It was senior year, 秒 日 back, and the 欢乐合唱团 club was already rehearsing for invitationals.
Rachel was in the front (as always) her sandals making loud clacking noises as she impatiently tapped them on the tiled floor. Finn sat beside her, an arm draped loosely over her shoulders. He leaned in to whisper something in her ear and she giggled, her impatient tapping yielding for a 秒 as she gave him a smile. Mercedes sat beside the couple, her hands tapping noisily on the keyboard of her cell phone. She gave Rachel a glare when the girl started giggling and scooted closer to Kurt. Kurt glanced at the couple for a few moments, and then leaned over to whisper something in Mercedes ear.
Quinn sat behind Kurt and Mercedes, her hands playing with the fabric of her blue cotton dress, her green eyes glaring enviously at Santana 下一个 to Brittany, who was busy making out with Puck. Brittany looked almost confused as they made out, her blue eyes zooming in on Santana before she made a slight huffing noise and turned to Mike.
Mike and Matt were talking sports, flitters of conversation passing through the air in hushed tones. Brittany tapped on Matt’s shoulder, and he turned around, giving her a slight smile before ignoring her completely and turning back to Mike to talk about football plays. Brittany huffed again, and stood up from her chair, going to sit 下一个 to Quinn on the other side of the room.
Artie and Tina were off in a corner 由 themselves, chatting amiably about different topics. Tina played with a strand of her purple hair, smiling brightly, until they were interrupted 由 a coughing noise.
Everyone actually was interrupted 由 a coughing noise.
Santana and Puck stopped making out, Puck giving Santana a pat on the shoulder before turning to Quinn and giving her a pointed look. Quinn stared back fiercely. Finn reluctantly pulled away from Rachel, his cheeks a faint 粉, 粉色 color. Matt and Mike stopped whispering all together, turning their seats so that they were facing the front of the room. Mercedes continued to type on her cell phone, and Kurt gave Mr. Schue his full attention. Brittany stared at the ceiling.
“Morning guys,” he 说 cheerfully, his eyes glancing at each and every one of his twelve 欢乐合唱团 kids before turning around towards the 钢琴 and grabbing a brown 公文包 off it.
“This year’s going to be a busy year. We have invitational’s coming up, not to mention sectionals… “His voice trailed off as he looked at the package in front of him on the 钢琴 下一个 to his briefcase.
“Mr. Schue?” Rachel 说 carefully, her eyes flitting from Finn, who looked like he was about to stand up, to Mr. Schue, who had a look of almost astonishment on his face.
“Mr. Schue, are 你 okay?” Finn asked.
Mr. Schue opened the package, his eyes eerily calm even though he was pretty sure he knew what the contents of the package would hold before he even opened it.
It didn’t even 交叉, 十字架 his mind that he shouldn’t open it, not in front of the kids, because his brain seemed to not be functioning properly.
“Can someone pass me the scissors?” he asked dazedly.
The class was at a standstill. Finn turned around to give Puck a look, and Brittany finally stopped looking at the ceiling and instead focused her gaze on Mr. Schue.
“Shouldn’t we be 唱歌 由 now?” she asked in her light voice. Mr. Schue didn’t answer her; he was too busy ripping open the package with his bare hands. It made loud horrible ripping noises as he opened the papering, and the class flinched at the crazed look in his features.
“Should we leave?” Artie asked the class, rolling away from Tina to Finn and giving him a questioning glance.
Finn shrugged. He didn’t know why everyone was asking his opinion.
“I think we should leave,” Quinn whispered, her voice half frantic, “He’s 表演 a bit loopy.” She glanced up at Mr. Schue, and glanced back down at her hands, playing with the ends of her dress.
No one listened to her. The last of the packaging had been torn away from the box, and Mr. Schue was inspecting it, the 欢乐合唱团 club watching with curious, but cautious eyes.
It was a black box, made out of some sort of wood, with a simple lock on it. Mr. Schue pulled a key out from his back pocket, and the 欢乐合唱团 club’s eyes widened (all except Brittany who was looking at the ceiling again.).
