The moment they got to the bathroom doors, Matthew jerked forward and grabbed the hall pass from Rebecca and hastily stumbled with unlocking the door. The instant it was open, he shoved her inside and then rushed in right behind her. “Quiet!”, he warned her, as he turned and inserted the key back into the lock and made certain it was fastened behind them.

Using the opportunity to put some room between them, Rebecca dashed around the small corner to the main area and rushed past the sinks and stalls to where the urinals and windows were. A quick glance was enough to show that there wasn’t anyone in the bathroom itself, except for the two of them, but she was hoping if she could perhaps get a window open then she could motion to someone outside for help. Unfortunately, however, the windows in the bathroom were solid and didn’t open like the ones in the classrooms did. When the school had added the locks to the bathroom doors, they also had swapped out the windows --- apparently for some “security reason”, though Rebecca didn’t think being trapped in here now made her feel any more secure.

“Wha… what do you want?”, she shakily asked as Matthew slowly walked into the room and started to open the door on each of the stalls and look inside to make certain they were empty.

“Only a single class zero spawn point in here,” he mumbled half to himself, before turning and holding both hands up in front of his chest to show he didn’t mean any harm. “Look, Becca, we’ve only got a few minutes left. Give me a chance to explain what I can, while I can.” Staring off into space once again, he finally tucked the broken half of the scissors he was holding back into his pocket.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Matthew offered. “Listen to me for five minutes, and then just sit in here and give me five minutes to either prove what I’m saying is true or not, and then I’ll let you go and you can get the nurse, or the cops, or whoever the hell you want after that, as it’s obvious that I’m actually as damn crazy as everyone says I must be.”

“Fi.. five minutes?”, Rebecca stuttered, being certain to keep as much distance between them as possible. “Fine. I’ll give you five minutes. Start talking,’ she demanded.

“Five minutes to explain, and then five minutes to wait and see if I’m right or if I’m crazy,” Matthew insisted.

“Fine,” Rebecca agreed, feeling as if she didn’t really have any choice in the matter. “You have ten minutes then. You better start talking.”

Slowly Matthew ran his hands through the tangled mess that was his hair. Taking a deep breath, he finally let out a long sigh and then sat down with his back against the wall, so that he could stare into one of the bathroom stalls. “Look, I know everyone says I’m crazy, but I’m not,” he started, never taking his eyes from whatever invisible object that seemed to have his almost undivided attention.

“The world isn’t like we’ve always been taught,” he warned, softly. “Those laws of physics, reality, and all that junk which they teach us in science class is just man’s stupid attempts at trying to fool ourselves into thinking that we know how things work. As a group, we don’t know shit. Perhaps we used to at one time, but we’ve gotten stupid and arrogant. We think we’ve found all the answers, when we haven’t even been asking the right questions all along.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Wh… What the hell are you talking about,” Rebecca asked, as she moved to make certain to place the sinks between the two of them.

“Ha!” Matthew barked a single loud burst of laughter and then slowly shook his head from side to side. “In my head, I’ve went over this moment a million times – though will Kristy instead of you,” he explained as he finally looked around to stare up at Rebecca. “I always imagined that I’d say things just perfect, that she wouldn’t even have any questions afterwards, and then she’d sit and stare big-eyed and in awe and ask me to take care of her and keep her safe. Maybe I really am crazy,” he muttered, slowly shaking his head from side to side.

Rebecca simply stood and never said a word, as she constantly shifted her gaze back and forth between where he was sitting and to where the door and safety awaited outside. She kept hoping that someone else would come along, find them together inside, and then go get help so this whole mess would end soon.

“Let’s try it like this,” Matthew said, as he slowly stood back up and then pulled the broken half of the scissors back out of his pocket. “I’m just going to tell a story, and you’re going to listen to it. ‘Kay?”

“I… I’m listening,” Rebecca whispered, as she tried to be as non-threatening as she possibly could make herself.

“Once upon a time,” Matthew began, “there was a black nothingness that was simply the Void. For whatever reason, after an endless eternity, the Void cracked open and the Gods came to be.” Taking a brief moment to stare back off into space, Matthew jerked his attention back to the bathroom stall before he started talking once again.

“We’ve been taught that there’s one God – and some people even think He’s just a myth – but everyone’s wrong. Zeus was real. Odin was real. Thor, Hercules, Hera, Hades, and countless other gods live and exist amongst us. Countless beings of unimaginable strength exist and set the rules for our reality,” Matthew said, a weak smile slowly crooking the corner of his face. “They’ve been playing games with us since we first came into existence – after all, we’re just game pieces in their contests,” Matthew laughed.

“The thing is,” he explained, never taking his gaze from the bathroom stall now, “they finished their last game a few millennia ago and the winner took the title of ‘One True God’. The others were forced to leave the world alone for now -- as their pieces were removed from the game – and we fell into this stupid belief that they never really existed. The problem is, we were wrong,” Matthew continued. “All those other gods are still out there. They’ve just been coming up with a new game strategy, making new pieces for the game, and they’ve been preparing for the contest to start once again.”

“And you… You think the gods are playing some sort of game?”, Rebecca asked softly.

“They aren’t yet,” Matthew answered, with a half chuckle, “but they will be soon.” Looking over, he half smirked as he started to count down. “In ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.”

Hesitantly, Rebecca began to glance left and right, wondering what Matthew was going to do next, since nothing seemed to change even though his imaginary timer had run out.