"Damn it!"
"What is with him?"
"Did he actually think he has a chance at a person who shunned the student council vice president?"
Luca looked outside only to meet the gaze of students scowling at him.
"He is actually not bad-looking tho," a girl said.
"What do you mean?" The boy beside her asked sulkily.
"Tsk! Busy bodies" Luca muttered in annoyance.
"I don't have any time for your frivolity, if you don't have anything to say, you should leave before I report to the librarian," Silvia said coldly without glancing at Luca, Luca who wasn't expecting this flinched, the complaint was meant to be in his thoughts but perhaps he was too irritated and ended up spilling it out.
"I-I'm sorry" he stuttered.
"Mrs Wood!" Silvia glanced up and called out.
Luca flinched. "Hey, Silvia, I said I'm sorry" he whispered impatiently, perhaps he was paranoid and thought Silvia was reporting him.
The Lady who happened to be the librarian came rushing.
"Yes, Miss Silvia, hope everything is alright?" She asked glancing suspiciously at Luca who seemed to be struggling to regain his composure.
"There are some disturbances outside," Silvia said, pointing at the boys who were still gawking.
The lady glanced outside and scowled at the boys, the boys seemed to have guessed the situation and left.
She then turned to Luca.
"You should have been told in the orientation ceremony last week that disturbing students who are reading in the library could lead to suspension right?" She asked Luca with a frown, her arms akimbo.
"Y-yes" he stuttered, even though he didn't attend the ceremony, he now knows better than to cause any disturbance.
With her gaze still on the book, Silvia raised her right hand up in an okay gesture to the lady. The lady nodded and left.
"So what do you need?" She asked and looked up, gazing coldly at Luca.
"Nothing, it has been a long time since we met, and, I was wondering why you looked kinda different," Luca said.
"I don't understand what you mean, indeed, we haven't seen each other since five years ago but I don't think I changed much, I grew like any other kid,...
...and I don't think we should be having this kind of discussion here" she concluded.
"Y-yeah, you are right" Luca stuttered, smiling sheepishly.
"If you would excuse me then" Silvia added turning back to her book.
"Y-yeah, I-I will keep going"
Luca seems to be in a daze,
"Bye then," he said and left.
***
At 13, Crescent Moon Lane, adjacent to Silver Claw Boulevard, after about fifteen minutes of walking, he reached the front and gazed at the complex apartment where he lives.
Luca heaved a sigh.
"Time sure flies" he muttered.
He had been living alone for the past five years, he could remember the evening he and Uncle Silas had moved into the apartment, the evening his loneliness started, after numerous calls to Uncle Silas without response, he had supposedly gone out that evening, that was the first time he met Silvia, but that Silvia seemed so different now.
Where is that smile, where is that lovely expression? What changed her?
Luca thought.
He couldn't fathom what changed her.
At first, when he first saw her in school, he was amazed, having been apart for about five years after Silvia went to study at a middle school abroad, he couldn't fathom how much he missed her.
"I wonder why Uncle Silas had said I should attend Golden Ridge"
He muttered, Luca regained his composure and climbed up the stairs of the three-story inconspicuous apartment complex in which he lived, reaching the corridor, the sound of his steps echoing, the neighbors had yet to return from work.
He entered his room which was apartment B, the second apartment on the top floor.
The room was small but not too cramped, with two doors: one leading to a bathroom half the size of the room on the adjacent side of the window, and the other opening to the corridor of the apartment on the opposite side of the window. The room had an open-concept kitchen at one edge opposite the bathroom door, although Luca rarely cooks. The teenage high schooler lived alone in the cluttered space, where littered chip bags and plastic packages adorned the unkempt floor. In the corner stood a table with books stacked haphazardly on top and a video game console, accompanied by a chair hooked together in the same untidy fashion, a flat-screen TV was hooked to the wall some distance from the table, and a bed at the edge of the room.
Luca was a teenager, fifteen years old to be precise, with a past that shaped him. He lived alone, not working any part-time jobs, yet managing an average highschooler's life. In the ninth grade at Golden Ridge High School, located at 101 Silverclaw Boulevard, the street adjacent to Crescent Moon Lane, he received a monthly allowance from Uncle Silas, his only known relative. Uncle Silas, a professional archeologist, was often far away. As a result, Luca had grown accustomed to living alone.
Changing into casual wear, he landed on the bed, bringing out his phone, he began surfing the internet.
~ Breaking news~
~Numerous disappearances of neighbors.
Were they kidnapped? The police continue the investigation.~
Weird
Luca thought as he scrolled across the newsfeed of the social media platform.
Luca was an ordinary highschooler, who didn't want to have anything to do with weird stuff, except he was actually involved in something weird, although he didn't give it much thought.
It was five years ago when he celebrated his ten-year birthday, a few days before Uncle Silas traveled. Luca had always complained to Uncle Silas about some strands of hair that seemed to dangle over his forehead since he was Eight, the strands of hair dangled rebelliously at the edge of the hair just above his left and right temple, he would have shaved them off close to the skin but that would dishevel his hairstyle and cause temple hair loss for Luca, so he tried to tame it but to no avail.
One day, the day before Luca's tenth birthday, Luca had supposedly gone to have a haircut at a barbershop along Crescent Moon Lane, a few buildings from his house, it all happened that very day...