Chapter 2: Bright Lights

A killer glare from the sun had struck all the houses in the housing district and it almost felt like the morning was getting hotter, almost comparable to the noon of a day. It was almost like the middle of summer again right at dawn. Only a couple hours of ago was it cold but now the exceedingly sweaty Ned and Connor with his shirt off staggered their way back to Ned's house.

"Jesus Christ, what's happening… an hour ago it was cold as hell and now it's burning like fire," said Connor. "I can't tolerate this weather pattern, I just can't, it feels like my skin is burning and then peeling, I feel like I'm being steamed in a cooker or something."

"I agree with you, this is hot and my cut stings," said Ned shutting his eyes tightly for a second whilst continuing to follow the staggering Connor.

"Y'know what they should do to this, island, they should make like an island wide air con system and then everything would be fine, I mean they created an artificial island and all, is it so hard to create an air con, it's annoying that they can't think of something so simple," said Connor while spinning his shirt for perhaps a wisp of cold air.

It appeared that they weren't the only people to feel like this as very few people were out of their houses, they were no doubt inside blasting their air conditioners at the lowest possible Celsius.

At long last finally Ned's house was in sight.

"Should we just enter through the front, in this dire heat I'd be surprised if your sister notices you, let alone your cut and please let's just show up at school late today, better yet actually let's not turn up at all, let's sit in your house and blast all air cons in there at the lowest temp, this heatwave's killing me and I've never even heard of a heatwave just suddenly making an appearance," said Connor as he struggled to Ned's front gates and leaned against it and the scalding heat made him struggle to keep himself from falling down.

"Don't think that would be an option, though it'd be great if it was but seriously, d'you think I should just go in front door or what?" asked Ned looking slightly nervous and excellently drenched.

"Look at the heat, your fence is made of metal to climb, in this heat and a metal fence, you'd be lucky if a third degree burn is all you get, seriously I feel the searing heat even now passing through my clothes, its literally burning me but I can't stay up if I don't lean like this so still just staying, for god's sake man, just go in through the front," said Connor sighing as he leaned further back against the gates and positioned his body so he didn't receive as much heat.

"Fine, yeah sure, why not," said Ned slightly agitated. "No problem, I got to face this like a man."

"That'll be the day," snorted Connor looking and Ned gives him a blistering look which he does not notice.

Ned pushes the gates and Connor gives a short cry before collapsing on his back and he snickers at the upturned Connor staring directly up at the sun.

"You…complete and utter ass, I'm literally burning my back off now and my face, seriously why can't the sun just give us the light and stuff up the heat or something, I give up, just help me up here man," said Connor raising his hand whilst using his other to shield his face.

"You deserved that one," said Ned as he brought his arm forth and grasped Connor's arm and raised him up.

Connor stood up and Ned went over to door and pushed it open to feel a wave of cold which instantly calmed him down.

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"Oh my god, I'm in heaven, I'm in literal heaven," said Connor spreading his arms out wide as he pushed Ned in. "Seriously, there's no need for even angels, this cold is fine."

Saying this he entered and closed the door then slumped against it giving a satisfied look.

"I can die happy, knowing that I felt this way," said Connor as he closes his eyes and enjoys the atmosphere.

Ned's house itself wasn't that big, it looked normal enough at least but interiors were all new but then again having it built several months ago, nothing less was expected.

"Yeah that feels good," said Ned feeling extremely comfortable until he heard footsteps coming down from upstairs.

"Ned, is that you?" called out a voice that came down the stairs.

His sister arrived at the landing of the stairs and looked at both of them and Ned had his back turned to them. His sister looked around the same as him but with more delicate features where as his was all sharp. Her hair was let loose and she wore her work suit.

"Ye–yeah it's me sis," stuttered Ned as he wondered what would happen if she saw the bandage on his head.

"I'm here too Ned's sis," said Connor from the floor.

