The fire raged all around her. All she could hear were screams, and repeatedly, the name "Marcus" was yelled. The voice sounded oddly familiar, but her mind was too panicked to give it a face. She ran forward blindly, smoke clouding her vision. But there they were, just up ahead of her! The fire doors! Her only escape! A sudden force shoved her into a wall, as if someone had pushed her. It held her there, and she was helpless to stop the door from slowly closing. "No!" she screamed, struggling against the invisible weight. Suddenly, a face appeared in front of her. It was covered in blood. Its hair hung loosely, streaked with the sticky red substance. Its mouth was permanently locked in a malicious grin. But its eyes. They completed the horrific face. They were cold and glazed over, as if looking without seeing. And yet, they seemed to stare directly at her. No, not at her. Through her. She could hear a deep rumble, barely audible over her screaming. Quickly, she found the source of the noise. Steadily, the laugh grew, both in sound and pitch, until it was no longer a rumble. It grew to an ear piercing giggle. Louder and louder, higher and higher. It reached an impossibly high pitch, higher than a dog or a dolphin should have been able to hear. It sounded almost like a bomb about to go off.

Violet woke up screaming. Her eyes snapped open as she sat up, breathing heavily. "It was only a dream. It was only a dream," she whispered to herself. She took a minute to calm herself down before she checked her alarm clock. 6:03 it read. She sighed. This was the third day in a row that her nightmares had woken her up before her alarm went off. But her nightmares were not unfounded. She had survived the earth-bound hell known commonly as Prom Night. She had survived the human embodiment of the devil, AKA Carietta (Carrie) White. Some people had the blessing of nightmares full of clowns, vampires, werewolves, maybe even a monster or two. But they all woke up knowing none of it would follow them, haunt them, during every waking moment.

Attempting to banish these thoughts to the farthest corner of mind, Violet rose slowly from her bed. She made her way to the bathroom, taking her time. Why hurry? I have an extra half an hour, she thought. She finally made it to the bathroom. Turning on the sink faucet, she rinsed her face off, mostly to wake herself up. Her dark brown eyes stared back at her as she raised her face to the mirror. Running a small brush under the water, she brought it up to her hair. Dyed dark green, reaching halfway down her back, and tangled, it looked more like scraggly moss than hair. She slowly brushed it, going over each section carefully. By the time she was done, it was smooth and silky. Her alarm rang back in her room. She hurried in to turn off the dreadful sound.

Back in her room, she changed out of her pajamas and into simple jeans and a dark gray camisole. She threw her favorite black hoodie on over it. Laying in a velvet-lined box on her dresser was the necklace her boyfriend had given to her. She examined the clear but sparkly heart shaped pendant for scratches before lifting it up and fastening the silver chain behind her neck. Sighing, she shoved her hands into her pockets and stepped out into the chilly October morning to begin her walk to school.

"Ah. You must be Violet," her new teacher greeted. "I'm Mr. Gareth." He nudged her into her new class. Twenty-five pairs of eyes stared at her as she stood there awkwardly. "Class, this is Violet." He turned to her. "Why don't you tell us where you're from?"

There it was. The question she had been dreading since she had woken up. "Chamberlain," she mumbled. Despite her lack of clarity, every ear in the class seemed to pick up on it, and they immediately erupted into whispers.

"Chamberlain."

"Is that...?"

"Yeah, it is."

"How is she...?"

"That's enough!" Gareth shouted. The class fell silent but curiosity shone through their eyes, unasked questions held back by tightly pressed lips. "Now Violet, there's an open seat back there. Who're you, next to it? I can't see without my glasses."

A red-head in the back raised her hand. "I'm Jasmine! How could you forget me?" Everyone laughed, the class clown already decided for the year.

"Yes...thank you. Violet, please go sit by Jasmine.

She made her way silently, never breaking eye contact with the ground. Sliding into her seat as quiet as a ghost, she took out a pencil and some paper.

"So what are we learning today Mr. Gareth?" said a male voice from the front of the room.

"Ah, yes. Thank you for getting us back on track Ryan." He turned to the black board and started to write out a string of numbers.

"Hi, I'm Jasmine," the red-head whispered, glancing back and forth between the board and Violet.

