The leaves rustled, and heavy footsteps followed. Several footsteps hit the ground, accompanied by heavy breathing.
From a high vantage point, one would have seen a grey blur chasing a teen with short brown hair through a thick forest.
Exhausted, the boy hid behind a tree with a large trunk to catch his breath. He only managed to inhale and exhale for three seconds before he sighted vicious glowing yellow eyes.
"What do you want?!" The boy screamed at the top of his lungs.
The grey blur treaded slowly towards the boy, its eyes glowing brighter than before. Each step the creature took made the boy's chest pound faster.
Suddenly, the grey blur with vicious eyes leapt with full force towards the boy and...
"James! James! Wake up!" A soft voice called.
*Gasps*
The boy jolted awake with a huge gasp, beads of sweat trickling down his forehead.
"What happened? Another one? Talk to me!" The soft voice spoke again, slightly high-pitched with concern.
"I'm fine, Mom. It was just a silly dream," James replied.
"I don't think so. A dream or nightmare? Beads of sweat are clearly visible on your forehead," the soft voice, belonging to James's mom, Serena Craig, said.
"I'm fine. It's nothing to worry about," James replied with a nervous smile.
James Craig was the teen who woke from a dream, or rather a nightmare, in which something was relentlessly pursuing him.
"Let's go, the principal is reviewing your test results," Serena pulled her son's arm from the wooden bench he sat on.
The wooden bench rested against the wall in a hallway, amidst other benches. Now, one would think the hallway would be noisy since they were in a school, but instead, it was as silent as a graveyard.
The mother and son duo were treading down the hallway as Serena started a conversation.
"You won't talk about it, huh?"
'How long? How long have I been having this consistent nightmare? The annoying part is I don't even know what is chasing me. All I see is a grey blur, and the fu*king dream ends the same way.' James was drowned in his own thoughts rather than giving his mother a response.
"James! I'm talking to you!" Serena snapped James out of his thoughts.
"I'm sorry... look, we're here," James said as he saw a red door with a bold inscription on it just a few meters away.
"The Principal's Office," James muttered.
With a few knocks, the door swung open, and a bald man with oversized glasses sliding down his nose and a gruff white beard to complement his old self welcomed them.
"I must say, young man, you got quite the impressive result here, and you got the looks to back it up," Principal Williams Jones giggled before he continued. "Brains like yours are always welcome to Braxton High. James, is it? You're welcome to Braxton High."
"Thank you so much, sir. I'm glad he did well. We're also sorry for coming on short notice. School is about to resume, and we didn't want to miss the registration," Serena said, extending her hand for a handshake with the principal.
She was so elated that James did well and also got praised by the principal, while James seemed unfazed.
James himself knew he'd pass the test, even if the principal decided to fail him. To him, it was a walk in the park.
In truth, James had always been intelligent right from birth, and he was quite the fast learner. Even back at his previous high school, Middleton High, he was a force to reckon with. Also, James didn't earn his fame from just intelligence; he was outstanding physically.
However, good things don't last long. As time went on, his fame dropped. An incident occurred which changed his high school life in Middleton. The many rivals he had took this as an opportunity and eventually turned bullies.
In the first place, never in his dreams had James intended to be a high school prince. When the incident occurred and things took a turn, it wasn't worrying for James as most would think.
In essence, this incident wasn't the reason for James's withdrawal or as he thinks. The tuition fee that rose significantly was what made Mrs. Serena, a single mother of two, withdraw James.
...
After being briefed on the rules and how things work in the school, Serena and James left the school and headed home.
"Well, I guess this is my life now. New enemies, new rules, and probably new jesters," James broke the silence in the taxi they boarded.
"Come on, James, you have to be positive. You know we have no choice, and I'm sure no one will make jest of you. It's all for good, son. Let's not ignore the fact Braxton is also a big school," Serena replied.
James heaved a sigh and tucked his head in his arms – thinking of the constant nightmares he'd been having.
Serena, on the other hand, was thinking how long it had been, how long she'd been catering for James and his sister, Jessica Craig.
Although she was five years younger than James, she recently graduated from elementary school and now attended Cradenville High School, whose tuition fee was far less than James's former high school.
...
"Ma'am, we've reached the destination," the taxi driver called her.
"Right, here's your money," Serena hastily removed money from her bag and gave it to the driver.
She was about to alight when she saw James's eyes were closed. James's eyebrows were slightly twitching, and beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead.
'He must be having that nightmare again,' Serena thought with a worried look on her face.
"Is he gonna get down or what?" the annoyed taxi driver said.
"I'm sorry, he's just a kid," Serena grabbed James's arms and forcefully pulled him out of the taxi.
Before the taxi zoomed off, James was struggling to place his feet well on the ground as his eyes opened slowly.
Suddenly, the car zoomed off, and James almost tripped.
Serena cursed the man inwardly before giving James an earful.
"We have some talking to do, young man!"
Serena and James were walking down the walkway towards their house when James saw a man in an elegant suit approach them.
Before the man passed, James saw the man's eyes shimmer with a yellow light.
'What the...'