Connor and Hank were running fast, but the dog was gaining on them faster than they had calculated. Well, it was not exactly a dog, but a very harmless puppy that chased them round and round their neighbourhood until it was tired. Connor's tall frame was always one step ahead of his younger brother, and he was not running at his fastest.
"Connor!" Hank shouted wheezily. "I can't keep up like this for long!"
"I asked you not to speak, Hank," said Connor, breathing effortlessly. "Run faster or we will have to hurt the dog!"
Connor looked at his brother with two sad eyes that were glowing of their own accord. Sweat was running down his face. They had been running like this for the past 15 minutes.
"This dog is a highly motivated dog, Hank, unlike you!" said Connor, laughing. "Do you want to hear a joke about a big dog?"
Hank nodded.
"Why did the dog cross the road?" asked Connor with his loud, deep voice.
"To get to the BARKING lot!"
Hank roared with laughter and started slowing down.
Connor looked at Hank and looked back at the dog.
The dog's face was now very close to his brother's feet. Connor acted immediately; he picked up his brother and started running fast. They reached their home within a minute. Connor jumped over the wall and put Hank down on the cool, green grass.
Hank was crying from too much laughing.
"Tears of joy, eh?" Connor said. He wiped his brother's eyes with his t-shirt and looked over the wall for signs of the dog. The dog had gone and run away to his house; It was breakfast-time for him and nothing in the world could distract him from food.
It was six in the morning when they returned home and today being Connor's last school day, (Yes; you guessed it right! Sarah goes to the same school too. But she does not know Connor), his parents were cooking him some delicious lunch for the buffet their class was arranging.
The smell of a dozen different spices floated from the open kitchen window, straight into the noses of Connor and his brother. They eyed the kitchen and looked at each other.
"Race you to the kitchen!" said Connor.
"Woah!" said Jimmy, Connor's dad. "Slow down, cashew-nuts!"
"Slow down cashoonuts" said Hank. He was imitating his dad. Their mother nodded at them quietly and began packing the lunch boxes.
"Go get ready, son," said she. "Just one more day now, do not be lazy!"
"He has never been lazy, honey," said Jimmy.
Kim frowned at Jimmy and kept a lunchbox forcefully on the kitchen top. Jimmy's eyes widened with some unknown, otherworldly emotion.
"Don't be lazy, Connor! Hurry up! You can play with Hank throughout the summer holidays, alright?"
Connor nodded and went to his room upstairs and started preparing for the day; he checked his phone for notifications and found lots. Connor had livestreamed his games a few weeks ago and now he was friends with eight complete strangers.
He did not use his webcam but his voice, they said, was enough to engage them into the games. Connor loved RPGs, and his commentary made his 8 followers happy.
He took a cold water bath, put on his school uniform and went down for breakfast, but as soon as he sat down on the dining table, he heard a bicycle bell ringing outside; it was his friend John.
Who the hell is John? You might ask. Is he just Connor's friend or is he his best friend? Neither. Connor and John were Brawl Buddies. They liked to fight and argue a lot, but they were always friends in front of their parents. John was a 6 feet tall giant with a brown muddy school bag and an equally discolored bicycle. He had bought the bicycle less than a year ago, and its condition was ugly already.
Connor started gobbling his breakfast up. It was rice and potatoes; a lot of carbs.
John would have gagged at the sight of Connor's breakfast. The 6 foot tall giant was in the school athletics team and was on a very strict diet plan.
John's father stared at him and asked if he was going to have his breakfast slowly? The question was rhetorical, of course.
I don't want you, the reader, to feel alien about all this, so I am now undertaking the effort of making you familiar to Connor and his life. After all, suspense in character is unhealthy for a romantic novel.
Connor had a normal set of family. They owned a small shop, which his mother took care of.
His father was the average businessman. He had a brother who was 3 years elder. Larrry was a very intelligent student and he had gone and joined a top notch university away from all of them. Connor has another brother who is 2 years younger to him. We met Hank before. We will meet him again. Hank is just that perfect cute little boy that everyone is fond of. We cannot however say the same for Connor. Connor was intelligent but not outstanding(like his brother) and he was not exactly liked by a lot of people. Wherever Connor went, people always seemed to be disconcerted and nervous.
