Chapter 1: Under Stair Storage

"Under Stair Storage"

Tuesday, July 21, 2012,

- 07:32 AM.

"That's a lot of patis(or fish sauce), Sac!" I discreetly yelled and pleaded with my obstinate pal. I'm holding my scream egg.

"Ha?" she squealed.

"Sac!" I gripped my fist and yelled.

"Sorry! Hahaha."

We're in the midst of a congested city. In the morning, the sky is blue as usual, and the streets are thick with smog. Every day before we start our morning lesson, we bring a snack with us. I don't generally buy snacks first thing in the morning. On the other side, my friend Isaac convinced me every morning to purchase food since I felt awful when I wasn't.

"Nach?" she inquired as she used her toothpick as Scream Egg's fork to slice her Scream egg.

She? Yes, Isaac is an unusual name for a female. She is, nevertheless, a female. Don't get me wrong: I'm not attracted to her romantically. Maybe. But, to be honest, I have no idea. She reminds me more of a sister than anything else.

As she gripped my upper shoulder, she shrieked, "Nach!"

"Ow, what?!" I interrogated her, scratching the region where she had pinched me.

"You are not responding, Hahaha!" She was making a lot of noise with her laughter. I hate laughing, which disturbs the serenity of others. No. The thing that I don't like is when others criticize us as children.

"Hahahaha, w-what do you want? I laughed, whispered, and mumbled in front of her, "P-please minimize your v-voice; it's so e-embrashing."

When something unpleasant and unattractive occurred, I pretended to chuckle. Do I need to laugh at awful things? Isn't that really human for everyone?

"Pfft, I forgot... tktk, my stomach can't handle that k-k-k," she joked, laughing. "You're a one-of-a-kind, Nach."

Isaac is, in fact, "strange" because her appearance is natural, and her movements are most likely human. No one would notice. We have the same size, her hair reaches her hips, and her eyes are small. My appearance is not that of the perfect person, and my actions are not typical of a 17-year-old.

We kept mocking each other till we arrived on campus. There are some things on campus that I dislike, but I tend to forget about them. Things began to appear once I separated from Isaac, like clouds in the afternoon. Of course, when I say we're separated, I'm referring to the fact that we're in a different classroom. I'm delighted we're in the same grade since I can spend recess and PE with her. Every student in every school year should be in the same PE class and have the same recess time.

- 08:02 AM.

"Later!" she said while we are going to our divided classrooms.

As soon as I went to my classroom, my friend, Kevin, tackled me.

"Nach!" he grinned.

"Ow, hahaha!" I chuckled.

"Wanna come?"

"Huh? Where?" I scratched my head.

"Garden, sprinkle the plants… Love will be with us," he said while Love is behind him.

"Yoh!" Love greeted.

"Ok, I'll go then hahaha," I said, but I don't wanna go.

"Huh, what's so funny?" he teased.

"Ah! Nothing nothing."

While we're talking in the doorway, a bunch of my classmates is looking at me. One of my classmates, Hit(his last name), harassed me,"Cheeeyll! Good morning!"

"Oh! You're making him f***ing upset, Hit. Haha..." One of my classmates yammered.

"I greeted him. What's wrong with that?" he said. He's likely mocking me. He laughs mockingly every time I do something weird.

"Guys, stop it! Haha." Love laughed.

Love, she's short and chubby thin, and her voice is deep.

"Leave your bag, Nach! Maybe you'll bring your bag like just last time." Kevin Instructed.

Again, people are mocking how I act. On my first day here in high school, people complaining about how I walk, talk, move and think. My movements are weird to others. They don't know that I feel the things that they complained about me. I feel like people thought that I'm a robot who doesn't have feelings. If only I can tell them how I bear; however, I don't want to create a drama. Dramas are making me sick; I feel like getting bullied is better than fight how I feel. I'm getting mistreated and harassed, but I'm okay with it. Even so that people don't care about their own business is becoming increasingly irritating.

We're in the garden, a garden in a forest. This forest is trash; there are pieces of paper everywhere. These students are making the environment worse; why wouldn't they mind their selves?

"I guessed I need to pick up the papers," I said.

"Ye-... Nach stop slouching!" Kevin ranted. "Okay, we will be the one who sprinkle the plants' roots."

