Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

 

T

he Man stands about 50 feet ahead of me, a silhouette in the eerily desolate fog of the night. He’s haunted my dreams nearly every night for the past several weeks, usually giving me an unsettling feeling, without really saying anything. He mumbled things here and there.

                I had come face-to-face with him twice now; very minimal for seeing him for nearly 27 consecutive nights as of late… but, who’s counting? Normally, The Man stands too far away for me to clearly see him. But honestly, I am quite fine with this.

                The Man, when I witnessed him up-close, had an unnerving face. The expression he wore upon his face was simple, but almost too simple. He had the face that insinuated he may have just killed a man, but somehow still maintained a conscience as clear as a cloudless summer sky. His eyes were a shade of dark brown, almost creating an illusion of his eyeballs being entirely made of his pupils. When you look into them, you feel… empty. Alone and lost. Terrified.

                The Man had a certain familiarity to him, yet I couldn’t quite place where I had seen him previously. Had I known him in another life? Was there any reasonable explanation to this underneath it all?

                I suddenly hear a noise. Could it be? Did The Man finally speak? 27 damn dreams later, and he finally speaks.

                “Wh-what was that?” I stutter. The Man slowly approaches me, breathing so heavily that all other sounds around me become white noise. His eyes look just a menacing as they always do. Goosebumps overtake the skin upon my arms.

                When The Man is face-to-face with me for the third time, he leans in and whispers into my ear: “If you step foot into that school tomorrow, you will die. I’ll make sure of it.” The Man begins to chuckle as he turns and slowly walks away. I’m shaking now, the victim of pure terror. I’m not sure if this meant anything or not, but I feel sick to my stomach.

                As I’m gathering my thoughts, I try to turn and walk the other way. However, someone grabs me from behind and puts a knife to my neck. I scream, struggling to release myself from the grip of my captor.

                I awake with a jolt, sweating more than I would in the hottest sauna. What the f**k are these dreams?

                They’re nightmares, that’s one thing I know for sure.

________

                “Ty, it’s time to get ready for your first day of high school!” my mother shouts from downstairs. Little does she know, I never did fall back to sleep after the terrifying nightmare I had encountered. Then again, she didn’t know I had been having these recurring nightmares, so maybe it would be best to act as though I had just awoken.

                I swing my legs over the edge of my bed and groan audibly. I think I’m off to a great start. I trudge downstairs slowly, and squint as though I am blinded by daylight that shines through the open windows, a mere vampire in my own home.

                It’s approximately 7:30am, and my mother already has breakfast laid out upon the table for me. She must be way too excited for this. Then again, it’s not every day that your only child has his or her first day of high school.

                My mother looks at me as if she is going to cry. “My baby… all grown up,” she says softly. She extends her arms towards me to hug me. She’s getting all sentimental again.

                “Mom, please,” I laugh. “It’s not like I’m leaving for war or something.” Well, if The Man has his way, I might be doing just that.

                “But it’s your first day of high school,” my mother says. “Why don’t you seem excited?”

                “Mom, it’s a small town. It’s an entire K-12 school, so it’s not like I’m heading out to some big, scary new school. I’ve been at this school for almost nine years already,” I explain.

My small hometown of Niagara, Wisconsin has a diminutive population of about 1,800 people, most of whom are elderly people who have lived here their entire lives. My hometown is beautiful and all, but I could never be tied down here for so long. I dream of eventually making it to New York City. That’s my place.

“I suppose,” my mom agrees. “But it’s still so exciting, beginning a new chapter of your life! High school are four of the best years of a person’s life.”

I could only hope my mother was right. I sit down at the table and shovel all of the food into my mouth in a few swift motions. Once I am done, I head back upstairs to shower, get dressed, and brush my teeth.

When I arrive back downstairs, my mother is waiting impatiently at the front door, keys in her right hand at the ready. “Let’s go!” she exclaims. If I hadn’t known any better, I would have thought it was her first day of high school and I was the parent. The look of pure excitement upon her face was priceless.

My mother and I climb into her vehicle, an old, navy blue minivan. She drives about a mile up the hill, and we have arrived at the school. Niagara is not big whatsoever, so it only takes a few minutes to get to any destination.

My mother waves goodbye to me as I step out of the minivan. She keeps yelling things to me out of excitement, but I can’t hear her over the extremely loud rumbling of the minivan’s engine. She drives off, and I begin to walk towards the front doors of Niagara Public Schools.

All seems well, until I feel someone watching me. That strange sensation they describe in the movies about how you can “feel” someone watching you? Yeah, it’s real. And I’m feeling it right now.

Paranoid now, I turn around quickly… and that’s when I see him. The Man, standing nearly 50 feet ahead of me. I blink, trying to adjust my eyes. I look ahead once more, but now The Man is gone. However, I swear to this very moment that I saw him descending into the dark woods surrounding the school. I was about to step foot into the school, and The Man did not like that. He did not like that one bit.