A play with a twist

…A loud crash sounded through the auditorium as the stage was painted red…

It all started on any average day, I know that sounds cliche but that's what it was. Me and my (second) best friend Malachi were staying after school to do homework in the common area (or we were supposed to be doing homework, we may have gotten distracted) when the large wooden door burst open. I looked to the doorway, there were two boys looking at us, almost relieved? I looked them up and down, they seemed to dress somewhat the same or at least with the same kinda style. They were both wearing sweaters, one with a jade turtleneck and the other with a navy cotton sweater. The turtleneck one was holding a piece of paper and had either black or really dark brown hair that reached his ears, which were accompanied by a pair of thick lens glasses. The one a bit further seemed to stand taller by a few inches and had blond hair that was cut into a mullet. What a terrible hair style I thought, shaking my head mentally. I quickly glanced at them once more before I realized what type of nerds these were. Oh no… not the theater kids I thought, sighing and dropping the rolled up paper that was being used to hit my friend on the head.

“Hello Scarlet, Malachi,” The boy said formally. How he knew my name was beyond me but I think his name was Tim. Or was that the other one, I was never that good with names and moving to this school sure didn’t help with that, so many new faces and names to learn. Too much I thought so I just settled with some nicknames to help know who is who like for einsteins this is Turtle Boy because of his often choice of clothing. Sure there are many kids with the same clothing but I often just called them by what they wore. It made it easier.

“What do you want, Carl?” Malachi asked, looking up at the other blonde boy from the floor. Ahh, Carl was the kids name, at least I know now.

“Umm, well you see. Youguyshaveyettosignupforaafterschoolactivityandtheprincipalaskedmetoaskyouifyouguyswantedtojointhetheaterclubbecauseofthelackofactorsandbackstagehelpbecauseweneedmorepeopleforthechritsmasplay”

Tim- I mean Carl had spoken the last words so fast I was barely able to catch what he said. All I got was that we were asked to join the theater club because the principal said that they didn’t have enough after school activity or something like that. Malachi also seemed to catch onto the same things and we both looked up at him with puzzled expressions.

“Umm.. sure” I replied not really caring about what happened after school and besides it would get me out of babysitting my younger sister. Malachi agreed without an answer I could understand. He didn’t seem like the type for theater or really singing in general, but hey I don't care really.

“Umm great, we’ll be working in the theater room on Mondays - Fridays after school, you guys can start next week” The other kid spoke before walking out of the room and closing the door rather loudly I’d say.

“So, can I copy you?” Malachi asked once the silence filled the room for long enough

“What? -no of course not!” I replied

“Well too bad” He said, taking the paper and holding it out of my reach, reading what I got for the questions. Jerk, I thought, crossing my arms and sighing.

The day ended nicely with me walking home after having an argument with Malachi about the answer for question 3. He got 3.5 and I got 6.02. Kallie thankful told us her answer and came to the conclusion that we had both been wrong and in fact the answer was 4.8, and somehow we had mixed up the simple equations. So with no confidence I walked back to my house.

The next day it was the weekend and I was attempting to go the whole day without having to watch my little sister. Sadly I failed when my parents said that they needed to go pick up a few things from lethbridge and that they’d be home by around 18:30 but knowing my father I could understand that they wouldn’t be home till 19:00 but more likely 19:45.

Accepting my fate I decided I should at least have some fun so I dashed down the stairs racing to get the controller before my elder sister could. I sat down on our couch and turned on the PS4 with the controller. The system turned on when I got this terrible feeling that something bad was to happen in the near future. I shook off the feeling and continued to pick the show that I was wanting to watch.

When Monday finally rolled around, I got out of bed with a sigh of dread of a boring school day awaiting me. Like always when we reached the school and were waiting to be let inside through the two large metal doors I already wanted to go back home. As the door opened our English class teacher greeted the students waiting outside. The place I picked to stand wasn’t ideal because even though I had been close to the doors I still wound up being one of the last people to enter after the door had almost hit me in the face. I walked into the building wondering how quick the school day would go by today.

