Ah... Home. What a contrast to the chaos of Paris. In this place, nothing happens. My mother was called Heather. Heather Conlon. I had a brother called Daniel, too. We didn't get along. My home life was quiet but I didn't mind that. My school life, however, was a different matter. My school life was full of people. I lived in a rather rural area, though that didn't mean we were all yokels. My school was in the North of England and I had a few friends there. Two of them were named Gabriel Michaels and Drake Wolstenholme were my best friends. I saw them every day at school. The day after I got back, I found them two talking to each other. I got back midday and they were in the dining hall. It was just them two on a table. They looked at me. More precisely, they looked at my cheek. I should have mentioned, when the second explosion had gone off, a piece of rock had sliced my cheek open. I now had a long cut there. "What the hell happened to you?" Drake asked and I sighed.
"I fell over." I offered. Neither of them knew my true occupation. They would, though. In time. They eyed me suspiciously but accepted it as the best they'd get. They went back to talking about whatever it was they were talking about. I looked about and caught a teacher looking at me, who I didn't recognise. "Who's that?" I asked.
"Mr. Roberts... Came the day after you left..." Gabriel explained quietly. I nodded, feeling a suspicious feeling rise in my stomach. The two other boys started their conversation again. I didn't really listen, looking around the hall. My phone buzzed, vibrating in my pocket. I took it out and looked at the text. 'Debrief at noon tomorrow, all sorted with school. Blunt there. M.' I groaned and looked at the other two. "I'm off tomorrow as well." I explained to them. They eyed me suspiciously.
"Why?" They asked.
"Medical debrief... Want to see if everything's still working properly." I lied easily, having done it many times before. They nodded and accepted it as the truth.
Now would be a good time to introduce a few more people more clearly. Gabriel Michaels was who I would name as my best friend. He was a tall, slim boy with delicate features and eyes of deep green. Drake Wolstenholme was a more stocky boy, with messy black hair and dull, blue eyes. There was also Nathan Hodgson, who was more Gabriel's friend than mine. He was a small, humourous boy with messy black hair and brown eyes. There was Jake Arthurs, a tall boy who had cleanly groomed black hair and grey eyes. Jake was less humourous than Nathan, though he still liked a laugh. There was Isaac Michaels, Gabriel's twin brother. Isaac was tall, with dark blonde hair and eyes like emeralds. Isaac was, again, humourous. He had an odd sense of humour, though. It usually stemmed from making light of hard situations. There was two girls I knew, as well. Eleanor Goffee and Emma Glenister, both of whom were my friends. In fact, I was often made fun of because I spent so much time with them. In truth, they were just my friends, no matter what people said. There was also Jos Harrison, Isaac's friend. We didn't speak much but he was alright. There were four more boys: Matthew Paulson, Billy Hazel, Harry Johnson and Daniel Friar. They were good friends of mine. Matthew was my oldest friend, I'd known him for a fair few years.
That's the introductions done. None of those people knew about the true nature of my life, of course. The school did but they were under strict orders not to tell anyone. Sat in that dinner hall, I was glad to be home. I knew it wouldn't be for long, but I was glad nonetheless. I did feel guilty we hadn't stopped Red Moon but I was under strict orders from both Mark and myself not to let my professional life rule my personal one. Therefore, I pushed the worry of an impending terrorist attack to the back of my mind. I decided to go and find Eleanor and Emma, as they were always fun to talk to. I found them a few minutes later, out on the grassy part of the school grounds. They were both sat on the hill, as it was a gloriously sunny day. They both looked at me in mild surprise. "What happened to you?" Emma asked. I shrugged casually.
"Eh. Fell over." I repeated. Emma shrugged and turned away, while Eleanor eyed me suspiciously. I flashed her a smile to try and ward her off. She rolled her eyes.
"How was your hospital stay?" She asked and I shrugged.
"It was a hospital stay, what do you expect?" I replied, smirking. She chuckled slightly, but there was still a glint of suspicion in her eyes. Not many people trusted me, owing to the fact I was gone fairly regularly and, when I was, the teachers didn't mention me at all, or so Drake told me.
I decided to walk around for a while. I walked inside the library and heard a conversation coming from the small room seperated from it. "You know as well as I do, Lance. One day, that Conlon kid isn't gonna come back." I blinked and pretended to look at a book on the wall. The voice was of one of my teachers, Mr. Edwards.
"I know, John. Everybody knows... One day, he's gonna put us all in danger." A voice I didn't recognise (Mr. Roberts, I expected.) replied.
"But that day's a while away." Mr. Edwards added in a brighter tone.
"I hope so... 'Cos if it comes any time soon... He'll find out the truth." Mr. Roberts replied and Mr. Edwards didn't audibly reply. I stood there, blinking and breathing heavily. The truth? My thoughts enquired, What truth?