Chapter One: Gerrix
The room is deathly silent as I set my books down on the counter. My mom never likes me coming home later than seven. I had a small date today, not with a girlfriend but a friend. I silently tiptoed up to my room. I passed through the hallway elegantly. A soft creak made me come to a halt. I watched the door beside me. It didn't open; I had an angel watching over me. I continued down the hall. When I was just inches from my door, I heard the creak again. I turned to the spot where I once stood. My sister was standing with her hands on her hips. She smiled wryly. She then reached out, balled her hands into fists then hit the door with a small amount of force. I saw the crack beneath it light up. The door immediately opened and I found myself face to face with my mother. Her long hair flowed down her back. I met her terrible gaze.
"Hi mom... I was at dinner with-"
"Selcia, I know, she called and asked me not to get mad."
"But you're going to anyway." I added quickly.
"Yes Gerrix, I am. I would be glad to let you stay out if you told me what was going on once in awhile!" She said, her voice was rising to a yell.
"Sorry mom, I really am." I said softly, examining the blue carpet under my toes. She sighed then walked back to her doorway, she stopped halfway in,
"Go to sleep, and get to school." I nodded as she shut the door. I glared at my younger sister. We were twins. I was only older by a couple of seconds. She laughed then went back into her room. I heard her say something, probably to one of her friends my mom welcomed warmly, unlike mine. I walked into my room and flipped the light on. I glared over to the clock on my night stand. It was almost midnight. I slid off my shoes, lie on my bed, and fell asleep.
"What time is it?" I ask myself, "Has my alarm gone off yet?" I remember waking up to its loud ringing sound and silencing it. My nerves crack and I jump out of bed, I glance over at my alarm clock it approves of what I feared, and I was late. I threw on some clothes. Toasted some bread, and ran out the door. I lived an easy ten-minute walk from school, but I got on a city bus anyway. It gave me more time to sleep. It took a matter of seconds to get there. The sun was rising over the distant buildings. My head hurt tremendously. My shoes squeaked as I stepped off the bus. The ground was damp. This had shown signs of an earlier rain storm. I began walking. I looked to my right. Down the street I saw a car turn the corner, it was speeding. My stomach jumped. It was headed directly towards me. Police cars trailed behind it, their sirens buzzed. I froze. The driver was just seconds away from ending my life. I felt my head hit the pavement beneath me. A heavy coat shrouded my sight in darkness. I struggled from my tangled prison. The coat flew off of me. A hooded man came into sight. Before I could make out his facial structure he jumped away and landed on the car. The man rode on top of the car, and into the distance. Some passengers on the bus got off and helped me to my feet. I told them I was fine and walked to school. This morning was very strange. I entered the front doors I saw people with doctor masks on, they were jogging outside. I figure someone blew the science lab out again. I went to the office and got a late slip. The most treacherous member in the faculty looked up from the front desk, his name was Mr. Ister
"Oh, Gerrix, we were wondering where you were" He said it like they really were, "Why are you late?" He asked. He usually docked students' grades in the back room. I was probably going to have a failing grade for my answer,
"I just slept in. I think the power went out and reset the alarm." I lied. I hoped he wouldn't realize that my mom was on time. She was a science teacher.
"That's funny; it didn't go out at my house. A little odd don't you think?" He asked it in such a way I spaced off, "Gerrix?"
"Sorry sir, I wasn't paying attention." I mumbled, "Maybe it just happened on my block." He would've bought it if...
"I live three houses away from you." He outsmarted me today, "Not to mention that your mother was on time. She came in at the same time she has every day. Does her clock run on batteries?" I really couldn't wait until he retired. I almost thought he'd die first. He was an old wrinkly man, with snow white hair. In his late seventies, his stomach looked like he ate four dozen donuts a day. He would brag about how easily he could take out a professional wrestler every day at lunch. "Here's your slip. Get to class." He handed me the little paper. I walked to my locker and got a notebook and a pen. I went to my first class, but the bell rang. Students poured into the halls. I stood at the door anyway; I was waiting for my friends that actually attended class. The two specific people walked out side by side, laughing. One was a girl, her name was Selcia, she was a senior, like me, next to her was Jerraku, he was a junior. He was always trying to make friends with me, but I never really accepted him, not until we got a class together that is. They didn't notice me and walked down the hall together. I dodged past kids and joined Selcia's free side. She noticed someone walking close to her and turned. Once she saw me she laughed,
"Where were you?" I saw Jerraku wave to me. "Well?" she asked
"Well, I slept in. Oops." I laughed, "Oh, hey Jerraku." We talked some more until we reached Selcia's next class. She gave us both hugs, and waved a goodbye, then ran into class. The halls were emptying. My class was across the hall. I said bye to Jerraku and went to class. There wouldn't be a lesson today because we had a free day. We could do anything we wanted but leave class. I asked if I could get the hall pass. I filled it out and walked out the door. I ran across the hall and stood by Selcia's door. I took out my phone and sent her a message. A minute or two passed and she walked out with the hall pass. I smiled, "Why Selcia, what are you doing out here?" She laughed and said sarcastically that she was going out for many, many reasons. We walked down the halls for awhile, talking about what colleges we were going to go to, and what we wanted to do after school. It was fun, all until the principal turned a corner we were about to. He stopped in his place,
