Into the Beyond Books 1-3

The morning went by as normally as any first day of school could. Lewis took a shower, ate a banana, and rode bus number fifty-two to his school, Edmonds-Woodway High. He waited in a long line in the cafeteria with the rest of the student population to pick up his class schedule and then made his way towards Mrs. Kerry's first period English class.

Lewis stepped outside, cutting through the courtyard on his way to class. The eclectic group of loners that hung out in the courtyard watched him as he walked by. No words were exchanged. Lewis was a loner too, but he didn't really fit in with the courtyard kids or any of the other cliques for that matter. Mostly thanks to Landon, Lewis was ostracized by his peers.

He took in a deep breath, filling his lungs with the frosty air in an attempt to quell the emotion that was beginning to build in his chest. It was a strangely crisp morning for September in the usually temperate city of Edmonds. As much as Lewis had been dreading the start of school, he'd also been going a bit stir crazy at home alone all summer. Dry weather meant forest fires in Canada and northern Washington and an annoyingly smoky August throughout the Puget Sound. Indoor activities like reading and playing video games were the only options left for someone like Lewis who didn't have any friends.

Despite the trend of smoky summers—courtesy of climate change—Lewis felt fortunate to have grown up in Washington State. Nestled in the Pacific Northwest, Edmonds was full of all the small-town charm one could stomach, with beautiful views of the Olympic Mountains rising up across the shimmering blue waters of the Puget Sound. There was no beating an Edmonds sunset. The whole sky would light up pink and orange over the mountains and reflect off the water below—barring smoke of course. The ferry system made Edmonds a hub for many Seattle commuters. Sadly, big-city problems like crime and homelessness had slowly started to encroach in from the larger Seattle area over the past few years. When Lewis was younger, he wouldn't have thought twice about walking around late at night, but things had changed just enough to make the darkness feel malevolent.

Lewis kept to himself these days. He pretty much lived in his bedroom, only venturing out when he needed to. The conflicting drives of loneliness and social anxiety made for a bumpy morning.

In English class, Mrs. Kerry assigned Oedipus Rex for in-class reading. The Ancient Greek tragedy's themes of prophecy and fate immediately reminded Lewis of his crazy dream of Mr. Gray. The thought was fleeting, though, and Lewis soon forgot all about the odd creature. He counted the number of students set to read ahead of him so that he could figure out which passage he would have to read in front of the class. He practiced it a few times in his head so that he wouldn't stumble over his words and embarrass himself. Embarrassment felt worse than death to Lewis—such was high school life. English soon ended and he continued on with his ordinary day.

Social studies with Mr. Garfield came next. Lewis spotted Landon Mathews sitting off to the side with some of the other jocks. He quietly made his way to the back of the room in an attempt to avoid his notice. Many years ago, before puberty and excessive weight lifting chiseled Landon's body into the annoyingly handsome, Greek hero-like physique he now possessed, Landon and Lewis had been best friends. They sat next to each other on the bus on the first day of kindergarten and were soon inseparable. They remained best friends until the third grade when Landon suddenly realized that bullying Lewis made him more popular with the rest of the kids. He used everything he knew about Lewis to ridicule him in front of his peers and never once got in trouble for his tormenting. Lewis learned long ago that the world wasn't a fair place.

"Sup, Lewser," said Landon from across the classroom. A chorus of snickers arose from the other students. The teacher, Mr. Garfield, was ancient, half-deaf, and completely useless to Lewis. Landon pushed his medium length pretty-boy hair off his forehead as he smirked at Lewis. "Did you get your tighty-whities out of your crack yet, or are you still flossing with them?" Full-on laughter erupted in the classroom. Mr. Garfield looked around confused.

Lewis didn't even wear full briefs, but Landon had given him a wedgie so hard over the summer when he spotted him at the grocery store that the band of his boxer briefs partially tore. There was nothing that Lewis could say without making things worse.

"Settle down," ordered Mr. Garfield. "We are going to play an ice-breaker game and then go over the syllabus for the semester." He had everyone count off to form groups. Landon and Lewis both ended up as fours and were placed in the back corner of the room. "These will also be your groups for your semester-long project, worth forty percent of your grade."

Lewis sighed. Landon didn't look any happier at least. He flicked Lewis painfully on the earlobe before sitting down beside him. "You're gunna do my part of the project," said Landon, "or else I'll make this year hell for you."

"Aren't you going to do that regardless?" Lewis asked sassily.

Landon flicked his ear again in response. Things were lining up to be the worst year yet for Lewis.

Lunch was next, and although Lewis didn't have any friends to sit with, he did have a routine he liked to follow. He made his way quickly to the cafeteria, but instead of stopping there he continued on down to the end of the hall to a bank of vending machines. He waited off to the side, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible while he waited for one particular student to arrive.

