The Wanderland: Rewritten

Chapter Two - The Ceremony

"Chris! We gotta leave soon!" a man shouted from downstairs. Chris Edwards was a 16-year old boy with a short, brown hair. He wore a hoodie, jeans and a pair of sneakers. Chris loved music and instruments, one of his biggest dreams was to play in a band. In fact, he and his best friend Alex used to sneak into the school auditorium to play instruments whenever possible. Chris' family was pretty poor. Their house wasn't anything fancy, and Chris always had to get all of his clothes and other stuff he needed from these marketplaces around the town where people sold their used stuff. Alex was also interested in music, and he was "specialized" in drums, even though he couldn't play them very often. Alex's family was also pretty poor. "Hey Chris, you have to leave now." Chris' mom showed up in the doorway. "You got to be kidding me, you aren't going to your school for the last time ever wearing a hoodie!" "Mom, it isn't that big of a deal, nobody's wearing anything fancy." Chris said while standing up. When Chris walked out of his room, he could hear his mom saying something that sounded a lot like "teens".  Chris took his cap from the stand in the front of the door, and went out. His dad was sitting inside of a very cheap looking car that was located in the front of the house. "Get in, quick! You're almost late!" his dad shouted from the window. Chris opened the car door, and stepped in. His dad started up the car, and the trip to Chris' school began for the one last time.

"So, do you have any plans for the future?" Chris' dad asked him. Chris was sitting in the back of the car, drawing pictures in his notebook. "Well, I haven't really thought about that yet. In all honesty, I would like to play in a band, but I guess I would have to get a good job first, in order to  get money to even buy a guitar." Their car stopped in the traffic lights. Chris' dad turned around and looked at his son. He was a pretty average looking old man. He was bald, and wore the most casual clothes possible. "I hope you will find something that makes you happy, son. But if I were you, I would earn as much money as possible, and move away from this corrupted city." He wasn't wrong. The city was not a place you would want to live in. There was nothing advanced about this city, everywhere you looked, you would just see broken buildings, and poor people on the streets begging for money or food. It was downright filthy. This was the city of Questodome. In fact, a while back, the city was one of the most advanced and safest places in the world. It all went downhill five years ago, when a mysterious man that called himself Evilor took the lead. Nobody knew why or how he did it, actually, no one still to this day knows who he even is. That's why the population of the city has decreased by a lot. Everyone was dreaming of moving away, into another kingdom, where Evilor wouldn't be in lead. "I'll try my best", Chris said.

The car parked in front of Chris' school, which was a big building. The walls were colored in white all the way around the building, and there was a big sign on the wall that said "Questodome High School - Since 1862". It was going to be Chris' last day in school. After this day, he would be free to do whatever he wants, although most of the people his age try their best to find a job. It wasn't an easy task to find a job in Questodome, that's why there were so much poverty in the city. Chris hopped out of the car, took his backpack and looked at the people that were going to school for the last time. There was truly joy and happiness in the air. Chris could see all the people from his class outside the building, the boys and girls were in their own small groups like usual. Everyone was talking about what they would do after the school is over. Chris didn't have any plans, maybe he could ask Alex if he wanted to hang out after school. "Oh yeah, Alex." Chris thought in his mind. He was wondering where Alex was, and he really wanted to find him before the final event in the school would begin. "Well, I think I'll be going now." Chris said to his dad, took his backpack and started walking towards the school.

Chris walked through the hallway that would lead to his classroom. The students were going to be put in classrooms before all of them would go to the ending ceremony. Everywhere Chris looked, he could see people that were hugging each other and spending their final hours as students. "Hey Chris! How are you doing?" a girl from Chris' class said to him. "Oh, hi Emily, I'm doing well, thanks for asking. Would you have any idea where Alex is?" Chris responded. "Hmm, I think I saw him a while ago, he was walking through this very same hallway. He might've went already in our classroom, I don't know." Emily said. "Oh well, thanks Emily." Chris said and started walking towards the classroom. And there he was, Alex was sitting on a chair as the only person in the classroom. Alex noticed Chris quickly and stood up. "Hey, what's up Chris?" Alex said while shaking hands with Chris. "I'm doing wonderfully, it's the last day of the school, after all." Chris responded. Alex Blackwell was also a 16-year old boy. He had a short blonde hair, and he was wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Alex was few months older than Chris, and also a few centimeters taller. "My mom was stressing about my clothes in the morning, and I told her that nobody would wear fancy clothes. Seems like I was right." Chris said. And he was right. He could only see a few people with suits. Maybe suits or fancy clothes were too expensive for an average family living in Questodome, Chris wouldn't have been surprised. "Haha, yeah, my mom is like that too. Although she has stopped caring a little bit about how I wear, maybe she has realized that it doesn't help in my case." Alex said. Chris and Alex talked about all kinds of different things, while the classroom started to fill with people. When all of their classmates had made their way into the classroom, all of the students left the class together and started walking towards the hall, where the ending ceremony would be in. The ending ceremony wasn't really anything special. Some of the students would have small speeches if they wanted, and then of course, all of the students would get their certificates. Chris and Alex sat at the back of the hall. A few of the students they knew had speeches in front of the whole school, including the girl that talked to Chris earlier, Emily. But Chris nor Alex really paid much attention, because both of them were too excited for the holidays to begin, so excited that they even wasted the entire ceremony talking about their plans for the holidays. The ceremony lasted for about an hour. Chris got his certificate, and as a surprise for him, he got pretty decent grades. Alex's grades weren't as good, though, but he didn't seem to stress about them at all. After the ceremony was over, the boys were hanging out in the school backyard. "You know, it feels weird that we are never going to come back here again." Alex said. "It really does..." Chris agreed. "What are we going to do now? Wanna hang out some more? We could go to a store to buy some snacks and then go chill somewhere." Alex suggested. "I don't really know, I am pretty tired." Chris didn't feel like hanging out today. He wanted to go home and have a nice, long sleep. It was weird, because earlier Chris thought he would definitely hang out with Alex after the school day. "Oh, that's fine. How about tomorrow, then?" Alex asked. Chris stood up and said "I'll give you a call tomorrow if I feel like it, alright?". The boys shook hands, and Chris started walking back home. In his mind, he was just thinking about a warm cup of coffee and a great sleep.