The day couldn’t end soon enough, and as soon as I heard the bell ring I picked up my things and walked towards the door expecting to go home and possibly sleep or maybe watch a movie by myself. What I didn’t expect was for a hand to grab my shoulder

“Get your hand off me” I said, turning to look at the person who grabbed me. Oh it was just the kid from Friday, or i think it is, now if only I could remember what his name was

“Hey, don’t you remember what you said on Friday?” he asked

“Umm… yeah” I lied picking at my brain to figure out what I had said.

“Great, so follow me” he started off in the opposite direction, giving me no chance to understand what was going on. Who was this kid anyways? I thought as I followed him down one of the long hallways of the old school. By now almost everyone was gone and the few still in the building were most likely up stairs or in the teachers meeting room if they teach at the school. Wait was this kid going to murder me? I stopped in my tracks and decided to ask where we were going, after all better sorry than safe. What no that wasn’t the saying, whatever.

“Hey… kid, where are we going?” I asked

“To the theater room” he said like it was obvious. Hold on a second, did I agree to join the theater club, oh great. I slapped my hand onto my face, sighing. I hate theater.

When we got to the large theater room I saw a whole bunch of other theater nerds, and, wait, Malachi? What was he doing here? I wondered. He walked over to me to say something but I beat him to it

“Since when did you like theater?” I asked. He looked at me confused

“We both signed up together on Friday, remember?” He questions. Oh, that makes more sense. I thought as everything finally caught up to me. I looked around taking a good look at everything, I had never been in this room before and it seemed rather big for the amount of people who actually liked theater, or at least I thought so until I looked around to see actually a lot of students in the room. I even thought some of them I think could possibly be in my class. I wasn’t sure though. I mean it's only November and I have only been to this school for a year and a half before this year. Besides most of the people in my class don’t really interact with me, I think some of us never even had an actual conversation with each other. The room had a high ceiling, dark purple walls to not pull attention away from whatever plays, Concerto’s (Or simply put a arrangement of instruments with an orchestra mainly on a large scale) that would be going on during any of the fancy events. Whatever the theater people would be put on above the gigantic wooden stage. How could public school afford this I don’t know but whatever.

“Okay, so you guys are new. We have yet to write the christmas play, but Mrs. Lindsy has instructed that we write one for the christmas market.” Oh that's why they needed extra people to join, I mean at least it's better than what they did last year when they didn’t have enough people. Instead of asking people to join earlier in the year, they decided that they would tell random people at the last minute to join and unlucky for me I was one of those people. But I didn’t want to do it so I just didn’t show up. Serves them right for not letting me pick whether I wanted to or not. I thought to myself.

“I’ll write the play if I can leave afterwards” I said, raising my hand as though I was volunteering for a life or death mission, and how I said it really did make it sound like I was. No tone in my voice whatsoever.

“Umm.. yes you can write the script but-”

“Okay great” I said, cutting off the boy and walking away to go find a pencil I can steal- I mean borrow and a piece of paper to use.

About an hour later I finally had my masterpiece done. So I got up to show the guy in charge here. I searched the entire area which was a lot bigger than I thought. I looked around but it was quiet. Hmmm, where could have everyone gone? I thought. I was about to leave when I realized I forgot to check one area. I rushed there. How could I forget? The stage, you know the biggest thing in this place yeah that. I walked onto the stage looking around with curiosity. The floor was a bit creaky, and it would take me about 3 days to learn all the places the floorboards creaked so I guess for now I’ll have to deal with it. As I looked around I thought that everyone must have gone home well until I heard the sounds of footsteps running above me? How was that possible I thought. When I looked up there seemed to be a metal walkway. Must be used to drop or project special effects I thought. Man, how rich is this school?

Once I got up on the metal walkway I started to search for the cause of the noise. No longer caring about showing Carl or whatever his face was the script I’d just show him tomorrow. Wow it was like a maze up here I thought as I rounded one of the corners. Standing in front of me stood a girl with long dark hair the color of a raven and stood about three inches taller than me.

“Uhh.. Hi” I said awkwardly, not sure why I was even trying to find whoever was up here or what I would say once I found them.

