Chapter two

Kendall ran over to me. "Hey, dude, what happened?"

"Did you see that?" I asked him still shaken.

"I don't know what I saw because there has to be a reasonable explanation for this," Kendall replied trying to look calm.

"Dude we both just saw that guy disappear," I told him. I looked to the benches and saw Ciara, Isaac and Jacob approaching us. Their eyes were glued to the spot where the guy was. 'I guess all my friends can see him,' I thought obviously noting how odd it was. 'Ciara seems to notice the old crone,' I thought only to surprise myself with how much malice was in that thought.

Why would it matter if she saw him? It would only mean Kendall and I weren't crazy. 'I wonder if you and your friends are ready for what awaits you,' I guess it has something to do with what the guy said too. The guy must have known we'd be the only ones who could see him. But even though it was that, why could Ciara see him? How did this guy we had never met know us? This was all too confusing. I decided not to care for the fact that if he really had been stalking us so much that he even knew Ciara may be part of our circle, then just how creepy was this guy?

"What is going on?" Jacob asked.

"Did you see that?" Kendall asked them as they finally reached us.

"You mean a guy disappear in a swirl of blue smoke, why not? Of course, we see that every day. It's totally normal in this part of the city." Isaac replied sarcastically.

"What did he tell you, Kevin?" Ciara asked me, catching me off-guard.

"He told me that he wonders if my friends and I are ready for what awaits us and that he will be back tomorrow," I explained shrugging like it's no big deal before deciding that I should probably hit the showers. I jogged to the locker rooms not feeling quite in the mood to deal with the four of them.

I changed into my clothes after showering and got out of the locker rooms only to feel a chilly presence behind me. I turned and came face to face with Ciara standing by the door looking at me.

"Why did you run off after what we had just seen?"

Something about her really kept me on edge. "I'm just as confused as you guys," I told her.

"I see," she said, "but why are you avoiding your friends?"

This took me by surprise. "What do you mean? I'm not avoiding anyone," I told her.

"You sure don't act like it. I have met Kendall, Jacob and Isaac. They're sweet, but I have not met you," she said.

"What does it matter?" I asked her and she shrugged.

"I just don't want to get in between you guys, honestly," she said. I guess I had judged too fast.

"Fine, I'll ease up a little," I assured her before she flashed me a huge smile.

"Thanks, I'll walk with you," She offered.

"Don't you have to get home?"

"My parents don't really care," she shrugged obviously hiding the fact that it hurt her, "anything to get home later would do."

I smiled realizing that she was not really a bad person. 'I wonder what I was afraid of,' I thought.

"Why did you or do you avoid me?" she asked as we began the walk to my home. My parents thought the walk would do me good so they decided they wouldn't be picking me up from school.

"Are you always trying to make people feel uncomfortable?" I said trying to change the subject.

"Not really. I just want us to be on good terms with each other."

"I'm sorry if I made you feel unwelcome or uncomfortable," I tried, but she didn't look convinced. 'This isn't going well. What does she want?'

"It's okay." Her expression lit up all of a sudden, "I just felt like you didn't trust me."

"Oh. Sorry. Didn't mean to make you feel that way? Anyway...," suddenly remembering, "you said you saw that guy too."

"Yes, I saw him. Kendall asked around but no one had seen a thing. It's like we were the only ones who could see him. Why?" She asked.

"Nothing, I better get home before my parents start wondering where I am," I told her before jogging towards the direction of my home.

"See you tomorrow," Ciara yelled.

"See you too," I yelled back and made it back home. This was not what I expected to happen. Well, only time will tell. Let me wait for tomorrow and see what the guy has to say to us.

I got to our house and raced to my bedroom. I then head downstairs where mom is preparing supper. "Hey mom," I greeted heading over to help her with the dishes.

"When did you come in?" she asked. I hadn't noticed I came in unnoticed.

"About five minutes ago. Need any help," I asked.

"Yeah, help me cut up those onions and get them in the saucepan by the stove." I helped mom prepare dinner as we talked of school and dad and my brother. Later we called for dinner and sat down.

Dinner passed almost just as fast as it began and we all went to our bedrooms when we were done talking. Although my folks didn't seem chatty today, I let it slide. I fell into my bed and started thinking about things, but mostly about Ciara's sudden appearance at the locker rooms this evening.

'What is she up to? Something feels odd about her but I can't quite figure it out. Maybe it's the chilling feeling you get when you look her in the eyes. Something about her just sends shivers down my spine and even if I don't want to admit it, she has got a frightening amount of influence over my friends' cooperation. Maybe I should give her a chance.' That was my last thought before I drifted off to sleep.

.....

The next morning began just as any morning did. Bathe, breakfast, got to school, though the odd thing today was the way my parents seemed to be quiet. It was kind of creepy. I caught them on several occasions throwing me worried glances.

I tried to ignore and when Gary asked them, they changed the subject like they had not heard him. 'Now I'm starting to feel like Kendall,' I chuckled to myself.

We got to school and I bid my parents farewell as I began my search for my friends. My search was cut short when I found them all by my locker talking with Ciara in the centre leaning against my locker.

"Ahem," I faked coughing to catch their attention. "Oh, Kevin, you excited to find out what the other guy has to tell us today," Kendall asked.

"Honestly I don't think we should be getting ourselves in matters we don't know," I told him. The previous day it had been Kendall who was trying to let the matter go. They all seemed fired up for some reason.

"Come on Kevin, what's the worst that could happen," Ciara asked. The cold feeling took over again. What was it with her? I just couldn't figure it out.

"You tell me, we all saw him vanish into thin air." She went silent for a while and the atmosphere got colder. We started walking to our first class as we dispersed until I realised that Kendall, Ciara and I were still moving together. 'Could she be in this same class?' I decide to pretend to be going to use the bathroom so I drop behind them and follow slowly behind. They both entered the same room where we are to be having mathematics together from now on. 'This is going to be a long year. I wonder if she is all my classes.'