"I'm Violet," she said, mumbling again.

"Jeez, you gotta speak up. I can barely hear you."

"Are you enjoying you sandwich Jenna?" Gareth said, interrupting the girls' mini conversation.

"Yeth," said the blonde girl hiding in the back, her mouth full of peanut butter. The girls around her giggled. She swallowed. "It was really good."

Jasmine took this as an invitation to speak. "I guess she wolfed that one down!"

Groans were heard throughout the class. Jasmine may have been the undisputed jokester, but she was far too obsessive when it came to wolves. Whether it was a t-shirt, stickers, her binder, her room, or her jokes, everything contained a wolf theme. Even now, the "pack leader" (the infamous nickname had made its way around school) was wearing a shirt with a wolf howling at the moon.

Violet however, new to Jasmine's puns, couldn't help but chuckle.

"Jasmine, why don't you save those for..." Gareth started. But the bell rang loudly, cutting him off. "Later," he finished with a sigh.

The classroom filled with noise as the students hurried to their next class. Violet packed up slowly, wishing everyone could just be silent. Sighing, she headed to her next class.

By the time Violet made it to her biology class, almost every one of the round tables had been filled. Violet instantly identified the obvious cliques. The jocks were all clustered in the back, throwing paper footballs at each other. The nerds were all clustered in the front, all set with two sheets of paper, a pen, and a pencil pulled out in front of them. And the only open seat belonged to the popular table, surrounded by Jenna and her crew of friends. She slunk over and sat down, putting her books in front of her on the table.

"Whoa! You're hair's the same color as a clover! And that's good for you honey, because you'll need all the luck you can get for that mess!" She and her cronies laughed.

Violet blushed and slipped her hood over her head.

"Weed-head, weed-head, weed-head!" they started chanting. By now, everyone was looking at them, and the chant slowly started to make its way around the room.

Violet put her head down on her desk, doing her best to block out their voices. After what had seemed like an eternity, the late bell rang.

"Well, I see we have a new student," the teacher said as she walked into the room. All the students fell silent. "I am Ms. Kaldrina. And I would urge you to take your hood off before I assign you detention for being out of dress code."

"Yeah Violet, take it off!" someone called. Someone else whistled, causing the class to laugh quietly.

Once again, Violet blushed deeply as she pulled her hood off.

"Much better," Kaldrina said. She began to pass out papers to each person. "For this unit, the people at your table will be your lab partners. Now, for this activity, you will be re-creating a cell. The materials you will need are up at the front, and instructions are on your paper. You may begin."

The second Kaldrina's mouth closed, Jenna’s opened. "So, I heard that Molly is dating Kevin."

"No way!" said the brunette sitting next to her.

"Yes way. And..." She stopped. "Why are you still here? Go get started or we won't finish!" She went back to her gossip.

Violet sighed and stood up, going to the front to gather the various parts. She began to work on the lab, finishing it about five minutes before the bell.

Once again, Jenna spoke to her. "Let me see your lab sheet."

Violet looked at her as if she was crazy. "But that's cheating! We'll get in trouble!"

"Not if we don't get caught."

Violet bit her lip, mentally debating. But before she could decide, the bell rang.

Kaldrina moved to stand by the door. "Hand me your lab sheets as you leave."

Violet quickly gathered up her stuff and left the table.

"Weed-head!" Jenna called.

She ignored her, turned in her work, and left.

"Why don't you have your work?" she heard Kaldrina ask as she went through the door. She didn't stick around to here the answer.

Violet pushed through the crowd as fast as she could, attempting to get to her locker. She eventually made it through the wall of people, and got her books. She turned around to push back through, accidentally bumping into someone in the process. They dropped their stuff, and she bent down to help them pick it up. "Sorry" she said.

The stranger remained silent, only sticking out a hand to retrieve their remaining items.

Violet had to press her lips shut tightly to hold back a gasp. The hand in front of her was heavily bandaged, from the tip of their fingers until the white strips disappeared under their jacket sleeve.

The fingers flicked closed, and then opened again. "Oh, sorry." She handed them their books.

"Thanks," they said. Their voice was soft, but definitely masculine.

