The bright morning sun had just appeared over the horizon, bringing a new and fresh day to the town of Grant. The day is September 2nd, the first day of school for this year. If you had the ears of a fox, you could hear an alarm clock from every house in the neighborhood. His mother's bus had just picked up the first student when Robert's alarm went off. His mind was full of millions of thoughts about how his day would go; some were horrifying thoughts, while some were beautiful. As if he was slug, he got out of his bed slowly. He was a tall fifteen-year-old with jet-black hair. He made average grades last year in school and was never very popular. He never had a girlfriend; the excuse that he always used was "I never have the time or the commitment for that stuff." He was just a normal kid living in the U.S.A., until today.
As he was getting out of bed, he heard a sound as if something fell and broke outside of his door. He jumped in shock and ran to door and opened it. There to his right was a lamp that had been knocked off a table. Suddenly he heard a low meow. His cat, Tiger, walked out of Amy's room. Amy, Robert's younger sister, who was only four, was following the cat.
"What was that noise big brother?" she asked him.
"I think tiger knocked this lamp off the table," Robert replied.
"How could he have done that if he was with me when I heard it fall?" Amy replied.
"Well then I don't know." Robert said with a sigh. "I'm going down stairs to get ready for school. If you need me I'll be in the kitchen."
As Robert walked down the stairway to the kitchen, Amy went back into her room and closed the door. When he got to the bottom of the stairway, he heard a loud noise from outside, then a sound as if someone was running. He ran to the door and looked outside; there was no one around and no sign of any one.
"Oh well." He said aloud to himself as he went back inside.
When he got to the kitchen, he saw that the clock read 7:30.
"Dang it, Sam should be here any minute now." He said franticly.
With little time to waste, he quickly ate a pop tart, fixed his hair, and brushed his teeth. With the greatest speed and trying not to wake his sister, he went to his room to get his book bag. By the time he was outside waiting for Sam, it was already 7:45. Sam was sixteen and had his driver's license for 3 months now. Being best friends Sam and Robert went everywhere over the summer and did everything they could do over the short break they had from school. During the school year, they hung out with each other as much as they could, and both had similar classes. Robert walked to the side of the road wondering where his friend could be. After looking both ways he didn't see him. Then suddenly out of nowhere Sam's car sped up to the driveway. Robert jumped into the car and before he could buckle his seat belt they were going 50 miles per hour.
"It took me forever to get here with all the buses around," Sam commented. "So when do you have algebra 2? I have it third period."
"I have it third as well," Robert replied. "This will be fun, yeah. Here we come high school, our second year. I feel like this will be one of our best years in high school, how about you Sam?"
"I don't know, maybe," Sam said in a confused voice, "Sure, let's make this our best year, that ever was, that is right now, and is to come in the future!"
"That's the sprit, man" Robert said yelling at the top of his lungs,"YEAH, THIS OUR BEST SCHOOL YEAR EVER! Turn on some good music, man."
"Okay," Sam said as he turned up the music volume to 10.
When they reached school a few buses had left and some were just arriving. Sam parked his car in the back of the lot. His car wasn't very nice, but it ran just about all the time.
"Let's do it," Robert said in a deep voice.
Sam turned to look at Robert and then nodded. Both Sam and Robert then jumped out of the car, at the same time they grabbed their book bags and started for the high school. Their high school wasn't very big; it only had about 240 students and 17 teachers. As they walked into the building, Sam pushed the left side doors open and Robert pushed the right side doors open, each walking through their separate sides. They look like they could have been mistaken for government officers with the sunglass they wore the and how they walked. Swiftly they walked through the hallways without being noticed. Robert stopped abruptly, and the turned 90 degrees facing his locker. Quickly, as if he was working magic, he put in his combination and opened the locker. Turning to his right and left he scanned the area for Sam's locker and to see whom else was near his own locker. He threw his book bag into the locker, and then grabbed his notebook and pencils. As he walked to his first class of the day and of the year, he noticed that nothing had changed in the school since last year.
"I have chemistry first then health," Robert said to himself as he sighed. Just as Robert stepped into the chemistry room, two other boys started to yell at each other, he knew one them.
Quickly Robert ran to the side of his friend and whispered something to him, "Will, stop, don't fight him. He isn't worth fighting to get in trouble on the first day of school."
"Maybe your right Bobby," Will said using Roberts nickname. "I don't have time to mess with this piece of garbage."
Just as Will said that, the kid he was yelling at sprang forward, only be stopped by Robert. The spectators slowly walked away as the fright ended. After the other kid's anger subsided, Robert walked to a desk near the back of the room. Will picked up his stuff and sat in a desk next to Robert.
"Hey Bobby, thanks for stopping me before I got in trouble," Will said in a calm and quiet voice.
