Disclaimer: events, concepts, and characters throughout The New Prophecy are subject to my own interpretation. This is not only a revamp of Metahuman: Strangers Days, but also The New Prophecy as well.
「Volume 1: Falling On Black Days」
Chapter 1: Snuffed Out
His hand was aching, red and tender from rubbing against paper for the past hour and a half. But it would soon be over. All he had to do was this one last equation. He tapped his pen against his lip, glancing up at the clock on the wall as he did so. He had fifteen minutes before the exam ended. That was plenty of time to sit and stare at his question paper, silently hoping for the answer to suddenly pop into his mind.
Ethan absolutely hated physics. Mr. Sharpe made it so fun in Year Eight and Nine even if he found it difficult. But Mrs. McGuire? Sucked the fun right out of it. He would not be sitting it again next year, he was sure of that.
The boy forced himself to pay attention to the question at hand. Even if he was bad at the subject, he had answered every question in the paper thus far. But electricity was his weakest unit in the subject, so of course it would be the final question of the exam.
He looked at the diagram again. It was a bunch of resistors in a series arrangement, their values being displayed just above them. There was a voltage supply, also with its value displayed. They even gave him the current flowing through it.
Except two of the resistors were missing their values.
Yet he was somehow supposed to find out the total resistance of the circuit?
Ethan was snapped out of his daydream by the sound of creaking floorboards, an invigilator walking by him. He hated when they did that. It made him painfully aware that their eyes were on him. Then the invigilator spoke, "ten minutes remaining."
His voice echoed throughout the gymnasium and Ethan's skull. Stuff it, he thought, scribbling down what he thought he was supposed to do and gave the two resistors random values in order to find the total resistance. When he was done, he stood up. His chair groaned as its legs dragged across the wooden floor. The sound seeemed to be amplified within the silent gymnasium.
It made Ethan cringe as he took a quick glance around the hall. Was anyone looking at him because of that? He hoped not.
Wordlessly, he packed his things into his bag. Before moving, he surveyed the room. It was uncomfortable how quiet it was. Though, of course, that was due to exam conditions. If there was a peep out of you then you were disqualified. The thick silence was also partly due to the fact that most of the desks were unoccupied. Ethan was one of the last few people to finish up.
He made sure he wrote the necessary details on his paper before he left; his name, school, desk number, and student number. Satisfied, he walked over to the invigilator -an older woman- waiting by the rest of the papers and handed it over to her.
"Thank you." she whispered to him, as not to distract the remaining people taking the exam.
Wordlessly, the boy offered a polite smile. Before Ethan left, he remembered to lift his phone from the basket, a Nokia flip-phone, and put it in his trouser pocket. He allowed relief to wash over him as he exited the gymnasium and into the outside world, feeling the warm glow of the summer sun. It was time to unwind.
Normally, the weather was gloomy and grey. So it was a nice change to walk into the sunshine. Even with his school uniform on, it wasn't too warm. He was silently thankful about that, not having to worry about sweating and being paranoid about smelling.
Then he saw them, his friends; Fraser, Mark, and Cameron. They were leaning against the metal railing separating the pavement from the road, chatting to one another.
All three of them were around a similar height, of six feet. Fraser and Cameron both shared a similar build, the former leaning towards the slimmer end of the spectrum. Mark was on the burlier side.
As for Ethan, he couldn't have contrasted more if he tried. Skinny, freckled, with soft features, and standing at 5'6, he was clearly the epitome of masculinity.
"Alright troops." He ran up to them.
The three turned to him. "Alright Ethan, how'd you find that?" Fraser asked.
He shrugged trying to downplay how difficult he really found the exam. "It was fine I guess. Bloody hate physics, though." He huffed, fidgeting with his blonde hair.
"We know, you've moaned the whole year about it." Mark chimed in.
"Yeah, we've both got Mrs. McGuire though." Cameron added.
"Oh yeah, I had her in Sixth and Seventh Year and she was shite." Confirmed Fraser.
"Hey what'd you get for that last question, Fraser?" Cameron inquired.
"I put down four thousand ohms, I think."
