I ran into Professor Wine as soon as I crossed the secondary gate of the high school; the man reached me, tightening his hands around my arms. I was on the verge of answering superficially when I noticed the professor's worried face and came to my senses as much as possible.
«Adam! Thank goodness you're okay. I won't let you go anywhere alone after this.»
«Professor, I have to reach my sister, please.»
«No, Adam, I'm sorry, but it's for your safety. We all have to stay close together, so you need to get to your classmates immediately», he replied, pointing to an area outside where several faces I recognized were grouped together, «Apparently something serious has happened.»
«I'll stay in the yard, I just have to see how she is. She's with the other students in her class», I lied.
«Oh, if it's here in the yard, that's fine. But you can't leave school at the moment. Or-»
«Government orders?» I asked.
The professor looked at me with an almost shocked face. «Yes…»
«I thought so... thanks», I replied, already starting to turn around, but the professor held my arm.
«Adam, I'll have to stay here at the entrance. I know you're a mature boy, so don't make me regret the liberties I gave you.»
«All right.»
Helius Wine let go of me, and I darted toward the courtyard, taking stock of the information still unknown to the people there. The students stared at me in fear, but I didn't have time to stop to explain the situation.
"The professor only knew that something serious had happened, but he didn't seem to be aware of anything else, it was probably the shock of the shake caused by the crash that worried him. The phones aren't working yet, otherwise Leon would have already called me by now. What's the matter? Is this about not leaving school? They stopped us students from going out to avoid going to the streets? This means that the workers are also stuck in their offices. And why the professor didn't mention the asteroid?"
Before I knew it, I slammed into the door of the women's locker room. The pain in my teeth brought me back to reality, putting all those thoughts out of my head. The door opened when I was already on the ground, Sarah's head carefully popped out and looked around before noticing that I was lying down.
«What happened?»
«I… bumped into the door», I replied, touching my lips gently.
«What an idiot, come in.»
I followed my sister into the changing room, I noticed how she had changed, preferring a dark gray crop top covered by an oversized white jacket to the classic “shirt and jacket” of the school uniform. Sarah pulled up her black stockings and turned towards me for a moment; her index finger ran through her black hair, twisting it, a sign that she was showing off a false tranquility. I touched my teeth with one hand; unexpectedly my canine tooth had chipped, but I realized it too late. With a nod of pain, I removed my finger from my mouth and saw a cut on the pad of my finger.
«Are you bleeding?» my sister asked leaning towards me.
«Yes, I cut myself», I replied, showing her my hand.
«You’re stupid! Wait here!»
Sarah reached her locker to get a handkerchief and took the opportunity to gather her short hair into a small pigtail, leaving only her brunette bangs to cover that spacious forehead that she had hated since birth.
«You really had to be my brother, huh?»
I took a quick look around for my sister's friend, «Didn't you say that Iri-» but my voice was drowned out in an instant.
«Sarah, where's the shirt?»
I felt the temperature suddenly increase the moment I met Irina's gaze, my sister's friend had undressed and was holding the school uniform in her hands, covering her only: black stockings; the classic red and black checked skirt typical of the women's uniform; a pink bra. For a single second, the idea of the asteroid and the crash seemed nothing more than vague, illusory memories. That sight had distracted me and that was a good thing, otherwise I would have ended up needlessly despairing about that situation. I stood paralyzed watching her as she quickly covered herself with her shirt; the few strands dyed blonde ended up in front of the girl's eyes, but I still saw her red cheeks.
«Adam...!»
I slowly turned my torso until my back was to her, remaining in solemn silence. Sarah turned and was about to laugh but refrained so as not to increase the embarrassment; she went into friendly-protective mode instead.
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«Stupid brother! Here's your handkerchief, now go away!»
I saw her reach me and start pushing towards the exit, «I need to talk-»
«Well, you have to go out!»
At that point, my sister's friend decided to give me the final blow, «Sick.»
«Irina, I didn't mean to see-» I tried to apologize but it seemed useless.
«Goodbye, pervert!»
I was suddenly thrown out and, before I knew it, the door was closed in my face. I sat on the steps sighing, and the negative thoughts came back to haunt my mind. In the end, I hadn't said a word to my sister or Professor Helius Wine; they didn't even have any idea about the meteorite, they didn't know about the crash or the mysterious barrier. My knee had started to throb, a sign that the adrenaline in my body had now run out. I was struggling to breathe even though I was trying to stay calm. In that moment of difficulty, it was my angel of light-heartedness who offered help. Leon appeared a few centimeters from my face with his usual smile on his face; I instinctively pulled back, ending up hitting the wall.
«I see I scared you. This is what you earn when you ignore my messages!»
I stifled the urge to retreat further, «Leon!»