Kevin, curly bowl hair, his shoulder was longer than mine, his body was thinner than mine, and his cheeks are chubby. I appreciated Kevin a lot because he cares a lot about me. He's provoking me at first when we met, but he's helping me to be one of the individuals. He's harassing me but in a better way. But there's something wrong with him that I don't like, like other people, I forgot.

"Oui! Icing, what are you doing here?" Love questioned a guy named Icing. "Are you gonna sprinkle too?"

Icing, my last year classmate, he's not my classmate now. He's quiet and reserved. I envy him. He's not getting bullied like me, even though he's weird. I'm the same as him, but I'm loud and sometimes talkative. He's more organized than me. I forgot that he's smarter than me or any students in this school. Nevermind, we're not the same.

"A-ah? 9-D?" he questioned and mentioned our class name.

"Yes,"

"Yepppp!" he yapped. The way he said that was cringe as hell.

I teased him, "Are you a dog or something?"

Everyone in the area laughed. Sometimes, I loathe it when people laugh when people mock someone, but I still appreciated it when they laughed at my sarcastic joke.

These students no longer do tasks after 5 minutes, but still, plants have not sprinkled. They're talking about someone and something that teenagers usually do. It looks like they only want to chat and not do the task. Still, I'm enjoying talking to them. However-

"Am I the only one who gets annoyed by Josh Jill?" Love questioned us.

"Right!" With a surprised expression, Kevin answered.

"He thought that he is always right,"

"I really don't like how he t-treated our gay f-friend, Macko." Icing said.

"Right, it's because he's wealthy." Kevin responded.

"H-he will g-get a car accident by karma for sure," Icing said.

"That's too far. But I want that to happened." Love said, and then she gazed at me like she wants me to say something.

"Yeah." I responded.

However, I really don't like to criticize other people because their status, personality, attitude, value, or belief is different from others. Yes, Macko grew up with wealthy parents; however, that doesn't mean he's terrible. Yes, he's mean to Jill, our room president, because he's saying negative things to Josh Jill, but there's a cause about it. Jill is the most talkative person in our room; somehow, Macko gets irked. Am I awful because I'm standing for Macko? No, but I don't stand for both of them. Yes, empathy for cruel individuals is awful; yet, he is not deserving of being pursued.

Now I remember, what I despise is people who don't mind their own life. People who are spreading people's mistakes and problems are making things worse. I care about someone's color, gender, age, religion, passion, looks, money, and beliefs, but I can't stand by and watch others ruin someone because they insult their social identity. Why wouldn't they notify whoever insulted them about their blunder alone? Why would the mob share other people's mistakes or opinions with anyone? Why-

I need to change the topic. This topic demolishes my belief.

"Oh, I need to tell you frie-gu-fie-guys something! There's something under my stair's storage earlier. " I mumbled. Yes, this topic may change this problem.

I tell them that I heard some random things on my house's stairs earlier. I'm daydreaming a lot, but I know what happened earlier is not a hallucination. When I'm getting closer to the stair's small room storage, I can feel my body's veins trembling. Every beat that my heart makes, I get shivers down my spine. I decided to seek help from Isaac later; I need her to accompany me after school. While I was talking about this topic with them, I had overwhelming goosebumps. Their faces are telling me that I convinced them, It's a miracle. They don't believe when I talk about something that happened to me.

"R-really? Me too, earlier!" Icing answered. "I thought I'm crazy! I felt and saw something in my laundry basket. I feel what you feel earlier. Its visible color is changing from the color white to the color black. Its size is like the size of the house mouse, but when I get closer, it's getting bigger. My stepfather can't see it; however, my little sister can. My father threw a lot of holy salt, but nothing happened. Because of his concern for us, he's going to report it to the local priest. My dad thought that I had an evil spirit within me!"

When Icing speaks clearly and without stuttering, I know he's serious. It also happened to Love and Kevin but with different stories. Our first-period teacher ranted at us that we needed to get inside. I waved my hand to Icing that symbolled goodbye. While we are going to our classroom, I started to get paranoid about every step I took when I realized that it had happened to them.

- 08:48 AM.

We got back to our classroom. The classroom's atmosphere changed, or maybe my mood changed. My spontaneous body or face makes a sudden smile even when I'm in a bad mood. I'm always like this; my body is abnormally doing something weird. Hit, my classmate was gazing at me as though he wanted to say something.

