❛ BACK FROM THE DEAD. ❜ // 𝑆𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝐴𝑈

❲ Nockfell High. ❳

᳃ One Week Later ᳃

It has been quite the hefty week ever since I saw that Sally case. The majority of the time went to packing, checking in with the neighbors, going around the city with Nix. He took me around this lake at some point too - it was a huge lake, honestly. 'Wendigo Lake', surprised I still remember the name.

As we speak, today's supposed to be my first day of school. My dad got me into one of the famous schools here, which obviously, was named after its own city. Nockfell High. Might as well call their shops 'Nockfell Groceries' at this point.

Anyway, it was an okay school. Nix was also in that school, so that's a win. It was around 6 Am.. and school doesn't start 'till 7:30. But still, I got up anyway and swung my feet off the bed. I sat there for a few seconds before getting up and stretching.

I walked over to my closet first and decided to pick out my clothes for the day. I skimmed through the clothes before pulling out some dark red, brown-ish jeans along with a black turtle-neck. It was simple, but it did the job.

I took the clothes with me to the bathroom and took a quick shower before putting the clothes on. I was out of the bathroom, drying my hair in my room when I heard a soft knock on my door. "Who is it?!" I had to yell out because of the obnoxious noise from the blow drier.

Soon after, the door opened and my mother came in, "Breakfast's on the table, hon! Me and your dad are going out for an important meeting, have fun at school!" I looked back at her with a smile and replied, "Okay, got it! Thank you!!" My mother just closed the door after giving a thumbs up to me, leaving for whatever meeting my parents had to attend.

I finished making myself look presentable and picked up my bag as I swung it over my left shoulder. I got out of my room and walked over to the kitchen counter. And sure enough, my breakfast along with my school lunch was there on the counter, along with a sticky note, 'have fun! we'll be back soon'. I recognized the handwriting from my dad's.

I smiled at the note before starting to eat my breakfast, glancing up at the clock every minute or so to maintain time. Fortunately for today, I managed to finish it within 10 minutes without getting distracted at all. I slipped out my phone to see a text message from Nix.

'Dude you ready yet??' I quickly replied to him before putting on my shoes, 'Yeah just wait 5 mins'. I slipped on my shoes and tied them up before finally looking at myself in the fridge's reflection and opening the door to the hallway, locking it behind me. I entered the elevator, pressed '1' and waited as I heard the elevator music.

Though, as I stood there, it felt like it was taking an unusually long amount of time to get to that floor. I crossed my arms and kept waiting.. for ten total minutes..?

I looked around at the walls of the elevator, starting to suspect that maybe the elevator just isn't working or something. I mean there has to be a reasonable explanation, right? I inhaled deeply before slipping out my phone to text Nix about what's going on. At least he'll tell his dad to help out.

‘hey dude i think the elevator ja’

Before I could even type completely, I heard overlapping murmurs coming from behind me, causing me to quickly snap my neck to look who was behind me.

But, to my surprise, no one. My lips were parted. I couldn't even move. It was like I was frozen in one place. My breathing started to pick up and I was practically panting. I looked around again just to make sure I wasn't crazy. But there really was no one. Maybe I was imagining it?

“Xav, you good?”

I quickly turned around to see Nix staring at me in confusion. “I thought you got killed or something dude, it took you a while! The bus has arrived and its gonna go off any minute!” I looked back at the elevator in confusion. What the fuck just happened.

Nix just grabbed ahold of my hand and dragged me out of the building. But for some reason, I couldn't stop looking back at the elevator. I know I wasn't just hearing things, there was someone there. Something, maybe.

As me and Nix entered the bus and sat on our seats, Nix took the window side and I took the one next to it. I was still shocked from the event that just occured. And I think it was a little obvious, since Nix also asked about it. “Hey, you okay? You look like you just saw a dead body or something bro.” I simply cleared my throat and smiled, “Yeah, I'm okay.. just nervous is all.”

Nix playfully punched my arm, “C'mon dude! There's nothing to worry! I'm with you, and I'll show you around instead. How does that sound?” My smile eventually grew wider and I playfully scoffed before nodding in agreement. “Yeah.. sounds fun.”

-

After about 30 ish minutes, me and Nix were already in school going through our lockers. Unfortunately, his locker was a bit far from mine, so I was alone setting up my locker for the day before the bell rang. After I was done, I took out the books I need for the first class I had - mathematics.

As I shut the locker door and locked it, Nix finally came up to me with a smile. “So, how's Nockfell High, new guy?” He asked, rhyming unintentionally. I just shrugged my shoulders, “Mm.. could've been better honestly.”

Nix softly laughed at my response, “Don't be that negative. Trust me, the guys here are really kind. Well, to new guys at least.” I chuckled at what he said. Well, it was my first day after all. Maybe it'll get better once I get to class.

Though, as if almost on cue, me and Nix heard someone, or something, fall behind us. Before we could even look, a bunch of students were already blocking the view, getting on top of each other to see what was going on. Suddenly, we heard someone grunting and struggling. Me and Nix exchanged eye contact before running up to the crowd of people, pushing against them to see what was the big deal.

Well.. let's just say the view wasn't really pleasing. We saw a blonde haired boy grabbing some guy by the collar, punching him repeatedly as if he was his worse enemy. The poor guy's face was just.. god, it as just covered in bruises, cuts and blood was trailing dow from his nose down to his chin.

“Sage!” Nix yelled out as he went in and tried to get the blonde haired boy off of the guy. I ran up to him and asked him if he was okay, to which he just nodded while sitting up, holding his nose in pain. I looked over at Nix who was already at the end of the hallway, telling a teacher about his actions.

I looked back at the guy, “C'mon, let me get you to the nurse's office..” I said as I helped him get off of the floor. I let him balance himself for a few seconds until Nix came back, “They got him handled. Now, we just gotta take him to the nurse.” he claimed.

-

Me, Nix and Sage were all sitting in the nurse's office, me and Nix watching as the nurse patched up his nose and the small cut he got on his lip. “Alright.. and there we go. I'll inform the teacher that you will be skipping your first class so that you can rest easy.” the nurse claimed before walking away with a kind smile

I sighed before sitting down on the bed next to the one Sage was sitting on. I could feel the tension in the air anyway, so I didn't question anything. After a minute or so, Nix spoke up, “..Really dude? A fight with him of all people?”

“I didn't start it! I swear! He did the first move!” Sage exclaimed while throwing his arms in the air. I then spoke up, “Do I need to know who that was..?” Nix sighed and crossed his arms before leaning against the wall and answering the one question I had this entire time.

“The blondie's name is Travis. Travis Phelps.”

(Words: 1454.)