Chapter 2

Morgan trudged wearily through the halls of Springwood High school. She was exhausted, and the fact that she had to get up at six this morning was not helping things. She stared intently at her schedule. First period was English with Mr. McDougall in room 210. Now if only she could find the room! She walked slowly through the various, crowded hallways for what must have been the third time, when she realized she was just going around in circles. "Shit," she whispered to herself and leaned against a set of lockers, for lack of anything better to do.

"Are you lost?" a girl Morgan's age, with shoulder length bleach blonde hair and piercing blue eyes opened her locker and grabbed a notebook out from under a pile of test papers and empty soda cans.

"Yeah… I can't find room 210," Morgan replied.

"Ah, see that's your problem. Room 210 is upstairs in downstairs. Come on, I'll show you the way. English is Period A for me too. I'm Lisa Butler by the way."

"Morgan Webb."

"So Morgan, you just move to Springwood?" Lisa asked as they slowly descended down the twisting staircase to the second floor.

"Yeah, my Dad just bought a house on Elm Street."

"Which house?"

"1428."Suddenly Lisa stopped in her tracks, "Did you say 1428 Elm Street?"

"Yeah…why?" Morgan asked puzzled.

"Well, two years ago, a girl named Lori Campbell lived in that house. Her friend's boyfriend was murdered in that house. After that a string of murders took place. A lot of the seniors that year were killed at a party they had on the outskirts of Springwood. The police never found the killer." Lisa stopped talking abruptly and gave a fake high pitched laugh. "Sorry, hope I'm not scaring you off! I don't know why I said all that…"

"Don't worry about it," Morgan replied immediately, "Every town has a few skeletons in its closet. Besides, its not like I've been sheltered from the world my entire life. Murder isn't something I haven't heard of."

"Well, here we are, room 210," Lisa said abruptly, hastily changing the conversation. Morgan and Lisa ushered themselves into the classroom and took seats across from each other in the last row.

"Hey Lisa!" two boys entered the now crowded classroom and took seats in front of Morgan and Lisa. The boy sitting in front of Lisa was the epitome of the stereotypical high school jock. He had short dirty blonde hair and his eyes were a clear blue. He was very tall and muscular, and from his jacket, Morgan could tell he was the captain of the basketball team. No surprise there. The boy sitting in front of Morgan was the exact opposite of the "jock". He was extremely skinny and had little to no muscle. He was medium in height, around 5'11, and had pale, creamy white skin. Long, messy blonde hair fell perfectly into his bright blue eyes. He looked like someone straight out of the 90's grunge scene with his over sized gray sweater, tight ripped jeans, and black converse all star sneakers.

"Hey guys," Lisa smiled, "I want you to met Morgan Webb. The guy in front of me is my boyfriend, John Williams, and in front of you is Kurt Barclay."

"Hey," John nodded towards Morgan. He grinned at Lisa and squeezed her hand gently.

"Morgan just moved to Springwood, so be nice!" Lisa smiled as John leaned over and began kissing Lisa's neck. Morgan felt heat rise in her face. She wasn't accustomed to people making out in front of her. She never had a boyfriend or been kissed by a boy. Back in New York her classmates had accused her of being a lesbian for her seemingly lack of interest in the opposite sex.

"Don't mind them. They do this all the time. You learn to ignore it," Kurt said. He had a quiet, low voice. "So where did you come from?" he asked curiously.

"Syracuse, New York," Morgan replied. She quickly turned away from Lisa and John. Somehow Lisa had wound up in John's lap.

"Well you might find Springwood boring compared to New York State," Kurt said.

"Actually Syracuse isn't all that exciting. The mall gets old after awhile."

"I think if you stay in any place too long it gets boring," Kurt replied.

"True," Morgan said while her eyes were glued to the floor.

She wasn't used to talking to boys, especially the good looking ones. Suddenly the door swung open and their English teacher stepped in. "Alright settle down guys. Lisa, John one body to a desk," Mr. McDougall placed his briefcase on the desk. The class then proceeded to laugh and a few perverted jocks made suggestive hand motions. Lisa just smiled and went back to her original seat. She grinned at Morgan. "My name, as most of you know, is Mr. McDougall and this is Sophomore English. Everyone take out your textbook and notebook and take down this assignment…"

Slowly Morgan's vision blurred. The fine line between reality and fantasy was gradually being erased from her mind. She looked around her, but the atmosphere of the classroom had changed. A Professor was at a large chalk board scribbling away as a few football jocks tossed crumbled up paper ball back and forth across the room. A group of girls in poodle skirts and pearls turned around and laughed at someone in back of Morgan. Morgan turned around slowly and came face to face with a scrawny teenaged boy. His short blonde hair was slicked back from his thin face. Cold, emotionless, blue eyes stared intently at her, as if they were looking into her soul. The same jaded eyes Morgan saw on the man with his daughter last night. Morgan looked down at his hands and noticed they were smeared in blood. A cool liquid feeling splashed over Morgan's ankles. Morgan looked down and screamed in horror. She was sitting ankle deep in thick crimson blood. She looked back at the boy. He had gotten up from his seat and was hovered over her. His right hand was reaching out for her, his steel claws almost touching her face.

Morgan snapped back to reality as Lisa shook her shoulders. "Morgan, are you alright?" Lisa whispered, "You were just staring, your eyes weren't blinking, you looked like you were in a trance."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just day dreaming," Morgan gave a faint smile. The bell echoed loudly throughout the room signaling the end of Period A. Morgan gathered up her books and headed out of the classroom with Lisa, John and Kurt.