1. Case 0 part 1 (1/2)

it wasn't often that i thought about urban legends. in fact, i would say that until today i had never really paid attention to them. they were a waste of time in my opinion, and i didn't get why people liked them so much.

people like the two airheads sitting in front of me who were chatting away before class like always. i groaned as i barely kept up with their rapid pace.

"so did you hear about…?"

"oh, you mean the tv thing?"

"yeah, i tried it and it didn't work,"

"whoa, so did you see anything?"

"not a thing,"

"why do you sound so disappointed. i never knew you were into that kind of occult stuff,"

i grumbled as i tried to concentrate on the book that i was reading. it was getting to a good part and i wanted to at least try to finish the chapter by the time class started.

"what can i say, i'm a romantic,"

"how is knowing how you're going to die romantic?"

"what are you talking about? you're supposed to see…"

i tuned them out as i guessed how the conversation was going to go from there. it felt like that particular urban legend was everywhere these days. normally i would just ignore it like all the rest, but there was just something… weird about it.

because there didn't seem to be one urban legend that was going around town. instead there were a ton of variations of the same urban legend going around town. that was inspite of how new it was.

oh, they all started the same. turn on your tv at exactly 1:23 am and then turn to channel 4. not on your cable or satellite whatever, local stations only. go up a channel while counting up to match the channel number until you reach channel 10. if you do it right, then whatever channel 10 normally is gets replaced with something different.

the variations were all basically what the 'something different' was.

the first version i heard was that you would see your soul mate. the next was that it showed you your own death. from the little that i could hear from the airheads, those were the versions those two had heard. they were also the most common, at least among the people who i overhead talking about it.

but those weren't the only ones. aside from those, channel 10 could be a pirate radio show, a live

oadcast of a man playing the violin in an empty room, a recording of an actual murder, and most terrifying of all a live feed of the room you were in at that very moment.

i tried not to think about that last one too hard.

soon enough the teacher walked in and the two airheads quieted down. i put down my book and placed it back in my bag. as i zipped it shut, i realized that i hadn't i never made it to the end of the chapter.

i spent the rest of the day coasting by, just kind of waiting for it to be over. it wasn't hard, the thing with the airheads had been almost at the end of the day. so when the final bell rand just two hours later, i got out my chair and started walking to the front gates.

is i made my way down the stairs of the school building, i already knew where i was going. right in front of my house, there was a small, almost abandoned park. it was nestled in among the buildings, so i didn't have to worry about the wind, which made it the perfect spot to finish reading my book.

i reached the bottom of the stairs with my destination decided when i was stopped by a certain someone.

"oh hey rita," a familiar voice called out to me from down the hall. i looked up and almost found myself blinded by a shining sentinent smile that was walking towards me.

i pretended to hiss and cover my eyes as robby approached, getting a laugh out of my old… would he be called a friend?

the only reason i knew him was because our moms had been best friends in college, and they had ended up living in the same apartment building after that. so whenever one of them was busy, they had sent us over to the other's apartment to be watched. and if it wasn't for that, i honestly think that robby and i would never have talked to each other in our entire lives.

but i had ended up talking to him and that meant that i had to deal with this walking ball of sunshine.

"hey robby," i said back as i ignored the weird looks a few people gave us. the two of us didn't look the kind of pair you would expect. robby was tall, blond, physically fit, and always wore

ight colors and a smile. i was kind of short, pale with black hair, and i was pretty sure the politest term i had heard used about myself had been 'gloomy'.

not that i cared, hoodies and sweat pants were comfortable and there was no force on earth that was going to convince me give them up.

"so," robby said,

inging me out of my thoughts. "have you heard about this new tv legend thing?"

i groaned as i put my hand over my face and massaged my temples.

"oh not you too," i grumbled before putting my hand down. "okay so what version of the thing did you hear?"

"version?" he asked sounding bewildered. i quickly explained what i had noticed about every version starting the same but then having different things at the end.

"personally the worst one i've heard is that you turn the channel to 10 and it shows you in the room your standing in, like there's someone in the room with you recording," i told him as i noticed a shiver go down his spine.

"that's creepy," he said as he tried to play off the shiver my shuffling his shoulder. "no, i heard the version where it shows you the future,"

i tilted my head to the side as i searched my memory.

"not sure i've heard that one before," i said as i came up empty. robby perked up as he heard me say those words. "how does this one go?"

"well," he started saying with way too much pride in his voice. "the version i heard was that if turned the channel to 10, you'll see a news show that talks about what's going to happen tomorrow,"

i took in what he said and weighed it against what i had already heard.

"have to say," i told him as i came to a decision. "my favorite version had been the pirate radio show, but i think i like that one more,"

"yeah, but the guy who told me that one didn't say what kind of stuff gets revealed about the future so who knows how useful it would be," he said with a shrug before flinching back. "or right i almost forgot,"

"everything okay?" i asked as he waved my concern away.

"my mom called me earlier," he started explaining. "she said to remind you that our parents are going to that college meetup thing,"

"what? i remembered that," i lied as i realized that i would have to stop by the convenience store on the way home. no mom or dad to drive me out at the last minute when we realized that we had forgotten something for dinner. "they're going to be gone all night and come back tomorrow morning right?"

"that's right," he said. "i wonder if they'll still be there by the time we get home?"

"i'm pretty sure they are, the meetup is in a hotel downtown so it shouldn't take them that long to get there," i pointed out.

"yeah, but are either of us going straight home?" he counter pointed out before i looked over his shoulder. behind robby were a few of his boys. i wasn't really sure what they all did after school, and i didn't really care.

as for the other way around, robby knew that i went somewhere after school to read and relax, but i was pretty sure he didn't know where.

"that is true," i told him as i gave him the win on this one. "well i won't keep you from your boys, go on and do… whatever it is that you do," i said as i shooed him away.

"got it," he said holding back a laugh. he started walking back to his friends when he turned back around one last time. "oh one last thing?"

"sure what is it?" i told him as he came back. i watched his mouth as he said 9 words that were going to drive me crazy for the rest of the day.

"are you planning on trying out the tv thing?" he asked as i just kind of shrugged my shoulders.

"not really seems kind of dumb," i told him, believing myself at the time.

he took me at my word before dashing away back to his boys.