You're Not Alone

Chapter 4: The Nightmare (Melissa's POV)

"G'night, Brendon." I said, waiting for a response. But by then, he was already asleep. I brushed this off and began to close my eyes, clenching onto my sleeping bag. At first, I struggled to fall asleep, the sounds of wind blowing and the shadows of the trees were offputting. I tried to reassure myself that it was nothing and turned onto my side. I closed my eyes once more and tried to drift off to sleep. But just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard a thud. "What was that?!" I whispered to myself, trying not to wake Brendon. I looked over and saw that the wind knocked the fan down. I got up, propped the fan by the closet, and went back to my bag. This time, I finally fell asleep.

But the strangest thing happened. I woke up and found myself at school again. I was standing by the lockers with Brendon and Jason. We were talking about what movie to produce this weekend. "Don't we have that fire safety PSA we already agreed on?" I asked. "What fire safety PSA? I don't remember talking about filming a PSA." Brendon replied. "Yeah, where did you hear that from, Melissa?" Jason chimed in. "I...I dunno. I thought we were gonna film that over the weekend." I was confused, all Brendon talked about was that damn fire safety PSA from the moment we got home. "You must have misheard something, Melissa. Cuz we tried our hand at children's media before...And we all know how THAT turned out." Jason said. "Yep. Those were a LOT of marbles..." Brendon contemplated. But I couldn't wrap my head around it. What if Brendon and Jason had just forgotten about it and maybe they'd remember later. The bell rang and we all headed to class.

As Brendon and I were walking to Mr. Lynch's class, the lights began to flicker. I could even hear whispers of gibberish echoing through the halls. I couldn't make out what they were saying, which was all the more unsettling. I turned my head to try and talk to Brendon, but he was GONE! Or so I thought, it turns out he was just waiting by the classroom door. "Are you just gonna stand there all day? Come on, we're gonna be late!" Brendon yelled, trying to get me to come to class. I gave in and entered. Once we entered, Mr. Lynch asked for us to turn in our worksheets, but instead of Brendon forgetting his (though last time, he somehow remembered), I forgot MY worksheet. Mr. Lynch asked where it was and I looked down in shame. "I....Forgot to turn it in..." Which led the class to tease me by giving me the "ooooooh" treatment as I walked to my desk. Some of the kids whispered to each other while others gave me cold glares, even Brendon of all people.

As the lesson started, the lights started flickering again, this time faster. It was so bad, I couldn't even focus on the lesson. I could feel my hands sweating, my heart beating quickly, loudly even. It felt like the room was spinning and I could feel the cold stares once again. This all stopped when loud beeping started to echo through the classroom. I heard the rushing of a thousand students coming from the hallways, and this time, Brendon yelled "FIRE!!!!" Which prompted Lynch to gather the class and instructed all of us to head to the fire exit single file. As we were about to reach the door, however. Lynch discovered that it was LOCKED. Thankfully, he had the key and quickly opened the door. All of us bolted out of the classroom while still following orders. Lynch was about to escape before a wall of fire blocked him!

"MR. LYNCH!" I screamed, but Brendon pulled me away. "Save yourselves, kids!" He yelled back, before his voice faded away. "I'm sure authorities have already been called to the scene, Melissa. Stop panicking!" Brendon groaned, still holding my arm. I looked off in the distance and saw the fire was only feet away from all of us. "MOVE FASTER, EVERYBODY!!!" I ordered, but the kids wouldn't budge. They just kept walking slowly. Brendon tried to hold onto me, but I broke from his grasp. I rans as fast as I could to find the fire exit, but the other classmates kept walking slower and slower, each of them being engulfed in the flames in the process, which left only Brendon and me as the only kids standing. "Come on, Brendon! We're gonna get ourselves killed out here!!!!" I cried, trying to drag Brendon towards the exit, but he stopped me. "W-What are you doing? Aren't you scared?!" I said, but Brendon then faded to black ash and blew away. "BRENDON!!!!!" I screamed, but then just as I was about to open the door, everything went black.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH" I woke up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. I looked around and I was in Brendon's bedroom once again. But without thinking, I ran into the hallway, I didn't think, I just ran. I found another door that was lightly open and scurried in. Without thinking, I noticed a bed and jumped in. Causing someone to wake up. "...What do you want, Brendon. Can't you seeing I'm trying to-" Paula grumbled before taking notice of my terrified expression. "M-Melissa? What are you doing in here?" She then rubbed her eyes and I quickly grabbed onto her like a leech. "Oh, Mrs. Small...I-It was awful." I said, on the verge of tears. "...What was awful, Melissa..?" She asked softly, pulling me in for an embrace. At that point, I could barely speak and just cried my heart out as she held me. At this rate, I'm surprised I didn't wake Brendon or Josie up. But Mrs. Small was patient with me during the night. Once I had calmed down, I was just exhausted. "Mrs. Small...?" I asked, wiping away my tears. "Yes, Melissa?" She responded. "I...I know I'm a little old for this...But...Can I sleep here tonight?" Brendon's mom then took an extra pillow from the bed and placed in on the side for me. She then laid on her side of the bed and I crawled on the other.

"G...G'night, Mrs. Small..." I whispered, but she was already asleep by then. At that moment was when I finally felt safe, and I finally fell asleep after an exhausting and eventful evening...