D'ehno Academy

Episode 1: Before

It was September 1st, 2015. It was the first year of college for several students in Manhattan, and this is a log of the events that preceded their first day of school. It was the first year for several people, as some people decided to wait before they went to their first year, and others took a jump start, causing grades and ages to jump all over the place. There was one boy of the age of nineteen who would take his first step into the school this year by the name of Matthew- or Matt, as his friends called him. He was ridiculously stressed out- his family put all kinds of pressure on him to do well in school and it hadn’t even begun.

On the night of the 1st he ran away from his home. He got on his motorcycle and drove. He didn’t know where he was going or where he would end up but quite frankly he didn’t give a damn. He eventually ended up at the local bar. He stormed in through the doors, but somehow felt calmer as he entered. It was completely empty except for the bartender. He sat on a stool up at the bar and looked around. It was dark, and the floors were creaky and wood. Soft music played in the background which gave it a more calming feel.

The bartender turned around and smiled at Matt. He looked around 25 years old and had a short but noticeable beard that was brown in contrast with his strangely coloured hair- it looked a strange shade of gray which seemed to be the result of hair dye faded away. “Howdy.” the bartender said. “What can I get ya’ll?” Matt looked at the small piece of paper in front of him detailing the drinks they had, but he shook his head and kept it simple. “Beer.” he said, and the man laughed, but quickly got him his drink. Within ten minutes, Matt had already downed three.

By the time he got his fourth, someone else entered the bar. She was a woman appearing to be in her mid twenties and she had long brunette hair that was bunched up in a ponytail. She took a seat two seats away from Matt at the bar. She glanced at him, then at the bar tender. “I’ll have a root beer.” she said, emphasizing the root- she clearly wasn’t interested in getting totally shitfaced. She got her drink and began drinking, and the bar was in complete silence until she decided to break the ice when the boy had his fifth drink. “Isn’t that a bit much?” she asked as she was still on her first drink.

Matt had hardly noticed the woman, but now he turned his head towards her and raised an eyebrow. “Much? Ha, not for me.” he said proudly, and at this the woman laughed. “So what’s your name, then?’ she asked. “Matt.” he said, after taking another sip. “And you?” She smiled and replied, “Lauren. So why are you getting so… So…” she was thinking of the proper term. “Completely drunk off my ass?” Matt replied and the two laughed. “I’m not really actually, just a bit stressed from problems at home.” The two exchanged words and they had moved a seat over each, now sitting close to each other.

At this point Lauren had drank some two and as the night advanced they got closer and closer, and by ten o’clock they were in the bathroom together, Lauren pushed up against the wall of one of the stalls and the two engaged in a game of tongue wrestling. By midnight Matt was on his motorcycle driving home, smirking and feeling… Replenished. He was no longer stressed and was ready for the approaching school year. That’s what he thought, anyway.

Roberto clicked over the websites, they weren't interesting, and nothing suited him today, it was still only September the 2nd, not much time before the vacation ended. Every night however, Roberto had been getting together with his partner; 'Yiffninja3443'. He and yiffninja usually just text-cybered for a few hours, but this time he had asked to see Roberto. Nervous, having only bought his webcam the other day, he still agreed, at night he was instant messaging Gary.

"So Gary," he sent first. "So." was the reply, they really didn't talk much, now that manga sites were gone, but they still talked every day, just not as much as before. Suddenly a new window came up and it was Yiffninja, Roberto looked closer and turned on his webcam, a new, greater window would come up, opening and filling the entire monitor, and Roberto waited for it to load completely, but what he saw was more than he could prepare for, he recognized the person instantly, and had never expected it, the cybering partner he always met with... was Gary.

Roberto instantly clicked out as the feeds finished loading, he was shocked, and felt very awkward, so he simply shut off the computer and tried to think of something else, he had school in a while, so that could be a distraction, but he didn't know what he would do in between the dates. Roberto shook his head as he lay down on his bed, trying to process what he saw, could he ever talk to Gary the same way again? He didn't know. "I wonder..." he muttered as he began to think of him and Gary...

