CHAPTER 1:

Screams shook the halls. The adolescence peeked out of the near by rooms to see what happened. Curiosity in their eyes. It wasn’t aloud. Nobody out of their room past 10:00pm. Luckily it was 10:01pm. Thank god. The goodies sighed as they crawled back to bed. Thinking, oh yeah. I’m going to be able to sleep with that bitch screaming across the hall… Their thoughts trailed off as my attention was put on something much more important. Something that actually mattered to me. She was always there for me, no matter what. I don’t even know how I would have survived these miserable years without her. Shiloh, I would call her. She liked that name a lot. She thought it was better than what it really was. Sheila, was her first name, she never liked it. Miss Sheila Beaumanoir, I thought it was beautiful, but every time I would say it she would give me a face nobody wanted. The screaming ceased for a few moments and everyone who was here, seven people, regained a calm state of mind. Thank god its over, they all pressed in their minds. The little-uns peaked into the room hoping not to be lead back to their rooms. I hated it; they treated her, and I, like a freak show.

Everyone started to clear out of the room. Finally. That took them long enough. I thought silently. But as always it started up again and, the swarm came back. Everyone running back to her aid. She couldn’t do anything about it, but neither could I. This happened so very often; as long as I could remember. Swarms of people of every sort…rich ones, poor ones, young ones, old ones, wise ones, you name it and they were there. We had a number of doctors on campus, and they all say the same thing. “Night terrors”

Nobody knew anything. You can’t do anything about it! You are so wrong…Why don’t you get it. She isn’t like anyone else. She is special, maybe the only one. You can’t save here. She is not possessed. Why even try when there is no cure, no help, no anything. I screamed in my head trying to force them to hear, but they couldn’t. And if I could, why would they want to listen to me; someone of my nature; someone who can’t speak for herself; someone who is…mute.

I like always sat in my corner, the one parallel with my bed. It was normal for me to sit there. Shiloh’s bed is on the other side of the room, by mine. I hated people, not ‘didn’t like’, I absolutely despised people and their nature. They don’t understand what is going on. I can hear her screams, not the ones everyone else hears; but the ones on the inside. The ones trapped inside her head as she received the terrible ‘nightmares’. I heard her thoughts. They would echo on the inside of my head, and I would reply. I usually couldn’t affect her when she is unconscious and screaming. Pounding on the trees and glass that they enclosed her in. 

Screaming and screaming as her body flailed around her bed, just trying to get away. “No please, don’t. I tried. I couldn’t do it. No don’t! Leave me alone. I can’t! Won’t somebody save me?!” She would scream and scream as it toyed wit my heart. I couldn’t help; even pushing calming vibes towards her won’t help. Her screams of terror yearned for somebody to help, somebody to stop it. Stop the lies and the pain and the distress and everything. But, who can help someone who is unconscious. Or better question…how?

This was a routine for me now. She screamed. They came. And everything went black. Everyone would be there. Administrators, teachers, doctors, police and on-lookers that needed a new piece of gossip to spread. I hated them all…and their thoughts. “What happened this time?”;”Why won’t she just shut up?”; ”For gods sake she has been doing this for years now.”; ”Grow up and get over it.”; ”Why won’t they just send her home; I’m don’t with all of this.” They sicken me.

There was so many people. So many sets of curious eyes. So much terror. I couldn’t handle it. Everyone’s thoughts screaming in my head. So loud, I couldn’t hear my own wimpering crys to stop. I knew what was happening, but so did everyone else. But I knew more than them. I knew the actual reason to her screams and cries. Not for attention, but, because they were coming; and soon.
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chapter 2:

My eyes slowly fluttered open to the sight of the sun brushing against my face. It was so blurry. My eyes adjusted and I gave a little whimper as I stretched. The room was slightly lit, but, it burned.  Why was I in the sun? I realized; I was in the sun! I scrambled to the other side of the room. Pale as a ghost, like always, I closed the curtains. What the hell happened last night? Panting and scared shitless I thought. My mind was pounding, with every breath…every movement I made. In the other corner, I re-sat down trying to catch the breath I once had. What happened last night? I thought. While closing my eyes as I rubbed my temples with the knuckles of my first fingers. I steadily breathed. In and out. It was synchronized by now. My breath and hers. 

