CHAPTER 1: GRADUATION DAY

"Hey Rick where are you, hurry up or you're going to be late" Sarah shouted as she was also in a haste herself,

Rick then quickly Rushed out of his room and was headed for the living room, he had a gown which looked like a graduation gown in his hands and he wanted to put it in his bag while he rushed out,

"I'm here mum",

"there you are" Sarah said while she then turned around to look at him.

"Wow, you look so handsome" she then said with a huge smile on her face,

"alright, enough with all the nice talks now mum, can we just go" Rick said not even smiling back,

"Oh come on you're not even smiling, today's your big day come on it's your graduation at least smile" Sarah said,

Rick then put on a big fake smile while his teeths were also clearly showing,

"happy now?" he asked sarcastically,

"yeah, now hurry up let's go" Sarah said as she quickly rushed out of the house and Rick then also followed her as he locked the door behind him, they then went into the car parked in the driveway with Sarah taking the drives seat and Rick the passengers, she then immediately started the car and started driving.

"Hey, come on smile Rick it's your big day" Sarah said when she noticed that Rick was still frowning,

"for what reason mom, to be honest if it was up to me I wouldn't even go for this graduation, I see it as a waste of time" Rick replied her,

"oh really, well suit yourself" Sarah said with a heavy sigh as she then continued driving.

There was silence in the car for about a minute or so as Sarah still looked at Rick but not directly this time, she was using her side eye while still focusing on the road ahead of her,

"hey are you okay?" she then asked Rick breaking the silence,

"yeah I'm fine" he answered in an aggressive tone,

"you're sure, you don't feel like there are any changes in you?" Sarah asked again in a tone reading that she was clearly concerned about something.

"I said I'm fine mum" Rick answered pissed off by the question,

"oh and by the way what do you mean by are there any changes in me?" he finished,

"Oh that!, it's nothing" she answered but she was acting kind of weird and Rick also gave her an awkward look.

"Okay we're here" Sarah said as she parked the car in the parking lot alongside other cars,

"come on let's go hurry up, you're already late" she said as she got out the car quickly, Rick on the other hand was moving sluggishly,

"Rick come on" Sarah said waiting for Rick, when he got closer they then walked towards the schools premises.

When they got there the programme had already began Sarah took her seat were parents were seated while Rick went in the direction where his fellow graduands were, everyone was looking at him because he was still trying to put on his gown as he had only brought it out of his bag, Rick then finally took his seat and then put on a fake smile because of everyone who looked at him.

After just a few minutes of getting to seat down, the graduates were then called upon to receive their certificates and Rick then grumbled immediately but he then got up, he watched as those in front of him went on to receive theirs,

"Janet Robertson" the speaker said and then a

light skinned girl who had dark short hair came out and went on to receive her certificate in her gown, Rick had his eyes on her and when he saw her he actually smiled for real this time.

"Richard Reyes" was then called out loud by the speaker, Rick then stepped on forward and collected his own certificate, immediately he did so he then went back to where he was sitting while smiling as well.

After the sharing of the certificates the ceremony was then over a few minutes later,

"hey man, what's up" a boy said to Rick, he was also a graduand,

"I'm good, you?" Rick asked,

"same here, hey uhm are you going to the party later?" the boy then asked,

"I'm not sure I will" Rick replied him,

"you should it'll be fun, and come on this might be the last time you even see some of us" the boy said,

"yeah whatever, as if you guys really care how I feel" Rick replied as he then took his bag and walke away, the boy then looked surprised,

"I was just trying to be nice" he said before he also finally left that spot.

*Bang bang bang*,

There was a knock on the door, a guy then went to open the door, he was black, tall and he also had a beard, when he opened the door he saw that it was the girl Rick was looking at and smiling earlier,

"Jane, what brings you here?" he asked her,

"hey Blake, Is Rick here?, I looked for him after the graduation ceremony and I couldn't find him, I also went to his house but his mom said he wasn't home, she said she also couldn't find him after the event either" Jane said.

"Oh I see, I also don't get why he isn't vibing with this graduation stuff, anyways he's in but he's sleeping, are you guys going somewhere if I may ask cause he told me not to wake him" Blake told her,

"Oh yeah, I wanted to go for our graduation party and I wanted him to come with me so we could tag along" she replied.

"Oh if that's it then I'm waking him up, he needs to have some fun in his life" Blake said as he then went back in and left Jane there while he went into the bedroom, when he got there he then hit the door really hard and the sound woke Rick up,

"hey your girlfriend is here looking for you " he said the moment Rick looked at him,

"I don't have a girlfriend" Rick replied,

"Jane she's here hurry up" Blake said,

"wait what, what is she doing here?" Rick asked,

"I don't know, go ask her yourself" Blake said as he walked out of the room.

Rick then got up from the bed with a grumpy face, he then put on his sneakers and carried his phone as he followed behind Blake, when he got to the living room where both Blake and Jane were he starred Jane straight in the eye,

"what brings you here Jane?" he asked her,

"well I was going for the graduation party and I thought maybe to stop by and see if you were going,I went to your house but your mum said she couldn't find or contact you since the programme finished earlier so I figured maybe you were here and I came" she answered,

"well I'm not going" Rick said,

"yes you are" Blake replied him,

"it's not your decision to make man" Rick said to him,

"yes but you need some fun in your life, now go, besides you two really need to talk things out it's been a while since I saw both of you together" Blake said,

"fine whatever let's go" Rick said as he then went out alongside Jane and he then shut the door.

They then walked towards a car parked by the side of the road, Jane took the drivers seat as Rick also went into the car,

"So you finally decided to show up huh" Rick said breaking the silence between them,

"Rick, I don't know what the problem with you is but you're still my closest friend despite all that's happened, besides it's our graduation day so can we just put all of this behind us even just for one day, I left all my other friends just so I could come and get you cause I knew you wouldn't want to come so just shut up and let's go" Jane replied him as she then started the car and then started driving.

After a few minutes of silence while Jane was still driving they found themselves on a lonely road, there weren't any cars moving by and it was also dark,

"that's strange" Rick said,

"what?" Jane asked,

"the road is hardly this quiet, I mean there are hardly even any cars moving by" Rick said,

"yeah, it could just be a coincidence" Jane replied,

"I doubt it, but hey what's that?" Rick asked when he noticed a human figure standing in the middle of the road while their car was approaching,

"Who in his right mind would stand in the middle of a road with cars passing by" Jane shouted, when she got closer and saw that the man refused to move away she then stopped the car from moving.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rick asked,

"I'm going to talk to him" Jane replied,

"no don't, its dangerous, aren't you even scared?" Rick said,

"me scared!, why are you talking as if you don't know me" she replied as she then immediately dropped out of the car, she then walked up to the man who was dressed in all black with a hoodie covering his face, when she got closer the man then dashed towards Jane, he was as fast as lightening, he grabbed her by the neck and the next thing that happened was her becoming unconscious,

Rick on the other hand was shocked at what had happened but before he could also make a move he suddenly couldn't move as everywhere went dark, he also went down unconscious as there was someone else with the man, they then took both Rick and Jane and dashed away with them.