Alex looked into the large mirror with a smile as he looked at himself once more. His jeans and plain white shirt may just look like average clothes, but to Alex it's everything. He wanted to look as nice as possible for all the people he'll be meeting today.

Why? Because it's his first day going to high school. That might seem like a strange thing to get excited for to the normal person, but Alex is not exactly a person you would call normal.

"Alex! You're going to be late!" His mothers young sounding voice yells for him. He goes wide eyed as he realizes he's been taking too long to get ready. He grabs his backpack as he dash's down stairs.

"Coming mother!" Alex yells back to his mother as his feet touch the first floor. He still continues his dash. He runs so fast that he nearly hits his head on the door. His mother grabs a hold of him before that could happen.

His mother's hand goes to the doorknob, but before she opens it, she looks back at her son. "Alex... if you're having second thoughts, it's  ok. We can stop this right now and... reconsider going back to the way things where. You know, with homeschool."

Alex's smile falters a bit before going back to normal. "Mother, I've been wanting this for a while now." Alex tells his mother firmly.

His mother sighs as she opens the door. "Well, let's get you school then." She opens the door.

———

Alex looks nervously at everyone sitting at their desks, looking at him. He feels like there are a thousand eyes all staring into his soul. He brings his shaking hand up and quickly waves at them.

"H-Hello! My n-name is Alexander Stephen Allard! This is m-my first d-day here! I hope we can a-all get along and become great fr-friends!" Alex yells out his introduction to the class, still trying to keep a smile on his face. There is an awkward silence as Alex stands there smiling.

The math teacher 'Mr. Charles?' Alex thinks as he tries to remember, coughs loudly. "Thank you Alex. Even though you didn't have to introduce yourself at all, we're all glad you did anyway... I guess." The teacher mumbles out the last part. "Go take your seat." The tired looking man says. Alex gladly does so. "Thank you sir!" Alex says, still not really sure about his name.

As Alex sits down, he notices that the girl sitting next to him, a girl wearing a black shirt and jeans, looks at him with a worried expression. Alex looks at her confused. The girl sighs.

"Ok, listen." The girl starts. "I don't know you, but you seem nice, so I might as well warn you. After that little speech, a lot of people here are gonna try to rip you apart."

Alex stays silent and even more confused. 'What is she talking about?' Alex wonders.

———

Later in the day, it is time for lunch as the students enter the cafeteria. As Alex enters, he thinks about the day he's had so far. His feelings are pretty mixed.

'On one hand, I have been enjoying being around other people, and some people seem nice enough. On the other... it seems most people are... already over with the day, even if it's only half way done. It's definitely different than what I thought it would be."

As Alex grabs a tray and goes to sit at a table, he's stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder. He turns around to see a large boy he remembers from his first class. He smiles.

"Oh, hello." Alex says as he looks over the brown haired boy. "Did you want to talk about something?" He asks the boy, slightly hopeful.

The boy smiles. "Yeah, there's something on your face."

Alex goes wide eyed 'What could have-' His thoughts are interrupted as his tray full of food his lifted up and slammed onto his face.

The tray clatters to the ground as Alex stands there shocked. The large boy smiles smugly as many of his fellow students laugh at him. He wipes away most of the mashed potatoes and beans as he looks at the boy dead in the eyes.

"Why did you do that? What did I do wrong?!" Alex yells out. The laughter soon dies down. The boy gets into Alex's face.

"What did you do wrong? You were born, that's what." The boy says coldly as he walks away. Alex stares at him.

———

Alex bursts into the bathroom. A few more incidents like what happened at the cafeteria happen throughout the day. Some things thrown here. Some hair pulled there. Some pushing and shoving even. All done by the same boy. All the while the teachers and other students did nothing. The thing that made him rush into the bathroom was some gum thrown into his hair.

He looks into the dirty and somewhat cracked mirror with a frown on his face. The piece of gum seems to be in his upper blonde curls. He sighs as he starts to try to get it out.

After what seems like an eternity, the gum finally comes out. Alex smiles a bit. That is until he hears someone laugh. Alex quickly turns around to see the large boy again.

"Hello Alex Lard!" The boy yells out mockingly. He goes up Alex and places his hand on his shoulder. The hand tightens. Alex gulps. "We have some stuff to catch you up on." The boy's smile becomes more sinister.

