I heard the annoying sound of my alarm go off. Still tired, I sat up to turn the stupid thing off. I kicked my legs off my bed and headed towards my closet to pick out my outfit for the day. After I slipped it on, I headed towards the bathroom. I was about to open the bathroom door, but then I remembered what happened a couple of days ago. What was wrong with me? The days after my horrific episode I had managed to be just fine touching the bathroom door knob. Why was today so different? I sucked it up and took a deep breath. I touched the door knob and twisted it to the left, opening the door. "Daddy said its over." I said to myself.

In 15 minutes I had finished getting ready and I headed downstairs. "Good morning sunshine!" My dad happily greeted me in the kitchen. "Good morning daddy!" I said as I went to go give him a hug. "How'd you sleep last night?" He asked. "Good. I'm still a little tired, but I'm okay." He chuckled "That's what happens when stay up past your bedtime." I frowned and argued, "Well I wouldn't be so tired if you came to say goodnight on time." He frowned playfully and raised his hands in the air.

"You caught me. I'm guilty! Take me away!" He said loudly. He put his hands back down and continued to make breakfast. "What's for breakfast dad?" I had a feeling I already knew what he was going to say. "Chocolate chip pancakes," he said with a smile, "your favorite." The smell of those pancakes made my mouth water. The aroma in the air made me hungrier than I had ever been.

"Are you ready to go back to school honey?" He asked me still looking down as he cooked. "Yes I am. I have a lot of work to do though." I said with a frown. "Don't worry," he said, "you are a good student. You'll get it done." I nodded and continued to watch him make breakfast. I walked around the island in the kitchen and sat down on the chair in front of him. He had finished making breakfast and he passed me the plate full of pancakes and syrup. "Enjoy pumpkin." He said. I smiled, "Thanks daddy." We didn't speak for some time. He just stood there and watched me eat silently. If I wasn't so hungry I would've thought that was weird, but I was too focused on devouring what was in front of me.

He broke the silence and sighed. I looked up to see him staring at me. He looked down and said to me slowly, "Sophia, I know we had agreed not to bring up what happened a couple of days ago, but I need to talk about it just for a little bit." My heart started to race. I hate thinking about it. Let alone  talk about it. It makes me want to crawl in a hole and never come out.

He noticed my body tensing up. He continued, "I promise that this is the last time we will speak of it okay?" I nodded and tried to loosen up. So I continued eating. "Pumpkin listen to me." I looked up. "You can not tell anyone what happened. Not your friends or your teacher. If they ask you why you didn't come to school, you tell them you had a very bad case of the stomach flu. Alright?" I wasn't planning on telling anyone, but I shortly responded, "Okay."

He continued, "If you feel anything wrong, even the slightest pain, you tell your teacher you don't feel well and you tell them to call me. Understand?" He paused, "Everything will be alright pumpkin. Just don't think about it and go about your day at school. Okay?" He walked over and rested his chin on top of my head as he hugged me from behind. "I understand dad." I said. "Okay kiddo. Now hurry and finish up your breakfast or else we will be late for school." He ruffled my hair. I hated when he did that. Now my hair is all messed up. "Daaaad," I whined. "Oops sorry pumpkin. I forgot that you don't like that." He laughed and headed into the office.

I had finished my breakfast and I put my lunch in my backpack. I quickly headed upstairs to redo my hair. My hair was really stubborn. That's why I get so upset when someone touches it. At the same time, I'm grateful for it. I have long, straight, sun kist brown hair and it makes me feel beautiful. After I finished fixing it up, I headed back downstairs. "Dad I'm ready!" I yelled. He came jogging into the kitchen, "Alright pumpkin let's go." We headed outside and walked towards our black Cadillac. I buckled my seatbelt as he pulled out of the driveway. When dad took a turn to start driving, I felt a little dizzy. I didn't say anything. I was just nervous to go back to school. I hope that's all it was.

The whole ride to school we just sat in silence listening to a pop radio station. I looked out the window and saw kids walking to school. The crowds of kids started to multiply as we got closer to my elementary school. Along with kids were their parents...their moms. I didn't want to dwell on the fact that I would never know my mother so I looked away. I sat still staring straight ahead me hoping that today will be a good day. Dad pulled the car into the student drop off section. The car came to a complete stop and I looked at him. Before I could say goodbye to him, he pulled out a cell phone. It wasn't his. "This is your cell phone. You use it only to call me in emergency cases understood?" I smiled and to be honest I was actually excited to finally have a cellphone. Any kid would be. It was an iPhone 4s, the newest phone at the time. All my friends had one except for me, but that wasn't the case anymore. "The password is your birthday month and day. If anything happens you call me immediately. Got it?" He said sternly. "Got it!" I said with a smile. "Alright pumpkin you have a good day at school." I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Bye daddy. Love you!" I closed the car door and he rolled down the window. "Love you too princess."