"I'm always here for you Will," Robert explained. "By the way what was that kid's name?"
"Jacob something, he's new here," Will said replied. "He's from a school in the big city. He thinks he can do anything around here; don't tell him that I said that and be careful not to get on his bad side."
"Okay," Robert assured him.
The high school chemistry room was a big room compared to most of the other rooms in the building. A few minutes after the conflict was settled the teacher appeared.
She walked to the black board, and then turned to the class and said, "Hello class, my name is Mrs. Susan and this is my first year teaching. I hope we will all get along and have a good year."
"This is going to be a long day," Robert sighed as he thought to himself. The same thing happened in health as what happened in his chemistry class. The teacher said hi and told you the rules and so on.
When Robert got to his algebra class, Sam had already saved a seat for him. As he sat down Sam said, "How are things going for you man."
"Okay, I guess," Robert Replied. "Speaking of things, someone or something knocked down a lamp and made a loud noise outside my house, do you have any idea what could have done that?"
"I have no idea," Sam answered in a sorrowful voice. "But after school maybe we can go to your place and check it out, okay?"
"That would be great," Robert said enthusiastically.
The most boring day of the year went by faster then any one expected. After saying good-bye to some of his friends Robert started for Sam's car. He was about to turn a corner of the building outside, when he bumped into Megan, the girl he "didn't" like.
"Hi Robert, I haven't seen lately. How have you been doing?" She asked.
"I'm doing well, how about you?" Robert said in a shy voice.
"Perfect, what are you doing...sorry I have to go, my dad's here and he has a lot to do today," she said with sad voice. "Bye, I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay."
"Bye Megan," Robert said as he waved good-bye.
A few seconds later Sam pulled up in his car and said, "Hey Robert aren't we going to your place see what happened this morning?"
"Yeah, let's get going," Robert said as he jumped into the passenger's side.
Sam Drove out of the school parking lot and started for Robert's house. They were going about 70 down a country road; the trees all around them seemed to flow with the wind. Sam took a few turns here and there, but little did he know that he took a wrong turn. A few minutes later they were still lost, and there were no landmarks to help them find a recognizable road. Robert glanced at his watch, which read 3:45.
"I don't think it can get any worse then this," Robert examined.
Just after he said that the back right tire hit something and went flat and almost peeled off.
"I shouldn't have said that," Robert said sorrowfully.
Quickly Sam pulled to the side of the road, before the rim could get damaged. He then jumped out of his car and went back to check the tire.
"The damage isn't that bad," he said as he put his key in the trunk handle. "Good thing I have a spare...NO I FORGOT TO PUT ONE IN THE LAST TIME I HAD A FLAT, NO."
"Okay calm down; let's see what we can do. Do you have any water in your car?" Robert asked.
"Yeah there's a gallon in the back seat, why?" Sam answered.
"I have a magnet and I'm going to try to make a compass. With the compass we can find our way back to the school road," Robert explained.
He got the water out and poured it into a bottom piece of a jar he found near the road. He put a leaf on the water and then magnetized a nail. To complete the compass he then put the nail on the leaf.
"Now the nail should point north and to get the school's road we just have to head eastward," Robert said as he sat the compass on the back of the trunk of the car.
When the nail stopped moving they took the compass and started to head east. One Problem with this was that they had to go through a cornfield, which can be painful. To solve this problem they went down the side of the road a little ways and traveled with a line of trees where there's less corn. Most of the trees were about 10 to 15 feet high and had green leafs, while some started to get yellow and red leafs. Brown thorns where all along the innermost part of the tree line, they knew would have to cross it sooner or later. About half way through the field they found a huge area that was flattened, by who knows what. Every now and then they found footprints made by animals and some of the prints looked different. When they got to the eastern edge, they found another tree line. To get across they started to walk the length of the field to find an easy way to get past the trees. They walked for a few minutes then Robert found something.
"Hey Sam, here's an easy way to get to the other side," Robert said happily.
There weren't any thorns or trees on the path Robert found, but he did hear some strange noises. Robert crossed the path first and then Sam crossed, but only to be tripped by a tree branch.
"You okay Sam?" Robert chuckled.
"I'm fine," Sam replied with mess of dirt on his pants.
Robert Just couldn't stop laughing as he was looking at Sam. Still laughing, he turned to run and hide from Sam, but there in front of him stood a creature that seemed to be about 5-feet tall. Robert stopped dead and stood still thinking of nothing, but fear. Robert quickly examined the creature and nearly fainted, but something inside was holding him up. The creature had what seemed to be two enormous wings, a long slider neck, red spines running down its back, and on its head were two long sliver horns and eight smaller red spines. Its four feet with five shiny silver claws each, pierced the muddy earth. The huge blue eyes and large white teeth clashed with the millions of fiery red scales all over it. Noticing that the creature was crouching down, Robert had a sick feeling in his stomach. He recoiled and started to step back when suddenly the creature jumped up on its two back feet and sounded a loud roar. Robert saw Sam get up and sprint in the direction of the car. Then the creature stood straight up and appeared to be over 7-feet tall. Robert then turned tail and ran about 200 meters. He then jumped into the foliage and hid behind a tree. Hearing the creature coming closer made his heart jump several beats.
