MIND

Sunnyvale High

Dylan moved restlessly on his bed. He was drenched in sweat and was muttering words that could not been heard clearly. His breath was becoming ragged, his lips shaking and his body trembling. “No, no, no!” he cried, moving his head from side to side rapidly. “No Emma, please no” he continued crying slightly loud this time with his eyes still tightly closed. He grabbed the sheet on the bed tightly as if holding on for dear life.

Hayley rushed into the room on hearing his voice. She grabbed his hands that was still holding on to the sheets “Dylan!” she called out, trying to wake him up but no avail. “Dylan!!" She called out loudly this time. He shot up instantly and began screaming.

“NOOO!!!” he grabbed his mother as she pulled him into a hug, holding him tightly.

“It's just a nightmare honey, I'm here, I'm here with you. We are okay” She kept on patting his back till he was fully drawn back to reality and slowed down his breathing, realizing it was just a nightmare.

He pulled out of the hug and leaned back against the wall, trying to recuperate. He uttered a deep sigh of relief and brushed his rough hair off his face. Hayley stared at him for some seconds, giving him a chance to get back fully to reality before asking her question. “I thought you stopped having the nightmares?”

He shifted his gaze to his hands before replying “Yeah, yeah it stopped. I haven't had it for a month...till today”

“Maybe it's the stress from moving. I think it'll stop when we fully settle in” She said, reaching out and wiping some of the sweat on his cheek. “Remember honey, it's just a nightmare. It isn't happening again. We are safe, you are safe” She added. He nodded in response before she stood up from the bed. “Now get ready. Today is your first day of senior year. I have a feeling things are going to be different this time. Just make sure you make good friends” She smiled down at him before taking her leave.

Dylan sighed and wiped his face with his hand. He looked around his room, it was definitely bigger than his last, especially since it was a master bedroom and at least this time he got a chance to do the decor according to his taste. With his reading table against the wall opposite his bed, posters of his favorite band hanging above the table. The room was painted same colour with his closet, white. On the cabinet close to his bed was a picture of his mom and sister. The window was directly beside his cabinet, which gave him a direct view to the street and buildings across from his house.

He stood up from the bed, adjusted his grey sweatpant which was the only clothing he had on seeing as he didn't like sleeping with a shirt on. He walked to his desk and tapped a button on his laptop which opened to an online chess game. He stared at the game for a while analyzing the move his opponent made before he clicked on his knight and captured his opponent's hanging bishop. “You're making this too easy” He scoffed and closed the lid of his laptop.

He was heading to the bathroom when his eyes caught something outside the window. He moved closer to the window and smiled in surprise when he saw the girl from last night coming out from the house opposite their's, entering into the sheriff's car. He watched as the car drove off. “That's interesting” he said to himself and continued to the bathroom.

***

Dylan climbed down the stairs hurriedly, holding his helmet. He was getting late and it was his first day. “Mom!” he called out, hastily walking into the kitchen. “Morning mom. I need to start going” he announced, grabbing a bacon from the pan. “Ouch! That's still hot” he complained and smiled.

“Aren't you gonna eat something?" She asked, turning to face him.

“Just did” he waved the bacon at her.

“I told you no more ripped jean” She scolded on seeing the black jean he was wearing that was ripped on both knees. Just then they heard a car honking from outside.

“I don't have other clothes mom. See you later though. I think that's Ethan. Love you” he said, scurrying out of the house.

He stepped outside the house, closed the door behind him and stood on the porch. He looked back at the door and his smile faded almost instantly, replaced with a look that depicts a mixture of anger, self loathing and sadness. A look he always has except when in the house. “Hey man! You coming or what?" Ethan shouted from his car, a black color Honda Civic. Ethan was Dylan's closest friend. They were both same age and height although Ethan had a slightly smaller build and shorter brown hair.

Dylan exhaled sharply and walked toward Ethan “Hey man” he greeted exchanging handshake with him.

“You ready to do this?” Ethan asked igniting his engine, looking at Dylan who had just gotten on his bike. He placed his helmet on his head and nodded at Ethan, starting his bike. He warmed up the bike and few seconds later they were both on their way to school.

