Alex sat at the table with his face rested in his palm, silently twirling the dry school-made pasta alfredo around the prongs of his fork and stomaching it with a hesitant bite. As he looked up across the table, he watched as the courageous Taber Black scarfed it all down without a second thought. He looked back to his tray, poking at the somewhat stiff mass of slop, until he finally uttered the question that had been far from resting at the back of his mind.
"So," Alex began. "Why do you always insist on pulling me away from that kind of stuff?"
Taber peered up at him, having just finished slamming a carton of milk. "What, from Kyle? Why do you insist on butting in? I was merely saving your ass before it got canned."
"Sure," Alex mumbled.
"I mean, it's not that I don't want to bust his mug. I do. But guys like us don't really stand much of a chance against guys like that."
Alex agreed apprehensively and placed the 'food' into his mouth. As he did, they were suddenly surprised by the same girl from before, sitting down at their table. They traded glances with each other, then peered back at her.
After a brief period of silence, Taber finally spoke up. "Hey... you good?"
"I am," she began. It came to his mind that Alex had never actually heard her voice. It was like silk, with a softness akin to a nurturing mother. It was quiet enough to make you want to lean in to hear exactly what she was saying, but just strong enough to make it audible. "Listen," She continued before reverting her attention to Alex. "Thanks back there."
"Don't mention it," he began. "Kyle seemed to get worse whenever I stopped talking to him, so I almost feel responsible for it all."
"I see," she said, gazing down at her food.
Taber felt the awkwardness in the air and decided to change the subject. "So, what's your name?"
She looked over to him and gave a shy smile. "My name is Emily. Emily West."
"Nice to meet you," Alexander said. "My name is Alex Young."
"Taber Black."
After they'd introduced themselves, it felt as if the ice had melted. Surprisingly fast, at that. The three of them spent the rest of the lunch period talking about whatever random topic came to mind. Emily wasn't the most talkative of the three, but to Alex, it was nice to actually see her talking.
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As Taber closed the door behind him that afternoon, he'd announced through the hallway, "Mom! I'm home!" He took off his shoes and placed them in the cubby placed beside the doorframe and stepped off of the welcome mat.
His mother rounded the corner, leaving the doorway to the living room as her green eyes sparkled with her smile. "Welcome home, sweetie." She gave him a brief hug and turned back around, heading to the kitchen that lay just past the doorway at the end of the hall. "I'm finishing up dinner, did you want anything in particular?"
"Not really, I'm not picky," Taber said, sliding the straps of the backpack off his shoulder and setting them on the ground. His mother nodded as she disappeared behind the wall.
His mother, Kate, was a single mother with honey-bronze skin and long dirty-blonde hair she'd usually wear in a waterfall braid that draped over her right shoulder onto her white blouse, a hairstyle that felt like it belonged in a fantasy show. Despite being a single mother, the house was almost always spotless, the hardwood floor gleaming as if it had just been installed and the walls white as porcelain.
When it was just the two of them, Kate was very casual. But whenever they had company over, as rare as that was, she carried herself with elegance and poise, almost like a noblewoman hosting her guests.
Taber made his way into the kitchen, where Kate was placing some breaded chicken onto two plates and then picking them up to set them onto the dining table. As Taber sat down, they began eating. Her voice was comforting and soothing as she asked him about his day and explained the details of hers. Cleaning, mostly. The fact that she always did this while he was gone and couldn't help out bothered Taber, and what bothered him even more is that after cleaning and making dinner, she'd eat for a bit, and then do just as she was doing now.
She got up, straightened the belt on her black slacks, threw on her purse and kissed him goodbye as she drifted swiftly out the door to her job as an evening waitress at a restaurant a few blocks away.
From there, Taber sat poking at the last two pieces of chicken on his plate, wondering why she never tried to meet anybody else after his father abandoned them. At least then, she'd have some help during the day.
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Alex entered his room that night as the moonlight poured in through the blinds, painting his room a cool hue. He threw his shirt onto the floor and sat on the edge of the bed, peering down at his phone as he pressed the power button. '19:54.' He unlocked the phone and tapped the call icon next to his father's name and pressed the phone to his ear. One buzz. Two buzzes. Three buzzes. By the time it had hit the seventh buzz, he had pulled the phone away from his ear, until he heard a faint, "Little Dude! What's going on?"
