High School Horrors Book Two: The Secrets of Freeman High School (Redoing)

Moving On

Death. The word used to mean nothing to me. Not anymore.

My name was Ashley Parks. I knew death. It has called out to me before. I should've answered, but I didn't. Instead, John did.

That night haunts me. I've had nightmares. John, Rick, and Julie have tried to talk to me, but I ignored them. It hurt too much.

I moved away. I couldn't stand it at Jones anymore. Making new friends was hard, but I've been through worse. Ah, who am I kidding? I didn't make friends. People knew who I am, even though I moved several states away from that nightmare.

I lived in a small town named Miracle. The high school is Freeman High. It was named after the first principal, George Freeman. Or was it Josh freeman? Whatever. It didn't matter.

Even though it sounds like I was lonely, I'm not. Quiet is nice. There is one guy, though. I didn't know his name, but he kept staring at me. Every time I looked back, he turned away. So I decided to confront him at lunch one day in late January.

He was sitting out in the hallway that led to the filled cafeteria, alone. "Look, dude," I said to him. "I don't know who you are, but what do you want?" 

"I've been wanting to talk to you for a while." he replied. "I just don't know what to say."

"Just say hello."

"Hi. Sorry, I'm kinda new to this." he told me awkwardly.

"What, talking to someone new?" I asked.

"No. Talking to anyone."

"Oh. Well, it's easy. My name is Ashley. Ashley Parks." I bent down and stuck my hand out to him.

He shook my hand. "Chad.... Brady." He hesitated before he said his last name. Chad had short black hair that was spiked. The tips were white. Everyday he wore black.  The old me would've found him really weird, but since John... you know, I've changed.

I sat with Chad everyday at lunch outside of the blue cafeteria. We talked about everything, except the "accident," as news reporters called it. Chad brought it up once, but I gave him a look, and he dropped it. I felt my guard slipping away, gradually.