37% remaining

Chapter 1- 38%

"Yeah, she seemed pretty mad. But she wasn't the only one. Most of the class failed." said Athena, walking out of her school. She held her phone against her ear while she was talking to her friend, Poppy.

"You got a 96! That means it wasn't that hard for you." argued Poppy.

"No, I thought it was hard too. I was pretty sure I was going to fail." Athena responded. Everyone told her she was smart. Yes, there were other kids who scored higher than she did, but she wasn't average. She was able to keep an all A average, but it wasn't the easiest. Her biggest weakness was doubting herself.

Athena looked down at her phone. 38%. "Dude, I gotta go. I want to save my battery."

"K. Bye" Athena and Poppy said at the same time. Athena smiled at the coincidence as she ended the call. Poppy was a very good friend of hers, but they were quite different. Poppy was into dresses, parties, and boys. Athena wore nice clothes but would much rather prefer coming to school in skinny jeans and an oversized T-shirt.

As she walked home from school, Athena noticed how late it was. She had stayed after school to finish an assignment and the sun was just starting to set. She put her phone in her back pocket and started to walk a little bit more quick towards her home.

She slowed when she noticed a small red car following her. She was almost at her house. She could feel the eyes of whoever was inside the car stare at her straight through her backpack. She turned around to look at the car, but the car sped away as soon as she turned. She didn't think anything of it until once the car was in front of her and abruptly stopped. The driver's side door opened and a can was dropped from a gloved hand. The car door slammed and drove away. Once the car was out of seeing distance, Athena continued, a little suspicious. She carefully approached the can, which had rolled to the curb on the side of the road. It looks like it's off brand, she thought when she couldn't recognize the label. Suddenly, the can popped! A mysterious fume started to rapidly spread out of what seemed to be a small cube. The confusion struck Athena and froze her. As soon as she caught a whiff of the mist, she became light-headed. Her knees locked, but her mind raced. She dropped her backpack and forced her legs to sprint at full speed. Her vision swayed and her head pounded. Just a little bit farther, she tried to motivate herself. She turned onto her street. She was almost there. She was almost at safety. Suddenly, her vision blurred. Her brain couldn't deal with the hallucinations. She tripped and stumbled. Something, or rather someone, was close behind her. No no no no no no no no, not now, she thought to herself, not willing to give up. But she wasn't strong enough. She dropped to her knees, and tried to catch her breath. She hadn't noticed how tired she was become from just trying to breathe alone. Athena tried to stand up again, but she was too weak. She felt the darkness closing in on her. She tried to fight it off, but it was too powerful. The darkness came over her, but she didn't welcome it. Her battle had just began.