Teal eyes in the dark. 

Chapter 1 

"... continue..." Said Mr. Adler cautiously.

At his words there was a smugness in Hazel's eyes unnoticed by M.r Adler  but seen by Cassey.

"The tattered clothes showed helplessness, and the blood dripping from the hollows for eyes showed despair and sadness . The shadowy figure was the form the emotions could materialize closest to when the person was alive.The figure was actually there in Emily's room to ask her to burn the remains of the body so that it can finally find its salvation." Hazel continued.

"Oh..." Mr Adler looked dumbfounded, as if he wasn't expecting that at all.

"Mr.Adler you didn't let me get to the best part." Hazel sulked.

"I guess so, it might have turned heartwarming to see the supposed antagonist or supernatural being to seek help from a weak human. If you really wish, you could continue your presentation in the next lecture after everyone else is done with their's." said Mr. Adler with a nod of his head.

 "Why are you making that face? I just gave you permission to present your story again. Just keep out the scenes involving blood as it might appear inappropriate and trigger a few." He asked Hazel, seeming confused at her pouting.

 "Mr.Adler you seem to have misunderstood. The best part wasn't about that. You didn't even let me finish its description where I put my most sincere efforts. In a horror story the best part is where the story gives the audience a chill down their spine! You made me pause when the story was at its peak now when I reread this, it won't have the same effect and if I take out the scenes mentioning blood, it would be like a tomato soup without tomatoes or pizza without cheese or a burger without buns or french fries without potat-"

 "That's enough Miss Hazel I get your point- "

"Mr.Montes is looking for you Mr.Adler. He asked me to remind you about today's meeting that is about to start in 15 minutes." Mr.Adler was cut off mid-sentence by a student. He sent the student away stating that he will be there in 5 minutes. 

He turned around and was about to head back when suddenly came to halt by Hazel's words. 

"Mr Adler, are you really scared of blood? Because why else would you interrupt my presentation halfway while you never interrupted other students? Their stories didn't contain blood or horror."

Mr.Adler's eyes widened ever so slightly before. He stared at Hazel. Then he turned around, going to his meeting ignoring the question like it was never asked.

~~~*~~~

"Hey guys did you know? Today Mr.Adler was scared by a horror story written by his own stu...dent?" Grace's words died in her throat as she stared at the two mentally unstable people, whom she called her 'best friends' in disbelief. 

Hazel was trying to free her leg, which was clutched in Cassey's hands. They were in front of the cafeteria at that!

Cassey was practically being dragged on the floor as she was sitting on Hazel's foot while saying something, but Grace couldn't decipher it as she was too astonished and in disbelief by the scene in front of her, trying to comprehend what in the world might have happened for them to cause such a scene. 

As she returned to her senses she saw the small crowd forming around the two. She quickly made her way through the crowd of students and towards them both.

"Cassey! Hazel!" Grace tried to seek their attention by calling out their names, but when nothing worked she bonked their heads and the two immediately stopped whatever show they were trying to present before staring at Grace with watery eyes like they were toddlers caught doing mischief by their mother. 

After shutting Hazel and Cassey, Grace shooed away the crowd that they had caused to form. 

As the crowd dispersed, Grace dragged Hazel and Cassey to a table of six in the corner of the cafeteria. After sitting them down she first questioned Cassey "WHAT EXACTLY WERE YOU DOING ANYWAY CAUSING SUCH A SCENE IN THE HALLWA-"

"GRACE!!! YOU KNOW WHAT HAZEL DID? IN CLASS TODAY SHE- "

"Quiet down your voice first!" Grace snapped. Cassey hiccupped before toning down her voice but her eagerness was still the same.

"You remember the original fictional stories we had to present in Mr.Adler's class today? Well guess what? Hazel wrote a horror story and Mr.Adler couldn't bear to hear it. I am 101 percent sure that he is scared of horror stories."

Grace stared at Hazel in astonishment. 

"That's impressive Ell. I never knew you were such a great writer! At first when I heard in passing that some student's story made Mr.Adler scared I was wondering who it could be. I never thought it would be you ...though it's not that surprising considering the fact that all you watch is horror." Grace mused nodding to herself.

"That's not the point! She refuses to give me any tips on how to write a horror story." Cassey burst out.

"Well who was mocking me for watching horror? 'MY GOODNESS! HOW! JUST HOW CAN ANYONE BE SO OBSESSED WITH HORROR' " Hazel mimicked with a high pitched voice that sounded eerily similar to Cassey's.

"THAT! IS! NOT! HOW I SOUND LIKE!!"

"OH YES YOU DO!" and so the two began to bicker again. 

'Wow that really did sound like Cassey' Grace mused to herself. Just as Grace was about to hit them to make them shut up Avery, Julian and Eric took their seats on the table they said their hello to Grace before glancing at Cassey and Hazel and sighing, they were now used to it.

"So what exactly are they squabbling about now?" Julian asked with a raised eyebrow, ever so curious about the gossip. Just as the words were out of his mouth Cassey abandoned her supposed fight with Hazel and immediately went on again to recite how Hazel's story scared Mr.Adler and he interrupted her, all the way to how Grace 'beat' them up and how she was going to bribe Hazel's brother to steal the draft of Hazel's horror story as she refuses to show it to her. 

The first reaction of others was the disbelief at the fact that Mr.Adler could behave like this too and then curiosity to hear the story. 

Eric let out a low, impressed whistle.

"What are you gonna bribe her brother with anyway? The kid is too sweet. Why would he ever take your side against his own sister?" questioned Eric.

"Doesn't chocolate work on everyone? I'm sure a bar of chocolate or two would get the job done." Cassey questioned with a tilt of her head.

"And what makes you think he will abandon his precious sister like me to help an ugly weirdo like you?" Hazel wondered out loud genuinely confused.

Cassey gasped horrified "Did you just call me ugly? Have you seen my beautiful silky brown hair? My long curly eyelashes and my beautiful clear skin? What about you huh?! You have black eyes, black hair and golden brown skin so why were you named Hazel you don't look the slightest bit Hazel-".

"Hey it's been two whole weeks since we last went to any haunted place. Why don't we go somewhere this saturday?" Avery asked.

Hazel and Cassey immediately quitted down. All their attention focused on Avery.

"Do you have any place in mind?" Julian questioned.

"Yeah. We have explored most of the haunted places in our city." Cassey thought out loud.

"How about Nirixia lake?" Eric suggested.

Everyone's attention snapped to Eric listening intently their eyes sparkling with curiosity, wanting to know about the mysterious lake as they have never heard much of it before, which was rare considering the fact that they had explored almost all the haunted places in the city. 