Perhaps she is. A voice said in my mind startling me. Then it giggled as it faded away as though I was some ignorant child who was hearing a radio for the first time. I stood transfixed to the spot for about three minutes next to my classroom door. 'A really, really, long year indeed,' I shook off the creepy feelings and proceeded to take my seat in class. I looked around and noticed that Ciara is seated right next to Kendall who no longer looked bothered by the creepy feeling he was talking about. 'Something is different about Kendall. He's glowing more than usual,' I thought while watching him babbling at Ciara, 'it is almost like he is.... full of hope.'

I went over to my seat and got out my notebook. Since math was one of my best subjects, I really didn't mind. The math teacher got in and the whole class fell dead silent. Only then did I look up to notice this was not Mr Danny.

"My name is Randy Bergstrom. But I prefer you call me Mr Bergstrom. From now on, I will be your math teacher. I will get to know you all along the way and I'll help you when necessary, but first I need to assess all of you so I can know where each one of you stands." The teacher said as he handed out test papers for us to do.

"This test will help me sort out which of you is average, bright and dumb," he said with so much seriousness in his voice. 'What a creepy teacher,' I said to myself as he handed out the test papers. 'This test looks too easy.'

I began to rush down the page, math being my easiest subject and all. 'Maybe you shouldn't write that fast, look at the paper.' A voice rang in my head startling me. I looked around to see everyone concentrated on their papers except for a few of course who didn't give a damn about the class.

So I took heed of the voice and looked at the paper again. It looked fine, nothing wrong. What was I thinking? As I brought down my pen to continue writing, the letters on the page began to swirl until the paper is just a whirlpool of black and white. 'What the...' Ouch. I began to feel dizzy like my stomach was churning.

"Mr Bergstrom, could I go out to use the bathroom," I spoke up while clutching my stomach in pain. A few heads turned back, but quickly got back to their work.

"You will do no such thing," he scolded. 'What's wrong with this teacher.' All at once, my stomach stops hurting and it's like nothing just as I begin to feel cold. 'I know that feeling.' I turned to Ciara and see that she is staring at me intensely. I frowned and she went back to her paper thankfully.

I turned back to my paper and it was still a mess of letters, but they were no longer spinning. 'Now what do I do?' I thought as I couldn't even make any sense of the letters.

'You answer the questions.'

'Hey, what's that voice in my head,' I asked in my mind but there was no reply. Ugh... I dropped my head in my hands and in a moment I started to feel cold again. I kept my head in my hands knowing that Ciara is watching me.

'Can you hear me?' this time I recognised the voice as Ciara's. I turned to look at her and a look of bewilderment crossed her face as it turned red. She fumbled to get back to her test, the embarrassment of being caught clear as a doorbell.

'Sorry,' she said in my head again.

'How?' I thought.

'It's a long story. Not one I'd like to get into today. Please let it go for now. I promise to tell you when I muster the courage.'

With that, I got back to my miserable test. 'Maybe I'm dreaming and I'll just wake up from this dream soon enough,' But it was already too late to start convincing myself when the test paper didn't get back in order.

"Time's up," the teacher chimed. "Stop writing and leave the paper at your desk. I'll see you all tomorrow."

'This is a disaster, I barely wrote a thing.'

I stood up to leave the room and started walking to my next room, really not in the mood to talk today. "Kevin... Kevin..." I heard Ciara's voice from behind me but I keep walking. She finally caught up to me and stopped me by grabbing my wrist before I could reach the door to my Physics class.

"Oh, Physics, my next class," she exclaimed to which I passively nodded and turned to enter the lab. But she yanked me back. "You promised to give me a chance yesterday, but clearly you're still avoiding me."

"I'm sorry Ciara, but this morning has started really badly for me and got me in a terrible mood. I don't mean to avoid you. But when I'm in a bad mood, I tend to avoid everyone." I explained. Being that I was originally a loner, I still had to deal with my issues alone and my friends knew that.

"Okay," She said and let me enter the lab as she followed me in. 'Is she going to be stuck with me the whole day.' I move to the back which I prefer most. I look back at Ciara and she has seated close to the door extremely far from me. I thought she was going to sit here, I guess she is going to ignore me too then. The teacher, Mr Adam comes in and the lesson begins. The rest of the day thankfully proceeded normally and she didn't even try to talk to me which was weird, I guess.

Classes finally ended and we all went to the field, Kendall and I trained while the others waited for the guy we wanted to talk to. The training ended smoothly and as usual, the guy was there. We rushed to him as if we are having a quick discussion since others can't see him

"Waiting for me eagerly I see," he said beaming at us, then frowned at Ciara. "Don't give up on him yet," he said. 'What does he mean now? Does everything have to be a riddle? But from the looks of it, Ciara definitely knows what the old crone is talking about.'

"Too late," Ciara replied and tears began glistening in her eyes.

"Well, I'll tell what I promised. You five are special, that's why you can see me. And you are destined for greatness." he said and takes on a loving expression. "But until then I'll be watching over you. Be careful," he said before disappearing again. Wait no, not just him, everything disappears and soon everything was spinning and I was getting very dizzy and nauseous.

.................

I woke up to a start and I was sweating so heavily that my shirt was drenched. 'I'm in my bed. How did I get here?' Everything felt real and at the same time, it felt like a dream.

'What the hell just happened?' I checked my clock and it said 2:00 am. 'The hell. What happened to me? Why can't I remember anything? The last thing I remember was....was.... walking up to that old... wait for what. No, we played football. We were training. How did I get home?'

'This is too weird' I thought as fear set in.

.....