“Mr. Schue?” Rachel asked again, her dark brown eyes filled with anxiety. Her gut instinct was telling her that that particular box shouldn’t be opened, under any circumstance, ever.
It holds some sort of evil, Rachel thought to herself. She always prided herself on having a sixth sense, even if the rest of the 欢乐合唱团 Club didn’t believe her, and she just knew that nothing good would come out of opening that particular box.
But Mr. Schue wasn’t listening to anyone, even as the 欢乐合唱团 俱乐部 protests became louder. He was too busy twisting at the lock with his key, his hands fumbling with it until it unlocked with a tiny click.
There was dead silence.
“A-a-are 你 going to open it?” Tina asked, stuttering out of fear. She feared what was in the box. A part of all of them did now.
Mr. Schue nodded silently, and opened the box.
The classroom screamed in unison. (Except for Brittany who was still looking at the ceiling.)
---
It was a head. Just a head, grotesquely proportioned, smelling of death and decay, its eyes glazed and staring at the 欢乐合唱团 club.
Mr. Schue jumped back his hand widely and accidently hitting the box, making it fall off the 钢琴 and unto the floor, the head rolling out of the box towards the 欢乐合唱团 club.
Rachel screamed, her chair flying out from under her as she raced past Santana and Puck and on to the third row of stairs. Finn wasn’t so lucky, he was too slow and the head touched his foot. He yelled and jumped back, hitting Santana’s knees with his back and toppling her chair sideways. She crashed out of it, and Brittany started as she heard Santana shriek. Brittany looked at the head for a few moments, and laughed.
“Mr. Schue, what’s a head doing on the floor?” she asked. Quinn gave her a look of astonishment before shaking her head.
“God Brittany it’s a head,” she whispered hotly. The rest of the class, who had all cowered up to the third floor of the classroom, all gave Brittany similar glares of disgust, but it was the soft cry from Mr. Schue that got their attention.
Mr. Schue sat off to the side of the piano, head in his hands crying softly.
“Mr. Schue?” Rachel asked stepping precariously off the third row to the 秒 row before having some sort of epiphany concerning getting closer to the head and jumping up to the third row again, grabbing at Finn’s fingers.
Mr. Schue looked up from his hands, tears still dripping down his cheeks, “Let’s finish up tomorrow guys,” he said.
The class all stared at him flabbergasted as he picked up the head (Tina had almost fainted and Puck had to grab her arms to keep her from falling), stuffed it back into the black box (the lid still opened), and left the room.
“What the hell was that?” Puck asked, still holding on to Tina’s arms. No one answered him, all of them too shell-shocked 由 what had just happened.
Rachel could only stare at the box in astonishment. Someone had sent Mr. Schue a head, and if Rachel were betting her cards right she would bet that it was someone that Mr. Schue cared about; had cared about. She had never seen Mr. Schue so broken, but she had never found a head in a box either. She didn’t know what to think anymore.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Tina 说 suddenly. Puck released her arms and the girl ran to the door, opening it only slightly before vomiting on the tiled flooring. There were groans from most of the 欢乐合唱团 club, each of them turning their heads in the other direction as Tina puked steadily.
After what seemed like several 分钟 Tina stopped puking, turning to the 欢乐合唱团 club with tears in her eyes. Mercedes and Kurt looked at each other, nodded, and then walked towards Tina, each putting a protective arm around the girl.
“Come on honey, let’s clean 你 up,” Mercedes 说 kindly. Kurt nodded in agreement.
“I have my facial kit in the car,” he declared, Artie wheeled over to the group, and gave a tiny smile.
“I’ll go get it,” he 说 softly. The group left the room, leaving the other members of the 欢乐合唱团 club to stare at each other silently.
“Someone should go talk to Mr. Schue,” Rachel said. Quinn shook her head.
“It looked like he needed some time to himself.” The girl 说 softly, sitting down in a chair 下一个 to her. Her hand went to her belly automatically, and her face flashed in disappointment when she patted the flat expanse of her belly over her cotton dress. Puck gave her a look of pity, and she rolled her eyes.
