Here's the first part of Chapter 1.

Chapter 1 (Part 1)
Mellisa

     The bus stop is close now, and I pick up my pace, reaching the bus just as the driver begins to close the doors. As she sees me, she opens the doors, raising an eyebrow at how I was almost late. “Sorry, ma’am.” I mutter as an apology, looking for an available seat on the bus. Since I’m so late, they’re all full, except for the seat next to Kinsey, the youngest of the Barrington family. 

     I give the bus one more glance over before coming to the conclusion that that is indeed the only empty spot, then begin to make my way through the narrow bus aisle towards the seat. When I arrive, Kinsey doesn’t even look up from her phone, even as I begin to cram myself, a trombone case, and my backpack all in the small space. The only time she actually acknowledges that I am there is when my trombone case begins to fall towards her, causing her to put a hand on it to stop it.

     “Thanks.” I mutter as I take my trombone case and get it into a stable spot. She only shrugs before going back to her phone. As the bus begins to move, I silently curse Arin for taking my car once again, forcing me into this situation. At this point, I’m just hoping that no one else makes a big deal out of me having interacted with one of the Barringtons.

     The family hasn’t really done anything wrong, but ever since their eldest, Quinn, returned ten years ago after having been missing for six years, everyone has done their best to ignore the Barringtons as a result. Quinn had been different, had something unexplainable about him, leading everyone to their ignorance of the family.
 The bus ride is uneventful, and soon we are in front of Bayshore High. Kids begin to pour off the bus, and I am finally able to get off and put it all behind me. As I get off, a short girl with her hair in a pixie cut, dyed bright orange, dashes towards me. 

     “Mellisa!” She practically shouts as she stops just shy of hitting me. “I’ve been looking all over for you. I watched the parking lot doors for a while, since you usually drive. What happened?” She crosses her arms, probably in an attempt to look cross, but it never works on her.

     “Well, Arin ‘borrowed’ my car for the fifth time this month without telling me, and by the time I realized it this morning, it was too late. As such, I had to take the bus, but I will definitely be giving him a piece of my mind later.” I tell her, annoyance laced in my voice, and she giggles before pulling her hand to her mouth.

     “I feel like it’s kind of rude to laugh at your plight here, but with the way that you put it, I couldn’t help myself. Honestly, given how this usually goes, I’m kinda surprised that this is only the fifth time this month. Usually he’s up in the double digits by now.”

     “Well, I’ve been trying to limit his opportunities to do so, but it didn’t work out today.” I say defensively. “I really do prefer having my car available to me.”

 She chuckles. “You would think that your parents would just get him a car already.” She pauses for a moment as the bell rings, signalling the start of yet another school day. “I suppose I should probably get going soon since orchestra hall’s on the other side of the school.”

     “Selene, trust me, I’ve asked them. I’ve complained to them- multiple times- and they still haven’t thought about it, at least not seriously. Anywho, right back at you.” I reply, and she smiles before she turns and walks off at a preppy pace. I begin to head towards my first class, but as I’m walking through the front doors, the world flashes for a moment before disappearing. I am surrounded by what seems to be an endless void, falling for what seems like a long time before I abruptly stop. The void shifts to a dismal, gray land with nothing in sight.

     “Mellisa Morrow.” An oily whisper fills the place, echoing despite the landscape. I look around, trying to pinpoint the source, but see nothing. I try to move to see if I can locate anything here, but I am stuck to the spot. “Already trying to leave? You haven’t even arrived yet.” The voice continues, seeming to worm deeper into my own mind before it chuckles. The chuckle was the most unsettling part so far, and I shiver, not liking where this is going. “You will have trials soon, Disgrace. Don’t disappoint.”

     “Trials? What are you talking about?” I shout, then add, “and who are you?” For a moment, there is no response from the whisper, and then only maniacal laughter, somehow worse than the chuckling only moments before.

     The next thing I know, I am back in front of the school, right before the front doors, no endless gray expanse in sight. “Okay then… That was odd.” I mutter to myself as I walk through the doors. “Probably didn’t get enough sleep or something.” I continue as I head towards my Physics class, sliding into my seat right as the bell rings.

     “Cutting it close today, are we Miss Morrow?” Mr. Jaime says, looking at me. “Well, no matter. Class, please take out your notes. Today, we will be continuing our unit over thermal physics, and remember that there will be a test next week.” As I dig through my backpack for my notebook, I can’t stop thinking about the odd hallucination I had experienced. A disgrace? I don’t think I’ve ever done anything to warrant being called that. And trials? What on earth could that mean? I want to stop thinking, but I am getting nowhere, both in that manner and trying to figure out what it was all about. “Miss Morrow, I would appreciate it if you actually took notes. While some of you claim to know things, your work has proven otherwise, and it is not wise to just ignore what is being taught.” I look down, embarrassed at being called out, as I finally pull my notebook out and start copying the notes down as he explains. I’m trying to pay attention, but my thoughts keep drifting to that hallucination, or whatever it was, that I experienced earlier. I spend the entire day in this daze, unable to fully pay attention, even during band. While I am able to focus more on the music than any of my other classes, I’m still unable to focus fully, the idea of the hallucination taunting me in my mind.

