Chapter Three: Lydia

The substitute put in a science video for the class to watch. To Lydia, this was a sign that he was a last minute pick to sub for the class. No one else seemed to notice though. Lydia just had a perceptive eye.

Besides the fact that all they did was watch a video, the sub seemed nice. He didn't mutter things about the class under his breath or make kids wait to go to the bathroom. Lydia still felt uncertain about him. She didn't know why though until the end of the class as she was walking out the door. A voice was whispering her name. It kept getting louder and louder until it was practically screaming. She covered her ears with her hands and sunk to the floor. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut, but she could still tell that Scott was next to her and Theo was standing by the door. She could also tell that the sub was there too. As the voices got louder, Lydia could take it less and less. She wanted to scream, but she knew what would happen if she did.

"What!?" she shouted. Suddenly, the voices stopped. They whispered one last word and then they were gone. Him.

She knew they were talking about Mr. Morrison, the sub. Lydia's eyes flashed open and she removed her hands from her ears. Mr. Morrison was crouched down in front of her. Scott and Theo were on either side of her. Mr. Morrison looked worried.

"Are you okay?" Mr. Morrison asked. He held out his hand to help her up. Theo and Scott grabbed her arms to help.

"I'm fine," she finally answered. Scott looked at her in an attempt to ask if it was another message and she nodded. She darted her eyes to the sub and back to Scott, who then also glanced at the sub and nodded. Lydia couldn't tell if the sub had noticed their little conversation. She just had to hope not.

"Well we better be going. Wouldn't want to be late for our next class," Theo stated. The sub opened his mouth to disagree but the three had already walked out the door, not daring to look back. If the sight of Lydia in pain from the shouts to voices only she could hear wasn't enough, the sight of them walking out unscathed might have been.

Once they were in a safe distance from the classroom, Scott asked what she had heard.

"All they said was the word him," Lydia informed, "but I know they were talking about the sub. I've had this feeling about him all day."

Scott told her he would keep his eyes and ears open for anything suspicious. In the meantime, they would just have to go to class. Theo and Scott took off in their respective directions. Lydia was about to follow, but ended up staying still. She had that feeling again. She looked around, but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Everything was as it should be. Lydia still couldn't wipe the feeling, though. Something was going on here, and she was going to find out what.