Violet watched him walk away. She knew she had heard his voice before; she just couldn't put her finger on it. As she was thinking, the late bell rang, jerking her back to reality. She hurried through the empty halls to her next class.

The door to her writing class was open as she approached, although the teacher had just started to close it. He paused as he saw her run up. "Ah. You must be Violet," he said. He wore a little name badge that told her his name was Mr. Allen.

"Yes sir," she said breathlessly. She had run up the stairs to avoid being extremely late.

"Funny. I thought you'd have purple hair." He laughed at his own joke.

She ignored him. "I'm sorry I'm late."

"That's OK. I guess you're just a late bloomer!"

This time, she had to laugh.

"C'mon in," he said, holding the door open for her. Once they were both inside, he closed it. "I'm sure by now you all know Violet, but do we really know each other? Today, we're going to write something personal. It could be a poem, or a short story, or a song, or anything really. As long as it's about you. Oh, Violet, why don't you go sit next to Ryan."

Violet recognized the boy from earlier, and sat next to him, quiet as a mouse. She pulled out some paper and began to write.

About halfway through the class, Allen stopped them. "Who wants to share theirs?"

Nobody raised their hand.

"How about you Violet? Why don't you come up here and read yours?"

She sighed quietly and walked up to the front. Gripping her paper tightly, she began to read. "The fire burns bright. I hear the screams of my friends. This is hell on earth." She worked hard to keep her voice from shaking as she finished. She sat back down, not making eye contact with anyone.

"Well... That certainly was personal," Allen said awkwardly. "Does anyone else want to share?"

Once again, nobody raised their hand. Nobody really felt like sharing, especially after Violet's haiku.

"Alright, why don't we just use the rest of class as a study period?' Allen sat down behind his desk.

The class took "study period" as their opportunity to talk. Whispers were heard, until eventually, the noise level was up to a full roar. But Violet ignored them all. She just fingered with her necklace, counting down the minutes to freedom.

Violet slowly headed to her last class. She was actually early; only a few people were in the classroom. Finally able to choose her seat, she sat in the back corner. Adjacent to her desk was a large window, which she turned towards.

A minute later, she heard someone plop down next to her. "Boy, I'm dog tired!"

Violet turned back around, coming face to face with Jasmine. Who else could have made such a horrible joke? She smiled; glad to have a friend in the class she hated most: geography.

"You look really nervous. But don't worry! Mrs. Hamilton is really nice!"

Students drifted in one by one until the bell rang, and last to enter was Mrs. Hamilton. "Good afternoon!" she said cheerily. She started passing out a blank map of the United States. "This is just a pre-test."

Violet stared hopelessly at the map. She filled in California, Texas, Florida, Maine, and Washington. She wracked her brain, hoping to come up with something. She wrote down other names at random. When Hamilton announced that time was up, she had filled in thirty one states.

"Trade papers and take out a red pen. We're going to trade these now," Hamilton instructed.

"Psst." Jasmine nudged her and slid her paper over.

Violet gave her her copy and pulled out a pen.

Hamilton passed around laminated copies of the answer key.

Violet's pen remained untouched as she graded Jasmine's perfect paper. Once everyone had finished, they traded back. A sea of red stared back at her. Out of all her answers, she had only gotten five right: California, Texas, Florida, Maine, and Washington. She groaned, knowing already that this would be her hardest class.

"If you want, I'll study with you," Jasmine offered.

Violet smiled at her. "Thanks," she said, glancing back at her own paper. "I hope you have time to waste, because I'm gonna need all the help I can get!" As she finished saying this, the bell rang.

Jasmine happily pumped her fists in the air. "Hooray! School is over!" She gathered up her books. "I'd hang with you for a bit, but I have to get home so I can walk Kala."

"Is Kala your dog?" Violet asked.

"Yup! It's Native American for wolf! Gotta go! Bye!" Jasmine said, quickly leaving the room.

Violet collected her books as well, and headed out towards her locker.

