Zeke woke up the next morning and found that his head was a woolen, hazy cloud.
He groaned, lifting himself up and out of the unsightly mold his body had made in the mattress overnight. Sitting on the edge of his bed, he was grimacing with the pain in his head, and then it all started coming back to him.
Those visions of utter annihilation in the distant past. The dark isolation of the Void (or what could have been Purgatory) sprinkled with little glowing lights of memories. And that mysterious white-haired little girl with the magenta eyes and an unpredictable, ever-changing attitude.
'Was it…just a dream, then?'
He thought to himself, wanting to believe that was the case. He felt he would need more time to think about it, though he knew it might just lead to more trouble. But then he noticed how the morning sunlight beamed through his slit window shades, making things seem brighter than they should be. He looked at the digital numbers displayed on the clock that sat on the nightstand beside him. The time read as 9:54 AM. He had slept clear through his alarm and then some.
Deciding to brush off the annoying clench in his chest for now, despite knowing that it signaled some kind of danger, Zeke sprung out of bed and began to get ready quickly and with a sudden burst of energy despite his body's seemingly weakened condition. He bounced back into his school uniform, slipped on his shoes, grabbed his schoolbag and slung it over one shoulder, and then made his way speedily out the door.
The only good part about it was how he didn't hear that insensible laughter anymore, but he neither noticed nor paid mind to it. His focus was strictly fixed on getting to school, even though he had most likely missed the first couple of his classes. That didn't matter to him. What did matter was what his uncle would do to him if he found out he was not in school.
He ran through the city, choosing not to take any risks with potential subway delays. Late enough as he was, he pushed passed the other pedestrians on the sidewalks the whole way. Some jumped out of his way. Others gave him either a surprised look or a cursing glare. He even passed by a man rolling a wooden barrel filled with orange fruits, and evidently caused one side of the barrel to give way when he ran past. As a result, all the oranges fell out onto the sidewalk and into the nearby street. He received a cussing for that one. But Zeke didn't care. Trying to keep his breathing under control, he picked up the pace several times over.
Fortunately, this was not the first time Zeke has had tardiness marked on his permanent records. Strange as it sounds, it did still give him an advantage as to finding a way to sneak passed the cameras, hop the fence that bordered the perimeter of the school grounds, and managed his way up to the front doors, which should have been unlocked like always, but the doorknob hardly budged when he tried turning it.
'Locked, huh? Damn it!'
This was something new to him. Was the building taking on some new security lockdown features? And in a school that couldn't afford a PA system to ring in, nonetheless? Either way, his hopes of making it were immediately shattered into a million pieces. Only a moment later passed and the bell rang, signaling the end of fourth period no doubt. Suddenly, a glimmer of hope sprung into his mind as an idea. It was a stupid idea, but he could not shake it off as it could be his best bet here.
Timing was of the essence. And if this didn't work, he could end up more hurt than necessary.
Zeke ran around the building to the sector divided exquisitely for the seniors. Their classes before lunch usually took place on the ground floor, so that may make this plan a tad easier. He ran up to the outer wall and quickly hid between two windows, giving himself some slack on one side enough to peer into the glass and see inside.
His peers whom he had never been acquainted with walked through the halls, strolling on between classes. Some were at their lockers acquiring the required necessities for their next subjects. Others just chatted with one another, laughing about meaningless topics, pure distractions from boredom. In a way, for a moment, Zeke could not help but feel jealous of them. Most if not all of them got to enjoy nice, normal lives.
But that wasn't the point now. He shook off that feeling as fast as he could and remained diligent. That was when he saw her coming down the hallway. He tapped on the glass in a funky tune with his finger, knowing it was enough to grab her attention. As her curiosity caught the best of herself, she walked up to the window for Zeke's upper body to appear in front of her on the other side of the glass. She easily jumped at the surprise, her green eyes widened, and long blonde hair swayed in the air slightly. She made a startled, high-pitched "EEK!" noise that, in some ways for sure, sounded adorable, especially for her.
"What the hell?! What do you think you're doing?" Matti, his friend and the girl whom he startled just now, asked him in a rather scowling tone, frustrated by his current actions.
But Zeke immediately pressed his index finger to his O-shaped lips to tell Matti to shut up, and then, using both hands, gestured at her to unlock and open the window. She followed through, and he was able to climb into the hallway. Naturally, there were witnesses nearby, but not many of them had the energy top bother or even care at all about the situation. As soon as Zeke's feet hit the floor, they all looked away and pretended as though Zeke and Matti were nonexistent.
"Sorry for scaring you like that," Zeke apologized to his friend, "I'll repay you somehow. I promise."
"Well…nah, no need for that," Matti said through a faint blush just below her eyes, but still kept a stern face with puffed out cheeks to express how frustrated she was, "But still, yeah, you can at least tell me what made you think you could miss two hours of school this morning, and then decide to use the window as an entrance!"
