Chapter 1: Normal

I'm just an ordinary 16 year old high school student at Katagiri Academy, and live a normal life for the most part.

I wake up early in the morning to eat the breakfast that my mother prepares for me every morning, and leave to go to school around 6 o'clock in the morning.

I have many friends at school that occasionally walk with me. They are very friendly people and love to talk about drama at school, and about the cute girls in my school, but overall are great guys.

During school hours I like to draw funny sketches of animals and other mysterious creatures in my notebook, while drowning out the sound of my boring and mundane teacher.

I love to write fun and creative stories for school projects, and enjoy working with others. During lunch or break I like to eat with my friends and discuss what we are going to do when we get out of school, or as we describe, "prison."

After school I attend clubs like the Body Improvement Club, and the Writing Club, but I am usually uninterested in the topics we discuss in those clubs, and would much rather go home and sleep.

Once I leave to go home it is around 7 or 8 o'clock at night and I am exhausted after another grueling day at my boring school.

Once I get home I greet my mom and dad, and say hi to my baby sister. I then eat dinner and discuss how my day went at school with my family. They usually don't have anything too interesting to tell about how their days at work went.

My mom is a teacher at a grade school, and my dad is an office worker for a big corporation.

We live a sustainable lifestyle, with good income and a healthy family relationship. We love the company that we share together, laughing and chatting with one another.

Overall I am happy to live in this family, and feel blessed to be loved dearly by these people. At night I go upstairs to my room, decorated with a beautiful red and black wallpaper, with a desk area to sit at to study for important exams and to draw things.

I go to lay down and rest in my queen-sized mattress with a floral pattern on it, and white rectangular shaped pillows that have black pillow covers on them to make them more comfortable to lay on. The door is made from Oak wood and has a sleek design on it with a modern doorknob. I have an air conditioner in there and many blankets to keep warm.

Once I finally fall asleep, I feel like I wake up instantly, and always feel tired, but that doesn't stop me from doing my morning routine and going to a usually boring and nonproductive day at school.

But today was different!

When I woke up today, it felt normal. I went to the restroom to brush my teeth and went to the kitchen to eat breakfast with my mother and little sister.

When I got in the kitchen my mother was cooking scrambled eggs and sausage with a bread roll; my favorite.

She looked like she was in a happy mood with a good night's sleep and my little sister looked anxious to eat. I don't blame her because I was very hungry myself and felt like I could eat a horse. My father was at work in the morning, and never got to spend time with us.

I sat down and was ready to dig into the delicious meal that my loving mother had prepared, and felt like I was starving.

She then picked up the pan, off of the stove, and put some scrambled eggs on my bread roll and then put a sausage patty on top.

She then put the top of the bread roll on the sausage and pushed it together to create a breakfast sandwich. I then grabbed it with my left hand and took a bite into the breakfast sandwich.

It was incredible! The sandwich tasted like something that is out of this world. The sausage was cooked perfectly and the eggs looked like my mother put her soul into making them.

After I had finished my breakfast I was about to leave to go to school, then my mother ran to me to tell me something. "Have a good day at school, Unmei."

"I will mom", I said with a fake, but sincere smile on my face.

"Love you." She had a perfect, angelic smile on her face that made her look like she was just a young girl in high school.

"Love you, mom," I smirked

As I walked out the front door, my mother gave me a bright smile. Little did I know that might be the last time I see her smile.

When I got to school I saw my friends getting their textbooks out from their lockers. "Hey guys what's up", I said with excited eyes.

"Oh, hey Unmei" They said in unison with a tone of happiness.

"Are you guys going to your first class?" I said with a puzzling look.

"Yeah, so see you around Unmei", said my tall, but skinny friend.

"See you after school." I said with a chuckle.

School today wasn't anything special. In the first period we did a biology experiment, and the second and third period were about as uneventful, but what happened at lunch was the thing that made me realize that today was no ordinary day at school.

"Attention, Attention Students!" Said the voice from the microphone.

"We are planning for an immediate evacuation from the school!" Said the voice with a sour tone.

"What?" Said many confused and panicked students.

One student stood up and asked the voice, "What is the meaning of this!" He said with a scowl.

The voice said with disappointment, "We the gods are taking control of this town. Resist and you will receive a bloody death."

"That's a load of bullshit." The boy said with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. "Prove that you will back up your malicious words." He said with anger.

The voice, visibly annoyed, said, "If all of you fail to leave that room in 10 seconds you will be executed.

The students, visibly terrified, ran from their seats in the cafeteria, to the door. "10, the voice said, "9." The students began to frantically run for their lives, running over others, pushing, and shoving them while trying to not be executed by this voice,

"8,7,6,5", the voice said, getting louder and more intimidating by the second. While the students were scared and running for the doors, some were unlucky and lying on the ground after getting knocked down by another student. These students were screaming for their lives and trying to get up in time to get to the doors.

"4,3", the voice, all the more intimidating. As I heard these crescendo of sounds from the voice I started to run as well. The only problem was that I wasn't fast enough, and that there were too many people running at once that I tripped, and fell down on the floor.

"2", the voice said.

"Am I really going to die like this?" "Am I really going to die a dogs death?" " Am I really never going to see my mother's beautiful and angelic smile that helps me get through my tough days at school. "Am I really not going to make it?" Thoughts spun around in my head as I felt anxious of what would happen if I didn't get to those doors before the countdown was over. Whether or not this ominous voice really had the power to kill everyone in here.

I pondered these thoughts for what felt like a lifetime, and had finally come up with a solution. "I, I just have to get to the doors right?" "I just have to get out of here and go home to my family right?" Surely it would all be over and I could see the smile on my mother's face again, or the amazing meals that she cooks for me everyday that I took for granted. Or I could see my father's laughter again, or my little sister's cry for food.

I only had one option. I had to make it in time. I then ran as fast as I could with adrenaline coursing all throughout my body and soul, with only one thing on my mind, to survive.

I grabbed a four-legged chair made of hard plastic and started swinging it around to move the helpless students in front of me.

"1!" The voice said loudly, louder than any music that I had ever heard and clearer than any water that I had ever seen.

With a distraught look on my face, I dove headfirst with my arms outstretched in a diver position ready to catch and push the door open.

I connected and threw the door open with all my strength as soon as the clock struck…

"0", a stopwatch sounded.