Chapter 3: Mother

"Maybe it's time to go down."

Zac had been staring at the skies for almost half an hour now, relishing how peaceful it was. His life just a few hours ago was a living hell… or perhaps it would be better to say that his life just months from now would be a living hell.

It was quite confusing, Zac thought. He remembered reading novels of people being sent back in time, but never did he think that it would be this confusing now that it happened to him.

3 months.

He had about 3 months to condition himself for the coming of the apocalypse. He had been thinking of how he could do better this time, and the only thing he could think of…

...was the Gold Curtain that would be appearing somewhere near his school.

Curtains are rated from different categories; White, Blue, Red, Purple, Gold, and Rainbow-- with white having the easiest Challenge of them all. Of course, the harder the Challenges inside the Curtain, the better the rewards.

He… needed to try everything he could-- starting from falling off this building at the earliest moment possible and killing the Goblin Sorcerer even faster so that he could receive the reward for being the first to close a Curtain.

"..." Zac started to examine his body, and after a few moments of doing so, the only thing he could do was let out a long and deep sigh. He would surely die if he landed in the wrong place.

"...Pft." He then laughed at the thoughts he was having. Die landing in the wrong place? Any human would die doing that. It has been a very long time since he encountered a normal human that he almost forgot how fragile they truly were.

Even the bullies that he encountered earlier almost died because of him just being a little rough on them.

"No wonder half of the population died on the first day."

Zac's sighs almost reached the heavens as he finally decided he had enough looking at the sky. He wasn't really one to talk; the only reason he survived the first day of the apocalypse was because of sheer stupid luck.

He was about to leave the rooftop, but before he could even take 3 steps, the door was slammed open.

"Don't do it, Zac!" A female student then suddenly ran towards him, "Please, they des-- Ugh!"

"Oh fuck!"

And by reflex, he accidentally punched the female student in the stomach.

"Don't you know how dangerous it is to suddenly jump like that!?" Zac then bellowed as he tried to help the girl up, "I swear, I don't remember young people being this careless. Are…

...Are you okay, dear?"

"D… d… dear!?"

Zac once again almost hit the female student in the stomach as she suddenly leaped back.

"..." What is wrong with this girl? Zac thought as he looked at her from head to toe. She was just hit in the stomach a few seconds ago, and now she was standing like nothing happened to her. She even had the time to fix her long gingerly red hair.

"Are… you alright?" Zac then muttered, "You seem a little flushed, little girl."

"Y… yes?" The female student answered with a stutter, but after a few seconds, her eyes widened as she pointed towards Zac, "What do you mean am I alright!? I should be the one asking you that! I heard what happened in the bathroom!"

"I… see. Are the boys alright?"

"What!? This is no time to be worrying about someone else! And they deserved what happened to them!"

And without any warning, the female student suddenly grabbed Zac's wrist and dragged him back inside the school. If he wasn't already used to the girl's sudden burst of antics, then Zac would have probably pushed her on the stairs.

"You… you need to tell them it's not your fault!" The female student's exasperated words echoed through the edges of the stairs in the fire escape as she continued to drag Zac down,

"Your… your mother has also been called and is in the office right now. I can testify that they were bullying you, others witnessed it as well!"

"My… mother?"

"Eek!"

The two almost stumbled down the stairs as Zac suddenly stopped in his tracks. He… has not seen his mother for a hundred years; he doesn't even remember what she looked like anymore.

What… was he even going to say to her?

"...How do you know my mother?" Zac then asked the female student.

"What? What do you mean… did… did you lose your memories!?" The female student then grabbed Zac's head with both her hands, looking at him straight in the eyes, "You… what's my name?"

"Silvie?"

"What!? Who's that!?" The female student then shook Zac's head as tears slowly appeared on the surface of her eyes, "It's me, Vanessa! We've been neighbors in the apartment for like… forever!"

"I… see."

"Dude, what do you mean you see!? We just watched a movie at your house last night! And why do you sound like an old man!?"

"Were you my girlfriend?"

"W… what nonsense are you spouting!? Let's just go to the office and explain the situation!"