As we stood, we greeted our first-period teacher, "Good Morning, Teacher Puch!"

"Hello 9-D, please have a seat!" she insisted, "Sorry for the inconvenience, but something was wrong with my recently born kid at 4 AM. I had to rush back to the hospital after giving you this seatwork since I had taken her there earlier. Mite, can you get the paper once you've finished answering the questions? Tomorrow, I'll most likely give you everyone a quiz, so study well. I'm going to dismiss you right now. Tomorrow I'll see you."

My classmates, like Love, Kevin, and Icing before them, were surprised. I knew it might happen to them as well.

We greeted our teacher with a goodbye. When the teacher leaves, my classmates talked about our teacher and- the sounds or objects like an abyss. So, it happened to all students. Most of them thought it was nothing, so they're not terrified; Their parents are not reacting to the sound or object was their reason. Now, my body is sweating continuously.

"Guys! I threw some leaves earlier, and the object suddenly vanished" Hit interrupted the students' talk. The students didn't respond and did their thing. Hit is looking at me again. In the first place, why I'm looking at him when he says something?

- 05:32 PM.

"Isaac went home at 9 AM. Something happened to her adoptive grandfather," my schoolmate said.

"T-Thank you."

I realized that Isaac went home when I don't found her in the canteen during our recess. I asked her classmate to get the time she went home. Did Isaac saw it too? If it happened to her, she should tell me.

"I guess I'll go ho-"

I heard a shout in the streets from 30 meters away. A hurriedly running boy student while holding his phone; he looks like panicking. What's happening? Maybe I'm paranoid; possibly I'm overthinking that the thing is paranormal. I'm sure the guy who's running has forgotten something.

I'm now on the campus gate and preparing to go home. I texted Isaac that how is her grandfather.

"Young man, do you know where is the school's library?" someone murmurs from my behind. I flinched when he whispered.

I looked at my back- a male teenager. He was right in front of my face and leggy. I'm 5'7 like Isaac, so I guessed this guy was 5'11. A good-looking guy; he looked like a jerk. I stepped back because he's close. My face was more terrified than it had been previously.

"Yes," I responded.

"Ah! Okay, thank you. "he said, and he looked amused. He's mocking my response in my thought.

"Oh! S-sorry, there!" I mumbled while I'm pointing to the library.

He grabbed my pointing finger and complained," Don't point your finger."

"Huh?"

"... Nothing." he released my finger, looked away, and walked away.

When he walked, I realized that he's the homeschool guy who won the regional science fair this year. His walk is so brisk is the reason why I noticed him at the event.

I'm having a weird day. I'm starting to walk home.

- 05:45 PM

Something is wrong with the houses that I'm passing by. It's like unusual sounds compared to what I hear every day when I'm going home. In 9 out of 17 homes, I hear the houses screaming, crying, laughing, singing, and humming loudly.

Someone is following me; I need to look back.

"Cheyll!" Hit yelled while he's chasing my trail.

"Hit," I stopped my walking.

"Let's go home together."

I forgot that Hit lived two houses apart from my house.

"Can you hear that-"

"Yes, leave them alone." Hit leading the way to our houses.

"A-ah, it's creepy." I mumbled.

- 06:00 PM

I feel that Hit will lure me to his friends and harm me. I always act like I'm a psychopath when I sense that someone is planning to hurt me; it's my exceptional self-defense. I will do i-

"Do you want me to accompany you to your house?" he asked.

"W-why?"

"I feel like you will not go insid-" he stopped because a random scream came out of nowhere from a random house.

"I feel like you will not go inside to your house… since you lived all alone, I expect you that you are scared to find out what's inside your under stair storage," he continued the talk he stopped earlier. "I heard your conversation in the garden, Icing told me."

He's right; I'm terrified of finding out what's within that little room. I guess I need his help; however, I need to protect myself from him if he lied. I'll keep my awareness up.

He looked back at me, and he's going closer to me. I feel like he's going to hurt me, so I'm preparing to run or fight. He stopped. Then, he smiled at me.

"I will not hurt you, Nach." he joyfully said. He's starting to walk and lead the way again.

