"Hey." He waved his hand. The look on his was face was too familiar. It was as if I had seen him somewhere. Even his voice was stirring up something in my head. He extended his hand and shook ours. "I hope that I won't be too much of a bother."
"No worries." Jaden chirped. A bit more joyfully than I had expected him to be. "I don't think I will ever get bothered by meeting new people. But if you want to bother a few kids our age, the best person to bother is Chance over here."
"Hey." I greeted, almost awkwardly. It was because I was kind of expecting him to say that we have met before. But he didn't. He seemed to be that typical kid who just moved in a few blocks away. To be honest, he sounded like Dylan when he moved in into the neighborhood. "And don't mind Jaden. He's good at bothering people."
"Yeah, he actually is." Caitlyn butted in. Her smirk gave me the signal that I should support her bullying. Or else her attention would have blasted off at me. "It's a wonder why you were not even bothered with this guy. I only wanted you to meet Chance, but he just had to be at Jaden's house at this time. Sorry about that."
"Well, Jaden seems to be a pretty normal guy to me." Trevor replied and smiled with a little bit of nervousness. Caitlyn just made a rash comment. He knew that he might get bullied too soon if he went into the crossfire. "I think he's actually a friendly guy."
"See? At least this new kid knows how to appreciate me!" Jaden's voice almost broke with his high-pitched emphasis. But of course, he knew we were just jerking him around. There was never a day that we didn't, after all. It was just how the way things go.
"It's too soon to say that." I said. Then I looked at the blonde-haired kid. His blue eyes seemed to know that I was fixated with how familiar he was to me. "Once Trevor here warms up to everyone, he'll realize that he's on the losing side. He's bound to change sides. And you'll be avoiding Jaden, too."
"Yeah, Chance is right." Caitlyn agreed with a nod. "Anyway, why don't we go ahead at the local park and check if the other two are there. You know how much Dylan dislikes waiting. And to make things worse, he can be such an early bird when we all meet like this."
"You two are hopeless!" Jaden exclaimed a bit loudly and almost waved his arms around. Then he went back inside. "I'll go tell my mom first where I'm off too. Or else I might get grounded."
Caitlyn and I just laughed at him while Trevor just wondered at our antics. It would have been weird for him at first, but he'll get the hang of it hopefully. A year of our random bullying sessions would do it.
When we walked away from Jaden's house, I noticed that even Trevor's way of walking was familiar. It was as if he had been a long, lost friend. The way he looked at me was almost nostalgic. His voice stirred something within me as if I've heard his voice before. But also, at the same time, he was a new guy in town. He's familiar, and at the same time, he's not.
"Hey, Trevor." I called unto him. "Have we met somewhere before?"
"I don't think so." He replied. But his tone was dismissive. It was quick and almost sullen. My heart thumped at the sudden cold reply. However, Jaden and Caitlyn didn't notice it. "Your name is kind of unique. I would have remembered it if we have met before."
His tone suddenly changed positively. From the look on his face, his first statement was some sort of mistake. Trevor's eyes darted away as if he made a shameful error. Then they narrowed as if he was calculating something. Then he looked back at me with an awkward smile.
"He's right, Chance." Caitlyn agreed with a sharp nod. "If you two met each other before, he would have at least remembered your name. I don't think I have met someone else with the same name as you."
"Yeah." I said softly. It was all I could muster. It was almost a sigh of defeat. For some reason, I knew that I was right. The problem was, I don't have a clue on how to prove my claim. "Sorry, he was just sort of familiar to me. Even his voice was kind of familiar and the way he walked. I just wondered if we have met before."
There it was, for a split-second, Trevor smiled. And I felt a wave of awkwardness between him and me. He was sort of playing with me. I was just dumbfounded at the way he was pretending. It was driving me to some kind of paranoia.
"Maybe he walks the same way as one of our friends does." Jaden suggested, but I didn't buy it. Then he looked at me straight to the eye. For some reason, he felt I was troubled by Trevor's familiarity. "Or he was our friend from long before, and we all had amnesia. Then we forgot who he is, and he also forgot who we are."
"Now that's too far-fetched!" Caitlyn shook her head.
"Well, it explains why we were all able to easily get along with him." Jaden defended his exaggerated claim. "Am I right, Chance?"
"Sorry Jade. You are my best friend and all, but I wouldn't be buying that kind of story." I chuckled. He just crossed his arms and kept on walking. "That sounds stupid."
"Yeah, I don't think that's even possible." Trevor added. Then he got a nasty stare from Jaden. But of course, he didn't really mean it. We all knew that Jaden can be very playful, especially with people who doesn't really know him. He would always try to mess them up. "I wonder why Chance thinks I'm familiar."
