(Perspective Change)

Caleb awoke to a loud noise.

It was his alarm clock. It rang for a few seconds before he turned it off.

He sat up and tried to rub the tiredness out of his eyes to no avail. Looking through the window next to his bed at the bright sunrise seemed to work…in the worst way possible.

“Ugh, Mondays.” He didn’t have a major problem with the idea of getting up early, but he preferred some kind of motivation to do so. School didn’t provide that.

Feeling his facial muscles start to sag into a frown, He slapped himself twice.

“C’mon Caleb, this isn’t the time to get dejected. Today’ll be a great day!” He didn’t really believe it. He knew the odds were that today would be just as ordinary as all the others.

Regardless, reassurance seemed like the only thing he could do right now to get himself out of bed. It worked, barely.

He wore his favorite gray sweater to try and give himself an extra boost.

After getting ready and heading downstairs for breakfast, Caleb almost ran into his dad in the hallway. He seemed frantic.

“Running late, Dad?” Rather than answer, his dad simply chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. Not wanting to keep him busy, Caleb let him rush downstairs and followed behind.

His mom was downstairs before them as usual in the kitchen, so they didn’t have to worry about breakfast. For his dad she, knowing that he got up later than usual, simply made him a couple of slices of toast. She made a full breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast for Caleb.

“How’s school going?” Caleb’s dad asked before starting to wolf down his first slice. Caleb sat down to eat as he responded.

“Fine, I guess.”

That's the honest truth, Caleb thought.

Nothing remarkable ever goes on if I’m being honest. Regardless, I’m not really interested in talking about school.

“Have you made any new friends yet?” his mom chimed in.

He stayed silent, looking away. She sighed.

“Listen, honey. I know moving to a new area can make it hard to fit in with the new crowd, but I think you’re missing out. You should try reaching out to some of your classmates, I’m sure they’re nice!”

“Don’t worry about it too much, sweetie,” his dad said, taking a bite out of his toast. “Friends don’t get you to the top. Hard work does, and Caleb has his priorities straight.”

Even though that type of statement from him was par for the course, Caleb could never tell if he wholeheartedly believes it, or if he’s just trying to make him feel better.

They seem to always get chatty when talking about my school life.

It’s not that I don’t understand why, but It’s hard to talk to them sometimes when they always bring up school in conversations.

Caleb sat there awkwardly. His dad smiled at him.

“You know we’re proud of you, son? Just keep doing what you’re doing. You’re on the path to success!” He said, toast still in his mouth.

Success.

Is the path I’m on really to success?

It’s such an easy term for them to use, but for me, it seems so hard to define.

I mean, yeah, my grades are pretty good, but even if I live a “successful” life, will that make me happy? Is this going to make me feel fulfilled once I reach the finish line. What even is the finish line?

Caleb’s dad interrupted his musings.

“The world’s gonna keep on spinning without you if you keep spacing out there, Caleb. Make sure you finish you’re food. Don’t wanna be late,” His dad said in a playful, scolding tone.

“Aren’t you already running late, honey? Don’t be a hypocrite!” his mom threw one of her kitchen mittens at him.

“Shoot!” He chuckled and grabbed the other piece of toast and ran out the door.

Caleb lowered his head and continued eating, hiding the smile on his face.

As he finished breakfast, he grabbed his bag and prepared to head out before his mom called out to him.

“Don’t forget to go to the store after school! It shouldn’t take too long. You have my list, right? If not, I can text it to you!” He turned around and saw the apologetic look on her face. He smiled to reassure her.

“Yeah, I got it.”

“…Oh! Also, don’t forget to give Ethan’s mother a call at some point!”

Right. I forgot I had to babysit him tomorrow.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Caleb’s family was close with Ethan’s, so it wasn’t like a normal babysitting gig to him, and he was happy to take the extra cash just for hanging out with a friend.

“Yep.”

“Great! Have a good day!”

He nodded and left.

Picking up his bike on the way out, Caleb left his block.

Almost immediately upon leaving, he felt a strong aura of dread, though he had no idea why. He felt his heart thumping in his chest as his breathing became slightly labored.

I have everything I need, and I’m just taking my regular route to school.

Nevertheless, no matter what he tried to convince himself, he just felt dread.

He stopped and tried looking around for a minute. The occasional office worker or student would pass by, but none of them looked odd to him. After looking around and calming himself down, he came to one conclusion:

I was definitely being watched…

……

…Or it may just be my overactive imagination.

Nonetheless, realizing that searching the vicinity would likely be futile and draw unwanted attention, Caleb walked on, anxious and with much more purpose.

He gradually became surer that the feeling wouldn’t leave him during the whole trip. As he reached the building, however, it finally subsided.

Was I just overthinking things? Maybe I hate school more than I realize. He laughed to himself.

Switching gears, he looked around at the other students nearing the building as well, reminding him about the conversation with his parents earlier.

A lot of them walked in pairs or as a trio. A fair number of kids were walking solo, however.

I’d be surprised if they didn’t have people at school waiting to talk to them anyway.

Class was the same as usual for Caleb, though he noticed himself spacing out a lot. Even more so than usual.

