2 Normalcy

Michael:

I wish I could say that I was some great person. Or even that I was some troublemaker. The sad truth of the matter is that I am simply average. I have unremarkable and unmemorable looks, and average intelligence. Today, for example, is another day of invisibility.

I sit on a bus, on my way home from school. My only friend, Zack, sitting beside me. He suddenly leans over and asks, "So, did you here a new Sandon Branderson book came out?"

"No, really?"

"Yeah, apparently it's about aliens!"

"Nice!" he and I continue to geek out. We love science fiction and fantasy. If anything we are obsessed with it. Zack and I met when we were 12 at a convention. I was dressed in Dr. What gear and he was wearing King of the Circles armor with a fake wooden sword. We hit it off immediately, and have been like brothers ever since.

I come back to reality as the bus pulls up at my stop.

"Goodbye Zack, see you at school tomorrow!" I call out as I exit the bus. I hear a muffled reply, but don't catch it as the bus departs.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

At school the next day, I don't see Zack, an unusual occurrence. After some asking around, and answering the "who are you again?" questions, I find out that nobody has seen him today. I leave it at that and hope I will see him tomorrow.

The next two days pass with neither hide nor hair of Zack to be found. I'm starting to get very worried, so I decide to visit his house: a place I'd never been inside under explicit instructions from Zack, despite our best friend status. I head out after school, finding my way by the return address on a letter he sent me a few years ago. I arrive in front of a creepy old mansion. Is this really where my friend lives? I nervously approach the front door. Right as I raise my hand to knock, the door opens. A slightly terrifying gentleman wearing some form of robe answers the door irritably.

"Can I help you?" he says arrogantly as I try to peek inside the house. He leans to block my vision. I manage to glimpse an eery candlelit hallway before he steps in front of me.

"Does my friend Zackary Reficul live here?" I manage to squeak out under the man's piercing gaze.

"Yes, my nephew does in fact live here. What do you need Michael?" he asks, his glaring features softening imperceptibly.

"He hasn't been at school lately and I was worried about him... wait, how do you know my name?"