"What are you doing here, Connor and don't tell me you of all people were jogging as well, because jogging itself is hard enough for you but with this heat?" Kathleen voiced out her disbelief.

"Yeah, the heatwave pretty much killed me, I've done enough jogging to last me several years now actually," said Connor and he added on as an afterthought. "How are you Ned's sis?"

"I'm fine Connor but have you ever thought of changing the way address me, Ned's sis is not very comforting," said Kathleen as she fumbled further with her tie.

"Right Ned, am a little busy now, breakfast is on the table, and get to school on time, I'll see you," said Kathleen appearing behind Ned and turning him around, she kissed him on the cheek and moved back when she noticed his bandage.

"That's a new addition," she said frowning and Ned felt his heart sink as he looked Connor.

Connor took a little longer to discover the cue and he stood and bounded across and in a few steps he was next to Ned.

"It's just a light scratch sis, not even hurting very much," said Ned smiling awkwardly as he lied straight out.

"Really, a light scratch, I can see the blood showing through the bandage…" started Kathleen and she seemed slightly upset.

"Let me reinterpret it for you Ned's sis," said Connor sighing and also slightly shaking for some reason and Ned felt strange. "What he means by light is hard and by scratch he means a gash, in other words he hit his head very hard against a brick wall and he's right, it didn't hurt much, how could it when he was nearly fainting."

"Oh my god," gasped Kathleen and she looked horrified. "Are you alright, tell me exactly what happened."

"It was a car–, "started Ned but stopped when Kathleen gasped. "Don't worry it didn't hit me, I dived out of the way and happened to hit my head, it's all fine now and Connor snorted to the side.

"Yeah obviously, if it had hit you, she'd be seeing you under very different circumstances Ned," said Connor interrupting.

"Shut up for a moment will you…" said Ned giving Connor the evil eye and he raised his hands and backed off.

"I thought you were going jogging, not car dodging," said Kathleen raising her voice slightly.

"Look Ned's sis, you have every right to be angry with him, I mean he was acting a little stupid," said Connor in an understanding way. "I mean not a little stupid but so completely stupid, I mean who the hell runs at the full speed down a hill anyway…"

Connor just then noticed the slightly horrified look Kathleen was giving Ned and the completely horrifying look that Ned was giving so he changed tact.

"Look, the point is, nothing too bad happened and it wasn't his fault anyhow, the car just came at full speed and it was Jason Hailing, so we can't completely blame the car either."

"You mean that boy, from Ebony Street?" asked Kathleen frowning and Ned nodded.

"Yeah, he just came at me fast and was about to run me over, the guy is completely crazy."

"It's fine now right?" asked Kathleen concerned as she went to touch the wound and Ned dodged back.

"Yeah totally fine, there's no problem, I'm feeling picture perfect, not a problem at all," said Ned displaying a charming false smile.

Connor snorted and said under his breath. "Aside from nearly fainting there's nothing wrong at all."

This earned him a kick in the back of the leg from Ned which had him wince and Ned looked at him precariously which forced him to put in a false smile as well. Kathleen frowned again looking at Ned's bandaged head.

"Ned's sis, you've gotta be going now, don't you, you'll be late for work otherwise," said Connor pointing at the clock.

At this point Ned's sister too looked at the clock at which point afterwards she shrieked.

"Oh god, Ned, Connor, both you boys get yourself to school on time and behave, I'll see you later," said Kathleen as she rushed for her handbag on the couch and ran to car porch in her high heels.

"Thanks man, you really helped," said Ned. "You were going on all about keeping it a secret, funny how you changed tact."

"I don't know where you were looking when she came in, but I saw her and she gave me the evil eye, there was nothing I could do, she would've skinned me alive," said Connor shivering as he thought back to that moment when unknown to Ned she looked downright scary straight at Connor. "I felt like my soul just left on a leave."

"I did not see that," said Ned looking at him shocked. "When the hell did this happen, holy shit man, I am so sorry."

