Chapter One: Paranoia

Here is chapter one of The Hellbent Series: Paranoia. I'd like to make a note of the casting below (In the author's notes column)

A few pointers: Rahne-Scotia is pronounced (Rah-neh-Sc'oh-shah)

and Soranik is pronounced (Soh-Ra-nick)



WINDSOR COLLEGE:WOODSBORO, CALIFORNIA:

“Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats.” Professor Glenn entered the room authoritatively. He put his coat and pile of papers on his somewhat messy desk and immediately picked up a marker. He scribbled on his whiteboard and faced the class. “Can someone please tell me what this means?” He pointed to the whiteboard where he had written CGI in bold, black text.

“CGI refers to Computer-Generated Imagery.” Soranik spoke softly. “It’s used for 3 dimensional and special effects in films.”

“Thank you, Ms. Reilly. It’s good to know that some people do pay attention in class.” Professor Glenn prompted Soranik with a smile. She returned the smile politely and proceeded to take notes on today's cinema directory class, flipping her dirty blonde hair out of her face every once in a while.



Meanwhile, down the hall, her roommate and best friend was attending theater class. Rahne-Scotia leaped onto the stage with her script and began her act.


"'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,nor arm, nor face, nor any other part belonging to a man. O, be some other name!What's in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet;So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, and for that name which is no part of thee, take all myself." She spoke as Juliet whilst her partner, who acted as Romeo, commenced with his part of the act. They continued with their scene for five minutes until it was time for others to rehearse.


"Last class of the day, huh Tony?" Rahne-Scotia hopped off the stage with her peer Tony, who was the actor who played Romeo in the previous scene.


"Yup. What are you doing for the weekend?" Tony asked casually, looking at the clock and noticing that they had five minutes left of class.


"Soranik and I are staying on campus, maybe we could all go to dinner at Olive Garden?" Rahne-Scotia gathered her things into her backpack and slung it over her shoulder.


"Sounds great, I'll give you a call later?" He replied joyously as the bell rung.


"Yeah, call me!" Rahne-Scotia ran out of the room and down the hallway right as Soranik stepped out of her classroom. They smiled and walked down the hall together and then outside. "How was your class?"


"I'm still the only one who's not afraid of Professor Glenn." Soranik laughed. She stepped over a puddle and waved at a few friends before asking Rahne-Scotia how her class was.


"I'm still a nervous wreck. Tony and I got the lead roles and we've been spending so much time together, that I hardly ever have time to actually pay attention in class." Rahne-Scotia blushed, grasping her backpack strap.

---

6:00PM WINDSOR COLLEGE FRONT LAWN:


Rahne-Scotia gazed at her watch briefly. "Tony should be meeting us here any second now, then we can walk down to Olive Garden."


Soranik nodded and looked around for Tony. Finally, Tony appeared walking down the sidewalk. He beckoned to the ladies and they followed him onto the sidewalk. The air was chilly and night was upon the three college students. The sun began to set and they were a few minutes away from Olive Garden.


"I hate this street, it's creepy." Soranik cautiously stepped over a hole in the sidewalk. A few minutes passed and they forgot about the eerie air surrounding them. There was a brief silence between them and a sudden crunch cackled loudly and echoed in the woods. They each jumped; their hearts froze momentarily. "Stupid squirrels!" Soranik screamed and continued walking.


Another crunch echoed in the thin woods and the three stopped, they backed into the street and held their breath. "I really hate squirrels..." Rahne-Scotia breathed heavily now.


'It feels like someone's watching us." Tony whispered.With that, the ladies and Tony ran down to Olive Garden, concluding that the thing they heard was most definitely a person, not a squirrel.

---

MONDAYWINDSOR COLLEGE:


General cinema was Rahne-Scotia and Soranik's only class together. They both sat next to each other in the vast crowd. As class started, the professor called someone's name silently and asked him to stand at the front of the class.


"Good morning class." He waved at his students and gestured to the young man who stood next to him. "This is a new student here at Windsor College: Owen Reilly. He's from Washington, everyone say hello!"


Owen Reilly waved back. His smile displayed dimples and his deep blue eyes scanned the crowd for an open seat. He saw one next to Soranik and proceeded to sit next to her. He whispered "hello' before sitting and pulled his chair in, taking out lined paper for notes.


After class, Soranik and Rahne-Scotia looked at each other. "He's pretty cute." Rahne-Scotia said.


Soranik frowned. "Not my type, Rah."


They walked into the cafeteria and sat down at a table far off into the corner. They conversed about the eerie sounds they'd been hearing the past weekend and exchanged paranoid thoughts about such events. Five minutes into lunch, Owen Reilly past the girls and sat at a table behind them, which was closer to the wall. Soranik and Rahne-Scotia watched him as he took out a lap top and went typed a website into the search bar. When he found what he was looking for, he clicked on it and a black and white page came up with bold red letters that read KILL WITH ME and then ENTER. He saw the two girls watching him and awkwardly closed the site, cautiously returning the gaze with his dark oceanic eyes.




"That's weird." Soranik whispered to Rahne-Scotia.



"Hey, do you think you guys are related? I mean, you guys are both Reilly's." She asked.


"No, it's impossible. I have no siblings and my only male relative who's our age is named Johnny Rowe." She took a bite out of an apple and noticed Rahne-Scotia staring at Owen. "Stop staring at him Rah."


Rahne-Scotia blinked and unphased, she looked back at Soranik.


"He's charming and all, but a bit more on the creepy side. What if he was the person following us in the woods on Friday?" Rahne-Scotia's eyes widened in fear.


"Stop it Rahne, you're developing paranoia." Soranik laughed.

Author's Note

Here's the 'cast' I've chosen for the book. In other words, this is a note from myself to help you imagine who each character looks like:
Soranik Reilly - Emma Roberts
Rahne-Scotia - Mila Kunis
Owen Reilly - Joseph Cross

Reviews

[Tai Ryens]

Wonderful start, I like the detailing of it, but the dialogue of them could use a bit of tweaking. They do seem to keep my attention, but I feel as if they could be tweaked to be made better and much more captivating. Amazing job!

[KittyStarr1101]

This is a really good start. Keep writing. I shall be waiting.