4 Chapter 4- Replacement

The rest of that day had gone by without anything abnormal transpiring, even the next day had been completely normal despite her lack of sleep. She couldn't help having stayed up half the night terrified that Nathanial would suddenly appear in the darkness of her room and tell her that it was indeed all true. As well she was afraid of what nightmares she might have if she slept.

Eventually though she had slept and though having a late start the next day things had gone off without any issues. Night fell once more and though she had some trouble falling asleep the next night, by then she had really convinced herself that it had all indeed been a dream.

Despite it all though she couldn't help the sudden jump she gave as the locker next to hers slammed shut. Looking over just in time for Jared, the guy who had the locker next to hers turned and greeted his group of friends. She gave a sigh as she realized she was still jumpy and gave herself a silent scolding for it.

That day she had settled for something simple to wear. Loose fitting blue jeans that were relatively comfortable, paired with a larger sized t-shirt that hung loosely on her form. The shirt itself was a dark grey and it had the form of a dog with a bone in it's mouth. The words 'I found this humerus' next to it. Her long black hair was pulled back in a pony tail for simplicity sake and to keep it out of her eyes.

Looking in her backpack, she held it between her and the locker as she pulled out all of her textbooks. Putting them in the locker before she gathered what she would need for her first two classes. She also tried to search her locker for her Mp3 player just in case she had left it there by chance but to no avail it was still missing. A sigh of disappointment escaped her, the day was going to drag on very slowly if she didn't have any music at all to accompany her.

Music in fact was what helped her focus half the time during school. With all the loud noises and nonsense that went on in the chaos, having that constant familiar music helped ground her. Now though she was going to have to pay attention to everything else a lot more, a frown crossed her features. "Damnit." she muttered to herself as she zipped up her backpack.

Taking a step back she slung it over one shoulder and closed her locker before there was an ear piercing shriek that rang through the hall over the noise and chatter of other students. She froze in fear unable to help herself as she quickly looked towards the source. She hadn't been the only one, silence had fallen over the hallway as the others were equally startled.

When her eyes fell upon her friend Hanna who was standing at the end of the hall staring at her, and seeing the faces of those closest to her friend staring at her like she was crazy. It became clear she had been the one to shriek, and then seeing her rush to her and suddenly give her a tight hug Ashley couldn't help but freeze in complete confusion.

"Hey." Ashley managed to squeak through how tight the hug was. "Too tight." she added as she stood there unmoving before her friend finally let go of her and actually had tears in her eyes. Ashley looked at the girl who was a good five inches taller than her in complete bewilderment. In fact she took in just how strange her friend was actually looking that day compared to normal.

Usually Hanna worked hard to try and make herself look perfect for each day. Her long blond hair would be a mass of carefully made up curls from the iron, face painted up with makeup to accent and pull out her natural beauty. Her clothing neat and tidy as well as colorful, Ashley would have described her as a rainbow had thrown up on her every morning before she made it out of the house.

Yet today the girl was in all black, a color Ashley didn't even know existed in the girls closet. Her blond hair hung down loose and unkept, as well as not a mark of makeup on the girls face. In fact her eyes were red as if stained by long bouts of crying, something Ashley had never seen her friend do.

"I thought you were dead. I could have sworn I saw you get on the bus with Jeremy and the others…" Hanna said, already talking quickly. "I'm so glad you're alive. Oh my god Ashley, It's been horrible…" She said after having finally released her.

Ashley went still and hesitated for a moment looking at Hanna. So going on the field trip had actually happened for her. She frowned a little then shook her head. "No, I mean yeah I'm fine, but no. I didn't get on the bus…" she said lightly even though she couldn't remember anything she had really done, but that had to be the only logical explanation right?

"I can't believe they're all gone." Hanna continued as she wiped her eyes. "I mean some of them were real assholes but it's so sad what happened with Jeremy and Kevin. Even Milo, he could be an ass but he was kinda funny and cute too…"

Ashley looked around at how everyone was going back to business now that they saw nothing frightening was actually taking place from Hanna's scream. At the mention of Kevin's name her thoughts went back to her dream and how he had thrown her to the foot of wolves to save his own skin. She shook her head not really wanting to think too badly of the dead.

"Yeah, I mean I didn't like a lot of them but I wouldn't have wished death to any of them." Ashley said lightly. "I'm really going to miss Mrs. Granger too. She really was one of the best teachers…" She said looking at her friend who gave a quick nod in agreement.