As we finished our goodbyes, I headed to the entrance of the school gate. My friends Isabella and Catie were in their usual spot before the bell rang. "Hey guys!" I greeted them. Catie was the first to ask. "Sophia, where were you? You missed like 3 days of school." My heart started to loudly beat as I thought about what really happened. Isabella joined Catie's curiosity, "Yeah Sophie. The teacher didn't even get a call about you. She asked us and we told her we had no clue." I tried to act as casual as possible. "Oh really? I thought my dad called the school to tell the teacher that  I was sick. Guess he forgot. I wasn't here because I had the stomach flu." As I said that last sentence they both backed away from me. "Eeww Sophia. Please whatever you do, don't get us sick." Isabella disgustingly stated. "Don't worry. I'm not sick anymore. My dad made sure I was 100% ready and healthy enough to come back to school." We all smiled at each other as the bell rang.

Walking together, we headed towards Ms. Wilson's 6th grade class and took our seats. I was surprised to see that we had a substitute teacher today. Our teacher is never absent. Guess today was a rare occasion. Isabella, Catie, and I chatted amongst ourselves as we waited for the sub to start taking role. "Jessica Akalia..." I heard a "here" in response. I started to feel a little sick. The substitute teacher continued, but the noises of the classroom started to fade. And with that my vision became blurrier by the second. I became dizzy and my mind started to panic. I faintly heard my name and then my body was shaken. "Sophia!" I was extremely confused. Catie had called my name. I brought my focus to what was happening. Both of my friends were staring intently at me with wide eyes. "Huh?" I said in confusion. "The sub called your name like 5 times. I told her that you were here, but you weren't responding." My face felt hot. I was embarrassed and scared at the same time. I looked around and noticed that every single of one my classmates was staring at me. "Are you Sophia Blackwood?" The substitute asked. I just nodded my head. I didn't want to open my mouth. What is the matter with me? The teacher continued calling role and I sat stiffly in my seat. Catie and Isabella decided to leave me alone after seeing that I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone.

Class continued on and we just did a bunch of busy work since Ms. Wilson wasn't here. I just stared at the clock waiting for the lunch bell to ring. The class was so silent I could distinguish the sound of the clock ticking all the way from the other side of the classroom. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. I was so focused on the hand of the clock that the ringing of the lunch bell made me jump in my seat. I grabbed my lunch out of my backpack and headed out the door. I didn't wait for my friends. I just needed some time to myself right now. "Sophia," I heard "wait for us!" I sighed to myself and decided that being with my friends should make me feel better. "Hey are you okay?" Isabella asked me. "Yeah I'm fine. Just tired. I went to bed late last night." They both nodded in understanding. Catie grabbed my hand and dragged me to the lunch benches.

We sat down and started eating. I  wasn't in the mood to eat anything at the moment, so I let my friends share my lunch. As they ate, I just sat there making small talk with Izzy and Cate. They finished up and the second lunch bell rang meaning we have 20 minutes for recess. We left the lunch area and headed out to the school field to walk around and play. "Hey guys do you want to play a game of tag?" Catie asked us both. It was a way to keep my mind off things so I decided to play. Ten minutes went by and I was it. I was chasing Isabella when a group of boys from my class decided to interrupt our game. A boy named James asked if he could play with us. Him and 3 other boys joined the game and to be honest it was really fun. I had tagged James and he started chasing me. He was really fast and I was running out of breath. Being clumsy and tired at the same time, I tripped and fell to the ground. James jumped on top of me. "Your it!" He laughed. "Better run James." I playfully commented with a threatening tone. After James got up, he ran like there was no tomorrow. He was too fast so I decided to go after Isabella instead. I was running after her. I was getting closer by the second.  I reached my hand out to touch her back.

As I lifted my hand to tag her, her body was violently thrown 10 feet from where she last was. I didn't even touch her! As her body landed on the ground I heard the sound of snapping bones. Isabella screamed and started to cry, holding her arm. I looked around to see if anything else caused Isabella to be thrown like that. I turned to see my group of friends  frozen like deer in headlights. I walked towards them. "Guys? What's wrong?!?!" They started backing away. Catie ran to the nearest supervisor and the older lady ran to attend to Isabella. As for the group of boys, they looked horrified. I asked them with tears in my eyes. "Guys? James?" I took one more step towards them. "STAY AWAY FROM US!" James said in horror. I lifted my arms up to show that I wasn't threatening, but the group of boys flew backwards, screaming. Oh no. I'm doing this. This isn't happening. This isn't even possible. I began to silently panic. They managed to break there landing, but they didn't look back. They just ran. I looked up to see the rest of the kids from school lined up against the field fence. Staring. At me. I looked down to avoid their gaze. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't. I was terrified. Terrified of me. I looked down at my hands to see them glowing a bright blue. I started to hyperventilate. My heart was racing. Sweat rolled down my forehand and onto the bridge of my nose. I managed to find the courage to move. Kids began to scream when I exited the field. I ran straight to the bathroom in the very back of the school.