«Adam, is everything okay?»
«I…» the crash scene appeared before my eyes again, «Yes… yes, I'm fine.»
My friend didn't seem to be very convinced, but he didn't say anything.
«Anyway, the phones aren't working, have you noticed?» I replied to distract him, put my hand in my pocket and showed the turned off screen.
«Ah!» he snapped his fingers, «Now that makes sense!»
«What do you mean?«
«About ten minutes ago, I was going up the stairs and I accidentally dropped my phone, because obviously there was an earthquake. I thought something was broken because it wouldn't turn on, at least now I know why!»
«And isn't that more of a concern in this case?» I sighed and shook my head, «Forget it, are you still on the roof?»
He had mentioned the earthquake so they must have felt something, even though they hadn't seen the asteroid crash. How such a thing was possible was still a mystery to me.
«Yeah, I came to get you!» Leon replied, offering a hand to lift me up, «You sure had a good run around the yard.»
«I was looking for my sister, but they kicked me out.»
«Girls, they will always remain a mystery to us.»
I nodded with a grimace, «Let's go to the others.»
So we walked towards the external stairs of the building to join my other classmates on the roof. Lying on the ground were my friends; the only one up was the last one to join the group, who we thought was slightly strange but nice. It was he who noticed us first: «It took you some time.»
«Yes, our dear A. was busy with his future girlfriend» Leon replied, nudging me lightly.
Upon hearing those words, chaos erupted. My friends smirked and looked at me curiously. The first to start the conversation again was the boy on my left: D. The credit for these nicknames went to Leon who, one day, had had this idea of calling us using only our initials; since then it had become a fundamental rule of our group.
«Obviously Irina. Did I guess right?»
D. looked at me with his blue eyes, as if asking for a sign of certainty, but was interrupted by M, the boy sitting with his back against the wall, too busy finishing his giant sandwich to look up.
«I think he should have asked her out.»
«You should stop eating, M, otherwise you'll never lose weight», Leon retorted ironically.«I lost a pound last week, L!»
«Will you ever stop?» I asked rhetorically.
For a moment, I managed to stem the argument between Leon and M, those two were always the ones who ended up insulting each other for no apparent logical reason, just for the fun of being able to say the wrong things without fear of any repercussions; after all we were friends, so we always ended up forgiving each other. Meanwhile, T, who had just gotten up, smiled at me as his brown curls blew in the wind, and answered my question.
«Get together with her and we'll stop.»
«Look, instead of talking about this, there's something more important we need to talk about.»
Leon looked at me confused, «That is?»
I weighed how to answer the question when attention was drawn away from me.
«Hey, the sky is different today, it's quiet.» commented the boy still standing.
Everyone, including me, set our gaze on the last member of our group, the boy with black hair and marine eyes did not take his eyes off the sky. His name was Axel Hawk, a model student and from a rather wealthy family. Contrary to a common prejudice, Axel was a very reserved and not at all arrogant person; he preferred to use his money when it was really necessary.
After that statement, obviously, my companions burst out laughing. M. dropped the chips he was holding, rolling his eyes:
«Oh no, here he goes acting weird again.»
«Seriously M, it's important-»
Leon immediately rushed to our friend's aid, opening his arms wide as if he were hugging a giant being. When I looked at his smiling face, I saw a hint of something, a negative emotion.
«But he's right! Take A, he never sees the sky because he says he hates it, but look at this!» he positioned himself exactly in front of all of us, pointing upwards, «The sky is like a large canvas that unites us all, we share it with each other and it makes us feel less alone. Think about it! We are all under the same sky.»
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That fateful day I noticed the sadness in Leon's eyes. I would have loved to know what that look meant then and I curse myself for having been such a useless friend. I should have recognized what those words meant; I, of all people, had known Leon since we were children.
I had to realize how he really was.
"My last thoughts are with you, my friend. We will meet again soon. I feel like my skin is on fire. What if you don't want this? Would you prefer me to continue fighting now that it's all over? You know well that there's no 'It's no one else here."
I close my eyes so as not to see the light and make me disappear, but everything goes black; the pain disappears and now I feel slightly cold. I get up with difficulty and with blurred vision. After a while I notice that my enemy is still there, still like a statue. His attack probably missed me.
"You don't want to see me die, do you?"
Those are the words that go through my mind.
"How cruel. You really don't want to let me rest. What of you, you're always the same."
I grip my weapon again, sure that I would be able to keep alive that promise made years ago now. I start running towards the Horror again with clarity. As I do so, I notice a strange figure on the building behind the being. The appearance is that of a man, but he wears a Horror mask. Yet I am certain that I am the last human being on the face of the earth. So a question arises and I repeat it in my mind, losing attention on the sentient machine.
"What are you?"