Fear: American Horror Story (CANCELLED)

Chapter Six

"1547..." I muttered under my breath, scanning the lockers to find the one written on the paper in my hands. It was my first day at Westfield High, and I already hated it. The principal was phony, the students were obnoxious junkies, and the teachers couldn't care less about their jobs or anything else. Hell, the teachers were probably the ones dealing to the kids.
I stopped when I found my locker. I walked over to it, but before I could reach for the lock someone shoved me into the wall of metal. I glanced up, and found myself looking into the grey-blue eyes of one of the most attractive guys I had ever seen. He was also athletic, had tousled blonde hair, and he was dressed in clothes that were probably more expensive than my entire wardrobe. Chances were good he had never been told "no" in his entire life. In short, he was exactly the kind of person who would want to pick on someone smaller than him.
I looked away after a moment, and turned back toward my locker. "Look, a new girl," the boy said. I didn't reply, or even acknowledge that he had said anything. "Look at me, you stupid bitch!"
I ingnored him again, but he then moved to make things a little more physical. He grabbed my chin, tilting my face up so that I had no choice but to look into his eyes. "I said, look at me!" He whispered dangerously. It was then that I realized how many people were watching us. Everybody in the crowded hallway were eagerly eyeing us, waiting to see what this asshole's latest victim was going to do. I felt myself tear up. I couldn't have this many people watching me, I just couldn't. I felt shriveled, as if I had shrunk into nothingness.
Suddenly that anxiety turned into anger. This wasn't me. I wasn't the type of person who let myself get pushed around by an egotistical prick who thought that I would cower and hide like the rest of them. I was stronger than that.
I tore my face out of his hand. "Fuck you." I spat, and walked away, ignoring the stares of everyone that had witnessed the spectacle. As I was walking, I let a small smile bloom on my face. I didn't know where that had come from, but it was like me. The old me.
***
The lunchroom was filled. I kind of expected that, seeing as I left class a little late so I could pack up my supplies, but it didn't matter. I wasn't here to eat anyway.
I examined the crowded tables, looking for Lynn. Across the room, I noticed her. Instead of sitting alone like I had expected her to, she was with a group of other freshmen girls. Not only that, but she was smiling. A big, real smile. Noticing that, I couldn't help but smile myself. If my sister was happy, I was happy.
Humming lightly under my breath, I made my way down the halls, looking for a place I could eat my lunch. Preferably somewhere away from the general population of the school. I wanted to eat alone, like I always did.
I thrned a corner, and walked into a hall that was completely dark, except for one spot of light, which was illuminating a glass case, with withered flowers littering the floor in front of it. Puzzled, I walked closer. It was strange for all the lights to be off, but stranger still that only one thing would be lit up. The dead flowets were just plain abnormal. When I got to it, I noticed that the glass was covering numerous smiling pictures of teenagers. I looked over them quickly, and noticed something. Underneath the pictures were two years: the year they were born, and the year they died. They all died in the same year. 1994.
I gasped. I had heard of the school shooting here, but I didn't realize how many people were killed...I counted the pictures, and it totaled fifteen. Fifteen people dead. What kind of sick, twisted person would do this? Whoever it was, I hated them. I hated everything about them.
I was abruptly woken from my thoughts when a voice spoke behind me. "So you found the memorial."
I whirled around, half expecting to see some sort of murderer (or, you know, a school shooter), but the person that spoke was just a girl. She was a good couple of inches shorter than me, with long black hair that reached her waist. She was holding a single orange chrysanthemum.
"I'm sorry if I scared you, I didn't mean to sneak up like that," she said, placing the flower down with the rest of them. The fresh flower was in stark contrast to the others; it was like no one had thought to clean up the flowers while everyone was gone for the break.
"It's all right," I said. "I've been kinda...jumpy lately."
The girl smiled. "Is it because you're new? I really haven't seen you before."
"Yeah, actually, I just moved here from Oregon."
"That's cool. I've lived here my whole life. Um, my name's Alison," she said, sticking her hand out for a handshake.
I gingerly took her hand, replying, "I'm Salem."
"Nice to meet you, Salem." Alison said, smiling. I was starting to get that this girl never really stopped grinning, and I liked that. It was a lot different than me or Lynn, with our auras of perpetual stormclouds.
"So," Alison asked, sice we were finsished introducing ourselves. "Why are you here, anyway? No one really ever comes to this part of the school. It's abandoned, seeing as this is where it happened."
"Oh," I replied, "Well, I don't really like being around, you know, other people, so to speak. Why are you here? You seem like you'd have a lot of friends."
"I just do this sometimes," Alison said. "I mean, I come and put flowers in front of the memorial. The shooting happened so long ago, that it's like everybody's forgotten. I'd like to think that if something like that happened to me, I would be remembered long after I was gone. So I come here, and bring a flower for the deceased. It's nothing much."
We both fell quiet, looking at the memorial, but then Alison spoke again, this time in a much more solemn voice. "There's another reason, too. Um, my aunt, my mom's sister, was killed here as well."
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry--"
Alison cut me off. "It's not like I remember her or anything. She died long before I was even born. It's just that, like, I know how it must have affected my mom. I have a little brother, and I couldn't imagine losing him.
That's her," she continued, pointing to a picture of a girl that looked a lot like Alison, caught mid-laugh. I looked at the years, and saw that she was only fifteen. Only a year older than Lynn.
After another pause, Alison laughed. "God, that was depressing. Let's get out of here. Oh! One more thing. There's about twenty different Alisons in this school, so if you need me or anything my last name's Miyasuki. Just in case."
I laughed, and then replied, "Well, I'm pretty sure I'm the only Salem, but if you need me or anything, my last name is Reed. Just in case."
"Good to know," Alison replied. "Hey, I know the best place to eat. No one else goes there. Come on!"
At that, she grabbed my arm and started leading me away. I had actually made a friend. Honestly, I hadn't had a friend since kindergarten, when everybody was friends with everybody. If Lynn was happy, and I was happy, maybe life wouldn't suck too bad. Maybe, just maybe, we could be a normal family.