***

“Welcome to your new nightmare my friend” Ethan stated, closing his car door and coming to stand beside Dylan who just parked his bike. They both stared at the school building and students trooping in. “Sunnyvale High” Ethan spread out his hands, introducing the school in a dramatic way.

Dylan kept on staring, analyzing the school in his mind. It wasn't great and it wasn't bad, it was your typical highschool, although quite big. It was painted in red and the name of the school was carved into a molded rectangular block, set up in front of the school. “It has a standard sport field, Jerk jocks, sexy cheerleaders and overly paid teachers” Ethan explained

He turned to him smiling “What else could you want?" He said and began walking towards the door when the bell rang. “I guess I'll see you later. I need to go see the principal first” he annouced and cut off to the direction of the principal's office.

He knocked twice on the door and pushed it open when given the go-ahead to come in. He shut the door behind him and stared at the principal who was engrossed in whatever he was reading from a book. The principal was younger than he expected. Maybe in his early 40s. He had a Caeser cut hairstyle. Strong jaw with brown eyes. He was wearing a full black suit. “Good morning sir” He greeted trying to draw his attention.

“Good morning Mr Hale. There's no need for you to sit down, this is going to be brief” The Principal, Mr Foley replied without averting his gaze from the book. “I read your files and I know your track record...your history. I want you to assure me that, that is in the past and we are not going to see any of that in Sunnyvale high” he finally dropped the book and stared at him Intently.

“Of course sir. I'm not going to be any trouble.....anymore. you won't see any of that” he smiled

“Good. Now let's take you to your new class” he stood up and led him to his classroom.

The principal pushed the classroom door open, interrupting the teacher's discussion with the students. He walked into the classroom with Dylan following closely behind him. He exchanged a few words with the teacher and walked out of the classroom leaving Dylan there.

“Hi and welcome to Sunnyvale high. I am Miss Caroline” She smiled warmly at him and then faced the class. “Well we have a new transfer student class. This is Dylan Hale” She introduced and the students began whispering to each other while some of the girls where giggling. “Go take a seat over there” She pointed at an empty seat for him. He nodded, flashed her a smile and walked over to his new seat.

He dropped his book on his desk, looked up and met eyes with the same girl he saw before. She was sitting right in front of him. She smiled rather shyly and turned her attention to the board when he smiled back. He was still smiling when he turned to his left hand side and saw another attractive blonde girl. She winked at him and flashed him a smile also. “Interesting” he whispered to himself.

***

Sheriff Donovan hung his hands on his waist, staring at the dead girl by the tree. They had sealed off the crime scene as the forensics department analyzed the scene. He looked around him as though looking for clues. “Sheriff!” Camila one of the cops called, walking towards him. “Forensic said it was a suicide. She slit her own wrists and throat herself at the middle of the night” She explained.

“This death is an exact replica of the last and we ruled that a suicide. They both slit their wrist and throat by themselves. I mean it's too much of an exact copy to be a coincidence. Something else is going on here” Sheriff said with a puzzled expression. “What about the black liquid we found coming out of the last Victim's ears, is it coming out from this one?" He questioned

“Yes” she nodded

“Like I said, too much to be a coincidence”

“Do you think someone is murdering them and then staging it as a suicide?" She asked.

Sheriff shifted his gaze to the body being rolled away toward the ambulance “That's exactly what I'm saying” he replied.

***

Hayley walked to the officer at the front desk, clutching her hand back. She was still in her blue nurse's scrubs. She scanned around the precinct for some seconds before turning to face the officer. “Hi, I'm here to see the sheriff. He sent me a message through my son to come see him”

“Hayley!" A surprised voice called from behind her.

She turned and was taken with the same surprised reaction. “Donovan?!" She called back with surprise and excitement.

“Oh my God! It's so nice to see you” He said with a smile as they hugged for some seconds. “Come come come” he invited excitedly as he led her to his office. He closed the door behind them and offered her a seat opposite his desk. “I never thought I would see you again after you guys moved out of town” He said sitting down.

