Finding Tristan ✓

17: Tick Tock

"Time is running out, and silently we watch the days go by. They pass quickly and we cannot hold them in place."

Max

The way she played soccer today was absolutely amazing. Her movement across the field was smooth and instantaneous. As soon as one of the other players on our team passed Kylie the soccer ball, she was like the strike of lightning, but on two feet. Though it was unfortunate that our goalie wasn't up to par, so I swapped places with the guy whose name was supposedly Nathan. After gym class was over, I commented Kylie and she thanked me.

I couldn't help but to frown slightly to myself when I stripped down to my boxers in the men's locker room. All the guys' gazes held sympathy as they stared at the body that was painted with scars. I casually changed into my school clothes and bit back a choked cough. They immediately removed their stares and went back to doing their own thing. I grabbed Luke's school bag and headed to the next class.

I had Biology with Ashley and Nick. Apparently, there were rumors going on saying that they had been flirting around with each other, but every one at school knew that Nick was one of those dirty players. Nick would want to screw anything that had a hole and that walked on two legs. I knew for sure that Luke didn't have a hostile connection with Nick, but he did believe in what all the people have been saying about that guy.

"Hey Luke!" Ashley waved from the other side of the room. Mrs. Welter didn't require us to sit in our assignment seats; she was a pretty chill teacher. She let her students sat wherever they wanted, as long as they were focused in on note taking and learning the key concept of each unit, as well as achieving the expected learning targets during test taking. In my opinion, I thought sitting by Luke's friends was very much like a distraction towards my learning abilities.

"Hey Ashley," I greeted the red head back and took Luke's place, which was directly in the desk behind her. I couldn't bring myself to meet Nick in the eye as he sat down next to her. The guy with black hair and cobalt eyes nudged her arm playfully. Ashley scowled and kicked his foot between underneath the desks. Mrs. Welter entered the classroom just as the bell rang and stepped over to her desk at the front of the room.

"Alright class, settle down! Today we will be starting our unit on ecosystems and we will be taking notes!" She passed out a white packet with a green cover on it. It listed off all the contents, learning targets, and even the page numbers straight out of the textbook to read for extra studying.

"How else can we study other than the crappy textbook?" Someone muttered at the back of the room.

"You can also retake the online quizzes on our Moodle course as many times as you want. Your grade is on the line, so you make your own choice; either fail my class or pass it. There will always be consequences when failing a class that is a required credit needed to graduate!"

I glanced back at Nick and he was currently slouched down in his seat. He was boredly playing around with a strand of Ashley's hair between his fingertips. I could practically feel the other burning gazes of the other females in this classroom pointing straight at them. The heated and intense aura was just too much for my liking. I was surprised that Ashley wasn't showing any interest towards Nick. She seemed unfazed by him, who was getting all up in her personal space.

"I don't mean to burst your bubble Nick, but now's not the time to be messing around with Ashley." Mrs. Welter announced in front of the whole class. Almost all of the students laughed, except for me. Nick ran a hand through his hair and replied by clearing his throat.

"Yes ma'am."

We did a small lab that supposedly dealed with the population of hares and lynx within a small habitat. We had to fill in a large chart and create a line graph for the animal population versus the number of generations in the experiment. We would answer the analysis questions, compare the populations, and then come to a conclusion as a group of four. My lazy desk partner of a girl was not here, so that was the very least of my worries. What would have been better was that Kylie could taken her place, and I would've felt satisfied and confident throughout all the labs Mrs. Welter assigned the class to complete.

"You guys have a great working pace going on, so keep it up! I have to check up with Mr. Russell to see if he printed out extra tests for this coming week's unit test on ecology!" Unfortunately, Kylie had Mr. Russell for Biology. The fairly large blonde woman known as our teacher briskly walked out the classroom door. Everyone continued to do their work and tried to finish the entire lab up as they were told.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I received a new text from Kylie's stalker. I stood up from my seat near the lab station and took a deep breath. "I need to go use the restroom. I'll be right back!" I lied smoothly. Ashley and Nick and they both nodded in reply.

I quickly jogged down the long hallway and stepped into the restroom. I locked myself up at the stall at the farther left and sat on the toilet lid. My heart was not racing because of the running I did. It was racing because of the fact that I was going to talk to the man that had my brother held hostage. And any wrong move could cause Kylie's stalker to drive a knife into Luke's throat.

Him: Maximillian, are you adjusting well on your behalf of returning to town all beaten up?

Me: It's no problem at all, sir.

Him: Yeah, sorry about that. But you know what kind of lengths I would do just in order to take what's mine. Kylie Williams is my woman.

Me: Yes. No worries; I will heal just fine.

Him: I want you to give your friends a suggestion.

Him: You guys should go out to see a movie at the mall. You can take Kylie to go out shopping after the movie at that new store down the street corner to get her a new dress for homecoming and then knock her out at the back alley and bring her to me. But don't do too much damage to her; she's a precious gem.

I clenched my jaw.

Me: Correction sir, but these people are not my friends. Ever since the day I went missing, everyone forgot about me and they all left the memories they had of me behind.

Him: That's just how painful it is to lose someone you love and trust.

Me: I won't hesitate to do as you say for these people, just so as long you give me my twin brother back when everything is done and over with.

Me: But don't you think that plenty of people will be grieving for Kylie? She is loved and trusted by many. I think you should already know how it feels, sir. You will be making this very hard on her friends and her entire family.

Him: I will not give up on my pursue for my first love! You must do as I say or else I will have your brother by the head and bring it directly to you!

I flinched back slightly from my phone screen as if the man's hand was going to pop out of the screen and strangle me.

Me: Yes sir. I will be heading back to class now.

Him: Time is limited Maximillian. The clock is ticking. Make good use of it before it runs out.

I shivered and put my phone away. The hairs of my neck stood up as I exited the restroom and headed back to class. Something in the back of my mind was telling me that there was more to that last message that the man had sent. It creeped me out greatly. I felt fear crawl down my spine instantly as I started to realize what he actually meant.