“Let’s just go see what else is in the stupid box,” she said, her tone indicating that she was going to go look at the box and no one was going to stop her. She made the moves to stand up but Finn blocked her path.
“Do 你 really think that’s a good idea?” Finn asked turning to glance at each 欢乐合唱团 member left remaining in the room before turning his eyes to Quinn. “There could be anything in that box and it is Mr. Schue’s…” his voice trailed off as Rachel stepped off the stairs towards the box.
“Quinn’s right,” Rachel said, walking towards the box. Quinn snorted behind her but Rachel paid no attention.
“Rach…“ Finn said, but he was cut off as Puck pushed in front of him, walking down the classroom stairs to stand 下一个 to Rachel. Finn looked at them for a long moment before sitting down in a chair 下一个 to Quinn quietly.
Rachel looked up and smiled at him lightly. “You’re going to help me Noah?” she asked. Puck rolled his eyes.
“Let’s just look in the damn box” Puck said, his fingers moving slowly towards the head. He saw a vanilla envelope, and he moved his fingers towards it, giving a slight yell when he touched the 最佳, 返回页首 of the dead head. He finally grabbed the vanilla envelope, 阅读 the returning address with skeptical eyes.
Mystic Falls, Virginia.
Rachel looked at the returning address, her eyes widening slightly. “I have a cousin who lives there,” she 说 softly.
“Who?” Puck asked. Rachel shook her head.
“Her name is Meredith Sulez. She-she goes to Mystic Falls High School,” Rachel trailed off as Puck opened the envelope.
“Should 你 really be doing that?” Finn asked across the room, his arms folded across his chest. “That belongs to Mr. Schue,”
“And Mr. Schue is in a room somewhere crying his eyes out,” Quinn retorted. “He didn’t think of us when he…when he left that head there for all of us to see and since there seems to be so many connections to Mystic Falls in this room then I think we have every right to open it.”
“I have a niece in Mystic Falls,” Brittany 说 suddenly. The room turned to look at her.
“Her name is Caroline. She’s my mom’s sister’s daughter,” Brittany explained.
“Hell, now we are definitely 阅读 it,” Puck said, bringing out two white sheets of paper from the envelope, unfolding them, and passing them to Rachel.
“Do us the honors of 阅读 it,” Puck 说 uninterestedly, sitting down in one of the chairs beside Mike.
Rachel took a deep breath, nodded once to Puck, and began reading.
“Dear Mr. Schue,” she began 阅读 softly. There was a coughing noise, a whispered ‘read louder’, and then complete silence again. Rachel cleared her throat, and began again.
“Dear Mr. Schue, the situation at Mystic Falls is getting drastically out of control,” Rachel read out loud.
“The attacks have only gotten worse. Since my brother has returned I am very willingly to believe that the whole town, and our existence, is in danger.”
Rachel looked up, her hands shaking slightly. Finn smiled at her, and she smiled back, gulping loudly before continuing to read.
“I am sorry about your loss, Mr. Schue, and I am sorry that 你 have to see your own brother like this..”
Rachel stammered off, the paper sliding in between her fingers and on to the floor.
“What the hell?” Finn said, standing up and walking over to Rachel. “That can’t be right; Mr. Schue never told us he had a brother. I thought he was an only child?”
“I guess there is a lot of stuff that he hasn’t been telling us,” Quinn 说 softly from her chair. “Keep 阅读 it Finn,”
Finn nodded, wrapped an arm around his girlfriend, and continued to read. “…But it was necessary for 你 to see. I ask that 你 come as quickly as possible Will, and that 你 bring your 欢乐合唱团 group with you….Some of your kids have relations to the kids in this town, and it is a 最佳, 返回页首 priority that your kids come. My brother is becoming impatient, and there is something that he desperately wants that one of your 欢乐合唱团 kids have, so please come immediately. My deepest condolences, Stefan Salvatore.”