Don’t Look Back

We jump right back in—Hayden sprinting through the shadowy corners of the campus, Hayden thought to himself, "We've been running since we got out the dormitory, how much stamina does he have?!" adrenaline blasting through his chest. Every corner he turns reveals nothing but more darkness. Wind whistles between stone walls. He hears the killer's footsteps.

"I'm right behind him, I have to catch him. No I need to catch him.. Because If I don't, more people will die!" Hayden said to himself.

"HEY! STOP!" Hayden shouted to the killer.

The killer then takes a sharp turn, Hayden follows behind him. But then Hayden got something he didn't expect.

*WHAM* The killer landed a mean punch to Hayden's jaw with brutal force which makes Hayden collapse onto the ground, head spinning, a muffled grunt leaving his throat.

He catches one last glimpse of the black mask vanishing into the trees beyond campus before everything goes blurry. A cold chill runs up his spine as pain sinks in.

Hayden is lying there, hand clutching his jaw, blood running from his lip. As his vision slowly becomes blurry.

Hayden wakes up to white walls and the smell of disinfectant. Principal Hawthorne and Detective Cross are already in the room.

Principal Hawthorne opened his mouth to speak, "You were out after curfew. And somehow ended up near the second victim."

"Wait! I wasn't—I mean—I was trying to help—I know what it looks like but thats not it." Hayden was sincere.

"You chased someone down." Detective Cross said getting Hayden's attention. "We seen the security footage, a masked figure… while someone lay bleeding out behind you."

Hayden puts his head down realizing what he's done. when Hayden tries to speak, "I-" hes cut off by Detective Cross, "What was your goal?" She said, "You left a girl out there bleeding for what? So you could go play hero? You know shes in a coma right? If you had just decided to help her instead of chasing after a murderer we wouldn't even be here today."

"Look i'm sorry!" Hayden yelled "I just couldn't stand there and let that guy just get away with stabbing someone and then hes going to kill more innocent people! You don't understand I had him, right there in my hand, if I had just managed to get him none of this would have happened and now more people are going to die..!"

"I'm not angry at you." Cross said, "I'm just confused, and a little interested. Because what 16 year old jump right into danger because he actually cares about others? I don't see that often."

Hayden seems a lot more composed now.

"The mask, the one they were wearing, what did it look like?" Cross Asked Hayden.

"Smooth, it seemed like he had a black cloth to cover his mouth, and for his eyes he had an Onyx mask, All of his skin was covered except for the eyes."

She writes something downs in a notebook and stands up, "I have a feeling i'll be seeing more of you. Hayden Reeve" Detective Cross then leaves silently.

We now switch to the Girls dorm, We see Amber scrolling on her laptop reading every single piece of news flooding in, all talking about Midtown.

Headline: "Second student attacked on First day – Midtown's Prestige in Jeopardy"

"Two in one day…" Amber whispers to herself.

"This is seriously freaking me out Amber, I don't want to die… Maybe we should go home." Carmen says to Amber.

"What the hell makes you think you'll die?! It's not like you're a target or anything." Amber reminds Carmen.

"Well you don't know that either! The son of a b*tch is killing at random and so far his modus operandi is only women. We could be on his list.." Carmen exclaimed.

Amber just starred at her, knowing that she isn't wrong. But Amber clenched her fist. She isn't ready to give up yet. "No. Not yet. We can't give up so soon, and i'm not going to live in fear. We'll get through this."

Carmen looks devastated with a face that screams shes given up.

Carmen and Amber then hear something outside, Carmen opened to window and is shocked. "Amber.. Come check this out!"

There were police and guards blocking protesters, it looked like there were hundreds of them. Many of them criticizing Midtown, some saying they're pathetic for letting a murderer run around their "Prestigious School."

Amber makes an uneasy face. "Our school life is going to get really tough from now on."

"Lets just go to the cafeteria already. I haven't ate in hours." Carmen said to Amber.

Now at the cafeteria, students glande towards Hayden, some whispering "Thats him…"

Hayden glances back at them confusingly while whispering, "What the hell are they all looking at? They're looking at me like I killed their grandmother."

Ty slides into the seat next to him. "You good bro?" Ty sees the black eye "Did you try to kiss a basketball rim while making a dunk or something" Ty jokes about and laughs.

"Dude, it isn't funny. It was the killer" Hayden said to Ty.

Ty being confused says, "What?"

"Yeah. Remember when I told you I was leaving the dorm last night because I couldn't sleep? Turns out, I saw that bastard standing over a girl with a knife." Hayden says with a serious expression.

Ty makes a shocked expression. "Shit man. I should've went with you.."

Hayden looks confused, "What? none of this is your fault. It's my fault for not being able to catch him when I did, and now more people are going to die."

Ethan Zhou pops up, setting his phone down. He's been filming reactions all day. "You got any more details on the mask dude? Like, was it latex? Armor? I could maybe build a 3D model—"

"Can you just chill out?" Ty says to Ethan. "He's been through enough, and he shouldn't have to deal with more."

Ethan backs off, muttering an apology. Meanwhile, Amber watches Hayden from across the room. Their eyes finally meet. Brief. Sharp. Charged. Amber looks away.

"Hey Ty, who is that girl? The one at the back of the lunch line, with the blond hair and blue eyes?" Hayden asks Ty.

Ty smirks and jokingly says "Ah so mr lover boy's into white cute girl hmm?"

"Shut up man thats not it. I just want to know." Hayden asked again.

"Thats Amber Smith. She's pretty popular around school." Ty says to Hayden

Hayden confused, "Popular already? But its only the second day how come?"