"It really is a horrible tragedy. Are you going to the memorial after school in the gym?" Hanna asked and without warning gave Ashley another hug as if to reassure herself she was really there, only it wasn't as tight as it had been before. Ashley blinked surprised before half returning the hug.

"Uh. Yeah. I mean of course." Ashley said with a little nod and looked at Hanna with a forced smile at the idea. It wasn't that she was against it, it was more that she couldn't get her dream out of her head and replace it with the story they had reported in the news. "Do you want to meet up at the west entrance and find a seat together?" She asked after double checking her locker was closed and locked with the padlock.

Hanna gave a nod as the two of them started walking, the first bell ringing to let them know they needed to head to class. "Sounds like a plan. I'll see you at lunch." Hanna said, giving a smile as she looked at Ashley before parting with her and hurrying down the hallway and disappearing around the corner to her own class.

Ashley watched her go before she turned and headed into her first period of the day, math. Glancing towards the teacher before she went and found her seat in the back. Everyone settled down after the second bell rang. She pulled out the notebook she used for math and then looked towards the front of the class.

"As you know we had a very tragic event take place Friday night." Her teacher Mr. Hanson started off with the class. His expression grave as even he felt the impact of what had happened. "Not only did we lose Mrs. Granger and Mr. Hill but also some of our best students here. If you're not aware we will be holding a memorial after school today in the gymnasium." he said as he started to walk the rows of desks.

Mr. Hanson was a short man, in fact Ashley thought he probably only stood three maybe four inches taller than her, Most of the other students towered over him half the time. That made little difference to the man though, he always held a kind but authoritative air about him. He normally got along well with most of the students though Ashley always found interacting with him difficult.

He was a proud man, one could tell by the button up shirts and slacks that he wore to school as well as his no nonsense ties. Clean and polished shoes upon his feet, and though he was a bit pudgy or overweight no one dared make comments about it. It was the man's pride in which Ashley found most difficult to interact with, and she felt it was the root to why she was really failing his class more than by her own fault.

Her eyes glanced up at the man as he passed her desk then looked down at the bright yellow flyer he had set on her desk. It spoke of the memorial, the time, and what they had planned for after school to show their respects to those lost in the accident. She sighed and put the flyer under her notebook and remained quiet.

While people were whispering to one another about what had happened and the memorial her eyes drifted to the two empty seats in the room. The cold empty chairs were a reminder that both students who used to sit there were now gone forever. Rubbing her eyes a little she leaned back in her seat a little as the teacher finished making his rounds.

"Though I understand a lot of you are grieving the loss of your friends, it will not be tolerated as an excuse to be disruptive or slack in your work." He continued and her eyes went back to her teacher. Even though his voice was understanding and friendly his words felt the opposite and she couldn't help but feel like the guy was also a bit of an ass for what he had said.

That was the last that was said on the subject before they were jumping into the lesson for the day. Leaning forward she rested her chin on her hand while she doodled some in the corner page of her notebook as she listened. She watched the few examples that he did upon the chalk board and that was all she needed before she was more focused on her doodle.

It was a simple silhouette of a cat sitting upon a crescent moon, then little spirals that wisped away from it like makeshift clouds. She wasn't all that talented when it came to drawing and she knew it. But it was something to do while he continued on with his lecture. Her thoughts were also going to what her friend had said about having seen her get on the bus when they left to go back home.

Of course Hanna had to have been mistaken, just as much as she herself had considering all of the evidence. Yet it hadn't stopped the uneasy feeling that was creeping over her or the twinge of fear she felt at the idea it had been real. She found herself soon staring at one of the empty desks as she tried to sort it out, trying to bring forth a memory of her getting back off the bus and going to a different one. Unfortunately no such memory came forward for her.

"Alright, we will go ahead with a small pop quiz to see who has been paying attention. I will leave the examples on the board for reference." Mr. Hanson said as he drew a line down the middle of the chalkboard to separate his examples from the problems he was now writing on the board for them to solve.

Her eyes went up and she flipped the page of her notebook before filling out the usual credentials to show it was her. Then she wrote each problem down as they appeared on the board. Her eyes looked down to her paper as she looked over the five equations he had written for them to solve.

