The leaves were rustling and heavy footsteps followed. Several footsteps were hitting the ground and heavy breathing could be heard.
If one was to view from a high ground, one would see a grey blur chasing a teen with short brown hair in a thick forest.
Exhausted, the boy hid behind a tree with a large trunk to catch his breath. He only managed to inhale and exhale for three seconds before he sighted vicious glowing yellow eyes.
"What do you want!" The boy screamed at the top of his lungs.
The grey blur treaded slowly towards the boy with its eyes glowing brighter than it was. Every step taken by this thing makes the boy's chest pound faster.
Suddenly, the grey blur with vicious eyes leapt with full force towards the boy and...
"James! James! Wake up!" A soft voice called.
*Gasps*
The boy jolted awake with a huge gasp and beads of sweat were trickling down his forehead.
"What happened? Another one? Talk to me!" The soft voice spoke again, and this time, it was slightly high pitched due to concern.
"I'm fine mom. It was just a silly dream." James replied.
"I don't think so. A dream or nightmare? Beads of sweat are clearly visible on your forehead." The soft voice that appears to be James's mom, Serena Craig said.
"I'm fine! It's nothing to worry about." James replied with a nervous smile.
James Craig was the teen who woke from a dream, or rather a nightmare, in which something was relentlessly pursuing him.
"Let's go, the principal is reviewing your test results." Serena pulled her son's arm from the wooden bench he sat on.
The wooden bench was amidst other benches resting against the wall on a hallway.
Now, one would think the hallway is noisy for they were in a school, instead, it was as silent as a graveyard.
The mother and son duo were treading down the hallway as Serena started a conversation.
"You won't talk about it huh?"
'How long? How long have I been having this consistent nightmare? The annoying part is I don't even know what is chasing me. All I see is a grey blur and the fu*king dream ends the same way.' James was drowned in his own thoughts rather than giving his mother a response.
"James! I'm talking to you!" Serena snapped James out of his thoughts.
"I'm sorry... look, we're here." James said as he saw a red door with a bold inscription on it just few meters away from them.
"The Principal's Office." James muttered.
With few knocks, the door was swung open and a bald man with oversized glasses that slides down his nose and gruff white beard to complement his old self welcomed them.
"I must say, young man, you got quite the impressive result here and you got the looks to back it up." The Principal, Williams Jones giggled before he continued. "Brains like yours are always welcome to Braxton High. James, is it? You're welcome to Braxton High."
"Thank you so much sir. I'm glad he did well. We're also sorry for coming on a short notice. School is about to resume, and we didn't want to miss the registration." Serena went for a handshake with the principal.
She was so elated that James did well and also got praised by the principal, while James seemed unfazed.
James himself knew he'd pass the test, except the principal intended to fail him. To him, it was a walk in the park.
In truth, James had always been intelligent right from birth, and he was quite the fast learner. Even back at his previous high school, Middleton High, he was a force to reckon with. Also, James didn't earn his fame from just intelligence, he was outstanding physically.
However, good things don't last long. As time went on, his fame dropped. An incident occurred which changed his high school life in Middleton. The many rivals he had took this as an opportunity and eventually turned bullies.
In the first place, never in his dreams had James intended to be a high school prince. When the incident occurred and things took a turn, it wasn't worrying for James as most most would think.
In essence, this incident wasn't the reason for James withdrawal or as he thinks. The tuition fee that rose significantly was what made Mrs Serena, a single mother of two withdraw James.
After being briefed of the rules and how things work in the school, Serena and James left the school and headed home.
"Well, I guess this is my life now. New enemies, new rules and probably new jesters." James broke the silence in the taxi they boarded.
"Come on James, you have to be positive. You know we have no choice and I'm sure no one will make jest of you. It's all for good son. Let's not ignore the fact Braxton is also a big school." Serena replied.
James heaved a sigh and tucked his head in his arms – thinking of the constant nightmares he's been having.
Serena on the other hand was thinking how long it had been, how long she's been catering for James and his sister, Jessica Craig.
Although, she's five years younger than James, she recently graduated from elementary school and now attends Cradenville High school which tuition fee is far less than James's former high school.
"Ma'am we've reached the destination." The taxi driver called her.
"Right, here's your money." Serena hastily removed money from her bag and gave it to the driver.
She was about to alight when she saw James eyes were closed. James' eyebrows were slightly twitching and beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead.
'He must be having that nightmare again.' Serena thought with a worried look on her face.
"Is he gonna get down or what?" The annoyed taxi driver said.
"I'm sorry, he's just a kid." Serena grabbed James' arms and forcefully pulled him out of the taxi.
Before the taxi zoomed, James was struggling to place his feet well on the ground as his eyes opened slowly.
Suddenly, the car zoomed and James almost tripped.
Serena cursed the man inwardly before giving James an earful.
"We have some talking to do young man!"
Serena and James were walking down the walkway towards their house when James saw a man in an elegant suit approach them.
Before the man passed, James saw the man's eyes shimmer yellow light.
'What the...'