Chapter 2

It was unknown how much time had passed, little by little Oliver woke up feeling the sunlight hitting his face and forcing him to open his eyes with the brightness and heat bothering him. 

'What happened?' 

Little by little his blurred vision focused on his surroundings and made him realize that he was in his own room, the night seemed to have been much longer than it should have been, as if he had just woken up from a nightmare that had ruined his sleep and left him more tired than when he went to sleep. 

With a long sigh he was getting ready to get up, however, as soon as he pushed his body forward it was as if he felt a shock throughout his body that made him grunt and lie down again. 

'Ghhhh' 

He felt his body tired and his muscles sore, making him groan with his expression showing his discomfort. 

"What a pain… it feels like I was run over and I don't remember a time when I slept so badly." 

Even though all his muscles felt tired, Oliver also noticed something strange in his hands that made him move his head, still bewildered. 

When he shook his hand, he felt a twinge again, but something was different. 

When he looked at her, he noticed that she was injured and had some calluses, with traces of dried blood and dirt on her hands, which made him frown and look confused. 

'How did I get hurt so much?' 

His whole body seemed to groan in pain that made him not want to get up, something strange had happened to him and made him question the time. 

Oliver slowly turned his face towards his wall and saw the clock indicating the time was approaching 7am. 

With a shock and on impulse, Oliver quickly got up and once again felt the muscular pain that spread throughout his body, making him grunt again as he felt those terrible stitches that made him groan. 

"Ugh... Why does it hurt so much?" 

However, the moment he stood up, he realized that something was at his headboard. 

He turned around and saw that all the objects from the previous day were properly positioned there, the cloak was folded and the bow was on top next to the quiver. 

Seeing that made him question himself. 

'Wasn't that part of the dream?' 

His thoughts passed quickly as he wondered what to do with it, but the rush was greater and soon he ran to the bathroom, throwing his clothes around the house and going to take a shower. 

Time passed and the vision showed Oliver walking quickly, his clothes were now black dress pants and a white shirt, while he thought. 

'After all, this still made me late…' 

As soon as he turned around, he saw the university he studied at and saw if he was on schedule. 

With the same haste, he passed through the gates and continued on his way. 

In front he saw the food court with some groups of people at the tables, eating and talking, making a certain noise that caught his attention. 

Oliver looked at the group from the corner of his eye as he moved and noticing the meeting that was taking place, he soon slowed down, stopping to look for a few moments. 

With that image in front of him, he soon started walking again and scratched the back of his head, rambling. 

It had been a while since he met new people or made friends, that entire semester he had only maintained the friendships of his previous ones. 

His brow furrowed slightly as he realized that his sociability was low, but he continued to walk around the university while thinking. 

'But it's not like I have much time.' 

Passing more and more stairs, and after walking through some corridors, he soon remembered his routine as he stopped in front of a college room, where it was written on the glass. 

- Journalism - 

Once again, he pulled out his cell phone to check the time, seeing that he had arrived at his destination on time, Oliver sighed with relief and opened the door so he could enter. 

Soon he saw the room where he used to spend good hours of his days, he saw large tables with chairs positioned for them with many people already sitting. 

With his eyes, he looked for the place where he almost always sat. 

It was a chair very close to the exit and keeping a distance from the end of the room, where he saw the teacher get up and go towards the blackboard to start the class. 

Quickly, the boy took off his backpack and took out a notebook, opening it and placing it on the table. 

That was Oliver's routine, as his fingers quickly pressed the notebook's keys typing his password, he thought. 

'I only came here for this...' 

As soon as the screen on his notebook was brightened, he again showed his family photo half-extended so that it would fit on the screen. 

Some minimized tabs were opened where they showed fragments of reports from 4 years ago, already accustomed to that image where he noticed the excerpts. 

- Family disappears without a trace, interview with the boy... - 

- Disappearance still unanswered, one month after the event, police find no trace of the... - 

- After half a year, police admit they have not found any more clues or evidence of the disappearance - 

As the news passed, the reports became smaller and smaller, at first it was a complete page and little by little it became a smaller and smaller text. 

Oliver was faced with his younger self as he saw his increasingly grumpy expression reflecting on the laptop screen. 

He leaned his body forward as he continued to read. 

'One year after the incident... still no sign of the missing family.' 

'Where is the boy...' 

His eyes reflected those images already practically memorized in his mind by the frequency with which he saw them, in the end his thoughts formulated theories and he rambled. 

'Just two years after the case, information about the searches simply disappeared, no evidence was found.' 

For a brief moment he scratched his eyes and then folded his hands in thought. 

'I need an answer...' 

Time passed again and the bell rang at the college, indicating the end of the class that passed quickly, even though it took almost 5 hours of your day. 

Upon hearing the signal, Oliver got up and put his notebook in his backpack, placing it on his shoulder and turning to leave the room. 

It was lunch time and so he sat down more calmly, staying in the cafeteria and looking for a table so he could eat. 

The thoughts of socializing quickly disappeared from his head after class, he ate quietly at an empty table and after finishing eating, he got up. 

Once again he picked up his things and headed towards the university exit, his pace was more relaxed due to the time and then he headed towards the city center, where he worked. 

To get there, he needed a certain amount of time and then, after a few buses, he got off at a point where he could already see a large construction around a fenced campus where several cars were passing by. 

His day was already strange, reminding him of the muscle pain and injured hands that had disturbed him in class, making him keep a serious expression as he walked. 

Still approaching, Oliver noticed strange movement in the parking lot from afar and saw cars passing more frequently, all seeming to go in the same direction. 

He saw that movement from afar as he tried to remember if something had happened that week, but nothing caught his attention, in the end everything was just about finding his family. 

After a few minutes of walking, Oliver entered the building and when he opened the door he realized that, like the parking lot, it was also busier than usual. 

Several people, from beginners to senior positions, were rushing around, looking for papers and cameras. 

One even walked past Oliver and bumped into him, pushing him against the wall, making him grunt and once again reminding him of his muscle pain. 

'What is all this?' 

He continued to look surprised as he realized that everyone seemed to be taking care of the same case and he hadn't been alerted about anything, generating suspicion and strangeness as he quickly passed through that area. 

The atmosphere was agitated and made much noisier by people's chatter, as he saw people picking up and dropping papers as they went from one place to another in search of information 

Oliver was lost as he watched all that movement, until he noticed several televisions on the news wall and all with the same image, where it was shown on the board. 

- Green Vigilant, exclusive images - 

'Images show images of a man in a green cape facing bandits at night, and the most incredible: using a bow...' 

His eyes quickly passed over the advertisement and he opened his eyes slightly, while he gradually heard his co-workers around him saying. 

"Green Cape Vigilant... what was the region where you last saw him?" 

"Last time? It doesn't matter, where was the first one? We need the first. Contact the person responsible for the recording, find him, we need him before the competition." 

"Yes sir." 

The entire environment was hurried and agitated as Oliver looked at the images, his expression still showing surprise while one of his eyebrows remained raised. 

"Green cape?"