While everyone else was starting to work on their problems and slowly fill out each step along the way she simply sat there and looked at the first equation before her. She had seen how he had done them and immediately her brain had jumped to shortcuts that she could see. In fact her mind worked on the problem in her head and she then wrote down the answer without having to write anything else on the page.

Each problem she did this with, there was no work to show because of how her mind sorted it out and went about the problem. Merging various steps or skipping some entirely as she wrote down answers. Within a few minutes she was already done with her equations while everyone else was still working quietly.

A small sigh escaped her though as she looked at her own paper, a frown upon her features. She was fairly sure they were correct, but she knew because she didn't show any work he was probably going to give her a zero regardless. It wasn't stubbornness or pride that kept her from showing work either, it was the fact that with how her brain worked to do the problems, she just couldn't separate it into individual steps like he wanted her too.

It was rather infuriating for her to be quite honest, this was her second year taking this class with the same teacher. She had proven to him countless times she wasn't cheating and he simply refused to believe her. All because he himself couldn't manage to do the equations in his head like her.

Despite the futileness of the situation though, she got up and went forward. Setting her paper upon his desk to turn it in. Turning to head back to her desk as he looked at it. "Ashley," he said and she sighed turning back around. "Yes Mr. Hanson?" she asked her voice quiet so she wasn't completely disturbing the silence of the room as other students worked.

"You failed to show any work, yet again." He said a frown on his features as he looked at her disapproving. "You know I have to give you a zero for this correct?" He said as he set her paper back down in front of her. "Are you really eager to take this class for another year before you take it seriously? You realize if you do not pass this class you will fail to graduate next year?" He added gravely.

Ashley looked at him for a few quiet moments. "Are you even going to check if they are correct? I'm the first one turning it in. I've told you I can't show my work. I don't know how to break it down…" She said, shaking her head and frowning at him as well. She couldn't help how agitated it made her but she still kept herself respectful despite wanting to tell the man he was a moron.

"Just because you turned yours in first doesn't mean you haven't cheated. I'm sure you have one of your friends feeding you answers and waiting until after you to turn it in." he said shaking his head. "The examples on the board show you how to break it down. There is no excuse for not showing your work. I'm very disappointed in you." he said shaking his head with a look of disgust upon his features.

Ashley just looked at him then shook her head. "Give me a zero then." she said not bothering with arguing with him yet again. She headed back to her desk and sat down. She used to love math but she was really starting to learn to hate it because of that man. She was also frustrated with herself for being unable to do something everyone else seemed capable of doing. It made her feel like something was wrong with her because her mind didn't work the same way as them.

She spent the rest of the class period reading one of the books she had gotten from the library while silently wishing she had her music there to comfort her. When she heard the bell ring she quickly packed up her things and left, she didn't want to spend another moment in that room and the bitter feeling it gave her.

Her next class held little in events, History was exactly as she always found it, boring. She had to be honest she found nothing more boring than American history. She was much more interested in world history where they learned about ancient cultures with myths, legends, and lore to tag along. Instead though, here they were learning about the civil war and she couldn't deny she found having to learn it a waste of time.

She almost dozed off without her music to help keep her awake through the class, yet finally the bell rang. Packing up her things she headed out of the class and headed to her locker to switch out her books once again. Her next class she had actually been dreading since she had come to school, Science class.

It wasn't because she didn't like the class, she loved it. It was the fact that there would be someone else there instead of Mrs. Granger. She was half tempted to skip class entirely instead of dealing with whatever sub they had for the class. In fact she wasn't really keen on going at all because it would just be her in the class. After all the rest of her class had died in the accident since the buses had been divided by classes.

However she found herself making her way towards the classroom, she didn't know where else she would really go. If she tried to sneak into the library the librarian would know she was skipping class since she was never normally there at this time. She also figured being the only one expected to attend it would be a bit more obvious as well that she wasn't there.

She stepped into the room and looked around, it was empty. She didn't even see the sub at the moment and she slowly headed over to her desk in the back and set her backpack down. Her eyes looked at all of the empty seats. Even though she knew moments ago it had held students from the previous class it felt cold and dead now. Would this be how the rest of the semester was really going to be?

The bell rang for the start of class and she looked towards the front of the room as she noticed someone was coming into the room now. Already moving her body to start to sit in her seat before she froze mid motion and stared at the man that came into the room and closed the door to the class behind him casually as he went to the teachers desk and shuffled some of the papers there. Her eyes were staring at none other than the man from her nightmares, Nathanial Brixton.