Valerie Lives in Dreams

CHAPTER 1

Mary's POV

I never thought I’d be out in another dimension I didn’t even know existed or that I’d be solving murders of people I never knew the existence of. I never thought I’d get so close to people that never existed to me before. I never even imagined any of it in the craziest and wildest of my fantasies, but here I was.
"Miller High School," I mouthed the words on the board.
How bad could my first day at a new high school be? I was starting my junior year at this new highschool in New Hovey City. I'd moved from Saphimora, which was on the other side of the country.
I entered the vicinity of the school and looked up at the tall, mysterious building; its walls were scarred with signs of time and weather. It was surrounded by dead grass on all sides. A little in the distance was a towering, old Bunyan tree. What secrets did it hide from me?
I looked around for a staff member that might be able to help. Thankfully, I found a student who gave me instructions and I went to find my class.
"Class! We have a new student! Please welcome Mary! Would you like to tell the class about yourself?"
I shuffled into the class.
"Hi!" my eyes darted across the large classroom, “I’m Mary from Saphimora,” I managed a lopsided smile, but my trembling voice betrayed me.
"Thank you, Mary! Sit anywhere you like."
The teacher then wrote the topic on the whiteboard and began to shuffle through the files and books on her desk.
I nodded and sat in the back next to a girl with box braids and a denim jacket.
“Hey! I’m Hannah!" the girl sitting beside me said.
“Mary Grace!" I said hesitantly.
“Nice to meet you, Mary! Welcome to New Hovey City! You probably miss Saphimora already, right?”
“Yeah, I do! It was amazing. We have so many memories there! Like our next-door neighbor, Kyle. Him and I used to throw pebbles in this mean old lady’s pool over the fence," I dived deep into my amazing memories of Saphimora. That city was something I could go on and on about for days.
Hannah laughed. The teacher turned around and glared at Hannah.
“Would you mind sharing with the class what’s so funny, Hannah?”
“Nothing, sorry!”
“I’m so sorry for getting you in trouble!” I whispered.
“Nah, it’s okay and I take it you two must be great and mischievous friends”
“We‘d been friends since we were five, when his Mom first watched me when my parents were out of town. His sister Emma was always onto us, I kinda miss her, not gonna lie. How about you? Tell me about yourself!”
“Well, I’ve been living here for as long as I remember. It’s a weird place. So many mysteries.”
“What kind of mysteries?”
“Well, there’s many. First off, you must’ve noticed the dark mist over the city, right?”
“Yeah, what’s with that?”
“That’s the thing, nobody knows. Then about the Stuarts' murders, nobody knows what happened except that Miller killed them. And nobody knows much about Miller either.”
“Okay, I didn’t know that. That- that’s interesting.”
“Yeah, you’re new here so it probably intrigues you a lot wanting to find out but trust me, you’ll get used to it. I had a severe obsession with every crazy thing that has to do with this city so I've researched basically every little detail that's possible to know of.
“Has anyone seen my black-colored file labeled ‘assignments’?”
Some of the students ignored the teacher or continued to do what they were doing before while some let her know they hadn’t seen it.
"Can anyone please go check for my file in the Principal’s office? I’ll go look in the teachers’ lounge.”
I spontaneously stood up, "No- no problem, miss- uh-"
“Jaiden Harington!”
“Yes! Mrs. Harington!”
"The office is on the sixth floor. Ask the Principal if you see her in the office or look through the cabinet."
Why would the Principal's office be on the sixth floor? Weird.
I almost uttered but bit my tongue. I nodded to the teacher and walked out the door. This was my chance perhaps, to explore the secrets this place kept. After climbing what seemed like thousands of steps, I saw the Principal's office.
My impatient knocks went unanswered and the doorknob ignored my efforts. I heard footsteps somewhere. The noise was coming from the room next to the Principal’s office. I tried my luck again but this room was locked as well. The echoing whispers of a little girl startled me.
"Mommy, Mommy! Look, it's Mary!"
My eyes widened. I turned around my back and ran down the stairs as fast as I could. The stairs that had seemed to take an eternity to climb didn't take a second to run down. When I reached my class, I bent down on my knees in the doorframe and started breathing heavily. I could tell my face had turned pale with raised eyebrows and unsteady breathing.
"Miss- there- there," I paused to catch my breath and raised the one-sec finger, "The door, it was locked, and the voice. There was a girl and she said, Mommy, look, Mary's here and- and I ran and ran."
"Mary, are you feeling alright? Did you get the file?" Mrs. Harington asked me with furrowed eyebrows and a concerned look on her face.
"Um, er, no! Sorry."
Mrs. Harington told me to take my seat and went to get it herself. I quietly sat down and started to trace my steps in my head. The teacher walked in and put the file on her desk.
"You okay, Mary? Are you feeling alright?" the teacher looked concerned.
It's my first day and everyone already thinks I am crazy.
I nodded to the teacher.