February 5th should've been the most boring day of my life. High school was its usual: loud bells, screaming kids, ratty teachers, and shitty bathroom stalls. The only unusual thing was the new kid, a short and stubby fifteen year old with freckles, named Karl. At the start of math class, he introduced himself as "King Karl with a K" and proceeded to take the seat beside me. Not to sound like a weirdo or whatever, but I could tell he'd eaten a burger for breakfast from the strong scent of a 'McDonald's Happy Meal' every time he took a breath. His face wore red pudgy cheeks and wide electric blue eyes that were... looking right at me.
Woah.
I nearly jumped out of my seat. Maybe he caught me staring at him because, he had a pretty questioning look in his eyes. I turned away in embarrassment to look at my Algebra 2 textbook. I could still feel him gazing at me in the corner of my eye. This awkward situation continued for the rest of the class, it was nearly unbearable. After the bell rang I grabbed him before he could get up from his seat.
"Why were you staring at me?" I asked.
"You were staring at me first" He replied coolly.
Really though, what's the deal with this kid? " What do you want dude? You were staring at me for the entire class."
He leans in and whispers, "I just find you... incredibly intriguing."
My mouth drops open, then I close it. I had no idea what to say at this point.
He leans in a bit further..."Also because you have pretty eyes."
I could feel his hot breath hit my face, it reeked of onions and ketchup. He says it with a straight face but it's impossible for me to take him seriously. If he is being real, I would kindly tell him that I'm not interested; but if he's messing around with me, I would love to shove him headfirst into his desk and tell him to "Fuck off." Before I could make a decision, the bell for history class rang and I had to let him go.
I pushed him away and wrinkled my nose in disgust, "Just don't mess with me kiddo".
What a weirdo, I thought as I walked to my next class. Just my luck, I didn't see Karl for the rest of the day during classes nor in the hallways. That is, until basketball practice. Practice started at Five O clock p.m. and lasted two hours. Coach Reggie started us off with ten laps around the court. I glanced around at the bleachers and what do you know...I find Karl sitting there watching me and my team. Is this kid obsessed with me or what? I think. People regularly came and watched the practice, so no one else thought much of the stalker in the stands. I, on the other hand had a feeling that Karl's intentions were far from innocent.
"NICO!" Coach Reggie called, addressing me by my nickname. "ARE YOU WITH US?"
"Yeah Coach, sorry." I replied. I realize that I had been standing still for a full minute whilst everyone else were in a line doing layups. I snap myself out of it and run back toward the line. When I look back to the stands, I see Karl grinning widely. This creepy dude totally deserves a kick to the balls. I tried to put my mind off of him for the remainder of the practice and successfully focused on and completed each of the given instructions. By the end, I along with all nine of my teammates were sweating rather thoroughly and making jokes about who'd win this Saturday's game. I had almost forgot about Karl and his annoying breath. Almost.
Right so... Practice ended and my team and I were in the locker room changing back into our clothes. My team consists of nine other scrawny high school kids. Generally speaking, we either lose almost every game because most of us are not able to play physically or half of my team doesn't take anything seriously (A fact which continues to piss me off every weekend). I'll introduce you: There's Brackley who's six feet four and can't tie his own shoes. Noah who's five feet seven, incredibly smart but can fall to the slightest push. You've got the triplets: Sammy, Rodney, and Hugh. They all are short as hell, but can score twenty points in less than two minutes if you need them to. Joseph and Carl are best friends who claim to workout everyday, but still fail to lift a twenty-five pound dumbbell. Last but not least, the Steizull brothers: Mack and Caleb, who get high behind an old Church every Sunday.
"Dude did you see me dunk on Broccoli" Hugh asks us.
"That wasn't even a dunk bro, it was more like a layup. And if you call me broccoli again, you ain't playin' this Saturday" Brackley responds.
"Layup my ass, I totally touched the rim" says Hugh.
"Could you please not use the "A" word around me?" Carl demands. "You have no reason to use vulgar language".
"Afraid chu' gonna catch a disease or sumfin?" Asks Mack.
They continued their conversation for another fifteen minutes then left, leaving me alone in the locker room. Confession time: I am a complete antisocial freak. I could stay at a party for an entire hour and not say a word to anyone. Now this is where the weird starts to happen. Whilst pondering my antisocial habits, a realization came to me.
I'm in the locker room... all alone... I have a stalker in my school and he's probably still here waiting for me. That's when the lights in the room went out. The lights in the bathroom were still on and I could hear a few sinks dripping water. What the hell is happening? I stand up in the darkness of the room and begin to head toward the light switch.
"Nikolasss" I hear suddenly. It comes as a faint whisper from the bathroom doorway.
I stop dead in my tracks and turn to face the strange voice calling my name.
"Who's there?" Then I proceed to walk in the direction of the bathroom, breaking Cramar's fifty-first rule. Cramar was my best friend in middle school before he died in a car accident. Rules 47 - 53 were specifically for horror related situations. They went:
How not to die with a scythe sticking out the back of your head:
47. If you find yourself alone in a pitch black room, hurry and get the fuck out.
48. If you find any part of a human body not on the human, don't fucking touch it, don't look at it, and don't tell anyone you've seen it.
49. If you hear a scream or whisper completely out of the ordinary, run the opposite direction.
50. If someone tells you something weird happened, something weird fucking happened. No buts or ifs about it.
51. If you're alone and something whispers your name, run like hell and pray you'll get away with all of your body parts.
"Hello Nico" Karl says. He sounds different and he's holding... something...
