Lucomocious

Chapter 2: The Anonymous Letters

Today was Saturday. Thomas had skipped school for the last week. He spent his time out of school exploring his local forest, harvesting food for his family, and going around downtown Cery. Despite Thomas being ignored regularly, it came as a surprise that not a single person noticed that he was gone. Except for one.

A few days ago, an anonymous person started sending him letters, telling him to meet them at a remote location. Thomas was intrigued by these letters and started investigating where this location could be. He also wrote back to this person, asking them why they wanted to meet him.

To Thomas's disappointment, the person only revealed that the information they wanted to share was important.

Thomas had been pranked and set up before, how could he know that this wasn't a prank? If anything, Thomas should've stopped replying to this person and moved on with his day-to-day life. Instead, he continued to write back to this person, getting as far as arranging a date and time.

That date was today.

Excitement and anxiety coursed through Thomas's body while he prepared his bag. This was his big break, he could feel it. He hoped that whoever he was meeting would give him information that would make him famous. Maybe this person would also be his friend, someone who could help Thomas get through school.

But before Thomas could leave his house, one last thought entered his head. What if this person wanted to harm him? Should he have alerted somebody before leaving?

Thomas quickly pushed those thoughts away. He had to meet this person, he just knew it. So he stepped out of his house and began walking to the location.

As Thomas strolled through Cery he noticed that hospitals were filled with sick patients and families were hurriedly buying food. Thomas overheard a family whispering about a new virus that had emerged overnight.

It must have had something to do with the LUCO virus.

" Somebody told me this disease has hospitalized half of New York," one man recalled. He had brown hair, black eyes and wore a giant brown coat. " It's appalling that the mayor of Cery has stayed silent about such a catastrophic event. If I was mayor, nobody would be outside right now!".

The man made eye contact with Thomas and frowned. Thomas could have sworn that he had seen that man earlier.

Thomas was about to approach the family when a boy confronted him. The boy towered over Thomas with his jet black hair that contrasted beautifully against his tanned skin. He had mysterious hazel eyes and a small scar just above his right eye.

" So you're the boy everyone has been talking about," the boy smirked. He had an intimidating voice that made it hard for Thomas's legs not to buckle. " You seem to have become the life of the party overnight,".

Thomas didn't have a clue who this guy was or what he meant by Thomas being the life of the party. He couldn't tell if the boy was joking or serious. His face gave no sign of sarcasm. Was this boy telling the truth?

" I don't know what you're talking about, I haven't been to school in a week," was all Thomas was able to muster up. He waited for the boy to realize he may have had the wrong guy or look surprised. Instead, he looked almost as if he had expected Thomas to say those exact words.

" That's exactly why everyone is talking about you," he put a finger to Thomas's chest, making him take a step back. " You haven't been to school in a week and apparently you've never missed a day before," he explained. " People think you're dead."

Dead? People thought he was dead.

Thomas was taken aback by the words that had come out of the boy's mouth. He had only been gone for a week, yet people had come to the conclusion that the worst had happened. Maybe that's what people want, Thomas thought to himself. He pushed those thoughts away, not wanting it to get in the way of all the questions he wanted to ask.