Chapter 1

"Little BUDDY!"
The voice rang out.
Merton spun around, confused. Where had that come from?
It sounded so familiar..
"Don’t you want to Play?"
It haunted.
Merton squinted, looking around. The room his was in was
bright white..It almost hurt his eyes.
Something THUDed behind him. Merton spun around.
"Vince is back, and it’s Re-re-re-REVENGE TIME!"

~~ "DAH!"
Merton sat straight up in bed, covered in a cold sweat.
It was a dream…all a dream…
But it seemed so real..And he could remember all of it.
Unlike all the other times he had dreamed.
He sighed, climbing out of bed and pulling on a black
silk robe. He’d had that nightmare so many times before,
but this was the first time Vince had actually mentioned
revenge. For him.

Funny..He chuckled to himself. Earlier, he had been watching
the history channel. It had some Bedford flag on it, from the
colonial times. There were some Latin words on it, and the
History-guy explained that they ment "Conquer or Die."
Apparently, "Conquer" in Latin is "Vince". Conquer. Go
figure.

He pulled the door to the hallway wide open, and looked
around, to make sure it was clear. It was. He quickly ran
up the stairs, and into the kitchen. On his way past the
living room, he cast a glance at the clock. It was 2:03 in
the morning. Wait, no, 2:04.
He pulled open the fridge, and dug around inside. He pulled
out a carton of milk and tossed it aside, grinning wryly.
Once, a babysitter had given him some milk to calm him down
before bed. He was in the hospital for 3 days.
Finally, he poured himself a glass of orange juice, at sat
down at the table. There was a piece of paper lying in the
middle of the table, next to a picture. He smirked, picking
up the note. It was probably from one of Becky’s many
boyfriends.
He turned the note over once. There was nothing on it. He
sighed, and tossed it onto the table.
He gasped in surprise.
There WAS something written on the note. But there hadn’t
been before. He picked it up again, squinting at the tiny
writing.
Look at the Picture.
Ooook…He thought to himself. It wants me to look at the
picture…
He picked the picture up, and slowly flipped it right
side up.
It was Vince.
A picture of Vince, to be more precise.
He was holding a noose, and stretching it taught in his
hands.
And grinning.
Maniacally.
Someone squealed – in delight - behind him, and Merton
froze, the picture fluttering onto the table.
"What’s wrong, Little Buddy? Don’t you want to PLAY?"

Chapter 2

"Guys! Guys, you’ve got to help me!" Merton cried,
running down the hall of Pleasentville High towards his
two best (and only) friends.
"Woah! What happened to your hair?"
"Yeah, it’s all…green."
"Uh…Well, it’s a long story. Let’s just safely say I
fell asleep and woke up with someone else's clothes on.
And green hair." He added, gingerly touching his
once-black-now-bright-green hair.
"Ew! You sle-"
"Merton! That is just gross!"
"What? What’s gross?" Merton asked, dumbfounded. He
paused, and went through it again. Fell asleep, woke
up, had someone else’s clothes on, had green ha-….Oh.
Merton’s eyes widened in surprise as he realized what
Tommy and Lori were talking about.
"You’ve got to be kidding! I wouldn’t do that!"
Lori scoffed. "Like we’re supposed to believe that,
coming from you."
"What? Is it so hard to believe me?" Merton asked,
putting a friendly arm around Tommy’s shoulders.
Tommy gave him a piercing look, and Merton quickly
withdrew his arm, muttering quickly
"YeahThat’sWhatIThought…"
Suddenly, for no reason, completely out of the blue,
absolutley uncalled for, people started whisking off
to their classrooms. Tommy slammed shut his locker,
and Lori grabbed her backpack.

"Wait, where is everybody going?"
"…To class, Merton. When the bell rings, people tend
to head to class." Lori informed him.
"But..I…Bell…What Bell? I didn’t hear any bell…Hey,
Guy-!" Merton was cut short as something hit him in
the back of the head. He paused, realizing that (somehow..)
everyone was already in classes. He turned, to see that
his locker was open.
And it wasn’t just open…
Vince was in it.