Jessie dodges a few squealing kids on her way to the locker room. They wave an apology as they disappear, she hopes they make it in time. A sense of normalcy is returning to her. It’s been a few days since she had the second dream, waking up screaming. For that Jessie was glad. It feels like her sanity is fleeing her with each dream. Her powers have never reacted so strongly to anything before, as if the ghosts are in her head, warning her about something. The red hands? The boy? It is hard to tell. The ghosts that had appeared in the school had been a lot less forceful with their thoughts, which made her stomach sink even further. She had tried to pick up where Sarah had left off, researching about her powers. Looking for similar experiences. As always, it had been a whole lot of conspiracy theories and not anything useful. There has to be at least one other person in history with powers like her. If nothing else, someone in her family must have experienced something. She’s sure she read somewhere that this type of thing is passed down through the bloodline. But Jessie knows she would get further talking to a brick wall than asking her mom for help. She is not that desperate. Yet. Maybe if the Internet couldn’t turn up answers she would need to be more old-fashioned in her approach, like checking out old history books in the library.

Jessie shuffles into the locker room. She is trailing behind her classmates, exhausted from the fake friendliness. Besides, this way she can listen in on some of the elementary girls. There’s something refreshing about their innocent laughter. It reminds her of a more peaceful time in her life. At first she was uneasy about sharing the gym with such a young group. Now she loves the chatter and laughter of the younger girls.

As she enters the locker room she shuffles to her dark corner. It is an appropriate place for her locker. In the back. Isolated from others. While trying to remember her locker combination she realizes that the room is empty. Even the younger girls who always seem to be late. Did she really fall that far behind the rest of her class? She tries to remember when she lost the sound of their chatter, but can’t. She shrugs it off and unlocks her locker. A tardy here and there isn’t a big deal.

A loud metallic bang echoes through the room. Jessie lets out a soft shriek. What is that? It sounds like half the lockers are coming down. It happens again. Flashbacks to her last high school play like an old record. She slinks down the rows of lockers, slowly approaching the sound. It could be a kid trapped in a locker. Or someone playing a joke. Not every sound has to be the end of the world. Taking a deep breath, Jessie peers around the corner. An open window. And a locker door whipping around in the breeze. A sigh of relief. She chides herself for being so pessimistic. This is what leads people to be crazy. She walks to the middle of the locker bay to shut the door. It’s littered with reminders of the young girls who use the area. It doesn’t look like anything actually makes it into the lockers. Jessie shuts the door.

As she turns around something creaks. Confused, she looks back. A shadow falls over her. Glancing over she notices the whole row of lockers is crashing down towards her. A scream catches in her throat as she scampers out of the way. Looking up, red hands disappear into the wall. Jessie is frozen in place for a few minutes. It’s coming.

Jessie scrambles to her feet and dashes for the door. Once in the hallway she looks for the nearest exit. She is getting out of here and going home. She doesn’t care what anyone thinks. It isn’t safe. It is coming. The red fog. Memories of the red mass in her dream return, the hands. She shivers. Leaving everything behind she escapes from the building, tearing down the hallways. The doors fly open as she crashes through. Ignoring the cold she dashes for the bike rack, needing to get away. Her hands are shaking as she tries to unlock her bike. Someone is yelling at her. A teacher? An adult? She doesn’t look up. Jumping onto her bike she flees the school, going down the mountain as dangerous speed. If the red hands are real then so is the boy. Jessie has to find him.