Chapter 1

"A glooming peace this morning with it brings;
The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head:
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;
Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished:
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

"Thank you Lauren," the teacher said.

Laura Finch sat back down in her seat. It was her English class and they had been studying Romeo and Juliet as part of the month of May, which their teacher had entitled Shakespeare month. English, of course, was Laura's favorite subject by far, and she had done the best here. She felt that she was in her own element every time she entered the classroom.

"Now, class," the teacher said, "With each story, there comes a moral. Romeo and Juliet has been analyzed from generations, and that's what I'd like you to do for next week. I want you to write an essay on what you think the message of the play is. Understood?"

"Yes," the class said in unison.

"Excellent."

The bell rang signaling the end of the period.

"Tomorrow we'll be starting Hamlet, class! Don't forget," the teacher said as the student departed the classroom.

Laura Finch was at the healthy age of 18, and a month away from graduating from school. Her brown hair had grown much longer and was done in a lovely ponytail down her back. She wore a blue and white striped polo t and blue jeans. Her body had matured fairly over the past few years, and she had her share of admirers of it. She was also very smart and had the grades to back her up. She had studied hard in order to get to her preferred college.

She was just going through her locker to get her things to head home when she felt something tap her shoulder. She turned around to find her friend Jasmine there. Jasmine was the head cheerleader at their school and Laura's best friend. Jasmine had dark hair and dark eyes and skin to match. She was tall and wearing a pink tank-top and short shorts.

"Hey girl!" Jasmine greeted, "How goes?"

"It's going quite alright, Jasmine," Laura answered. Jasmine had been viewed as very different from Laura; Laura had always dedicated her time to studying and was fairly polite. Jasmine, on the other hand, was much of a party girl and what some might call brutally honest and far from modest.

"We're going to a party," Jasmine said, "Wanna come along?"

"I wish I could, but I'm afraid I'll have to decline," Laura politely said, "I've got a lot of work to do. Sorry, Jasmine."

"Girl, you need to relax once in a while!" Jasmine said, "Come on! It'll be fun!"

"I'd rather not…"

"Alright, your loss!" Jasmine laughed, "By the way, how's Davy?"

"Davy," or David Marlon, was another senior and Laura's boyfriend. Laura always found something different in David that she didn't find in the other boys in the school. He was smart, cute, funny, and understanding. Even her grandparents, whom she'd been living with since childhood, trusted him.

"He's just fine, Jaz," Laura said, "You ask me that every day."

"I'm just waiting for when you two finally-"

"Jasmine!" Laura stopped her before she could finish.

"What?"

Later that evening, Laura was walking back home. She would always get to school and back on foot. It would be faster to drive, but she preferred to walk. She'd usually drive on days the weather wasn't so good or during the winter. Each day she'd take a dirt path going south, since the sun would always be shining down on her at this time of the day, and it was a good shortcut to her grandparents. The combination of the warm afternoon sunlight and the gentle summer breeze felt amazing on her skin. Still there were times she felt a little lonely taking this path. As far as she knew, she was probably the only one that seemed to know about this path.

… So why did she get the feeling someone was following her? She stopped on the path, feeling the presence of someone else there. Her eyes darted in all directions, she turned around, but she didn't seem to see anyone else there but herself. She continued to walk down the path, but then stopped. She SWORE she heard someone's footsteps behind her. She turned around, but once again there was no one there.

"Alright, Jasmine," she called out, "Joke's over! You can come out!"

No one answered. Not even a whisper. Jasmine would've been the type to follow her just to spook her a bit. But then Laura remembered that not even JASMINE seemed to know about this path. Then who was following her? Laura didn't want to wait around to find out. She immediately sprinted down the path back home, not wanting to wait another minute. She soon found herself back on the sidewalk. She ran down until she found her grandparent's house. She ran up the front porch steps, opened the door, ran inside, and slammed the door shut. She was home. She was safe. It was probably reckless of her taking a dirt path that no one seemed to know about, but it was the fastest way home, and she didn't think that anyone would try following her. One thing was for certain, she didn't want to be alone. She fell down on the couch and reached for the phone, dialing David's number. She placed the phone by her head and waited for an answer.

"Hello?" a man's voice answered.

"Hey Sweetheart," Laura spoke.

"Hey Laurie," David answered, "How are you?"

"Not so good… I… I think someone was stalking me."

"What!? Who!?" David shouted.

"I don't know! I just got back to my house and… I'm kinda afraid about being alone. Can you come over?"

"I'm on my way," David answered, "Don't worry. If any creep tries to get to you, I'll protect you!"

"Thank you, David. Thank you so much!" Laura said.

Laura hung up and curled up on the couch. Who would stalk her? She didn't have a single clue who.

It was times like these when she wished that Sir Wingsalot was still around. He wouldn't let any creep get to her. He'd help her...