“Neither did I...but here we are and you are now the sheriff” She kept on smiling as she pointed at the tag on his uniform.

“With your outfit I'm guessing you are a nurse at Sunnyvale General hospital” He sank back into his seat, nodding his head with delight. “I guess we've both done well for ourselves considering everything we've been through” he added

“Yeah I guess so”

“So what brings you guys back to town?" He questioned

“I don't really know. I guess we just needed a fresh start and I just felt...home would be better to do that, seeing that we've been gone for years” She shrugged

“Yeah well it's good to have you back” he smiled, sitting up. “So what brings you to the sheriff station?"

“Well my son said the sheriff wanted to see me” She replied

“Wait. The boy with the motorcycle is your son? Dylan?" He asked with another visible surprised expression. She nodded a bit proud. “He's grown up into quite a handsome young man. Although a fast rider” he chuckled. “How is he coping nowadays?"

“Better. He's definitely better. I can tell he's trying to do better” She said with genuine care in her voice.

“Well that's good. We had to meet somehow. I guess your son made it happen sooner” he joked and she smiled at this.

***

“Why didn't you use your bike?" Ethan asked, parking the car in front of the house. It was dark and only one headlight of his car was working. He turned off the light and turned the key, turning off the ignition.

“Because I might get drunk and I don't wanna die” Dylan replied.

“So why did I have to bring my car then if we are getting drunk?"

“Because you are not” He replied and exited the car. He whistled on fully getting a good view of the house the party was being hosted. It was a white mansion. The owner must be definitely rich. It was crowded with students though. All in party mood. Drinking and misbehaving. Although you couldn't hear the music loudly outside but it was definitely obvious that a party was going on here. “Who owns this place anyway?" He asked, putting on his jacket.

“Vanessa Smoak. Daughter of one of the richest businessmen in Sunnyvale. He's mostly out of town for business so she almost always has the house to herself and that is why she hosts most of the best parties. Miss popular girl throwing the welcome back to school senior party” Ethan explained.

“Well let's go say hi to Miss popular girl” He gave a smirk and headed for the door.

They opened the door and was greeted with a loud music. They closed the door behind them and stared in surprise at how many students turned up. The room was a bit hot due to bodies covering up most of the space. They wiggled their way through the crowd and came out into the living room where most of the dancing seems to be taking place. “Chug! chug! chug!” was being chanted at the other end of the living room where some guys were downing their drinks from a keg.

“Hi!" Someone said tugging Dylan's jacket. He turned back and met the familiar eyes he's been seeing everywhere since he came to town.

“Well hello there” he gave a crooked smile, turning to face her. “I finally get to speak with you” he added almost shouting as the music was so loud.

She handed him a cup of drink “I saw you guys walk in and got that for you” she said.

“Oh! Thank you” He replied. He tapped Ethan's shoulder, drawing his attention. “I'll be back” He said to him. Ethan's gaze fell to the girl and he smiled, nodding his approval to Dylan.

He grabbed her by her hand and led her out of the living room. He had no idea where he was going or how the house was but he was determined and at the end they found their way to the back of the house where the pool was. It a bit crowded also as some where screaming and jumping in the pool, but it was a lot more quiet than inside where the music was deafening. “So...” he started “I'm Dylan”

“I'm Eva” She replied with a calm voice that was a bit soothing. They were walking slowly round the pool. “So did you tell your mom?" She asked grinning

“About what?.....oh yeah about the sheriff's meeting. Yeah I did. I'm pretty sure she isn't thrilled about that” he chuckled and sipped from his drink. “Is he your Dad?" He questioned

“Yeah. The sheriff is my dad” She replied not sounding too happy about it.

“I'm guessing it's not all rainbows”

“Yeah” her phone vibrated. She took it out of her jean pocket and stared at it for some seconds, possibly reading a text. She locked the phone and tuck it back into her pocket. She turned to him as he downed the remaining content in his cup. “Wow! You are fast on your alcohol” she stated

“Yeah I have high tolerance for it”

“Well that was my friend and she's looking for me. Can you excuse me for a second while I quickly go give her, her keys? She loses things easily so I always keep them for her.”

