Kida stumbled into Ms. Garner's English class after another night filled with her mother's aggravated gaze, stern voice, and her brothers enjoying every moment being her new favorites.
'Should have gotten more than just burritos,' she thought, slamming her bag on the ground.
In a heaping mess, Luke rushed in just before the bell rang.
"What happened to you?" she wondered as the class continued to talk around them.
"I may or may not have fallen asleep in Griffith's class," Luke explained, attempting to get his life together.
"Holy shit, did he rip you a new one?" she sarcastically asked.
"Quiet!" Ms. Garner called above everyone.
As a hush fell over the class, Luke only dared to shake his head in response to Kida. She cast him a surprised gaze before diverting her attention to Garner's lesson.
The Monday morning class felt like a drag as they read a Shakespeare sonnet, making everyone feel dumber than usual.
'How much longer?' Kida wondered silently.
"Okay, we finished a little early, and since we forgot to do our weekly recap on Friday, I'll pull up the news now," Garner announced, spreading a cloud of relief around the student's foggy mind.
'Thank God,' she prayed, putting away her things.
Luke gladly shoved his notebook into the black hole of crumbled papers and missing assignments that seem to pop up the day before they're due.
"Ms. Garner, can you play the breaking news video?" a student at the front of the class asked.
Glancing up at the smartboard that mirrored Ms. Garner's computer, Kida narrowed her gaze to read the tiny bright red banner at the top of the web search page that read "Breaking News: Breck in the case of the missing girl: Suspect turned themselves in."
Turning to Luke, his gaze was blank.
'This wasn't us,' she realized as Ms. Garner reluctantly clicked on the banner, taking them to a live broadcaster located outside a bustling police station.
"We are right outside NYPD's Station 214 where roughly 30 minutes ago Nichole Rowland, one of the lead suspects in the case of the missing girl that was brutally taken from her home on the morning of March 20th, has just turned herself in. Now, she is the wife of Micheal Cyrus, the man police identified in the broadcasted video last week that targeted IceWings, Steel Shield, and Phoenix for their involvement in the case. Just in the last 10 minutes, we have seen several police vehicles driving in and out of this secure station along with FBI-marked vans, making it seem like Federal forces might be stepping in," the news anchor reported.
Luke and Kida's gaze meet as the bell rang overhead. Other students rushed out the door to get away from Garner's Shakespearean talk and the unnerving news booming over the speakers. Yet they stayed seated as their minds fought to make sense of the wave of information that collapsed over them.
"You two alright?" Garner asked in a soft voice, receiving the email about Em's disappearance even though the media had to keep her identity hidden on the account that she was a minor along with the fact that her "legal guardians" had taken her captive.
"Yeah," Kida answered, trying to think of how else to respond.
"I think so," Luke replied, slowly standing up.
"Where are your next classes?" Garner questioned, pulling out passes.
"History, Mrs. Kelf," Luke answered as though he had hit a light in the back of his head.
YOU ARE READING
Rise from the Ashes
ActionAfter Emerald gets kidnapped by her adopted parents, Nichole and Mike Cyrus, better known as The Shadow, Luke, and Kida, are hunting to find her. Yet, the police continue to get in their way, cut the investigation short, and even begin to integrate...