And with that, Vanessa once again dragged Zac by the wrist as she rushed to go down the stairs. Zac, on the other hand, was staring at her back completely at a loss.

The memories of his life before the apocalypse… have truly been overwritten. He doesn't have any memories of the girl holding her hand… he doesn't even know where he lived anymore.

"I… It's here!"

And now, with them running through the hallway and finally entering the office where her mother was supposed to be…

...He couldn't even point out who she was in the sea of faces that were staring at him.

"I… I brought him, Nathalie!"

Nathalie? That… was the name of his mother, right?

Which one was she?

"Z… Zac, baby. Are you okay!?"

Zac then stepped back a couple of times as one of the women sitting on a chair at one of the desks suddenly ran and hugged him.

"Are you okay? Does… does anything hurt?"

"..." And now, seeing the tears trail on the face of his mother; an overwhelming sadness started to crawl throughout his entire body, but not because of the warmth that was coming from his mother; but because looking at her crying and concerned face right now…

...Zac could only see a stranger.

The Curtains… truly have taken away everything from him.

"I'm… okay, mother," Zac then could only fake a smile as he gently touched his mother's hand, "Just a little putrid because I was almost drowned in piss and--"

"That's a lie!"

And before he could even finish his reuniting words with his mother, the sound of a chair scraping across the floor scratched through the air as a male student violently pointed his finger towards Zac.

"..." If Zac wasn't mistaken, then this boy was one of the bullies he encountered earlier.

"He… he's not the one lying unconscious in the bed right now!" The male student bellowed.

"...The boy still hasn't regained consciousness?" Zac curiously replied as he gently pushed his mother to the side, "I am sure he wasn't that hurt when I left."

Zac then placed his hand on his chin as he looked to the side. It would seem he truly underestimated how weak humans were before the apocalypse.

"Have you tried slapping him awa--"

"Z… Zac!"

And before he could say anything more, Vanessa pulled him away to the side with his mother.

"S… see!? Did everyone hear that!? That's basically a confession!"

"How dare you do that to my child!"

And suddenly, one of the other women also stood up from her seat and also started pointing her finger violently at Zac.

"How am I even going to explain to his father that our son was beaten up in school!? Don't you know how hard we worked so that our son would not want anything in life!?" The woman then started screaming, her words enough to be heard outside of the office.

Zac then turned his head towards the remaining people in the office, the teachers. And seeing the expressions on their faces, they didn't seem to have any plan in stopping the situation.

"You should be expelled!" The woman continued to point her finger at Zac, "No, no. You should be jailed!"

"Well--"

"P… please, no!"

And before Zac could even respond, his mother suddenly kneeled on the ground.

"My… my son didn't do anything! He… he's a good kid!" Nathalie bellowed, her hands almost touching the noisy woman's feet, "Please… please don't take this to the police!"

"N… Nathalie."

"..." Zac could feel Vanessa's grip tightening around his arm as her voice began to crack.

"No! Get your son and we will settle this in the station!"

"D… don't please! My son is a good kid!"

"Madams, madams!"

And finally, one of the members of the faculty decided to step in, "I think we all just need to calm down. How about this… why don't Zac here just apologize? I am sure he didn't mean it."

"What? You think apologizing would make sending my son to the hospital okay!?" And yet, the woman continued to scream her lungs out, "Call the police! I am going to call the police this instant."

"W… wait! I… I… I'll pay your son's hospital bills! Just please don't call the cops!"

Zac watched as her mother tried to scramble and search her purse, but as soon as he saw how empty it was, the only thing he could do was shake his head.

"Mother," he then said as he grabbed his mother's hand, helping her to get up from the floor, "You don't need to stoop so low just to please people who are going to die 3 months from now."

"...Zac?"

"And please stop crying," Zac then wiped the tears on his mother's face, "You're going to get older faster."

"D… die!? Did any of you hear that!? This boy just threatened me!" The woman once again began screaming as she tried to gather sympathy from the rest of the faculty, "This--"

However, before she could say anything more, Zac did something that shut not only her mouth, but also the whispers of the bystanders.

Zac…

...started to strip down.