What? Why? I'm starting to have tears, and I become quieter. I'm walking while holding my eyes to stop the tears.

"I don't hurt people physically, but I only unintentionally hurt people's feelings. I'm sorry that I realized today that I was making fun of you and didn't realize it in the past. It would never happen tomorrow, I vowed." He admitted. Wow, I never expected that.

I said something to him that makes him looked surprised, and he laughed.

I realized that he's not annoying like other people who judge people's mistakes or beliefs. He's like Sac, who wants to live in peace and doesn't spread the things that can cause chaos. I wish all people are like Isaac Patqueen and Kal Hit. I want people to realize that we're all fair. No, I want to convince all people that we got played by the god of social identity. If only-

- 06:12 PM

We're outside of my house. I don't hear anything from my neighborhood like the houses that I heard earlier; however, this is unusual because It's too quiet. My neighbors are always loud. The kids should be playing outside like they usually do, even at night. Ah, possibly I'm overreacting things.

"Hit- no Kal. Stay here but don't leave, and I'll be the one who's going to look that thing." I asked him to stay and I entered my house.

"Of course, I'll stay here. Shout if something f***ing happens to you." He exclaimed as if he were my father.

I'm inside, and it's dark inside. I turned on the lights so I can see. I went to the area where the under stair storage is. I can't sense anything inside-

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!." someone shouted outside my house. It's an old lady's voice; however, we don't have an old lady in our neighborhood.

"Kal!" I yelled.

Suddenly, I get scared, and I can't control my body. No, my body is urging me to enter the cramped space. It's not the thing that my body gets crazy. I feel like someone is controlling me. I'm inside the under stair storage. I can't stop screaming at the top of my lungs. I can't breathe properly, and I'm constantly sweating. I don't know what's happening.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELPP!" I yelled, but my voice is not that loud that people can hear.

The door is closing slowly.

"KAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!" I yelled, but not that loud.

I can move my body as soon as the door is closed. I need to assist Kal. I'm terrified, but I have to assist Kal. I pushed on the door, but it refused to open. I'm chuckling for no reason other than the fact that I'm nuts. For no apparent reason, I'm applauding, beatboxing, and smiling. I realized that my craziness was a sign of despair. Then, I decided to stop and began meditating.

"Am I truly crazy?" I questioned myself.

I can still hear the sou-

My surroundings were suddenly getting quiet. I calmed, and then I realized how dark my tiny storage room was without light resources. I felt a vibration beside me, and it flinched me. I automatically look at it. It was the thing that Isaac said, the object. I don't feel scared. I touched-

The random sounds are happening again.

I shouted and called out for help. My entire body is trembling, my teeth and head are both aching, and I kept bumping my head on the ceiling. I'm begging someone to help me. I'm covering my ears since my request won't silence the sounds.

"No, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, help, no, yes, and I CAN'T DO THAT!" I ranted to the voices. I don't know what they asked, but I'm saying yes and no for no reason.

I fainted.

Wednesday, July 22, 2012,

I woke on the lower stairs of my house. I'm having trouble opening my eyes since I've been crying a lot. I stood up and looked at the clock.

- 10:20 AM

I'm getting dizzy and then vomited more than one this morning. My back hurts a lot.

"Droop?" a strange voice came from outside.

I moved slowly to the door, hunching slightly. I opened the door. Because the sun is shining in my eyes, I cover them with my palm. I'm smiling at the sun, and then I started to laugh.

And then, I stopped.

I shouted and called out for help. My entire body is trembling, my teeth and head are both aching, and I kept bumping my head on the ceiling. I'm begging someone to help me. I'm covering my ears since my request won't silence the sounds.

"No, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, help, no, yes, and I CAN'T DO THAT!" I ranted to the voices. I don't know what they asked, but I'm saying yes and no for no reason.

I fainted.

Wednesday, July 22, 2012,

I woke on the lower stairs of my house. I'm having trouble opening my eyes since I've been crying a lot. I stood up and looked at the clock.

- 10:20 AM

I'm getting dizzy and then vomited more than one this morning. My back hurts a lot.

"Droop?" a strange voice came from outside.

I moved slowly to the door, hunching slightly. I opened the door. Because the sun is shining in my eyes, I cover them with my palm. I'm smiling at the sun, and then I started to laugh.

And then, I stopped.