F E A R

chapter one, grenola

I've always been told, "Time is valuable." I believe this is true. Time is not only valuable, but precious. You might tell yourself, "There's still time," or, "There's always next time", but there's also, "It's too late."

There is no set amount of time you have in this life. Things can change in a matter of milliseconds.

If you're like me, which is considered rare, you're in that small percentage of the teenage population that has a passion for adventure, observation, exploring. You're open-minded, you're so open-minded that you feel uncomfortable telling others your thoughts and dreams.

But unfortunately for me, this small town I live in limits my amount of adventures.

I live in Grenola, Kansas, and yes! It is a real place! The town's population is the gigantic 204. Try counting that high! Grenola is the least populated town in all of the state of Kansas. 111 females, 86 males. My town mostly consists of wore down brick houses, a brick road for our Main Street, and lots of cattle. Most of the teenagers here either hangout on Main Street on the weekends, or drive the 43 minutes to the city of Winfield. I on the other hand, spend my days down by the creek behind the baseball diamonds, or at the railroad tracks around midnight. Occasionally I get together with my three best friends and we climb the old buildings on Main Street in the dead of the night. It's not like there's many officers to stop us, anyway, so we could easily do the same during the day. Sometimes I walk to abandoned houses and observe them, sit in them for awhile. There's also an old mental hospital, or asylum, in the country that I drive out to with my same three friends. You'll find me doing anything in nature. If I'm not doing that, I'm playing softball with friends, or reading a book. And that's my life.

It's boring, and unsatisfying. I'd like to live somewhere that gives me the opportunity to travel to spontaneous locations. I'm just not that lucky.

Rounds of knocks on my bedroom window startled me, causing me to throw up the record I had just picked off my music stand. With my hand pressed to my chest, and eyes shut tight I turned around. On the count of three I opened my eyes. My breathing returned to normal when I saw the three familiar faces waving and laughing at me through the window. I rolled my eyes before advancing forward and pulling up on the ledge.

"Shouldn't you be used to us beating the shit out of your window by now? What or who else in Grenola would show up outside Alayziah Reece's bedroom?" The one and only Chris Sawyer says, talking way too loud for my liking.

Scoffing, I pushed the ledge all the way up, allowing them in. I walked back to my music stand and tossed the record I accidentally cracked in the trash.

"So, what's the plan?" I turned back around and continued to sift through my collection of albums.

"Well, we decided to switch it up a bit tonight," Grace spoke. I kinked my right eyebrow up and shifted my head to the right, exposing the side of my face to them.

"Nothing big! Just thought the usual cruising dirt roads and breaking into abandoned houses could wait until tomorrow. For tonight," a sudden pause occurred and I knew exactly where she was going with this. "We go to Winfield." Grace spoke enthusiastically, I could practically visualize how big her smile would be if I turned to them right now.

I spun completely around now, facing the three of my best friends. Ryan is the most quiet of us all, but he has the mind of a warrior. The level of his intelligence surprises me at times. Grace is that one sassy ass cheerleader. Her bravery is what I admire most about her, definitely the toughest of us all- mentally and emotionally. And Chris, the loudest, funniest, most trustworthy of our group. He's the one I can count on to always have my back- to always be there for me. Not to mention, he is a real stud when it comes to basketball.

I stare back at them, all their faces painted with a faint smirk. Grace's bottom lip is pouted, her eyes fiercely staring into mine, practically begging. The two boys, on the other hand, were literally begging. Both on their knees with their hands clasped together, barely muttering "please" over and over and over. They know as well as I do that we never go to Winfield unlike everyone else at our high school. We aren't into parties, we just like dangerous, thrilling adventures.

Noting the seriousness on their faces, I scoffed. "You guys aren't joking? You really want to go to Winfield? To do what? Go to a lame ass party with lame ass people who play lame ass games that make them end up drunk off of their lame asses?"

It was silent for awhile as I stared questioningly at them. The smirks on their faces began to transform to a look of disappointment, and I felt a pang of guilt.

"It's not like that, Alayziah. We just felt like it'd be nice to do something different for a change. C'monnnnn," Grace continued to sulk.

Two loud slaps sounded as she hit both Chris and Ryan in the stomachs, urging them to follow her actions. Now, all three of them sit cross legged on the ground in front of me, bottoms lips pouted and prepared to beg more any second. I sighed.

"Fine, I'll go, but just this once."

Ryan, Grace, and Chris cheered with the biggest smiled on their faces.

"Okay, well, I need about a half hour to make myself not look homeless so I'll just meet you guys downtown when I'm done and we can go from there?" I asked.

"Alright, yeah." Chris responded and all three of them began to get up and exit through the window one by one. I waved to them once they were all standing on the roof to my room, and then they were gone.

Sighing to myself, I begin to get ready. Just as I was straightening my hair, I hear sirens in the distance. Police sirens? An ambulance maybe? A fire truck? I ignore it and continue to straighten my thick, dirty blonde hair.

Grabbing my keys and wallet, I start to head outside to my car. There's a tiny tint of light out, but barely enough just to make out where I'm walking. Unlocking my car, I step in and sit down, turning my keys in the ignition before slamming the door shut. I reach for my cellphone, type in my lock code and call my mom to tell her know where I'm going. After hanging up I start to drive out of my driveway and down the never ending dirt road. Finally, I near the edge of town.

Ryan lives right around the block on 109th street, so I decide to pick him up first. Unfortunately I'm the only one of my four best friends who actually owns a car, so I just drive us everywhere and they pay me for their share of gas money. It can be a pain but we don't usually go many places anyway. Next will be Grace, who lives a little more north in town, and then Chris because he lives right next to Grace.

"What took so long?" Ryan jokes with me while opening the passenger door and stepping in.

"Sex."

Ryan's neck immediately snaps in my direction and he sticks out his tongue, making a genuine gagging noise. Afraid he was actually about to throw up, I quickly stomped on the breaks, unbuckled as quickly as possible and opened his door.

He was now laughing histarically and I was beyond confused.

"You should've seen your face just now!" He barely manages to breathe through all his laughter.

"Well, you should've seen yours! Like I even have anyone to do anything with in this town where the population is practically zero. Ha ha ha, so funny. Now shut up." I playfully smile back at him and he smirks, shaking his head.

"The normality of Alayziah, wouldn't expect anything less."

I pull up to Grace's and she's already waiting outside.

"Hand me the aux will you Layz? I reaaally need to jam to fergalicous right now."

I laughed and plugged in my AUX cord and handed the other end to Grace. Once the beginning music came on, I could see her in the corner of my eye dancing, shaking her shoulders back and forth. Ryan joined in, turning up the music even louder. I went over to the driveway opposite of Grace's to see that Chris wasn't outside. So, I honked. Then I honked again. And again. And one more time until finally a small Chris appeared in the doorway.

"Hey, take it easy on the horn will you?" He shouts while running to the car, slinging a bag around his shoulders. "My parents will get annoyed and then probably ground me for your annoying-ness." Chris smirks at me as he sits in the last available seat and I roll my eyes back at him.

"Okay." I sigh. "Let's get this show on the road, shall we?"