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The blond man laughed as Sarah shrank away from his touch. She jerked her head away from his hand.

The same hand that killed my mother…

"Stay away from me." Sarah stammered, wishing she could melt into the cold metal of her locker.

He laughed again, "Why would I do that?" His hand reached out again, this time moving past Sarah's right ear, to the locker behind her. He kept her still with his proximity. He leaned in close, whispering into her ear "You are powerless against someone like me, child. Get used to it, and hope I kill you quickly when I tire of these games."

Sarah jerked away from the lips that were brushing against her ear, smacking her head against her locker.

Get away from me! Sarah's terror fed her rage at being helpless and she lashed out, kneeing her tormentor in the groin.

Her captor snarled, backing away, and Sarah took off. She lunged for the door, but found herself stopped in mid-air and thrown violently at a row of lockers. She slid to the floor, dazed.

The blond man still stood in front of her locker, looking at Sarah in contempt.

The contempt disappeared from his features, replaced by an amused smile. "Nice try, but you'll have to do better then that." He stalked towards the downed girl, eyes menacing.

Sarah tried to rise on shaky limbs, but faster than thought, the man's hand darted down and latched onto her throat.

He pulled her up and held her about a foot off the floor. Sarah's eyes bulged and she kicked weakly. Her tormentor smiled, and continued to hold her off the ground. Sarah kicked again as the room spun around her. Just as the room started to fade into black Sarah was dropped to the floor. Concerned voices surrounded her, and the room spun back into focus.

Four people knelt beside her, trying to talk to her.

"Sarah, are you okay?" Maggie asked, eyes wide with fear.

"I…" Sarah gulped air "I think so."

"What happened?" Amy, a girl from Sarah's English class, inquired.

"I-" Sarah thought better of giving the truth, they wouldn't believe her anyway "I fell down." She finished lamely.

"Right…" Maggie looked a little confused "Sarah, are you sure you don't want to see the nurse or something?"

"I said I'm fine." The words popped out of Sarah's mouth before she could stop them, and she winced. Sith, I sound like such a brat. "Sorry, just a little sore, I guess."

The two girls glanced at each other, helped her up, and together they jogged up to class.

English class was never fun. Sarah had the bitter misfortune of having the worst English teacher in the entire school, and a regular class consisted of the teacher lecturing them on the evils of books that had magic, extraordinary things, or any kind of imagination in them. Most of the time, Sarah just kept her head down and tried not to laugh or scream at the teacher for her blatant stupidity.

As Sarah entered the class, she glanced around warily, looking for any sign of her tormentor. He was nowhere to be seen, and while that should have made her feel safer, it only made Sarah nervous.

I know you won't let me go so easily…Where are you?

Ms. Oné began the class as usual, reminding all present of the dangers of Disney movies and Harry Potter books, and – again, as usual – it took about three sentences for soft snickers to be heard from the students. Sarah rolled her eyes, feeling almost normal again despite her fear. She started to doodle in her notebook; drawing a little stick diagram of Ms. Oné and inserting a moustache and goatee.

She jumped and couldn't suppress a little scream as a hand gripped the back of her neck and a soft masculine voice whispered to her, "Drawing pictures of your teachers, Sarah? That's not very nice, you could get caught."

He stood behind her, bent to whisper in her ear, one hand holding the back of her neck in a not-quite-painful grip. She felt him smile as he asked softly, "Sarah, are you afraid of me?"

"No." Sarah whispered, aware of the stares of half the class.

The man laughed, "Really? You're trembling; are you cold? Perhaps this will help…" He turned to the curtains and gestured.

The curtains burst into flame.

Amid the screams of panic, Sarah made her own small gesture. The flames slowly went out.

"Very good, child. I wasn't sure if you were capable." He snickered, "Watch out, your teacher's coming."

"Sarah, wh…AH!" Ms. Oné screamed as a small, wickedly sharp knife rose up in the air and pointed itself at her face.

"An annoying little being, isn't she?" The man yawned; eyes fixed on the knife, hand squeezing Sarah's neck.

Leave her alone. Sarah tried to move her mouth and found it frozen, held by her tormentor's power. As much as she loathed Ms. Oné, she didn't want her dead… really.

"Sarah?" Amy gaped at her from one row up, "How…"

"I have powers that you cannot contemplate." Sarah found her mouth moving against her will. "Before I'm done, all of you will be dead." The hand holding Sarah's neck shook as the man laughed silently.

The knife drifted down into Sarah's outstretched hand; "I will give you a two minute head start. Run."

People jumped up from their desks and ran for the door. Within fifteen seconds, the class was empty. The door slammed shut.

"Well, that'll be difficult to explain." The man stood and released her.

Sarah glanced at the knife held in her hand, then whirled and slashed at her tormentor.

He caught her hand easily. Plucking the blade from her grip and grasping both of her wrists in one large hand, he brought the blade down to rest against her stomach.

She whimpered in terror, sure that this was it.

He laughed mercilessly and played with the blade along her skin, drawing little rivers of blood.

"That wasn't smart, was it?" The man brought his face close to hers and spoke quietly, calmly. "Do you begin to understand now? Your life is mine."

"Who are you?" Sarah whispered, unable to do anything else – she was paralyzed with fear.

"I am Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith; and you are Sarah Gryph, who won't see the light of another day if I wish it. Know your place, child." He tilted his head, listening to something Sarah couldn't hear. A slow smile crossed his face; "I would run if I were you. The police have arrived." He took a step back and vanished.

Sarah whirled and used the Force to lock the door. She heard a Thump as one unfortunate police officer slammed into it. She ran to the window, and swallowing hard when she saw the three stories below her, jumped out and ran.