"Hey shit stain." A new voice calls out, along with the sound of glass breaking. The boy and Alex turn to another boy with long brown hair and glaring green eyes. His clothes are gray, baggy and slightly torn. Around his His neck is a necklace with a cross on it. fist is firmly planted on a new crack in the mirror. "What the hell are you doing now?"

The large boy goes wide eyed. "Oh shit! It's Crazy Dempsey!" The large boy, so confident earlier, is now running like a madman out of the bathroom. Alex is frozen in fear at the potentially new bully.

The long haired boy walks up to Alex with a small smirk on his face. Alex flinches as he raises his hand up, only to realize a second later that he's offering a handshake. "Hey, names Ethan Dempsey." The boy, Ethan, says as his smirk turns into a small smile.

Alex looks at his hand for half a second before shaking it. "Alex Allard. Nice to meet you."

The handshake soon stops as Ethan turns his head toward the exit. He frowns a bit. "So, they're giving you trouble?" Ethan asks as he turns his head back. Alex nods in response. "Whelp, that's Greg Thompson for ya! A dick to everyone he sees and friend to other dicks." Ethan laughs a bit. "Yeah, the guy never grew up past middle school."

"How does he get away with it?" Alex asks, surprisingly Ethan a bit with the sudden question. Ethan shrugs.

"He's the star quarterback and his parents got money. He can basically get away with anything in this place. Last year he beat the shit out of another kid, nothing happened. The kid's parents even tried to sue, but it was settled out of court and nothing big came from it. It something like that didn't stop him, nothing will." Ethan explains. Alex looks at him dead eyed.

"Then how come he's scared of you?" Alex asks, his voice is quiet. Ethan smiles again. "Because I fought back. He wanted to pull some stupid shit with me, but I didn't take his shit. Let me tell you, if it's not someone weaker than him, he's pretty shit in a fight! Haha!" Ethan's smile gets wider. "Maybe I can even teach you how to fight!"

"Oh, I already known how to fight." Alex says bluntly. Ethan's smile goes away as his eyes become wider.

"What?"

"Yeah, my mom took me to several different fighting classes all throughout my childhood." Alex says bluntly.

"You do realize he was about to beat the shit out of you, right?! Why were you standing there about to take it?!"

"W-Well, I just don't want to h-hurt anyone." Alex mumbles out.

Ethan glares at him. "God, you're hopeless." Ethan walks out of the bathroom. A few minutes later, Alex does the same.

———

Alex enters his mother's car. His mother smiles at him. "Hey Alex, how was your first day at school?"

Alex put on a fake smile. "It w-was good." His mother begins to drive away from the school. "Well that's good to- what the hell?" His mother says as she stares at something. Alex follows and sees a parked blue van across the street.

His mother looks on, confused. "She said the she was sick today. Did she let someone drive her van?"

"Who is it?" Alex asks. His mother looks down at him and puts her smile back on her face. "Oh, it's nothing sweetie." She says as she drives away.

———

Many hours later, Alex lays in bed. He keeps clicking on random YouTube videos and just as quickly clicks off of them as he tries to find one to keep his mind off things.

"Time to taste test some new chips-"

"This game fucking sucks the balls off my dick! Oh my sweet jewels-"

"Today we are playing the new Up-In game-"

"A body has been discovered. The police believed it to be the latest murder of the Sinner Killer case-"

"Time to taste test some beans-"

Alex decides to go for some nice, calm music instead. As he lays there, listening to some older songs, he hears something that sounds like grunting.

He gets up as he hears it again. 'It sounds like it's coming from outside.' He looks through his window. He sees nothing. He keeps looking out for a few minutes. He's about to lay back down, convinced that he was just hearing things. That is when he sees it coming out of the faraway trees.

The top half looks like a woman from what Alex can tell. The bottom half belongs to a snake as it slithers it's way around. It's hair is moving violently. After about a minute, it slithers away.

Alex is frozen in shock and fear. After a few minutes, he sits down on his bed. His mind is screaming at him to find an excuse, any excuse, that what he has seen with his own eyes wasn't real. That the world is still normal.

Little does Alex, or anyone else know, that this Monday would be the last normal day.