He tried to stay focused on his drive home, keeping his eyes on the road. But no matter how hard he tried, his eyes kept wandering back to his backpack. Back to the place where that strange object resided. What ARE you? He asks the object silently. He shook his head, trying to shake himself out of it. As he pulled up to his driveway, he saw something that gave him some relief. Standing there in her yellow shirt was Lisa, leaning up against her black and yellow bike. He put his car in park and stepped out onto his gravel driveway. Seth hops out of his red truck and grabs his backpack, closing the door behind him. Lisa came around and hugged him, saying "Hey there. Something happen? It normally doesn't take you that long to get home." He gulped and simply shook his head. Deciding to keep his… discovery a secret, he replies, "Oh, I uh… I just got into some traffic." Lisa cocks an eyebrow and then shrugs. "Well, at least you're here now." She says, walking over to grab her backpack. Seth followed her, slinging his own backpack over his shoulder. As soon as Lisa brought her backpack within five feet of Seth's, his mind shattered again with the same ear-splitting headache. He grabbed the sides of his head and sunk to the ground, the same images flashing through his head. The red rocks, the fork in the cave's path, the white room and the same figure telling him that "It's time". As he regained consciousness, he looked directly at Lisa. She was hunched over on the ground, grabbing the sides of her head. Breathing heavily, he got up and weakly stumbled over towards her. Placing a hand on her trembling shoulder, Seth said "Lisa? Lisa! Are you alright?" Lisa stopped her trembling and just sat hunched over for a second. Her eyes blinked up towards him. Breathing heavily as well, she says "What… What was that?" Seth helped her to her feet and said "Here. Come inside… We need to talk." Lisa nodded before following him inside.
"So… Care to explain what just happened to me," Lisa asked, jumping up to sit on the counter. Seth went into the fridge and grabbed two waters. He threw one to her and grabbed one out for himself. After taking a drink, he says, "So, when you got your headache just now… what did you see?" Lisa catches the water and looks at the bottle in her hand. She shrugged and said "I don't really know what it meant, but I started on a cliff next to these beautiful yellow sunflowers. It leads me down the cliff, past a bush with orange berries on it and to the mouth of a cave made completely out of red rocks." Seth almost spit out the water that was currently in his mouth. After swallowing hard, he said "R-red rocks? Lisa… My visons BEGIN at the mouth of a cave made entirely of red rocks." Lisa's eyes went wide and she let out to or three deep breaths. Seth sets his water bottle down and jogs over to his backpack. He reaches in and pulls out his closed scroll-like object. He sets the object on the counter. Looking over at Lisa, he says "Does THIS mean anything to you?" The girl's eyes stared at the object on the counter, a look of absolute shock written in her pupils. She leans to her side, opening her backpack. She pulls out an object, holding it in the air. It looked exactly like Seth's red…thing, but it was yellow. A glittering gold 4 was at the top, just like his number 5. Seth gulps and says "What… what is going on?" Lisa placed the object in her lap and says "I don't know, Seth… I don't know. But if we are going to investigate, I suggest we start at the school. That's where we found these things and that's where we'll most likely find answers." Seth nods and says, "I'll grab my keys. Let's get this over with." Leaving their backpacks and pocketing their objects, they left for North High.
Luckily for them, some of the clubs were still having meetings after school. The two of them walked through the hallways and towards Seth's locker. Seth opened his locker and the two of them examined it. "I… I don't get it. My locker looks normal. No clues or anything." Lisa ran her fingers across the surface, as if she was looking for something. Seth scratched the back of his head, confused. Lisa stood up and slammed his door shut. She turned to him and said "Hey. Let's go check out my locker. Maybe there's a clue in there or something." Seth nods and the two make their way out of the locker bay and into the hallway. As they walk, Seth sees a figure in the distance. As the boy down the hallway comes into view, his blue shirt glinted off the sunlight. Seth rolled his eyes. "Great. Here comes Chris," he mutters. Walking at the same speed as Chris, the three of them were only about six feet away. Chris opens his mouth to say something before he recoils back, grabbing the sides of his head. Lisa and Seth both simultaneously get their ear-splitting headaches, collapsing to their knees. After the images subside in Seth's head, he looks at Chris. The boy in blue was pounding the tile floor with his fist, wriggling on the floor. Lisa, using Seth as support, stands up and walks towards Chris. She stumbles over to the boy and places a hand on the boy's back. As soon as her hand contacted his back, Chris lashed out. Springing to life, he tore Lisa to the ground, holding her by her yellow shirt. Red in the face, Chris shook her, yelling "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME!?" Seth ran over and shoved Chris from Lisa, standing in-between the two of them. Seth holds out two hands, telling them both to silently stay back. His eyes darted to Chris, who was breathing heavily. "ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Seth says, pointing towards Chris, "Listen Chris. We are going through the same thing. We are only here to figure out what is causing these episodes!" Chris's nostrils flared and began digging in his pocket. "You wanna know what is causing these headaches? THIS," with that word, Chris pulled out an object that looked identical to Seth's and Lisa's, but his was blue, "THIS is what's causing my headaches! I tried to get rid of it, I did. I threw it out the window of my house. But as soon as I went back inside, it reappeared in my pocket! Then I got my head flash. I was by that stupid lightning-struck tree with blue moss on it, I went through a grove of pine trees until I got to a small lake with green water. Then suddenly, I'm back. I thought that I could try and find some answers." Chris held his object higher, the sun glinting off a golden number 2. Lisa suddenly muttered something under her breath. Seth turned to her and asked, "What?" Lisa turned and looked up at Seth. Softly, she said "These objects… It's a map."