"I as you friend am expected to do at least this much," said Connor shaking head. "But my legs are still shaking."

Ned looked down at Connor's legs and funnily and scarily enough he could actually see it, the slight shiver running up Connor's legs and feeling this he himself felt a chill run down his back. He had not seen that terrifying evil eye, he didn't know what was more frightening, the fact that she did it so hidden and silently or the fact that a look of hers could scare the living daylights out of his friend. He shook his head clearing it off unnecessary thoughts.

"You gonna get home or what, need to change for school man, oh and don't forget breakfast," said Ned looking down at Connor on his couch.

"Hmmm, I just feel like lying here and passing out," said Connor smiling blissfully.

"Really, should I tell your uncle that?" asked Ned at which point Connor sat up abruptly and his smile faded.

"No…oh shit no," said Connor gasping as he got off the couch and ran for the door. "Ned, buy me a six-foot casket and a nice gravesite, and respect my dead body, I'm thinking a white tux, I am so dead."

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Connor rushed away after saying that leaving Ned to shake his head stupidly. Anyhow Ned went upstairs and stood in an absolute cold shower for around five minutes after which he grabbed the uniform for school from his cupboard and made his way back to the bathroom. Hailing Isle Public School's uniform consisted off a blue blazer with red that ran across its collar and down with school emblem and slogan on the pocket on the left, this went along with a red tie with blue stripes, the shirt itself was white with again the school emblem and slogan on the pocket on the left. The pants itself was grey-black and you were supposed to wear black shoes. In the previous schools Ned went to no uniform was necessary, just free dress but now in this one, Ned found the uniform extremely constricting and also the fact that right now a heatwave was occurring outside. Ned looked through his window outside and as he did so he saw something strange happening almost like the sun outside was getting brighter. The heat then permeated inside the house and he felt it, it was completely negating the air conditioner's effects, and it got hotter. The sun turned brighter further and it was almost like it was going to explode and the heat was becoming near unbearable. It was almost like Ned was standing inside a steaming volcano, his skin was tingling and burning.

"What in the name?" gasped Ned as he showed visible discomfort and started sweating in drops again. "What the hell's happening."

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He dropped the school uniform he was going to change into as he felt to his knees. Even his insides were burning up now, it was like he was being boiled.

"Ahhh, god, I'm gonna die," Ned gasped out as he clawed at his chest.

He looked up at the sun and the light filled the entire sky, it was too bright to even look at and at that point he had a feeling of combusting as the heat became unbearable and he fell to his side and closed his eyes. Ned speared in space of vast darkness now, he was most surely dead, the heat from the sun had combusted him into flames and even now his body was most likely burning up. It was only for a moment that he saw the darkness until something pulled on him, the very suction force of it was powerful, like he was something small that it was sucking in. Finally, after catapulting through the darkness it was like he was brought back to where he belongs and he opened his eyes gasping and saw a white ceiling.

"Heaven…?" he queried but then he sighted Hailing Isle Public School's uniform next to him, surely no heaven would have H.I.P.S's school uniform.

"What the hell happened?" he asked to himself again as he got up and looked out at the sun, it was fine now, it had dimmed and there was no abysmally scalding heat anymore.

"A dream maybe," said Ned, either that or the knock on the head had made him go mad and he was inclined to believe his first option. "Yeah, it should be that, but it was more like a nightmare, combusting into flames isn't the most pleasant death."

He shivered again as he thought about how he had felt the heat, the unbearably scalding heat, he couldn't even breathe properly. He picked up the uniform and looked at the time and it showed 8:20 AM and he frowned scratching his head. He had looked at the time and it was 7:55 AM last time he had checked and that after coming out of the shower, it felt like time had skipped forwards without him. It was like he had lost around twenty-five minutes, surely he could not have taken that long searching for his school uniform, yet that was the only possible explanation unless he actually went and passed out for around near twenty-five minutes, a terrifying thought. He shook his head as he looked at the time again, 8:20 and his heart skipped a beat…school. He was going to be late for school and hadn't even ate breakfast yet.

