Welcome to a Nightmare

Chapter 8: Familiar Face

Henry sighs heavily, staring at the blackboard as the teacher at the front of the room drones on and on. He cannot pay attention, not with his one mom in a mental asylum and the rest of his family is... who knows where.

It's not like the high school that he's attending is helping much either. The place is just as much a wreck like the rest of the city. The strange looking chauffer had handed the teenager his school bag without so much as a word. Henry could tell that this man did not like working for his "mother," who would? The man acted almost like a robot, possibly under the spell of the wicked fairy to keep him complacent. It could also be assumed that he hated having to care for the teenager as well. When the driver drove him up to the front of the school, all Henry could see was the graffiti covering every part of the building. In fact, almost every part of the school was vandalized in some form or another, on the inside and out. Windows had been smashed and hastily covered up with planks of wood or sheets of plastic to keep the cold out; plants, bushes, and even parts of the school had been scorched in some type of arson too. Henry did his best to ignore the ugliness of the school. He checked into the office, which had a bored looking secretary behind it and the teenager could see that she had a pistol in her desk, likely for protection or some other strange and devious reason. He was then forced to go through a metal detector and a backpack search by a security guard before he could actually go to his class; which was hard enough because since he was the only one with all his memories, he didn't know where he had to go or what subjects his "cursed" personae was supposed to be taking. Fortunately, when he looked into the school bag, his books had the classroom numbers inside and his schedule told him what class he had.

Despite making it to class just before the lunch period ended, Henry feels trapped. This was his cursed life now and while one could argue that he had it made as the mayor's kid; it would never be enough. The young author wants his family and peaceful life back, not this world where he has to be monitored just for going down the street for the fear of being mugged and feels more alone than ever.

He goes into his other backpack, the one with the important supplies inside. He sighs in relief when he sees his Author's pen. It glows slightly when he touches it, but the problem was, his storybook was not there. He then remembers that it was behind a glass case in his room, likely done by his great-grandmother so he couldn't get at it and ruin her plans. He taps his foot, waiting impatiently for the period to end. He can't waste time in a classroom in a desk that had every other student's name scratched into it, he had to break this curse, one way or another.

When the bell finally does ring, Henry bolts from his chair and hurries down the hall towards the front entrance, however, he stops in his tracks when he realizes he'd have to go through the front office and the security check again, he knew he didn't have time to waste with that. He hurries along the hall, past students who either don't pay attention to him at all or merely give him a weird glance because he was running like the school was on fire. He hurries to find another exit, only to find one in another hall to be chained shut, another is out of order due to construction, and the third door is stuck, no matter how hard he tries to push it open. His heart is in his throat as he becomes desperate to find a way to escape. He knows he only has a minute or two left before class begins. There are a few teachers scanning the halls nearby, looking for those who might be trying to skip. He then notices a girl with long brown hair and wearing a leather jacket go into the bathrooms.

Yes! The bathrooms would give him some extra time to think about his next move. He hurries down just as the girl disappears inside. He does a double take; he is shocked to realize that the girl just went into the boy's bathroom. Confused, but without time to think about it any more, he goes inside as well. The bell rings and the noise in the hallway begins to die down. The teenager breathes a sigh of relief, now he has some time to think without being caught.

The environment of boy's facilities is hardly an improvement from the school overall. The place is filled with cigarette butts, remains of toilet paper, and other strange looking pieces of trash. The mirrors are smudged with various substances and the whole place reeks very badly. Henry goes to the closest sink, which is cracked and turns the taps on. The water that comes out is covered in rust, but he still splashes some liquid on his face to wake himself up.

Okay, Henry, he thinks to himself. One mom is in an asylum, my great-grandmother is keeping her there to prevent her from believing. She knows about the curse and will do anything to stop you. Everyone else cannot remember who they truly are anymore, and the town has become a total mess... I'm basically back to where I was 4 years ago.

He sighs heavily, sick of everything working against Storybrooke's chances for a happy ending. Why couldn't they all just live in peace and normally?

He then notices through the reflection of the mirror that someone was missing. That girl who'd come in here for some reason; it could not be for the smell or working toilets. He notices that he couldn't see her feet under any of the stalls. He turns in confusion and begins peering under each stall which are, fortunately, all empty... that is until he gets to the last one at the end of the row, which had an Out of Order sign on it. He pushes open the door to find that where the toilet would be, there's a large hole in the foundation covered by a sheet of plastic. He sees singe marks around the stall as well as bits of porcelain, which made him assume that some person decided it would be funny to set off fireworks or even explosives inside the toilet. And then some student scraped away at the foundation until there was a hole big enough for anyone to slip through. The school had obviously not got around to fixing it yet, like everything else. Henry peels back the piece of plastic to see a hole providing the teenager with an easy way to slip through into the schoolyard if he took off his backpack.

Henry's heart skips a beat, he's actually found his escape route and now he understands why the girl came in here, to skip school as well. It's all thanks to her... whoever she was.

The teenager tosses his school bag through the hole, and then his backpack with the more important things inside next. He then ducks down and squeezes himself through the hole. He makes sure to put the plastic back over as he goes. He dusts any foundation or dirt from his shirt and gathers his belongings. He scans for a way to escape and he figures he can jump the chain-link fence on the far side of the school near the parking lot without being seen.

He then turns to see the girl in the leather jacket leaning against the wall of the school. She doesn't seem to notice him, either that or ignoring him, and is smoking a cigarette. She looks very cool and almost a bit scary.

For some reason, Henry is drawn to her; he feels compelled to get closer to her, maybe even talk to her. It was strange because she seems to be ignoring him. As he gets closer his heart pounds in his chest. The girl is in black jeans, wears two silver belts on her waist and has several chains dangling on her hip. Her jacket has several patches on it, along with a silver V on the shoulder facing Henry. She wears combat boots and a skull choker around her neck. Her hair is streaked in different shades of purple and she has a few piercings in her nose and lip. But it's not her appearance, nor the thick amount of eyeliner she has on, that spooks Henry and make him gasp.

None of the accessories, makeup, dyed hair, or leather could do anything to disguise who she was. Her big brown eyes are unmistakable, distinct, and her lips still look very soft, despite being covered in a heavy purple colour. Henry can feel tears coming to his eyes as he looks at the girl. It's a face he could never forget. Nothing could ever change how he feels about her.

"Violet?!" Henry gasps.

A/N: Please Review