The Stranger

Abby

Day 0, 10:14

When the ground started moving I nearly shit myself.

I ran for the nearest thing that I thought would give me some kind of protection. A tunnel that went under the main street. It had a wavy segmented design on the ceiling that could really trip you out if you were on asid. I wasn't paying attention to that at the moment all I was thinking was why is there an earthquake going on? But as fast and strong as it started it stopped just as suddenly It only went on for what felt like 5 seconds. I stood up from my corner that I was hiding in and watched the dust settle from the ceiling of the tunnel.

"That was weird?" I told myself and I continued on my path like nothing happened. A couple of minutes went by as I waited for any other tremors I since there wasn't I started walking again. I didn't really have a destination, I just felt the need to get farther from them. I sighed at the thought of my parents, the physical and mental scars seem to throb at the memories of the constant abuse I had to deal with when I lived there. I looked around at my surroundings and found myself at the campus of a high school. I squinted to read the sign at the entrance. It said 'Northfield Highschool, Home of the NHS Nighthawks.

I walked up the path from the bike trail and crossed the street. In the distance I could see what looked to be a wall of fog in the wildlife reserve. I didn't think about it much so I continued to walk down the street. I looked down at my phone and searched for a song to listen to. After I found my $uicide Boy$ playlist I started to scroll through Instagram. The lyrics of 2nd Hand screamed in my ears as I went through old pictures of friends. Tears welled up in my eyes as I recalled the nostalgic memories of the last year and a half. Going to elitches with Azzy and Eva. Dirt biking with Peter and Josh. I looked around checking if anyone was staring at my pitifulness. From the far door of the Highschool I see a curly headed kid waving at me frantically. I pulled an earbud out.

"Hurry you need to come inside now!" he was yelling.

"What?" I said to him, confused. He pointed at the black cloud of fog i had seen earlier. It was moving rapidly towards us.

"We have no idea what it is but we know that it can hurt you. So if you want to live then you need to come inside now!" he had a panicked look on his face so i jogged up to the building. As i got closer i realized that he was kinda cute with his unruly crown of curls and his 5-a-clock shadow facial hair. He was wearing a gray leather jacket over a stoner hoodie. As soon as I walked through the doorway he slammed the door shut.

"The name's Isaiah." he gave me a heart warming smile. "What's yours?"

"I-I'm Abigail but everyone calls me Abby." I cursed inwardly at my social anxiety.

"Well Abby," he said with the same smile making me blush. "Welcome to the hellhole that is Northfield high."