By the third, everyone was just about ready to say goodbye to their normal life- because, you know, moving to a college is a pretty good thing. The biggest college in the state was D’ehno Academy. It’s a brand new college that was built only three years ago. It was apparently built in quite a rush, because it was given loads of funding by a private business apparently owned by a soon to be student of the school itself.

Zane was just another boy preparing for college, but he in particular was having a difficult time saying goodbye. He knew he would be at the college for several years and never even get to see his family in that time, most likely. Him and his family got along decently and he would miss them, and wasn’t sure if he was ready for the new life, but he tried his best to prepare.

On the other side of the apartment building Zane lived in, another boy named Matthew had the same issue. On the third of September, the two met up at their usual meeting spot. That was on a bench of the first floor of their apartment building. The building surrounded a small garden in the very center that was lined with benches. They sat on the same bench they had sat together for the past few months. “Heya Matt.” Zane said. “Hey…” the boy said in reply, quietly.

“So looks like we’re going away soon, eh?” he said, looking down at the ground. “Mmhm…” was all Matthew said in reply. “I’m not ready.” Zane said. “Me either…” Matt replied, quickly going silent again. They sat in silence for the next few minutes. Zane looked up at the sky, examining the weather, and smiling. It was really nice out. “You think stuff will be this nice at D’ehno too?” Zane asked.

“Of course.” Matthew replied. “It’s only a few hours away, after all. It’s on the east end of the island… It’s on a separate piece of land, I heard. It used to be just a big marsh but the land was cleared to be made into the huge campus.” Zane leaned back and thought of it. The marshes really were huge plots of land, could one even clear that land within the year it was built? “Wow…” he said, pondering how something like this was made, or why. Whatever the reason was, it was the best college around, and it was almost local. The only bad part was it was kind of expensive, but that was expected. It must’ve cost loads to build, especially so quickly.

The two sat around staring at the sky and every so often exchanging a few words until an hour had passed, at which time the two said their goodbyes and headed back to their apartments to start packing their bags.

It was the night of September 4th, Gabe was busy writing some lame story about people he met on the internet go to a hypothetical college... "God, what a dumb plot." he said to himself, he then crumpled up the piece of paper he was writing on and threw it in the trash. He then said to himself, "I hate this... Dodgeball? Pilots? FURRIES?! The writer must hate me with a passion." Gabe raised his arms and stared at the ceiling, "Why was I blessed with this ability to break the Foarf Wah?!" He yelled to the ceiling. His mom then knocked on the door. "¡Deje de gritar en el techo en francés!" Gabe let out a small sigh. "Well, I guess I better pack all this stuff away, a bunch of crazy shenanigans are about to take place..."

Meanwhile, somewhere in the streets of New York, a boy was sitting against a wall with numerous boxes surrounding him. "I hate this... I have to go to some damned college for no reason other than my goddamn parents want me to have a future... my future means nothing..." A shady man then walked up to the teenager. "Hey, do you have the goods?" he asked, and the boy got up, "Sure, do you have the money?" The man looked around nervously and handed the boy a wad of bills, and in exchange, got a bag of white powder. The boy smirked, "Pleasure doing buisness with you..." The man walked away with his bag of cocaine, but then turned back, "What's your name, kid?" to which the boy replied, "Just Sorrow will do... that's all I have... Sorrow..." The man walked away again, "God, what a little emo..." he whispered to himself.

Sorrow slowly walked back to his house, not making any effort to make it back in time. He got back at around 1:00 AM, ”Huh… one hour early…” He kicked off his shoes against the wall, leaving dirt on the wall and the floor where the shoes landed. His mom would be pissed, but he didn’t really give a damn. He walked upstairs, and flopped down onto his bed.

