After that emotional discussion, we went back to talking about anything. I mostly just listen to her talk and chime in when I have something to add to the conversation.

“So, you’ll never guess who was fucking in the hallway?” My face stays neutral as she begins to go into the details. Honestly, nothing surprises me anymore about the people I go to school with. I basically know most of their dirty laundry because of my best friend.

“And then” All Of a sudden Talia bends over clutching her chest.

“OW, Ow, ow, what the fuck.” Talia says to no one in particular. I immediately go to her and help her to stand upright.

“Are you okay?” I ask and just as she is about to answer we are interrupted by a voice.

"Greetings earthlings, Mana has Awakened in your world.

Do not fret as you are not alone. The world system will guide you on your path, wherever that path may lead you. The World System will make this fair for everyone so as not to worry. Now welcome mana as it will surely welcome you."

We both look at each other and look at each other as if we’ve seen a ghost.

"Did you hear that?”Talia

‘“Did you hear that?”Joseph

"It was in my head Joseph. My head. Do you think it was aliens? Maybe we’re all about to be enslaved in what can only be as lab rats. Or worse as pets. Damn those TikToks for speaking it into existence..” As Talia continued going down a rabbit hole of different things aliens could be wanting from humans. I take out my phone and first try to call my dad.

“The Person You Are Trying To Reach Is Currently Unavailable..” Then I tried to call my mom and the same thing happened. When I tried to send a text it wouldn’t deliver.

“..And Then they’d probe me, but then we’d have to start a rebellion on the aliens because I am not getting probed.” I go to grab her.

“Talia, I don’t know what is happening but when has anything ever stopped us?” I say with the best smile I can show.

“I’d say aliens are a pretty big stopper of all things.”

“Hey, can an alien get passed these guns?” I say as I pull my shirt sleeve back and show off the effort I put in. Just as I could see a ghost of a smile on her face. I started to hear growling behind the door of the entrance of the bathroom. As I was about to check what was there something that looked like a grey-skinned human with shark teeth burst into the bathroom.

It was growling and moving slowly towards Talia who happened to be closer to the door. I quickly pulled her behind me.

“Go into the stall” and I pushed her harshly toward the last stall which was behind me. I could only hope that she got in the stall because I had to focus on this, this, thing in front of me.

I look at my bag where my knife is, kicking myself that the knife wasn’t physically on me. Once it’s within kicking range I kick it back toward the bathroom entrance. Then quickly got into my backpack and thanked my parents that my bag was made poorly. I simply rip it apart and quickly dive for the knife.

“KLAAAHHH” The screech it released would haunt anyone who heard it. Almost like it wanted to rip your heart out with its voice alone. After its screech, the thing ran to me as if I was the first meal of its life. I quickly dodge to the side and quickly swing back to stab it in the back of its skull.

It drops down to its knees, then slowly falls forward to the ground, it lets out a low sigh and I can see it is not moving. I don’t know how long I stand there watching to make sure it is not going to move again.

Then I take one big deep breath and then take in more until I lose complete control of my breathing. It only now occurs to me that I hadn’t been breathing through that whole ordeal. Plus WooHoo for anxiety.

“Woo” Breathe, Breathe, Breathe” Hoo”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“What The Flying Fuck Are You WooHooing About!” she whisper yells from the bathroom. Then she just barely speaks slightly above a whisper.

“Is it dead?”

[You have killed Level 1 Corrupted]

[You have Gained 1 Strength]

[You Have Leveled Up. You now have 2 Free points. ]

A voice in my head said. I don't think about that right now and instead, try to get Bailey to open the stall door.

I’m too exhausted to walk over to Talia.

“Yeah it’s dead, no need to worry about your best friend dying over here.” I say full of sarcasm. The next thing I

Here is a door slamming open and Talia running to me like I was dying. Oh, wait, before I speak to clear up what I believe to be a misunderstanding she’s already standing over me with tears in her eyes.

“What did that thing do to you get on the floor and lay down I’ll try to find a first aid kit Oh God why didn’t I ever pay attention in PE”

“Talia I…”

“Don’t speak are you crazy conserve your energy, I’ll go out right now and try to find a first aid kit I think there is one in Mr. O’briens class Wait no it’s in Mrs.Wallace’s class What are you waiting for Lay Your Ass DOWWN”

As she’s about to run out of the bathroom I grab her before she gets a step away from me and grab her face with both hands.