“Yeah sure. I'll wait here” he said with a smile.

She took the cup from him “I'll get you a refill” she said walking away.

“Careful Miss Eva. I might think you want to get me drunk” he said after her. She turned giggled and turn back to her direction.

Dylan's smiled faded again and he looked up at the sky for a moment when another voice broke him out of his reverie. “Hey! You came” He turned and came face to face with Vanessa. “I'm Vanessa” she introduced. He recognized her from class. The blonde haired girl that winked at him.

“So you're Vanessa” he said “Makes sense someone as pretty as you would be the one to live here” he complimented.

“Well thank you” She blushed. “Come on, you can't be here by yourself. Come dance with me” She took his hand and pulled him toward the house before he could say anything.

They got back into the noisy house. She took him to the kitchen and then handed him another cup. “Cheers!" She said with excitement, hitting their cups together, forcing him to drink along with her. He was looking at her from his cup as he was drinking and she wasn't slowing down. He didn't want to be boy that got beaten by a girl in a drinking match so he continued until they both emptied their cups. “Yay!” she said with a high pitch voice. She was clearly very excited. Vanessa was a bit shorter than Dylan. Her curly Blonde hair was two inches past her shoulders. She had brown eyes that was well placed on her round face. Her shape was one to make boys drool over. She wasn't skinny and definitely wasn't chubby she just had the right body size. You could say she was of a similar build with Eva. They both had this incredible shape, same height with just a little difference. Eva had dark straight hair that rested on her shoulders, she had a diamond shaped face and big baby blue eyes. “Let's go dance” She dragged him excitedly before he could protest.

If there was one thing Dylan wasn't good at, it's dancing and he never had any reason to. He saw himself in the middle of the crowd facing Vanessa who was dancing happily. He couldn't help but smile. “She's definitely his kind of a girl” he thought to himself. She grabbed his hands, trying to get him to dance. He leaned toward her, bringing his mouth to her ear. “I can't dance” he said loudly so she would hear.

She stopped dancing and stared at him. “Really?! What can you do?" She asked and before he could answer, she held his jacket and drew him into her kissing him fully on the lips. Everyone's attention fell on them as they began cheering them on and taking photos of them with their phones.

The others peeked into the living room, trying to know what was causing such loud cheering. Eva joined them and peeked. She was shocked to see Dylan and Vanessa kissing. “Do you still wanna stay?" Amy, her friend asked peeking also.

“Nope, you were right. Let's just go” she concluded and she her friend pulled away, heading for the front door.

Vanessa broke the kiss, smiling from ear to ear as she stared at Dylan who was still recovering from the kiss. Someone handed him a cup and he finished the drink in one chug. “Yeah!!!" He shouted and everyone joined in shouting. He took another cup and began dancing with Vanessa and the others.

***

“What the hell dude!” Ethan said with excitement almost shouting as he slammed Dylan's locker shut.

“s**t! Ethan” he cursed, removing the shade he was wearing. “I'm still a little hungover. No more shouting or heavy noise” he opened the locker, placed his glasses inside and took out the books he needed for the first period.

“You were the man of the party. Your kissing video is trending. You were talking with Eva and next you are Kissing VANESSA. Man that's awesome” he said still excited. Dylan shut his locker and turned just in time to see Eva glance at him as she walked past him towards her locker. “She might be a little mad at you” Ethan pointed out. “So are you gonna apologize to her?"

“Why? Why would I apologize to her? I didn't do anything wrong” he said with a straight face, pretty convinced he had nothing to apologize for.

“You did ditch her to go make out with another girl. You should apologize. You might have tampered with her emotions a little”

“Ethan! I have nothing to apologize for, not like we are together and I cheated on her. We just met two secs ago” He retorted, gradually becoming angry.