Violet was the last to leave the classroom. Consequentially, the space around her locker was filled with people trying to get their own stuff and leave. She stood back, hoping that an opening would appear soon. After about ten minutes, her wish was half granted. People had just about cleared out, but Jenna and her friends had decided that they wanted to stand and gossip right in front of her locker. She noticed the same stranger from earlier, crouched down at a lower locker towards the end of the row. He was easily recognizable by the tattered looking black jacket he wore, as well as the bandages covering his hands. Violet looked for a way to get through the friends of her enemy. Seeing none, she decided to just go straight down the middle. "'Scuse me," she mumbled, elbowing her way to her locker.

"Well. If it isn't Weed-head," Jenna taunted loudly. Had Violet been looking over to her left, she would have seen Mr. Stranger tilt his head in her direction. "Oh, are we in front of your locker? I'm sorry. C'mon girls. Let's just move out of her way." Taking the lead, Jenna bumped into Violet. Hard. The others got the message. They all rushed at her at once, shoving her in all directions, causing her to drop her textbooks and binders on the ground. Paper flew everywhere. Jenna turned around to see what damage she had done, when someone caught her eye. "Abby, are you coming or what?"

"Oh, sorry. I was just on my way." She walked up and pushed Violet point-blank.

Already a little dizzy, Violet dropped to her hands and knees, trying to get the world to stop spinning. She squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to open them until the sound of shattering glass met her ears. Slowly she opened her eyes. The sight she met with was not pretty. Her necklace lay on the ground, the heart broken into little bitty pieces. Without raising her eyes, she saw a foot slowly come down and stomp the few big chunks that survived.

"Serves you right," Jenna said, not moving her foot. "We failed the lab because of you!" She stomped off, pieces of necklace sticking to her shoe and falling off at random intervals. "That necklace was ugly anyways," she called over her shoulder.

All Violet could do for a while was stare at the ground. Eventually her hand made it up to her neck, where it felt bare skin...and nothing else. That's when the realization hit her. The realization that the last thing her boyfriend had given her was lying on the ground, in millions of pieces. It felt as if her heart was the one that was left crushed and broken on the ground. Without bothering move from her hands and knees to her feet or to sit on the ground, she started to cry. At first it was just a single tear, then two, and then full on sobs. Her shoulders shook, and water mingled with the broken heart. After about a minute of her sobs echoing off the walls, she felt a hand on her back. She froze, with one last tear sliding off her face.

"Sh. It's alright. Don't cry," someone whispered in her ear. Their fingers squeezed her shoulder. Their bandaged fingers.

"Y-you," Violet said, her voice shaking a little. "Y-you're that g-guy from earlier."

"Yeah. I am. Are you alright?"

She sniffled. "Y-yeah. I think so." She took one glance at her locket, and burst into tears again.

This time, he wrapped both of his arms around her and brought her closer to him, into a big hug. One of his hands moved up her back to her head, where he gently stroked her hair. "Don't cry. Everything will be alright," he whispered in her ear.

Once she had stopped crying, she moved to pick up the pieces of her necklace. As she dumped the broken pieces of her heart into a nearby trash can, she noticed one of the shards had a splatter of red on it. She had cut her hand on a sharp piece of the heart.

"You're bleeding," the bandaged boy noted. "Wait here. I think Mrs. Johnson has some band aids in her room." He ran down the hall.

Alone, Violet wondered if she had thrown away the pieces of her necklace, or her heart. Both of them were crushed, and both of them had been stepped on.

Before she had time to come to a conclusion, her new-found acquaintance had come back, a band aid held tightly between his own bandaged fingers. "Here," he said, gently pressing it onto her cut.

"Thanks," she whispered. "For everything."

Later that night, as Violet was drifting off to sleep, the day's past events floated by. Her mind had just reached the point where Dreamland and Reality seem the same, when it was jerked back into full thought. That voice! It was Marcus's voice!

For a while, Violet couldn't sleep. She kept thinking of Marcus and the stranger she had encountered today. No, he can't be Marcus, she mentally scolded. Marcus is... She couldn't bear to finish the thought. But her mind had a plan of its own; once it started, it couldn't be stopped. He's dead. He died on Prom Night. And it’s all my fault! Thoughts such as these filled her mind as she drifted into an uneasy sleep.

