Book (so far)

Gaze

By Ty Kennedy

Prologue

On a cold night, two friends, Alex and Tom, approach Middleton High School to work on their basketball techniques for the tournament coming up soon. 

As they enter the doors, a slight creaking noise and some dust that has never appeared before comes in sight. Of course, Alex doesn't think of anything wrong, and neither does Tom. 

They walk through the narrow hallway filled with trophies and, occasionally, a few staff lockers.  As they walk closer to the gym, Alex stops and stares into the distance, like he just got turned to stone by Medusa. Tom cannot sense the slightest movement and backs away from the inhuman-like stance that Alex presents. Alex finally blinks after a mere 30 seconds and starts moving like nothing ever happened. He walks casually towards the gym while Tom is still frightened and starts to also stare in the distance, but only for a moment. 

Tom runs up to Alex and asks him about what just happened. Alex says he never remembered standing still while answering in a confused way. Tom replies with an "Okay then" and opens the door. 

As they walk into the gym, Alex senses something is wrong just as the doors slam shut. Too fast. Alex and Tom's eyes widen in shock. Alex gags and Tom nearly faints. 

They both catch a long glimpse of something they were never supposed to see, something beyond strange and horrid, something no man or woman could even have the abilities to even try doing, something that could only be possible by the devil himself. 

Alex is pinned to the wall, being dragged upward to the ceiling of the 40-foot-tall gym and hears a faint voice say, "YOU WILL TELL NO ONE." The last thing Alex sees is him falling down the 40-foot gym and hitting the ground. Alex isn't hurt, however. His eyes are forced shut, same to his mouth, and the only thing he can do is make a muffled whisper. He then just lays still, hopeless, not able to move anything. 

All of a sudden, the horrible image fades, and Alex and Tom are able to open their eyes again. They can't remember anything and start practicing basketball like nothing happened. 

When it's time to go, they both leave the gym only to find that the trophies and exit signs have been cracked and left on the floor, and the garbage cans have been lodged into the walls. All their memories come back into place and are now terrified. 

They hear a loud bang and start to bolt towards the door, only to find it locked. Alex smashes the door about 6 times, with no luck. 

Tom rushes to the other hallway, finally finding another door that opens perfectly. 

Tom runs back to Alex, only to see that Alex is on the floor, half dead. Tom swears and drags Alex to the other door, but now that door seems to be hard to open.

Tom bangs the now heavy door a few times, getting closer to it being open every time. On his last hit, the door cleanly opens. Too clean. 

Tom still has lots of force left, sending them flying to the bottom of the long flight of stairs that led to the school.

Chapter One

When I was little, I used to be afraid of ghosts. They were the thing that fueled my nightmares. They caffeinated me. And when I heard the rumor about Middleton High School, I was scarred. Not scared, but scarred. I got so scared, I fell asleep in a closet so when the ghosts came out, they wouldn't find me. Plus, Middleton High School was a school right by my Savannah hometown, and it had just shut down for no reason (at this time)

Soon, I got into ghost stories. And I remembered the Middleton High rumor. I wanted to see if it was real or not. So, I grabbed a bunch of friends who wanted to go, and lead them to the school. 

What I did plan for was it to be dark, so I brought a flashlight. What I did plan for was for me to catch anything I saw on camera, so I brought a camera. What I did plan for was it to be hard to talk to my friends just in case something happened, so I brought a walkie-talkie. What I didn't plan for was how we can escape. Hopefully, we don't need to. Who knows if the doors will randomly lock themselves?

Chapter Two

"Okay, are you getting this?" 

"Yeah, got it."

"Okay, I'm Felix and this is Reese."

"Hey, I'm Reese!"

"Okay, we know that, shut up."

A few chuckles go through the group as Reese records it. On the other hand, Ryan is in the corner of the camera, nervous of what we're about to do.

"Here we have Ryan..."

"Hey."

“Jack...”

“Sup.”

“Tom…”

“Wazzup boi!”

"And finally, Sophie!"

"Yo."

"Okay, in case you don't know what we are doing, which you probably don't, we are checking out a school that appears to be where the rumored 'gym' incident happened. Fun. Don't tell anyone or we might get fined for trespassing! Shhh..."

Nervous laughter occurs. Ryan is still nervous, being the backup. He wants to leave the group, knowing that he's the smartest person in his Abby High School homeroom. 'No smart person does something this dumb', he mutters loud enough for me to hear. I thought the same thing earlier. Now, we're doing it. I'm scared, too. But I'm acting all happy. So, I guess I'm excited. 

Chapter Three

10:15 P.M.

Video Entry 1

I just opened the door. Oh man. This is gonna be fun. Right now, I’m walking down the hallway towards the gym, as you can see. Um, I’m kinda scared about this. Okay, you know what? I’m gonna be quiet until I enter the gym.

*30 seconds pass with only the sound of footsteps*

Okay, I’m there. Reese?

“What?”

Ready?

“Sure.”

Okay, one, two, three-

*Silence*

Nothing. Wow. We came here for nothing? How about I shut the door?

Okay, still nothing. You know what? This was just a rumor. It’s fake. Let’s go-

*A cabinet opens, revealing what we think is a passage*

Okay, that’s weird. What’s in there-

*Watch beeps*

Crap, I gotta go.

*Scream is heard*

*Video ends all blurry*

Chapter Four

Oh man. I just heard a scream. Reese is running too. I’m leaving. I’ll call my friends later. Just-gotta-open-this-DOOR. Can’t do it. We’re stuck. Okay, now my priority is calling my backup, Sophie.

No response. If you’re dead, I’ll remember you. But right now, I gotta find my friends. See ya. 

“Ryan? Okay, Reese- “Oh no. Reese is gone.

“Reese? Reese. REESE?”

“WHAT, WHAT, WHAT?”

“WHERE WERE YOU? I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!”

“I was looking around, Felix.”

“Okay, fine. Sorry.”

I need to find Ryan, Jack, and Tom.

“OH MY GOD! HELP ME!”

We both turn around.

Tom.

“You gotta help me. Jack-I think they got him. OH GOD, JACK- “

“Okay, okay, calm down. Where did you last see him?”

“I didn’t see him. I just heard him scream!”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah…NO. I’M NOT. IT’S AFTER ME, TOO, FELIX.”

The silence was broken by a roar.

“Oh no.”