Paranormal

-December 21, 2004-
Sixteen-year-old Sarah Jones turned on her television and saw a breaking news story on Channel 3 News.

“We repeat: Please try to avoid Hickory Road because both lanes of traffic are moving very slowly,” the anchorwoman on television announced. “This is due to a deadly traffic accident that just occurred within the past half hour. Police are not giving us too much information, but we do know that a sixteen-year-old boy and a woman believed to be in her thirties collided, and alcohol is suspected to have played a factor.”

“Oh, God…” Sarah mumbled. “What if it’s him?” By ‘him’, she meant her boyfriend, Adam Drake. He was supposed to have called her the previous day, but he never did. She knew something was wrong because he always called her right on time. “Sarah, don’t get panicky. What are the chances that it would be him? Very slim. He probably just got busy yesterday…” she assured herself.

“Oh, wait!” the anchorwoman announced. “I’m just getting word of the boy’s name. What was that again?” She held her ear bud closely to her ear. “Police are now sure of both victims’ names. We also know now that excessive amounts of alcohol and drugs were involved. Police say they found two cases of liquor and at least $45,000 worth of drugs in the woman’s car. Luckily, the woman survived, but unfortunately, the sixteen-year-old boy didn’t. The woman’s name is not being released, but we do know that the little boy’s name is Adam Drake.”

Then and there, Sarah lost it. She went into a state of shock at first, but after the initial shock set in, she went into a fit of crying.

“No!” she exclaimed, bawling her eyes out.

“The boy was best known for playing on the football team at Schultz High School. He leaves behind a mother, a father, a sister, and a girlfriend, so we are told. Our hearts go out to all of those people.”

“No!” Sarah exclaimed again, losing every ounce of control she had of herself. “No, no, no!”

-Three Years Later-
At seven o’clock in the morning, Sarah trotted down the wooden staircase in her house. She quickly made her way into the kitchen and grabbed an apple off of the counter, completely avoiding her father who was sitting at the breakfast table drinking coffee and reading the paper.

“Don’t I at least get a, ‘Good morning, Dad!’?” her father, David, asked, looking up from his paper. She turned around quickly.

“Ah, sorry, Dad! I’m in such a hurry today, though.” She looked down at her silver watch, which now read five past the hour. “My first class starts at eight, and I’m really nervous and fidgety.”

“I can tell,” David said, looking at his trembling daughter. “Calm down, Sarah! College is just like high school, except there’s more people there and you’re more free.”

“I know, but still…” Sarah messed with the black bracelet she was wearing on her left wrist. She always fooled around with it whenever she felt nervous or anxious.

David watched his daughter twirl the bracelet around her wrist. “Better watch out not to break that thing again. I think the guy at the jewelry repair shop is getting sick of me.” Sarah looked down at her hands and noticed that she was doing her most annoying habit once again.

“Oh, crap, I was doing it again! I can’t help it; I’m really, really, and I mean really nervous.” David folded the newspaper and tossed it down on the table, then he scooted his chair out and got up. He walked over to his more than anxious daughter and firmly placed his hands upon her shoulders as if to make her stand completely still for just a few moments.

“Sarah, calm down. Everything will be okay. I’m sure you’ll do great today. But you’re not going to get very far if you’re nervous. You’ll act like you’re a nervous, weird, and squirmy freshman, and you’ll make a bad first impression.”

“…I’m not a nervous, weird, squirmy freshman who is bound to make a bad first impression?”

“No, of course you’re not,” David said while rolling his eyes momentarily. “Just try to relax, stay calm, and do your best. Good luck, sweetie.” He kissed his daughter on the forehead, then walked out of the room. Sarah began to once again mess with her bracelet as she looked around for her keys, which were actually in her pocket already.

Poor Sarah finally made it to school just five minutes early. She sighed in relief as she walked through the entrance of the college.

She rapidly made her way to her first class of the day, which was Algebra. She took a seat and got situated as her teacher walked into the room.

“Good morning, classy wassy!” Mrs. Rutherford, her teacher, said. She was short, stubby, and quite heavy. She also had a huge dot on her forehead between her blue eyes. “How is everyone doin’ today?!” she said in an almost disgustingly cheery tone. Sarah (as well as the whole class) gave her an odd look. Mrs. Rutherford disregarded the odd looks and said, “Splendid! Just splendid! My name is Mrs. Rutherford and I will be your Algebra teacher for the year! Whoo!” She received more bizarre looks. “Quiet class this year…” she mumbled. “So, let us all introduce ourselves! Why don’t you go first, young lady?!” She pointed directly at Sarah. Before making her way to the front of the classroom, Sarah couldn’t help but slump in her chair a bit.

She walked down the aisle and cleared her throat uncomfortably. This is way too middle school for my taste, she thought to herself. This is ridiculous, actually.

“Um…my name is Sarah Jones…and it’s my first year here and everything…uh, my father is a lawyer, and—”

“—what about cha mother, mon?!” her teacher said in a Jamaican accent. A startled Sarah jumped back a little and gave her teacher an odd look.

“I don’t really like to talk about my mother,” she answered.

“Well why not?” Sarah couldn’t believe how nosey her teacher was.

“Because, I just don’t,” she replied in a fairly irritated tone. Her teacher decided to back off and let her continue. “Anyway, I don’t really know exactly what I want to be yet, but I’m thinking about maybe being a teacher or a writer, possibly. I love to—”

“—you have pretty eyes, mate!” Mrs. Rutherford said. This time, she spoke with an Australian accent. “They’re so medium brown-ish, mate! Where’d you get them from, mate? By crockie!” The whole class started laughing quietly as Sarah gave her teacher an even weirder look.

“…is this a joke?” she asked.

“No, mon! Continue!”

“…okay, then…uh, I guess that’s all…” She brushed her long, dark brown hair behind her ears and sat back down, feeling humiliated. Her classmates stared at her as she buried her face with her hands on her desk, hoping and praying to God she could somehow find a way to drop out of Algebra for the year.

At three in the afternoon, the final bell rang. Sarah sighed in relief as she picked up her books and balanced her tote bag on her shoulders. She walked out of her Civics classroom and into the hall.

That wasn’t so bad, she thought to herself. Of course, the Algebra teacher is kind of weird, but she was more amusing than anything. I can handle this. She continued walking down the hallway.

Once she was halfway to the exit door, she felt something: something that cannot easily be described. The warm air that surrounded her suddenly turned chillingly cold. She shivered a little and stood still, trying to figure out where the cool burst of air was coming from. As she stood there, a huge wind ripped through her skin as it nearly paralyzed her. Her long, brown hair was flying back behind her shoulders. The air grew cooler.

She watched her fellow college students pass by her in the hallway, and they acted as if nothing was going on. It was obvious that they were not experiencing what she was. Sarah didn’t know what to think, except for the fact that she had finally lost it.

Suddenly, everything went back to normal. The air was warm once again and the wind had vanished. Sarah stood there, not knowing what to think.

Maybe I should’ve eaten more than an apple today,she mumbled to herself. Hallucinations are no fun at all whatsoever. She shook it off and continued walking briskly down the hall.