Ethan's heart sank. He didn't get anything close to that. "Oh. . .I got fifteen hundred."
All three of his friends looked at him like he was an idiot. To be honest, he would feel like one even without the looks. Thinking back on the values given for the resistors, voltage, and current, it was easy to see the total resistance would be higher than the answer he had given.
Well, hopefully he would still get follow-through marks for the equation.
"I-I'm not good at physics." He added in a weak attempt to excuse himself.
"We know." Replied Mark.
"Shush you." Ethan muttered as both Cameron and Fraser chuckled. Unanimously and without a word, they began walking. They passed through the school gates soon after, free from the clutches of education once again. "It's definitely a fail, though. There's no way I passed that."
"You'll be fine!" responded Fraser. "Stop stressing, Ethan."
"Did you hear Chloe's leaving?" Mark inquired.
Cameron suddenly turned to him with a sparkle in his eyes. "She is?" He asked.
Thank God, Ethan thought, stuffing his maroon blazer into his backpack as they passed the threshold of the school gates. The boy turned around, taking one last look at the pristinely modern architecture of his school. Finally, he was free.
"Yeah, she's leaving after exams." Responded Fraser. "Thank Christ too, it's impossible to actually concentrate with her arguing with fucking every single teacher."
"Remember she called Mr. Anderson a nonce?" chimed in Mark.
Cameron laughed. "She got into so much shit for that."
"Right enough." Ethan added.
"Yeah," agreed Fraser. "But you know what she's like. You could eat a kit-kat wrong and you're a nonce."
Mark added. "To be fair, if you're not eating a kit-kat one stick at a time you're probably a bad man."
The four shared a laugh. Briefly, Ethan wondered what the summer - and then the new school year - would bring him. His braces would be coming out in a month's time, which he was looking forward to. Without thinking, he ran his tongue over them. No longer would he have to pick out gunk from them or ruin toothbrushes. There was already plenty that had gone in the bin.
Ethan allowed his lips to curl into small smile. He finally had free time again, too. There was no need to stress about exams anymore, not until his results came in anyways, or study for hours upon hours a day. But until then, he was determined to make the most of the summer. Even now, with the warm of the sun against his skin, he couldn't wait to get started.
"Do any of you want to go out and do something?" He suddenly asked, turning to his friends as they walked. "Or do you already have plans."
His friends look at each other. "Sure. What's the plan?" Fraser asked.
Ethan faltered for a second, before shrugging his shoulders with a grin on his face. "I dunno, just go and mess about I guess."
"I don't want to carry my bag around, though." Complained Mark. His bag, its straps falling down his arms, idly swung as they walked. Ethan couldn't blame him though, he could feel the sweat pooling on his back underneath his bag as they walked. It made him shiver with disgust.
"Yeah, sure. I don't want to carry mines, either." He admitted. "I want to get changed, too. Do you guys want to meet up at the park in, like, an hour's time?"
There was nods of agreements and group began to depart. As Ethan was about to place one foot onto the road, he heard Cameron call out to him.
"Watch!"
Quickly, Ethan jumped back onto the pavement as a car whizzed by. His heart lept into his throat. Just as quickly as the sudden shot of fright, relief washed over and soothed him. That was a close one. "Jesus Christ, Ethan, do you want to watch where you're going?!" Cameron snapped.
"I didn't get ran over, at least." Ethan weakly defended himself.
"Yeah, last time you got ran over by a bus!"
He grimaced at the memory. It was difficult to describe the sensation he felt when a cold wall of steel slammed right into his side going thirty miles per hour. The only good thing to come out of that incident was the time taken off of school and a free bus pass. Though, the former bit him in the backside when he had to catch up with schoolwork he had missed.
Then something occurred to him.
"You know, it's mental how I only got bruises from that. Didn't even break a bone or anything." Mused Ethan.
Cameron's features twisted in confusion. "That's all? But you were off for ages!"
"I milked it, to be honest."
"Fair enough. I would as well if I was ran over by a bus," he chuckled. "Didn't the company send you a lifetime pass or something like that?"
"Yeah, like 'we're awfully sorry we hit you, here's a free pass for life. Please don't sue us,'" Ethan responded. "At least, I think that's why they did it."
