Chapter 1

Annalise stood in line impatiently while she waited for her turn to order. She loved this Cafe, ‘StarryBucks’, but it was constantly busy in the morning. Starrybucks is only about five minutes away from her High School, so it was an ideal place for all students to hang out before and after school.
The guy in front of her finally started ordering when suddenly her phone buzzed:

***
Mom: Annalise, dad and I will be gone when you get home. Date night lol. There should be pizza in the fridge, heat it up for you and your brother. Love you sweetie!! xoxo

Annalise: Sure mom. I love you! Have fun with dad and don’t stay out too late :))

Mom: Lol of course!

Mom: Oh and I almost forgot, tell your brother not to stay out too late.
***

“Miss? Are you going to order?” A voice asked softly in front of her and Annalise lifted her head from her phone to see the barista leaning over the counter to get her attention. Her face grew red with embarrassment, but before she could open her mouth to reply, Annalise noticed something else. Behind the barista was a dark figure. It was big and bulky, it’s limbs long and muscular. It had no face, and hardly seemed human.

Annalise was rendered speechless by the sight before her, not a sound left her mouth.

Her breath hitched in her throat as she screwed her eyes shut, praying it was all in her imagination. And after waiting a few moments she hesitantly peaked out through one eye, only to be greeted with a face of a confused barista. The figure no longer towered over the barista, only menus and blending machines took its place.

“Come on lady, if you’re not gonna order let me go in front of you.” A voice shouted behind her. Annalise winced and stepped out of line, too embarrassed to even order.

Why do things like this always happen to me? She thought to herself as she left StarryBucks.

When Annalise was younger, she always saw strange things. She was only about seven years old at the time when her family moved into the house they currently lived in. It’s a decently large house with many doors and secret rooms, which makes it easy to get lost in. That only terrified seven-year-old-Annalise even more on top of moving for the first time.

She remembers the first time she saw a “ghost”, it was in the basement. Annalise had dropped a toy down the stairs and it rolled into the dark damp space. She vaguely remembers anything else that happened down there, besides the blurry memory of somebody else down there. Just like the figure in StarryBucks, Annalise remembers how it had no face. The memory sent shivers through her spine as she finally made it to school.

She never found out who or what it might have been, but her parents chalked it up to her wild imagination. Maybe that’s what happened at the Cafe? That must have been it. Whatever to ease my mind… Annalise thought to herself as she walked through the school doors and made her way to her locker. As she was gathering her things, she couldn’t find her pencil…

“Annaliiise!” A voice called behind her and a strong hand latched onto her shoulder. Annalise recognized that gentle voice instantly.

“Harper? I thought you got suspended!” Annalise exclaimed, turning to face her childhood friend. His thick black hair was in strong curls like always and his brown eyes were as dazzling as ever.

Harper nodded before adding, “I was! But… My dad found out and wasn’t happy, he said I shouldn’t have been suspended for defending myself, so here I am.”

That’s right, last week Harper got into a fight with some kid named Wyatt in his class. Turns out Wyatt was poking fun at Harper for losing his mother to suicide. It was really terrible, he had told Harper it was his fault his mother did what she did. How could someone stoop so low? Annalise wondered, feeling her fists clench.

“This school feels more like a prison than anything. The victims always end up being the accused.” Annalise sighed, remembering the anguished face of Harper after the fight, he almost believed what Wyatt said. Harper said he felt terrible about beating up Wyatt so badly, but he was just so terrified of the thought of Wyatt being right. It’s Wyatt’s fault for picking on Harper, she thought.

“Agreed,” Harper snorted before pausing a moment to add, “Well I gotta go. Bells about to ring. See you!”

Annalise sighed as she watched him run off up the stairs and head to his class, she couldn’t help but feel a small prick of pity for her best friend. I can’t forgive Wyatt for doing such an awful thing to Harper! She thought, gritting her teeth before whirling around and searching for that pencil once more.

***

“Why are you late, Ms. Hart?” Annalise’s teacher paused his lesson on the chalkboard. Who even uses those fossils anymore? Only Mr. Bowlan! Annalise thought, stifling a laugh, as she stopped in the doorway to answer her teacher.

