Alex Glatzer stared off into space as her tutor continued to hound her with calculus nonsense. Calculus was the least of her worries. Her favorite indie band was performing for the first time ever in NYC and she was missing it. Inside, she was livid.

Yuu finally noticed that the high school girl wasn’t paying him any mind and asked, “You’re not paying attention, are you?” He knew the answer.

Yuu was a Sophomore in college, and tutoring was a great part time gig. It helped him brush up on stuff he already knew, and the pay was pretty okay. He lived in the dorms, but his plan was to get a cheap studio away from the City.

Alex glanced at the young Japanese/Mexican man, with his brilliant blue contacts and deadpanned, “No.”

Yuu smiled but rolled his eyes internally. Alex was a moody kid. He had recently become her tutor last month. It was amazing to him that she already needed tutoring even though school just started for her in August.

“Reason?” he asked. Hopefully she didn’t say something like ‘PMS.’

The teenager huffed. “I’m missing The Juliett’s concert in Central Park right now! As much as I love being here at Prestige,” she said the last part with so much sarcasm, you could swim in it, “I want to see them play!”

“That indie band from Upstate? Buffalo, right? I’m surprised they made it this far. Their music’s just okay, in my opinion.” Yuu was met with a glare that put the fear of God in him. “Eh heh…” he chuckled nervously. “So anyway… these Calculus problems. It would behoove of you- “

“Who says that?” Alex cut him off, smirking.

He crossed his arms then and feigned a pout. He liked that word. “Dammit, Alex! Just pay attention!”

“Yeah… fine…” She wasn’t happy about it, but her mom was paying for this. The least she could do was try.

----------------

It was after 9pm when Alex stepped foot outside of Prestige Prep. It was a nice building, and everyone was friendly. She just hated the idea of being there. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but her own, though. It was October, and her private school had started in August. During that small period of time, she managed to skip, not turn in assignments and almost get expelled. Her Senior year had a terrible start, and so her mother gave her an ultimatum. Either get help at Prestige and become a proper young woman, or drop out and help do missionary work with her father in Jerusalem. Of course she chose the former, and so here she was. Missing the concert. She’d never make it in time if she tried, so she opted to just listen to their latest album.

“Home it is, then,” she mumbled to herself and pressed shuffle on her music app. A guitar rift could be heard, followed by drums and bass. Minute was one of her favorite songs on the album, and she hated that she couldn’t hear it live. Hopefully someone got good fancam.

Erin, the lead singer, sang, ‘Never thought that you would end up here. Never thought that you could disappear. But it only takes a minute…’

---

“We could lose ourselves in it. Again.” Devoid of nervousness, Erin was having a great time with her band on stage. The crowd was screaming for them. It warmed her heart on this chilly night.

---

Alex made it to the closest subway station going uptown. She was glad it was always so close, only a few blocks away from Prestige. It was kind of cold, and her school uniform only offered knee socks for the cold months. Of course, she could always bring sweats and then change, but she didn’t feel like it tonight. But part of her legs were exposed, which always made her paranoid. She had pepper sprayed pervs before, just last year. She didn’t have any on her, though. She looked around at her fellow train waiters and calmed down. No one really looked suspicious, except for the homeless guy on her right. And someone was lying down on one of the benches to her left. There was a security guard that she didn’t see before. She was about to look away when he turned to her suddenly, and a creepy feeling went down her spine, almost as if he was admitting some kind of aura.

Confused and extremely creeped out, she quickly moved closer to the woman and her baby to her left.

This train needs to hurry up. This is freaky… she thought.

Suddenly, a wave of nausea swept over her, and she felt as if she was blacking out. The world around her became very dark. What is this?! She couldn’t move. It was as if she had lost that ability for herself, and something else was in possession of her body. Why can’t I move?! It was then that she heard the train fast approaching down the tunnel. And that was also when her body moved on its own.

Step by step, Alex moved towards the yellow platform that you aren’t meant to cross. Closer and closer the train got. Stop moving! She yelled at herself. Oh, God! Someone, please stop me! As she got even closer, she heard the people behind her yelling, “Hey, kid! You’re too close!” and, “Back up, girl! What are you doing?”

Just as her body was about to walk off the platform in front of the incoming train, she felt a hand roughly grip her shoulder and yank her back. She felt like herself again when that happened.

“Oh my God!” It was the woman with her baby, the stroller behind her. “What is wrong with you? Are you trying to kill yourself??” She stared at Alex, as the others were doing.

“I..” The girl was scared, and she really didn’t know what to say. ‘Oh, you know. Some entity took over my body and stuff…’ No. She couldn’t say that. “I don’t know what just happened… I couldn’t…”

By then, the train had stopped and people were starting to mill out.

The young mother moved the stroller forward and gave Alex a slight push towards the doors when it was clear to go in. “Be careful, sweetheart. If you’re supposed to be on anti-depressants or something, remember to take them.”

Alex sat down, the woman not too far away. She was stunned. Nothing like that had ever happened to her before. It was like what she heard about sleep paralysis, but extremely different.

What happened just now?! I couldn’t move, and it was like some force was trying to kill me. And that security guard was so freaky. And then he disappeared after that… Did he have something to do with it?

God.. I’m going crazy… Some evil sh*t is going on. I need to tell mom.

She continued the rest of the ride staring at her hands.

--

She immediately knew that her mom was not home when she neared her house and saw the lack of lights. Her family lived just outside of Brooklyn in a 3-bed room home. Her mother was a nurse, and her father was always away on Jewish missions in Europe.

She opened the door and threw her bag down. She had just remembered her mom mentioning an extra shift earlier. Great timing. Being home alone was not something that she wanted.

She started to head upstairs. All she could think about was getting as far under her blankets as possible. Half way up, she was halted by the sound of her front door flying off its hinges.