Lauren

Chapter two

Highschool. The thought of it bored Lauren. School had never been her thing, she was never worried about her grades and neither was Sandy. The older lady was always preoccupied with her restaurant business.
Lauren stood among the crowd in the hallway, looking around and observing. That was one of the jobs of silent people. Hundreds of students and teachers were trooping in and out of the school through the hallway. Some were dressed casually, others were wearing expensive attire, while still others were managing their worn-out, faded outfits like Lauren. But who even cared to give those individuals struggling to meet the middle class a second glance in a quite expensive school as that.
Lost in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by laughter, cheers, and multiple conversations that filled the atmosphere. She found it challenging to focus on any individual sound. Moreover, everything seemed uninteresting to her. It appeared like she was trapped in that position without any apparent reason.
Crestland highschool was weird, lonely and terrifying to Lauren. The frequent illegal large posters being attached to the walls concerning various  parties and events of which she was never invited to unless, it was a compulsory general gathering, the menacing look of the other students and her usual bully.
She was being enrolled into the school during the first semester of senior high one where she made a best friend Eddie, and it seemed like she had been there all her life. She was still enjoying the moment of observation until there was a sharp touch on her shoulder from behind. She jerked back to reality and turned over to find an average height guy with having a  round, cute face and adorable blue eyes. It was Eddie, her best friend.
"Lost in the crowd..... again."
Lauren rolled her eye balls and walked away.
"Hey, I literally walked back to you and you're just walking away?!." Eddie yelled out, following after her to the school cafeteria.
***
The aroma of the food wafting through the air, the clattering of trays and utensils and multiple laughters and conversation. The cafeteria was a wide space with multiple tables and seats that could contain the entire school. It was in form of a large buffet hall with long windows and clear walkways for students and staffs to circulate around. Each food was served from the chafing dishes.
"My mom's pretty good with kids_ Eddie said with a tray containing whole grain oven-baked chicken sandwich with friut and veggies, walking to a table together with Lauren.
_"she'll be organising an event for kids at funzone this weekend and she needs a group of teenagers for assistance, of course I must definitely be there so you comin'?."
"I don't know, Lauren muttered. Maybe by then I'd be on my bed with my head buried in my pillow, sobbing silently and hoping to die."
Eddie turned to her, perplexed.
"What, don't judge me not everyone feels good about themsel_____" Lauren's statement was cut short when an individual suddenly knocked their lunch to the ground as the whole meal spilled to the floor with a heavy thud and loud clattering of plates. The crowd exclaimed. It was Mike again, a popular chubby bully along side his two tough friends; Troy and Jim. They all grinned crookedly. Mike walked closer to Eddie and Lauren and whispered in their ears" Just wanted to say hi." He beamed the crooked smile again and walked away. Before leaving Troy reached out to Eddie and gave him a forceful shove in the chest, causing Eddie to stagger backwards several steps.
As the death traps moved on, because that was what they were simply seen as, the watching crowd fearfully made way for them. Lauren and Eddie on the other hand stood still, staring at the mess their ruined lunch caused on the floor. Eddie fumed and gritted his teeth but as usual, there was nothing he could do.

***
Sandy's arms were smeared with flour as she rolled out a circle of dough on the kitchen counter. Every movement was swift, graceful and detailed. Sandy was never tired of what she loved doing no matter how stressful it would be, that was why she was always devoted to her restaurant business. While growing up as the only child of her parents, after graduating from highschool she wasn't privileged to further her education in college so instead, she decided to help out in the family poor restaurant business back then at Ohio. But, it was taken seriously by the family as they worked hard to feed at least once a day. It could probably be the passion she derived from the family as she moved to Chicago to start up hers with the assistance of her child hood best friend Lucy, who also moved down to Chicago to start a new life away from her family. But unlike Sandy, Lucy managed to struggle to make it to college with the help of the little funds she was getting from the restaurant and working multiple jobs. After finishing from college, her life grew more worse and complicated as she then decided to settle down with Sandy's restaurant business which allowed them to live a quiet, comfortable life.
As Sandy kept on rolling out the circle of doughs, she looked away to the dinning area of the restaurant. Strangely, she noticed a dark figure standing at the entrance. It was in form of a murky, indinstinct  shadow with no face, legs nor hands.  P It just stood there with no movement creating a dark, questionable sense of aura. Sandy was confused. She stared at the customers but it seemed like no one noticed the stranger. She began to say a silent prayer and did the sign of the cross and mustered courage. She walked out of the kitchen taking a slow conscious step to the figure.
"Hello?." She called out silently while moving closer but there was no response from the stranger. Surprisingly, the closer she got to the figure, the obscurity grew stronger as the environment started to turn blurry and making her dizzy. She couldn't tell what was going on at that moment but she couldn't stop stepping closer.
"Sandy?!." Lucy called out from behind. Immediaty, with just a blink of an eye the figure disappeared as Sandy jerked back in shock and quickly turned over. Thank God the customers didn't also notice that.
"Jeez, are you okay?." Lucy asked confused.
Sandy glanced at the door again over her shoulder then turned to Lucy. She heaved a deep sigh and muttered"whatever." After which she walked back to the Kitchen leaving Lucy startled.