“Hi, what are you doing here? What's your name? Why haven’t you gone home yet? Are you new here?” She asked question after question.

“Uhh, I was looking for the person up here, so you-” I got cut off

“Oh, why?” she asked once again.

“Umm, well I thought I heard a sound up here and I was looking for someone” I replied

“Okay, I could help you find who ever they are” she stated back excitedly

“I kinda think they just went home so you know” I once again said awkwardly. I knew I should have been getting better at human communication instead of learning how to pick locks and unlock any door with a credit card.

“Oh. Its 19:35, so doesn’t surprise me, why their gone” she said casually

“Huh?! It's that late!” I said

“Umm yeah-” I quickly ran down the metal walkway and climbed down the ladder.

“Hey, what are you doing now?” the girl asked

“Going home, what about you? Shouldn’t you get home too? Unless you live here of course” I joked.

“Yeah…” she replied as I started to walk away

“Bye” I waved, smiling at her.

Later that night, when I got home I walked straight into my cold dark room and laid down in my cushiony bed.

I woke up confused, well I was confused till I remembered what happened last night. Oh, I thought. I got up eventually getting ready for school once again.

The day went by really boring, and I ended up getting dragged back to the theater. Carl walked over to me

"So how's the script coming?" He asked

"Oh it finished actually, here" I replied, handing him the sheet of paper with my story written down.

"Oh. Great, I'll read it then. You wait for my further instructions" he said walking off. Did he say his further instructions? No thanks, I'll do what I want. Thank you very much. I was slightly offended. I wondered where that girl was, and went out to find her. I decided to look at the stage first because that's the only place I've seen her.

"Hey… raven girl!" I yelled knowing that she hadn't given me her name the other day. She perked her head out to look down at me and waved, before gesturing for me to come up. I quickly walked over to the ladder and climbed up it.

"Hi." She greeted

"Hi. I realize that I didn't tell you my name yesterday." I said

"Oh, I guess not" she replied

"It's Scarlet" I said, was that awkward? It probably was. I thought to myself.

"Well, mine was- I mean is Kayla, Kayla Stone" she said.

"Well nice to meet you. Formally I mean cause technically we met yesterday" I spoke putting my hand out to shake hers. She hesitated but did comply. Her hand felt cold and had a dead like feel to it. But it's winter and she was probably just outside so it was normal.

"Scarlet!" I heard Carl scream my name, neither me nor Kayla jumped at the sound but just looked in that direction.

"Ehh, sounds like he needs me. See ya later" I say walking towards the ladder and climbing down onto the stage just to find Carl and Malachi near the steel ladder.

"What'd I do now?" I asked looking the dark haired boy in the eyes

"Scarlet this play is very inappropriate" he said anger clear in his voice

"Well you didn't say what I couldn't write, so that's kinda your fault" I replied

"You know little kids will be at this right?" He questioned. Ugh children, I thought

"Fine, we'll use fake blood and get rid of the organs. Happy?" I sighed walking around the two boys.

"No not fine- wait you were going to use real blood?" He asked

"Of course it has to look real right?" I stated like it was common knowledge.

"Where were you even going to get real blood and… organs?" He asked like he'd be sick

"I dunno, kinda thought someone could slaughter a pig or something" I said shrugging. Malachi laughed. Oh yeah your here, I remember looking at him

"What'd you think of the play?" I asked, hopeful of a better answer from my friend.

"That's why I'm over here, Carl won't let me read it" he said.

"Carl just let him read the dang paper, I promise he won't be traumatized okay" I snapped, not giving him a choice to answer before just taking it from his hands. Malachi started to read the short play. He soon finished reading the paper and handed it back

"It wasn't that bad, but it could be better" Malachi stated, looking at me.

"Scarlet, I want you to rewrite it and have it done by tomorrow," Carl said, joining the conversation once more before he walked off.

"Fine," I sighed

"Malachi, do you have a pencil?" I asked hopeful I would have to find another pencil

"No." he replied and walked off.

