I wasn't alone anymore.

Because I found him.

I found Jae.

Chapter 10

For the next 2 days, I didn't go to school because I had to stay at the hospital. I had to get fully recovered from the injury that I got during the night of the semi-formal at my school. The night that I discovered my second member of the flock, Jae. I told Jae that it would be better if he didn't go back to school until I recovered, just in case another incident involving Erasers occur. He obviously refused, so we argued a bit about that, but at the end, I won and he stayed at the hospital with me. Although, I basically threatened him using, "oh, I got hurt because of you. My mother works, my sister has to go to school, and I need a company," trying to make him guilty, which in this case worked perfectly because he stayed.

Jae kept me company, even though I slept most of the time. At one point, he told me that he didn't know how to explain what had happened on the night of the semi-formal to his parents, so he used my sister, Lacie's made-up story to explain it to his parents. Apparently, they didn't question him more about it, which I found surprising.

So basically my schedule during the past 2 days was: In the mornings, I spent my time sleeping in, eating, resting, and talking to Jae who visited me. In the afternoons, my mom and sister visited me so I spent time with them. But at night, I would sneak out of the hospital, meet Jae, and we spent hours flying and discovering our powers; which I do have to say, we are definitely getting better at flying. During our little flying trips, Jae and I caught up on things. We talked about basic stuff in life. The nicest part about the flying trip with Jae is that I don't feel awkward with Jae anymore. It was like the old days again. We also tried to talk about the possible members of the flock, but we obviously had no idea. Overall, I had a good time.

After the 2 days, I was fully recovered. I could move freely like before. The doctor was shocked by the speed of my recovery, even though my injuries weren't that major by the time I arrived at the hospital in the beginning. The doctor didn't know how I recovered so quickly, but I did. It was because I wasn't a normal human. After my final check-up, I went back home with my mom and sister.

On the next day, I went back to school and my life was back on track. Since I was only gone for a few days, no one asked me why I was gone except for my close friends; Emelia and Claire. I had to tell them I wasn't feeling well, and they had to believe me. Jae and I still met every night to practice flying. I think we both discovered that flying was the only thing that took our minds off everything else that was happening in our lives.

After another few days, all the seniors at Arizona S.S. went on a field trip. The field trip was to let the seniors get their minds off the stress they were experiencing while trying to make post-secondary education choices by having a day for themselves to explore a small town. First, we got on the school buses to get to a small town, which was located just outside the city we were living in. The city we lived in was the biggest city in Arizona; Phoenix. When we arrived at the entrance of the small town, we got exited the bus. The town was beautiful. It was located right near a huge, beautiful mountain forest. It was very different from a city where everyone and everything are loud and busy. The town was quiet, yet warm and welcoming. The senior students were divided into groups with tourists who explained the history of the town and the area. Everyone then received free time to explore the town and the mountain forest, but were instructed not to go past a certain point. Majority of the students decided to first grab lunch in the town, but there were some student who decided to explore the mountain forest first; including myself. Claire, Emelia, and I, along with some other 15-20 students, began exploring the forest.

"This place is so beautiful and so peaceful", said Emelia.

"It is, but it's kind of way too quiet for my taste," said Claire, who seemed unsatisfied.

"I don't mind the quiet and peacefulness, but it is kind of weird. Didn't the tourist say this town is very well known? But look around. There's no one else in this mountain forest except the people from our school." I replied.

Claire and Emelia both agreed with me by nodding their heads.

I expected this town to be full of visitors and hikers, but there seemed to be no one around except for the town's people.

Eventually, we reached the "Do not enter" signs that the teachers placed for the students to not get lost. From that point, we could see the whole town below. It was absolutely beautiful. Emelia, Claire, and I took a bunch of pictures together, then we just enjoyed the view until the two of them decided to go to the water fountain nearby, and I decided to stay a bit longer to enjoy the view. Looking down from above made me feel so relaxed and peaceful. It was then I realized that it was a great idea to come here as our field trip. Everything was going smoothly until Claire and Emelia ran towards me with a news.

"Sherra, did you hear? Someone went missing." said Emelia with a worried expression and tone.

"We just heard the teachers talking when we went to get water. They said his friends didn't notice him gone till now. His friends said he didn't feel well while he was hiking up the mountain, so he told them he was going to the bathroom in the town, but he never came back. They were supposed to meet in the mountain forest in 20 minutes, but he never showed up. Now he's nowhere to be found." said Claire in a rush.

This already sounded really bad. But lately, all the bad things in this world seemed to be happening to me or the people around me, so I got more worried thinking it could be Jae.

"Okay, so who is it? Is it someone you guys know? Because you both look really worried." I asked impatiently.

Claire and Emelia then exchanged a look, and replied.

"We know of him, but barely know him. But we do know that you know him, which is why we came to tell you about it. Because it's Elijah," answered Claire.

"What?" I whispered quietly. Then I sighed out of the realization of understanding what was happening. I wasn't stupid. I was right about bad things happening to people around me. There was no way Elijah's disappearance was a coincidence. On the back of my head, I was putting the puzzles together and realized that it was the scientist ; he did this.

Claire and Emeila tried to make me stay calm, but I couldn't. Remembering all the things that the scientist and the Erasers did to teach me and Jae of our power, I couldn't stay calm. I couldn't watch another person get hurt. Without saying another word, I just searched for Jae. Thankfully, Jae wasn't too far off. He was in a crowd of people who just began hiking up the mountain forest. He seemed to be in a crowd of his friends and some girls, but that wasn't going to stop me from approaching. Without hesitation, I approached the crowd and grabbed Jae's arm.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I need to talk to you," I said. Then without waiting for a reply, I dragged Jae out of the crowd.

"What's wrong?" He asked immediately with a worried expression.

"Where's your best friend?" I asked with a bitter tone. I

"Which one?" Jae asked without hesitation.

"Elijah." I answered immediately.

"He said he was going to the forest first. Why?" Jae asked with a confused tone.

"He's missing. And from everything that's been happening to us lately, I really don't think this is a coincidence." replied.

"It's not a coincidence." Jae reassured me.

"We have to find him," I stated. "I was thinking, where would be a good spot for an Eraser to not catch the public's eyes, yet close enough for us to reach..."

"The forest," Jae responded, which was exactly I was thinking of.

From there, Jae and I began hiking up the mountain forest as fast as we could until we reached the "Do not cross" signs that was placed by the teachers.

"You ready?" Jae asked.

"Yeah." I responded.

We jumped over the signs and ran up as fast as we could so no one would notice us. Then when we were far enough from everyone else, we unfolded our wings and flew up, and started our way up the mountain.

When we reached the top of the mountain, there was no one to be found. We decided to search around the mountain from above, but Elijah could not be seen.

Then, on the opposite side of the mountain from where the rest of the students were, I saw a body laid on the ground. At first, I wasn't sure if it was a person or not nor if the person was alive or not so I decided to approach it.

"Jae," I called.

Jae was a bit far away from where I was, but he could hear me because of our developed senses; including hearing.

When Jae arrived at where I was, I pointed at the figure to direct him to the person. Then we both flew down towards the figure.

I was right, it was Elijah. I immediately ran to him and checked his pulse.

It was beating.

He wasn't dead.