It Lurks in the Darkness

Chapter 1: The Misfit

Buzzzz! Buzzzz! Buzzz! Harmony's alarm clock blared loudly in her ear, awakening her in a startle from her pleasant dream. Irritated, she slammed the off button on the clock muttering under her breath. She sighed in annoyance when she realized it was a Monday, a oh so wonderful start to a new week at her trashy school. Harmony never really fitted into high school from the beginning. She was a fairly quiet girl with shoulder length, wavy black hair, startling green eyes, and a height of around 5'5. In school, Harmony often kept to herself and focused on her schoolwork more than anything else. The reason why she was often called the "misfit" is due to her extreme lack of socializing with others in the school. The reason you may ask? All her classmates were either stuck up as hell, weird, or simply too much of an annoyance for her to stand.
After looking at her phone briefly, Harmony swung her legs over the side of her bed and begrudgingly started preparing for school. She opened her closet to find an organized pile of jeans of varying colors of blue, and an assortment of her bland, neutral T-shirts, sweatshirts, and jackets. Not really caring what she picked, Harmony randomly selected a shirt from her closet without looking and threw it on with a plain pair of blue skinny jeans. To go with the look, she put on her worn black Vans and quickly tied her hair up into a ponytail. Upon investigation when she looked in the mirror, Harmony noticed she had picked a simple white T-Shirt with a shirt pocket on the front that had an embroidered sunflower stitched onto it. Pleased with her choice, she also slipped on a simple black leather jacket to complete the look. After applying a thick layer of mascara and some lip gloss, Harmony snatched her backpack and raced down the stairs. Her mom was by the stove cooking some mysterious concoction while her dad sat at the dining table sipping coffee. Mallory, Harmony's mom, glanced at her and grinned happily as she said, "Morning Hunny!" "Morning mom" Harmony responded in a disinterested voice. "Aww you sound sad, what's up love?" "It's a Monday. That's why I sound sad." Without another word, Harmony took a granola bar and left the house.
The good thing about living so close to the school was Harmony did not have to worry about taking the bus to get there since she could simply walk. Despite her age, she did not have a car and relied on public transportation to get her where she desired to go ( or in this case had no choice but to go). As she walked to school, she heard a car approaching behind her and by the sounds of it, it was none other than Jack Harrington and his clan of playboys. Jack Harrington was the classic high school jock that every girl fell for. He was quarterback of the football team and had blazing blue eyes that could make you melt on the spot. Unlike the others as I'm sure you have figured out, Harmony had absolute no interest and had told him off more than once. In less than a minute of Harmony hearing his car approaching, Jack whizzed by in his sleek black Mercedes with his guy friends hanging out the windows yelling intangible nonsense. Rolling her eyes, she returned her focus to the approaching school ahead of her. Once she reached the school, Harmony went straight to her lockers and started to prepare what she needed for her first few classes. Just as she finished gathering everything, her locker door was forcefully slammed shut just barely missing her fingers. Squeezing her eyes shut in distaste, Harmony forced herself to look up at the dreadful face she knew would belong to the one and only Alisha Reynolds. Alisha Reynolds was similar to Jack in the way that she was the easily the most popular girl in the school. She had long straight blond hair that hung at her hips, hazel eyes, and always wore revealing trendy outfits from the lost luxurious brands. On this particular day she was sporting a high neckline black dress with a gold Gucci belt wrapped around her waist and a pair of pink heels to compliment it all. Alisha pursed her pink lipstick stained lips as she surveyed Harmony. She sarcastically remarked, "Well don't you look lovely today dork. If only people actually noticed you." With that she flicked her hair over her shoulder and sauntered off. Harmony didn't even bother saying anything in retort simply because she knew it wasn't worth it and she really didn't feel like landing in the principles office today.
*Ring, Ring. The bell signaled the beginning of class and students bustled around trying to get comfortable before the teacher arrived. Harmony stayed in the back of the class and quietly kept to herself. Within a minute of the bell ringing, Mr. Cooper rushed into the room looking frazzled. "Sorry everyone! I had to make a quick trip to the bathroom, because if I didn't I was gonna pee myself." The class stared at Mr. Cooper with suppressed laughter at his odd comment. After the awkwardness passed, Mr. Cooper quickly went above his normal ways of teaching the class the days math lesson. Halfway through explaining a complicated problem, a student burst into the classroom. She had a menacing appearance that captured everyone's attention instantly. The girl was tall and wore a ripped up band tee, short black denim shorts, black fishnets, and worn combat boots. She also had dark eyeliner smeared all around her light brown eyes, and short dark hair that had a streak of blue running through it. Mr. Cooper stopped what he was doing when he noticed nobody was no longer paying attention to him and soon became aware of the mysterious girls presence. "Hey there! Are you looking for someone?" he questioned. The odd girl simply gave him a note and picked a empty seat in the front of the classroom. Mr. Cooper read the note to himself and then looked up with an excited look. He exclaimed, "Well class it looks like we have a new student! Her name is Lexi and she transferred from Juvenile High." Instantly, students began whispering amongst each other and sneaking not so sneaky glances at the new girl. The reason was not hard to figure out. Juvenile High is just what it sounds like. It's a high school a few towns over from ScarletVille in a place known for high crime and is a school where teenagers 18 and under who have committed crimes, are forced to attend. Harmony was rather interested by Lexi but still kept to herself as the rest of the class flashed by.