"I really didn't have much of a choice," he clarified as the two of them started walking together towards their next class, "The front doors of the building were locked. Is the school going through some new security system I didn't know about?"
Matti looked at him raising an eyebrow, "What are you talking about? There's no way this school could afford one of those. It seems way out of budget. Besides, I would suspect that they'd make an announcement in advance, even if they were gonna get one…"
Zeke was clearly surprised by the fact of the matter and could not hide his shock. Still though, it seemed oblivious for him to realize this was "its" doing.
Then Matti dropped the topic like it was insignificant, and she continued to speak, "Anyway, you better have a pretty good excuse for the teachers when they ask where you've been all this time. Hopefully none of them send you to the principal's office again. If you want my advice, try not to mention anything so unbelievable like your uncle's underground laboratory. Oh! That reminds me, did you talk to your uncle last night about taking a break from your apprenticeship with him? I hope you've got good news!"
Unfortunately, Zeke did not pay attention to the better part of what she was saying. For while she was talking, he felt his cellphone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out, letting Matti walk ahead of him, and saw that the caller ID read as: 'DR. J FELLOWS'. Zeke breathed a soft sigh of discomfort before pressing the answer key. "Hey, Dr. Fellows. Whatever it is, can it wait? I'm kind of already in enough trouble as it is at school right now."
"Ezekiel! We're in trouble! It's just horrible!" the woman's voice cut him off, shouting in distress through the phone line, "For some reason, this morning, the artifact we got yesterday started acting strangely. It was glowing, and not like how it was before! I know this'll seem hard to believe, but there's no other way to describe it. Somehow it caused an explosion in the laboratory! Then there was a fire, and now it's all just gone! I'm deeply sorry to say that your home has been blown to bits!"
Zeke's slow steps as he was listening quickly came to a stop. His eyes had widened in shock. Matti turned around at this time, realizing her friend's lack of attention towards her. She tried asking him what was wrong, but he was frozen. He could not speak. He was too far in trance by hearing the police sirens and the voices of panicked people in the background. Had his worst fears become reality? Why…why did this happen?!
Dr. Fellows continued, "Some of our associates were killed instantly in the blast. The others are on their way to the hospital, including myself and your uncle. He seems to be in critical condition! Ezekiel, I am so sorry for you! I just…just don't know how this could have happened! Oh, we're arriving at the emergency drop-off now. I gotta go! I'll keep you posted!"
Zeke heard her hang up on the other end, and thus he lowered his phone and stared at it almost blankly. However, on the inside, he was bursting with negative emotion. Fear. Rage. Confusion. Hatred. Sadness. He was unable to move for several moments, even when the school bell sounded again, telling its students still in the halls they were late for class. As the hallways emptied, only Matti and Zeke remained. Matti stood there in front of him, snapping her fingers and waving her hand in his face, trying to snap him out of his daze.
"Zeke? Hey, Zeke?! Can you hear me?" Matti began feeling gradually more concerned for her friend's current state, "What's wrong?! Who called you just now? Say something! Please Zeke, you're scaring me! I…Hey!"
Suddenly and without warning, Zeke sprang into action and started running. He ran past Matti, shoving her out of his way and leaving her to wonder in distress. He ran out of the school to the courtyard where he could already see the clouds of black and dark gray smoke bellowing into the air from the distance and where he knew his house was located.
'Why?! Why is this happening now?! Why?!'
This was all he could think of as he ran out through the school's front gates and along the sidewalks, making a beeline towards his uncle's home. Every last bit of his emotions was bubbling and overflowing inside him.
He didn't care that he was ditching school. Nor that his legs were growing progressively numb with every speedy step. This was no time to worry about irrelevant matters, he thought briefly to himself. Despite how his breathing was hoarser with every passing second and his body felt ready to give way and collapse at any moment, he was far too focused on what had happened to the thing closest to what he could ever have called "home".
It took him roughly twenty minutes of this panicked running before Zeke began to converge within a massive crowd. Vehicles on the nearby streets were in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Soon he had to shimmy his way through the throngs of people who were standing shoulder to shoulder on the sidewalk near his uncle's house and blocking most of his path. He could smell the smoke oh so strongly as sparks continued to fly into the sky, and it only grew worse as he pushed forward and towards its source. Then he reached the yellow police tape reading as DO NOT CROSS bordering a safe distance for the bystanders to witness the horrific scene ahead of them.
At last, he had bypassed everyone, reaching the front of the crowd and his so-called home. Or, at least, what was left of it.
