The morning started like any other.
My name is Mason Hale, and up until that moment, I had been just another ordinary student at Westford High. The kind of guy you'd probably forget the second you left the room. Nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary. At least, that's how things had always been. But I should've known things like that never last.
I took a big bite of my toast, the greasy butter mixing with the faint tang of burnt edges as I scrolled through my phone, my thumb gliding over the screen without thinking. The dull buzz of my little brother arguing with my mom floated in the background. He was probably whining about having to clean his room again, or asking for something ridiculous, like a pet hamster or a second game console.
Outside the kitchen window, the sky was covered in thick, gray clouds, rolling in like a flood just waiting to break loose. The forecast had said rain was coming, but they always say that.
"Are you even listening to me?" my mom's voice called from the other room, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Uh-huh," I muttered, my voice muffled by the mouthful of toast. It wasn't that I wasn't listening okay, maybe I wasn't but it didn't matter. I already knew what she was going to say. Probably reminding me to study for that chemistry test I'd been putting off, or asking if I'd signed up for the school soccer team like she'd been asking for weeks.
In fact, the entire morning felt like I was on autopilot. The same routine: get up, eat, complain about the weather, avoid conversation, go to school. Life at sixteen could feel pretty repetitive sometimes.
I grabbed my backpack from the hallway, threw on my jacket, and stepped outside. The cold hit me almost immediately, the kind of chill that makes your breath visible in the air, even though it wasn't even that cold yet. A few cars honked as they passed, the street bustling with kids on their way to school. Everyone was in a rush, already lost in their own thoughts, their heads down against the wind. It was the same every day.
I met up with my friends at the school entrance. Jake was already there, as usual, holding his phone out to show us the latest viral video.
"Dude, did you see that crazy video last night?" he asked, practically shoving the screen into my face. "Some guy swears he saw a UFO right over downtown."
I barely glanced at the phone, my eyes still adjusting to the early morning light. "Right. Because aliens would totally visit this boring city," I said, rolling my eyes.
Ryan, walking up beside us, snorted. "Yeah, and choose to reveal themselves to that guy."
We all laughed, because we knew Jake's sense of humor. He was always the one who believed in every crazy conspiracy out there Bigfoot, UFOs, government cover-ups, you name it. And, honestly, it was just another thing we made fun of him for.
We shuffled through the crowded hallways, dodging groups of students standing around and chatting like human traffic cones. The air was thick with the smell of cheap cologne and the sound of lockers slamming shut. High school, in all its chaotic glory. I went to my locker, swapping out books for my first class. The usual: English, then history, then gym. Nothing to stress over. Just another boring day.
Or so I thought.
It wasn't until lunch that things started to feel... off.
Usually, me and the guys skipped the crowded cafeteria and found a quiet spot to hang out. Today, we ended up in one of the old, unused classrooms at the far end of the school. It was a place most students ignored, probably because the room smelled like stale dust and mold, and the lights flickered every now and then, making it look like something out of a horror movie. But we didn't care. The classroom was quiet, a place where we could chill and mess around with Ethan's iPad.
Lunch came and went. Ethan was busy showing off some new game he'd downloaded, while Jake and Ryan argued about the latest movie they'd seen. I barely heard any of it. My mind kept drifting. Maybe it was the stormy weather or the low murmur of the classroom, but something about the room felt... strange. Like the air was too still.
"Yo, Mason, you coming?" Jake's voice broke through my thoughts. He was standing in the doorway, holding his bag, waiting for me.
"Yeah, one sec," I said, shoving my stuff into my bag. The bell had just rung, and everyone else was already gone. We were about to head to class, but something some weird, unexplained sensation was tugging at my attention.
As I walked toward the door, something caught my eye. Something I hadn't noticed before.
On one of the doors a storage closet, to be exact there was a patch. It was small, square, and slightly darker than the surrounding wood, almost as if it had been sealed. At first, it looked like a simple patch of faded paint, but as I stepped closer, I could feel my curiosity stirring. The patch was rough, uneven, like something had been hidden beneath the surface.
I reached out instinctively, my fingers brushing lightly over the worn surface. The wood felt cold, unnaturally cold, and I couldn't help but press down a little harder, trying to feel for something beneath it. But there was nothing. Just the patch, and the strange feeling that seemed to grow stronger the longer I stared at it.
Weird.
"Mason, let's go, man!" Jake called from the hallway again, his voice snapping me out of my trance.
I blinked and shook my head, pushing the odd feeling aside. "Yeah, coming," I called back, grabbing my bag. I didn't have time to figure out what the patch was or why it was making my stomach twist. There was no way it was anything important. Just an old door. Just an old, forgotten part of the school.
But as I walked through the hallways with Jake and the others, I couldn't shake the feeling. It was like something had shifted, something I couldn't quite place. That patch had been there for a reason maybe it had been covered up for years, maybe it was something new. Either way, I couldn't get rid of the sense that I had just overlooked something important. Something I wasn't supposed to ignore.
It wasn't the kind of feeling I usually got. I mean, I was a pretty normal guy. I didn't believe in supernatural stuff or conspiracy theories. But for some reason, as I walked to my next class, I couldn't help but wonder if I had just uncovered something that I wasn't supposed to see.
And the worst part? I knew, deep down, that I'd be coming back.
Not today, maybe, but soon.
There was no way I could let it go.