Chapter 1

For a teenager, like Kaleb himself, the snooze button on an alarm is like the tempting abundance of candy on Halloween night to any young child. They always eat all they can before they get sick. In this case, Kaleb's alarm was going off for the fourth time. He groaned and swung his hand toward the increasing volume of the alarm. 

"Lets go, Kaleb! You're going to be late for school!" called his father. 

He pulled together enough effort to turn his head toward the alarm. 7:15. school started in five minutes. Kaleb jumped out of bed and threw on a plaid shirt and jeans he assumed were clean. He darted to the bathroom and he cringed at the quick glance from the mirror. His rusty colored hair stuck up in different directions and his hazel eyes looked like he had just gone days without sleep. He managed to wet most of it down and then stopped by his twin sister's room to see she had already gotten up. Typical.

He made his way to the kitchen. It smelled of maple syrup and bacon. "Why didn't you wake me up?" he questionably accused. 

Aryn stood with her back against the wall next to the door. "I heard your alarm and thought you were going to get up at some point." She was already dressed and ready to head out into the brisk February morning. 

"Yeah, well I enjoy this thing called beauty sleep. You look like you could use it," he teased. 

She scrunched her nose in annoyance. As Mrs. Jones handed Kaleb a pancake to go Mr. Jones came from the hallway calling "Alright, kids. To the car. You're going to be late."

"Thanks to Kaleb," Aryn remarked. 

"Hey, that's enough. Give your mother a hug before you leave." says Mr. Jones.

They gave their hugs, exchanges their "I love you"'s, and left to the car. The ride was like usual. Kaleb and Aryn both sat in the back as their father drove them three blocks to Greenfield High. Somehow, they managed to get their on time. Kaleb got out of the car first. "Thanks, Dad." He said and began to walk.

Aryn climbed out after him and Kaleb overheard her reminding their father about her archery practice later. 

Kaleb would have kept walking but something didn't feel right. Like he had forgotten something important. He turned around and watched his father drive away, back towards the house. It gave him a strange feeling. Usually his father would be going to work. 

The school bell rang signalling school had started and they had one minute to get to class. Kaleb and his sister sprinted to class.

By the end of fourth period, Kaleb's nerves had spiked. He had asked his friends if they had a test he had forgotten about but they said no. It just didn't seem right. Fifth period was his study hall and he wanted to find his sister but she was suppose to be in her accelerated english class. She would have study hall next period as he went to his accelerated science class.

The only option he had was to wait it out. He went to the library to meet with his friends. Everyday there was a strange conversation going on between his two best friends, Derick and James. As soon as Kaleb walked through the door he spotted them. It wasn't difficult to see Derick's bright green hair and James was easy to spot just because he was plain out taller than most of the juniors. Kaleb prepared himself before taking a seat across from the two. 

"Hey, man." said Derick. "James and I were just talking about the last murder over in Norwhich."

"Yeah, it's all over the news! The cops are thinking it might be related to the other murders in Nevada and Arizona," adds James.

Kaleb's heart skipped a beat. Norwhich was only a town over. It seems like the killer was getting close. He had heard about the other murders in Nevada and Arizona, and they were brutal. He wasn't sure if it was true but he had heard the victims had been beaten to death and some of them stabbed. 

"You think they might cancel school because he's so close?" asked James.

"Of course not, idiot. Don't you know this school district? They wouldn't cancel school even if it was blown away in a tornado." said Derick.

"Well, excuse me for considering possibilities."

Kaleb listened to them bicker back and fourth for the rest of the period, silently asking himself why he was still friends with them.

Sixth period went by dreadfully slow. He was in science learning the properties of sulfur. School came easy to him. It was rare he felt challenged by any of the schoolwork. Most of the time he would zone out. He would day dream about being anywhere besides the building that always smelt like burnt erasers.F

"Kaleb, they need you down in the office. Kaleb?" The teacher snapped his fingers in front of Kaleb's blank face. 

He snapped back. "Sorry, what?" Kaleb felt his cheeks get warm.

"You're needed in the office," he repeated.

He gathered his things and went down to the main office. He couldn't help but wonder if he was in trouble for something. It wasn't often he was called down.