In her next class, Social Studies, Harmony was currently sitting at a joined desk with another classmate named Parker. Parker was the exotic gay kid that always had an insane amount of energy, something Harmony would never understand. Much to her disdain, the two had been partnered up for their World War II project and were currently debating over why Hitler was so evil. Parker cried, "No no no, Hitler was obviously evil because he was having an identity crisis!!" Harmony responded, "Parker no, that makes no sense at all. History LITERALLY tells you that Hitler simply was angry at the Jews for supposedly causing economic and political upheaval in Germany after World War I!" The two continued to disagree over the origins of Hitler's hate for Jews until the end of class. After the second class ended, Harmony packed up her stuff and raced out the door. It wasn't that Parker was a bad kid, in fact he happened to be one of the more bearable ones, he was just..... a lot to handle sometimes and at that moment she certainly needed a break.
The rest of the day zoomed by and before she knew it Harmony was on her way back home. As she was walking home, she heard footsteps following her from behind and when she turned around she was meant by the brilliant green eyes of her crush, Daniel Combs. Daniel Combs had been her crush since elementary school and they used to be close until he started becoming popular when Harmony didn't, leaving her in the dust. Daniel smiled at her and jogged a bit to walk by her side. Right away Harmony was a little suspicious because he had not talked to her in months, however, she just smiled sweetly back at him and said, "Hey what's up?" He replied, "Not much. I just wanted to tell you, you look gorgeous today." Harmony's eyebrows shot straight up and her face flushed scarlet red. "Uhhhhh...thanks?" she stuttered completely caught off guard. Daniel continued, "Yea so here's the thing. I feel really bad for leaving you in the dust for popularity years ago....it was horrible of me. I know it's kinda random and probably too late now but I wanted to apologize for my behavior. You meant a lot to me than and you still do now. Lately I've been realizing the horrible person I've become since the beginning of high school and I've decided I want to make things right again so I figured you were the best place to start. If you can forgive me....I'd like to start off fresh. In fact I was wondering if you wanted to go to the movies with me this weekend?" Harmony was in utter shock but was touched by his sincere words. "Wow I don't know what to say Daniel. I really appreciate your apology and I'm definitely okay with starting fresh! I'd love to go to the movies with you this weekend. It's a date." Daniel began to laugh hysterically out of nowhere after Harmony's comment and then on the right to both of them a pink convertible swerved up with Alisha in the front seat laughing. Alisha's posy was in the car with her too and they were also laughing. Confused and hurt, Harmony looked back and forth. Alisha yelled, "Oh darling, you seriously are that confused?! Hah! It's funny how gullible you are. Daniel, hunny, tell the dork." Daniel gazes at Harmony with laughter in his eyes, "Harmony, oh Harmony. I was playing you! I couldn't care less about leaving you in the dust for popularity, it was worth it! You were just holding me back all those years from it because of your dorky ways. Also I wouldn't go out with you on a date even if you were the last girl on earth!" Harmony gaped at the two wide mouthed, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. Smirking, Daniel ran over to the passenger side of Alisha's car and hopped in. They kissed each other deeply once settled and after breaking apart, Alisha called out once more to Harmony, "Oh you didn't know?! Daniel and I are dating now dork. I can't believe you thought you ever had a chance." With that, she slammed on the gas and cruised off with her posy and Daniel doubling over in fits of giggles. Harmony stopped dead in her tracks and began sobbing, feelings of rage and hurt surging through her veins. God damn those idiots! She yelled in her brain. After maintaining some control of herself, she managed to head towards her home again. As she was walking, tears clouded her vision no matter how hard she tried to distract her mind, making it more difficult then normal to walk the few more minutes back to her house. In the midst of her sadness, Harmony didn't notice the puddle of blood until it was too late. Suddenly, she was falling forward and hitting a still body on the ground. Harmony's instincts quickly returned once she felt a odd sticky and slippery substance beneath her feet, inhibiting her from getting up. Blinking rapidly to gain her full vision back, she soon realized the sticky substance was what appeared to be blood. Automatically, she launched herself to her feet and surveyed the scene she just fell onto. On the ground in front of her lay a dead body surrounded by blood. The body was mutated in several places and the eyes were bloodshot and open starting at the sky, mouth open in a partial scream. There was a bloody knife sticking out from the side of the victims body emitting the blood Harmony had slipped on. Once she had fully wrapped her head around the murder scene in front of her, Harmony let out a blood curdling shriek.