November Falls

Prologue

Unseasonable rain pelted down on the rooftops and pavements of Janus Hill, a spring shower turned torrential, forming white noise for the affluent suburb. Amidst this noise, a group of college students laughed and dashed through the puddles, splashing and sploshing like the children they had once been. This was one of the quieter suburbs of the city of November Falls, bordering on to the university that these students called their Alma Mater. There were five of them; three men and two women, all dancing in the rain.

The first of them was tall and handsome, his dark hair dripping into deep brown eyes, raindrops tracing sun-bronzed skin and toned muscles alike. It was easy to see how he had earned his spot at the university on a football scholarship. His bright smile reflected his bright future, scouts already lining up to cement his place in their teams. Beside him, a lithe man laughed as he tripped against a brick wall, brown hair flopping carelessly into sparkling hazel eyes. His head tilted back, staring at the dark sky as if it alone held all the secrets of their futures.

A little behind them, the two women ran arm-in-arm, zigzagging down the pavement. The taller was blonde and blue-eyed, the epitome of a cheerleader stereotype (not that it stopped her from being one in highschool), the red skirt of her dress clinging to her legs. Her friend was dark haired and grey eyed, her looks sharp with the kind of imposing beauty that was only enhanced by the intelligence shining in her eyes. Her scarf trailed on the ground behind them, almost forgotten in the dance only the five of them could perform.

The fifth member of their group was a little ahead of them all, walking backwards through the rain, grinning at a comment shouted to him by the athlete. His messy sandy hair was plastered to his head by the rain, but his green eyes sparkled as brightly as the stars obscured by the clouds raining their fury down at them from above.

This was it. A night they had earned, a beautiful night full of freedom and promise. They were going to do it all. Everything they had put off in the long months of revision and study. Tonight they were going to live like there was no tomorrow. But they were young and invincible and none of them believed that there would be no tomorrow for them. Who did when they were twenty-two and ready to take on the world?

The only thing any of them could fathom was striding out into the world and taking it on, no matter what it threw at them. Because they were young and smart and had the whole of their lives ahead of them.

Eleven o'clock saw them huddled in their usual booth in their usual diner, soaked to the skin but warmed with mugs full of coffee and hot chocolate. They looked bedraggled and had squelched as they walked in, but they laughed and joked just as they ever had. They teased Ross (the floppy-haired man), and were met with the usual unimpressed glowers when they tried the same with Ryan (the football player), and just didn't dare tease River - all she had to do was raise an eyebrow at them and they would quail, already half terrified of the aspiring lawyer.

Adam sat back in the booth, his eyes smiling as he watched the antics of his friends. He cheerfully joined in, getting away with teasing Ryan - earning pink-tinged cheeks and rolled eyes as his deserved reward. Of course, Ryan gave back as good as he got, a bright cheeked Adam tossing napkins and marshmallows at him in retaliation.

In short, it was just an ordinary night for them.

And just like most nights that saw them like this, they reluctantly went their separate directions with promises to meet bright and early in the morning. Plans were made for a summer vacation down in Florida, and a yawning Meg warned them all not to be late; otherwise they'd miss their flight. Ross and Meg left first, waving a sleepy goodbye to their friends. River soon followed suit, swallowing the cold dregs of her tea and leaving with a toss of dark hair. Ryan and Adam enjoyed their booth a little longer, talking as if they were the only two people in the world, but soon made their way homewards, walking side by side in a brief respite from the rain.

••••••••

A little after half-past two that morning, Adam strolled alone towards his dorms near the Med School campus. The rain was coming down in sheets, making it hard to see very far in front of his face, the sound drowning out everything from the loud music habitually played in the dorms to the sound of the few cars still on the road at that time of night. It was like being stuck in a white noise machine, only his thoughts and the sting of the cold rain for company. But Adam didn't mind, it helped clear his head, kept him awake despite the lateness of the hour.

Around three that morning, the campus security guard was doing his appointed rounds. Turning a corner towards the dorms (and the safety of his office from the downpour), he stumbled over something lying on the grass. It was a messenger bag, the kind carried by hundreds of students at the University. Beside it, tossed carelessly on the slippery grass, was a brown leather jacket; blood tacky around a slice in the leather. Stumbling over his suddenly uncooperative feet, the security guard ran to call the police, knowing that whatever this was, it was far beyond the scope of the overworked Angelwood University Campus Security Division.

Overworked and underfunded as ever, the November Falls Police investigated as well as they could. But no body, nor any trace of the young medical student was ever found. No witnesses came forward and no motive was ever acknowledged. The case inevitably went cold, and four hearts were left broken without any closure.