Chris went home and slept for a few hours. In fact, he would've slept even more, if his mom wouldn't have interrupted his sleep. But little did Chris know, that this knock on the door would change everything. "What now? I'm trying to sleep, mom." Chris said while still being very sleepy. He went to sit on his chair, and looked at his mom. Chris' mom looked pale. Like she would've seen a ghost or something. "Are you feeling okay, mom?" Chris asked. "They need you downstairs." his mom said. "Who?" Chris was very confused. "Take a backpack, and pack all of your most important stuff inside." Chris' mom said. "What? What the hell is going on? I'm not going to leave for a camping trip or anything, my vacation just started! And why do you look like you have just witnessed a murder?" Chris started to get annoyed. "Just get downstairs, now." his mom said again and left the room. Chris was very, very confused. He took his backpack from the floor, and started packing clothes and other stuff in there. He thought that this maybe was his mom's way to get him on a camping trip. If he would spend nights in forest, he would need a flashlight too, so he packed that with him as well. Chris took his now pretty full backpack and went downstairs. He saw that his mom was talking with someone he didn't know. As Chris went closer and saw the man in the doorway, his heart started to beat faster than ever. The man in the doorway was heavily armored. He wore a full armor, and held a rifle in his hands. Who was this man? The man noticed Chris as he walked down the stairs. "Chris Edwards, right?" the man said. "Uhhh... yeah?" Chris was confused and scared at the same time. "Put your shoes on, and get into the car." the man said. "Hold on a second, who are you? Where are you taking me?" Chris asked. "I am a soldier sent by the supreme leader, Evilor" the man said. Chris could've sworn that his heart stopped beating for a second. "A- and what d- does Evilor want from m- me?" Chris stuttered. "I will explain that for you in the car." the soldier said. "I'm not going anywhere." Chris gained a bit more confidence. "Oh? That's how you think?" the soldier pointed his gun at Chris' mom, who started screaming. "Get in or she's getting in!" the soldier said. "FINE I'LL GO! JUST LET GO OF HER!" Chris yelled. The soldier lowered his weapon, and said "Shoes on. Follow me." Chris wore his shoes quickly and looked at his mom. She had covered her face with her hands, but Chris could see that she was crying. "Don't worry mom, I'll be back." Chris said and stepped outside.

Chris stepped into the car that was parked on his backyard. The soldier started up the car, and started driving. "Would you now tell me, where you are taking me?" Chris asked. "The supreme leader wants to meet you. I don't know anything else." the soldier said. "Are you taking me to Evilor?" Chris was scared. "That's how I was instructed to do." the soldier said again. Chris had heard all kinds of stories about Evilor. Evilor had done terrible things. He had caused poverty, executed people for no reason and ripped families apart. And yet, nobody knew why. Chris started to think. He couldn't stay in this car. He had to escape. He didn't want to go to Evilor. He was afraid. So he started to think of a way to escape. While the soldier was focused on the traffic, Chris looked around the car. He saw that the soldier had a small pistol in his pocket. The pistol looked like modern technology. "If I'm going to most likely die in the hands of Evilor anyways, why wouldn't a give this a go." Chris thought in his mind. He was praying that the pistol was loaded. Chris stretched his arm as much and as slowly as possible. He got a grip of the pistol. It was loaded. Chris aimed the pistol at the soldier's head. It was a loud bang. Although now, nobody was controlling the car. Chris tried his best to take control of the car, but everything happened so quick that he didn't have time to do that. BANG! The car hit a truck. Chris' brain wasn't able to follow what was happening. He flew out of the car's window, and laid on the ground. Only thing he could feel was pain. Only thing he could hear was screaming. Only thing he could see, were the stars on the sky. He didn't have a lot of time to look at them, though. He passed out on the ground.