The light of the sun pierces through the dusty air of an almost empty room. The bed on a side of the room contains a shadowy figure. Suddenly, the alarm is announcing the start of a new day. The figure gets up and with a slow-paced walk, it approaches the windows, opening it and seeing clearly how dusty the air in the room is he takes a deep breath with the head out…

*Sigh* "Another day, another time boring cycle to complete…"

The figure is no one else but the principal actor in his own life, the center of his own universe, the star of his own movie… and yet, just a simple boy. Defining himself as Seth, his days are so peaceful and boring that one could say that his life is a script.

Besides that, he was a normal student of 17 years old, with normal and kind-hearted parents, having a nice circle of friends and, sometimes he asks himself how is this possible, a girlfriend, Cynthia's appearance gives to others a royal aura. With her well-mannered posture, moves, tonality in voice and even the words spoken, she passively trades off the looks of a fantasy novel princess. Her blonde yet reddish hair color shining under the sun's warm touch and her continuously perfectionating body makes her look unreal to some eyes.

Seth's eyes are made of a deep green, comparable to emeralds, in the perfect light, someone can forget what he's doing and just stare at the green sea inside Seth's soul-windows. The calmness of the waves inside gives the feeling of a girl hugging the love of her life, the only one she cannot let go, cuddling in a bed in their own home. Even though he smiles rarely, his pearly-smile catching the sadness and sorrow of those around him and dissipates it as water forgot in the teapot on the stove. His normal yet a bit well-built body and average height gives off the blandness of a tree in the woods.

The morning came upon him like a hurricane, waking him up from the depths of his dream. With a steady-paced walk, he reached the bathroom to get ready for the day. While brushing his teeth, on the wall behind, through the mirror, he sees a red blank point. For less than a second, just like the shadows in the corner of someone's eye when tired after a full day of work. Disappearing on the wall and thinking he didn't get enough sleep last night he continued to get ready.

In a few minutes, he got ready to go and left his room to head downstairs, where his parents were waiting for him with breakfast.

"Good morning!" says Seth's mom.

"Morning…"

"You alright son? You look very tired… did you get any sleep last night?" asks Seth's father.

"I'm fine, I just have a lot on my shoulders with the upcoming exams, that's all!"

"Alright, if you say so… More importantly, don't forget to call Cynthia to meet up!" says his mom.

"After breakfast."

Soon, he finished eating and got ready to go, before he left he wishes goodbyes to his parents and leaves home. At the moment his foot stepped outside his subconscious never let him alone. The feeling that he's watched from somewhere in the distance never ceased to exist. Looking around as he slowly walks towards the meet-up place with his girlfriend like trying to detect something, a figure, a light to give off the position where he's hiding, nothing… it's like he's watched from the skies in an invisible U.F.O.

In a few minutes, he spoke with Cynthia and met with her. A few greetings and hugs later they start walking toward their high school. A dozen minutes in the future they were standing in front of the school, looking inside the gates and admiring the students gathered up in groups everywhere in the schoolyard.

The clock shows 7:45 in the morning, since classes are starting a bit later Cynthia got an idea.

"Seth, let's go to the cafeteria, I'm a bit hungry."

Since he ate that morning he isn't hungry at all, but since Cynthia is the one asking him he can't refuse…

"Alright then, let's hurry though."

A bit later, in the cafeteria, 2 students were looking through the glass, at the food…

"Hmm… What should I order? ~ What are you going to command, Seth?" asks the girl.

"I think I'll take a can of soda and a sandwich." Replies the boy.

"That's a bit unhealthy, you should choose more carefully! I don't want you to get sick and die young!" replies Cynthia.

"Alright! Alright! Then I'll order a salad with cheese and yum. Is that better?"

"Yes, that's fine I think…"

After a bit more thinking, Cynthia orders a green salad. After ordering, it's time to choose a table, the most lighted one is the one at a window with the garden view, a view that most girls love to stare at.

"This view is so beautiful…" says Cynthia.

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"I agree…" says Seth looking at her face and showing her that he doesn't speak about the garden using his body language…

"You're going to make me blush… stop staring so intensely!" blushes and looks away as her boyfriend approaches her to give her a kiss on the forehead…

"When the light you give off your smile is so strong that one could remain blind, it's hard to not look…"

Just as Cynthia wants to respond to his actions, from behind them can be heard 2 voices…

"So here's where you hiding, you lovey-doveys!"

"Ah, so you were…" says Seth in disappointment.

"Yeah, it's us! We came to ruin your romantic moment! *HeHe*"

After reclaiming themselves, Seth and Cynthia greet the 2 newcomers.

"Anyway! Good to see you both, Vincent and Cyrus! How are you?" greets Cynthia as she reclaims her spot on the table.

"Morning guys! How've you been?" says Seth juggling his stare with a frustrated look on his face from Cynthia to them.

"I'm fine… just tired… I studied last night like crazy for the physics test… I'm done!" says Cyrus as he sits down at the same table as them and almost falling asleep.

