2022

Part 1

Kane

2022, the year the world ended, or at least started to. This was the third time we had moved now, me and my dad. I thought he would have left me behind a long time ago, but he dragged me along despite us hating each other. Friendswood Texas, I don't know why anyone would want to live so close to Houston. Houston used to be a massive city, full of business, people, culture, but now it's just one massive military base.

The walk to school was long, about 10 minutes. It gave me time to think, I didn't like to think, my mind always wandered to the parts I didn't like. As I walked down the sidewalk I saw a kid. He sat alone on the sidewalk, nose in a book. As I approached him I took my headphones out.

"Hey." I said as I was only a foot or so away from him. He didn't look up from his book,

"Hey." His voice was shallow, it almost sounded rehearsed. I walked on, putting my headphones back in.

This school was weird, I don't know how to explain it. All the kids looked a bit alike, making me stick out like a sore thumb. It smelt like old carpet through the whole building, and it was cold, really cold. I walked through the crowded hallway, people gave me weird looks, like I didn't belong. I had been to plenty of new schools and I always got a few weird looks but this was almost everyone. Like a whole crowd was judging me at once. Wow, this is a different kind of degrading.

By the second period it was painfully clear that I wasn't gonna fit in here, but then there was a saving grace, that kid from this morning. He was sitting at a table in the back of my second period. Since he was the only person I had even kinda talked to, I decided to sit with him. I sat and the boy didn't look up, say anything, or really even realize that I was sitting here. His nose was still buried in that same book, but it looked like he had made some real progres. Something about this kid was off. I could tell he had seen some shit.

A kid walked in, a short kid with brown hair and brown eyes. This kid was the definition of simple, but he still walked with a kind of confidence that shouldn't be there. Simpleton walked up to our table and sat next to the book boy. Simpleton flicked the other boy's ear, but the other boy just read his book. Simpleton looked back to his friends and laughed, "I don't think he has anything going on up here." Simpleton pointed to his head. The book boy just kept reading his book. Simpleton flicked him again, and laughed some more.

"Hey, let the man read his book." I barked across the table. Simpleton slowly turned to look at me and scoffed. "Or what?" He asked. I sat back in my chair, as simpleton stood from his. He walked around the table and to me. Simpleton leaned down and got about a foot from my face.

"Listen new kid, stay out of my way." Simpleton announced in his proud prepubescent voice. He slowly raised his hand to my face and flicked my nose. What the fuck I stood up shoving him back a few steps. He pushed me but when I got my footing I returned with a punch straight to his jaw. He stumbled back and groaned in pain.

"Who the fuck do you thi-" Before he could finish his sentance, I socked him again on his forehead. He hit the ground and let out a yell. Someone tackled me from the side, It was the teacher, shit.

The teacher drugged me all the way to the front office. The office was gray and yellow, not exactly inviting colors. It smelt like fake waxes and candles, and the old lady that sat behind the desk looked like she had worked here since the school was built. She wasn't happy to be there and she really wasn't happy to see me. The teacher threw me in one of the blue chairs and pointed his finger at my face, getting only portions of an inch from my face. I bit at it, letting a smile creep across my face. Scaring adults like this has to be one of my favorite pastimes. They always think I'm some kind of hell spawn child. I chuckled and he turned to the lady sitting behind the desk. They mummerd for a minute, but when they were done, the lady said "Stand up and come over here." She didn't raise her voice but you could tell she really wasn't happy.
"What is your first and last name?" The wicked witch asked.