1 Prologue

I fasten my pace, my mind swirling with the various possibilities of what might the reason be, but I know this can't go on any longer, I'll go mad if it does.

I have to do it today or the worries will eat me alive. I took in my options and calculated my chances of survival, practically nil since I don't even know if the man is armed or not but I am not a coward, I would die before giving up out of fear.

This is it...., I told myself and turned right into the narrow alley I usually ignore while walking back home from school. I clutched the straps of my shoulder bag tightly facing the corner he will turn up at any second now.

I can see the his silhouette getting closer and he stopped when he saw me facing him. Although his face is mostly concealed with glasses and a hat but I can tell he is shocked but not for long, slowly a smug smile spreading on his face.

"What do you want? I know you have been following me for a week now" I growled, my fear turning to anger at his smug expression.

It took me nearly three days to catch this pattern that I am being followed by someone, this past week, I felt as if someone was watching me wherever I go and then I started to be more careful, noticing faces of my suspects. At first the guy was different but the past two days this guy have replaced the first one, I can tell by similar patterns of keeping watch. It wasn't until yesterday when I deliberately dropped my friend's medical Bills and after we rounded the corner, he picked it and quickly stuffed it in his pocket I became sure of it.

He ignored me and pulled out his phone and held it against his ear, not taking his eyes off mine even for a second. "Quit the rest!" He said in the phone and cut the call without waiting for a response.

Is he calling men to take me? Is he telling his boss that he has me cornered now? Or perhaps telling them the victim's ready to surrender? I gathered my courage and braced myself because if this is my ending, I'll make sure to not let him leave unscathed too. But before I could say anything he held out his hand.

"Congratulations!, Audrey Everly ,You are selected."

CHAPTER 1

If someone would've told me a few months back that I'll be attending school function rehearsals, I would've laughed at them. But here I am, sitting in audience watching my classmates dancing around and enjoying like nothing could be better than this. Part of the reason why I hate functions are giggly girls who float around guys in their skimpy outfits, showing off their assets, it's no matter of jealousy more like sympathy that they are still at this phrase of reality where not getting boy attention becomes a reason of depression for them.

My gaze shifted towards my best friend Tessa, who with her naturally curly dark hair, shapely figure and perfect smile can make boys drop to their knees by a mere glance. She sat beside me, grinning ear to ear, barely containing her delight and I can tell she is dying to tell me what it is.

I arched my eyebrow, and she started. " Ray, you can't even guess what happened, oh, this seriously is the best day of my life.....you know how kylie has been all over Sam this week, and well, everyone thought that they are going to, em...date or something .... but looks like Sam caught her kissing Eddie and.....and " she started to laugh again.

"And..? What did Sam do"

" he...he patted Eddie's back and said ' My sympathy is with you,Bro. I think you can do much better than that' and kylie's face was like....oh, gosh....I can't believe my luck, I saw that...and then Sam winked at me when he passed."

Her face was beetroot red when she said that last part. Sam is the quarterback in our school's football team and these last few years, he has become every girl's crush too. However, Tessa's crush is way more older than that, she knows Sam since we were all kids and he has been her crush since then...though it was quite hard to get her to accept that.

" Well, looks like your chance's up, girl ...also it's about time you date him because we don't have much time left in school anyway, so you better do it....make your ending memorable-"

"I am not sure if he likes me back, It could be a friendly wink too " she protested.

"I am not sure if there is even a possibility of a wink being friendly, it is usually a flirty gesture, so no more excuses now....I'm going to have to set you up now."

"What? No!....you can't, besides I don't want him to think I'm too shy....how about we plan it? Oh, shit...my time's up, I'm gonna have to run back for the dance rehearsal, till then, don't you dare say anything to him,ok? " she waited for my nod and hurriedly left.

I walked to the empty sports building to warm up, because this is the only way I can endure those gigglers any longer. Sometimes I really don't understand these people, I mean how can you not see the reality, being naive or avoiding things doesn't solve them. I exhaled a long sigh, I don't think it's even worth contemplating.

I settled my bag at a corner and pulled out a yoga mat, hoping no one sneaks here to make out, cuz' that's the most I can endure, seriously. I started with stretching, working tension off my arms and legs. Then, launched into a series of jumping Jack's, lunges, squats, push ups, crunches and a few advanced yoga poses.

I don't know how much time passed before I finally decided to take a few sips of water and that's when I saw Sam leaning on the doorway, silently watching me.

"How long have you been standing there like that, it's creepy, you know?" I asked.

"I'm sorry If that's what it looked like but when are you going to tell me the truth?" He entered and dropped his bag beside mine.

"How do you tell someone what they already know, Tessa like you and you like her back, that's more than enough reason to start dating" I tossed back at him.

"You know what I mean but like always let's pretend I never asked. As for dating Tessa, you will get the news soon." He smiled and waved back as I left for the showers.

I smiled back giving him a thumbs up. Sam has been my classmate for almost as long as I can remember, we have acknowledged each other from far but never got much acquainted. But now he is the only person who know I hit gym, I didn't reveal it willingly, he just caught me one day while practicing and somehow agreed to keep my secret. After that, we sometimes exercise together and I told him about Tessa's crush on him to which he confessed that his feelings are mutual. But he is one of those shy kind of guy who wants to be completely sure of their move. I hope they start dating soon, Sam is also consistent that I am training from someone and he keeps on asking me this, every time we meet.

I don't like to shower in school so I keep it short, only enough to wash off the sweat. I slipped into a pair a dark coloured Jeans and a black top, deciding to leave my unruly brown hair open to get dry on its own. I've still got to meet with Tessa at cafeteria and I know for a fact that I'm running late.

I reached cafeteria at a record time, which was surprisingly over flowing with people and spot her among the sea of faces. I slipped next to her and spoke in her ear.

"What's the rush? Seems like everyone in the school is here"

"Because everyone is supposed to be...it is a sort of emergency drill" She shouted back.

"I bet most of them don't even know what a drill is, although I didn't know they still do stuff like that in schools" I commented back eyeing several professional gigglers hanging on the sleeves of guys.

Meanwhile, our beloved good for nothing, nearly new lecturer of maths is shouting on a mic asking everyone to settle down. It's funny how his face is so red now from the exertion that only a bit more and he will faint. After what seems like eternity, the crowd has now somehow dimmed the noise with help of other professors.

"Now folks, now that you have smarted the difficult task of keeping your mouths shut, we will start the drill, let's say this cafeteria is a safe place for you for now and we will start the fumes outside make sure everyone is here, fumes can be very poisonous so it's no matter of fun...." and he kept up the ramblings while many were chatting away, couples thought to make better out of their time.. ldon't ask me any more details, its hideous.

An alarm started to shriek in the corridors with dark clouds of fumes cutting off vision. It's almost too much for it to be a drill and before I could think anything, my vision got blurry and my mind shut down. The last thing I remember is the endless expanse of fainted bodies around me.