Beyond the Wisteria Tree

Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Lead to Follow

School. The one place that could be compared to juvenile detention. In school, if you have an argument with someone, you either make up or you're done. In juvie, you're separated from them for a long while. Even worse is that it's a Monday. The second worst day of the week. The first being Thursday. Currently the only thing keeping me from stabbing myself with a plastic fork from the cafeteria are my two friends, and the wishful future known as Forensics class.

It was lunch, and I was doing my best to avoid anyone and everyone. After my dad told me that he wouldn't be home for even longer my mood dropped. It was so low it could kill a flower as I walked by like some villain with dark magic in the books and movies. I saw Marcus and Caroline today and told them what I found out, but I bolted soon after. Both were surprised to hear about the clearing that I found, and said that we should check it out soon.

"Attention students, please head on your way to your next class," Said the new robotic cafeteria monitors. The school decided to get these to allow teachers time to plan their lessons or eat lunch while the students were at lunch. It was smart really.

Finally it was time for forensics, my Heaven upon Earth. Marcus was already in the classroom when I got there and Caroline soon came sprinting in right before the bell, like usual. Mr. Evans was in the back room gathering some items for todays class. "Ok everyone, today we are going to learn how to find evidence in soil." Mr. Evans spoke cheerfully.

A small smile broke out on my face, but disappeared when I heard the squeaky high pitched voice of Becky from the back of the room. "Ugh we have to mess with dirt! This will ruin my nails!" She shouted as she held up her hands as to prove a point. Her nails were a princess pink and were longer than her normal ones. "Just take off you stupid press-ons, Becky." I spoke without turning around. A stifled laugh came from Marcus on the other side of the room. Becky huffed in anger, but she shut up.

"Well then, lets move on" Mr. Evans blinked. Soon the experiment was in full swing. There were three vials of soil, one with blood, one with urine, and one with animal saliva. We had to tell which one was in each vial, and some specifics like blood type or species type. Sadly this was a one person experiment and you couldn't work with others. Caroline and Marcus were next to each other and across the room, so I couldn't even have a conversation with them. I just began to work ignoring the glares I got from Becky from across the lab station.

I labeled each vial from what I could see in them. The blood vial was easy to find because of the color change, and the urine one was noticeable when you wafted the smell towards you. leaving the final vial to saliva. Using the Mass Spectrometer to find the blood type, acid levels in the urine, and bacteria in the saliva. The blood turned out to be human blood type AB. The urine was normal in chemical balance, so I determined that it was urine from a human taking a leak in the woods. The saliva was from a bear, a young one at that, with an estimated age of 6 years old.

"Class what you learned today with help you determine evidence for your cases. If you need any machines feel free to come in and use them during class. Tomorrow is our crime scene model test. Make sure to study, and I will see you all tomorrow." Mr. Evans spoke as the bell rang in the background. My classmates flooded outside the classroom. Some to their cars and others to the buses. Caroline, Marcus, and I walked out of school and towards the woods following the coordinates I pinned. Unlike most of our class, we had our first lead.