Chapter 2
The First Day

She jerked up her alarm clock screaming in her ear to wake up. Her body was trembling in her sheets. Her skin was damp with a cold sweat and her blood was pumping hard in her veins. She took a deep breath and looked around, reassuring herself that she was truly awake. She weakly sobbed, letting the tears puddle in her eyes. She had not been that scared in her life and she didn't even know why she as scared at all. It wasn't like a monster under her bed she was afraid would grab her. It was just an empty nightmare, no boogie man in site. She relaxed and pulled her sheets away. The sudden air exposed on her legs she felt a sting. She looked closer at her ankles and saw the raw skin 'But it was a dream!' she thought.

"Melissa!"

She jerked. "I'm up mom."

"Good girl, you better get ready for school, you don't want to be late your first day!" Melissa smoothed her hand through her hair and carefully put her hand on the mattress to feel the softness of her sheets.

"It was just a dream." She said to herself and put her feet on the floor. She glanced over. 'Must have got caught in the sheets is all.' She thought to herself.

She dressed quickly for school and grabbed her pack. When she entered the kitchen her mother looked over her cloths and sighed. "What is it this time?" she asked.

"You always wear that same outfit; the same pair of blue jeans, tee shirt, and that denim jacket. Why not wear that nice outfit I just bought you."

Melissa grinned remembering the pink sweater and brown skirt her mother had bought. She liked it well enough, but skirts just weren't what she liked.

"I'll wear that tomorrow. Besides I think it will look better on picture day." Her mom nodded. "Just feel better that I'm not wearing all black and punching holes through my face like the Punk rejects in detention."

"Well, you know I don't judge people how they look, I just want to make sure you are presentable. No doubt those photos will show up in those kid's futures and they will laugh. Even I wore strange things when I was a kid."

"I know, the pink polyester pant suit." Melissa laughed as she saw her mom cringe from the memory. Her mom looked at her watch. "Okay, it's 7:30. If you hurry you can make it to school on time. Make sure you keep to the sidewalk and don't talk to strangers."

"Mom this is Springwood, not Hollywood. I think I can walk to school and not get mugged."

Her mom smiled and gave her daughter a brief hug before watching her leave the kitchen and head for the front door.

She then turned back to her papers on the counter and put them in her bag. Taking one last look at the headlines and drinking her coffee she placed the paper on the table and left to the garage to get in her car and head to the hospital.

Meanwhile Melissa walked down the street and watched as her mom drove by. She waved briefly to the passing car and looped her fingers through her back pack straps. She turned down Bennett Street towards the main part of town while she headed forward towards Springwood school. She turned the corner to Elm Street. She hadn't taken 2 steps before she felt an eerie feeling of dread.

She looked down the suburban street at the houses that lined the block and tried to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. She saw the cars parked on the side and for a second she thought they had changed. She had been there before, but her mind couldn't remember how or where.

She took a deep breath and back tracked instead insisting on heading a block farther before turning. She kept up her pace until she reached the school and followed the other students in the building. Once inside again she felt the strange feeling she had before, the dread with a hint of déjà vu.

She shook it off quickly then went to the principal's office to get her class schedule. She was starting school here 3 months into the year, so she had some catching up to do. The secretary was nice enough to give her a map of the school as well so that she could get familiar with the halls. Melissa thanked her and headed back into the hall.

The halls were empty then, so all she needed to do was find her class. As she stepped down the 4th hallway she looked up and gasped. She looked to her right and noticed the door from her dream, the one she had shut to leave the blood soaked bedroom. Only now the floor was not coved with the dust or dried blood. She walked slowly down the hallway. Her mind kept resurrecting the nightmare. She half expected to see the blood at her feet or hear the haunted voice call. She kept walking until she turned the corner, but she didn't see the hospital, only another hall. She looked back to the classrooms and glanced at her map to her classes.

Suddenly a hand gripped her shoulder. She gasped and turned around. A man in a janitor's outfit was standing there. He was in his 50's with pale skin and thinning hair.

"You lost?" He asked. Melissa looked back at her map and to him.

