A/N: hey fanfic readers! I know, some of the early chapters of this fic are written atrociously, but I swear, they get so much better as I've progressed as a writer.

The Woman In The Mirror.

Our story begins in the detention room of Seaford Middle School. The detention room was sometimes known as the 'air room'. During the day, students were sent there when they misbehaved or were sent out of the classroom. After school, it was used as the detention room for all students. The walls were made of brick, covered in peeling yellow paint. There were many file cabinets and desks scattered across the room in no particular order. The students were all scattered, not wanting to sit next to each other.

Sarah Payne, a bit of an odd girl, struggled to look at the clock on the wall to see the time. Some bullies had taken her glasses earlier that day and flushed them in a bathroom stall. But she didn't have the courage to go tell an adult about it, so, she had just tried to see by squinting. There was still a great deal of time left before detention was over.

The required silence was becoming irksome to her. She felt like she was on the brink of insanity, and that she could no longer endure the silence . . . but she had to, or else she would have to endure yet another day of it. A large bang, like a gunshot - suddenly broke the silence. She nearly screamed because of the searing pain the loud noise caused. She settled for a whimper.

A teacher came running down the hall, asking everyone if they were all right. It was Mr. Pollin, the art teacher. Everyone thought he was a bit off his rocker, but Sarah thought he was awesome. He was probably the only person who understood her. His outlook on life was much more fun and different than how the others thought. Then there was Mike. He was a complete nerd, and annoying to such a degree, but Sarah found herself somewhat attracted to his intellect, without really ever getting to know him. He could break something apart and put it back together without looking at any instructions, and Sarah found that incredibly sexy.

Sarah's clothes were slightly damp from sweating in the hot room, as it was only a few weeks out of summer, and the air room had, well, no air conditioner. Sweat drenched her clothes as she looked around. Nobody else seemed to have heard the noise except her and Mr. Pollin. She glanced at him hopefully- perhaps she wasn't the only one to hear it.

"Mr. Pollin, is everything alright?" Ms. Shietzler asked him, getting up to face him.

"It was… T-that bang… Didn't any of you hear it?" he asked, for nearly all of the students were looking at him as if he was crazy, including Mrs. Shietzler.

Her brow furrowed. "What bang?"

"No, I know what he's talking about…I heard it," Sarah stammered as she stood up out of her desk.

"Sit down Miss Payne." Mrs. Sheitzler ordered. "This is an adult matter"

"No. It's not an adult matter if I can hear it and you can't. That makes this a public matter." She growled back.

Now everyone was staring at me. Nobody talked back to Mrs. Sheitzler, ever. Well, nobody had stayed in the school long enough to spread word of it. Expulsion was the average result of such an outburst.

"Shut up. If I had a nickel for each student I had expelled for talking back to me, I'd have-"

"What? Enough money to buy yourself another chocolate bar?"

Mr. Pollin stood between the two. "The both of you just shut your traps. Sarah, come with me."

Sarah obiedantly followed him out of the room. "You heard it too sir?"

"Yes, but I don't understand why we were the only ones who did… You shouldn't tell anyone about this… Come on, I'm getting you out of here." He said, grabbing her hand and leading her down the hallway.

"Wait…sir… would you mind if I used the restroom first? The sound startled me a bit…" Sarah muttered.

"Yes, go. But quickly." He said in rather a hurry. Sarah nodded.

She entered the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and began to wash all the sweat from her face. How could it be that only two people in the entire school heard that noise? Just another thing to make her feel as if I didn't belong… She didn't want to think of it. She could feel some one staring at me. The hairs in her neck prickled as they stood up. She looked up into the mirror to find an old woman in a tartan green dress gown, with her gray hair pulled tight into a bun, looking back at her through her square-framed spectacles. She spun around on her heel, grasping the sink from behind her, to get a better look, but the woman was gone.

She looked into the hall for a sight of her, but she was nowhere to be found. Only a tabby cat sprinting down the hall. Wait a moment... Cats weren't allowed on school! No pets were allowed inside the school! A few seconds later she heard the gunshot-like bang once more and fell to her knees, holding her ears and waiting for the ringing to stop.

(point of view change)