~~~*~~~

Hazel kept glancing at the clock while she was practically buzzing with excitement as she sat on the couch. Kael glanced at his elder sister trying to figure out what exactly she was so excited about, but in the end he couldn't contain his curiosity and finally asked her.

"Di? Why do you keep glancing at the clock? Are you going somewhere?" 

"Yes. You remember how we haven't went exploring in the last two weeks? Well, we are going today."

Kael's ears perked up at the mention of exploring. 

"Where are you planning to go?"

"Nirixia lake."

Kael's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Really? I thought it was out of limits to the public?"

"Out of limits? As if those rules apply to us." Hazel said smugly.

"Well...Can I come too?"

"Huh?" Hazel's eyes widened the size of tennis balls.

"Instead of berating me you want to come too? Wait hold on, how do you know about the lake?Even I haven't heard much about the lake before."

"Well it was given in my science book that the lake was formed by a meteor and has an abnormal constitution. My teacher told me that it used to be a tourist spot a few decades ago but is now out of limits." Kael replied.

"I don't remember anything like that from my science textbook? But I do remember our geography teacher saying something similar."Just as Hazel finished speaking she heard Cassey calling out her name on the top of her lungs.

Hazel jumped from her seat and ran towards the door excitedly. Halfway to the door she stopped, before running back to her room and grabbing her backpack that she had especially packed for today's trip and running back to the door.

"Maybe next time Kael. If mom and dad ask tell them I went exploring with my friends and will be back by 8 pm. Oh yes! There's ice cream in the fridge for you. Just finish it before mom comes back. And have your dinner on time " and with that Hazel was gone.

 Kael stared at the door, his eyes filled with longing but even after staring at the door for 10 minutes straight when Hazel didn't magically reappear asking him to come with her he went back to watching tv.

~~~*~~~

Hazel peddled towards her friends. 

"What took you so long? We've been waiting here for ages." Cassey said exasperated.

"Huh? But we've only just got here?"

"Shut up Julian, you're weak at maths." Cassey exclaimed.

"Huh? Being weak at math doesn't mean I don't even know how to read time, you know." Retorted Julian offended, only to be ignored.

"Sorry, I just went back to get my back pack. Everyone is here so let's goooo!!!!!!!!!" Hazel couldn't control her excitement and rode her bicycle ahead of everyone before she screeched to a halt a few feets ahead.

"By the way, in which direction do we have to go?" Hazel asked sheepishly making everyone burst into laughter.

~~~*~~~

As they pedaled down the road, sweat trickling down their temples despite the season being autumn making the air chiller than usual. The farther they went, the farther they seemed to drift from civilization with the trees growing taller and denser, their green becoming more vibrant and darker, creating a canopy, the sunlight casting patterns on the ground. Even the air felt cleaner.  

There were no signs of human civilization except for the winding road, there were no buses or any type of transportation or buildings in sight.

Eric screeched to a halt, others following the suite behind him. They stared at the tall woods before them. 

"I never knew that we were so close to the woods. They look so majestic..." Avery exclaimed mesmerized. 

"I think we will have to go on foot here on out." Said Eric dismounting from his bicycle.

"Where should we keep our bicycles?" Hazel asked glancing around. 

"How about we park these besides the bus stop there." Grace said pointing at the isolated bus stop.

"That single street light and the faded bus schedule give more haunted vibes than most haunted places we visited." Hazel shuddered.

"Yeah, it also isn't in that bad of a shape. Not what you would expect considering the fact that it is in the middle of nowhere." Julian quipped.

Everyone nodded in agreement pedaling towards the bus stop. They parked their bicycles by the bus stop. 

"It really doesn't belong here. It looks weird. Just what were they thinking? Making a bus stop here, where there are no houses or residential areas nearby? Why would someone just randomly stop and wait for a bus stop in the middle of nowhere." Cassey thought out loud. 

"It must be from the time when the lake used to be a research spot and a tourist attraction before being out of limits due to people randomly going missing." Grace replied adjusting her round glasses.

"Riiiiight." Cassey drawled out.

"But wait, where did Hazel go?" Grace asked.

"Huh? she was right here." Avery said glancing around. 

"HAZE- WHEN DID SHE GET THERE! HEY! HAZEL! WAIT FOR US." Cassey shouted, panicked before sprinting after her.

While everyone was busy parking their bicycles, Hazel was already on the edge of the woods ready to enter.

~~~*~~~