“Talia I’m fine. I’m not dying. I’m okay and definitely not hurt.” She looks at me and then I see her go for a punch to my gut, which I don’t move away from. I kind of deserve it. Besides, I know her punches well. Once it lands, I grunt and let go of her face and put my hands on my knees taking deep breaths. This one felt a little stronger than usual, it took the wind right out of me. I try to make a joke about it, but then I hear her trying to hold back sobs. Then the next second she’s tackling me to the floor. Full on ugly crying into my chest.

I’m still for a few seconds and then I go in for a bear hug. It didn’t register to me how scared she must have been. Which then makes me think about how I feel. I look over a meter or two at the thing I killed. It was grey, had scaly skin, and I just realized between one of Talia’s sobs that I just killed a living thing. Sure I had no choice, but taking a life was causing me to feel a little cold. So cold I was shivering. Having Talia on top of me was somewhat comforting, even though her sobs and my wet shirt were not helping, but the shivering was getting worse.

“Hey, are you okay? Your shaking?” Talia asked as she was using a dry spot on my shirt to wipe her nose.

“Oh me? Why (teeth chattering) do you ask? I’m just (teeth chattering) peachy?” I say as I gently push her off of me and stand up. Well, try to. Before I can my legs give out from underneath me. It is all I can do to try and catch myself. Which I don’t do. It’s Talia who catches me and leans me against the wall. As I’m sitting I look at her and smile.

“Well isn’t this convenient?”

“Like hell it is. Joe, we can’t both freak out. Someone has to keep calm. My vote goes to you.” Talia smiles as she sits beside me and leans her head on my shoulder.

I don’t know if she purposefully moved us to the wall that was furthest away from the creature. But unfortunately, it wasn’t out of site. As I started focusing on the creature. The fight flashes before my eyes. The time when I could have gotten bitten. Or hadn’t put Talia in the stall in time. The part where this could be happening to everyone I ever loved or cared about. Then all of a sudden my vision goes black.

“Breathe Joe. Breathe in. Breathe out. In, out, there you go…” As I follow Talia’s instructions I notice how my lungs burn as I give them the much needed oxygen. I’m still shivering but the

I focus on Talia’s voice as she continues to give the instruction to breathe.

In, Out, In, Out, In, Out, In

“You need to focus on breathing and not on whatever that thing is. Come on you are the voice of reason in this friend group. I’m not taking over as the voice of reason till we’re well in our 90’s. Even then you are pushing it.” jokingly shoving me. Even with what I now know is her hand covering my eyes. I couldn’t be more grateful that Talia is my best friend. Whenever this happens when she is around these attacks last the shortest. Well besides when I’m with my mom.

“You? The voice of reason? Even at 90, I can’t see it.” I say while I nudge her and grab her hand to put it down. However, I can feel resistance from Talia.

“I’m okay, I promise. See barely no shivering.” I say as I gesture to my body. That seems to do the trick because when I pull on her hand it follows the direction easily.

“Are you sure you are okay?” As she speaks I see her out of the corner of my eye staring directly at my face. I notice her eyes are focusing if I had to guess it was on my eyes. She knew she could read everything in my eyes. That is partially why I’m not facing her. The second part is even knowing the creature is dead I still can’t take my eyes off of it. As I go to speak I force my eyes away from it and turn to look at Talia.

“Talia, I’m good. As good as I can be considering.” I nod my head to the creature at the end. I see her turn to the creature and then move her eyes back to me like the creature burns her eyes or something. Well, I can’t really blame her since it is pretty ugly.

“Well since your okay.. What The Fuck Is Going On. I mean some... thing just shows up and attacks us out of nowhere. That shit is crazy. That message must have been real. How could it not be? There is proof right in front of us. Wait, my mom. Shit, my dad.” Right as she realizes this is real she pulls out her phone and I’m guessing tries to contact them. Which makes me reach for my phone. Only it is not in my pocket. Before I can get up Talia whisper screams.