Tony sat in the window. He had never seen a gloomy day and quite frankly, that bothered him. Today his parents would finally let him off the leash. His 9th grade history class was traveling from Columbus to a Museum in Pennsylvania. He'd never been out of state in America, out of town. Honestly, Tony had never been two feet from his house until high school started. Being very shy had made it hard for him to socialize well with American kids. He was born in a small town of Florence, Italy. Coming to america at age twelve, Tony was able to Make a few friends in less then two years. But being 5”6', lame stance-
“Time to go!” his mother yelled, breaking his train of thought.
She drove to his school with the bus waiting outside. By now the kids were busy loading their luggage. As Tony was finished putting his luggage up, he began to walk away. But he heard a slight tapping noise. Thant-Thant-Thant. He looked up only to see someone walking away from the back window. Tony “thought” it was his friend,Connor. He boarded the bus. To his surprise, no one was there.
“What 'cha doin?” He turned to see Mr. Nulock, his history teacher.
“Nothin', just thought Co-”
“Listen Tony,” Mr. Nulock says cutting him off, “your mom was really strict about your medication so I want you to take it.”
Tony nodded his head. What else was there to do? The whole world already knew about his physco medication because of his mother's enormous mouth. The bus is boarded and hours flew by of laughing, playing, and, music. By 10:30 P.M. every kid had dozed off. Well, everyone excluding Tony. The bus pulled over to a gas station to refuel.
“Want something Tony?” Nulock asks.
“Yeah, something warm to drink please”Tony sniffs. The winter temperature had gotten to him.
“You got it” Nulock leaves the bus.
Everything was quiet and Tony felt lonely. He scanned the area.”Lot of people hanging here,” He says to himself. Watching a group of bikers, Tony noticed a man with a tall black top hat staring at him. He noticed this one particular man because he did not belong with the bikers. Based on his clothing, he'd belong in the 80s neither. The bus windows are tinted but Tony swore this guy could see him. He waved, but the man just turned and walked into the darkness. Confused, Tony turned to Connor only to find the man with top hat staring directly in his eyes. Everything was quiet, But Tony did not feel lonely. He felt his heart pounding. The man is breathing heavily. Like an angry bull being ready to charge but slower. He wears clothing that makes him look like he doesn't belong in Tony's time period, but in the 1800s. Dingy ruffled shirt, black suit, top hat, this guy has stolen the identity of Abraham Lincoln, Tony thought. But who knows. The man's face is in a shadow even when the bus lights are shining on him.
“Here you go Tony” Nulock says boarding the bus. He sees Tony staring off into the distance.
“Tony? Tony!?” He becomes freaked out when he doesn't reply so he begins shaking him. Tony looks up to see his teacher staring at him with eyes of concern. With a smile and thanking Mr. Nulock, he takes the drink. Again their off, but Tony had an uneasy feeling. He tried to sleep, but closing his eyes he still saw the man's shadowed face.
“You okay?” asks his teacher.
“Yeah”
“So we're going to be stopping at a hotel in about-” Nulock pauses and for a split second he swears Tony's reflection wasn't him, but someone else. He snaps out of it. “When we get to the hotel, I want you to take your medication”
“m'kay” Tony replies.
While in bed, Tony could not sleep. Thoughts of the faceless man raced through his mind, and even though he could not see his face, Tony felt the man staring through his soul with eyes of pure hatred and disgust. If looks could kill, the devil would surely waiting for him with open arms. Unless,of course, the man with the black top hat was the devil himself. Then Tony wouldn't get much love. The next day,on the way to the museum and back, the man did not appear. At home, Tony had forgotten all about him. He stayed up at night, unable to sleep. When returning from getting a drink he noticed something odd about his bed. In the dim light he could tell. The sheets. There was something under the sheets. He crept to the bed and threw them over. Nothing. The closet door creaks. Tony turns his head slightly. Standing in the door is a shadow and an outline of a top hat. In a second the shadow is over Tony. He screams, but no sound emerges.
Just then, in a sweat, Sean Green wakes up screaming. the nurses of the psychiatric home for children rush in. This nightmare has dwelled in Sean's sleep for months. The nurse takes him to get a drink.
“Who's Tony Annello?” Sean questions, finally gathering the guts after two months to ask.
“What?” the nurse replies with a look of confusion, shock, but most of all horror.
“Tony Annello?” he says again.
She then takes him to a storage room. The room is piled with files of those who had been there in the facility. She looks through some files and eventually pulls out a dusty old folder.
“Read” she demands throwing the folder down
Sean couldn't believe it. There before his eyes were prior pictures of Tony, the boy he'd dream of . Only in these captured moments, Tony's eyes were gone. He didn't have any.
“Why?” Sean asks, barely audible and unable to speak.
“Because he saw things” the nurse stares off into the distance.
It was only then Sean realized. Realized that he was one of those 15-years-later movies of Tony. He had been seeing visions of himself for the last two months. He knew. Knew that if he mentioned the dre-nightmares, he'd get his eyes held from him too. So, he didn't utter a word.
“Tony Annello died here 15 years ago, before you were even born. I don't know-”
Just then, before she could finish, the sound of another screaming child echos down the hall.
“Go to bed and try to get some sleep.” the nurse walks away.
Sean returns to his room. In the dim light, he can see someone sitting on his bed. It looks like Tony from behind.
“Tony?” he says cautiously. As if he said the wrong thing, the shadow would disappear.
But then something frightful happens. The shadow reaches over the bed and grabs an object. Very slowly, it slips the object onto it's head. It seems to be a top hat that could be made for Abraham Lincoln to Sean. Sean stares in disbelief. 'Very ironic' he thinks to himself. Without a single step, the shadow is over him. Sean was brought back to reality. He tries to scream, but as he remembers of Tony, no sound emerges.