Chris scoffed and said "A map? Are you serious?" Lisa's head darted towards Chris and she said "Listen. Seth and I both get those same visions. But the ones I get lead to where Seth's start. I have a number four on mine and he has a number five on his." Seth nods and they both take their objects out of their pockets, holding them out like badges. Chris's eyes got wide, seeing that all three of them had identical objects. "We need to find number's one and three. That's the only way we will figure out what is happening to us," Seth says, looking at Chris and then Lisa. The three of them look back and forth at each other, saying nothing. Chris finally rolls his eyes and says "FINE! But this doesn't mean I like any of you! I just want these god-awful headaches to stop!" Seth and Lisa nod, and Chris returns the nod. Chris then says "Alright. Let's make this quick." Lisa points down the hallway, saying, "My locker is downstairs this way." The three of them exchange nods before taking off down the hallway.
Seth lead the pack of three down the hallway. They ran past the library, Art room and Head Office. As they were running past the nurse's office, Seth hears something. "…and then I get this awful headache and... I start… seeing things." Seth came to a skidding halt, almost losing his footing and falling. Chris and Lisa came to the same skidding halt, almost bumping into Seth. Chris shoves Seth and says "Yo! What the heck?" Seth puts a finger to his lips and shushes Chris. Seth walks towards the entrance of the nurse's office. Sitting on a chair, an icepack on his head, was Alex. The nurse nods and says "Well, I want you to go get some rest, Mr. Martinez. I think this is a result of sleep-loss." Alex nods and says "Thanks Mrs. Henry. I'm gonna head home now." Seth grabbed Chris's and Lisa's attention and pulled them behind a wall. He looks at them sand says "Alright. Get ready for a bad headache." Alex walks out of the nurse's office and turns the corner. Staring directly at the three of them, he lets out an "Ummmm…" But, before he could say anything else, he dropped to the floor, his hands cupping the side of his head. The three-other people standing next to Alex dropped as well, wriggling on the floor. Seth was up first, weakly standing. He was getting used to these headaches, even though they were still painful. Lisa was up next, and Chris shortly followed. Seth stumbled over and picked up Alex. Alex was still clutching his head, groaning in pain as he wriggled around. Seth started shaking Alex and the boy jerked awake, swinging violently in every which direction. One of the swings made contact, clocking Seth straight across the cheek.
One thing Seth didn't expect was the power of the punch. Seth was ripped from Alex by the force of the punch, slamming up against the wall. Alex stopped swinging and looked over towards Seth. Lisa ran to his side and Chris started laughing. Seth rubbed his jawline, his brown eyes focusing on Alex. The boy in green stood up and said "I-im sorry. Sometimes I react without thinking… I'm so sorry." Seth said "Hey, don't mention it. Nice punch by the way." Alex laughed nervously, saying "Yah… I've gotten pretty defensive ever since…" The boy trailed off. Seth heard Chris's voice from behind him. "Since the crazy visions started? The headaches that appeared as soon as you touched the number on your little closed-scroll thing?" Alex just stared at Chris like the boy in blue had just guessed Alex's deepest, darkest secret. The boy in green gulps and says "H-how did you know that?" Seth stood up and pulled out his red object. Lisa pulled out her yellow one and Chris lifted his shirt just enough to flash Alex a glimpse of the blue object in his pocket. Alex stared in amazement. Reaching into the pocket of his hoodie, he pulled out an object like the other three. His was green and sported a golden 3. Alex looked at Seth and said, "What ARE these things?" Seth watched in amazement as the objects started to react to each other, flashing their respective color, almost… talking to each other. "I have no clue Alex, but that's what we are trying to find out." Lisa steps forward and says "All we've been able to piece together is that these things are a map. The visions they cause are connected and the numbers on them is the order your vision goes into the completed picture." Alex places a hand on his chin and says "That DOES make sense. And as a matter of fact, I know the area where MY vision takes place." Seth, Lisa and Chris gasp and Lisa says, "You do? Where?" Alex straightens his glasses and says "Indeed. My vision starts at a green lake, past a rock that was colored gold, silver and bronze and then leads me to a cliff with sunflowers on it. Well, it just so happens that there is a forest right here in town that has a fabled lake with green water. It's a chance, and if I am correct, we can find some answers there." Seth beamed with excitement. He looks at Lisa and Chris, saying "Alright guys. Alex is gonna lead us to this forest. Let's get to the bottom of this."