Chapter 1

"Wow..." the freshmen said in unison. "That's amazing. And big. Cool."

Allison looked over at the group of freshmen admiring the monument. "You know, you wouldn't think it's so great if you actually knew what had happened, and had been there."

The freshmen looked confused. Instead of asking, they shrugged and walked on. It had been three years since that terrible week. The week that Allison hated still. Of course, none of the new freshmen had heard the story yet, which is why every new student at Mountain High admired the monument upon passing by it. Allison walked on, glaring at the chunk of rock. It always reminded her of her freshman year at MHS, which was no ordinary year. It was they year that Tom Marner attacked and killed 67 band students. It was all because of revenge Tom wanted on the high school's band director, Mr. Greene. However, when Allison stabbed and killed Tom, his body was never found. No one ever found him, which occasionally worried Allison, but she would always shake it off every time she thought about it.

Allison finally lifted her head after walking through the hallways, head hung. She was in front of the band room, her first period class. Band was Allison's favorite time of the school day. She absolutely loved band, and everything about it. She used to play clarinet, but instead, she switched to French horn. She always thought brass was better. She loved the sounds of the instruments being practiced before class, and her director, Mr. Greene. Allison was also in marching band, and so was nearly the rest of the band. And, in fact, she had become the new drum major, after Brittany was killed in Tom's serial killing spree.

Just then, Mr. Greene walked in the band room and said, "Alright people, make sure your instruments are out and ready in five minutes, then class will start."

Allison was excited; she couldn't wait to see what Mr. Greene had planned for today. She hurried to her locker, pulled her horn out of its case, and began randomly warming up. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and, turning around, noticed it was Julie, her friend, and a mellophone player.

"Oh, hey! What's up?" said Allison.

"Not much. I heard Greene's gonna have us play some Holst this year." Julie replied happily.

"No way! Holst is the best!"

"I know! I can't wait to see if the rumors are true."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and find out, huh?"

"Guess so."

Allison headed to her seat, happily thinking of what song by Holst she would want to play. She really liked "The Planets", and hoped they would get to play an arrangement of "Jupiter". She sat in her seat and began warming up.

Three minutes later, Mr. Greene walked in the room. The entire band became silent instantly. They had a lot of respect for their director. Allison shuddered, when her eyes, as usual, fell upon the scar on Mr. Greene's neck. The scar made by Tom Marner three years ago.

"Alright people, as you may have heard, we are going to read some music by Gustav Holst." (The band began to cheer.) "Yes, yes, I know how much you all love to listen to Holst, so I decided to buy some of his sheet music for us to sight read. Now, section leaders, please come and get the copies of the first song."

The "section leaders", in other words, anyone in first chair, walked to the podium and retrieved copies of the sheet music for their section.

Mr. Greene picked up his baton off his stand and began to open the score. "Okay, let's start from the top." He then looked at his score to check parts. Suddenly, his baton clattered onto the tile floor. His face had a look of pure terror.

"What? What is it?" Band members began to whisper to each other, wondering what was happening.

"Allison, could you come here...?" stuttered Mr. Greene.

Confused, Allison got out of her chair and jogged over to the podium. "Umm, what is it...?"

Mr. Greene replied with a shaky voice, "Look at this...." He handed her a note that was on the first page of his score. It read:

Mr. Greene-

Surprise! I'm back. And you will die this time.

-TM