Alex returned the earpiece to where it was. "Hey! Dad!" he said, relieved to hear his voice. "I'm glad you made it to Japan safely.
"Actually," his father, Eric, interjected, "I'm on a layover in Alaska. Won't be making it to Tokyo until noon tomorrow."
"I see."
"So anyway," Eric continued. "How was your first day as a Sophomore? I'm... sorry I didn't get to see you off."
"No, Dad, it's fine. It was... alright, I guess. Got to hang with Taber, made a new friend-" Before he could finish, his father shot a question.
"Any issues with that Kyle kid?" His father inquired. "Just know if you need to pop him in the jaw, do it."
Alex leaned forward. "Dad."
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"What? Back in my day, it's fair game if he starts it."
"I got it." Alex shifted his body, bringing himself back onto the bed that he was slipping off of. There were a few seconds of silence on the other end of the line, until his voice rang out again.
"So anyway, who's your new friend," Eric asked.
"Her name is Emily."
He heard a somewhat distorted 'woo-ing' from his father's side of the call. "Got a lady friend?"
Pulling the phone away from his ear, Alexander shot the phone a quick side-eye. "Dad."
"Hey, buddy, I'm kidding," Eric chuckled. With the worse aspects of that day surfacing in Alex's mind that late at night, his father's light laughter was refreshing. "Anyway," he continued. "I'm going to try to catch some sleep before my next flight. I love you."
Alex reciprocated as the line disconnected shortly after. He sat on the bed, his eyes trained on the phone's black screen. He finally connected his phone to the charger, tossed it onto the bed next to him, threw up his feet and rolled over as the world around him went dark.
And once again, without fail, that same dream replayed itself that night.
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The next morning, Alex sat in first period writing an assignment for Mr. Deck's class. He'd always enjoyed the space aspect of science, but chemistry was kicking his ass. Maybe, he thought, I wouldn't be having such a hard time if I didn't stare out the window so often, but I guess that's just going to have to be a problem for future me to handle.
A few minutes and a Google search later, he'd answered the question just in time for Emily to walk up to his desk. "Hey," she greeted, her voice soft as velvet.
"Hey, Emily," Alex greeted back, "what's up?"
"I just needed a familiar face." She brushed a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face back into place behind her ear. They held for a moment in silence until her voice sounded again. "Do you watch anime?"
Alex lit up. "Oh, hell yeah!" She pulled up a seat as they talked about a few different topics regarding a couple of the latest shows when a few minutes into the conversation, a thought came to his mind.
"Hey, you know," Alex began, "Taber and I were going to go to the arcade after school and then hit my place to watch the newest episode, if you care to join us."
She thought for a moment, with each second making him realize more and more what it sounded like he'd just said. Needless to say, it was all he had to stop himself from visibly cringing at his blunder. However to his surprise, she'd responded softly, "My parents won't mind."
Alex immediately took her hand and shook it. "Sweet! Then welcome to the crew of misfits, Em!"
His action took her by surprise at first until she laughed it off and nodded. "Great to be here!" Her voice was much less soft-spoken and sounded just a hair more lively than usual. Shortly after, the bell rang and Alex picked up his stuff. He told her he'd see her that afternoon and they went their separate ways.
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On the way to the arcade, Alex and Taber were bantering over a game they were trying to beat each other at while Emily trailed behind them. During their back-and-forth, Alexander's phone began playing his father's ringtone. He checked to confirm, then faced the others. "Hey, keep going, I gotta take this."
"Your dad?" Asked Taber. Alexander nodded. Taber told him they'd see him inside and as the two headed into the arcade across the street, Alex tapped the green 'answer' button and pressed the phone to his ear, trying to get a response from the other end.
"Damn it, Dad," He cursed, ending the call and putting the phone away. Probably butt-dialed me again. As he turned around to head inside, Alex felt a chill roll down his spine as he slowed to a cautious halt. Whatever it was, it felt like he was being watched.
