A/N: Written for my English class. I wrote this shortly after I watched the first season, so this fic is ignoring everything past that. This is all owned by the people who own Heroes. I own nothing but this subplot and the characters excluding Sylar. If I owned Sylar, I'd never have time to write anything...
BRRRIIIIIIIIIIING! The bell assaulted Sophie's ears as she packed up her pencil case. She stared at the floor as she got her things together. How could she be so stupid to leave her sunglasses at home! She left her history class and put her earphones in. The monotony of the halls brought down her already dreary mood. One step. Pause. Another step. Another pause. This is what happens when you shove 2000 students in a school built for 1500. Yet another step. Another pause. To hell with the Sight. If I don't get out of this hall everyone's dying today. Now. Here. She wished she could just get hit by a bus today and let it be over. Sophie didn't even see him coming. A scrawny eighth grader plowed straight into her. Sophie's binder hit the ground and threw up paper everywhere. "I---I'm so so so sorry!" The boy stammered. Sophie bent down to get her papers, but was too slow. The small boy had already scooped up all her notes and handed them to her. Sophie realized he wasn't quite as short as she thought he was when he stood and looked her in the eye.
FLASH
An operating table. An old man lying under sedation. The doctor slowly raised the scalpel. He was a good doctor, but today would make a fatal mistake. The Doctor brought the tool down, cutting into the man's heart. Two centimeters in would open the central cavity for the surgery. The Doctor accidentally plunged the blade four centimeters in.
FLASH
"Bye!" The boy tore down the hall. Sophie smiled. Such a nice boy. At least he'll get a painless death...
"Numerous studies have been conducted on mantled howling monkeys, Alouatta palliata. However, very few of the studies have dealt with explicitly quantifying spatial and habitat preferences. Thus, the exact used and unused habitats of howling monkeys remain neither fully investigated nor quantified. Thus, crucial thresholds for science-based sustainable management programs continue to be unknown. Thus, the presence and absence of two howling monkey groups in different forest types on the island of Ometepe, Nicaragua were examined..." Classes became more and more pointless as you got closer to graduation. At the start of grade 11, everything seemed pointless. Not just school. Life. She could die today and not care. You're born, you grow, you die. Sophie learned that early on. She had to. Her visions taught her that. You die; and there's nothing in the world that can stop that. Sophie was glad she couldn't see her own fate. Her visions didn't work on her. Sophie remembered her grandmother, Bea. When Sophie was just a little girl, she had already learned that you can't stop death. She saw bad things happen to people. They never lived through them. And no matter what; they always happened. Sophie loved her grandmother dearly. Spending time with Bea started getting harder and harder as they got closer to summer. Sophie had guessed it was summer because she remembered that when she saw her grandmother fall; the yard in the window behind Bea was bright and sunny. The drawing on the wall said that it was Sophie who drew it, and she had made it sometime in the year 1996. So, Sophie guessed, It would happened in the summer of 1996. She knew this, of course, because she had met her grandmother when she was five. And she looked in her eyes. Sophie tried to warn Bea. She forced her grandmother to take every test she could. They all came up negative. Sophie fought and fought but, in the end, her grandmother still fell.
"Sophie?"
The voice broke her concentration. Mr. Newton was looking right at her. Sophie quickly looked down. "Are you paying attention?" Sophie continued looking into her lap. "Sophie!" Sophie just stared downwards. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Before Sophie could react; Mr. Newton was standing right in front of her desk. "I'll have you know that the mating rituals of mantled howling monkeys is VERY important in this course..." Sophie continued her fascination with the floor. "SOPHIE." Sophie jerked her head up. Mr. Newton was looking directly into her eyes.
FLASH
The blood was everywhere, everywhere! There was screaming and smashing and a woman shrieked and a baby cried and the woman was thrown down the stairs and mr newton screamed something but she couldn't hear him and she tried to warn him the man had a knife but he couldn't see until the knife was there and there was blood so much blood and it splattered the walls and the baby cried again the man left mr newton he didn't like the crying and mr newton yelled something but no one could hear him the blood was gurgling in his throat too much oh not the baby oh god not the baby and the man mr newton couldn't see the man he was in the room the room with the baby and there was a cry and then nothing mr newton screamed something to the woman at the bottom of the stairs but she couldn't hear him she couldn't hear anything ever anymore and the man was back and the knife was back and more blood on the knife the baby's blood and there was no crying there would never be anymore crying and the man had the knife took the knife and--
FLASH
"...you have to have the knowledge to pass the course for the final ex--" Mr. Newton stopped when he saw Sophie was in tears.
Sophie waited at Lilly's locker. Finally, the small blond completed her perilous journey through the sea of students. "Lilly!" Sophie looked at the locker. "Do you have a pair of sunglasses I can borrow?" Lilly opened her locker. "Yeah, here" She handed the glasses to her distraught friend. Sophie regarded the pair. They were less reflective then her own pair; but she hoped they would work. She quickly put them on. Sophie stared deeply into her friend's eyes, waiting to see an accidental overdose at 23. The vision never came. Sophie relaxed. "Thanks Lill; you're a life saver." How could I have gone to Mr. Newton's class without a pair? Lilly continued packing her gym clothes into her locker. "I still don't see why you don't see a doctor about your eye condition. They have medicine for every problem." Sophie cringed. "I'm fine, Lill, it's just a severe sensitivity. You don't need a pill for everything." Lilly smiled. "So, are you still coming over today?" Sophie nodded. "Duh! I have math now, see you after class!"
"It's fine dad, I'll walk." Sophie only lived a little ways away from Lilly. She set off down the street.
It was a lot colder then Sophie had originally thought. She decided to take the short cut behind the school. It was late, it was cold, and she had an essay waiting for her at home. Sophie heard footfalls behind her. She stopped. The man stopped. Sophie turned. He was wearing a ballcap and a large, grey jacket. It was too dark and she was too far away to see his face. "What do you want?" She yelled. Sophie could hear the smile in his voice. "I don't want anything, Sophie. Just your eyes." Sophie froze. She stood there, paralyzed with fear for what felt like forever. Sophie turned and ran. Suddenly she was lifted into the air, turned, and hit the school with enough force to wind her completely. She looked at the man, still standing a few meters away. He started to walk closer. "Don't worry Sophie; this isn't the end. You'll be part of a better future... a better human." His calmness scared her. Sophie could see him now. He was handsome, in his early twenties, quite tall. Striking good looks and dark hair. She looked into his deep, brown eyes.
FLASH
Cold, blue tiles. Outside somewhere. A bunch of people. It's late. A chubby Japanese man. The shine of a sword. The Japanese man plunges the sword in. He keeps it in. His watch says it's November sixth. He pulls the sword out. "Yatta!" He spits.
FLASH
November sixth.... Three days from now.
It started as a giggle. Slowly, the sound rose and grew. It echoed off the bricks of the school and the pavement of the Basketball court. The man staggered back. "What are you doing?" Sophie continued on. The man clenched his fists. "Stop it." The laughter grew. "STOP IT!!!" The laughter stopped.
"You fool."
Sophie smiled. "You think you're going to become a superior human..."
Another giggle.
"But you're just going to die."
The laughter started again.
The man screamed. The top of Sophie's head fell to the floor, long brown hair splaying on the pavement. With his hearing, the echoing of her laughter continued.