distorted dreams

chapter two;

"Oh my God." Maxwell whispered, holding his pen still at last.

His gaze shifted to Jay, who was still shaking in their seat. They looked over at him too, their eyes wide.

"Maxwell- you don't think it could be-"

Maxwell cut them off. "No no..it couldn't have been..." He reassured Jay. Though, part of him really did believe it may have been Jay's powers.

Despite the fact that the two had only been friends for a few months, Jay had already told Maxwell about their special abilities. They'd refused to demonstrate, for obvious reasons, but they had told Maxwell the story of their friend going missing.

"No. You listen to me." Jay's voice rose as the other kids in the classroom began to audibly panic. "I haven't told you this for your safety, but the monsters have begun to get a mind of their own-"

Maxwell's already pale face managed to whiten more.

"Max. What if they're back? I couldn't hear anything from them last night. What if...what if they escaped somehow...?"

"Oh my God." He repeated, looking to the side. "Jay, we have to do something-"

Jay nodded quickly, then paused. "But how?"

--

Hope slammed a book onto the table, earning a loud hushing noise from the nearby librarian. Hope apologized softly, before turning her gaze up to her friends.

"So. Do we have any idea how Jay's creatures may have escaped their mind?" She pressed.

Maxwell and Jay exchanged a glance, before slowly shaking their heads.

Hope sighed heavily. "Ah. Lovely." She muttered. "Okay well- do we even really know like the source of these creatures."

Jay leaned back in their seat. "All I know is they're from my imagination. I'd usually have to summon them to life, in a sense. But with these theorized creatures, I have zero clue where they came from. I mean I haven't touched that part of my mind since...Amelia-"

Hope looked over at Maxwell, who had a sympathetic expression plastered on his face. Hope glanced at Jay, running her fingers through her hair nervously.

"Okay so, do we have any idea why this creature took Ms. Mack?"

Again, Jay shook their head.

"So, we have no proof this is even caused by Jay's mind monsters?"

The group fell silent. Maxwell looked at his feet, then at Jay. They blinked at Hope, picking at their nails nervously.

"I mean, not really-" Jay murmured. "But, I know it had to have been them."

Hope sighed again, seeming to get slightly annoyed with her friends. "I'd love to believe you guys, but there's really no evidence. Or any motive." She shifted in her seat, looking at the ceiling.

It was silent once again. That was, until a loud shriek was heard from the hallway. The three immediately hopped to their feet, following the sound of the bloodcurdling scream.

Once they reached the hall though, it was almost completely empty. A blue backpack was all that remained of the screamer. Its contents were strewn about, as though there'd been some sort of struggle.

Jay turned to Maxwell, who turned to Hope. She stared, clearly trying to think of some kind of logical reasoning behind the occurrence. Hope turned back to look at her friends, trying to find the words to explain this.

A voice crackled over the intercom, urgency in its tone. "Students and staff, please report to the auditorium. Immediately."

Hope stared at the other two, getting a feeling of dread in her stomach. She wasn't the only one though, everyone had gotten this same feeling. Jay began to walk to the auditorium, letting their friends trail behind.

"This has to be them-" Maxwell said in hushed voice, leaning down so Hope could hear better.

Hope looked around nervously. "Jay?" She started, tapping Jay's shoulder gently.

Jay shook their head. "We'll discuss this after school, okay? Now, don't be too loud about it-"

With that, the three went quiet. It seemed to happening a lot today, but the empty silence was okay. It gave them time to process all of this.

Jay pushed the doors open, walking down the aisle with an anxious frown. They picked a group of seats that no one usually sat near and plopped down. Maxwell and Hope filed in between them.

Other students filled the room, sitting with their friend groups and chattering. There was tension in the air, and the talking was clearly just nervous chit-chat.

The staff stood along the edges of the seats, barely paying attention to their students. If they weren't talking quietly amongst themselves, they were watching the stage anxiously and waiting for their principal to explain himself.

Once he walked on stage, a silence washed over the teens, only a few boughs of brief chatter. The auditorium was jam-packed with people, and all of them were eager to hear what on Earth was going on.

"I'm sure you're all confused why I've called you here today." The principal began. Jay heard a nearby teacher mumble something sarcastic as they watched.

The principal looked around, giving away the fact that this was completely unscripted. Jay felt a dragging feeling in their chest, anticipating and also fearing the next words to come from their principal.

"I'm not sure if all of you are aware, but two people have seemingly gone missing in this school day. One of our teachers, Ms. Mack didn't show up to work today and is currently classified as a missing person. And we just recently heard screaming which is a clear sign that another person has been hurt or kidnapped."

The very large room was suddenly silenced. Not a single person could be heard talking, or even just breathing. It was honestly terrifying.

"The school is on lockdown as of now, and we urge students to not leave the auditorium until the end of the day bell rings and you are escorted out safely."

There were a few groans of protest, but they died down quickly. Everyone seemed to know that this was a necessary procedure, since none of them really wanted to get kidnapped. Hope shifted, pulling the book she'd been looking at out of her backpack.

Maxwell and Jay looked at her, their eyebrows raising a bit. Hope merely gave a simple nod.

"We're getting to the bottom of this."