Chapter 2

'That was so good!' Suki said as she slumped on the sofa. She had eaten two cups of instant ramen. Leo took a seat beside her and sighed with content.

'Don't worry Leo, I haven't forgotten.' Suki smiled. 'I said we were going to discuss our theories together.'

'I went to the library and read many textbooks for several hours, yet I still couldn't find any reasonable logic.' Leo replied.

'Well, I was going through the internet again, and I came across this conspiracy that people believed in thousands of years ago' Suki responded. 'Apparently, people used to look up to a higher entity called a God who created everything around us.'

Leo thought for a second. 'So what happened to that God? Why don't people believe in him anymore? He finally asked.

'Well, I guess he was just... forgotten through time.' Suki responded.

'Well I've got a lot of questions. Firstly, how did He create everything? How long has this world existed for? What does He look like? How did people know He existed? Did people actually see him? Did-'

'Woah woah, slow down, Leo. I didn't get much information on Him at all. Apparently not everyone believed in Him, and people were divided into various religions where they had their own moral beliefs. Some others weren't in any religion at all.' Suki explained.

Leo sighed, frustrated. 'So there's no proof that such a God exists now?' He asked.

'Sorry, Leo. Nobody has ever seen Him before.' Suki said.

Leo slumped in his seat. Another conspiracy had lead to null. He stared out the window, where the sky was a bright orange hue and sighed.

'Don't worry, Leo.' Suki said. 'We've come this far... there's no reason to give up now.'

'Yeah, you're right, but... it's so frustrating. We still don't have any leads, and when we do... something always comes up to make it seem impossible.' Leo replied.

'Well... let me do a bit more research on the whole God theory, and I'll see you tomorrow. It's getting dark.' Suki said

'O-oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to keep you here!' Leo said sheepishly

'No, no, it's fine!' Suki assured him. 'I had a good time, as always!'

'Thank you, Suki.' Leo said. 'You have no idea how much you mean to me.'

Then Leo immediately realized what he had said. He tried to retrace his steps.

'What I meant was, uh, you're always there for me, and, uh, you never get tired of my endless droning, and you seem to care about me a lot- no no, sorry, that came out wrong again. What I meant was-'

'Leo, Leo! It's okay!' Suki laughed. She got up and said 'I'll see you tomorrow, at school?'

'Y-yeah...' Leo responded.

'Bye, Leo!' Suki waved at him, and exited his apartment.

Leo let out a huge sigh. He almost exposed his feelings for Suki. Well, whatever that strong sense of trust and love was. He always felt comforted when Suki was around, and whenever he was feeling down, Suki's cheery aura could lift up his mood instantly. He realized his feelings for her a whole year ago, but has not had the courage to tell her how he felt. Of course, given Suki's attitude, she was very popular at school, and many students didn't understand why she spent so much time with the nerdy boy with weird questions. He wouldn't want to tell her how he felt anyways, because what would a pretty, smart girl like Suki ever want to do with him?

He eventually got out of the sofa and went to take a quick shower.

'Maybe I should just except not knowing how things work in the world like everybody else.' He thought for the 100th time.

'No, snap out of it! You made a promise to Dad.' He immediately reminded himself.

Leo's dad, when he was still alive, was a scientist. Like Leo, he dedicated his time to finding out the mechanics that caused the world to run by itself. Unfortunately, many people did not support his studies and called him a waste of brain power. Others were also angry that the federal government funded his science experiments, as it was the governments duty to finance all experiments conducted by scientists to be able to discover and invent new things. Leo's dad, who went by the name Theodore, died due to heart failure seven years ago. Before his death, Theodore told his son:

'Leo, as you may know, I decided to dedicate my life to finding out why we human beings and the world exists. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any known cause. Leo,' he paused 'Please, carry on my legacy, and continue my experiments for me. Find out why the world was created, and find the answers to all the questions and the unknown theories that exist right now. I believe in you and I hope that you will be successful in your endeavors.'

With that, Theodore passed on.

It has been seven years, and Leo had not been able to find any answers. He grew more and more anxious as each day passed, because the last thing he ever wanted to do was to let his deceased father down.

He turned the faucet of and stepped out of the shower. He toweled himself dry and after turning on the air conditioning, he flopped on his bed.

He went to sleep, dreaming of how different  life would have been if his father was still alive.

The next day, Leo left the house at seven am to set off to school. He was just exiting his apartment when he saw Suki across the street.

'Hey, Suki!' Leo called out.

Suki turned around and waved at him. She ran across the street without looking where she was going.

'Suki, watch out!' Leo yelled.

'Huh...?' Suki looked to her right and saw an oncoming car a few meters away. She wasn't looking where she was going and tripped on a rock. She fell down with a large thump.

Leo was in shock as he watched the car run over Suki.