01

                                    

                                              
I wake up screaming and covered in cold sweats, I've had another one of my nightmares. Ever since I was 13 I had started getting nightmares and being 17 now they've gotten worse. My nightmares start off with me standing in front of a mirror, sooner or later my sister would fade into the background covered in dark red blood, slowly dripping down her. She'd be reaching out towards me through the mirror 'You did this' she'd repeat over and over, then black.
                          
I get out of my house early so instead of riding my bike like I usually do I walk, its only about 4 blocks so I make it there in about 10 minutes, arriving there at 8:13. 
It's 8:20 when the bus arrives, when it pulls up I turn off my phone and tuck it in my pocket. Before I even climb up the steps of the bus I can already hear the loud chatter from all the high school kids, I look around the bus and spot a seat open next to a boy I haven't ever seen, he has messy brown hair and a strong built figure, he looked like he didn't want to be messed with so I look around for any other seats open but there clearly aren't any.
I lightly tap the boys shoulder 
"Is this seat taken?" 
I say with a higher tone than I usually speak in. 
He looks up at me with his bright green eyes, examining my body, the light coming in from the buses window gives his eyes a light glow. He scoots over an inch or two without saying a word and moves his MP3 player onto his lap, making a clear spot for me to sit. The bus ride to school was lonely and long. It felt like an eternity sitting in silence like that, all I could hear was the chatter on the bus and rock music coming from the boys ear-buds next to me. Once we arrived at school I slowly walked toward the front of the school dreading the day.
                          
Once I entered the school the day went by slowly. 
I had that new kid I sat with on the bus in my science class, his name is Dean, he doesn't talk much but when he does it's usually a rude remark or a pick up line with some popular pretty girl and of course they all swoon towards him. 
Before I know it I'm exiting my last period, I stop by my locker to grab a couple books. There's a rugged looking boy standing next to my locker and he looks somewhat frightened, like he'd just seen a ghost or something. "Are you okay?" I politely ask him while leaning against my locker. "I'm fine." he says it kind of harshly. "What's your name?" I ask while I put in the code to my locker. "Christian but I go by Chris."
"Okay Chris, I've got to go catch my bus, see ya later." 
As I walk away I look back behind my shoulder and I don't see Christian anywhere, as if he disappeared into thin air. 
Once I entered the bus my friend, Katie, called me over to sit next to her. Katie was always one of the more popular girls, and well me , not so much. I have a decent number of friends, maybe 20 or 30. I take the seat next to Katie, "Hey Zoey, have you seen that new boy Dean? Isn't he just so perfect!?" Katie has always been the one to have all the boys fall for her, she's always the so called heartbreaker. "Yeah, he's not my type."
                          
"How can he not be your type? You must be crazy! I just want to grab him and take him home!"
                          
"Shush he's coming this way." I say as Dean walks down the aisle of the bus making his way to an open seat towards the middle of the bus. "Hi Dean!" Katie nearly bursts out of her seat calling his name. He looks back, noticing Katie then looking at me and a grin spreads across his face. 
"Hey Zoey"
'What? How does he know my name?' I think to myself while making a questionable face. "How rude! Why would he say hi to you and not me!" I choose not to reply, putting in my ear-buds and turning up the volume all the way.
I couldn't help but find myself thinking about Dean as I drift off to sleep that night.
                          
I wake up to the sound of my phone buzzing on my bedside table. I turn over and read the time '3:26'. 'Who could be calling me at this time?' I think to myself as I reach over to see who's calling. 
No caller ID. I answer the call out of curiosity to see who it could possibly be. I press the phone up to my ear, "Hello?" There is no answer, it seems like the other line is dead or something. Right as I am getting ready to end the call I hear something it sounded as if they said "windows are eerie" 
Right as I'm about to turn around and go back to sleep I notice a dark figure outside my curtain draped window, I move the curtains to see a dark silhouette floating about 6 inches from the window. I let out a high pitched scream and jump out of my bed, running to turn on my light. The shadow quickly disappears once I flip my light switch. I scan outside my window to make sure no one is there, how could someone possibly be at my window, I live on the second story and there isn't any ladder anywhere around. I must have imagined it. 
                          
I don't get tired until 5:30, and I didn't really see much of a point of going back to sleep if I have to get up in 30 minutes so I decide to get ready for school, taking a cold shower first to wake me up. I must have been in the bathroom for at least 30 minutes because by the time I get out the sun is rising. I check my phone and see a text
 'Hey can you bring me that white crop top you have to school, I wanna wear it. -Katie' 
'No I don't think I'm going to school today -Z' for some reason I'm not in a good mood today, probably because I barely got any sleep last night. I just want to go back to bed, I'll probably end up skipping school today. 
'Why not -Katie' 
'I didn't get any sleep last night. -Z'
'That's no excuse! -Katie' 
'I'll probably go halfway through the day -Z' 
'Whatever, see ya' -Katie