So once again I stood on that stage thinking about the possible outcomes of the story. I soon decided that I would write the best play ever written about a man who lets down his family by not being able to come home for Christmas because of work, but in reality he risks his life to save their city from immortal doom. So I started writing the seemingly knock off of die hard, but who cares. By the time I finished it was well past 18:00 and I had to go back home. I got up, cracking my knees in the process, making an 'i'm so old' joke. As I started for the doors I heard a voice behind me. I turned around and saw Kayla waving at me from the walkway. Strange, once again she stayed late for no reason or at least no answer I could come up with.

"Hey" I greeted. She once again gestured for me to climb up the ladder. I walked over the stage floor still creaking but not as much as before thankfully. I climbed the ladder once again and looked up at the dark haired female. Looking at her in her jade eyes gave her a confused expression.

"I wanted to see the script if you don't mind" she stated holding her hand out

"Oh, sure" I replied, handing the pieces of paper that had been stapled together over to the other girl. She looked over each page carefully. I just stood awkwardly waiting for her to say something.

"It's good, reminds me of die hard" she replied finally, handing over the script

"Thanks, that was the inspiration." I said.

"Good night" she spoke, filling the silence.

"Yep, good night. See you tomorrow" I walked back towards the ladder and climbed down.

The next morning, I had only one thing on my mind, and that was showing Carl my script. As I walked to school I wondered if Kayla lived in town, or maybe one of her parents just worked really late and picked her up late. I wondered what class she was in. She looked a year older than me but to be fair, one girl in my class is like two years older than me.

Soon school ended and me and Malachi walked to the theater room together as we talked about the play and his lack of seeing the movie.

"Well, Kayla said it was good. You just don't know what the story is supposed to be about" I said, waving him off.

"Wait, who's Kayla?" He questioned stopping.

"You know, Kayla Stone. Looks about a year older than me, has long black hair, and has green eyes" I stated, not stopping my path to the theater room.

"There's no Kayla that goes to this school" Malachi said, still confused on who this person could be.

"Well it's not like you know everyone" I said back, turning to look at him. He gave me a look that said: don't I. To be honest he isn't exactly wrong. After all he has gone to this school for years and years and he has a good memory when it comes to people. He is much better with people than me even if he finds them annoying at times. I'd say if you were to look extroverted, a picture of Malachi would show up. Agreeing to disagree we walked into the auditorium. I looked around to see Carl talking with the principal. Deciding it would be better to stay out of the woman of authority's way I just shoved the paper into Carl's arms, deeming it the best option. I walked over to the stage and climbed up the ladder to talk to Kayla.

"Hey!" I waved excitedly walking over to the raven haired girl.

"Hello Scarlet, how is it going?" she asked.

"Good. But I was wondering what age you are. You seem older but I'm not sure" I answered her question with one of my own

"Oh I'm 26" she said. My facial expression changed to confusion in an instant. But I soon burst into laughter, the joke was actually convincing with the way she said it. But before I could ask anything more I heard the all too annoying voice of Carl calling me.

"Ehh, sorry I have to go, I'll talk with you a bit later. Bye" I waved making my way down the ladder and onto the stage only to hear Carl once again.

"Carl, I'm coming! Geez" I spoke the last part quietly and walked in the direction of the loud boy.

"Scarlet, although there is violence, if we make some changes the principal said it'd be fine."

"Great, now can I leave?" I asked, wondering if I was still needed or not.

"Huh, no of course not. Since you wrote it you're now the director" he answered. I rolled my eyes and slumped against one of the nearby walls. Carl walked off probably to print the script for the different actors.

I walked back over to where Kayla stayed. (because honestly there was nothing else to do)

"Hey, Kayla! What are you doing now? I yelled. She poked her head out like before and said something I couldn't catch. What I did hear was the familiar sound of Carl's footsteps.

"Hi Carl" I said, not facing the boy.

"Scarlet- how'd you know- nevermind. I gave everyone their lines, we're going to go over it once with the scripts and you can tell me if we need to switch anything and what emotions you want the actors to portray. Also the backstage help is getting the canvas for the backgrounds right now and when they come back you can tell them what to paint." He finally finished speaking so I turned to look at him and gave him a simple nod then followed him to the newly placed director chair that was really just a black camping chair you get from Walmart.

