Chance - A Fateful Encounter Part 2

"Earth to Chance, you're drowning in your thoughts again!" He said. It sounded like he was scolding me for zoning out. "There are people around you, and the least you could do is to let your presence be felt."

"Sorry." I squeaked softly. My mind was too distracted with what just transpired by my feet. The forming rod was gone, and my shadow became 'normal' again as if nothing happened. "You know I woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

"I don't think so. You're usually like that." Jaden replied. The others nodded, and I knew it was true. "See? You have a lot of other time to dwell in your thoughts, dude. If you want, we could always listen to what you're thinking."

"Wow, Jaden. You almost sounded like a helicopter mom." Caitlyn chuckled. "I don't think you need to babysit him every time he zones out. Anya doesn't talk much too, but you don't scold her like that."

"Well, we could all feel her presence despite not talking much." Jaden defended, and Anya simply giggled silently at the other two. I just shook my head with a smile at how loud my friends were. "Plus, even if she doesn't like to talk much, we know what she's saying…somehow."

"Are you okay, Chance?" Dylan suddenly asked me. "You seem pale today."

"I'm fine, don't worry." I replied. "And I have always been pale."

Dylan was about to reply when the bell suddenly rang. "Well, see you all by dismissal time."

Everyone got up to their feet and went to their respective rooms. The day went on for us, and it was pretty quick. I, of course, was too fixated with my shadows. It was fascinating because I was able to suddenly manipulate it. Obviously, I have never done it before. For the last few classes, it was all I did. I tried practicing melding and controlling it

It gave me some sort of thrill of having some kind of weird superpower. And it launched me to new thoughts as to how I was even doing it. Because of the small experiments I was doing under the table, time went by quickly. But on the other hand, I felt a weird kind of tiredness on my body. Therefore, I concluded that using those newfound abilities I have, it was draining me out.

When the bell rang, I ran to Jaden as soon as I could. It was something I could show to him, and I knew he's going to go nuts when I showed him my 'powers.' But there was a game after school hours at the gym, so there were a lot of students inside the school. I wanted to make sure that no one else is going to see but us.

As soon as Jaden saw me, his eyes lit up. "Hey."

"Quick, there's something I wanted to show you!" I said excitedly. He just raised his brow and watched me. When I checked around to see if anyone nearby could be watching, I prepared myself as soon as the coast was clear. I tried to get control over my shadows again, but nothing happened to the best of my focus. I tried to wave my hand as if I was trying to pull something from the ground, but still, nothing happened. "Wait for it."

"Chance, are you crazy or something?" Jaden wondered. He scratched the back of his head as if he was irritated. "You are weird and all at times, but you don't go this far. So please, stop embarrassing yourself."

"Wait, I did it when we were eating during lunchtime, but you didn't see it because you took away my focus!" I exclaimed. It was harder to regain this time since it felt a lot more pressuring since Jaden was watching. "Ah, whatever! I give up."

"Okay, sure, Chance. Uhm, do you want to watch a movie or something? It has been a year since we last watched a movie together. I mean, it's a Friday and all, so I don't think your mom would really care much." Jaden suggested. Then he put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it a little bit. He started walking towards the exit, so I walked along with him. Jaden took out his phone from his pocket and started calling someone. "Here, I'll call your mom for you."

"But I don't have extra money." I grumbled. But I knew he will keep on insisting until he got what he wanted. That's just how he was. "We don't need to spend much just to spend the time, you know."

"Don't worry, it's my treat." Jaden smiled back at me. "You are my closest and weirdest friend, so it's not really a big deal."

Actually, I was pretty used to Jaden treating my food or movies every now and then. It was his favorite method of showing his friendly affection. They were not all that rich, but I could tell that they were beyond average, so I knew that it wasn't taxing on his wallet as well.

"Hey, Mrs. Valentine!" Jaden started on his phone. "It's Jaden. Can Chance and I watch movies by the arcade? I'm going to take care of him, I promise. You know he is my best friend, right. Great! Thank you so much. We'll be home before 7, don't worry."

"Well, that wasn't much of an effort." I commented. My voice didn't sound amazed since it had always been that way. Whenever Jaden saw what he wanted, and he will take the opportunity to get it. "I have no idea why you are so irresistible."

"Just stop complaining, and let's go." Jaden smiled.

The two of us watched the movie about zombies, and to my heart's content, I was actually happy. Watching the movie helped me take my mind off of the disappointment I experienced and shrugged that maybe, I just imagined the melding and manipulation of shadows. The film lasted for almost two hours as expected, and by the time we went out, it was getting dark. Jaden and I decided to walk home, and we had to walk beside a dark alley.

Out of nowhere, a man dressed in a black cloak suddenly appeared. He had dark hair and dark eyes. The coat he was wearing was made of thick clothing, and I somehow knew that it wasn't a form of modern clothing. The man then suddenly grabbed Jaden by the neck and started choking the life out of him.

But before the man was about to step back into the dark alley, something blazed within me. My hands started to tremble, and my knees buckled. My forehead burned with something similar to fever, and my heart pounded inside my chest. With a flick of a finger, a rod shot out of my own shadow. It went straight into my palms. It was long enough to be a make-shift sword. And with the best of my effort, I swung the rod at the man. He then countered my attack, used his free hand, produced a great knife made out of his own shadow, and slashed through the rod I created. The other half hit the walls and clanged like a piece of metal.

I was still frozen in place. My mind was racing on what to do next. The only weapon I could produce was easily cut into two.

Then the man smiled thinly. "Ah. Where have you been, Israfil?"