"Sometimes the darkness can be our friend; a friend that can just as easily turn to an enemy."

                  I ARRIVE home at exactly 5:27 am. The episode in the store already a distant memory. The sun is just barely peeking out over the horizon, painting the world with bright hues of yellow and orange. I quietly sneak back into the house, aware that my mother should be waking up soon, then I walk straight into the shower. Only wasting a few minutes to peel off my clothes which smell of copper thanks to the weirdo in the store. I take an extra long and hot shower before stepping out at the sound of my mom knocking on my door; yelling at me to get ready for school.

By now my movements are sluggish, my lack of sleep for the night finally slamming into me full force. I pull on a simple black T-shirt accompanied with blue skinny jeans and simple flats. I comb out my hair unable to do much with it, due to its shortness. Once I brush my teeth I step out of my room and drag myself down the stairs sniffling a yawn before entering the kitchen.

My mom is standing by the oven slowly mixing a pan filled to the brim with soup. Her waitress outfit is a bit wrinkly and I frown at her hair which is easily tied up into a quick ponytail. She stares out the window oblivious to the overflowing pot that starts spewing hot soup all over the stove.

"Ma![Mom!]"

She lets out a startled yell and her eyes widen down at the pot. She fumbles over the switch, quickly turning off the flame. She turns to me and gives me an apologetic smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes; they never do. "Buenos dias. [Good morning.] It's a good thing you came downstairs when you did. I wasn't paying much attention to what I was doing."

I nod, my fists tightly clasped. My father haunted a lot more than just my dreams. Even now as my mom looks at me, she really isn't looking at me, she's busy grieving my father's abandonment. "I'll see you later alright. I have to catch the bus, stay safe Ma."

"I want you to come straight home, after school. No hanging out with friends. Just straight home." She suddenly says, eyes turning dark. I frown at her words, shocked at the quick change of demeanour.

"Why?" I didn't have anything to do after school, but her eyes were avoiding my gaze and her heel kept tapping against the floor in a nervous rush.

My mom sighs and pushes her plate away. "There was another murder last night. It was all over the news after you went to bed, I didn't want to wake you."

A chill runs down my back. But I didn't go to bed last night, I snuck out.

"I'll be working late tonight and I want to know that your safe at home when I'm at work."

I was no longer listening to my mom because suddenly my heart was beating out of control. A murder occurred a mere hour or so before I stupidly snuck out for a walk. Which meant the murderer had still been nearby with fresh blood on his hands.

I could've been killed!
But you weren't.
But I could have been!
But you weren't!
That's not the point!
Yes it kind of is.
No! I could have b-

"Brie?"

My Mom's voice pulls me out of my thoughts and I nod at her question. Whatever it was. She smiles at my nod, pleased with my blind response. Then she ushers me out the door so I can catch the bus, because finding out someone died gives me the perfect energy to attend hell for seven hours.

***

Everyone was talking about Mathew Benson's death on the bus ride to school and at school itself. My mom hadn't mentioned exactly who was killed and I was too scared that it could've been me -but wasn't- to ask, but the annoying middle schoolers helped cover all that.

Mathew Benson. He was your stereotypical 'everyone loved him' type of guy. He lead the school to victory in the football tournament last year and scored advanced in every one of his finals. He helped me perfect my oil painting for the art contest and on Valentine's Day he made sure to gift every girl a rose and a box of chocolates. He was so sweet and hearing his name spoken in the same sentence as the word 'murder' was heartbreaking.

I enter the school, my eyes lingering on the framed picture of Mathew located at the schools entrance. It's base covered with small gifts that were at hands reach: daisies picked from the agricultural class, small slips of paper with notes of grievances, and origami cranes provided by the art class. The air inside is thick with gloom. Girls in tears, the football team silently staring off into space, and teachers checking in on everyone.

I try blocking out everyone's whispers as much as I can, my head spinning and nausea fogging up my view. Talk about death always bothered me and murder is so much worse. I should've stayed home.

I open up my locker. The door is covered with black paint and streaks of neon marker. My artistic mind couldn't stand how boring, identical, and so blue it was before, so I painted it. Of course this resulted in a two day suspension for "school vandalism" but the janitor never got around to washing it clean. I pull out my textbooks and shove them into my bag.

"This is the fifth murder this month."

I turn my head slightly to the right only catching a glimpse of my best friend Janice, Janey for short, idly leaning up against the locker next to mine. Her abrupt appearance goes unquestioned, but I do raise a slight eyebrow at her outfit of choice. Janice is wearing a blue, polka dot dress that stops mid thigh. Brown boots are accompanied with black knee socks and her strawberry, red curls are tied into a bun with loose strands on the front. Her forest green eyes are wide and bloodshot.

Bloodshot from lack of sleep, of course, since Janey doesn't do drugs because their bad for humans. And she's a human that happens to avoids bad things. Which in this case is drugs.

"Like shit before it wasn't so bad since I didn't really know any of the victims, but now? Brie, he was my lab partner."

I shut my locker and turn to look at Janey face to face. I finally catch the small details that I wasn't able to see from the side of my vision. Not only are her eyes bloodshot, but their glossed over with a sheath of fresh tears, her small nose is covered in soft red splotches from crying.

"I know. All of this is terrifying. But can we please stop talking about it you know how stuff like this gets me." I avoid looking at Janey, my father shoving himself back into my mind. Too bad I can't leave and go for a walk. Of course, what happened with my father didn't have anything to do with murder like now, but both topics left a cold hole in my stomach and Janey knew this.

As if sensing my distress she quickly wipes a tear which escaped her eyelashes. She lets out a small chuckle to mask her pain. "Why didn't you just stay home?" She says blowing her her hair out of her face.

"The thought did cross my mind." I admit, but I had no reason to justify why I didn't follow through with my plan.

"Well you should consider leaving early. Morning classes are apparently cancelled. We're having a huge assembly in memory of Matthew."

As if to prove Janey's words. The bell rings followed by the booming voice of our principal, Ms. Jones, commanding everyone to head to the gym. Everyone quietly walks to the gym, too shocked by the events of last night to protest Ms. Jones  command.

The thought to call my mom and lie about a sudden wave of sickness that overcame me comes to mind, but one glance at Janey trying to secretly wipe evident tears from her cheek convinces me to stay. I have to be here for my best friend.

Even if I leave the gym sobbing.

________________________________
Hello!

So this chapter tied back to the occurrence in the prologue. I'm not sure if that was understandable or not.

I know not much happened in this chapter because it's simply a filler, but the next chapters will bring in the fantasy genre that this book falls into :)

Until next time!!

-Esmer