As I watched the story unfold I gave some tips and soon enough the first act was finished. I decided that was enough for me to make my decisions and called the actors one by one. To my suprise Malachi was an extra who's only line was 'ahh' as he accidently spilled coffee on his boss. Deciding that he would definitely have wanted a better role I gave him the lead replacing a guy who was quite sesquipedalian and this simple play didn't need Shakespeare as the lead and instead gave the guy a evil henchman role. I think his name was Jason Crosswell or something. He had a strong build, brown eyes I think, and always seemed to be wearing a gold chain necklace.

After a few more switches and some advice for each character it was about time for the people to leave. I however decided that talking to Kayla before I left seemed like a better option than just going home.

To my surprise Kayla was actually waiting for me.

"Hi" she waved, I waved back and greeted her with

"Hi" as well.

"How was your day-" I was cut off by Malachi asking me a question

"Who are you talking to?"

"Kayla, obviously" I said pointing at the girl. But when I looked back she was gone. Weird I thought, and shrugged it off as nerves or her not wanting to interrupt me and Malachi's conversation. Me and Malachi walked out of the building talking about the fun number game we were playing. Sadly he was winning and so when we separated paths we both jokingly wished each other bad health and walked away.

When I walked into the theater room Carl seemed to be bossing everyone around. Tim attempted to convince Carl that whatever they were talking about wasn't a big deal.

"What's the problem with him?" I asked Tim as we watched Carl boss more people around.

"The canvas are being held back a week and Carls a mess about it"

"Why not just get the other people to figure out the special effects?" I questioned

"You know what I'll ask him." Tim said, walking over to Carl. In an instant Carl seemed to calm down after hearing that. Man, I hate theater kids.

That kid liked to play off as prudent but prudent people are responsible and plan ahead but if one thing doesn't go right he completely breaks. It was another boring day at the theater and I didn't see Kayla whatsoever all day. She was probably sick with the flu going around and such.

The next couple weeks seemed to go by quickly and the play was really coming together. Almost everything was ready, the final touches on the backgrounds were being completed and the actors were practicing as though it was opening night. Only two weeks before the big night. I was wondering where Kayla had gone. I haven't seen her lately and no one else seemed to know her. As I was walking over to the stage to check on the actors' condition (wouldn't want anyone getting sick because of the limited actors we have) when I saw a familiar face look down at me. Kayla, how did I not notice she was her? I rushed up the ladder actors long forgotten.

"Kayla, when did you get back?" I asked

"Hi, I got here just now. Afterall last minute preparations were to commence soon" she answered

"You're correct… oh! Here" I said reaching into my back pocket and pulled out a little slip of paper

"Here, it's my phone number. Give it a call sometime alright?" I announced. She took the paper and nodded her head in an up and down motion.

"Scarlet! Come look at the backgrounds" I heard Malachi's distance voice yell

"Coming!" I replied climbing down the steel ladder.

Walking towards the painting area I glanced between the different backdrops.

"Great job guys, just what I was imagining" I complimented giving the people a thumbs up.

The next few days consisted of running through the play and practicing on stage cues for special effects.

The day before the performance was the most stressful thing I've ever seen. Tons of theater kids running around and practicing different things. It was honestly hilarious watching it unfold.

I walked onto the stage and over to the ladder deciding to see how Kayla was doing.

"Everything ready for tonight?" I asked. She replied with a nod and a clear sight of joy was on her face.

"Tonight's the night" she whispered as tears started to fall from her eyes. Wait tears?

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked with slight worry? In my tone I know shocking right.

"I'm just so happy," she replied. Oh that makes some sense I guess. I chose not to push it further and walked away.

As time to leave was soon arriving I hurried over to Tim as a question popped into my head

"Hey, Tim. Do you know what Kayla does here?" I asked

"Kayla? We don't have a Kayla" he replied pulling his bag onto his shoulders

"Sure we do, dark long hair, looks about two years older than me, and jade green eyes. You know Kayla Stones" I said but was quickly cut off.

"Kayla Stone?" He asked me worry written all over his face.