"Oh my god, I'm so screwed," he shouted as he rushed to the bathroom with his uniform and hurriedly threw them on and then went down for breakfast.

He found a rather large bacon muffin and milk waiting for him. He gulped down the milk and grabbed the bacon muffin and it brought a tear to his eyes. He couldn't even enjoy the bacon muffin. He went upstairs and threw several books into a bag and took the money his sister kept near his lamp and rushed down wolfing his bacon muffin along the way.

"Dammit, this day has been screwy with me since the moment I woke up," as he came down the stairs he slipped on third last step with a bag full of books on his back and he fell forwards.

His eyes widened as he crashed into the stairs and expected the pain but nothing came, he felt as fine as before. Either he didn't fall as hard or he was strangely more durable than before but then he looked at his muffin laying on the carpet next to him and he shut his eyes in agony.

"No…no…no." He wept for it like a dead relative, it was his breakfast, he couldn't enjoy it and now he couldn't even eat it.

"My day just keeps getting worse," muttered Ned as he got up with his bag and picked up the muffin and nibbled on the ends of it, maybe of the carpet was clean he could eat it without bothering but it had been two weeks since the carpet had even been cleaned, it was a loss for him.

He then looked at the time again and it kept skipping ahead without him. He bit back several curse words and chucked his muffin in the bin and then put on his shoes and wandered outside expecting the abysmal heat but what he was met with the relatively warm almost cool temperature he was accustomed to during this season.

"Well, surprise, surprise, something is going my way at least," said Ned as thought back to his bacon muffin and he forced down a groan.

He with terrible mood made his way to Connor's house grumbling along with way which did gather some attention on to himself. The streets were slightly livelier now and he frowned again, thinking he'd missed something. He had at first thought it was a dream, that point in his house when he combusted but now that he looked around the street he couldn't be too sure. It felt like he really had passed out for some time there. He felt his head again where the bandage still stayed and hoped it had nothing to do with that. He gripped the strap on his bag and sighed, there were too many things to process and sort out, things that happened just this morning, this had perhaps been his most eventful morning since coming to this island. He walked over to the James' Household where a car came out of the car porch.

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He moved out of the way as Connor's uncle stopped the car right next to Ned and rolled his window down.

"What happened there?" he asked looking at Ned's bandaged head.

"Nothing too big Mr. James, just a slight scratch, how're you doing by the way?" asked Ned feeling his bandage again as he smiled awkwardly.

"Yeah, well did anything strange happen to Connor while he was out?" asked Mr. James frowning and Ned was slightly taken aback.

"I don't think so, at least not anything I know," said Ned. "Is he fine."

"Asides from his usual he appeared to be fine when he came back but then it's like he's turned stranger, he keeps going on about everything going so slow and something else about time, I have no idea what's running through that boy's mind, I have no idea whether there is anything running through his mind at all," said Mr. James sighing as he pulled up his window. "Just talk to him alright, I have no idea what's going on, I need to go now."

"Alright, see you Mr. James," said Ned nodding and the car pulled out of the drive way and went on its merry way.

Connor being strange wasn't anything strange to him, he was usually hyperactive, abysmally talkative and stupidly annoying but for some reason he felt apprehensive, the dream or rather hallucination he had still stayed stuck on the back of his mind as he went up to the door and knocked. It took maybe three second before Connor opened the door out wide and he was panting heavily.

"Oh god, Ned, thank god you're here," gasped Connor. "I thought I was going crazy, absolutely crazy."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ned frowning as he was thrust straight into a conversation which he had no idea of how to respond with Connor.

"I saw everything Ned, it was all slowing down, everything slowing down, there's no explanation for this other than I'm going crazy, or maybe it was hallucination?" said Connor taking a step back and frowning.