Drops of sweat rolled down Zeke's face, and his jaw dropped straight at the sight of the burnt building structures. Black ash and scorch marks were left behind by the fire. The blazing heat emitted a sort of tedious atmosphere, but at the same time was dancing with bursts of life and energy. Even as the fire fighters had managed to put out small blotches of it, the flames continued to rise out of control. The police officers on the scene kept moving back the line separating the average citizens who were spectating from harm's way. The stenches of various chemicals from the basement laboratory were now lingering in the air, which would only arouse more suspicion once the detectives caught on, he thought. And he continued to think, only about the worst might yet to come.
Will they find the artifact soon? Just who had died in there? Was it all just an accident?
"Hey, are you okay there, young man?" a middle-aged businessman standing next to Zeke ask him almost considerately, "You look pale."
It was true. Zeke's skin had turned just as white as a ghost. His arms and hands were trembling like stray leaves in the wind. He kept perspiring with sweat as it formed on his face and rolled down his cheeks in a never-ending cycle. Even his eyes were widened to the max that they had almost forgotten how to blink. Zeke's emotions were expressing themselves throughout his whole body, and he had not even realized it himself until the businessman spoke up. He didn't respond, though. He just couldn't work up the words and force them out.
"Hey, you…young man, are you feeling alright?!" the businessman tried asking again, this time almost shouting at him with concern, and just about ready to reach out his hand.
Zeke didn't move a muscle. He stared at the scene of his once called home and how it had been reduced to wreckage and rubble until he couldn't look anymore. He lowered his eyes, but the sight was engraved inside his mind.
Then a different man wearing a black leather punk jacket standing next to them noticed this, and thus questioned out loud, "You think you should call an ambulance for him?"
But before either of them said another word, Zeke impulsively turned around and bolted through the crowd again, faster and more aggressive this time. He shoved so many people out of his way that some of them were knocked to the ground. When he made it out of the crowd, he kept running, and he ran, and he ran. His vision was watering from either the harsh fumes or sadness, but it still made his vision cloudier, nonetheless. He didn't know where he was going for a while, and he might not have recognized the area of the city he was in now, but he just kept running as if his life depended on it. And not exactly how fast, but how far.
Then he made a rapid right turn, practically on instinct, and without noticing it had entered an alleyway. And he didn't stop until he ran straight into a bunch of trash cans sitting tightly close together. There was a loud crash of metal and ripples in plastic in the air as he slipped on a puddle at his feet, tripped forward and landed into a pile of garbage bags.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow!"
He couldn't move for a bit due to the pain of suddenly falling over. If anything, the garbage bags cushioned his fall quite nicely, even though he now smelled like something rotting and decaying. He could not get up. He was far too exhausted from running so much. His breathing sounded like his lungs were going to leap out of his throat. And so he laid there with his eyes closed, the stench of everything dirty and foul from the common everyday households of the city filling his nostrils and making his throat burn. He eventually tried to get back up from the trash pile, though it just might be fitting for him, but he brushed off that thought rather fast, not wanting to believe in it.
Suddenly, as if this all were not enough, the laughter of that little girl's voice inside his own head started up again. Was she mocking him? Did she enjoy watching him suffer?
Then he realized something that hit him like a ton of bricks.
"This was her doing, wasn't it?" he thought to himself as the words spoke out almost on their own.
"Wow! You catch on just almost quickly, don't you?" he heard Aurora's voice ask out loud sarcastically inside his mind.
Zeke gritted his teeth with rage for his correct assumption.
She continued to speak, "Now, now, you shouldn't be acting like this. People are gonna start suspecting something���s up if you don't keep your cool. So, perk your chin up. You're a big boy, after all! And, like I said, do not worry, because I, the great and magnificent Aurora, shall be your guide through—"
"No…shut up!" Zeke interrupted her before she could say anything more.
"Huh?! What do you mean?! I was just trying to—"
"Shut up! Shut Up! SHUT UP!" he shouted repeatedly. He wasn't going to just sit there quietly and watch as his life gets torn apart by her. He had had enough.
"…Meanie!" Aurora proclaimed sadly before vanishing into the depths of Zeke's mind.
After a few minutes of silence, rest assuring that he was alone, Zeke grabbed the sides of his head with both hands, furiously digging into his scalp with his fingers. He closed his eyes and wished for it all to go away. He so desperately wished for the old days back when he was still a young grade school child, cared for by his happy, loving parents. He wanted to see their faces again. He wanted them to hold him and tell him it would be alright. But alas, his wish was not meant to be heard.
He knew it was fact. His parents were dead and not coming back. He had been conveyed to living with his cunning, greedy uncle since he was little. As his apprentice, he was sworn to total secrecy about their projects, and to everyone around him was no more than a distraction from work in his uncle's eyes. He had no one. Nothing left but himself and the clothes on his back.
Zeke wanted to scream but could not utter even a noise when he tried to open his mouth. His brain felt like it was pounding the inner walls of his skull. Everything seemed so surreal. It seemed so hopeless. Now, more than ever, he felt he was completely losing his mind.