matthew never showed up. Maybe it was because of the earthquake thing? thought Mal as he laid down.

Mal's parents had both died which had led to him being taken in by his father's parents. His grandmother was born in Lebanon and his grandfather was born here, in Maywood, the worst town in this entire country. Mal had had it with this awful town, the weather, the crimes, the murder that took place next door to him. Yes, murder, it had been only two weeks before when it happened and Mal had been at home that day which led to him being interrogated by the police. That had been the final straw for Mal— he needed to get out of this town asap.

"Get down with your hands on your hands, keep calm people!" screamed the principal through the intercoms as the hundreds of students of Maywood High did as they were told, fear taking over their senses. Was this the end? It sure sounded and looked like it for the students of Maywood. The ground started to shake as the tables moved and the windows creaked, it looked like a horror movie.

The hallways shuddered and the lockers clanged loudly, students screamed in horror and fear. The chairs fell down on the floor and the loads of papers flew around creating a tornado of debris, but as quickly as the earthquake started — it was gone.

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❪ ៸ 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 ━━━━━ ! ﹆◞ ❫
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❪ . . . the 1st chapter for ARCANE everyone, I might edit it later ❫
❪ . . . THIS IS AWESOME I LOVE IT, this is 2.4k <3❫
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(Btw my old user is @grangerbbydanger)