Extinct - Prologue

BRRRRRRRRING! BRRRRRRRRING!

The jumbled wave of chatter filled the halls before they were filled with bodies. Teenagers of all shapes and sizes crowded the hallway after fourth period had just let out. The anxiety could be felt in the air through passing time. Just one more period until the weekend! The football game that night would host most of the students, as well as the diner afterwards. Then everyone would venture off on their own for the rest of the weekend. Whether it be working or sleeping the days away, everyone felt the excitement for the weekend going into fifth period.

That is, everyone except Jacob Hitch.

The smug-faced sophomore marched through the halls, holding up his sagging pants and giving no care to anyone around him. His attitude was noticeably different from his usual, miserable appearance. A few heads turned, but no words were spoken. Jacob had always hated the silence from his peers. But he preferred it to the taunting. Over the years, the hatred that was put onto Jacob consumed him.

Fucking cunt. Jacob thought as he passed by a classmate who walked just a little too close. Her book bag brushed his arm that was gripping his pants tightly.

I hate every single fucking one of them. Jacob continued to think. Jock 1. He began to call them out as he saw them. Jock 3 and 4, Sports slut, Awkward fucking nerd. Jacob's thoughts ceased for a moment as a figure came bolting around the corner of the hallway. George Coughlin or "George Curious" as he intended for people to call him raced past one corner and around the next, hands flapping and drool dripping down his cheek. He was gone as soon as he appeared. George's helper paced swiftly in the same direction that George Curious ran off in.

Jacob paused for another second. Fucking retard.

Name after insulting name floated through Jacob's thoughts as he continued marching through the halls. More fucking nerds, Sports slut, sports slut, Preppy fuck and his African slave, Becky Ralling…

BRRRRRRRRING! BRRRRRRRRING!

5 minutes in class felt like an eternity. During passing time, it felt like seconds. The bell rang just as Jacob's target came into sight. 10 paces later, he found himself at the boy's bathroom. White scratches littered the entirety of the walls as blue paint chipped off the bathroom stalls. Dried water droplets stained the mirrors and the sinks. The B-wing bathroom was disgusting and small and located just around the corner from the lobby bathroom. It was seldom used.

Jacob kicked the doorstop out as he entered, a dense wooden smack behind him a second later. A calmness filled the room as Jacob stood still in the center. The flickering light was all he heard over his heart pounding between his ears. He didn't waste any time after that and a moment later Jacob was on his knees, riffling through his backpack. Out came a notebook, then a rope. Jacob's face was a grin of pure anger, beads of sweat starting to form on his brow. He first flipped the notebook cover over and propped up his written words against the tiled wall. Without hesitation, and almost in a hurry, Jacob climbed atop the sink countertop. Dusty snowflakes fell from the ceiling as he pushed the tile out of the way, wrapping the back end of the rope tightly on a conveniently placed latch fashioned out of two belts. Gripping the front end of the noose, Jacob balanced himself on top of the sink for another moment of silence. The light flickered again as he tightened the knot around his neck.

The anger never left Jacob's face as he jumped.

Jacob's furrowed brow was abruptly raised as the rope tightened around his neck. Spitting and gasping from a contorted face all the muscles in his bodies tightened and extended. Jacob struggled for a moment, his arms twitching. He moved from reaching for the noose to save himself from the pain of the moment, to keeping still and letting himself die, saving himself from the pain of the world. After several moments of airless gagging, flapping arms and inhumane faces, Jacob slowly calmed down as life left his body.

One.

The high-school sophomore had killed himself, being left on display in the dirtiest and least popular bathroom in the school.

Two.

The body swung like a pendulum, feet beating against wall with every turn.

Three.

The color had eventually left his face, leaving his skin a grim shade of purple.

Four.

His eyes bulged out of his skull, lifeless and forever staring.

Five.

The room was silent again and all that could be heard was the light flickering.

Six.

Jacob's corpse twitched slightly in the air. His legs began to spasm as if the pain of suicide slowly began creeping back up his nerves. The spasms that started with his feet took over his entire lower body within seconds, then his hands and arms and neck.

And then Jacob's eyes opened.

He hung there for a while, waiting to be found by anyone who dared think "I'll go to the B-wing bathroom instead." With every minute that passed Jacob's corpse swung softly, his legs kicking every moment or two and his arms twitching here and there. His face grew darker by the moment as the noose crushed his neck. A trickle of blood from his right eye traced his cheek as it fell. Time turned Jacob's pimply, teenaged face into a slightly bursting grape. The poor boy's body moved, grasping out at the air as if he were asking for help. Though he didn't grab at the noose clenching his neck to oblivion. What caused him painful death now left him unfazed.

Jacob was marked absent from fifth period. Instead of sulking in gym class he was hanging from the ceiling of the B-wing bathroom. Now, it would only be a matter of time until someone met his living corpse.