"This is the worst day of my life, get me out of here, anyone!" Robert thought in fear as if these were his last.
Robert quickly thought of something that most large animals, like wolfs and big cats, could sense, weakness and panic. To calm himself down, he took a long, deep, and silent breath. Cleared his mind and counted to 20 while thinking a beautiful beach scene. A few seconds later, Robert could make out the creature's nearly inaudible breathing.
"Why am I panicking?" Robert thought to himself. "That a dumb question, I should know why, yet I don't. What is that thing and where did it come from? Who knows?"
The nearly inaudible breathing stopped and was now totally inaudible. Robert slowly turned his head around the tree only to find nothing was there. He then slowly but steadily advanced to the path that led to the first cornfield. He looked at the ground were he had seen the creature before, but nothing was there. No footprints of any sort, not even a signal leaf had fallen from when the creature had jumped on its back feet.
"Humm?" Robert said as he pondered his experience. "What was that thing and where did it come from? It was big, fiery red, it had two huge wings, two silver horns on its head, silver claws on its feet, white teeth, and blue eyes? I wonder where Sam is, I hope he's okay?"
He started to head back to the car to see if Sam had ran in that direction.
"He was behind me when I crossed the tree line?" Robert tried to recall what happened to Sam. "He tripped on a branch... I turned to run from him then I saw the creature...now I remember he did run in the direction of the car."
Robert sprinted past the corn stokes close to the tree line. Making a sharp turn at the end of the tree line, Robert ran twice as fast as he normally did, in worry of his friend. Within seconds, he met the road and then started to look for the car. It was parked on the opposite side were Sam stopped earlier. He then walked slow and carefully to the side of the car. There in the drive's seat he saw Sam, who was resting with the seat all the way back.
"Hey Sam you okay?" Robert said with concern.
Sam jumped up and looked behind himself. "Oh, it's just you Robert. I ran to the car and started it but only to realize that you didn't fallow me. I was so afraid; I was going to leave you here, but I couldn't. I stopped here then waited for you. . I don't care about this car let's get out of here, now let's get going!"
After several minutes had past, Sam pulled into Robert's drive way. There he phoned his dad so he could get home. When Robert got inside he looked saw that the clock read 5:00.
"Hey Sam, let's forget this ever happened okay?" Robert said before Sam left to go home.
Sam nodded in agreement.
All evening Robert couldn't get the strange event out of his head. When it came time for dinner, he told his mom that he wasn't hungry. One thing that kept repeating in his head was the question of why that creature was here, where it was from, and how did it get here?
When Robert was about to get in bed for the night, a filling of awareness and caution came over him. It felt like something was warning him of a danger soon to come. Fearing what may come the next morning, Robert cleared his mind and concentrated on the good to come.
The next morning Robert got ready for school like he always did. It was a nice day outside, not very many clouds, a nice bright sun, and it wasn't very cold. When Sam came to pike up Robert, there was no talking between them. Neither person in the car made a sound that could be called a word, All the way to school. Both were in very deep thought. Sam was thinking about how he was going to pay his dad for the tire he used to fix his car. Robert thought about the event that happened yesterday. He couldn't get it out of his head; it was like a parasite that was sucking up his mind, yet he liked the "parasite" being there.
When they got to school, and were heading inside Robert asked," What's been on your mind, Sam?"
"My dad wants me to pay him for the tire I used on my car," Sam replied in depressed voice. "And I don't know where to get the money. Nobody will hire me for a job in town."
"My dad may need a good working hand on the building he makes," Robert said as he opened the doors to the school.
"Can you see if he'll be able to pay if I worked for him," Sam said in joyful voice.
Robert nodded to Sam, and then turned to his locker. When Robert bent down to pick out his Chemistry book at the bottom of his locker, he felt something as if a person was plotting against him. He swiftly turned around to his right, only to find a fist flying at him. Without even thinking, Robert quickly swung his right arm out and made circler motion upward to block the punch. The fist was now on the ground, as well as the fist thrower. There in front of him was his friend Will who though the punch.
"Dang Bobby, that was only a joke," Will said in a surprised voice. "You sure did react fast to my punch, did you see me?"
"No, but it felt like someone was behind me," Robert said as if it was a question to himself. "Never mind."
