Seth

Cold. That's all that I feel. I slowly open my eyes, and find myself outside, in a place I don't recognize. The rain is pouring immensely, and I'm covered in mud, at least I think it's mud. It's dark, I can bearly see two feet infront of me. Suddenly, I hear gunshots, following screams, then silence. These screams sounded absolutely blood curdling, this poor person must have suffered. Wait, I hear more screams. Are more people getting hurt? Am I in danger? How did I even get here? So many unanswerable questions. I run my hands through my hair, when I suddenly hear foot steps. They're coming closer, slowly and steadily. Why can't I move my legs? I look around myself with haste, seriously starting to feel concerned. My breathing hitches, I see a sillouette... Is that a gun? Bang.

My eyes shoot open, and I'm breathing heavily and sweating. I'm not the type to usually have nightmares, but that seemed so... real. I sigh, stretching as much as I could. It seems we still hadn't arrived at the house yet, as i'm still in the back seat of the car. My mother was driving while smoking, occasionally sticking her arm out the window so the ashes don't get all over the interior. My younger sister sits infront of me, coughing every once awhile at the smell of the cigerette smoke blowing in her face.

I looked out the window, the area outside looking familliar, we were almost home. Eventually, we pull into the driveway and get out. Apon entering the house, I was greeted with the scent of cat piss and vodka, even though I'm pretty sure we have no cats or vodka. My mother went off to her room, I supposed she was going to take her "medication" that we went to go pick up. I went up to my room, opened the window, and climbed onto the roof. I sat down, being sure to sit somewhere clean, and stared into the sky.

I was new here, having just moved to this stupid town 3 weeks ago. The house is already a disaster, and my hope for a new start was slowly slipping out of my grasp. School would be starting tomorrow, lucky me. The local high school is appearently very over crowded, so i'm being sent to an "Alternative" school. The class sizes are smaller, and it's designed for people who can't cope with regular highschools. Ideally, I should fit right in. That is, unless everyone at this school is a dick. I really hope they aren't. The last thing I need is more drama.

Abbie

I brushed some loose hair out of my eyes, deep in thought. It's our 3rd year of highschool, starting tomorrow. I don't know what to make of this. There was this intense feeling that something will go wrong, or that one little event tomorrow could change my life. It's actually kind of sickening, if you take the time to think about it; The feeling of not being able to change fate. Things like these are what I tend to occupy my time with, besides music. I'd die without music, life wouldn't be fair without it. It's become kind of like my hidden paradise, a place where I can go by myself. There's nothing quite like sitting in a dark room, putting your head phones in, listening to a great song loudly, and having a moment to yourself. Like you're about to melt into the floor boards or something.

"Um, Abbie, what's wrong? You look worried."

My inner monologue was interrupted by my greatest friend, Akito. He always seemed to worry about me. I'm happy to have a friend like him.

"I'm alright. It's getting kind of late, I should go home. "

"Okay, I'll walk you."

"You needn't trouble yourself, I wouldn't want to bother you."

"It'll bother me more if you walk by yourself."

"Okay, okay. Fine."

And so we walked, and walked, and walked. The silence was disturbing, and very uncharactaristic. It felt like I was going to sufficate from the tension in the air, or like a pair of hands had reached out and covered my mouth. I wanted to say something to break the unusual lull, but something seemingly held me back. Maybe I wanted him to speak first, or maybe I was reading into this too much. Eventually, we made it to my home...

"I'll see you tomorrow, you said you didn't want a ride, right?"

"Right. Goodnight, Akito."

I turned, got my key out of my pocket, walked to the door, unlocked it, and entered. I probably should have mentioned my anxiety about tomorrow to Akito, but then again, I don't want him to worry about me all the time. Someone like that is quite frankly troubling. I wouldn't want to hurt his feelings by telling him that though. Enough of this. I should go to bed. I want to have enough time in the morning to prepare and find the school. I haven't been to it since January, when I had to be interviewed by the principal to see if I should be accepted.