Prologue

Kaitlyn Pryor's legs might as well have weighed a ton. She walked with heavy footsteps towards the waiting taxi, clouds of dust arising around her in the summer heat. All her luggage was already in the trunk, thanks to her father, who now looked at her, sweaty and teary-eyed. She didn't flinch, although she could feel a lump arising in her throat.

"Good luck, Katie-pie, we'll miss you!" her mother waved from the porch of their luxurious suburban home.

'Then you shouldn't send me away,' Kaitlyn thought bitterly, climbing into the taxi with a huff.

She looked at her brand new shoes for a good five minutes, fiddling with the strap of her tote and picking at loose strings on her skirt. The tote was a themed one - a brown, rectangular creature with a wide open, toothy red mouth and two black dots as eyes. Arms and legs had been sewn on the bag. The salesperson had told her the name of it, but she had long since forgotten.

It was only when her neighbourhood was out of view that she truly regretted not having paid more attention. It would be a good year before she would be able to visit it again. Her pride had cost her those last, precious impressions.

[Music: Professor Layton and The Unwound Future Theme - /watch?v=U-W4iDW5o6Y]

She sighed and pulled out various textbooks from her school bag, each with a brand new, custom-made label, each emblazoned with the sigma of her new school and home for years to come. She rapidly flipped through her preassigned copy of Lord of the Flies; an anthology of poems; her history textbook; her Japanese workbook before finally settling on her Math book. The textbok was small but thick, bearing the scent of book and plastic. The bright blue cover did not pique her fancy, but the interior did.

She had always been the best at maths, and as such, it was her favourite subject. She loved the feel of how she was able to write numbers and symbols as others wrote letters, how equations came naturally to her and no geometry problem stood it's ground long as she faced it. The more complicated, the better - nothing better than to get her brain whirring. She was sure of it - what she got out of maths was better than the mental stimulation she got out of all the puzzle games in the world combined.

She pulled out her new book: sleek, black cover, rungs and crisp, white, lined paper on the inside; coaxed a millimetre and a half of lead out of her silver mechanical pencil which now resided in the convenient breast pocket of her new boarding school uniform, opened up to a random page and began to work. Her worries evaporated as her mind focused.

When she glanced up again, she had filled up four and a half pages in her book, and the time had mysteriously advanced by an hour. She had had her math fix, and anyways, the constant jolts of the car made it hard to write.

She opted to spend time just gazing at the passing nature, turning on her iPod and putting on some music, spending a good few minutes deciding what track suited her mood. The white earbuds fit snuggly inside her ears, and she clutched her tote like a soft toy as the sky darkened and raindrops speckled the windows.

A few tracks down the road, the taxi driver eventually made an attempt at small talk.

[Music fades to background]

"So. Um, Kaitie?"

"Kaitlyn," she corrected. Whilst she was a fan of all the quirks of nicknames and was by no means a refined young lady, she had never felt comfortable with anyone but her friends and family calling her anything other than her full name.

"Kaitlyn, right," the taxi driver said. Thanks the the reflection of the windscreen, she could see a small smirk lift the corners of his mouth.

"So, you going to Braxton Girls'?" he queried, although the answer was written plainly on her fancy red blazer.

"Indeed," she said, the word coming out of her mouth with a sarcastic lilt before she could stop it.

"My, my, little Miss Feisty I have in my car here," he joked, before adopting a more serious tone. "But, I've got to say, it's been a while since I've dropped off someone at a boarding school. In fact, I haven't. Ever. It's kinda… old fashioned, y'know?"

Kaitlyn didn't reply to what was, in her mind, a taunt.

Noticing, her grim expression, the taxi driver smiled. "Hey, grumpkins, it's cool. No, like, offense intended or anything. It's just a little unusual." He turned around in his chair and shot her a grin.

"I would much rather you look at the road and pay attention to your actual job. I don't believe 'ability to make small talk with passengers' is part of your job description. Correct me if I'm wrong."

"Hey," he said, sounding upset, although the smile did not get erased off his face, "you know, you don't have to be so annoyed all the time."

"I'm not," she retorted. She wasn't annoyed. She was… she was hurt. That her parents would send her away. Even if, as was the case, they believed it was the best path for an academic prodigy such as herself. She huffed, tucking back a strand of her wavy chestnut hair and sat back in her chair.

[Music comes back on]

The trail soon turned to forest, and according to the time, they were halfway there. The leaves of the trees cast pleasant, ever changing shadows on the ground and the car. The track started to go downhill.

At that moment, she heard a soft whirr. She looked around before she noticed a thick film of dark glass descending, separating the back of the car from the front.

"Um, sir?" she asked, suddenly worried.

All she saw was the reflection of his devilish smile and the glass descended, then the separation was complete.

"Hey!" she yelled, banging on the glass, but to no avail. "Hey!" she screamed again, heart racing.

Through the still normal windows of the back of the car, she could see the trees go by faster and faster. They were going downhill, speeding up, and the driver wasn't stopping them. She noticed a bend in the road further up, and panicked. They were going to hit that tree.

She yanked at the doors, attempted to roll down the windows, but they were blocked.

Eventually, nearing desperation, she unclipped her seatbelt, took out her swiss army knife from the pocket of her skirt and smashed it into the left side window. It broke, shards of glass flying, stinging wherever they hit. She tried to clear the edges as to not get cut any more whilst making her escape.

The car kept speeding up, speeding up, at an incredible pace, and the tree became nearer and nearer. Too near.

Truly hyperventilating now, Kaitlyn worked as quickly as possible. She barely had time to stick her hand out the window, though.

[Music halts]

Somewhere in the woods, a scream and crash were never heard.

All music links are on YouTube.

9 Aug 2014: Update! I fixed a minor detail. All you who are reading it now, worry not.