     As the school day comes to a close, I am no closer to any conclusion over the hallucination than I had been earlier. I start to walk towards the bus area, assuming that Arin had already taken off with my car, since he always seems able to weasel his way out of his last period early. As I walk, the world flashes again, and I am back in the gray expanse of nothingness, with no one else around. “You’re early, Disgrace. It is not yet time.” The whisper resounds, and moments later I am back in front of the school. Oh, that’s just great. Another hallucination, just what I needed after this day. I think to myself as I climb onto my bus. I’m not getting anywhere by thinking about it, since I hadn’t figured out anything about it. 

     The hallucinations are now even more so on my mind as I ride home, and when the bus finally comes to my stop, I almost don’t notice. As I climb off, I notice that at the edges of my vision, there is no color, only shades of gray. Whenever I turn to look over though, the gray seems to disappear, and my surroundings look as though they should. With a short sigh, I begin to walk in the direction of my home, trying to think of the homework I need to get through, but my thoughts keep returning to the hallucinations that I’ve experienced. I don’t understand them, and I can’t keep my thoughts off of them. To top it off, the corners of my vision flicker back to the gray every so often, but every time I turn to look, the gray disappears. Both the hallucinations and gray corners are annoying me to no end, and the icing on the cake is finding my car sitting in the driveway of my house. As I walk towards the driver seat, I find that the keys are still in the car, and I grumble to myself as I pull them out. It only serves to heighten my annoyance towards Arin, and it doesn’t help that those odd hallucinations have been on my mind all day. 

     As I unlock the door, I’m running through everything I want to tell Arin. I continue to think about it as I go by my room to set my backpack down, and as I begin looking through the house for Arin. When I finally find him, he is sitting up in the attic, his back towards me. I don’t know why he’s up here, considering that he usually stays out of the attic, but my curiosity is outweighed by annoyance.

     “Arin.” I say in an effort to get his attention. When he doesn’t turn around, I walk over to him before grabbing his shoulders. This catches his attention, and he turns his head around to see what happened. Upon seeing me, I release his shoulders, and he fully turns around, pulling earbuds out of his ears.

     “Oh, hey Mellisa. Didn’t hear you come up. Looking for something?” He asks, looking somewhat confused.

     “Yeah, you. You take my car again, despite it being explicitly mine, and you then have the nerve to leave the keys in! I really prefer actually having a fully functioning car and not having it or anything in it stolen, which is a lot less likely to occur when the keys aren’t already in it, practically inviting people to try and take it! You have other options, so it's not like you absolutely have to-” As I’m practically ranting at him, he cuts me off.

     “Wait, you found the keys in the car?” He asks, looking confused.

     “Yeah. Were you not listening?” I ask, and he shakes his head.

     “I mean, kind of, but I left them on the kitchen counter. You freak out enough whenever I take the car- I don’t want anything extra on top of that.” He says, and I just look at him.

     “Suuure you did. Keys don’t just move on their own.” He shrugs.

     “Yeah, but I did take them in. Wasn’t my fault they ended up back in the car somehow.” I sigh, ready to just be done with this conversation.

     “Whatever. Can you just stop taking my car?” I ask, and he chuckles.

     “Why would I do that? The bus takes ages to arrive, and mom and dad refuse to get me one despite both of us asking. Besides, it’s always fairly amusing to see how you freak out.” He pauses for a moment. “Though today is definitely a lot more than usual, and I’m not sure since I thought you didn’t have anything extra going on today. Anyways, I was in the middle of something.” With that, he puts in one of his earbuds and turns back around, going back to whatever he was doing prior. I leave at this point, knowing that I won’t get anything else out of him. 

     As I head back downstairs towards the kitchen, I notice my keys sitting on the island in the kitchen. It’s yet another odd thing in my day, especially since I was fairly sure that I didn’t put them down. Deciding that I really don’t need another thing to worry about, I figure that I must have put them down earlier as I walk over to the fridge and open the doors, looking for a drink. Finally finding a citrus tea, I pull it out and close the doors. The gray around the corners of my vision seems to be expanding, and doing so in a pulsing manner, yet every time I turn, there is nothing out of the ordinary. Wondering if this and the hallucinations are some sort of symptom, I pull out my phone, intending to do at least a basic search. While internet diagnoses aren’t great, it would be nice to at least get some sort of idea as to what may possibly be happening to me. As I begin to pull up a search engine, the gray clouds my entire vision, and I feel a sharp pain in my left wrist. I drop my phone in shock, clutching my wrist with my right hand. As the pain increases, my vision blurs, shifting between my kitchen and the gray world. Shortly after, everything goes black.

~~
What a day. Well, at least there's 5 others who also have gotten to deal with the delightful Realm on this fine day.
Also, mystery keys.

Oh my the mystery! :eyes:
I like it. For me, it's not usual to read something written in present tense. but it's interesting.