Fall of Heaven (4)

The night came fast.

After it turned 7:00 pm, the teacher asked them to head towards the bathrooms to sign up for shower usage and brush their teeth.

Soon the classroom was basically emptied out and only Rayne and a few others remained.

Rayne looked over to his plan with a smug smile.

All those apocalyptic movies and novels he read finally came in handy.

His plan was organized and simple.

<Apocalypse Survival Strategy V.1>

<Keep personal things in one area and be prepared to leave at a moments notice>

<Step 1: Ask around about any strange occurrences to gather information>

<Step 2: Gather enough food for two weeks from cafeteria>

<Step 3: If four anomalies occur, leave immediately (possibly with others)>

<Step 4: Find weapons>

<Step 5: Find mom>

<Step 6: Find an empty relatively remote convenience store gas station and fortify it>

Rayne was pretty satisfied with his plan.

Though it was pretty short and lacked a lot of details, it was flexible.

He could adapt that plan to many different situations.

He was finally ready to leave the classroom.

...

"58...59...60!"

Rayne laid flat on the ground after finishing his push ups.

He had already brushed his teeth, but he was still waiting to shower.

Luckily, he wouldn't have to wait much longer since Navia had signed up for him too when she signed herself up.

Thoughts raced through his mind as he stared at gym ceiling.

'Should I ask Navia to come with me if I leave? Would there even be anyone willing to go with me?'

Rayne was a very self aware guy. He knew that although he did not want to admit it, he was scared to go out alone.

He was scared to face this situation by himself.

He suddenly regretted the fact that he thought he didn't need any friends or anyone to like him.

Rayne sighed and sat up.

He began to observe everyone around him again.

The people who watched him do push-ups and made jabs at him didn't pay attention to him anymore.

Some people were sleeping on the floor or talking to their friends.

He didn't notice anything strange.

This brought a look of relief to Rayne's face as he got up to go and check on the showers.

Rayne walked to an exit from the gym and cautiously entered the hallways.

There were still some people wandering around and that made him feel a bit better, but also apprehensive.

When he arrived at the showers, there was only one person ahead of his name.

Seeing this Rayne decided to just wait there until the person in front of him was done.

Ten minutes later, a lean and athletic black guy with short hair walked out.

"Sorry, I took a while," the teen said.

"It's cool... have you noticed anything weird going on?"

Rayne decided to not beat and around the bush and just get to the point.

The guy's face looked weird for a bit, then hesitant.

He then timidly responded, "Why you asking?"

"I saw somethings that didn't look…normal."

Rayne didn't know if he should continue, but he did, "I don't know. Just keep away from people who act weird and be careful. That's all I have to say."

The guy looked at him for second and said, "Don't play the game."

Rayne was dumbfounded.

"What?"

"Just don't, okay?", the guy said as he started to walk away.

Looking at him getting further and further away, Rayne noticed that he seemed to struggle to stand up straight. He was trembling with every step.

It was as if a heavy weight was slowly crushing his body.

Rayne got an ominous feeling as he watched him and wanted to call out to him again, but he hesitated and didn't.

Rayne took off his clothes and entered the shower while his mind was a mess.

He kept on trying to figure out what the guy meant, but he couldn't understand.

He then realized that he didn't even ask the dude for his name.

'Fuck, why am I so dumb!', Rayne chastised himself in his mind.

He quickly finished his shower and put on the same clothes he was wearing before.

Rayne went straight back to the gym in a rush.

He pushed open the cold steel doors and surveyed the room quickly. It was pretty much the same as before he left.

Rayne found a spot in a corner, but near an exit and sat with his back against the wall. Rayne set an alarm for 7:30 am and closed his eyes. After an absurdly long time he eventually managed to fall asleep.. 

.....

Rayne woke up lethargic and tired, but managed to call his mom first thing in the morning.

They had a short, but relieving conversation before Rayne hung up.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur. Rayne failed to notice any strange happenings at all. It was almost to the point that he was questioning himself once again.

The internet had gone silent as if everything that was posted yesterday was just an illusion. This left him frustrated, but it also felt as if a burden was being lifted off his chest.

Although everyone complained about having to stay in school, the whole day was pretty normal, and students began to return to their previous behavior. Acting as if everything was just a school wide slumber party.

Gradually Rayne's vigilance somewhat relaxed.

Currently, he was talking to Navia and Mark as they sat in the cafeteria.

"Ugh, this is starting to get really annoying. Only eating school food is actively taking years off my life," Navia whined.

"Sometimes you just got to thug it out," Mark replied with a smirk a shrug.

Rayne looked curiously at Mark, "Didn't you buy almost all the snacks in the vending machine?"

"I don't know...I think it was a ghost," Mark replied.

Navia scowled at him and began to demand her cut, but Rayne's mind was focused more on how he would get past the kitchen gates to get to the food if needed.

...

Another day passed by uneventfully and Rayne was getting ready to give up on his grand escape plan. He never managed to find the black student again, but didn't think much of it.

At this point he was truly beginning to rationalize everything he saw previously as his own over active imagination.

He was even hopeful that they would all be sent home soon, and he would be able to see his mother.

Entering the library with this attitude, Rayne was about to look for a fantasy novel to read, when out of the corner of his eye he saw something.

Rayne was paralyzed.

In one of windows he saw someone peeking through.

The only thing visible was the top of their head and their eyes. Only wisps of weathered white hair clung to its skull and its eyes were crazed and bloodshot.

It would randomly hide its head out of view, as if it didn't want to be seen.

The window was at least ten feet high.