Jan. 16, 2020, 12:14 PM CST
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
James Harrison was just like any other 17-year-old senior in high school. He was around 5'9", He was getting hyped up about graduating, thinking of which college to apply to, he enjoyed going places with his friends, but there was just one problem when it came to hanging out, well, outside, at least. The frigid, below freezing temperatures of Sioux Falls, that reached beneath 10° Fahrenheit quite frequently. James had slick blond hair, round hazel eyes, Some light freckles scattered across his nose and cheeks, and his smile would make you think his smile was the best smile you'd ever seen. You'd wonder why no one asked him out on a date during the three years he's been in high school. It was already January, most people already took down their Christmas decorations, and tomorrow… was James' 18th birthday. Adulthood was right around the corner, and he was a little bit scared, but excited at the same time. "What would adulthood be like?" He often thought to himself. He was already in his final year of high school, graduation was in five months, and he had himself prepared. He was going to go to college, graduate from college, meet a special someone in his life, have beautiful, beautiful kids that carry his gorgeous eyes and his future wife's lovely face. He had a YouTube channel named JamezBee, where he had amassed more than 10,000 subscribers in less than two years. His most popular video which was released in 2018, where he played the hit song "Despacito" on the Otamatone, the melodica, and the stylophone, gained over 20,000 views in less than two weeks, and has over 1 million views and counting as of today. He had a 14-year-old sister, Natalie, who often enjoyed hanging out with him. Both James and Natalie attended Sioux Falls High School. They lived with their single mother, Sandra, whose husband died in a car crash nearly 11 years ago. James' best friend, Shaun Vincent, was turning 18 in April. They've known each other since preschool, they're basically inseparable. They both enjoyed hanging out at each other's houses. They watched horror movies on Netflix, play on their Nintendo Switches, mainly playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Fortnite.
James was making his way to the men's restroom, needing to go use the restroom. What else would you go to the restroom for? The janitor's closet was right near the restroom, just right next to it. The moment when James was in front of the janitor's closet, he felt terrible. He felt scared, endangered, and he didn't know why. It's like he was having some sort of mental breakdown. James swiftly made his way away from the janitor's closet, not knowing what was so off about the janitor's closet, but just knowing that somehow, someway, it was dangerous. It threatened him. He swiftly sprinted back to his English class, and held in his body's lemonade until lunch, which was only a mere six minutes away.
The Cafeteria
After James did his business, he washed his hands, and walked out, retrieved his blue Arctic Zone lunchbox out of his orange, thin locker, made his way to his assigned lunch table, and sat down in front of Shaun and Shaun's girlfriend Amelia. James unzipped his lunchbox, and pulled out a ham and cheese sandwich inside a Ziploc bag, a snack bag of hot Cheetos, an 8.2 ounce can of Arnold Palmer half-and-half, and a plastic bag containing five of the twenty brownies he made last night out of sheer boredom that he shared with Shaun and Amelia. Quite a standard lunch. He really enjoyed baking desserts, quite a lot, he'd probably consider it a hobby. Four years ago, today, on his 14th birthday, he made his very own chocolate birthday cake, and he shared it with his family and friends. It turned out very good, actually. Everyone that had a slice of James' chocolate cake really enjoyed it, and Shaun and Amelia wouldn't be wrong if they said that those brownies were the most delicious brownies they ever had.
"Hey, James! Happy early birthday!" Shaun greeted, happy for his best friend turning 18 the following day.
"Hey, Shaun, so like, the weirdest thing happened to me when I was going to the bathroom." James said, still a little nervous after the event, handing Shaun and Amelia the brownies he baked.
"What happened, James?" Shaun asked, mildly concerned about James, biting into the brownie he was holding in his left hand, having few crumbs drop on the napkins he was eating his brownie over.
"So I was walking to the bathroom, and as soon as I was in front of the janitor's closet, I felt like I was going to die. I had a panic attack or something like that." James replied, trying not to sound like an insane drug addict you would find at night in downtown Detroit.
"That's pretty weird… as soon as you were in front of the janitor's closet?" Amelia asked.
"Yep." James replied, rethinking about the whole event. It was right in front of the janitor's closet, and things like that don't just happen when you walk right in front of a certain room.
James whipped out his phone and texted his sister, who was in the bathroom, talking to her friends about their favorite actors/actresses, and the dance that was coming up on the 25th.
"hey nat i think something's wrong with the janitor's closet" The white words surrounded in a round blue rectangle read.
