Once Lost, Now Found

Chapter 2: Begin Again

 So began a new day in a new school. Glancing around the campus, I realised that no one was in sight. The school grounds were unnervingly quiet, devoid of any obstreperous kids,make that any kids at all. I fumbled with the letter that requested my admission into this particularly peculiar school once again; this time scrutinising every detail. I was in such a swivet that at first I was oblivious to the fact that someone was approaching me. His footfallls reverberated off the nearby walls and soon reached my ears. My head shot up and my gaze landed instantly on the lone figure standing just a few feet in front of me. He was pretty tan, with dark- framed glasses that accentuated the light grey colour of his piercing eyes; he had a smug look plastered on his otherwise flawless face, indicating that he did not doubt his competence, his hair was dark brown and his fringe  seemed to have been carelessly taken care of, falling in messy (yet graceful) waves across his forehead. Right now, as I 'appraised' him, he seemed to be doing the exact same thing to me. His gaze ricocheted off my face to the rest of my body.  It didn't exactly perturb me since I'd been doing the exact same thing and well, I recognised this as an act of precaution- analysing the other party, taking in every detail of a potential enemy. My jet black hair cascaded down my back, not at all in a graceful fashion, with stray strands jutting out and flying about carelessly in the wind. I opened my mouth to say something, anything that would make this moment seem less awkward but as usual, the words refused to come. So right now, I stood, with my lips slightly parted, mouth slightly agape, in front of this calm and collected , not forgetting to mention, CUTE guy. "Hey, I'm Timothy, guess you received the letter too huh?" Timothy mouthed as he nodded towards the letter I was holding in my hand. "Ah, yeah. My name's Aquila, by the way. Hey, do you have any idea why it's so freaking quiet over here. We're supposed to be in school today right?" I mumbled. Timothy nodded, his head cocked to one side. "Yeah, apparently so, at least that's what's stated in the letter over here. It also says that there should be at least four other kids around. I'm starting to think that this is all part of some ridiculous prank." I furrowed my brows, feeling flustered and yet keyed up at the same time. What in the world did these people have installed for us?

Timothy and I once again lapsed into silence. I scanned a part of the school grounds, while he scanned another. Just then, he gasped, "Oh shucks, there are people approaching and they don't exactly look friendly." "Huh?" I muttered since it was clear that there was no one in sight. I was just about to claim that he'd probably been hallucinating or mistaking something for what he'd just saw when I heard voices.The ears of an average human wouldn't have even registered that sound, yet I could hear it distinctly. That was when I knew that Timothy had told the truth. And suddenly, it hit me; Timothy eyesight was just like my hearing; it was an ability no one could even begin to comprehend. He was just like me. He was... it couldn't be, (say it), a LOST ONE. Just like me. Ill- treated by society, disregarded by the people around him, he was an outcast, an anomaly. "Timothy,  I heard them and you're right, they're headed this way. Come on, we don't have much of a choice; seems like we have to take refuge in one of the buildings for a while," I said, anxiously. As Timothy processed my words, his eyes slowly lit up. He'd found a new comrade, someone he could put his trust in.   Because, whatever the outcome, we were in this together and he knew that. "You could have told me earlier that you had similar abilities, you know. For a moment back there, I thought that you were just like the others, a mindless and probably soulless zombie," Timothy said as we dashed, abreast to the nearest building. I pumped my fists and raced alongside him, letting my mind absorb the enormity of what he'd just said, or confessed. "You think people who are unlike us are zombies? Why? well, I admit that I've used that as a metaphorical term to describe them before but honestly, I've never actually thought of them as actual zombies. But that thought is no doubt intriguing. It's true that they always reiterate what the government says and do things with shocking precision and perfection..." I droned on, trying to make sense of it all. It was possible that I'd been living with soulless people, evidence did point to that, but I had never wished to admit that possibility. My parents said things that any other parent would say, ok make that any other christian parent, since they were Christians. Nothing that had come from their mouths had actually been original. It was as if they had been programmed this way... programmed... "You know, another thing that you should know about me is that I can read people's minds and right now you're overwhelming me, haha" Timothy said,smirking once again. "well, who told you to go looking into my head?" I said, with a roll of my eyes. "What you've thought about is true, or rather is a possibility. I've thought about it before..." Timothy blurted. Just then, a piercing cry filled the air.

I shuddered. What kind of crazy institution had I stepped into? "You know, Timothy, if i had the chance, I'd dash out of this place...." I said, lowering my voice till it was barely a whisper. Timothy's breath tickled my ear as he said, "They won't let us out and you know it. Your intuition is unlike any other and you know once we're in, there's no way out." So he'd read my mind about that too. Gosh, I'd have to start building a non- permeable barrier within my mind to block any stuff from ever being viewed by him... The unbearable truth was that my instincts had indeed been telling me to run the moment I'd set foot in this institution. "I guess I'll just have to break out of this prison, whatever the cost," I said in a hushed tone. It soon turned out that this place indeed resembled a prison. A prison for humans. 

My life was beginning AGAIN.