Ephemeral: An Apocalyptic Novel

Chapter 4

Elijah

It was Mindie. I answered the call, relief washing over me.

"Yeah, what?"

"I left my bag in your car. Can you get it please?"

"Mindie, you've got to remember your stuff!"

I hung up, changed her ringtone, swung her bag over my shoulder along with my own backpack, and walked towards the school. The wind was light and nice.

Mindie ran up to me and swiped the bag from my arms.

"Thanks."

She rushed off to the restroom and I sat down with Junho and Derek. The two were talking about trying out for the different sports teams at school. I reached inside my pocket to get my phone. It wasn't there.

I stood up, searching all the pockets on my clothes and my backpack.

Junho looked up. "Yo, what's up?"

"Shit. I think I dropped my phone."

I took off running inside the school, retracing my steps. Luckily, my phone ended up being right on the ground next to my car door. I checked for any damages and was happy to see there were none.

Far off in the distance, muffled by the loud machinery, was a low rumble.

It shocked me, no doubt, but I looked to the workers and they seemed unfazed.

I jumped over a potted plant surrounding the cafeteria and saw Dulce, Isaac, and a girl furiously speaking.

I jogged over to them. The closer I got, the more I heard.

"--saw it, I know it. It wasn't a glitch on my phone or anything," the girl spat.

Dulce caught sight of me coming their way, said something, and walked up to me.

"Hey," I said.

"Hi. What're you doing here so early? I would assume you'd be one of the ones to skip."

"Nah, but I am planning to if nothing exciting happens during the day. What's up with your friend?"

"Oh, Reya? We...um, we were taking photos on the roof and then she said that whenever she looked at one of the photos, it was just a bunch of numbers."

"That's just a glitch, isn't it?"

"Yeah, you'd think but the numbers formed into letters that spelt out "HERE"."

"How's that possible?"

"I don't know. I only know what she said."

Dulce chewed on her lip nervously.

"Well, I guess these things are going to happen more. I mean, first the buildings and now that?" I said.

She threw her hands up in defeat. "I don't know anymore."

"Well no one does at this point."

"Obviously! No one so far can explain why buildings are randomly falling apart and other freak events."

The girl with the phone came up to us.

"So you got any idea about what happened?"

"Not really," I answered.

She sighed. "Okay, Elijah."

"You know my name?"

"And you don't know mine? The fuck? We had track together."

I pursed my lips. "Well..."

"Reya."

"Oh yeahh! You're on the football team--"