"Violet! This way!"This time, she could clearly see Marcus. His bright blue eyes were filled with concern and panic as he practically dragged her to the fire door. It had started to close, leaving just enough space for someone to slip through. "Go!" Marcus shouted, pushing her forward. She stumbled at first, and then slipped through the quickly narrowing crack. The second she was through the door, she turned around, eager to leave with Marcus. But she was not met with her boyfriend's face. Instead, the gray steel doors were closed behind her, completely sealing off the fire...and Marcus's last chance of escape.

This time, she woke up crying.

Violet threw on a pair of jeans and a heavy wool shirt. The weather had been cold since November started, and December was absolutely freezing. It seemed the less degrees the weather was, the less she saw of the Marcus-look-alike and Jenna's cheating seemed to increase more as the season progressed. With mid-terms just around the corner, Violet wouldn't be surprised if Jenna asked her to do her mid-term for her. The cold bit into her as she stepped outside. Thoughts of Marcus and Jenna and the mid-terms filled her mind as she started her walk to school.

"Violet! Wait up!" Jasmine called from behind her as she neared the school.

She turned around, waiting for her friend to catch up.

"Jeez. You...walk...fast," the red-head said, panting as she rested her hands on her knees. "I had to sprint to catch up with you!"

"Aren't wolves built for speed?" joked the taller of the two. "You should have no trouble keeping up with me. Or maybe..." She paused, pretending to think. "Maybe you're just too short?"

"Hey! No fair! I'm the joker!" she protested.

Violet couldn't help but laugh. "OK, sorry. I won't do it again." Violet truly was thankful to have a friend like Jasmine. She had helped her come out of her shell a little. Thanks to Jasmine, she had a few more friends. In fact, the only person that made fun of her was Jenna (and of course, her crew).

"C'mon," the wolf-lover urged. "We're gonna be late if we keep standing around out here!" She practically dragged her into Gareth's math room. "Do you understand this A squared plus B squared equals C squared stuff? ’Cuz I don't."

Violet nodded. "It's simple. If you square side A, and then you square side B, those two numbers should equal the C squared."

Jasmine stared at her with a blank expression.

"Ok, let's say that side A is 3 centimeters, side B is 4, and side C is 5..." she wasted the first five minutes of class attempting to explain the fairly simple math to her friend.

"Violet, Jasmine? Can you stop talking, or do I need to separate you two?" Gareth asked.

"N-no sir," Violet said, her shyness emerging once again. "I was trying to explain the Pythagorean Theorem to her."

"Ah yes. The Pythagorean Theorem. Why don't we review that in class today?"

Everybody groaned. This was the third week they had had to practice this, and it was starting to get old.

Gareth ignored them all, and started to re-explain it.

"Heh heh. Sorry," Jasmine apologized. "Maybe I'll get it by tomorrow?"

And the one dreaded class of the day, Violet thought as she made her way to biology. Not only did she have to spend the period with Jenna, but she also had Kaldrina, who she had decided was one of the hardest and strictest teachers in the school. Not to mention she wasn't exactly and A+ bio student either. She was probably closer to the B- range. She took her seat quietly, not wanting to interrupt the non-stop motor mouth. She pulled out a book as she waited for the bell to ring. But she only pretended to read, secretly listening when the talk finally turned to something important.

"Omg, if I fail this mid-term, there's no way I can pass this class," Jenna declared, looking more like she was annoyed at her grade rather than upset about it.

"What are you gonna do?" Abby asked. She seemed to be the second in command, at least until Jenna got bored with her and chose a new favorite.

Jenna's voice dropped to a whisper. "Well, after class yesterday, the Witch left the answer document on her desk. When she wasn't looking, I sort of... borrowed it."

Meaning she stole it, Violet thought, turning the page of her book.

"Ooh, good idea. Do you think you could make us some copies?" another girl asked.

"Yeah, otherwise we could fail too."

"Omg, if my parents find out I'm failing, they'll kill me!"

"Please Jenna?"

"Alright alright. Calm down. You guys can have a copy. Just keep it a secret," Jenna said, bringing their voices back down to a whisper. "It's all Weed-Head's fault." She acted as if Violet wasn't sitting directly opposite of her. "If she had just let us copy those group projects, we could probably be passing." They shot her icy glares one by one, which she pretended to ignore.

