Haunted

Ravenwood

The first thing Hester noticed about Ravenswood was how quiet it was, and the second was how much everyone talked. One might expect those two things to cancel each other out, but they didn't really. She grew up in Philadelphia, and Philadelphia was loud. Loud because the world and the people were moving. Everyone had somewhere to go and something to do. And because everyone was busy, there was no stopping in the street to ask strangers about their health class. There were also no notes on doors in the morning saying You left your garage open, so I closed it.

In Ravenswood, everyone (the town population was roughly below 5000) seemed to be completely devoid of places to be. It was like they were aimlessly wandering around looking for someone to bother with trivial questions. Now when Hester's stepmother made her go get groceries, she had random old women come up and ask her about organic corn bread. The goddamn place was so small they didn't even have a Wawa.

Everyone and their mother was religious, and also very traditional. So with her red highlights, tattoos, and piercings, Hester stuck out like a sore thumb. Which sounded great in theory, but not so great in practice.

And the worst part of whe whole thing was that everybody here had known her mother. Whenever her father told someone who Hester was, she'd get something like "Oh yes, I remember Gertrude. Whatever happened to her?" So she was constantly facing her father's DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT CURSES look.

The only upside to the whole moving business also happened to be the fact that everyone here had known her mother. It was her hometown, which meant there must be some clues about who killed her. So Hester tried to focus on the positive... finding her mother's murderer. (She never had been an optimist.)

Plus, her stepmother was infuriated about her father's decision to move. Hester rather liked it when her stepmother was infuriated.

Hester's first day of school went about as badly as it could've gone. The schoolbusses only transported middle schoolers, and apparently most high schoolers just walked to school. There were no landmarks that Hester could use for navigation, so she got lost.

The building itself was two small stories, with half of each floor being the cafeteria and auditorium. She walked into school twenty minutes late, and an administrator named Pollux made a point of showing her around before taking her to class. He told her about the useless school history, complained about his brother, and eventually needed her help when he was showing her how to open her locker. So she was already in a bad mood when he finally took her to english.

"Ms. Uma? This is your new student, Hester Woods." Pollux said in his hideously high-pitched voice.

"Oh! Welcome, Hester! Come over here and introduce yourself." If Pollux's voice was annoying, Ms. Uma's was a whole new world. Hester clenched her fists and turned to the class, which seemed to be approximately fifteen students.

"I'm Hester." She said, eyes flicking uninterestedly over her classmates. Two boys in the back were laughing at something on their phone, which was poorly concealed under the desk. A girl with blonde ringlets was drawing hearts on her paper in gel pen. The pigtailed girl next to her was staring into the distance, glazy eyed.

Typical. Hester thought.

There was silence, and she realized that they were waiting for her to continue. She did not.

"Well, Hester, how about telling us where you're from? What do you like to do? And... how about your favorite color?" Ms. Uma asked.

Hester sighed, not attempting to keep her annoyance hidden. "I'm from Philadelphia. My favorite color is red." Ms. Uma blinked, but didn't push.