Cameron laughed. "That's mint, though."
"I suppose so. Definitely makes getting to school easier - and going to HMV to pick up that new Gorillaz album."
"Oh yeah! When does Demon Days come out again?"
"The twenty third, I think?"
"We should definitely do, like, a listening party or something."
"Definitely. See you later, then."
With that, they departed. Ethan crossed the road, looking both ways as he did this time. The quickest way home for him was through the park. It was a large, flat expanse of grass and trees with paths snaking through it. There was playground as well, with colourful plastic slides and climbing frames.
He strolled through the park, his bag hanging off one of his shoulders. He saw a couple of primary school kids playing in the grass as he walked, chasing one another with water guns. Their laughter and delighted squeals filled the air.
Suddenly, the boy found himself stumbling as he bumped into someone. As Ethan regained his footing, he felt worry gnaw at him. He hoped that, whoever it was, wasn't about to cuss him out or get aggressive. It was just an accident of course - but not everyone cared about that.
"Sorry! You okay there?" The stranger asked.
While relief washed over him, so did surprise. The first thing Ethan immediately noticed was the stranger's accent. It was American, though he wasn't sure where from. The owner of the voice was a man, towering over him, with black hair and green eyes. The boy immediately felt intimidated. The man looked like he could snap him like a brittle twig.
"Um, yes. I-I'm fine, thanks." Ethan responded sheepishly. His tension seemed to dissipate at the stranger's friendly demeanour. "Are you on holiday?" There was a slight hint of suspicion in his voice. What was this guy doing near a high school?
The stranger's brow furrowed in confusion. "Holiday? Oh, you mean vacation! Yeah, I'm visiting family. Could you tell me where the nearest train station is? I gotta get to London."
Ethan was struck with confusion, wondering why this man was in Canterbury if he had family in London. He felt another pang of worry, too, knowing that his features would have shown how he was feeling. Hopefully he wouldn't get confrontation. "How come you're in Canterbury then?" He asked. "I-I-If you don't mind me asking." Ethan added quickly.
"I'm just sightseeing, y'know?"
"Ah, okay then. For the train station you want to get on that street there," he started, pointing at the street he had once been on. "Keep going straight, then take a left, keep going straight again and you'll eventually see the sign for it."
"Thanks, man." The stranger responded with a smile, stretching out his hand.
Ethan awkwardly took it, shaking his hand. "Yeah, um, you're welcome."
With that, the man waved him goodbye and walked off. Ethan continued on, strolling off of the pavement and onto a beaten path. He was surrounded by oak trees, towering high above him. Their leaves rustled in the summer breeze. Strewn around were empty cans, wrappers, and styrofoam containers with half-eaten food. He grimaced with disgust. Some people were just too lazy to carry things to a bin.
Yet, he took in the scenery around him. It wasn't often he got to walk down this path by himself, as he was usually surrounded by other students on their way home. It was serene and peaceful. Ethan listened as a soft breeze rustled through the leaves above. Come Autumn he should definitely hang back after school finished, just to see all the warm colours and hear the fallen leaves crunch underneath his trainers. He continued on in a day dream, blissfully unaware of his surroundings.
Until something heavy hit him in the back.
He gasped in pain, stumbling forward and almost falling as his heart quickened. His mind was racing. Was he about to get jumped? Whatever hit him felt like a brick. How many people was there? Should he try to fight them, despite the fact it could be more than one person? Should he just run instead?
His body felt hot, like he had been suddenly struck with a fever. Ethan's heart felt like was beating against his ribs. His hands felt like they were burning and the sensation was creeping throughout his entire body; his feet, his chest, his face all felt like they were melting.
This strange sensation was suddenly overridden by a new one; pain. White hot pain lit up his nerves as something tore through his body. Something like little insects eating through his flesh, his muscle, and anything else in their path.
Ethan fell to the ground, dead. A pool of crimson blood seeped out from beneath him.
...
"That's one down."
"Where's the next?"
"Paris, France. I got us two tickets to see him, I heard his band is actually pretty good, too."