Robert started to head for his first class, and noticed that he could never do anything like before. Just when he got to his seat, the bell rang. He sat down with a puzzled look on his face.
"How did I do that do, how did I react so fast and with an effective tactic?" Robert thought. "How did I feel his... shall I say, presence?"
Robert was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't hear anything the teacher said. He gave up with the idea just a second before the bell rang to let the students go to their next class. When Robert got to the health room, all was good. He sat down at his assigned seat and waited for something that was more interesting to look at then the huge pile of health books to his right.
A few people walked in, and took their seats, just a few seconds later Robert heard someone yelling. He turned around to find that at the back of the room Jacob was harassing Megan. Robert immediately got out of his seat and then walked to up to Jacob, tapping him on his shoulder. Jacob turned around and gave Robert a hideous look. Jacob sputtered a few veil words at him and hinted that he should sit down. Felting that it was in his best interest, Robert went back to his seat.
The rest of his day went just as good as it had started. When Robert got home it was about 3:30. Out of boredom, Robert went on a little hike around the nearby bean field. Nothing was really different then any other day, but he did find a few footprints here and there. When he examined them closer they looked like deer prints. He was hoping to find something that would place the creature close at his house yesterday morning.
That evening was the best part of his day. His mom made his favorite dinner and desert and his favorite TV show was on. Soon the time came when his mom forced him to go to bed. He had to be in bed at 10:00 on school nights. After Robert got ready to go to sleep, reflected the past two days. When he and Sam got lost, seeing the creature, the thoughts before bed yesterday, the reaction he made when Will tried to punch him, and the courage he showed when he stood up to an adversary.
"Could all of these things be connected somehow," Robert said out loud. "Well one I know is that next time Jacob harasses Megan, he'll wish he hadn't done so."
The same feelings of awareness and caution came over him again, but this time he welcomed it. When his alarm went off the next morning, Robert noticed it had just started to rain like cats and dogs with a few bolts of lightning. A few seconds later he just remembered that Sam's car didn't drive very well in rain. That meant he had to ride the bus.
Robert walked to the side of the road where he had to wait for the bus. The rain slowed the bus down and socked Robert, even with his coat on. The bus eventually made it to school, and by the time he got off the bus the rain was falling twice as hard.
When he got to his locker he noticed that everyone was already in class.
Just then he heard the principal announce on the PA that bus #17 was late and not to count the students who rode the bus tardy.
Robert got his books then ran to his chemistry class. There he leaned about the atom and what it was made of, just normal chemistry. At the end of the class Robert felt as if something was telling him to be careful in his next class. Robert heeded the warning and went to health with concern for his health, now that was new for him.
When he got there every thing look okay, sounded okay, and smelled okay. The teacher had lost his seating chart, so he had to call off everyone's name form a sheet. Robert was looking at the other kids as they raised their hands. When he heard his name he raised his hand. He was following the teacher's eyes, when suddenly Jacob stood up and raised his hand with a pistol in it.
Everybody saw the teacher jump to the floor, but didn't notice the gun until some warning shots rang out. Robert jumped to the floor with everyone else.
"You all stay on the floor or someone will die," Jacob yelled at the top of his lungs. "You, don't move."
He pointed the gun at a girl to his right, she then screamed loudly. With no remorse Jacob shot the girl in the leg. She then fell silent in pain. A few friends of hers calmed her down and tried to stop the bleeding. Robert could hear outside the building there were emergency vehicles arriving and he noticed that there were no windows in the room, which would make it hard for them to stop Jacob.
A several minutes past by with out notice. Robert thought he could make out the sound a group of men outside the door. Jacob noticed it as well and panicked. He then grabbed a girl and put the pistol to her head. He moved slowly to the front of the room where it was more opened.
Robert felt the awareness and the anticipation that came over him yesterday. He thought about trying to stop Jacob, but there was no way he could do so. When he tried to get into a more comfortable position on the floor, Jacob turned around and pointed the gun at him. Robert stopped moving and froze, glancing at Jacob he noticed that the girl he had in his hands was Megan.
That made him mad, and then he said to himself,"Let's stop that kid now."
After Jacob turned around; Robert stood up and ran at. Before Jacob knew what had just happened, Robert had one hand around his neck and the other pointing his wrist up. Robert gave Jacob few quick kicks in the leg, which loosened his grip on Megan. Jacob then tried to elbow Robert in the stomach, but Robert had anticipated that move and was too far to the right. Megan slipped out of the grasp of the rebellious student, before he launched a few more gunshots. Trying to get Jacob on the ground, Robert put his leg in-between Jacob's legs. Robert then placed his foot in front of Jacob's left foot. Robert pulled his foot back which made Jacob trip. Both Jacob and Robert Fell backwards, then...BANG!
10-29-2002
Draco
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