Author's Note: Please note that this chapter has been partially rewritten as of October 9th, 2014.

Dude, just go back to sleep… go back to sleep…

Nate gazed up at the dark ceiling suspended over him, his back resting upon the practically concrete-like futon in his sister's room. Most of his night consisted of on-and-off sleeping due to the everlasting image he witnessed outside the window several hours ago.

Ugh, I need to get at least one more hour of sleep…

The brunette took a quick glance over at Claire's bed. Of course, she was soundly asleep.

Must be nice to get a full night's of sleep…

He then peered towards the nightstand where a red LED-illuminated alarm clock rested.

"Dude, 5:00 already?!" Nate said softly, but still rather harshly. He then turned his head towards the window. The sky was still as black as night, causing the brunette to pout with much disgust. "Jeez, I must've only had like what? Three hours of sleep from all the tossing and turning? Stupid Quick Man…"

Deciding it was futile returning back to sleep, Nate silently got up from the futon. Heading out the bedroom door, he straightened out his clothes that he still wore from yesterday. He slowly opened it before stepping out into the dimly lit hallway. As he closed door behind him in the same manner, his exhausted hazelnut eyes captured a beam of fluorescent white down the hall, evidently coming from the kitchen.

"Mom must be up already," Nate meandered towards the light down the hall until he reached the kitchen, where he spotted his mom dressed in her nurse's scrubs for work.

"Good morning, sweetie!" Francesca smiled like a ray of sunshine to her still sleepy and bed-headed son.

"Mornin' mom," Nate replied as he let out a big yawn, taking a seat on a nearby stool at the breakfast bar.

"Why are you so early?" Nate's mother inquired to her son as she continued to pack up her lunch.

Once again, the brunette on the stool unleashed a huge yawn as he stretched his arms into the air. "I couldn't sleep, really…" Nate rubbed his eyes as he tried to wake himself up. "Dad left for work already?"

"He sure did, maybe fifteen minutes ago. You know your dad and getting to work early," Francesca finished packing up her lunch before having a quick gaze at the Microwave clock. "It's only 5:10 and I have to leave around 5:40. Do you want me to make you some pancakes, fette biscottate, and caffè e latte?"

Nate immediately grinned and licked his lips as he heard those wonderful words stream through his ears. "Yuuummmm, thanks mom!"

Francesca smiled and immediately got to work as she began to prepare breakfast for Nate (and as well for Claire, whenever she got out of bed). While she was cooking, she decided to continue to converse with her son, whom was about to fall asleep onto the granite counter of the breakfast bar. "Why the lack of sleep, son?"

"Well, I already told you that it was so hard for me to sleep last night," the teenager drearily replied back.

"And why was that?"

"Because of Qu—" Nate abruptly stopped his response, coming to the realization of what he was going to say.

Do I really wanna tell mom about Quick Man? I mean, I highly doubt she'll believe me and will probably think I'm crazy… not that she already thinks I'm crazy… But then again, she could believe me and get the LAPD on this case… but then I'll feel stupid if that Quick Man never shows up and then they'll think I'm just crying wolf… or something like that…

"What was that, Nate?" Francesca began to fill the plate with her son's breakfast items.

"Oh, I said because… because…" Nate began to look around the area to help him come up with an excuse.

Aha… my Trig book…

"Because there's this big Trig test coming up before winter break and I can't get my mind off of it."

Bravo Nate! What a save. Bravo…

"Oh Nate…" Francesca brought over the filled plate along with the caffè e latte. Nate happily began to woof it down his mouth. "All your father and I ask for is that you do your best and to study hard. No need to have a nervous breakdown over that."

Heh, 'study'… right…

Nate sighed after he swallowed a helping hand of pancakes. "I guess you're right…"

Although that's not really the only thing to have a nervous breakdown with since you have a thing named Quick Man following you.

After Francesca finished washing all of the dishes, she grabbed her lunch bag and purse before heading towards Nate.

"Okay, bye sweetie, I'm off to work," she said as she placed a quick kiss on Nate's cheek.

"Bye mom," Nate replied back.

"And your sister is taking you to school too, right?"

"Yeah, but mom…" Nate hollered out before Francesca could twist the knob on the front door.

"What is it?"

"How come Claire always has to take me to school? I mean, I already have my driver's license, so why can't I get a car of my own?"

Francesca let out a small sigh, knowing that she had already been through this conversation more than once. "Nate, we can't just give you a brand new car on the spot."

