It was cloudy. The sun hadn’t made a noticeable appearance until the program for that morning’s assembly began, making the students groan in annoyance that it had become uncomfortably warm when the longest and most boring part of it began.

First days at school were usually mediocre for Andy and his friends. They would line up for the opening event, which, more often than not, was a speech from their principal that ran for about thirty minutes. But that day was different from the past three. The students in their batch, who were usually noisy and couldn’t care for the people speaking in front or for what they had to say, were dead silent. This was the last time they would be gathered together like that on the first day, after all. Even Greg and Lee, who always playfully bickered on the first day of school, were quiet.

The four of them would look at each other then look away immediately.

“Well,” Greg began, “this is sad.”

Aria replied, “At least we have one whole year, right?”

“And we’ll make the most of it, right?” Andy said.

Lee looked at them. He was too overwhelmed by the fact that this was their last year together to say anything. In fact, all four of them went back to their silence that comforted them but made them feel uneasy at the same time.

Until Greg asked, “Is he one of the scholars? No, he can’t be.”

Of course, he was pertaining to the boy who sat down behind Lee in the line. They all turned their attention to the boy. He had no smile. A frown that read that he wanted nothing to do with anyone at the school took its place.

“I think he is. We only have two new students and Ellie said they were both new students,” Aria said, also curious about the new boy.

“Oh, how is Ellie?” Greg asked.

“She actually asks about you from time to time. She’s good,” Aria replied, smiling.

Their attention turned back to the new kid. Andy then began to talk to him, not caring about how abrupt it was. Well, he never did.

“Hi there. What’s your name?” Everyone, including the new boy, thought he sounded like a child making friends in his new kindergarten class but none of them really minded.

Not even looking up, the boy replied, “Tony.”

Yes, they had met Tony and Tony had met the group he had seen on the swings the day before. Deep down and strongly, he really wanted to talk to them. He really wanted to start a friendship with them. But, no, he barely knew them. In fact, he didn’t know them at all. So why would he? And besides, he promised himself he wouldn’t try that anymore.

Thus, his silence continued.

“Oh,” Andy continued, “well I’m Andy and this is Aria, Lee, and Greg.”

The other three also greeted him with ‘hi’ in different levels of confidence.

Expecting them to just look away and leave him alone, he closed his phone. He wouldn’t ever admit it to them but he wished that they would keep talking to him, even though he wouldn’t know what to do. Maybe they just shouldn’t talk to him. Tony’s overthinking this now.

Andy keeps talking to him though.

“Where are you from?”

Tony can’t seem to look at them. He can’t even look at them when he replies with the neighborhood that he lives in, which was the same they lived in.

“Oh, that’s great!” Aria said rather excitedly.

Tony finally looks up at them. He expected them to look at him with some sort of judging expression. But they weren’t. They looked warm. They looked welcoming and nice.

“Great?”

“So we can hang out some more, of course,” Lee continued.

Tony looked at Greg as he began to speak.

“Welcome to the group. We have meetings every day at five,” he joked.

And for the first time, well, it felt like the first time in a really long time, he laughed at a joke that someone had told him and him directly. Usually, he’d laugh at jokes he’d hear in conversations that he’d overhear. Did this mean that he had friends?

“Yeah, it does,” said Andy with a smile.

Just like cliché, he was thinking out loud. He felt a little cliché, being honest. He felt warm inside. He felt a smile coming on his face. He made sure that they hadn’t seen it, but he smiled widely. It felt nice. He felt nice until his smile faded upon the sight of a familiar face.

“Who’s that?” Andy asked the others.

“Must be a new staff member. Technical crew, I guess,” Greg replied.

Tony froze. He turned white as a sheet. That was the teacher he knew in his old school, the one who got him expelled.

“Tony, are you okay?” Aria turned to him worriedly.

“Yeah,” he said, “fine.”

Before they could try to pry, the man spoke.

“Students,” he began.

The students turned their attention to him.

“I’d like to introduce myself to all of you. I am Sir Demiss and I will be your principal for this year and the years to come.”

He walked off of stage and began to walk around the auditorium. This wasn’t something principals usually did but no one really gave it attention.

“What happened to Ms. May?” Lee asked, though the question was more rhetorical.

“Probably got sick of this school. Not that hard to see why,” Greg said.