He would think about life, about his future, or something he saw on the web. Usually, he can focus in classes and have his occasional daydream, but he was scolded by multiple teachers throughout the day for not paying attention. He couldn’t stop thinking about his trip to school.

It got him strange looks from his classmates but, otherwise, they ignored him as usual. He didn’t care too much.

He just wanted to leave as soon as possible. He just knew that he needed to get to the bottom of what happened earlier, and that it was significant somehow.

As the end of the day was approaching, Caleb overheard a trio of classmates near his desk chatting about something that piqued his interest. They tried to whisper but did so at a volume that anyone nearby could hear them with little effort.

“Hey, did you guys hear what happened last night to that family? How they were brutally murdered?”

“Heard it? I was there! They lived across from me. They were really nice, always out talking to neighbors.”

“That makes the third case in four days. Each time one of them goes missing, right?”

“Yeah, and this time it was the mother that disappeared! The police think the missing people are responsible.”

“That can’t just be a coincidence, though, right? I mean, three times in four days?”

“Nah, no way! Hey, maybe it’s some kind of psychotic cult?”

“Doesn’t really explain why they look like they were mauled by some wild animal, unless this cult has some pretty creative torture tools.”

“Yeah, I heard the police haven’t really addressed that very much in their reports. I think they’re just as stumped as us.”

“You said your mom’s been pretty antsy lately, right? Maybe there’s something she’s not telling you!”

Caleb had heard about this topic briefly on Saturday when his parents were watching the news. He didn’t realize it had gotten so bad.

Thankfully, none of it happened too close to my house. Not yet at least.

He sighed.

If the area starts looking super dangerous, we may end up moving again…

He thought back to his initial feeling of dread, thinking that the two strange situations couldn’t have just been a coincidence.

Eventually he gave up, though, failing to see how the two could be connected. Nothing was adding up to him. Just one odd occurrence after another…

After school was over, He took a detour to the grocery store to pick up the items from his mom’s list.

Standing in front of the store, the area around him was noticeably empty.

He took this time to see what was on the list his mom gave him. The sight of it made him frown.

You said it wouldn’t take too long. Why is there so much stuff? Do we usually buy this much stuff?!

He sighed, figuring that was why she looked so apologetic.

“You chose this week of all weeks to forget to buy groceries, Mom?!” His face scrunched up in irritation.

Suddenly, he heard a quiet noise. He tried listening in. It was…

Giggling? Who the hell is giggling at me?

Annoyed, he glanced around for any signs of life. As he expected, the area was still empty.

Crap, I’ve finally lost it. I knew this day would eventually come but…so soon?

Saving him from his dramatic fit of existential turmoil, the giggling ceased.

I’ll just tell myself this never happened, for my own sake.

With that out of the way, he entered the store, prepared to bear the long hours of searching ahead of him.

Once Caleb was finally done, the sun had already clocked out, and he could just barely fit the bags on the basket of his bike. Luckily, most of the items on the list were small, though it was still hard for him to carry.

He was exhausted and wanted to rest in the safety of his own bed, where he wouldn’t have to question his current mental state.

He decided to pedal much faster than usual, since it seemed like no one was around.

However, he immediately regretted his decision.

When he re-entered his neighborhood, before he could even start slowing down, a man ran out of the entrances of one of the nearby front yards…

...right in his path.

CRASH!

Caleb hadn’t noticed the man quick enough in the dark, and they collided. He yelped as he fell off his bike onto the rough concrete, as all of his bags flew out onto the ground. He seemed to come out of it fine, outside of a few scrapes.

However, without even checking on him, Caleb knew the man had to be hurt.

“Oh my god! Are you ok?” he asked, walking over.

The man didn’t say anything.

I don’t think he even grunted or anything when we collided.

Once he got a good look at the man, Caleb could tell he was not ok. The man laid there on the ground, and his leg was in bad shape, likely broken.

With adrenaline pumping through him, Caleb’s mind started racing.

“I’m so sorry! I’ll call an ambulance.” He pulled out his phone.

“No…” the man put a hand up to stop him. He had a soft-spoken voice.

He sounds like he’s in pain, but also…calm, as if this whole debacle was just a minor inconvenience.

Eyeing Caleb’s confused look, the man continued.

“My house is just over here. If you could just help me back into my house, then I can get my…medicine.”

“Eh?” Caleb stared at him, baffled.

Medicine? Is he a wizard? What kind of medicine could he possibly have in his house to heal a broken leg?

“Uh, are you sure?”

“Yes, trust me. Though I would appreciate your assistance if you don’t mind.” The man flashed a charming smile.

It was only then, as the adrenaline began to wear off, that Caleb realized that this man looked like royalty.

His face was handsome, his blonde hair was long, straight, and perfectly framed his face. Caleb found it hard to believe that he had just got into an accident.

On top of that, he radiated a calming, almost spiritual ambience, so much so that Caleb felt all his previous confusion and disbelief fading into the background.

He felt like he just had to help him.

“Oh, of course. This was my fault, anyway.” Caleb helped him to his feet and carried him, one arm over his shoulder, to his house. The man was tall, but he managed.

The man took out his key. He opened the door, and they stepped in.