"Uh yeah" I answered oblivious

"Just, search up 'Lilly Mineds'" he replied and quickly made his way out of the school. Huh I wonder what that was about.

Once I got home I decided to search up Lilly Mineds. As I scrolled through the different pictures there was a photo of a girl about my age with bright blond hair, brown eyes, and braces. I clicked on the photo and was taken to an article from almost 20 years ago.

'Lilly Mineds was murdered on December 21st of 1997 when a large instrument was dropped on her during a Christmas play. The instrument was said to be dropped on accident when one of the ropes used as a pulley to hold up the instrument ripped causing the girl to be crushed and passing away. The person who was supposed to check the ropes was named Sebastian Crosswell and was charged with first degree murder. Mr. Crosswell had come from a wealthy family and so the charges were dropped to only four years of jail time. A year later the man had a kid who he named Jason who ironically goes to the same school. The family of Lily was devastated but not as devastated as Kayla Stone. Kayla Stone was Lilly's best friend and the dread of Lily's death ended up causing Kayla to take her own life…' I read enough, I thought to myself as I closed my computer and fell asleep.

It was the day of the play and everyone was excited, well everyone but me. I do believe I knew what was to happen that night but I mean who am I to stop someone getting some well deserved justice? So I went about my day as usual and acted as though nothing was to happen. It's not like they could pin it on me 'oh she could have stopped it after all she was communicating with the ghost girl. As the end of school neared I told Malachi that he should stay out of the middle of the stage when Jason was on stage. He asked why but I just walked away.

When the time for the play finally rolled around I walked into the theater, not bothering to dress nice. I saw the actors getting ready backstage, somewhere crying and others were wishing each other good will. I hate theater.

I went and sat in my reserved 'director' seat waiting for the moment where all the kaos were to unleash.

Soon the seats started to fill with different family members and friends of all sorts. As the final people got in their seats and the loud noise soon came to a halt, the large silk curtains opened up. Standing in the middle of the stage stood Carl. He was dressed up nice with his hair slicked back.

"Good evening everybody, tonight's play was written by one of our own students this year. Give a hand for Scarlet, Johnson" the dark haired boy said, signaling for me to stand. So I did, even though my entire body was telling me not to. The room filled with claps before I sat back down. Carl cleared his throat.

"I just want to thank you all for coming. So without further ado let's get on with the show" He walked off the stage as the curtains closed once again.

The almost silent sound of things being moved around could be heard from behind the curtains. When the silk finally moved to the side with an elegant swishing movement.

The main character James (Malachi) stood in the center holding a phone to his ear. The room he was standing in was just an ordinary looking office, with light grey walls, a wooden desk that sat in the middle of the room piled with papers, and a single rather large fake fern sitting in a white square vase by the door.

“Will you be able to come home for christmas?” a voice that was coming from the phone could be heard.

“I don’t know, but by the looks of it so far it's very possible” James answered. He was wearing casual office clothes. He had messy blond hair and slightly tanned skin.

Suddenly the door burst open and a girl wearing what could be described as ‘boss’ clothes walked into the room. Her hair was back in a tight bun and her aura spoke confidence and power. She walked into the center of the room. James put the phone down with a quick

“Wait one second. Mrs. Dee is here.”

“James, we have something for you,” the woman spoke.

“We?” James questioned, confused because of the lack of another person in the room. As though he knew exactly what James said (which he did) another man walked into the room holding a black leather briefcase.

“We have been told that there may be someone who is planning on attacking our building, we need you to investigate. Then you may go home to your family” the woman said. The man handed the briefcase over to the woman and walked out the door. She opened the case to reveal a single bullet and a (fake) pistle.

“You are to dispose of the enemy then return the weapon back to me. Once that is complete you may go home.” and with that she walked back out the door. James picked up the phone again and held it near his mouth.

“I might be a bit late” he spoke into the device then hung up, before leaving the room as well.

The curtains closed as the first act finished. This was now the time when people got up for the popcorn that would be provided throughout the second act. Everyone got up in a hurry to grab what they wanted during the intermission so as to not miss any of the actual play. I just waited patiently in my chair. Excitement for what was to happen within the next act. Although my entire play may not be able to act out, watching someone get revenge was a much more rewarding achievement.