“My bad, I was searching for a pencil. It took a while,” Annalise replied, heading to her seat all the way at the back of the class. With a sigh, she sat down and slipped her backpack off her shoulder. Annalise grabbed her notebook out of her backpack and sighed.

The lesson was already so far ahead, and she couldn’t understand what Mr. Bowlan was talking about. Annalise decided to just zone out, when suddenly something caught her eye. It was by her foot. Annalise glanced down only to see a fleshy-looking blob at her foot. But, as she trained her eyes to focus, she realized it wasn’t just a blob of something. Instead, It was a mangled face staring back at her. It’s eyes were rolled into the back of it’s head and it’s mouth was stretched wide open. Rows and rows of teeth filled the rotted mouth, debris of clothing and flesh scattering all over its pointy teeth.

Annalise gasped sharply and stumbled half way out of her seat, her eyes stretched wide. At that exact moment, the creature’s eyes rolled back into place with a gut-wrenching squelching noise as it stared directing at Annalise.

“You can see me! Yes! You! You can see meee!” it screeched, it’s words slurred as if it were drunk. The raspy voice rang out all through the classroom, practically bursting Annalise’s eardrums. She frantically searched the room to see if anyone else noticed this horrific creature, but nobody reacted. What on earth? Annalise couldn’t handle it another moment, she had to get out of the classroom.

Without raising her hand, Annalise raced out of the classroom with her hands over her ears. To her horror, though, when she checked to see if she was being followed, the creature had managed to grow feet out of its ears.

Slap! Slap! Slip! Slap!

It’s feet made wet slippery noises as it dashed to follow her. No matter how many turns Annalise took, the creature was one step behind her. It slid across the floor and skidded around each corner, still screaming and howling the same words from the classroom.

“You can see me! Yes! You! You can see me!”

Annalise was running out of breath and her legs burned, she needed to lock herself somewhere far away from this thing. I must look insane right now, running all across the school with my hands over my ears… She thought, feeling humiliated but she couldn't stop running. She didn’t want to find out what would happen if she let this thing catch her.

Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. There should be janitors closet down the hall.., And, to Annalise’s relief, the closet was conveniently located down the hall. Using her last burst of energy, Annalise launched herself into the closet and slammed the door behind her. Not even seconds later, she could hear slippery pounding at the door. Her breathing was ragged and she fought to catch her breath, her hands shaking.

Slip! Slosh! Slap! Slap!

Worried the creature might break down the door before she could even act in defense, she searched the closet for something useful. Fortunately, there was a mop in the left corner.

Thinking quickly, she grabbed the mop and took a deep breath. Without another moments thought, she swung the door open and brought the mop crashing down over her head.

“Leave me alone!” Annalise cried, squeezing her eyes shut as she slammed the mop on the creature a repeated amount of times.

“You can see-”
Squish!
“You-” Splat! “Can!-” Squish!

Silence followed the sickening sounds after a while, and when Annalise dared open her eyes again, she saw that it was merely a puddle of meat and blood. It’s eyes bobbed in the dense meat-puddle, staring side to side then up and down. It was like the creature was trying to put her into a trance.

“Ms. Hart! How dare you leave my classroom like that? Get back right now!” Mr. Bowlan came to a skidding halt in front of Annalise, sweat dripping down his forehead. The little remaining hair on his head flopped out of place. While this was a funny sight and she would normally laugh, she couldn’t find the effort to react.

“Yes, I’m sorry…” Annalise stammered, realizing how odd this must look; A frightened sixteen year old girl holding a broken mop with tears dried to her face.

Mr. Bowlan looked furious as his gaze landed on the mangled mop, “You’re going to pay for that! First you run off without permission and then you break school property? That's detention!” His face was turning red as he struggled to breath and yell at the same time.

Detention? I don’t want to be in this school another minute longer than I have to be! Annalise thought, as dread crawled up her back with a shiver. Before she could offer an excuse, Mr. Bowlan was already huffing and puffing his way down the hall, still fighting for air.

With a strangled groan, Annalise glanced down at the floor to see that the blob of fleshy goop was no longer there. Besides the broken mop, there was no other evidence that thing ever existed. There were no dents or scratches on the janitor closet, no slimy footprints on the floor and no traces of blood anywhere. Am I… Going crazy? She fretted with yet another wave of dread. How can she make it the rest of the day?

Chapter end