I remember seeing a bunch of people. Screaming and screaming at each other. Their voices were loud, but their thoughts echoed in my mind. A terrible night I must say. I saw…one, two, three four five, six, seven, eight nine ten, eleven twelve… I trailed off as I counted until I reached a sum of… fifty two people. New record. But for me not something to be proud of. They weren’t here for me, but for Shiloh. She had another nightmare, one said that I could recall. But the thing that worried me the most was what happened to her. Poor thing. There was the same scraggily man that stood in every one of her dreams. Dark hair, brown eyes that looked so black to me, a foot taller than I, six feet even, a skinny face and figure. He would always be in a suit. He put fear into Shiloh’s heart. He was coming and nobody could stop him.

What hurt me the most about it was she was screaming Serenity where are you? I need you? Where did you go? Come back! Please, don’t go. And that was me, Serenity. Those words sit in my head, haunting me. I shutter when hearing the tone of her voice pleading me to help, when I am trapped out here. She is gone inside her state of being. Trapped inside her terror.

Sending calming sensations to her, urging her to wake up finally worked. Her eyes fluttered open, as mine had before. But without the freak out, of coarse.  Sitting up a lot quicker than I had attempted she yelled for me, hoping I was still there. It was nine in the morning, way late. Classes started about an hour ago. Freaking out she rolled out of bed scattering to find her belongings. Why are you not in class yet? She yelled in her mind, a very disappointed tone followed. Worried was all I let out. Me…I can’t speak but she can. She and I, like I said, were different. She could hear my thoughts, see what I see, but only at times, and feel what I feel. It was a two way road for us. Unlike her, I could hear her and everyone else’s thoughts and feelings. Honestly, I didn’t like class, because it was without her. I was never aloud to have classes with her. It was a surprise to me because she was the only one who could hear me. But luckily she bought it.

Calming sensations filled my veins. She was ok, for now. She stopped franticly hurrying to gather her brush, and books, and makup, and every other thing necessary for her to get ready… and sat next to me. She would sit there, and hold me in her arms, gently rocking me. This told me, ‘It’s ok; everything will be alright. I promise.’ Occasionally she would run her thin fingers through my platinum blonde hair. She envied me. She just loved my hair, the natural blonde. No chemicals needed for me. I knew she was jealous. Why do you love it so much? I would ask with eyes hungry with an answer. Minutes passed while she tried deciding how to put it. I couldn’t hear her scurrying thoughts though she could just block me out at some times, and I respected that. She needed her privacy too. Because you’re perfect, in every way. Your beautiful smart, loyal, perfect features, loving, creative…She listed off a lot of reasons, none of which I listened to. But what loved most, and focused on, was the sweet sound of her voice gently bouncing around in my head. The sweetest thing in the world.

Masculine, but oh so gentle, a man approached the door that kept us in and the whole world out. “Miss, can I come in?” The strange but so familiar voice called to one of us. A moment of silence passed. She got up from our neatly unorganized space and answered the door. It was one of our teachers, who I don’t know his name quite yet. He teaches our science class. Even though the school year has just re-started, Shiloh knew her schedule by heart…lucky.

“Mister….eh-” She tried to remember, but he beat her too it. “-Kulikov” he filled in her blank thought. A blank but emberaced look swept his face. What is he looking at? I looked at Shi in confusion. He looked straight at me, not through me, but he saw something that shouldn’t be there. Uhhhh…your sort of not dressed… As I looked down at myself in my short, almost transparent, night gown; I knew this wasn’t exactly what I was supposed to look like in front of an older, educated teacher. Processing what he saw, trying not to blush, he slowly closed the door and whispered something to Shiloh and shut the door. He didn’t leave the unwelcome outside of the door though, he stood right by it. Looking at me, I’m probably not white anymore, but extremely red. Wow that wasn’t embarecing I shot into Shiloh’s head, while raising an eyebrow. Took her a minute but eventually she turned around, and gave me a little giggle. What did he say? Asking like I didn’t know…hell, I could be wrong. Exerting a small yawn and wiping the sleepiness from her eyes she responded, five minutes. Putting my head down a little bit and scratching my bed head I cooperated and stood up and walked towards the closet. 