As he turned around, he caught sight of something peculiar. Just across the road from Alex stood a fair-skinned young man who appeared no older than him. He was leaning with his back against the bus shelter. The young man's snow-white hair fell just above his eyebrows, and his pale-blue eyes were trained on Alex, piercing his soul like daggers. Okay... Alexander thought, unsettled. He turned around in an attempt to walk away, when he heard a noise behind him. He swiveled back around, searching for the origin of the sound, but instead he'd noticed something even stranger.
The young man had disappeared without a trace.
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As they walked up the cracked sidewalk that evening, Taber's smile refused to fade as he boasted, "Make that four days in a row!"
Alex chuckled in response, waving his arm back and forth. "I get it, I get it! You won again."
They trudged up the hill, then Emily turned to Alex, her eyes almost as jet-black as her hair in the dim evening light. "So, how far away are we?"
"Almost there. Just a couple more blocks." Alex replied. After the sun had set and the moon hid itself behind the clouds, they'd made it to the corner of a wall that separated the neighbors' backyards from the road and made a right turn down Alexander's street. He saw a familiar tree just a couple dozen feet away that mildly jutted out onto the sidewalk, marking the house just next to his.
As he pointed it out to Emily, the silhouettes of three figures revealed themselves from the other side of the trunk. As the clouds dissipated, the full moon revealed their identities: Kyle Quinn and his buddies were waiting for them.
Kyle began stepping up to Alex with a chilling intensity. "'Sup, shrimp?" Before he could react, Kyle punched Alex in the face, and a knee slammed into his stomach with a force that knocked the air out of his lungs as Alexander gasped for air. Falling onto his back, his vision was akin to a kaleidoscope. Alex felt at his nose, a thick warm fluid greeting his fingers.
"ALEX!" Taber shouted, rushing to his friend's aid. Taber got a decent punch in before Kyle struck him in the ribs with a right-hook and followed through with a swift headbutt. Taber stumbled back, hitting the ground.
Alex placed his hand on the cold concrete and tried to kneel, but Kyle's voice growled, "stay down, runt!" Alexander's body rolled over as Kyle's foot pushed him off-balance.
Emily beheld the scene before her in fear and began to backpedal as one of Kyle's friends made his way to her. Catching a glance at Alex and Taber groaning, sprawled out on the sidewalk, Emily imagined the same thing was about to happen to her, and out of pure instinct, she turned her body away and shielded her face, bracing for impact.
But after a couple of moments, nothing happened. She removed her hands from her vision to see that he had seemingly vanished into thin air. Just as surprised as her were Kyle and the guy to his right. "Craig," Kyle's partner called out, "where the hell did you go, man?!" After a moment, a hushed icy voice cut through the darkness as Emily flinched, peering behind her.
"You must feel powerful," he said. "Beating up those without experience." In the shadow of a tree just down the sidewalk, a young man walked. His stride was intimidatingly calm. His pure-white hair shimmered in the moonlight, and the only thing that seemed to glow brighter were his eyes. An icy-aqua hue that reflected his very demeanor. Cold. If one didn't know better, it could have been mistaken for bloodlust. Emily's stomach dropped, steadily.
"I wonder, however," he continued, his tone as calm and intimidating as his stride. "How would a weakling like you..." His figure revealed itself in full as he stepped into the moonlight, his blue coat reaching just past his waist, the design almost royal. The expression painted on his face was stern. "...fare against someone like me?"
Her attention was swiftly turned away from the stranger as Kyle let out a chuckle. "You? Alright, then kid. I'll put you in your place." Kyle threw a jab at him. The stranger redirected it and, in the same fluid motion, used Kyle's momentum against him, slamming his forearm into his neck as Kyle grunted in pain.
He went for a kick before the young man grabbed his leg, taking Kyle off-balance as he landed square on his back, letting out a sharp exhale. The stranger stepped closer and slammed his heel into Kyle's meaty chest as he wheezed, his fist slamming into the ground. He kept his heel pressed into his sternum as Kyle flailed in pain. Emily finally dragged her vision away from the scene in time to see Alex and Taber get up, beholding the sight along with her.
"You were hardly worth my time..." The stranger removed his heel and began to step away as Kyle gasped and wheezed, choking for air. Emily gazed at him in disbelief.
"Who... who are you?" She asked, her voice trembling much more than she had originally expected. He turned to her, his blue eyes shimmering like topaz as he gazed at her with the same stern expression.
"Get inside. Then we'll talk."