Lockwood Mysteries

Chapter 1: A New Start

It was mid-September and the beginning of autumn in Lockwood. The temperature was getting colder. This Monday morning was the start of something new for Jessica Brooke. She would start her first day of grade 10 at her neighbourhood high school, Lockwood Secondary School. It was a publicly funded high school and it wasn't as fancy as other schools since her town was fairly small. It was tiny with less than three hundred students on campus every year. The students attending the school all knew each other well enough. She was new and it would take some time for them to get used to her. She wasn't too excited at all.
The sun rose at exactly 6:00 am and the 15 year old's alarm went off at that time too. "Well, time to get up..." she spoke in a sleepy and rather displeased voice. The move from the city to a small town filled with prairies was a tough and long journey. She had to leave many friends behind from her previous school. Thanks to the invention of technology, she is still able to text them, but even so, it's not as fun as seeing them in person. Jessica lazily came from under the blankets and sat on the side of her bed, gathering her consciousness. "Hnnn, I really don't wanna go..." she thought to herself with her face all scrunched up.
After a few minutes, she stood up facing her old mirror that was hanging on the wall, which she'd gotten from her mother a few years back as a gift. It was antique and was built some time in the early seventies. Her build was quite slim and she was the average height for her age. She took up her wooden brush that was laying on her night table and brushed through her smooth, dirty blonde hair, thinking about what her first day would actually be like at her new school. Smooth sailing, perhaps? That thought ran through her head as she finished brushing her hair and threw the brush onto her bed with white sheets and a white comforter to match, not bothering to spread it. Her room was really small. Just a few essentials were contained inside. She wore basic things so her closet wasn't big. The half awake youngster stood in front of it, "What to wear..." She peered into the old, dusty closet, still deciding. The house her parents had moved into was old and the previous owners had left it for over three decades. The closet was holding on for dear life. It had a shelf that Jessica could store her shoes and other belongings on. She used to play the ukulele and it was stored on that very shelf, waiting to gather dust. The girl didn't play it anymore. As a teenager who is still figuring out what she wants to do in life, she has picked up different interests such as reading and painting on occasion. After staring blankly into her boring closet, she finally decided on a slightly over-sized lavender hoodie and a pair of blue jeans.
The time was currently 6:30 am and Jessica was all ready. She took up her father's old leather satchel that was now hers and packed her books and journal in it. Her bedroom door swung open and she stood in the doorframe for a bit, "Ok, Jessica! Pull yourself together!" she demanded quietly and squeezed her cheeks. She slowly started walking down the hall that led to the staircase. Holding on to the handle carefully, she made her way downstairs and heard the slight chatter coming from her parents. "Oh, hey sweetie," her father saw her and greeted her on her way down. "Come take a seat and have breakfast before starting at your new school! Aren't you excited?" She sighed silently, "Yeah, sure... Excited." Jessica walked into the dining room where her breakfast was already made by her mother. The aroma made her mouth almost start to water. She sat on one of the four dining chairs surrounding the table that was closest to the door and placed her satchel to the side of the chair. "Eggs n' bacon! Your favourite!" her mother spoke in a rather excited voice. "Today is your big day. A new beginning." The lanky girl rolled her eyes and pouted, "I'm not excited about going to a new school, mom. What if they look at me weird?" The mother sat beside her daughter and smiled gently, "Oh, no hun. All the kids in this neighbourhood are very kind. I'm sure they'll be there for you with welcoming smiles." Jessica sighed once again and ate her food in a hurry, stood up and grabbed her satchel. "Hun, don't forget your lunch on the kitchen table and your phone!" the mother reminded her. After grabbing her satchel, she hurriedly took her lunch and picked up her phone that was left in the living room from the previous night. She opened the front door and told her parents goodbye. "Alright. Here we go..." she said as she took off to school.