"But why not?" a whiny tone of voice began to emit from the brunette. "It's not like you guys have to buy me a new Acura or Lexus or Infiniti or some other expensive luxury car like what you guys bought for Claire…" Nate referred to the fully loaded white Lexus GS 460 that his parents got for Claire a couple years back. "Besides, my birthday is coming up in a few days, you know."

"Oh, Nate… Nate, Nate, Nate…" Francesca nodded her head side to side as she let out a chuckle. "You're only going to turn seventeen, and don't you worry, we have a nice surprise in store for you son… just don't expect it to deal with a car though…"

"Whatever…" Nate returned to finishing up his breakfast.

"Okay, I'll be back tonight then. Bye honey…" Francesca waved off as she opened and closed the front door.

Nate just finished his breakfast as he heard his mom's Nissan Rogue start up and pull out from the driveway. He proceeded to take his empty plate to the sink before deciding on what to do next.

"Hmmm, it's almost 6:00…" Nate gazed over at the grandfather clock in the family room. "I probably should just get ready for school now." He continued to walk down the hallway towards his room. However, he halted into place just as he was about to twist the doorknob.

Wait up… I totally forgot the reason on why I didn't sleep in there last night…

The Figueroa took in a deep breath as he said the familiar name out loud.

"Quick Man…"

Letting the grip go from the knob, Nate let his arms drop down to his sides. Now just standing aimlessly in the hallway, he evaluated the clothing that he currently had on.

I can't go to school looking like this.

His hazelnut eyes drilled through the door of his room, as if he had x-ray vision capabilities (which would've been totally sweet, if Nate said so himself).

Well, I just can't keep out of my room forever… nor can I just keep asking Claire to sleep in her room every freakin' night… I'll have to go in there sometime later… and face my fears…

Nate exasperatedly sighed as he gripped on the door handle once again.

Okay… here I go!

And with that, Nate turned the knob and hurriedly opened the door hard, letting it slam against the wall. Thankfully for him, the morning sun had just risen up in the sky and a fair amount of light shone into the room as he gazed towards the window. However, there was a one problem…

"The window is closed…" he murmured as his eyes inspected the room. Overall, it was pretty much left in the same and messy condition as the day before, including the broken floor lamp still on the floor, courtesy of a particular red, black, and yellow cladded robot.

Okay, I should step in very cautiously…

Nate followed through with his musing. He walked inside little by little until his whole frame was within the room's limits. He once again surveyed the area just to be sure he wouldn't be subjected to another one of Quick Man's traps.

"Looks clear to me, but…" Nate's vision became fixated on the door that led into the walk-in closet where his clothes awaited. "Oh dude, please don't be in there… just don't be in there…" the brunette kept repeating the same words, his heart racing while perspiration began to form on his forehead.

Dude, why does it have be so dramatic just get some clothes from my closet?

Once again, the brunette had the task to open yet another mystery door that could be full of surprises, including the sighting of Quick Man.

"Here we go…" Nate quickly opened the door, posing into some sort of martial arts stance in the process.

"Hi-yah!" he cried out, ready to kick some ass. Other than the numerous shirts hanging on the racks and a dresser in the back end of the closet, there was nothing to fight against.

"Oh, thank God…" Nate sighed in relief as he began to gather his clothes, a pair of boxers, and socks for the day. Right after, he grabbed his bath towel and headed out of the room. He decided to leave the door of his room open so that he wouldn't have to be greeted by a surprise behind the door.

"Maybe this day will be sweet after all…" Nate smiled before stepping into the bathroom next to his room.

However, Nate failed to notice the piece of paper that rested on his desk that he passed by.

"Nate – Remember this: I will be following you at all times. – Quick Man"

Nate slowly stepped out of Claire's ever-so luxurious Lexus as she dropped him in front of Reseda High School on Kittridge Street. Grabbing the longboard from the trunk, since his skateboard from yesterday was still missing due to a run in with a particular robot, he quickly returned back to close the passenger door of the car.

"Loser, you're walking home today, right?" Claire said as she adjusted the volume of her radio.

"Yeah, yeah..." Nate said as he adjusted the backpack he current was carrying on his backside.

"You better fool, because I'm not gonna be home this afternoon…" Claire put the car into drive as she hurriedly sped off without saying bye... as usual.

"Whatever…" Nate scoffed as he placed the red Beats Audio headphones over his ears, music beginning to blare thanks to his iPod classic. He then gazed around at the environment that he was now engulfed in.