"Do you two have hall passes?" He put on reading glasses and we handed him the papers. It took him very little time to read them over. "Very well, continue on to your destinations and get back to class." He gave us the little white slips and walked down the long corridor; we both waited for him to leave sight then laughed. We walked for another five minutes then ran into two other students. I only knew one, Jerraku. He was walking with the newest student in the school, her name was Ciria. In my opinion, she was the cutest girl at this hell hole. She was a very shy girl. Her eyes spent most of the time examining the little bits of trash on the tiled floor. Selcia and Jerraku talked about how the rest of their days would be spent. I listened and tried to speak with the timid girl,
"Hey, you don't talk much do you?" I asked, she looked up and nodded. I wanted to hear her voice, at least once, "What year are you in?" Once again she looked up. Jerraku took her chance to speak,
"She's a senior, like you." I glared at him. I probably wouldn't get another chance to ask her a question she'd have to answer for awhile. I would've had it not been for the principal walking down the hall again. Everyone froze like statues; maybe we were hoping he wouldn't see us. Nonetheless he did, and took us straight to the office. I was last to enter the office. Mr. Ister took his chance; he grabbed me by the elbow and sat me down on a chair. Our principal turned to direct my sluff-mates into the detention center,
"Sin?" He asked evil in disguise, I always thought it was funny how his name worked out He was made fun of by fellow students, Sin Ister. He explained that there was enough work for me to do out front. The principal nodded and joined the three I was caught with Mr. Ister took me out into the front hall. He asked me what I thought I was doing in the halls during class. I told him that I was simply conversing with some students I hardly knew, I thought it would make the consequences less threatening. He laughed and handed me a bucket and a rag.
"I think I know which room to have you clean." He chuckled and bumped into me. A little water poured out of the large gray bucket, "After you clean this of course." I felt like a slave while cleaning the puddle of water. I set up signs that would warn people of the wet floor. We continued down various long halls, stopping occasionally to pick gum out of carpets or wiping down dirty windows. We had almost circled the school twice when he asked me to scrub a certain locker. It was Neville Koi's. He was the richest teen to attend Shadow Ridge High in twenty-four years.
"Why do I have to clean this one?" I asked, knowing who owned this specific locker.
"This little rich boy asks for hourly attention." He was turning red. It rose a little suspicion. I cleaned it well then we continued walking. I knew how sinister he could be. I also knew where our final destination was located. I would probably be punished after school for this one. We stopped at the end of Curriculum Hall, we stood outside a door that had a black nameplate above the door, it read; Mrs. Thurston - Science Lab. He opened the door for me. This was a very kind gesture for him. I walked in an he punched me in between the shoulder blades, of course. My mom was standing behind a long counter with a lot of vials on it. I caught her glare. It asked me a simple question, What now? Every time something bad happened my mother made me feel like a failure. Mr. Ister walked by my side, "Hey, Mrs. Thurston, we found someone scurrying around in the halls with his friends. Do you have anything he can clean in here?" He chuckled. I was surprised his hoarse roaring voice didn't shatter the tiny vials. My mom sighed,
"Yes, I'm sorry Sin; I'll have him work hard." She had me come wipe the counters off. I stood behind the counter and pulled the rage out,
"Stop!" yelled Mr. Ister, "Is there anything harmful in this experiment that could be triggered by a certain chemical?" My mom looked puzzled at the certain outburst in question. Everyone in the staff knew that Sin Ister wasn't the smartest guy on the planet. He was sweating. It was like he was hiding some important information regarding the water.
"Not likely Sin. There's only one chemical on this planet that could possibly cause this experiment on the common cold to mutate into a possibly stronger virus. This study hasn't been proven yet. I'm honestly not sure. I'll be sure to tell you how it all goes. Goodbye Mr. Ister." She waved and pushed a button under the counter. It shut the door in front of Sin. It had been installed incase of a break in. I dunked the dirty rag into the bucket and splashed it all over the counter. I scrubbed the surface with no thought added. My mom continued on with her demonstration. I noticed that my younger sister had gotten into the advanced class. She was a sophomore. I was thinking hard about why he asked that question. It was bugging me. It took a few minutes to clean the counter. I wasn't equipped with a dry rag so I couldn't dry the surface off. I sat down in a chair next to my moms desk. Today hasn't been a real good day. My mind drifted off to the hall. I hungered so badly to hear her voice, just once. I was spacing off all day, By seventh period I had thought so much about her I began to think I was either crazy about her or just, well, crazy. I watched the deteriorating counter - Wait! It was rotting. My mom was giving her final demonstration. She emptied a vial onto a microscope strip; she looked through it and described its properties. The vial on the counter cracked. I jumped up,
"Mom, grab that glass, there's something on the counter!" She looked up and shot me a glare. She was done with my little interruptions. She excused me from the class. "No! Mom, pick it up!" I was walking towards the door while saying it, she apologized to her class and pressed the button. The button that kept me safe, which kept me alive. I think back on the day. Had I just gotten her to pick up that tiny via, she would be alive. My classmates would be alive, and the world's population would be more than a mere 9 percent than what it once was.