"Cyrus! Wake up! You need to get up and give your best at the test! What have you been learning for?" yells Seth in Cyrus's ears until he wakes up.

"You're right, but don't yell at me! I almost had a heart attack…"

"I~I'm sorry, sorry! My bad!"

Cyrus is a normal looking student, having short dark brown glossy hair, outstanding glasses that made him look actually better and his average body makes him who he is, a future president like he likes to say…

Vincent was a handsome looking boy, his grades were above average, not the best like Cyrus' but he wasn't so low one might think about the captain of the boxers club. His golden hair, strong jaw, perky smile and cheeks give every girl the sensation of hypnotization. Not to say his well-built body, his strong arms and chest give every girl the confidence of protection besides him.

As they sit down and talk about everything in their minds, telling jokes and blabbering, Seth says…

"Does anyone feels this?"

"What?"

"This sensation, like we're being watched…"

"Yeah… as you say this I get this sensation too… it's like… SOMETHINGS BEHIND YOU" as he said that, Vincent tries to scare off Seth from behind, unlucky anyway…

"Stop messing! I'm not joking…"

"Did you get any sleep last night? How much did you lovers stay up?" the look on his face made anyone in the room think of him as a pervert.

"Stop it! We didn't stay that long, we went home a bit after you."

"You sure didn't make a move on her? You were sure planning something in here when we showed up."

"I didn't do anything like that, unlike you, I'm not an animal in heat ready to do anything…"

"Are you sure?" says Cynthia with a somewhat clearly joking yet perverted face, a bit disappointed too…

"Your joking, right?"

"Of course, of course… haha…"

As they speak, the bell announced the upcoming start of the classes with a ring… Soon after, they all scattered around the school, everyone going to their class.

As soon as he installed himself in a bank at the windows row, the professor joined the class with a *toc*, sound made by his shoes on the floor.

A few hours passed and it was lunch break… Cynthia met with Vincent and were walking on a path in the yards, next to the baseball field. Further ahead can be heard screams and moans… They hurried up to see what's going on.

On their arrival, they saw Seth running from behind the crow, right into the middle of it. There can be seen a student on 4 legs, barely holding himself up, and another one, standing right and looking down the other one. Seth runs over between those two, the one on the floor is beaten up with scratches all over his clothes.

"Are you alright? Can you stand?" asks Seth.

"Yeah, I'm fine… I think…" as he says these words, he tries to stand up, the soon he got up he almost fell back down.

"What do you think you're doing? Beating up rookies like this? You won't get any benefit from it, you can only be seen as a weakness who cannot stand those his age!"

As he says those words, the other boy starts charging at him. Seth dodges his punch and makes him fall, as he's down he says…

"Damn you! I almost made him pay me!"

"What? Does he owe you anything?"

"No! But I need money and he refused to borrow me some, even though I asked nicely!"

"Beating him up isn't a nice way to ask for money, you must use words, meathead!" as Seth says those words he gets up nicely and with a fake smile he approaches him.

"It's a trap! Run!" says Cynthia.

He takes out a knife from his back and speedily throws his arm towards Seth. As the blade cuts the air between his face and the boy's arm, the time looks like it's slowing down. The blade, a few cm away from his cheek, the arm is grabbed by a foreigner, it was Vincent. He throws the knife away from him and pins the attacker down. The boy's name was Carter, he comes from a poor family and got in a lot of trouble with the mafia, which is why he needed so desperately the money.

"You can't do something like this even if you need the money, it's illegal and not right! Just think about your future! If you make something like this and get caught by the authorities!" says Vincent as he grabs him better and lifts him. "You alright, Seth? Sorry, I intervened but I couldn't stand aside while my friend almost got injured, right?"

"It's alright, thanks for helping me out!" says Seth as he recovers himself from the moment of tension.

What happened that I've seen the time slow? What was that? Could it be just a perception of time diluted by the trauma or something else?

Soon then, Carter was taken by a teacher and everyone resumed their classes, of course, Cynthia staying by Seth's side to comfort him and ask him over a thousand times if he's ok, every time the question is put, the answer is still yes.

A couple of hours later, school's finished and everyone but the club members of diverse topics goes home. Seth stays, being an important part of the acting club, the star.

The evening comes, and with it, an orange yet red sunset makes way through the buildings of the city and the few trees scattered around the neighbourhood. The sunlight lit Seth's hair up, making it an illusion to anyone looking, to some it might look red and to others, it was blue as the sky in the noon of a clear summer day. Grabbing his backpack and heading towards the door, a few of his colleagues give off looks of appreciation, some might say they even flirt with him from a distance. Leaving the school perimeter the vague sensation of being followed increases, becoming an alarm for him to hurry back home. He starts a fast-paced walk towards his home, at his speed, he should be home in no more than a few minutes…

A couple of minutes later, the sun almost slips away under the horizon. The moon sets herself comfortable on the night sky full of stars. On a dark road, Seth walks as fast as he can, almost running. Suddenly, from his back, a deep voice was rising…

"Hey boy! Don't turn or you'll regret it!" said the mysterious voice.