Here I am… the next day at school…

Students were gathered all over the front entrance courtyard of the school. Many were either just engaging in conversation with their friends, waiting for other friends to arrive, skateboarding on benches, gossiping, doing each other's hair and make-up, or just chillin'. Yup, a sign of the hustle and bustle of school life is indeed alive in the morning.

"Dude, Nate!" Nate turned around to see a tall, skinny, fair skinned, spiky and dirty blond-haired teenager, walking towards him. The blond sported on a charcoal short-sleeved button down American Apparel shirt, navy blues skinny jeans, and a pair of black low-cut Chucks.

"Cameron! Sup brah?" Nate slapped hands with his best friend, Cameron De La Loire, completing the greeting with a bro hug.

"Dude, I tried calling you all day yesterday. The hell happened, bro?" Cameron replied as he tried to eat a croissant (yeah, talk about a typical French dude) that he apparently bought on the way to school.

Holy crap, I forgot about my phone!

Nate placed his longboard on the ground as he promptly took off his backpack and opened the lower compartment. Digging inside all of the writing utensils and coloring pencils and papers, he finally pulled out his space gray iPhone 6 plus.

"Surprised that you didn't bend your phone leaving it in there," Cameron laughed.

"Shut up..." Nate rolled his eyes as he woke up the screen on his phone, confirming that indeed his best friend had been trying to call him multiple times yesterday.

"Jeez, ten missed calls from you…" the brunette blandly articulated. "So, what was up, brah?"

"Well I wanted to see if—"

"Hey guys! What's going on?" a feminine voice interrupted the two boys' conversation as they turned around.

"Hey Judy!" Nate greeted the slightly shorter Asian girl in front of them who sported on a tight yellow Roxy shirt, a denim skirt, and some white flip-flops. It was none other than Nate and Cameron's other best friend, Judy Wu.

"Yeah, 'sup Wu…" Cameron flatly uttered before continuing. "Anyways… like I said, yesterday I was wondering if you wanted to go to this new and hip boba café that just opened up yesterday in North Hollywood."

"Yeah, Cameron and I wanted to go, but we didn't know where you were yesterday and didn't want to ditch you or anything like that," Judy added while scrolling through Instagram on her gold-cladded iPhone 6 plus.

"Wait a minute," Nate held up his hands in a stop everything or hold the phones sort of notion. "Just because this place is all the way in the east Valley in trendy-ass NoHo, it's… hip?" he said as he quoted the word hip with his fingers.

"Damn right, bro," Cameron pulled out his own silver-coated iPhone 6 out of his front pocket, tapping the screen several times before showing Nate an electronic copy of the colorful flyer of the new boba café grand opening.

"Hmmm, more like #HowOriginal…" Nate sardonically replied with a smug smile. "Boba NoHo: 5158 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood. Free side order with the display of this flyer."

"Yeah, and they have open mic nights and karaoke and other fun stuff," Cameron seemed really desperate just to go out someplace this week. "So let's all go out early tonight. #GoodTimes."

Nate sighed, knowing it's already two to one against him. "Yeah, okay… I'm down to go. Got no plans tonight anyways… However, there's one problem…"

"What's that?" Judy questioned.

RIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGGG

"How are we supposed to get to NoHo?" Nate stated as the three of them began to walk to their first period class… the ever-dreaded Honors Trigonometry. "I have my license but don't have a car, Cameron still only has his learner's permit, and Judy can't drive until she's eighteen… at least from what you told us, Judes."

"Nah, it's still true…" Judy replied. "You know my parents…"

"We can take the Orange Line that Metro runs," Cameron suggested. "We'll just hop on the bus at the Reseda Station and the line ends in NoHo by Lankershim and Magnolia."

Nate seemed hesitant, as he hardly ever used public transportation since he was typically driven everywhere or just walked or boarded himself. But since his parents wouldn't be home until late and doesn't have a clue on when Claire would be back home… well… "Okay, I guess we'll take the Orange Line."

"Sweet!" Cameron seemed happy. "And let's wear something trendy, yeah?"

"Why? Because NoHo is the trendy part of the Valley?" Judy snickered.

"Well yeah, I mean it's not like Melrose, but hey, it's close…" Cameron stated as they finally reached their class, taking their usual seats side-by-side of each other so that it would be easier for them to pass notes or whisper in class.

