Marcus walked into the administrative office with baited breath, he knew the secretary Ms. Brown, was a notoriously difficult woman to deal with, especially when it came to "delinquents".
"Marcus Fall, you finally decided to come to school." Ms. Brown's tone was full of sarcasm and disappointment.
Marcus groaned as he reached a hand behind his neck, "Can I get a late slip please, I'm not in the mood right now."
"But you're in the mood for coffee?" Ms. Brown shot back before she turned her attention back toward her computer, "What class? If you even remember that is."
"History, Mr. Smith."
"Paper or email?" Ms. Brown asked dryly.
"Email," Marcus replied as he took a sip of his coffee. It was warm and bitter, just how he liked it.
Ms. Brown nodded as she began to type something into her computer, a few seconds later Marcus's phone buzzed with a notification.
"Try not to be late anymore, I'd hate to see you more than I see my own family." Ms. Brown's voice was dry, she didn't even look up from the computer to see him leave.
Marcus exited the administrative officein a slightly worse mood than when he entered it, his current mood was one of irritation and frustration.
This morning has been shit, Marcus thought to himself as he walked down the hallway towards Mr. Smith's class, at least Mr. Smith is a nice guy fur what it's worth.
When Marcus finally reached Mr. Smith's class, he knocked on the door three times. The murmuring and chatter inside the classroom quickly died down. Marcus could hear footsteps approaching the door, and a few seconds later the door opened, revealing a jovial man dressed in a Roman tunic. "Hey mister Fall, glad you could join us today."
Though he didn't know it, the moment Marcus saw Mr. Smith, a small smile crossed his lips.
"Hey Mr. Smith, how ya been?" Marcus asked.
"I'm fine Marcus, come on in and take a seat." His tone was one of kindness and warmth. "There's one in the back next to Dante." Mr. Smith gestured toward an empty desk in the back beside a sleeping student.
Marcus nodded as he entered the classroom.
Making his way through the rows of desks Marcus could feel the glances of his fellow students, some of them were staring in curiosity, and others stared in indifference, when he finally reached his desk Marcus quietly slipped into it and dropped his bag on the floor.
He began to sip his coffee as he listened to Mr. Smith's lecture.
After a lengthy lesson about Roman involvement with the Germanic tribes, Mr. Smith clapped his hands together enthusiastically.
"Now, I want all of you to write a short letter as if you were a Roman legionnaire writing to his or her spouse, what would you say about the Germanic tribes, the landscape, the battles, whatever you want to write about, that'll be it for today."
As Mr. Smith finished talking Marcus, along with most other students began to search through their bags for a pencil and paper.
After a minute of searching through his bag Marcus realized that while he had paper, there wasn't a single pencil in his bag.
Marcus groaned as he pulled out a sheet of paper and placed it on his desk, He then turned in Dante's direction and reached out to tap his shoulder, "yo Dante," Marcus whispered as he tapped Dante's shoulder. "You wake up, I need a pencil."
Dante snorted as he slowly raised his head from his desk, slobber dripping down from his pale lips into a large pool of slobber on his desk. "here." Dante said in a sleepy tone, he pushed a pencil slightly forward on his desk.
Marcus felt his skin crawl as he slightly recoiled from Dante, "damn dude, whatever you're smoking stay away from it."
Dante blinked his eyes out of sync, then yawned, "whatever." Dante said in that same sleepy tone. He lowered his head back on his desk with a thud.
Marcus's expression grew perplexed as he tried to process what just unfolded, he didn't know much about Dante, but from what he did know Dante was a slacker and often skipped class.
It was rare for him to be in class from the get-go, so perhaps Dante was always like this. Marcus wondered.
"I guess it doesn't matter," Marcus said as he grabbed Dante's pencil.
With Dante's pencil in hand, Marcus quickly went to work on his assignment. He wrote something simple about how tiring the war was and how he wished to be back in the beauty of Rome alongside his wife.
After finishing his assignment and turning it in, Marcus Marcus decided to use the remaining time to finish his coffee and ponder about the woman at the café.
She sure talked a lot of nonsense, Marcus thought. She was strange, the way she dressed, the way she acted, and the things she spoke about.
The supernatural?
That lady must be a red acid fiend or something, there is no way in hell she believes in that shit.
And what's the crap about being a hero, she doesn't even look like one. I'd see if she was dressed as a policeman, or a firefighter, or maybe even a legitimate superhero costume.
But she just looked like a hipster.
As Marcus pondered these things, he didn't notice the bell ringing until Mr. Smith began tapping his desk. "Hey don't daydream yet buddy, still got half a day of school left."
Marcus chuckled as he stood up from his desk grabbed his bag and slung it over his back.
"My bad Mr. Smith I was just lost in thought."
"It's fine," Mr. Smith said with a warm smile, "just make sure you have a good day for me alright?"
Marcus nodded, "I'll try."
The rest of Marcus's day was as bland as always, with teachers ignoring him or looking down on him with disdain and disappointment. His fellow students were all lost in their own words, girls chatting about boys and clothes, boys chatting about games and girls, it was just the same old story.
At the end of the day when the final bell rang, Marcus grabbed his bag and made a beeline for the exit, eager to go home and play some video games and make some ramen or warm up some leftovers, whichever is easier to microwave at the given moment.