Andy turned to Tony, who, like I said, had turned pale.

“Hey, are you alright?”

“Yeah just-…”

None other than the new principal himself cut him off.

“What about you? Is there anything you’d like to share with us?”

“No, sir. I’m sorry.” Andy answered.

“Hm?”

Suddenly they had all simultaneously felt a shock go through them. It almost hurt. They each thought they were the only one who could feel it. But this principal, who serves as the villain for our tale, wanted to teach them a small lesson with a feeling, albeit small, and so he gave it to all of them with one stare.

“No sir,” they all said.

With a cold glare and a nod, he left them and soon it was time to go to the classrooms.

They walked as a group previously as four but now as five with their new friend, Tony.

The feeling was placed within. The principal had left no marks for anyone else or even any of those who felt it to see. This helped in their belief that only they had felt it, leading them to not talk about it.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t like him,” Greg said.

He continued, “A douche, if you ask me.”

No one was replying to his commentary on the new principal. He just continued to talk.

“Why is he even principal? Shouldn’t he be sleeping in the day and hunting for people to kill and eat at night?”

Andy looked at him. He didn’t look at him with a glare, but that look was enough to make him stop.

“Yep, not funny. Got it,” Greg concluded.

“He clearly doesn’t like us, that’s for sure,” said Lee.

“Maybe because we were talking and he doesn’t like that when he’s speaking. I don’t know. Some teachers are like that, I guess,” Aria noted.

Tony didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. That was the teacher that got him kicked out; of course he knew he’d hate him. But there was something else. There was something sinister about that encounter. It wasn’t how cold his stare was. It wasn’t the electric shock. It was a thought he had. It wasn’t jumbled or hard to understand like the usual thoughts one would have about someone’s unclear intentions. It was coherent and it felt real. It felt like someone had told him.

It was like someone had told him he was going to die in his hands. It was like someone had told him Demiss was going to kill him. And he did, but only to Tony. He had something else for the others.

Something, that thought, pushed Tony to tell the others. But he hesitated first. A small fight within him that felt like self-doubt took place. It was the part of him that resisted. In the end, though, it was too strong for him to overcome.

Soon, they had reached the classroom. His new friends, though he was beginning to question if he could even call them that, went to their seats, calling him over to them. He was still tense and he had begun to shake slightly.

“He’s not,” Tony paused, “good.”

Before he could see them turn to him, they began to turn into something that looked like smoke, but colored smoke. They were turning into colored smoke, yes. The colored smoke didn’t linger. It faded into nothingness, seconds after they became visible.

He felt cold now, like he was in the presence of a ghost. He felt fear slowly rise in his chest.

Suddenly he wasn’t in a classroom anymore. He was in a pitch-black room. There was no light but he knew what was around him somehow. He knew there was a light switch. He had to get to it. He felt around his surroundings until he touched what felt like it. He turned it on. It seemed to switch everything on. He could see everything that no one would ever want to see. It was like he could see that weren’t visible. He felt fear. He felt sadness. He felt death. But not his death, it was the death of everyone around him, the whole world, if he could do it.

He heard a voice calling out his name. It was a woman’s voice, his mother’s voice. He could tell, however, that it was the past her. Tony could tell that because of the lack of coldness and indifference in her voice.

Then, the voice lowered. It was a boy’s voice now. But it felt different. It felt like it was coming from another room. He knew there was a door beside the light switch. He opened it. He began to fall. It felt like falling down a hole. The dark room felt like it was constricting as he was falling down a seemingly endless hole. He was screaming. He could feel the fear now swallow him whole.

“Hey, are you okay?” Andy asked.

Tony got the message that he was not to tell them of Demiss’s identity.

“Huh?” he said almost inaudibly as he began to wake up.

“Are you okay? You spaced out for a little while we were deciding if we were going to bring you to the clinic or something,” Andy replied worriedly.

“No, I just,” he paused, “was thinking.”

“Are we allowed to ask what you were thinking about?” Aria asked.

Tony still felt dizzy. And he was still in shock with what he saw. But it was small. It was nothing compared to what was to come. No, no, no. This wasn’t true, was it? He was being dramatic. He was overreacting. It was nothing. It was just his imagination.

“You know, just first day nervousness.”

“Well, you’re with us now. Maybe we can help with that,” Greg said.

They all nodded.