Vibrant Eyes

Chapter 1 - A Flash of Hell

A shrill cry echoed in the smoke. The sound of guns pierced my ears in the dark. I gripped the damp ground. "I won't die here, I won't die here," I repeated. Something grabbed my shoulder. "Get up soldier! We aren't dead yet!" I was yanked up to my feet, a bullet missing my helmet by just an inch. My adrenaline hit me like a car. I picked up my rifle, sprinting towards the ditch in front of me, sliding in. "We're gonna die! We're outnumbered!" said one soldier. He was pale in the face, it looked like he was done. "That's enough private! We are not done here!" the commander yelled. We all stood up straight.

"I have a plan so listen up." We all listened, understanding the plan. "Let's go!" we lept from the ditch, charging at the enemy. I looked to my left, the person next to me flying back with the sound of a shot fired. My eyes widened. "Keep charging!" We kept charging, but I slowed down. "No..." I watched as one by one, everyone was shot in front of me.

"Stop..." Bang, bang, bang.

"Please..." Bang, bang, bang.

"STOP IT!"

I sat up with a scream, clutching my chest. Sweat rolled down my face. I looked around my room,

"No... no no no." I held the sides of my head. "Why... why am I like this?" Tears formed in my eyes, but I held them in. My alarm went off, making me jump. I got out of bed slowly, turning my clock off and jumping in the shower. I got out and got changed into my black pants, t-shirt, and jacket, and grabbed my bag to walk to school.

I arrived at the gate to be greeted by my best friend.

"Heya! You came early," she said with a warm smile. "Yeah," I replied, still recovering from the dream. "Didn't get a good enough sleep huh...?" She asked, I nodded. "Come on," she said and took me to our lockers. We put our stuff away and grabbed our books for our first class. "What's your first class?" She asked. "Humanities," I responded. "Dang, I have Home Ec," she said with a pout. She waved, "See ya later!" and walked away, leaving me there.

I arrived at my class, the desks arranged into single rows. 'Figures'. I sat down at the desk at the back, next to the window. Everyone arrived at class with the teacher and started the lesson. Of course, I wasn't listening. I looked out the window, drowning in my thoughts.

"Hey, put that away!" the teacher yelled. Suddenly, a huge bang went off, streamers flying everywhere. I jumped, my eyes widening as I started to hyperventilate. "No, please, not now." My heart raced, beating out of my chest.

"Whoever let off the party popper, go to the principal's office!"

"I need to go, I need to." I put my hand up, asking if I can go to the bathroom.

"If you must." she sighed. I stood up and went to the bathroom, locking the door behind me. I went to the sink and stared into the mirror.

"Calm down, calm down..." My breath quickened. My palms grew sweaty and I started to pace around the room. I started to hear voices, "We aren't done yet!"

"Let's go!" I could hear gunshots and screams, drowning all sounds around me. "You're not much of a fighter are you, Private Alana?" I started to hear ringing in my ears.

"SHUT UP!" I yelled, smashing my head against the wall.

Tears streamed down my face.

"Don't tell them what you've done..." That sentence replayed in my head over and over again. "Tell them what you've done..." I cried "Stop it! Stop it!!" I repeated, smashing my head against the wall again. I'm slumped on the ground a few hours later, hugging my knees to my chest. "I can't... I can't do this." After calming down a bit, I walked to the sinks and washed my face, looking into the mirror. I sighed.

"Stupid party poppers..." I left the bathroom, walking to the cafeteria for lunch and finding my friends.

"Alana! Over here!" my best friend waved me down. I sat next to her. "Hey, Dakota." I said to her, "Heya! Zach and Bailey are here too." she smiled at the two, to which they smiled back. I waved slightly. I didn't like Bailey, but Zach was alright.

"So, where were you?" Dakota asked. "Bathroom," I replied.

"Ooo doing some stuff in the bathroom eh?" Bailey said in a dorky tone, a smirk on his face. "Yeah, if you call taking a crap doing something," I said back with a scoff.

Zach and Dakota laughed, Bailey sat there with a glare.

"Hey, apparently we're having Gym with the year 10's," Zach stated, my head lifted. "Don't they usually have it with the year 9's?" I asked, and he smiled.

"Not sure, it's just what I heard." "That's kinda sus," Dakota said with a giggle. "Bells bouta go." She said, standing up. I stood up too. "Zach's place after school?" Bailey asked. "Sure!" Dakota responded, "What about you Alana?" she asked, turning to me. I sighed. "Not today." We walked to our classes.

We all stood at the entrance gate to the school.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Zach asked me, I nodded,

"I'm alright. Thanks." And walked away, leaving them standing at the gate. The air around me went cold. I walked down the street, the street lamps lighting the road in a dim color. I shivered, 'something doesn't feel right...' I thought to myself. My pace quickened as I walked up to a sign, seeing where I was.

"What the... this isn't the right street." I walked around, trying to find the street my house was on.

Suddenly, my foot touched something big in front of me. I looked down and froze, "Wh-what the." Below me, before my eyes was a man covered in a pool of blood. His hand grabbed my foot, to which I jumped. "You let me die..." the man said.

"GET OFF ME!" I yelled and pulled my leg away. In doing so, I fell and backed away, my leg covered in his blood. I looked at the blood, then back at the man, who was already dead. I covered my eyes with my hands, "No... it'll go away, it always does. I just need to cover them... cover them... that's right."

A few minutes went by and I uncovered my eyes. The body was gone, and so was the blood. I sighed, getting up off the ground and dusting myself off. My face went from shocked to dead-faced. "This is so stupid," I said, holding my head with my hand. I laughed slightly,

"So... stupid."