The next day, Faye sat in the homeroom, waiting for her boyfriend Jack. Even though they were childhood friends with mutual attraction, they didn't start dating until last month. Partly because they both were hesitant to turn their friendship into something more.

Faye wondered if she should tell him about last night. It could've been nothing but her wild imagination. Yet, she would feel better if she could tell somebody about it.

It was lunchtime and some students left to eat in the cafeteria. Others stayed in their classrooms. Faye didn't like crowded places, so she always chose to sit in the homeroom.

While she was still waiting for Jack, she heard a loud crash by the corner of the classroom. Shira, an Indian girl from her class, had stumbled into a table and lost her books. Some of the students nearby laughed, while others did not offer one ounce of attention. This wasn't a rare sight, since most of the social outcasts were treated that way. Faye wanted to help Shira pick up her books, but before she could do anything, Tori sat down in front of her.

"What's up?" her best friend asked with a smile. Faye cast a last glance at Shira and sighed. No point in helping her now, since she had already gathered most of her books.

Faye turned her attention back to Tori. Her spirit lifted when she saw her friend's smile. She had always adored her liveliness. No matter what happened, Tori was always a happy, smiling sunshine.

"Hey, what's up with that huge smile? Don't tell me you brought a new phone again," Faye teased.

"No, even better. Today, Alex actually talked to me!" she exclaimed. "With whole sentences and all!"

"What did he say?"

"He asked me what the time was."

"That's it?"

Tori laughed, tossing her golden hair behind her back. "Well, yes. But it's a big thing. You have no idea how popular he is."

Faye did know that Alex was popular. They went to the same class, so the swarm of girls surrounding him all the time was hard to miss. Besides, Tori wasn't the only one who swooned at the sight of him.

It's just that Faye didn't really care.

"In my opinion, he's just another classmate," Faye said.

"Of course you're not interested. You got such a perfect boyfriend!" Tori said. "Well, I got a boyfriend too, but it doesn't stop me from adoring Alex's hotness."

"Boyfriend? Again? You just broke up with the last one!"

She flashed a smile. "This one is a keeper, trust me."

"Who is it?"

"Drake Cottons. You probably don't know him. He's from another school."

Tori's phone rang. She glanced at the screen, smiled and picked up her bag. "Speaking of the devil. Gotta go! Enjoy your lunch with Jackson!" Tori said cheerfully, before running off.

Knowing Tori, this new boyfriend of hers was probably another jerk. She had a bad habit of falling for troublemakers.

Speaking of boyfriends, Jack was late. Grabbing her phone, Faye called Jack. A buzzing sound told her that the line was busy. Disappointed, she put the phone back in her bag. He was probably still at the gym playing basketball.

"It's Alex!" a girl from her class whispered excitedly beside her. Faye automatically turned her head and saw Alex walking casually into their classroom. A smile was spread across his face. Girl after girl greeted him with sighs and giggles.

It wasn't a surprise that he was so popular. Other than being an eye candy, Alex was the school's genius, getting top scores on all kinds of tests. He was also an amazing player on the same basketball team as Jack. From what Faye had heard, he was nice, a true gentleman and very social.

Perhaps the dream of many girls, but not hers. Though Jack was late and really busy lately, Faye only cared for that one special boy.

"Sorry for being late," a familiar voice whispered in her ear. She turned around to see Jack smiling down at her.

"Hey," she answered. "Staying in PE for extra training?"

He nodded and sat down beside her. The sight of him made her smile. Faye never got tired from looking at her boyfriend. He had light brown hair, eyes of the same color, strong jaw line and a killer smile. His handsome features were hard to not notice. But what really captured her was his caring, yet funny personality. And the sense of security he gave her just by being by her side.

What else could she ask for? She was dating her best friend!

"Have you done the history assignment?" Jack asked. "I tried starting it yesterday, but I didn't understand the concept."

Faye chuckled. "I don't get it either. I hope I don't get another D, or else I'll get grounded. How about doing the assignment together tonight?"

"I got training after school today, sorry."

"Oh."

Though Faye would never tell him, sometimes, she really hated basketball. It was stealing away their time together. She knew it has been his dream ever since he was younger, but she couldn't help wishing that he would for once prioritize her. Especially now, with the weird things happening on her way home.

"What are you thinking about?" Jack's calm voice drew her out of her thoughts. He gently wiped a coil of brown hair away from her face.

"Um... Jack, I... There's something weird happening," Faye said. She told him about what happened yesterday and the weird feeling of someone stalking her lately. She thought that if Jack knew about it, he would drop training and walk home with her.

"Who wouldn't want to stalk my girl? She's the finest of all living females," he said with a teasing smile. Jack pulled her closer to him.

"This isn't funny," she said.

"Come on, don't be so serious, Faye." He playfully kissed her on the lips. "It's okay to be paranoid every now and then."

"I'm not... Oh, never mind."

Disappointment and anger welled up in her. Sure, it wasn't very likely that someone was stalking her in particular, but Faye hoped he would be more worried. He laughed at it and even made a joke. Feeling the need to be alone, she pushed him away and grabbed her bag.

"I forgot my lunchbox in my locker. Just go and eat with some basket people, they're probably not paranoid like me," she said coldly.

"Faye, wait."

With long and determined steps, she walked her way out to the hallway. A sigh escaped. She was being immature and selfish. What's up with her lately?

Just like most schools, long rows with blue lockers stood side by side along the wall. Hers was at the end of the hallway. Many students complained that it was such a pain to walk all the way down there just to grab some books.

It was really not that bad, because she personally enjoyed looking out the huge window next to her locker. It showed a perfect view of the school yard. Last year, the school had some spare money to upgrade the yard with beautiful flowers. Although the winter had killed the plants, there was still something that made her feel peaceful from watching it.

Without thinking, Faye opened her locker out of habit. She knew what she would see; a pile of school books in the left corner, her jacket hanging on a hanger, a small bag of make-up in the right corner, and some pictures hanging here and there. Most students liked to personalize their lockers, but she liked to keep things simple.

But that day, something was different. Inside her locker was a brown teddy bear holding a bunch of pictures.

She pulled the bear out of the locker. The bear was soft, but heavy. Faye grabbed the pictures from the bear's pawn. She gasped and felt fear seizing her.

W-what?

She saw herself on every single picture, but she didn't look at the camera on any of them. There were a few pictures of her in the park. Others of her walking home. There were even pictures of her looking out the window of her house. She browsed through the pictures until she came to the last one. Her heart nearly popped out of her chest when she recognized the picture. On the picture, she stood with her back against the gate in front of her house. Faye looked really frightened, and she was staring straight into the camera.

Her hands shook and her heart wouldn't stop beating unbelievably fast. She didn't know how long she stood and stared at the picture. It was as if the time was frozen. There weren't any noise around.

The picture was taken yesterday, she was sure of that. The fact that she actually faced the person that stalked her without knowing, scared her to death. The person was so close.

Faye's phone suddenly started to ring. Startled, the things Faye held slipped to the ground. Pictures scattered about and the bear fell with a click. A high pitched recorded voice started playing from the bear.

"I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU."

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"It's open," a voice whispered. The owner of the voice looked at the terrified expression Faye had and smiled. Of course, she hadn't heard what was whispered. Neither did she see that someone was taking pictures of her, savoring the moment. After all, that someone was just a dark figure hiding between the shadows.

Seeing her so scared, the figure felt its' heart race faster. The figure was pleased to know that it was able to draw out such an expression on Faye's face.

"What will you do, Faye? What will you do, now that the gates of hell have opened?"

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