Stepping outside Marcus was greeted with a chill breeze and a sea of students in blue and black uniforms scattered throughout the school grounds, all immersed in their affairs.
Marcus began to make his way through the crowds of students, heading towards the front gate, when he finally reached his destination, he was greeted by a familiar sight across the street.
A woman, dressed in strange clothing with a long black trench coat hanging on her forearm.
She had bright pink hair that was tied in two pigtails, standing in front of a black car that had a pink stripe going down the middle from the hood to the trunk.
It was the woman from the café.
"What the hell?" Marcus said to himself as he began to check his surroundings, "Does she have a younger sibling that goes here?"
"Marcus!" The woman shouted from across the street, "I've been waiting for ya!" She said proudly as she waved Marcus over.
Marcus could feel his confusion and frustration rising, why was this woman here? How did she know where he went to school, how did she know his name!?!?
All of these questions began popping up one after the other as he hesitantly made his way across the street.
careful to dodge both students and slow-moving cars.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Marcus asked angrily as he stood beside the woman, "are you a stalker or something?"
Elissa's expression grew to one of confusion, "stalker? I'm just trying to save you."
"What does that even mean?" Marcus asked desperately. "What are you gonna save me from? Boredom?!?"
Elissa grinned mischievously as she turned to open the driver-side door of her car, "Get in, and we'll talk."
"I'm not getting in your car, what if you kidnap me or some shit, you're already stalking me." Marcus hissed, wary of the student's glances from across the street.
"I already told you I'm not a stalker, now get in," Elissa said with a smile as she closed the door.
Marcus looked down at Elissa and watched as she began cleaning the passenger seat of clothes and papers.
He knew well enough that it would be extremely dangerous to get in this woman's car, first and foremost she was a stranger.
She knew his name, where he went to school, and quite possibly where he lived, but even if she didn't know, she could just follow him home.
But with that in mind, what's realistic stopping her from just kidnapping him another time, not to mention she did confront him about everything?
With a heavy sigh, Marcus silently cursed himself as he hurried around Elissa's car and opened the passenger side door.
He hesitated for a second as he stared at the inside of the car before eventually the woman grabbed Marcus by the collar and pulled him into the car.
"Don't rush me," Marcus said angrily as he swatted away the woman's hand. He slowly settled into the passenger seat carefully examining her car with heavy scrutiny.
Once satisfied with his findings he closed the door, behind himself, "I gotta be sure there isn't someone else in here."
"You worry too much Marcus," the woman said playfully as she placed her key into the ignition and turned it, causing her car's engine to begin revving loudly, "just sit tight."
It wasn't long before she was zipping down the street at an uncomfortable speed, the houses and signs that lined the streets all passed by in a blur.
Marcus felt his heart pounding and his body trembling as the woman drove in what Marcus considered to be a reckless manner, despite his fear however, his curiosity was strong.
He noticed that the woman's car was uncharacteristically clean, and the dashboard was one continuous screen with various windows and tabs open, all full of unique charts and what seemed to be reported.
"What's all this stuff?" Marcus asked as he pointed at the dashboard.
The woman glanced at the dashboard and then back onto the road, "just a few readings on local Ether levels and anomalies, boring work stuff."
Her tone was rather serious despite her carefree demeanor just moments ago.
"Anomalies? Ether levels? What the hell are you talking about?" Marcus asked worriedly as he studied the dashboard closely, "Are you like the CIA or something?"
Elissa chuckled softly as she began to slow down, "No, not the CIA, I'm an anomaly corrections officer," she said as she parked in front of a seemingly normal house and turned to face Marcus with a smile, "I hunt down the supernatural."
He couldn't believe his ears, this woman was still going on about the supernatural.
Marcus shook his head as he sighed heavily, "You're still on that shit. You do realize there's no such thing right?."
The woman chuckled, "Don't try and backtrack now Marcus." She said with a grin.
Marcus was having none of it. "Look, just drop me off at the nearest bus stop, I'll walk home from there.
The woman frowned as she leaned back from Marcus, "Well, that's not possible anymore, you know too much."
Marcus raised an eyebrow as his expression grew perplexed, "I know too much?"
"Yep, so it's either join me or," she mimicked a gun with her fingers and aimed it at her head, "bang."
"You can't be serious!" Marcus exclaimed in a panicked voice, "That's murder!"
The woman chuckled as she opened her car door, "Yes, did you also know that the sky is blue?"
"Huh?"
"I thought we were stating the obvious." The woman said with a laugh as she exited the car, "Come on partner, we have a lot to discuss."
Marcus felt a wave of emotions washing over him, ranging from fear to curiosity, it was a lot to take in, and not enough time to digest it.
After a few deep breaths, Marcus exited the car and followed the woman.
The house appeared typical though it was slightly modern compared to the other homes in the area.
It had well a managed lawn, a white picket fence, and a wide porch with three steps, if it wasn't for that lady leading him to this place, he'd probably never even give this place a second thought.
The woman led the way with a bounce in her step, her pink pigtails dancing alongside her. When she finally reached the front door she turned back to Marcus, he was slowly walking forward while staring at the ground.
"Pick up the pace Marcus, or are you really that scared?" The woman said in a challenging tone as she leaned on the front door.
"I'm not scared!" Marcus said defensively, as he forced himself to walk faster, "It's just a lot to take in."
The woman nodded as she unlocked the door, "I'll make it worth your time, I promise."