"I actually have no idea." Caitlyn shrugged. "It could be your hair. Or the way your voice pitches. Or maybe even the blondness of your hair."
And when I looked at her, she wasn't moving. Her mouth was still open as if she was about to say something. Jaden had his eyes close, and Trevor was just about to take another step. However, none of them were moving. None of them were talking, either. I waved my hands in front of Caitlyn and almost pricked her eye, but she didn't flinch.
When I looked around, even the birds in the air were hovering above us. Their wings stopped flapping, and they were not gliding in the air. A car was passing by and was also frozen in place. From afar, I could see a group of girls playing with a jumping rope, and they were hovering in mid-air.
Then I felt a person standing right behind me. The breathing was kind of slow and tender. It was almost gentle and light. However, I didn't find the courage to look who was behind me. The presence of the person was just there.
"Can you feel it?" He simply asked. His voice was familiar and was almost identical to mine. It was cold but comforting. Almost as if I was talking to myself. "I know you could feel it, Chance Valentine."
"I don't feel anything." I replied stiffly. My breath was short, and I might not be able to say another complete sentence. And when I looked at the skies, it suddenly turned dark and was slowly turning to a bloody color. "What the hell?"
The hair on my arms stood as I saw the clouds started forming a circular pattern as if it was gathering into a powerful storm. My throat went dry. I wanted to take a step backward, but I couldn't get the strength I needed to. It was as if I was drained of the power to do anything.
"I know you could see that." The person behind me said. It was as if I was in some sort of delusion. But I felt that what I was seeing was real. The crimson sky was twirling around as if a black hole was trying to it. "We must stop it."
"Stop what?" I almost shrieked. My voice wavered in fear. But deep down, I already know what the person was pertaining to. The sky seemed angry with its deep red color and the way it was violently gathering into the middle.
"The darkness." The person behind me whispered. His voice was firmer than before, even if it was just a whisper. It was then I realize that the person behind me was a boy. And probably he wasn't far from my age with the way his voice pitched. "We must stop the darkness."
Then the view before me suddenly changed. Blood was suddenly everywhere, and I saw lifeless bodies in front of me. My fingers twitched, and my eyes were trying to shut close. But my mind was trying to process the image. Instead, my sight was glued to the corpses as if it was to mentally torture me.
The first person I recognized was Jaden, who had a massive hole in his chest. Beneath him was a pool of blood. His eyes were still wide open, and was in shock. Blood dripped down from the corner of his mouth, and was laid lifeless on the floor.
A few meters away from him was Anya, whose head was cracked open. Dylan was draped over her body as if he was protecting her. There was an enormous gaping wound on his neck as if it was bitten off.
Next were my parents, who were reclining beside each other. Both of them also had gaping wounds on their necks, similar to Dylan's. A metal rod ruptured my dad's chest, and it went through to the other side. That moment felt like it was there forever, and I barely had the energy to move.
"We must stop that, Chance." The boy behind me said again. "We can stop it."
"Yes." I croaked. My voice was shaky, and my knees wobbled. It was a sight I was not prepared for. My lips were dry, and I had no guts to look further. "How can we stop it?"
But before I could hear an answer, I was back with my friends.
"Or it's the blueness of your eyes." Caitlyn continued on.
"Chance, are you okay?" Trevor suddenly asked me. And I was snapped out of my thoughts. Even Caitlyn and Jaden stopped from their walking. They all looked at me with questioning eyes. A hint of worry was on Jaden's. He always seemed to be one who can understand me the most. "You looked like you've seen a ghost."
"I' m… I'm fine." I lied. "I just thought I left the toaster still plugged in. Mom would kill me if I forgot to unplug her appliances. You know how annoying moms can be."
"Well, you seem sort of pale if you asked me." Trevor added.
"It's his natural color." Caitlyn assured him. Then her eyes narrowed, and tried to inspect me closer. It caused me to step back and raised my arms between her and me. "But yeah, you seem more pale than usual. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Caitlyn." I said firmly. "Drop it off."
"Sure, sure. Sorry about that." She replied as enthusiastically as she can. But at the corner of my eye, Jaden was looking at me with serious eyes. I was sure that he would be taking note of this incident. "Anyway, we're still a block away. Dylan will surely be there by now."
I wanted to tell Jaden what was happening to me. But surely, he won't understand a thing. Or worse, he might altogether avoid me. And that was going to hurt. A lot. Then I also remembered what the man in the alley said. If Jaden knew, then he would be involved. After seeing the vision, involving him was the last thing I wanted.