McKenzie Spencer, better known as Kenzie, was a blonde firecracker, recent addition to the cheer squad, and all around heartthrob as far as Lewis was concerned. He'd had a crush on her for years, but hadn't built up the courage to do anything about it yet. This year was going to be the year. She'd just broken up with Jeff Doyle over the summer and it was the first time since Lewis first saw her in middle school that she'd actually been single. Lewis had been coming to this vending machine every lunch since halfway through freshman year when he realized Kenzie frequented the location to pick up a sports drink.

Lewis had never had a class with Kenzie, but his heart skipped beats whenever he was around her. He had a plan to make a good impression. As soon as he spotted her coming down the hall he pulled four dollars out of his wallet and quickly fed two of them into the machine. He pushed the button for the blue colored one—Kenzie's go-to flavor. He didn't pick it up after it fell to the bottom of the machine—instead he started feeding in the next two dollars. Kenzie stepped up behind him. He could feel her presence, but didn't turn around yet as the machine accepted his money and he pressed the blue option yet again. His heart was beating out of his chest as the drink fell and he reached into the compartment at the bottom.

"Oh, crazy," he said, saying the script that had been repeating in his head all summer, "a second one fell." He grabbed both bottles and began to turn around. "Would you like—?" He suddenly realized that it was not Kenzie standing behind him... it was Landon.

"Don't mind if I do, dingus," said Landon. He snatched both bottles out of Lewis's hands before trotting over to Kenzie, who'd been sidetracked talking to her friends down the hall. "Here you go, babe," said Landon, handing one of the bottles to Kenzie before kissing her gratuitously on the lips.

Lewis felt as if he was sinking into the floor. Everything was ruined. He wanted to cry with frustration. He moved quickly back past the cafeteria, trying to get as far away from Landon and Kenzie as he could before stopping. He went outside to the courtyard and climbed the stairs by the main office before sitting down and considering what this all meant. Landon and Kenzie were dating. The girl of his dreams was with the boy of his nightmares. He wanted to go home and lock himself in his room, if only that were an option.

He opened his backpack, part of him half-expecting to see Mr. Gray as he retrieved his lunch. He shook his head at his own silliness. Even if Kenzie was still single and not dating my mortal enemy, what chance do I really have? I'm the weird kid with no social skills or friends. She wouldn't want to date me, or even talk to me!

He wasn't feeling hungry, but only had twenty minutes left before his last class of the day, Chemistry, so he forced himself to eat the turkey sandwich his mother packed him. He choked it down. It was dry without having anything to drink with it. When he was finished, he shoved the empty paper bag back in his backpack and made his way into the building across from the office that housed the theater and woodshop classrooms. There was a water fountain in there where he could quench his thirst.

While drinking, he heard the door open behind him. Several other students walked in silently. He didn't think anything of it until someone grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face down into the water fountain's metal basin. His chin took the brunt of the hit. He gasped as cold water covered his face and shot up his nose. The hand released him and he spun around.

Landon and two of his jock cronies had him trapped. There was a strange look in Landon's eyes. "Stay away from my girl, Lewis," he said. "I saw what you were trying to do earlier. If I so much as see you looking at her again, there's gunna be hell to pay."

Landon glanced around to make sure no teachers were watching and then gestured to his cronies with his head. They each grabbed ahold of one of Lewis's arms and dragged him to the empty woodshop classroom, then threw him down on the floor. Landon began messing with the door. By the time Lewis was back on his feet, the three bullies were laughing and giving each other high-fives.

"Sleep tight," said Landon.

They slammed the door shut on Lewis. The laughter continued as he heard them walking back down the hallway and out of the building. Lewis immediately tried the door, but of course, it was now locked. Next, he tried his cellphone, which he found inexplicably dead. He didn't know what to do. Woodshop wasn't taught in the afternoons. There was a chance nobody would come by until the following morning unless a janitor was scheduled to clean the building. Being that this was the first day of school, Lewis doubted his chances. Lewis spent the remainder of lunch period searching for a way out. None of the windows opened and without a key, the door was impassable.

Soon, the bell for last period rang. Defeated, Lewis sat down on a stool—there weren't even any normal chairs in the classroom. Tears began to flow down his cheeks. He had known Landon was going to make the day terrible, but he never could have imagined that he would go this far. He couldn't fathom what could drive a person to be so cruel.

Crack!

The sound was deafening. Lewis fell from his stool as the shock startled him.

"Hello, Lewis Graham," said the high-pitched voice of Mr. Gray.

Lewis was even more surprised than he'd been that morning. He'd put the whole encounter behind him, explaining it away as just an odd dream.

"I apologize for disappearing on you," Mr. Gray said. "I was attending to details."

Lewis found himself speechless again. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. The tiny creature walked over to a cabinet at the side of the room and immediately pulled out the key to the woodshop classroom door.

"Let's get started," said Mr. Gray. "Such fun we have today." The creature giggled mischievously.

Lewis shrugged. "Alright," he said. Today can't get any worse, I guess. "Lead the way."