"I guess…" Nate replied as he pulled out his notebook and homework. "Looks like NoHo tonight then."

"Sweet! #Awesomeness!" Cameron replied happily as he pulled out his own notebook and homework.

"Dude, stop talking like an Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter posting with the hashtags," Nate laughed as Judy joined in.

"Don't hate," the blond stuck out his tongue briefly. "Uh Nate? Judy? Can I see your trig homework, pllleeeaaassseee?"

"Okay class, let's go over last night's homework…" Sarah Hooper, the Honors Trig teacher, said as she pulled out the teacher's guide of the textbook, complete with answers.

Dude, I freakin' hate this part of the class! She always calls on me with the problems I didn't do, let alone make me look like a dumbass in front of the class.

Nate gazed down at his scribbled assignment that he did the night before. Not only were some of the problems blank, but also a particular name was constantly etched on the margins of the paper.

Dude, why did I write "Quick Man" so many times? Ugh, I don't wanna be in here…

"Okay, now for question number one—"

"Uh… Miss Hooper?" Nate raised his hand as he tried to sport on a flushed facial expression.

"Yes, Mr. Figueroa?"

"Can I go to the bathroom?"

Miss Hooper looked at her student with much concern. "Oh dear, Nate. Are you feeling okay?"

"Sort of… but would it be okay if I could just go to the bathroom really fast?" Nate tried to keep his I'm so sick look up.

"Yeah, go on ahead Nate," Miss Hooper gave the okay to go. "Cameron, why don't you go with him as well to make sure he's okay."

"Sure thing, Miss H…" Cameron replied as he and Nate walked out of the class with the hall pass board, earning a scowl from Judy. As soon as they were far away from the class, the two boys broke out in a fit of laughter, but toned it down due to the fear of other teachers hearing them.

"Dude, how many times is she gonna fall for that, brah?" Nate snickered as he rested an arm on Cameron's shoulder.

"I don't know, but man, I'm so glad she always picks me to go with you," the blond replied back. "I mean, I had nothing on my homework…"

The pair decided to try to waste as much time as possible, or at least wait until the oral grading part of the class was complete. When Cameron said that he really had to use the restroom, the two decided to go to the men's restroom that was clear cut across campus near the P.E. area, in a very casual pace of course. Other than being far away from their Trig class, the restroom was by far the cleanest one on campus next to the staff's.

"I'll wait for you out here," Nate said as he leaned against the brick wall next to the water fountain.

"Okay. I'll try not to take forever and a day," Cameron uttered as he walked into the facility.

While waiting for his friend, Nate once again yawned like crazy. Indeed the effect of little sleep was now starting to creep into his system.

"Oh my God… I'm… so… tired…" and with that, Nate briefly fell asleep against the wall.

ZOOM

The Figueroa immediately opened his eyes as a very strange, yet oddly familiar zooming noise came into his ears.

"Who or what the hell was that?" he started to inspect his surroundings. Aside from the piece of paper that still lay on the asphalt, there was not another human being site.

"Must be my imagi—"

TAP

TAP

Nate immediately turned to his left, hoping to find that Cameron was the one trying to scare him.

"Uh… Cameron…?" Nate called out, his voice echoing through the empty area. "Cameron?"

TAP

TAP

Nate turned to his right. Again, not a single soul in sight.

"Dude, I must be trippin' from no sleep…" Nate chortled, reassuring himself it was all his imagination.

"Naaaatttteeee…" said boy jumped at the sudden, yet sinister whisper of his name. His eyes widened, desperately looking around for anybody in site.

"Dude, Cameron… this ain't funny anymore, brah!"

"Naaaaaaaattttttttteeeeeee…" the whisper became stronger and eerier.

Seeing that nobody was within his immediate vicinity and Cameron still in the restroom, Nate decided there was only one thing to do… BOOK IT!

"Uh, see ya!" as Nate began to flee the area, he picked up a familiar quote in his hearing.

"Remember me, Nate?"

And with that, said teen instantly froze into place. A horrid look of fear drenched over his face as he instantly recognized the quote from the night before. "Oh Christ… please don't let it be…"

TAP

TAP

Nate cringed as he felt the strong yet metallic-like tap on his right shoulder. Like the idiot he was, he decided to turn around.

"Please don't let it be him… please don't let it be him… please don't let it—"

"Hiiiiii Nate…" a very familiar black, red, and yellow cladded android greeted the frightened Figueroa.

"Shit… it's him…"

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