Chapter 1

     It was a beautiful day, the sun was high in the sky, shining its radiant yellow glow warming everything in its grasp. The tree leaves dancing in the cool spring breeze. While the grass tickled the soles of the children's feet as they ran by. The air filled with joyous laughter while the children played tag. At least that's how the children were supposed to spend their day. 

     At Starview elementary all the kids were excited about their school trip. The day started on the warmer side, with small gusts of wind to cool the kids who were rushing to school before the first bell of doom rang. Anyone who was late would not be allowed to go on the field trip to the owl sanctuary or the park to play flag football. 

     Lee was also one of those last minute runners, but he wasn't worried in the least bit. This was his morning routine ever since he entered 6th grade. Lee was fantastic at any and all sports, but when it came to studying he preferred to sleep so he has never tried to be on time before. But today was the day he was going to be on time in his seat sitting upright, and ears perked like an honor student. There was just one issue preventing him from doing that, the bell was going to ring in 5 minutes and his classroom was on the 2nd floor. For the first time in twelve years Lee really wanted to be on time, and he wasn't going to let anyone stop from achieving his goal. So just like a car going into second gear he began to run in the hallways ready to bulldoze anyone who got in the way.

      Lee's shoes noisily skidded to the door with 30 seconds to spare. He quickly sat in his seat, pulled out his notebook and folded his hands like he was an angel. The kid sitting next to him let out a mocking laugh.

“Drop the act, we all know you're the worst student in this classroom.” The student said behind an evil chuckle. But Lee didn't care, even if he looked extraordinarily disheveled from running all over the place. Then with the chime of the bell that sounded ever so sweet today, that class began. 

“Okay class, let's take attendance.” said the teacher. “Only two people are sick today, that's a record. You all must be really excited for the field trip today!” Exclaimed the teacher, with a grin from ear to ear. “Oh and Lee, no running in the hallways. How many times do I have to tell you?” He said disappointedly. 

“I'm sorry Mr. Rasberry, I just really needed to be on time today.''Lee said with the straightest face.

“You're lucky I'm in a good mood, otherwise you would be in the principal's office right now.” Said Mr. Rasberry with an evil grin. In that exact moment Lee got a shiver down his spine. 

“Will your family be going on this trip too?”A female student asked curiously

“No, not today. My little one has caught a cold, and the misses doesn't want to accidentally get anyone else sick.” Mr.  Rasberry said worriedly. All the kids laughed at Mr. Rasberry, for when someone as tall as a tree with bulging muscles all over acting like a worried lovesick fool is not seen often. 

“In 30 minutes they'll start calling classes down to buses, so it's free time until they call us down.” He said with a delightful grin.” Now who wants to see pictures of my sweet little Neko? I got pictures of him in the park yesterday and he looks just like a sweet little angel!” He said gushing over his darling little boy.

“We do, we do!” Yelled the kids joyfully. After 40ish minutes of looking at photos and cheerfully talking amongst each other, Lee's classroom was called. Lee was so excited he almost sprung out of his chair, but he knew better and stayed sitting. He wanted nothing more than to run out of the classroom and onto the bus but he also knew that if he acted up now Mr. Rasberry could still send him to the principal's. The kids walked down the halls gracefully, just like baby swans following their parents.

     Once the kids got on the bus they sat down quickly and quietly, patiently waiting for the bus to leave. The teachers knew what was ensuring and pregamed by putting on ear muffs. Once all the kids were on their designated buses it was time to go. Not even a minute passed before all hell broke loose. Kids were yelling, and flailing like wild animals, food and drinks were getting traded while others took a nap. Lee, himself would have been more wild if his seatmate would have talked to him. 

     30 minutes into the drive and all was quiet. The way to the owl sanctuary is an hour and a half, so most of the kids decided to get a nap in. Only a few kids were awake, Lee and his seatmate being two of the few. The teachers were happy that none of the kids were flailing out the window, or trying to spit on each other anymore, but they knew that they needed to prepare for when they get their so they also took a nap to ensure they had the needed energy to deal with the little devils. 45 minutes into the drive and Lee was absolutely, positively bored out of his mind, so he decided to try talking to the gloomy looking kid next to him.

“Hey I'm Lee, what's your name?” He said as friendly as he could. But he got no reply so he continued trying.

“I really like sports, soccer being my favorite, but badminton is a close second. Do you have any sports you like?” Again no reply, at this point Lee was starting to get irritated, but he wanted to try one more time before giving up.

“I see you like to read books, can't say I'm much of a bookworm myself but I like the occasional comic book myself. What is your favorite genre?” His tone, still full of curiosity and kindness.

“Why are you even bothering trying to talk to me? Are you getting some kind of satisfaction from this?” He said with an accusing tone.

“Hey, now it's nothing like that, I was just bored and you seemed lonely so I thought we could have a nice conversation. Is there something wrong with that?” Lee said awkwardly, while putting his hands up in a defensive pose. 

“If you must know the name I was given upon birth, it's Miz. Do what you want with that information.” He said in the most monotone, and uninterested face known to man. That didn't matter to Lee though. He got the biggest grin on his face, with the look of victory.

“So your name is Miz, that's a really cool name. I hope we can be friends………” He continued talking as if it was the most interesting conversation on the planet. Miz may have been listening to what Lee was saying but he refused to participate in the one man conversation that was happening. Miz wasn't used to people talking to him due to his scary face and eyes so black it could drain the color out of you if he stared too long, but Lee didn't seem to care one bit. This perplexed Miz, he assumed it was natural for people to fear and hate him, and yet this random kid is talking as if they've known each other for years.

     The conversation didn't last long before Lee passed out from using too much energy having a one man show. Miz was glad that it was finally quiet, but he was a little irritated that he was left with only 30 minutes of quiet before everyone had to wake up. So he enacted his revenge by ever so neatly tying Lee's shoe laces together. It was a radiant morning, birds singing their morning song, the sun warming any and all services its light touches, the tree leaves and grass glistening as the light hit it just right. But for some reason Miz kept getting a cold shiver down his back, he just couldn't shake the feeling that something extremely twisted was going to happen today. Very discreetly, ninja like, Miz crawled under the bus chairs and looked through people's bags. He had to make sure that he was like a shadow or the bus driver could see what he was doing, for this could get him in some serious trouble. There were only a few things he was looking for, a lighter which he knew some of the teachers had, and a pocket knife, and he knew exactly who had one. It took Miz five minutes to shimmy his way to one teacher in particular, Mrs. Norfman. It was rumored that Mrs. Norfman would often smoke in class, though no one knows how she gets away with it. Miz did overhear the teachers one time talking about how Mrs. Norfman was having an affair with the principal. Miz didn't really care about that, all he wanted was what was in her bag. Unfortunately Mrs. Norfman was holding her bag, luckily she didn't have a death grip on it, but it definitely took some finagling to get it loose. When he opened the bag he was met with a whole bunch of miscellaneous objects. A pad here, some lipstick there, half an eaten cookie, some makeup wipes, and last but not least five lighters. Miz was mesmerized by the amount of lighters, he had never seen someone carry so many lighters before but he knew that he could take a couple without being caught. Miz had the most evil grin on his face while putting the bag back. He quickly slithered back to his seat to put the lighters away, now he just had to make it to his next target, Marry Goldman.