"What, what are you talking about?" asked Ned. "What slowing down, what hallucination, just take it from the start and can you please explain."

"Yes, yeah I can, it was absolutely crazy, I came home and then after I showered when I came out, there was nothing too remotely strange until I noticed these couple outside, like they were walking so slow, like so slow, y'know a slow motion effect in movies, well it was slower than that they were even smiling so slow and so I yelled out what they were doing but it was like they hadn't even heard me but it was fine y'know I s'pose I interrupted their romantic walk or something so they ignored but then I saw the birds outside in the sky…" Connor breathing in deeply as he placed a hand on his head and Ned looked disbelievingly at him. "Yeah it was the birds, they were driving me crazy as well, it was like everything had turned slow motion, even the birds were flying so slow, like literally if I could fly I could just get up there and pluck it out of thin air and I had no idea what I could do, I rushed downstairs and even my uncle who was tying his tie at the time was just doing it like one step at a time, I shouted at him though and he couldn't hear me at all at which point I just went absolutely crazy and the last thing I remember after that was me screaming I guess and then I just passed out."

"Connor…" started Ned frowning. "You're sure you're alright, right, no mental problems…cause what you just said to me wasn't just ridiculous but absolutely and insanely insane."

"Yeah, I know, it was insane, it was exactly how I was feeling, it was like everyone was so stupidly slow, like they had all the time in the world or something," said Connor stepping back again as he clutched his hair and pulled slightly.

It was an absolutely ludicrous of a story but then what happened to him came forth in his mind.

"This…uh thing you felt, it seemed like a hallucination of a sort did it?" asked Ned and Connor nodded.

"I don't know I'd call anything of that caliber a hallucination of sorts but yeah that'd be the only explanation, I mean there's another one and that'd be that I was mad but that'd have me locked up the funhouse and I do not want that to happen," said Connor.

"Well Connor, if it was hallucination then I've had one of my own…" said Ned looking carefully at Connor as his expression changed from anxiousness to disbelief.

"Are you serious now, what you've had everything slow down as well?" asked Connor but Ned shook his head.

"Mine was slightly different, I just felt the brightness and intensity of the sun increase and then I literally combusted into flames and I died," said Ned explaining it in very simple terms.

"Oh…oh wow, yeah that's completely different from mine, wow how was it though getting burned up?" asked Connor walking around Ned looking, no doubt for burns.

"It hurt, it just hurt like hell and then I passed out like you did," said Ned.

"Is this like the start of some sort of disease or something, I mean I don't feel any negative effects on my body apart from a lot of frustration and anxiousness," said Connor walking back and sitting on the arm rest of his couch.

"Wait, a disease, no, that can't be right, I mean what could we have from hallucinations, I was just thinking it was me and something momentary that happened possibly as side effect of hitting my head," said Ned and Connor nodded then he turned to look at the clock.

Ned watched Connor's eyes widen in shock and he looked at the clock himself and his eyes too widened in absolute horror, the time displayed now was 8:40 AM.

"Ned, we are so screwed, so damn screwed," said Connor getting up and diving over the couch for his bag.

"Can we make it?" asked Ned as Connor got up with his bag.

"Think positive, we have to make it or it's not gonna be good," said Connor slinging his bag over his shoulder fast as he rushed for the door and Ned followed him.

"Oh and by the way Ned I do think we're gonna be screwed, just in case I hadn't made my side too clear," said Connor and Ned took a deep breath in.

The morning had been made very bad for him and if this happened like Connor said then it would just go from a bad morning to a bad day.

"I wouldn't worry, I think I can make it Connor, can't say the same about you though can I, that's my side on this by the way," said Ned as he overtook Connor making him scowl.

"Traitor."

"Speed up," said Ned.

With the time now 8:40 AM school was the first priority on their mind and the weird hallucination they both experienced were put away safely tucked away in a deep recess of their minds. They ran towards school hoping they would not be late and the gates would not have already shut.