Different (Watty Awards 2012)

Everyone in the world is different, yet the same. The world that so many people peg as small and cramped is really so much bigger. My name is Grace, I'm fifteen and I may be... Different.

I had always been told to stay away from strangers, just like every other child had ever been told. My mother liked to tell me that every morning as I left for school. I didn't hate it, but I was definitely no big fan of the rule always coming out of her mouth. It made me feel like I was some little kid. There was one other thing that my mother told me in the morning, though it wasn't nearly as easy to understand as the simple age-old rule, one that my whole family was practically obsessed with. Stay away from those who don't make sense. I only go along with it so that my parents won’t scold me. To this day I still don't understand the whole concept. I'm not sure if I even want to know what it means.

Everything should have been normal today, just another day at school, but it wasn't. While I was walking to my second period class with my closest friend Sam, the power inside of the whole school went out. No lights, no backup lights, nothing. I had always --  for some reason -- felt content in the dark... almost a feeling of tranquility. Normally I would have loved to stay in the dark, but I could feel that something was definitely not right. I decided to go to the office to find out what was going on.

As I got closer to the office an unnerving feeling passed over me, but it was gone in an instant, as if someone was controlling the aura. The only thing that I was able to think of was that single saying that my family was obsessed with: stay away from those who don't make sense. When I got to the office, the door with darkly tinted glass was closed, but I could see a small bit of light coming from inside. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. That door was never locked. I knocked on the door a few times.

"Come in!" said a voice from inside that I didn't recognize. I opened the door to find an unfamiliar man sitting at the principal's desk with a flashlight in his hands. My eyes widened as I locked eyes with him, I had noticed a single detail of his eyes... they were pure darkness, looking as though they had no iris.

"Who are you?" I asked, wary of whom this stranger was. He smiled at me creepily, while I noticed that all of his teeth were probably a little bit sharper than they should have been. This person was not right. I could feel the atmosphere changing, becoming something darker, scarier.

"Me? I'm the new principal, Nathaniel Samson," he replied locking eyes with me again, but this time it was different. His gaze was piercing and as much as I wanted to look away, I couldn't. His gaze kept me locked in place, motionless. This time there was something sinister deep in his eyes. There were so many murderous emotions that were barely contained. He grinned again. I gasped. In that moment I knew... this man was evil. Then I realized, my family knew. I wish I had listened to them whenever they had said: don't talk to strangers and stay away from those who don't make sense. This person didn't make sense. Why would he have such anger and hate towards me? The man's grin widened as if he knew what I was thinking. Suddenly I could move again. I turned and ran. I ran all the way through the school. Pushing through the people lingering in the halls. There were a few yelps from the students, but of course they couldn't see who I was due to the blackout. Nobody would even believe me if I told them what was going on. I finally burst through the school's front doors after feeling like I had been running for hours. I stopped for a moment coughing and wheezing, just trying to catch my breath. I was going to start running again, I didn't know where I would go, but I knew that I had to get away. I took a few steps, when I felt a sharp pull on my hair. The "new principal" had grabbed my hair and pulled. Hard. I screamed, but nobody was around to hear.

"You're not going anywhere," I heard Nathaniel say from behind me. My eyes started to water from the pain of my hair being pulled. A few drops of blood trickled down the side of my face. He then started to drag me towards the parking lot. I screamed again, but he ignored me.