She walked into theclassroom and noticedthat there wasn'tanybody there. Tables and chairs were turned over, trashthrown on the floor, and blood spots splattered all over theroom. She slowly made her way over to the window where thelight beamed through. People were running across campus,and some she noticed were walking very slow, dragging theirfeet, with matted hair and torn clothes.

She turned and looked toward the door when she heard anoise come from the hall. Ducking down, she made her wayto the front of the class to the teacher's desk. Someone enteredthe classroom as she crawled under the desk. She peekedaround the side of the desk and was amazed at what she saw.It was a young girl. Her breathing was gruff, her hair andclothes were messy with blood, and her clothes were full ofholes. The girl walked around the room for a while, then shefinally made her way to the door and left the room.

She got out from under the table and looked out the door.The young girl walked down the hall and entered anotherroom. She knew this was her chance to get out of there. Sheran down the stairs to the first floor. These zombies were allover the place. She saw the entrance at the end of the hall, soshe made a run for it. As she was running, she felt like she wasin slow motion. The hallway kept stretching longer and longer,with zombies coming out from all directions. They all reachedout to grab her shirt and pants as she vigorously kept her eyeon the door. Just as she approached the door, zombies cameout from nowhere and grabbed her. She opened her mouth toscream but didn't hear anything come out.

Xyla quickly sat up in her bed, crying, wiping the tearsfrom her face. Relief came over her when she realized it wasjust a dream. She got out of bed and went into the bathroomto splash water on her face.

"Why do I keep dreaming about zombies?" she askedherself, looking in the mirror. Walking back into the room,she noticed the clock said 1:50 a.m., so it was off to bed for afew more hours.

The alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. She got out of bed andlooked out the window; you could see the sun just startingto come up off in the distance. She threw on some blue jeanshorts and a yellow tank top and headed downstairs to see ifher dad was up. John was sitting in the living room on hisfavorite recliner, drinking his coffee, while watching the news.

"Morning, sunshine," John said, "where are you off to soearly this morning?"

"Morning, Daddy. It looks like it's going to be a nice day,so I figured I would take a walk on the beach. I'll grab me acoffee on my way," she said, kissing the top of his head.

On her way to the beach, she stopped at the closestconvenience store to grab a coffee. She pulled into the parkingarea at the beach, found a spot to park the car, and got outwith coffee in hand and headed to the sand.

A smile came on her face as she looked back in time. Hermother used to take her here at this time in the morningduring the weekends when she was a little girl. With a coffeein her mother's hand and a hot chocolate in her hand, theywould sit on the sand and watch the sun rise.

"Shh, can you hear the sun hitting the water?" her motherwould ask.

"I can hear it, Mother," Xyla would say, smiling.

"You are as beautiful as the sun, my dear Xyla," her motherbragged. Xyla was her world.

Tears came to Xyla's eyes; she missed her mother so muchit hurt.

Then her thoughts wrapped up to the present day.

"I hope going to America will be prosperous for me," shesaid to herself.

The waves came splashing in; she smiled and then took adeep breath with the satisfaction that somehow this was theright decision.

Xyla Rose, with her long blonde hair and natural, lightbrown highlights, walked toward the water. With sandals inher hand, and showing a very nice tan says that she spendsa lot of time at the beach. She was very thin, at age twenty-five,single, with only her father, John, at home. Her mother,Katerzyna, had passed away a few years ago, due to cancer.That is what caused Xyla to commit her all to the study ofscience. She wants to make a difference in the world.

This was the most perfect opportunity of a lifetime; shedid not want to pass this up. She had been offered an assistantprofessor of science position in America. Her father, John, toldher to go and make that difference.

She left the beach and went into town. Walking the streetsthat afternoon, she wanted to make sure she would rememberevery store, restaurant, and neighbor. As she walked along, shemet up with some college friends. Just a few friends she hadclasses with.

Suezanna, the baby of the six of them, at twenty-two,with brown eyes and black hair, was with her fiancé, Bradley.Bradley is twenty-three, and he, like Suezanna, has black hair.They are a jeans-and-T-shirt kind of couple. Their T-shirtsalways promote rock bands. With them was Tim; he is alsotwenty-three. He has blue eyes and short blonde hair. He'sthe quiet one out of the bunch. You will always see him injeans with a nice shirt, sometimes even a tie. Noelle, who isalso twenty-three, has long brown hair, has hazel eyes, anddresses casually. She also has a dream of becoming a professor.And last is Tayt. He is twenty-five with short brown hairand blue eyes. He dresses casual and is in love with Xyla. Hetries his best daily to make an impression on her, but she isso dedicated to her work she doesn't even realize what Tayt'sintentions are. He hopes that someday they will be a couple.

After their hellos, they all decided to meet up later thatevening at the Coach House Hotel for a bite to eat and afew drinks before Xyla goes to America. It was a Thursdayevening, and she was leaving Sunday afternoon. They decidedto meet at seven o'clock that evening.

The college she is going to in America starts their semesterin a week, so she needs to get settled in ASAP. Summer wasending for her, and being a student in college was just an endto one chapter in her life, and she was starting to embark onanother chapter. Only this time everything she learned in herclasses was going to be put to the test as an assistant. Was sheready for this?

Xyla got home and made steak and potatoes for her dad;it was his favorite. As they ate, they discussed her going toAmerica. He is a typical father and wants to make sure she isgoing to be okay. With no family or friends with her, it can getlonely. She assured him that she will be fine. Then they talkedabout her going out that evening with some friends.

John mentioned, "That Tayt is a nice fellow."

Xyla replied, "Yes, he is. I'm going to miss all my friends."

As her dad got up to get something, he said, "Keep yourphone with you and turned on at all times, and also, here's anew laptop with a camera as a going-away present. We cantalk anytime. I bought me one too so we can chat." Her dadsmiled.

She started crying. As she wiped her tears, she gave herdad a kiss on the cheek and a hug and said, "I love you, Dad."Now it was clean-up time.

Up in her room, she put on some soft music and startedgetting ready for her outing that night with her friends. Shestraightened her hair and pulled each side back in a clip. Thenshe decided to put a curl at the ends. Next was what to wear.She wanted to be comfortable but nice. She decided on a babyblue miniskirt and a white blouse, a medium-sized danglinghoop earrings, an anklet, and her favorite cameo ring from hermother, which accented the attire. She threw on some highheels to complete the outfit. A little foundation,...