Gosh there was so much. All arranged according by color and style. It looked just like a rainbow; red, orange, yellow, light green, dark green, light blue, dark blue, purple and indigo. I forgot how much I missed my clothes. Summer had killed me…mentally. Incredibly boring. But now that we are back, we better make the most of it. I sifted through the different colors pulling out a light blue dress that layered down. Just like a princess. I loved dresses, well I loved how elegant they were. They were a bitch to be in when trying to run or something like that. Shiloh took my lead and grabbed something out of the closet, but not taking as much time and thought into it. She looked great no matter what she wore. She grabbed a pair of black skinny jeans with a tight black and green top. It was black, but had a bright green dinosaur on it, so adorable! 
Five minutes didn’t take that long. He slowly opened the door, hands cupped over his eyes. “Are you two decent?” He said with a hint of sarcasm. He wouldn’t open his eyes ‘till someone said something. Obviously it was Shiloh. “Yeah we are fine” She said after she got done hogging the mirror with her beloved straitening iron. Gosh finally I exclaimed with a smirk on my face. She squinted her face at me like she just ate a too sour lemon and stuck out her tongue. I can take longer if you want. I gave her a smirk back and lovingly wrapped my arms around her. You’re so silly. I let go so she could finish getting ready for school. I slowly staggered towards the mirror, so tiredly. I gazed into the mirror, how will they treat me today? I thought while staring at myself. I gave myself a half smile and shrugged. Who cared…I don’t. I grabbed towards the side of the mirror where lies my makeup. The mirror was huge, absolutely giant like. It took a few sloppy steps to get to it. Light green and dark green is what I usually wear. Dark to line and light to shine, as Shiloh says. You ready yet? She teased from the other room while waiting for me. She was with Mr. Kulikov waiting for me. He was our escort.

Finally I finished with my makeup, hair, and everything else that needed attention. It was so close to 9:30. Second class was about to start. Not much school missed with Miss Sheila. I grabbed my bags, my books, and random items that would help and headed out the door. Standing at the door giving a slight shudder, I slowly backtracked into the room. I had forgotten my sun umbrella, it was necessary for me. “What’s wrong?” Mr. Kulikov asked. It burns…I responded but to Shiloh. “Oh…yeah…she has a skin condition that is pretty bad. When in the uv rays from the sun hit her. Her cells can’t take it so they explode or something like that” She said with a polite, but oh so fake, smile. He looked so confused, but, eventually gave up and agreed with it. Re-walking out the door with my things at hand, we walked slowly along campus to our class. She, had Latin. While I, I had animal care…I guess as I looked at the small hand-written piece of paper that was on the front of my book. I let out a sigh and continued forward, anticipating the sidewalk splitting so we would part. It was the worst part of the morning. Well it came. She looked at me, in the eyes, “Have a good day I’ll see you in a little bit at lunch…same place?” She questioned. I waved my hand back and forth. My fingers not completely straight giving her the ‘bye I’ll miss you’ look. I waved my arms around pretending to know what I’m doing. I was swinging my arms everywhere and sometimes putting some fingers up and down and did funky little patterns. You too. Stay out of trouble. And yeah the one at the back. I said while flinging around trying not to give myself away with a silent laugh. He bought it.
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Chapter 3:

There was another teacher waiting to take me to class, to make sure I didn’t run or get into trouble or something like that. I never fully understood why I had to get escorted everyday, but whatever. I followed twirling my umbrella the entire way. It took no less than five minutes to get to my class. The small boring rectangular prison I had Earth science in. The walls on the outside were different. Somehow it wasn’t the same. It was, hummm…a light blue. They must have painted it over the summer. I thought to myself. The door came faster than I remembered. Opening the door was difficult for me but thank god for these teachers. I looked up at them with a slight smile as they rushed to open it. Ok. The first step is always the hardest but once one was in it’ll be easier, hopefully. At least I made it…I think. Everyone turned and gave regretful looks to me. They watched me walk to the front. Every set of eyes were on me. Mr. Kulikov pointed to a desk in the middle back of the classroom. Slowly taking off my coat I headed to the desk he pointed at. All my books slammed on my desk as I hurried to sit down. I knew I was holding up the class…at that moment every mouth in the room was moving. Quiet enough to make sure I couldn’t hear. But I could.

“Class, class; your attention please. I know we only just started the semester but we have a late join in. Her name is Serenity Romanov.-” Whispers engulfed the crowd. “I heard she was deaf-” “-Total freak-” “I sort of feel sorry in all with her parents killing her entire family” anonymous peers claimed. So sad, none close to even right. “Class, refocus your attention to up here. She is mute, that means she can’t talk.-” Kulikov explained. “Why does she have an umbrella, it’s like two hundred degrees outside.” Across the room the young man yelled. “Well, she has a rare skin condition. She can’t be exposed to the sun’s light. It’s called Xeroderma Pigmentosum.”

It took them awhile to realize I could hear. I looked up towards the non-matching celing in agony wondering, when will this stop. Tears rushed to my eyes. I want this to stop. I sent a vibe of helplessness to the harassing class. They slowly quieted down. I would hear my name several times and quickly, but surly, I turned to the culprit that exerted those harsh words towards me. An awkward half-smile crossed his face as he admitted defeat inside himself. Victory gained. I gave him an ‘in your face’ smirk as he slowly turned around with great curiosity.