Chapter 1

As a freshman, Ellis didn’t know what to expect. She stood at the front door, breathing in and out. She wanted to go inside, but her body didn’t want to co-operate with her mind. After a few minutes, she opened the door and stepped inside her new school. She pulled out a map and looked for the I.T room. She followed the map and arrived at the door. Ellis took a deep breathe and grabbed the knob. She slowly turned and opened the door.
“Freeze!!”, a group of people shouted as they pointed firearms at Ellis. She dropped to her knees and put her hands behind her head, fully terrified.
“Don’t shoot me please! I’m a freshman and I was looking for the I.T department! I don’t want to die!”, she cried. The group kept their guns pointed and glared as if she was lying.
“Leave her be guys! She seems to be telling the truth.”, a man said. Ellis looked up to see a bearded African American man walk out from the shadows. He kneels down and puts out his hand with a big smile.
“Don’t be scared. We’re the I.T department. My name is Mr.Burkis. What’s yours little lady?”, he said with a kind tone. Ellis took his hand and got up. She looked around at the other students, still glaring at her. She looked down and thought that everyone hated her as Mr.Burkis began walking ahead. He stopped and turned around and saw that Ellis didn’t move from the same spot. He walked back over and patted her head.
“Don’t worry about them girl! They’re just tense nowadays that’s all. Now, your name please?”, he said with a refreshing smile. Ellis snapped back into reality and looked up at him.
“Ellis! My name is Ellis Noosen!”, she answered. Mr.Burkis gave her a smile that reminded her of someone she knew and she smiled back as they began to walk ahead.
“Why are they so tense Mr.Burkis?”, Ellis finally asked out of curiosity. Mr.Burkis then stopped and turned his head slightly.
“You mean you don’t know? About the Wars?”, he asked with a serious tone in his voice. Ellis shook her head as she got even more confused.
“What Wars?”, she asked. Mr.Burkis then leads her to two chairs and asked her to have a seat. He took a deep breathe and began to explain.
“The Wars started when I started my job here 5 years ago. I was talking to some of the rest of the art department teachers in the teacher’s lounge and some of them were laughing at me. I was confused and brushed it off. Later that week, my desk was completely destroyed. They splattered paint on everything and even cracked my laptop screen. I found out who did it and we both fought. The students then adopted the behavior and it just went downhill from there if you can’t tell.”
Ellis did her best to understand the information that she was just given. She began to shiver and gritted her teeth.
“Do you know when these Wars will end?”, she asked. Mr.Burkis sighed and got up.
“Whenever we’re all dead I guess.”, he replied. Ellis got a sense of fear and began to feel nauseous. She swallowed hard and got up finally. Mr.Burkis turned around with a smirk as he walked back over to Ellis and put his hand on her shoulder.
“Are you ready for your first assignment?”, he muttered. Ellis nodded and saluted him, like she used to do before. Mr.Burkis smiled at her and ruffled her hair.
“What am I, a commander? You start tomorrow rookie!”, he laughed. Ellis chuckled and psyched herself up for her first assignment from her teacher. Despite from the sudden near death experience, she took a liking to her new environment. As she walked home later that afternoon, she kept the information on the Wars on her mind. She climbed in her bed and looked up at the ceiling with those same thoughts on her mind.
“I wonder what my first assignment is going to be.”, she muttered. She closed her eyes, waiting for the next exciting day to come.

End