SALEM

Chapter 1

Annie

Do you ever dream and feel stuck, like you're unable to wake up and you keep seeing this vivid images of dark clouds and loud chanting like that of loud mosquitoes, very high pitched that you feel totally helpless and lost. It's a complete nightmare for and I'm always shaking and drenched in sweat whenever I wake up from my night terrors.

"Annie! You better not be in bed!" I hear my mom scream from the kitchen. She's always loud and always wants to have me awake or at least doing "something" as she always love to put it.

I head straight to my bathroom and take a cold shower to calm my nerves and rid my mind of that horrific nightmare. Turning off the shower and grabbing my towel I turn towards the mirror and my light brown eyes are huge like a smoked a kilo but my they looked dull as always like I haven't slept in weeks with my eye bags as heavy as Lipton tea bags.

I've always been slim but like unhealthy kind of slim, my mom always try to force me to eat but I never get appetite for food, I just want to be left alone sometimes and wish I could not eat ever in my life cause sometimes food looks so gross to me but I can't say the same for my brother Max, who gulps down food like a giant whale but he's a football player so he's always trying to bulk up and look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, I still don't understand guys and their obsession with looking like meatheads.

Anyway I slip on a pair of black jeans on my skinny frame and pull on a black blouse to match my over dyed black hair, I think it's almost starting to look purple with the constant dye jobs, my mom says she prefers my blond locks but I won't be caught dead looking like a dumb blonde. My hair's already reaching my waist since my mom threatened to throw me out of the house if I dared to cut. Walking down the stairs I couldn't help but glance at Max's room, hearing low grunts, I know he's probably going for another 100 push-ups this morning. Yikes, I can never see myself doing exercise.

"Took you long enough, your highness" my mom said sarcastically as I neared the kitchen

"Good morning mom, you look lovely today and everyday" I said grinning, I always love to compliment her cause it's just shuts her up and she begins to wonder if I was throwing shade or just being honest.

But truthfully, my mom is beautiful, a bit artificial, narcissistic and vain but she was also kind and gentle and never stops to interact with me or know how my day was going. She's blonde and her hair might even be longer than mine plus she's managed to look like my elder sister rather than my mom with her strong cheek bones and most importantly those piercing blue eyes that I evidently lacked.

"I made some sandwiches for you to take to school, it's on the kitchen counter. Take two and leave the rest for Max, I know he's always embarrassed when I fix something up for him since he prefers spending money on disgusting school food..." Yes and that's another thing about my mom, she talks too much which is so annoying sometimes and I have no choice but to tune her out and slowly nod my head like I'm comprehending what she's saying.

"Have a great day at work mom" I said and quickly left the house before she gets reminded of something she wanted to work about. Sometimes I imagine my dad still alive cause I feel my mom is lonely and always trying to find an excuse to share her life experience with but definitely not this gal, I'm just trying to figure out my own life and I'm not even 18 yet.

I can't tell you how much I hate living in Salem, it's a small town in the middle of nowhere and everyone here is so judgy and conservative, we previously resided in New York but my dad decided we had to return to our "roots" whatever the hell that means. But unfortunately he died in a motor accident while returning from work. That day was the worst day of my life and people just kept on saying sorry like they killed him or something, I was totally numb and couldn't cry, it's been a year now and I haven't cried..

"Hey Annie" Andrew yelled as he ran towards me, he's another reason why I hate school here with his annoying personality and his dumb jokes. Sometimes I think he has a crush on me or something but I can never tell cause he's always telling me dumb jokes and smiling way to hard.

I completely ignored ignored him and walked into my biology class.

"We've been waiting for you Ms Johnson" my biology teacher, Mrs Lawson taunted as opened the door.

"I'm sorry ma'am but there..."

"No excuses, go take your seat and let's continue our discussion" she spoke harshly and all eyes were on me as I walked towards my seat which I shared with Andrew's brother; Henry, he's so intelligent, I think he has an IQ same with Einstein or something, he was like the most intelligent guy in our school and everyone worshipped as a genius plus he was a walking Greek God with perfectly sculptured face and sharp jawlines that could cut paper.

"Late again" he said as I took my seat, I stared into his green eyes and I was amazed as how they seem to draw me closer to him but my thoughts were interrupted as Mrs Lawson started asking questions.

"I know some of you don't even read your books so let's cut to the chase here, go to the library and read further on Lysosome and it's purpose as a cell component. I'm not gonna go back on that topic, you might as well refresh your memory on other cell components cause throughout this week, we're going to dive into cells, tissues and organs" Great! More work, can school get any harder.

I've always been described as a loner even my brother sometime pretends I don't exist at school. I just don't see the reason why anyone would want to be surrounded by a group of strangers pretending to be your friends while deep down they are either plotting against you or trying to cause drama to feel better about themselves. Highschool is filled with fake friends and people only seeking to benefit from you. Take for example my brother, he's a jock and he has a ton of friends in school but they only care cause he's popular, if he was a nobody would even think of looking at him or twice or consider his opinions or anything.

Its lunch time but I'm not really feeling hungry so I decide to head towards the library instead.

"Hey, you're Annie right?" A girl sat down next to me at the library desk, I dropped my book and turned to look at her, she's beautiful but I think she's mixed or something cause she looks black and Asian at the same time like two different features trying to dominate but coming together to make something beautiful with her curly hair and dark eyes that looked dangerous the more I stared at them

"Yy- yeah I'm me, I mean I'm Annie" I stuttered

"Right, anyway I heard your dad died and I wanted to extend my condolences. I'm really sorry that happened" she said weirdly as she tried to show sympathy on her face but it felt like she was just forcing it out and not really being sincere about it.

"Thanks but it's almost being a year since he died so I don't really care" I said hoping she would leave me alone so I could go back to my book.

"Thank Hera, I was thinking you were still hung up over it and I didn't really know how to approach you with that" great! I think she's insane, who even says that kind of stuff and why is she thanking Hera and not God.

"Uh.. okay, I guess thanks again" I uttered, feeling completely freaked out by her.

"So I was wondering if your brother had like a girlfriend or something?" She spoke quickly like it was one long word.

"I don't really know and to be honest, I don't really care" I said as a matter of fact, I couldn't care less who my brother was dating.

"Aren't you like his sister or something?" She asked staring at me weirdly

"I don't care and to be honest I really don't know and yeah I still don't care to want to know" I said getting annoyed at her persistence in knowing if my brother was dating anybody.

"Okay, calm down I just wanted to know before I get to know him" she smirked and left.

That was the most awkward situation in my life.