Something Sinister

2

Her heart rate picked up as she walked to school, harsh wind swept across her face. The stinging bite of cold blew her hair back behind her. Her dull eyes scanned lowly across the hallway she blended in well but that didn't stop the overwhelming feeling of being stared at. Self-hatred settled permanently in the pit of her stomach. She scowled internally. She was so stupid. She didn't have to do anything to prove that.

She sat in the classroom labelled 19 there were only 23 classrooms in the school of Greendale high. A stereotypical high school in which was founded by Maria Greendale, a women who put a bullet in her head due to hissing voices that talked to her on a daily basis.

Merlyn had her head low to the desk her tongue on the edge of her mouth almost poking out behind pale lips. Her hand was wrapped loosely around a 2B pencil as she drew. A frown was etched onto her face as she drew the faceless figure that haunted her dreams. The classroom chatter was nothing but background buzzing as she focused, zoning the rest of the world out. It was only when the classroom fell silent she casted her eyes upward in fear they were looking at her.

Her body lost tension but remained rigid when she noticed that their eyes were trained on the door instead. "I'm Harry." Her heart stopped. That voice was the one from her nightmares. The one that echoed when he was laughing at her, the one that whispered venomous insults in her ear, the one that spoke with the promise to kill her.

Him.

His shoulders were broad, and his chest was wide. He had tattoos up and down his arm and his neck moved as he swallowed. His jawline was strong and defined, his lips were dry and reddened, and her heart lurched as she realized his eyes were trained on her. Emerald eyes. The ones she never got to see when her nightmare ends. His eyebrows furrowed and he looked away.

Her back cracked in several places as she straightened her back, the chair next to her scrapped against the dirty tiles and someone sat next to her. She took a deep breath. She could do this. Right? He wasn't actually going kill her. Right?

"I'm Harry." His voice was deep and rougher then in her dreams. He stuck out a hand for her to shake but she couldn't bring herself to touch him. "I-I know." She closed her eyes at her mistake. Her hands balled into fists in raw anger as she stuttered. He retracted his hands muttering a small: right. Under his breath. Halfway through the class small voices begin to leak into her sense of hearing.

"Why aren't you talking." They whispered. Merlyn squeezed her eyes straight.

"He's going to kill you. I don't know why you're not running." In a way they were right. If he really was the man in her nightmares she should be running. Fast.

"But what if he won't" she whispered. Back to them. Harry's head turned towards her confusion written on his face. "I'm sorry did you say something?" she looked at him her mouth agape. She frowned trying to rid her personality of the awkwardness. "I- um I-"she stuttered and he chuckled slightly.

"He's laughing at you."

She shook her head looking down. "Oh! I uh I didn't mean to offend you." He spoke.

"Liar."

They were right. Again.

Ever since she could remember she heard voices and saw things. Her mother and father were scared of her, she knew that, as much as her father hated to admit it. It started off small. Hearing laughing and crying in the distance, seeing people, looking away and then they were gone. It was when her mother died in a car crash, her father shut himself off and neglected her for days on end. Merlyn had trouble coping with everything and not having anyone help her through it, the doctors say, I had PSTD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). PSTD also ignited something dark in Merlyn which was a mental disease called Schizophrenia.

Crying and laughter turned into constant insults, conversations and hissing. Apparitions turned into seeing monsters and demons, people that weren't actually there. It was hard for her to tell which was real and fake. Some people knew she had schizophrenia, others just thought she was plain crazy.

"Hey, I'm sorry okay?" I looked at him as he stared down at me.

"It's okay a lot of people laugh at me anyway." She was quiet her voice getting lost with the others in the room. He frowned and opened his mouth to speak but closed it shortly after and looked down. Class went on as it usually did, every now and then she would see something move across the room or someone would start talking to her. Over the years she had learned how to ignore the small things. It was only when multiple voices were heard or someone looked too real that she would pay attention.

The bell rang and Merlyn gathered her things before leaving, "Hey wait up." Merlyn pushed on thinking it was another one of her hallucinations. A hand grabbed her shoulder pulling her back causing her to lose her balance and fell. "Shit, sorry." The guy bent down and helped her pick her things up and helped her up. "I am so sorry. I didn't think you'd fall." He said looking apologetic. "You look familiar," he said. Merlyn froze. Did he know about the dreams too? The ones he would kill her so harshly in. "I uh."

"Stuttering again? Pathetic"

"You look like someone I used to know."

"Used to?" she found her voice and spoke up for the first time in front of him.

"Yeah she's not around anymore." His voice was strained and her heartbeat increased by a mile and a half.

"Why's that?" she couldn't stop then questions. But all he did was scratch the back of his neck and laugh.

"You know they say 'curiosity killed the cat'." He smiled.

She rolled her eyes the suspicion still overwhelming her. Did he kill her? Like he did me?

"Yeah and 'satisfaction bought it back'."

"She passed, and I don't like to talk about it." He spat. Her eyes widened and she took a step backward.

"Right sorry, you shouldn't be talking to me anyway." She spoke the fear of people staring at her, seeping back into her. She looked around nervously, the new kid with the crazy one that would attract attention. Something she didn't want. "Why's that?" he smirked thinking she was kidding. "Just leave me alone." She turned on her heel and walked away, a slight scowl on her face from the ringing in her ears that pierced her hearing and give her a searing headache.