The Unseen 3: The Wanted Hero

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

There was a certain gloom that hung over the entire school. It had been there for weeks now, though nobody was quite sure where this odd atmosphere came from or why it felt so strange. This wasn't how my senior year was supposed to come to an end, with whispers and gossip lurking in every corner.

Everybody seemed lost without Hunter's bright smile lighting up the hall. Trust me when I say that it affected everyone. I had never heard the halls this quiet as the kids refused to shift their eyes away from this new version of Hunter, the one who appeared lost and dull. This wasn't Hunter Landon, this couldn't be. Where had his lively smile gone? That seemed to be the shared question of the whole school.

I was sure that the ever watching eyes in the hallways noticed the effort he and I both took in making sure not to be at our lockers at the same time. Each day, I would wait until he had gathered all he needed and left before I would approach. I had never expected that there would be a day where I regretted our similar last names.

While the questions were cast and whispered in the halls, I knew the answers. Where had Hunter Landon's contagious smile gone? Me. I had taken it from him. My lies, my pretending, and then my running away when he found out who I truly was.

We still hadn't spoken about the matter, though we both knew that it never left our minds. From time to time I would catch his gaze lingering on me, but he would quickly move on. Today was one of those days where we avoided all eye contact all together.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Rashal's gentle voice registered in my head. "Nikkia?" She had been an amazing friend the last few weeks, simply because she was one of the few people in the world who actually knew what was going on.

I turned to my friend, away from the quizzical eyes of my classmates. "I'm fine. Same as any day."

"You still haven't had a vision?" Rashal began to walk down the hallway, guiding me to the back door where the school buses waited. I shook my head in response. It had been almost a month since my last vision, an unnatural amount of time. I recalled that I only had visions of events that were in my capability to save, so perhaps my body knew, somehow, that I was emotionally unable to be a superhero right now. Regardless, The Unseen had been inactive ever since the incident with Hunter a few weeks ago.

My problem was that I didn't know how to approach the situation. After these past two years of lies, how did one go about something like this? I had been able to tell my parents, but Hunter had to find out on his own...and even if we weren't together any more, that had to have been a big blow to him.

"Up the steps," Rashal reminded me, pushing me towards the bus.  "Do you want me to come home with you today?"

I shook my head. "No, Kody is picking me up soon."

"Okay, well..." her words drifted off. "See you tomorrow." I felt so pathetic and pitiful when I noticed the concern on my friend's face. Was I really that helpless seeming right now? Why am I being so strange about this? Hunter and I were long over, so none of this should have affected me this much. At least I had Rashal and Kody, and I also could talk to my parents since they knew my secret now.

The bus ride home was even shorter since the amount of people riding had dwindled even from last semester. I thanked Marlena, the bus driver, and jogged into my house, slinging my backpack on the kitchen table.

"Hey, Nikkia," my mom greeted, "your boss called and needs you to work tomorrow."

I grimaced. "Again?" I only held on to the job at the coffee shop to keep me busy. Without any visions to pass the time, I was starting to go crazy with boredom. Rashal and Kody couldn't be there to distract me all the time.