"You're telling me you seriously weren't there? she was a tryout for the volleyball team. She almost made captain dude, shes killed the tryouts in second place! And she kinda has a nice as-"

"Alright alright." Hayden interrupted Ty. "I didn't need to know about that." Hayden continues to look at her.

"But why'd you ask?" Ty says to Hayden

"Because. Thats the second time our eyes met." Hayden says.

Then an Announcement plays on the PA System: "Hello Students of Midtown, This is your Principal Hawthorne speaking. Will everybody please make their way towards the Auditorium, Staff Included."

As Hayden and Ty are seen walking into the Auditorium, we see 8 Armed guards. Four at every corner in the Auditorium, And two on the stage standing with Principal Hawthorne.

Principal Hawthorne then turns the microphone up and says, "As of today, new security measures are in place. Curfews are absolute. Hall passes required after dark. We are NOT shutting down. I know some of you are scared, and your parents are worried and yes, they have every right to be and so do you. But by the name of this great School, I swear to you by oath we will find out who is behind the murder of two innocent girls. Now we are here today to mourn in the memory of those two."

The focus now goes to Amber and Carmen, listening to Principal Hawthorne. "I don't know why, but for some reason everything that comes out of his mouth sounds like bullshit." Carmen says.

Amber just sits there quietly. "I have to find out who's behind this" She whispers.

We now go back to Hayden and Ty, While sitting, Ty notices their Teacher Ms. Kensley scribbling notes to herself watching Hawthorne closely.

*Hours later after school ends, Hayden goes to his locker*

Hayden sees a white paper that someone slipped in his locker, one in red writing that says: "You should've stayed out of it." Hayden didn't put much attention into it and crumples it up, right after that Amber walks up to him, their first real conversation.

"You were there last night." Amber said

"Pardon?" Hayden said confusingly

"You were the one that chased the killer last night, weren't you?" Amber said.

Hayden finally realizes, "So you read rumors, huh?"

"I don't read rumors, I read people."

"If thats the case, then what do uou see when you look at me?" Hayden asked.

Pause. Amber studies him.

"Clearly someone who doesn't know when to stop running." Amber said

Hayden's eyes widened and then he closes his locker. "You saw me last night chasing the killer didn't you..?"

Amber pauses. "I wasn't sure of it at first, but now I definitely am."

"What is it you want?" Hayden Asks.

"You want to take the killer down dont you? Because if you didn't, i'm sure you wouldn't have ran after him. Well guess what, I want to take him down just as much as you do." Amber says sincerely.

"But what about your parents, your family, what if they find out you're going after a murderer?" Hayden says.

"My dad is never home, its not like he'll know." Amber says

"And what about your mom?" Hayden asked.

Amber takes a deep breath and says, "I never knew my mom. All I know is her name, and none of this matters. Are you going to help me or not?"

Hayden pauses for a minute then looks up. "I need some time to think about it."

We now switch to the rooftop of the dormitory building during night time, and see Hayden open the door that leads to the roof. He's joined by Ty who brings some snacks and a quiet moment.

"Midtown, man… this place was supposed to be opportunity. Now it's just scary." Ty says while putting his hand on his head.

Hayden looks up to the glowing glass windows in the distance then says, "It wont be for long."

Ty not knowing what he's talking about, "What do you mean? Are you planning on doing something stupid again?"

"Again?!" Hayden questioned.

"Wait, don't tell me you seriously think that running after a murderer isn't the most stupidest thing you've ever??" Ty asked.

"So you're saying that if you have the chance to stop a murderer you wouldn't take it?!" Hayden was sincere on his question

"Yes." Ty said. "If it means i'll live. You don't go off being some sort of suicidal idiot now. I don't know what you're planning to do but if it involves that killer then leave me out of it."

Hayden doesn't say a word. He doesn't want to get any more people dragged into this, they could get hurt. Or worse.

Now switching back to the Girls Dorm, we see a girl walking down a hallway seems to be trying to get to the bathroom.

*Two footsteps behind her*

She quickly turns around to see who's behind her. Nobody's there.

She continues walking but goes faster, before she turns a corner, shes skeptical of going because she doesn't know whats behind there. But when she turns, no one.

The girl takes a deep breath and continues walking forward, next thing we see is a man with a black mask and fully coated black clothing on holding a knife. This is the Killer! He finally walks up to her and she turns around because she hears footsteps, all she can see is a knife in the sky coming towards her face.

She lets out a loud scream that is cut off, the killer then leaves.

We now go back to the Police HQ and See Detective Cross. Cross is examining a board full of photos and patterns. She circles the word "Girl. Girl." She underlinds it. Twice.

We see a man in a gray suit come into the frame, "Found anything useful?" The man says.

Cross quickly turns around and says, "Captain Martin! What brings you here..?" Cross said with sincerity showing that she has respect for him.

"I'm here seeing if you have anything remotely close to capturing this bastard." Martin says to Cross.

Cross looks down, because she hasn't found anything that could lead them to possible suspects. "No sir, I haven't found a decent pattern yet, both of the girls that were murderer have nothing in common, the only thing they had the same of was the same grade. But overall different ethnicities, different ages, and different races"

"Hm. I see. Tell Hawthorne I want 24 hour surveillance on every corner of that school. We have to catch the bastard before this becomes a serial killer case, and if they continue to kill it will show that we're incompetent wnd can't even catch an amateur." Captain Martin says this then proceeds to leave the room.

We now go back to Hayden. Hayden lies in bed, bruised, eyes wide open, Ty already asleep. He holds the warning note under his blanket. Reads it again. Then burns it with a lighter he borrowed.

He has a serious expression on his face.

Hayden(Voiceover): "I thought it was just a mistake—me being there. A moment in the wrong place. But this isn't a moment. It's a pattern. And I think I'm next."

[END OF CHAPTER 2]