Young Writers Society

Chapter One

Reida startled awake, nearly falling out of her chair. She blinked a moment in confusion before registering her professor's voice and realizing where she was. Right- Psych 101- when did I fall asleep?

She shook her head to clear the lingering images of her dream and tuned back in to Professor Crowley's lecture.

"So this tree theory states, basically, that for any possible choice there is a universe consisting of the consequences of that choice. For example, say a buddy invites you out for drinks- the two main choices are to accept or decline. Now, there are many other choices in between those, such as vehicle of transportation or what you might do instead of taking up the offer, but for now just consider these two options."

Professor Crowley paused to draw a line with a fork on the large black board behind him.

"These points where you are faced with a decision are called 'crossroads', and regardless of what you choose, each possible decision creates a 'branch', or a parallel universe. Now, if you take in every single crossroad and outcome,"

He rapidly drew several branching lines from the original line,

"then the multiverse becomes like a tree, and you get infinite parallel universes. These universes may be almost identical to ours, and follow our branch for a ways," he gestured with the chalk, "or be on a separate section of the tree and be completely different from ours- perhaps with different laws of physics."

Reida chewed on the end of her pencil, racking her brain for the relevance of her Professor's lecture. She glanced at her notes- the last thing she had written down was a case study on bipolar disorder. Had she really been asleep that long? She sighed and turned to the girl on her left, who was quickly typing notes into her laptop.

"Excuse me, do you know how this is connected to our unit?," she murmured.

The girl shrugged, "Nope. I was just wondering the same thing. I figure it's one of those surprise questions on our exams."

Reida nodded as Crowley dismissed the class.

"Remember, your case study write-ups will be due next Monday- no exceptions."

Reida gathered her things and made her way out of the building, still thinking of the lecture. As she crunched fallen leaves underneath her boots, she wondered how many versions of herself there were. She smiled a little at the thought of a copy of herself with no student loans.

Suddenly, a pair of hands clamped over her eyes, and Reida caught a whiff of cinnamon.

"Hi Lucie," she barely concealed an amused tone.

"Hey, party pooper."

Reida's high school best friend stepped around to face her.

"What did I miss this time?"

"Oh, nothing, only the hottest party of the semester, maybe the year..." She shrugged and frowned at her nails.

Reida kept walking, knowing that no excuse she gave would prevent a lecture.

When Lucie didn’t get the response she was looking for, she sighed loudly and caught up to Reida.

"Rei! You never goanywhere! It's, like, a miracle when you leave campus."

Reida gave a sigh of her own, "Luc, I've told you- I'm perfectly happy not going to parties every single weekend. Or partying ever, for that matter."

"Sure, you say that, but seriously- you're lucky I've been your best friend for five years, or no one would be aware you exist."

Reida rolled her eyes a little and shoved her hands into her jacket pockets.

"I have plenty of friends besides you. Ones that don’t feel the need to stay out until dawn."

Her phone started vibrating and she checked Caller ID.

"Who's that?," Lucie peeked her head over Reida's shoulder.

"My Mom."

"Exactly my point."

Reida stuck her tongue out as she lifted the phone to her ear.

"Hey, Mom."

"Hi sweetheart. How're your classes going?"

"Good. How's dad?"

"Same as always- he's fixing the fridge right now," there was a distant "Hi Reida!," from her father.

She raised her voice a bit, "Hey, Dad!"

"Listen, honey," her mom said, "we're going on an anniversary trip next month and we were wondering...," she trailed off.

"Yeah?"

"Can Ode stay with you for a week while we're gone? He'd like it much more than the babysitter's."

Ode was Reida's eight-year-old brother, who had been called 'advanced' and an 'old soul'. He found Stacey, his usual babysitter, "lacking in diverse conversation." His words.

"Sure, that sounds fine. I think I'll be off school then- I'll check and text you later."

"Thanks, honey. I know he'll love spending time with you for a bit."

Reida's mother paused, and she heard voices in the background.

"Speak of the devil- here he is."

Reida smiled and talked a bit louder, knowing that Ode still held the phone awkwardly to his ear.

"Hey, Ode. How's it going?"

"Good!," he chirped, "I worked on my meaning list today."

Ode was into making a list of and researching symbolic interpretations.

"The color red is danger, skeletons mean a hidden past, darkness is mystery- um, cloaks are diminishing fear, and lanterns symbolize a wish for a brighter future."

Reida heard paper crinkling, and suddenly her dream in Psych 101 came flooding back. She felt a chill that had nothing to do with the fall weather.

"Where'd you come up with those?," she kept her voice nonchalant.

"Just a dream I had awhile ago. It was very vivid."

Reida made small talk with her brother, controlling her panic and trying to once again push her dream out of her mind. Finally, she hung up the phone to get lunch with Lucie before going to her Journalism Club meeting.

Reida slid into her spot with the rest of the editing team as Jerry, president of the club, signaled the room's attention.

"Welcome- before I let you all do your thing, I have an announcement to make. We've accepted the member request of a transfer student and have given him a spot as columnist. This decision has been made with a recommendation from Richard Hardey."

Whispers started to rise- Richard Hardey was a big name in local college journalism- once a popular columnist, he worked as a Professional Journalism professor at a prestigious college and had made a name from himself.

"Of course," Jerry continued, raising his hands to quiet the noise, "Landon Bramsey- the transfer student- will have to prove himself, but seeing as he held a columnist chair in his college paper, I think it's fair to give him a spot. I want everyone to be helpful and to show him the ropes while he's here. He'll start tomorrow."

Other than Jerry's announcement, Journalism Club was uneventful. Reida worked on finishing the week's paper and took it back to her dorm with her.

She heated up a microwave dinner- pasta, again- and sat down on the couch with it. She had hardly taken a bite when she found herself nodding off.

Next thing she knew, Reida jolted awake to the alarm on her phone. She rubbed her eyes and set down her dinner, which she was holding (thankfully unspilled). She stared at her phone: 6:30 PM. As she looked around and realized that it was dark outside, the significance of her alarm sunk in. She had a math class at seven.

Reida gathered up her books and, for once, chided herself for signing up for a night class. Lucie was right- she really didn't go anywhere- or get bundles of sleep to make up for it.

Reida blew on her hands and rubbed them together as she walked to her math building. The street lamps lit her way, but didn’t offer any warmth against the turning weather. She was lost in thought, and gradually became aware of a second set of footsteps crunching in the leaves behind her. She stopped, and the crunching persisted.

Slowly, Reida turned around. The lamp lights illuminated a boy with red hair, walking up to her at an alarming speed. The color of his hair sent a jolt of fear through her, but she didn’t place the reason until he got close enough for her to see his face. He was the man from her dream- her nightmare. He was the killer.

Against rationality, Reida started running.

"Your Highness, wait!," he yelled.

She heard him running after her, and didn’t even try to comprehend his words. Her only focus was getting as far away from him as possible.

"Queen Reida!"

Still running, she looked over her shoulder. There was a terrible moment where she felt her feet tangle and come out from under her. She turned back in time to see the bottom of a staircase rushing up at her.

Reida distantly heard a smack before the blackness rushed in.