"Yes sir, I'm trying to find my class." The man leaned over and looked at her map, his cleaning cart behind him. He pointed his dirty bony finger at the hall they where on and looked at her with his cold grey eyes.

"Three classes down that way on the left."

She thanked him and quickly walked towards her class not looking back. When she got to the door she heard a loud screech. She turned back only to see the man pushing his cleaning cart farther down the hall.

She swallowed the last of her fear and anxiety down her throat before she entered the room and scanned the class, half expecting to see a face she knew but was relieved that she didn't. She smiled briefly then walked over to the teacher standing in front of the class. He looked at her hall pass and nodded.

"Class, this is our new student Melissa Keller. Let's let her feel welcome." He glanced around the class and pointed to an empty seat next to a quite blond girl next to the window. "You can sit there next to Andrea. You will need to get your books from the school library before your next class, until then you can share Andrea's. Andrea, please allow Ms Keller to copy your notes as well. She will need to catch up before test time next Thursday." The girl named Andrea nodded and Melissa walked back to her and set in the desk next to her.

"Hi, I'm Melissa Keller." She said offering her hand.

"Andrea Norwood." She replied smiling shaking her hand. Andrea removed her notebook and handed it to Melissa. When Melissa opened the book she was very pleased that the teacher had sat her there. Andrea's notes were very well kept and detailed. She would be able to catch up easy using them.

All the students paid attention and took notes as the teacher spoke. Melissa was surprised. At her old school there was at least one person taking a cat nap in a corner. In fact she could see one boy crumpled in his desk in the corner but as he seemed to doze he jerked awake and rubbed his eyes feverously keeping himself awake. She could see his skittish posture as his hands reached into his pocket searching for something. 'Must be a druggie' she thought. She dismissed the boy and returned to her notes. She stared at the pages, each well written reference until she could barely see the lines. Her eyes dozed closed for a moment. When she opened them again she looked back at the notes. Then she noticed the words drifting apart. She looked at the again and sure enough, the words separated and drifted at the back of the lines. They rearranged and moved around each other. Then a few words lined up on the page.

"Don't fall asleep." It read. She took her eraser and rubbed the letters, but they didn't fade. "Wake up." It read. "Don't fall asleep"

She looked around the class, but the students were still paying attention. Then she looked back to the page and the words where still there. "Don't fall asleep." Then a voice echoed. "Don't fall asleep." She looked around but the voice didn't seem to belong to anyone in the room.

"Wake up!"

Melissa's eyes flashed open. She looked at the page, it was normal. She looked around the classroom and everything was still normal. Everyone was still paying attention. She shook it off and continued to make her notes.

Suddenly the bell rang. Andrea helped her fill her pack and walked with her to the hall.

"You can keep the notes tonight and copy them. I'll walk you to the library so you can get the rest of your books."

"Thanks." Melissa said following her.

"You'll find things are a lot different from other schools."

"So far I've found it very organized." Andrea nodded. "I swear after those nightmares last night, I could take nap. I wonder if I can do it in study hall, do teachers get on to you for that here?" Melissa stopped; Andrea was not by her side. She turned and saw Andrea, and she looked petrified. "Jeez, I guess they do. Sorry."

Andrea cleared her throat and briskly walked past her taking her arm and pulling her into an empty classroom nearby. She didn't even bother turning on the light before she started to prattle nervously.

"Well, of course you wouldn't know. If you haven't been from around here, sure you wouldn't. "

"Wouldn't what?" Andrea put her bag down and turned to her.

"You said you had a nightmare last night.'

"Yeah, so what? Big deal."

"Well, here sometimes nightmares are."

"Huh?"

Andrea looked nervously at the clock. She was defiantly a school orientated person, scared of being late for class. She pulled her pack over her shoulder and when to Melissa looking her in the eyes. "I'll tell you after school, meet me out front and I'll show you. Just do me a favor. Don't fall asleep." Although the voice was not the same as in her dream she could still feel the hair on her neck stand on end when she said that.

"Okay." She said nervously.

"Promise."

"Yeah." She insisted.

"Okay," she looked at the clock again. "The library is down the hall. I've for to get to class now, but remember, after school."

"Yeah. I'll remember."