“Hey punk!" He heard an angry voice called behind him. A punch landed on his face sending him crashing on his locker as he turned. He looked up and saw some guy standing there angrily with two other guys behind him. They were definitely jocks, seeing the Sunnyvale Hawks jacket they were putting on. He stood up, staring angrily at the guy that punched him. “That's for messing around with my girlfriend” Mason shouted, students gradually gathering around them. “And this is to make sure you to stay away” he added, throwing a punch at him again. Dylan docked, dodging the punch and instantly tackled him to the floor, landing blows after blows on his face. He tried to roll Dylan off of him but Dylan pushed him back down and kept on feeding him punches. Students began cheering for them. His guys were about to push Dylan off him when Ethan punched one of them hard on the cheek. Another fight broke out with Ethan and the other guy.

“Hey! Stop it guys!" Vanessa shouted making her way into the circle where the fighting was going on. She tried separating but with no success. Eva made her way into the circle too, she had seen how it all started. She stood there staring Dylan and the anger he was using in punching the now bleeding Mason.

“What's going on here?" Miss Caroline shouted and the students started scurrying off one by one to avoid detention. Ethan and the others quickly broke off the fight but Dylan kept on hitting Mason. “Dylan!" Miss Caroline called but he kept on going. She called again and no response.

“Dylan!!!" Eva called almost shouting, holding his fist in the air. He snapped out of his head back into reality. He looked around and a surprise look came upon his face. He looked up at Eva who was still holding his fist in the air. He stood up immediately from Mason's body. Mason quickly scrambled away from him. He looked at his now sore fist as Eva let go of his hand.

“That's it. Detention all of you” she instructed.

“We didn't even do anything” Vanessa complained

“Exactly! You all did nothing. So seven of you, detention and see me after the detention Mr Hale” She added and walked away. Dylan looked around, picked up his book and walked away, leaving them there.

***

All of them sat silently on their seats during detention. Dylan lay his head on the desk, staring at Miss Caroline who was going through some notes. He turned his head and saw Eva with her head buried in her desk. He looked over at Mason who was giving him this ‘You are dead look’ he rolled his eyes. He turned to Vanessa who was flashing him a smile. He smiled back and turned to Ethan who had this ‘Are you serious’ Expression. He shrugged and buried his head in his desk, thinking of how he had allowed his anger get the best of him today. He was deep in thoughts when he heard a desk being moving about loudly. He raised his head and immediately stood up from his seat. He was shocked at what he was seeing.

They all were standing around his desk. Ethan and the others including Miss Caroline. They had this pale look with an expressionless face. They kept staring at him. “Are you guys alright?" He asked but no reply. They were just looking at him like zombies. “Guys!" He called “Miss Caroline” but nothing. It was as if they were hynotized to stand there. He waved his hand in front of their faces and still nothing.

He was about to leave their middle when one of the Jocks called his name “Dylan” he turned toward the direction. “Dylan” Vanessa called and soon enough they were all calling his name and immediately, they all stopped. This was getting too weird for him when Miss Caroline began “We are coming. We are coming for all of you” he didn't understand what was happening. The others joined her. “We are coming, we are coming for all of you. No one can escape. No one will survive.” they chanted together. And immediately after delivering the message, they all became conscious again. They shook their heads, not remembering what just happened. They looked confused not knowing why they were all standing around him. Miss Caroline looked more confused as she quickly headed to her desk again. The others sat down with the same confused look.

He turned to Ethan “What just happened?" He asked.

“What do you mean?" He asked puzzled.

“You don't remember what you all said?"

“No, I don't know what you are talking about. I don't even know why I was standing. What happened?" Ethan asked.

“Nothing. Never mind” he shook his head. Looking at everyone still puzzled.

(6 months later)

“So what happened Dylan? What happened after that first encounter? What happened after that first incident?" Miss Greene asked, staring at the distraught Dylan who had tears all over his face and was sobbing quitely as he sat there, folded in his seat. “Tell me what happened after that Dylan”

“Chaos...It...it was all chaos. Every....thing fell apart after that day. I...i couldn't do anything. I couldn't save anyone....we...we couldn't stop it” He stuttered amidst sobs.

“And your friends?" Miss Greene asked “What about your friends? Your parents? Their parents? What happened to your friends Dylan?" She pushed more.

“They....they...they are all dead....All of them. They are all DEAD"