Chapter Two:
Games Begin
I got back to my house around eight.
“How was your assignment?” mom asked as I dragged through the door. She probably was excited that I even considered something like extra credit. I felt too crappy to answer, so I shrugged and went to my room.
After showering later that night, I laid in bed and thought about today. To be honest, it would’ve been completely normal if I ignored the extra credit temptation. This felt like a trap of destiny –there wasn’t crap about angels at the museum. I didn’t even get the chance to ask the attendant up front for information. Getting trapped in this predicament, not being able to escape…this sort of just happened. Seven days of riddles but why? I turned sideways and closed my eyes. I just need to end this so I can get back to life, right? But… guessing won’t be an option or else I’d die.
Midnight, I awoke and went to the bathroom to take a leak. After washing my hands, I stared into the mirror at my tired face. Did I always have a red X on my forehead? Wait... I snapped out of my daze but the X vanished…. Yeah, I better go back to sleep.
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In first period the following morning, I could barely focus on the lesson. Oh wait, that’s the typical me. That and the fact that I had to solve some riddle today at the cost of my life.
“Mr. Souths, what do you think the poet was trying to tell the world?” my English teacher, Mrs. Harp, said. All eyes turned to the guy who obviously wasn’t paying attention. “Well?”
“I…don’t know,” I replied.
“This is why you’ll never get above average in my class,” she blabbed. “You don’t seem to care about anything. And I know you the potential to ace anything here. You just need to motivate yourself and get off that lazy back of yours.” Mrs. Harp resumed her lesson. Sadly, I only pretended to pay attention since I really didn’t care. Second period was identical. The teacher stopped the lesson just to ride me out in front of the class. The entire time, I was like “Holy crap! Leave me alone”
During lunch, I avoided everyone I knew and went to the library. Though doubtful on finding anything in a high school library, I still searched for anything that could relate to my situation. Books were useless but I already expected that. Google normally appointed as my first option when it came to research but during lunch, tons of students manned the computers. My smart phone’s internet didn’t work in the school’s building so… I was pretty much out of luck.
“Hey Dick.” Gil approached me, leaving behind a small group of girls. “What the hell, dude?” He threw his arms up. “Why’d you bail yesterday?”
“I didn’t bail ass-clown, I still went,” I replied. “There wasn’t anything about angels at the museum.”
“Seriously?” Gil said. “Then how does Fiman expect us to write the assignment?”
“Don’t freaking know or really care.”
“What are you doing here anyway?” Gil continued. “The library isn’t normally your kind of place unless it’s sports magazines.”
“Nothing really,” I replied. “Just hoping to get a computer.”
“Good luck with that,” Gil laughed. Before I could think of him as the biggest turd I’ve ever met, he glanced around for a few seconds and said, “Actually, I can help you out this once but you owe me.” He walked over to a computer occupied by a hot girl, whispered something to her, and within seconds she got up and offered me the computer.
“Good luck with your essay,” she said as she left with Gil. I guess he can be useful sometimes. I wish I knew how he was able to sway girls so easily.
Anyway, I typed the Mask girl’s description into the search bar. No good results. Expected that. I typed, “History of Ash Fire Museum.” Maybe there was a hidden parent company of this place and I got caught in their black market activities. The search displayed a few results, but Wikipedia stood as first game. Unfortunately the generic half-right history it displayed didn’t help much. Honestly, this search really felt like something lame as searching for a needle in a hay stack. I hit the back arrow of the web browser and skipped to the seventh result. The screen went black as midnight for a second then displayed an unexpected message in white text.
ADMIRABLE FOR ATTEMPTING TO RESEARCH ME, BUT IT WON’T HELP YOU AT ALL, SAMUEL JAMES SOUTHS. The computer restarted.
You have seriously got to be kidding me. Did they hack through the school’s security? Am I like a sardine trapped in a can to these guys? I stormed out of the library towards Mr. Fiman’s class. Along the way, I stopped in front of an eyeball flyer and gazed at it.
“You deserve to die,” I read aloud. “What’s this supposed to mean, anyway?”
“Hey, Sam, what are you doing?”
A friend of mine, Nathan, walked toward me.
“Nothing,” I replied, “just about to go to class.”
“Oh. Are you up for some Call of Duty later today? You, me, Zack, and Tyrone.”
“I’m not sure, what time?”
“Four-thirty, five-ish,” Nathan said.
“Not sure if I’m going to make that,” I said.
“Are you pussing out?”
“No –I –”
“When have YOU ever had something to do?” he laughed.
“Today,” I answered bluntly. “Get off my ass already.”
“Whatever. If you can make, de-puss yourself and join us.” He walked off.
“See you around too, asshole,” I called out to him.
When I stepped into Mr. Fiman’s class, our glares crossed like two swords.
“You’ve got some nerve showing up to my class late.”
“Late?” There’s no way. I glanced at my smartphone’s clock. The real-time digital clock wasn’t moving. Regardless of that, I still had twenty minutes of free times when I left the library. I only stopped and stared at the flyer for like thirty seconds. The conversation with Nathan was very quick too. I turned my gaze to the classroom’s clock. I couldn’t believe it… I actually was late. But if I left the library late, then why there were students who shared the same lunch break unconcerned about the time…
“Being late will get you in trouble in this world, Mr. Souths. I’ll let you off this once but in return you MUST complete my assignment. Now have a seat.” He let me off this easily? There were a few chuckles and snickers as I sat down. The minute Mr. Fiman started his class, my eyes grew heavy. Then seconds later…
“Why do you waste your time here if you can’t stay awake?”
That voice made my eyes snap open. The masked girl stood in front of the board holding a giant red marker. I quickly glanced ever corner of the classroom but I was the only student present.
“Do you not care about anything?” she said. “Why do you bother coming to this educational institute to sleep when you can do that at home.”
“I’ve got to be hallucinating,” I said after I took a few deep breaths. “In fact, I’m asleep in class.”
Just then, she literally appeared in front of me –from ten feet away! No step, no jump –but appeared like a ghost or some kind of vanishing act. Or heck, this could be called teleporting. That made me fall backward in my desk and I felt that. When I looked up, the masked girl scribbled something on my forehead with that red marker.
“What’d you write on me?” I said. She handed me a mirror, spicing up her taunt. When I gazed into it, the familiar red X from last night finally made me reach the boiling point. “I don’t care if this is a dream, who the hell do you think you are?” I yelled. “Do you think I’m going to continuing taking your bull –”
WARNING THE REST OF THIS CHAPTER STILL NEEDS TO BE TYPED. BUT IF YOU LIKED THIS, PLEASE VOTE OR COMMENT, AND I WILL DEFINITELY PRIORITIZE THIS PROJECT. 457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡefVVQUXBv0