"Anyways, I need you to go get them after school," she said, now talking to Abby. "I have a stupid detention after school. Stupid dress code. Their..." She leaned over to whisper in her ear. Jasmine just barely managed to catch what she said "...above the lockers." Her mouth immediately sealed shut as Kaldrina walked in.

"You have a free period today to study for your mid-terms," she said tersely. She sat behind her desk and worked on something on her computer, presumably grades. Violet kept her book out, adding one more item to her thoughts: Jenna's cheating scandal.

The rest of the day passed normally for Violet, but Jenna's cheating plan was never far from her mind. When the bell rang after geography, she had made up her mind. She was going to stop Jenna once and for all. She quickly gathered all of her stuff and pushed her way out of the classroom.

"Hey Violet," Jasmine started to say.

"I can't talk now! I have to go do something!" she called over her shoulder, already out the door. She shoved her way through the crowds of people, being a little more aggressive than usual. She finally made it to her locker. She kept her eyes peeled for Jenna or Abby or any of the other girls as she put in her combination. Math homework, geography notes... She ran through a mental checklist of her daily assignments. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of color. There she is! Abby was known for her clothing, clothing with colors so bright you could get dizzy just by walking past them too quickly. Violet shouldered her bag and quietly followed Abby as the rest of the school flowed out towards the bus area.

The halls quickly cleared out, and Violet had to move slowly and carefully to avoid being seen. At one point, she stepped on a loose piece of paper. Abby had turned around, hearing the slight rustling, only to see that no one was there. Violet held her breath from behind the door of an open classroom, not daring to let it out until Abby had continued to walk.

Once on the other side of the school, Abby started walking on her tip toes, looking above the lockers for the answer key. After a minute or two of searching, Jenna appeared from around the corner. "Did you get it yet?" she asked, obviously believing there was no one else around.

"No. You hid the thing well enough," Abby said, obviously put off.

"Ugh, it’s right over here." Jenna moved to the lockers on the other side of the wall. Above them was a stray piece of paper, no bigger than any normal sheet. The only difference between the answer key and the other random pieces of paper that were laying around was that the answer sheet had not had enough time to accumulate large piles of dust.

Violet listened to all of this from around a corner, hidden from sight.

"Now c'mon. Let's go back to my house. I want to keep this safe. We don't want anyone to borrow it from us now, do we?" She and Abby giggled as they walked away.

Violet had heard all that she needed. She ran back down the hallway, to Kaldrina's room. Luckily, she was still grading papers. Violet knocked on the door. "Ms. Kaldrina? Can I come in?"

"Of course. Is there something you need?"

"I...I overheard Jenna and Abby talking. They stole the answer key to your mid-term."

"So someone did take it! Thank you for telling me Miss Violet. I will see that they are punished."

"Thank you ma'am." Violet left for her walk home, feeling both pleasure and anxiety.

A day or two passed, and Violet found the halls almost empty as she finished packing up. She lifted her bag onto her shoulder and turned around. Just in time to see a very angry Jenna right behind her.

"You little rat!" she shouted. "You told Kaldrina that I had the mid-term answer key, didn't you! I'll make you pay for that!" She raised her hand up high, preparing to slap Violet with as much strength as she could possibly use.

Violet closed her eyes and crossed her arms above her head, waiting for the blow...that never came. She peeked out, and saw a bandaged hand holding tightly to Jenna's wrist!

"I think you've done enough damage for a lifetime," he said. "Now leave, before I drag you down to the principal's office." He let go of her wrist, and she went scurrying off as fast as she could. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fi..." She stopped mid-sentence, having finally got a good look at his face. His bright blue eyes shown through the mop of black hair on his head, eyes that she would recognize anywhere. "Marcus! It's you!"

He smiled at her. "Yes Violet. It's me." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug.

"Oh my god. Marcus." Her voice shook and tears sprang to her eyes and she leaned into him. "You...you're alive!" She leaned into him, enjoying the way he wrapped his arms around her, the same way he had so many times before.

"No, I'm a ghost that's come to haunt you," he joked. But even he had a few tears just waiting to overflow, and his voice cracked at the end.

"But...but how? I saw the doors close. You...how?"

He laughed a tiny bit. "Why don't we go somewhere more private?" He led her out of the school, with her still clinging onto him.