His room’s walls were plastered with black paint, which contrasted with his house’s plain and generic design. He had numerous screamo band posters on his wall… but they were all outclassed by the gigantic Linkin Park poster that took up his entire ceiling. A bag that was packed in a half-assed way was lying in the corner, with clothes and materials protruding out the top of it. Before turning off the light to go to sleep, for he was tired at this time, surprisingly for him, he thought, “I am going to hate the next 4 years…” He then turned off his already dim light.

Episode 2: The First Day

It was the day, finally. September 5th, 2015. The first day of school. Matt got off of his motorcycle, it was now parked in the school’s parking lot. He took off his helmet and put it on his bike. He walked up the long pathway to the entrance of the school. There were Japanese Cherry Blossom trees lining the pale white pathway. Around it was bright green, clearly very healthy grass. The school was a real marvel to look at. Keeping in mind the stunning campus as well, it clearly had a lot of very precise work done.

The school was as white as the pathway, with the occasional grey here and there, and silver lining in some places, and other places had a marble finish. It made it look very sleek and visually impressive. As he approached the first step, he noticed even the steps had very precise craftsmanship. He walked through the hallways, and read the signs taped on the walls. They were scribbled on in sharpie, and had arrows pointing to important locations. He was looking for the boys dormitories. He looked at the small slip of paper in his hand to double check. It said “Left Wing, Boys Dorm, Room 204.” He understood that meant on the second floor, so he entered the big arches that led to the stairwell.

As he walked up the stairs, he looked at the other students. There were, surprisingly, not as many as he had expected, but he would see some every now and then. After several minutes of walking through the hallways, he had made it to the dorms. “Hurry up, come on.” A man’s voice said at the end of the hall. Matt wasn’t sure if he was talking to him or not. “Yes, you.” the man said, knowing Matt was confused. As Matt got closer he noticed the man was rather tall, and intimidating. He had short dark hair, and dark eyes. He held a clipboard and he scanned down the list on it. “Last initial, first name?” He asked. “Um. S, Matt.” Matt answered quickly, as he was quickly shooed after being pointed towards his room.

He had to travel down a few hallways but eventually made it to his room. He noticed that he was in a rather large room, with two beds, which meant he had to get a roommate. He sighed, not particularly wanting one, but he figured he’d at least try to make friends with him. He sat on his bed and slung his duffel bag onto the bed and began unpacking.

After he had put away all his clothes, someone had stepped into the room. It was a boy with brown hair, and brown eyes. He stood at about five foot ten, and was fairly skinny and wearing simple attire. He had a big backpack slung over his shoulder which made him hunch a bit, it was clearly heavy. “Um, hi…” he said, looking down at the paper in his hand, then at Matt. “You’re my roommate, I guess?” he asked. Matt nodded. “I’m Matt. And you?” The boy tilted his head. “Really? I’m Matt too. But some people call me Matty, so you can if you want, haha.” He said. From there, the two began talking, and in what seemed like minutes, hours had passed. By that time, the room was all fixed up, the clothes put away, belongings scattered about, and it was time for their first classes.

The school let things happen easily, and the classes gradually began. Each day they would have one more class than the day before, until they got their full schedule in. The two Matts walked side by side into their first class, which they laughed at a bit, seeing how their first class of the school year was Sex Ed. The two walked into the classroom and took their seats, and waited for the teacher. The class slowly filled up and by 10 AM, the class had about fifteen students in it, which was apparently a full class here.

The teacher walked in with a piece of chalk, and wrote their name on the board. She turned around, and looked at the class. “Good morning.” She said and smiled. “I’m Ms. Kaiser.” she said. Matt looked up, the voice sounded familiar. He looked at her, and when they made eye contact, they both froze in place. “Holy crap.” She said quietly looking at Matt. The class heard this and the entire class turned to look at Matt, who was staring at his teacher, Ms. Kaiser- the one he met a week before at the bar as Lauren.