Soon the seats started to fill once again and the chatter died down as the last people entered the auditorium.

The curtains opened again.

James tucked the pistol into his belt and hid it with his shirt. Most of his coworkers must have gone home leaving only a handful. James went through different rooms and gave vague questions to each person. He deducted that there seemed to be no leads so far. There were only two more people to ask. As he walked around the building he struggled to find the people. This gave him more suspicion when he saw one of his coworkers sign out two other people along with himself. The man that made his way into the cellar.

“Strange” James muttered.

“There's only the extra storage down there” He mumbled. James made his way over to the stairs. He made his way down the stairs silently.

“There we go” A voice could be heard yet the person was yet to be seen.

“Once this bomb goes off the entire building will explod” the voice said again as though talking to someone.

“Wonderful, and we’ll finally get rid of that wannabe cop, James.” A familiar voice seemed to answer back. James ran down the few stairs left and pointed the gun at the man who had carried the briefcase into the office.

“Mrs. Dee?” James gasped. Confusion setting in.

“But why?” James asked not being able to understand the situation on its own. The woman laughed and walked towards the man holding the gun. She put her hands up

“Now, now, no need to be so hostile.” she replied before taking her own gun out and ‘shooting’ the light. Now only a slight glow was on the stage just so the audience could see the play taking place on the stage.

“You see, Caleb here (Jason) was going to blow up this place. But more importantly you.” Mrs. Dee said (with way too much emotion) As James was about to open his mouth to say something again he was cut off.

Cut off by what exactly, well. A loud crash sounded through the auditorium as the stage was painted red. The lights flicked on in an instant. As they did, the once quiet room filled with screams. And the faint sound of laughter? Who was laughing? Wait, was that me? I wondered.

Everyone was escorted out of the auditorium and the father of Jason was taken in for questioning by the police along with the principal and a handful of students from the theater club.

A week later I heard a knock on the door of my house. I was the closest person near the door and my parents were down stairs so I opened the door to an officer.

“Umm, hello can I help you?” I asked

“Are you Scarlet?” he asked ignoring my question

“Yes…” I replied not sure where this was going.

“You’re under arrest for the murder of Jason Crosswell '' The cop said, pulling out a shiny pair of handcuffs.

“Wha-” He turned me around and put the handcuffs on me, before escorting me to the car.

After what felt like forever we got to the police station. They took me in for questioning.

“Let me ask you one more time, why did you kill Jason!” The officer yelled once again

“I didn’t kill him!” I yelled back looking him straight in the eyes.

“That's it, take her to the testing room” He spoke to one of the walls. Must be a one way mirror, I thought to myself. I was escorted to a different room that was all white and felt lonely. Soon the huge metal door closed behind me and I was left with no one but my own thoughts.

I leaned against one of the white walls and looked down at my cuffed wrists. When I looked back up I saw Kayla.

“Uhh, hi.” I said it was as awkward as our first meeting. She didn’t say anything back.

“I know you’re… well, dead” I said, not sure what to say to a dead person over three times my age. She looked back at me confused.

“What are you talking about? I’m not dead” she said to me.

“Yeah, you killed yourself when your best friend died because of the theatrical accident” I replied. This conversation was getting confusing.

“No, no.” she answered and started to laugh.

“I’m not dead, I’m actually not real. You made everything up” she said. At that moment I hung my mouth open wide.

“Wha- but the website and article. What about that?” I asked

“Ha, you made that up too” she giggled. The anger I felt was like waves coming after each other like a boat caught in a bad storm. I wrapped my hands around her neck trying to strangle her. But she just kept laughing and suddenly I couldn’t breathe. I tried to call for help but no one came. Soon everything started to turn dark and I let out my final breath.

Even now, as I’m forced to watch my life story over and over again, I still couldn’t believe I could have fallen for simple hallucinations.

And I can only watch over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over…

It all started on any average day, I know that sounds cliche but that's what it was. Me and my second best friend Malachi were staying after school to do homework in the common area…