"What's up with the janitor's closet, James?" The grammatically correct sentence read.
"uhh ill tell u dismissal" James replied, putting his phone in his right pocket, asking Shaun and Amelia for ideas on his next YouTube video.
Four hours later…
James, Natalie, Shaun, and Amelia had met up near a plaza, where they pooled their money for a 4-Pack Walkie Talkie set. The walkie talkies costed around $60, so it must've been the real deal. When they got home, Amelia made a group chat named "The Janitor's Closet" on her phone, adding Shaun, James, and Natalie. James had nothing else better to do with his time, so he did his homework, played around three solo matches of Fortnite, watched The Conjuring for the 28th time, and went to bed.
James suddenly drifted off to sleep, where he ended up in a forest. The end of a forest, actually. It must've been in the middle of the night. The moon was rising high in the dark-purple sky filled with dark-gray clouds and numerous stars, and James saw something in the distance. It appeared to be some sort of figure levitating above a town. James was intrigued, but terrified of the figure. Somehow, someway, he knew that the figure had malicious intentions, and he was right. With one swift motion of the figure's left hand, he set the entire town on fire instantly, where they both had heard the painful screams of hundreds of innocent, burning civilians. James gasped, having his heart race, becoming very fearful of the figure. The figure revealed its face to James, but only for a second. It was a familiar face… a classmate. The figure's left eye glowed red, which clearly meant danger to James. He instantly woke up at quite an early time. "Whew, just a dream. What an odd nightmare." James thought to himself, getting himself together. He slowly reached for his nightstand, and checked his phone, which gave off some light, making his pupils shrink just a tad bit, as he read the numbers and words "3:56, Friday, January 17", along with his carrier and battery percentage, and small images of a crescent moon, and an alarm clock in the top right-hand corner of his phone's screen.. James found it quite difficult to go back to sleep, but about a half-hour later, he found his way around it, and had a better, but a weird dream, unlike his previous one. It was… a blue-haired man, telling him to save the world, over, and over, and over again.
That day, at dismissal, James, Natalie, Shaun, and Amelia met up by the janitor's closet. The janitor, Mr. Stelson, was busy cleaning the men's bathroom downstairs, and he forgot to shut and lock the door. The quartet were starting to feel a little anxious once they were in the path of the janitor's closet. Shaun opened the door, to find nothing, except items that would typically be found in a janitor's closet.
"Is there… supposed to be something, James?" Amelia asked, wondering why she felt a little worried when she was facing the janitor's closet, only to see nothing peculiar.
"Well, that was a whole-ass waste." James said, disappointed. The group of four had started to walk away from the janitor's closet, but stopped as soon as they heard a reversed-explosion like sound come from the janitor's closet. They found a floating, baby blue colored oval with swirls. A portal, perhaps?
"Aw, cool! I'm gonna go take a peek inside!" Natalie enthusiastically said, impulsively running into the portal.
"Nat, no! Don't!" James yelled. Before he could let anymore words escape his mouth, Natalie was sucked into the portal. No one knew where it came from, no one knew where it would take them, all they knew, was that it was just a portal.
James grabbed his walkie-talkie, and asked his sister if she was still there. "Nat, do you copy? Over." No response. "Nat, this is James. Do you copy? Over." Still, no response.
James put on a brave face, and went to search for his sister. He couldn't care less if he had to travel through the fiery pits of hell to find her, he just knew that he needed to find his sister, and find her now. It would be absolutely difficult to explain to mom, and James and Natalie were like best friends, except that Shaun was James' best friend. He approached the portal, seconds away from diving into the portal to find his sister.
"James, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Shaun asked, worrying about the potentially hazardous intentions of his best friend.
"I'm going to go get my sister." James replied, eyeing the portal.
"Well, if you're going, I'm going. I'm not leaving my best friend behind." Shaun replied, joining James in finding his sister.
"Guys, what the hell? It could be dangerous." Amelia said, a little worried about the choices Shaun and James were going to make.
"All the more reason, Amelia." Shaun said, jumping into the portal with James.
"Shit." Amelia whispered to herself, frustrated, diving headfirst into the portal, not knowing what she was getting herself into. Before she knew it, she was flying in space, seeing nothing, but everything. Being nowhere, but everywhere. She could breathe, she could think, but could barely even fathom what was going on. She was moving very quickly without doing anything, not even knowing what was even moving her. She was shot with a beam that gave a tickling sensation throughout her entire body, and then landed in a forest, where the rest of her friends were unconscious, and so was she.