Maybe it was because of his dominating voice and stature, maybe it was just because of his alien awkwardness. Who cares? Connor did not give a damn for one!
Now, the Beagles, that is the family name of Connor had rather a very interesting strain in their family. Danger attracted them and adventure was like a drug to them. Without it, they became depressed and started acting strange.
Logan Beagle, Connor's uncle and Connor's father's brother had gone hiking one summer and was never seen again. Connor had always wanted to become a detective and find out what had happened to him, but it was just one of those priorities that faded away as you grew older.
The sky was a bright blue that morning; there were no clouds merely wisps of white here and there. You know, it was the kind of morning that made people sing in their bathrooms and made them slip and fall and break a bone or two, but they did not just care because of the kind of morning it was.
Connor and John were pushing their bicyles from their seats, instead of just using the pedals.
"Oh, man!" said John. "Can't you just take your breakfast to the school and eat?"
Connor slowed down the cycle even more. In fact if you had seen the duo from a distance, you would have thought they were not moving at all. It was a secret game of patience that they played, our John and Connor.
"Shut up, John" said Connor. "Let me enjoy this beautiful morning without having to hear your complaints, dude."
John looked around and realized that it was indeed a very beautiful morning.
His dad had been singing in his bathroom and had slipped and broken his foot but even after all that he had been peculiarly happy about the day and the sunshine.
"Yeah, whatever." John said.
"Is this going to be the last time we go to school like this?" said Connor. "Honestly, it is kinda sad..."
"I never thought I would say this, but yeah, old man I too feel the same way."
John looked at his watch and realized that they had to be at school in ten minutes. He took off on his bicycle and Connor followed him fast.
Conconman was always fast and alert. Especially after the cold water baths that he took in the mornings.
They arrived at the school with 5 minutes left to spare and Connor went straight to the assembly stage. He did not have any particular job there; he did not even belong to the choir, so the music teacher, Mrs. Harris, got very irritated if she saw him in the neighbourhood.
Connor put his bag in his classroom and sneaked his way past the fat music teacher to the toilets.
Connor hated crowds and would do anything to avoid standing with the hundreds of students, sweating in the sun. He even used to come late just to avoid being caught in the torrent of students that the morning assembly formed.
The bell rang and the he could hear the students's shuffling feet.
The boy's bathroom was both inside and outside the school building. Stalls were inside and the washbasins, however were loacted in an open area outside the building.
It was here that Connor stood and waited for th horrible thing they called assembly get over.
The morning song was sung and the prayer was over. Mr. John, whose last name was John for some absurd reason, gave a speech about how to remain safe during the summer. He chatted with the students for most of the part. Connor liked him. He liked everyone who was at least a bit like himself.
Realizing that the assembly was coming to an end, he decided to wash his face and get going to the class.
Here is where the two stories come converging. Headlong. This is the moment that brings these two totally different storylines together.
Connor started whistling loudly. He whistled a song he had heard a few weeks ago. It was one of those things that you did that had no reasons whatsoever. You just did them out of pure instinct.
The whistling got louder and he heard footsteps on the other side of the wall.
Connor got nervous. It might be a teacher on the other side of the wall!
He stopped the whistling and closed the tap. There were two quick taps on the wall, and a girl with dark, raven dark he told his brother later, climbed up.
She, however did not have the time to look at him.
There was a shout from the other side. He recognized the bellowing voice of Mrs. Harris. He and a thousand others had heard that vioce sing the school anthem millions of times.
"SARAH!" She said.
Connor did not look away from the girl on top of the wall. His eyes were attatched to her. He repeated the name inside his head. His brain recited the letters.
S-A-R-A-H!
To Connor, the moment was forever.
Reality, however, the cruel, unloving, cold reality, however, decided to push the girl down. And down she went.
Connor heard the sound of a single bone crunching. He winced.
But deep inside, he was happy. Utterly and completely happy.