Safe

2- Tattoo

Everlasting darkness, always crushing, always pushing like an unbearable weight. Killing even the strongest man.

When I arrive at school, I run to my locker, knowing I'm late. No one is in the hallway.

"Select book," the metallic voice cooes. 

Before I can, someone grabs my shoulder. My heart pounds, and I twist backwards quickly. In the fraction of a second that it takes to twist backwards and have my fist connect with his face, I know everything. Tall, pale blonde, 6'3 or so. Caucasian. Strong build. Light blue eyes. Square jaw, slightly crooked nose with a large lower lip. He's handsome. 

He stumbles backwards, holding his face. He lunges to grab me, and I duck out of his way, shoving his chest backwards with all of my might. He falters. Why wasn't anyone noticing this? Another man appears behind him, matching his height, build, and skin tone. His hair, however, is a midnight black color, and he has cold, caramel brown eyes. 

"Logan!" He yells, grabbing his friend before he plummets into the hard concrete floor. "You little-" I don't let him finish his sentence, and quickly I him aside and sprint for the exit parallel to my storage cell. I quickly scan my hand and type in a code in the keypad beside the door. "Fingerprint recognized," the same voice that controlled my storage cell rasps. "Yeah, yeah, I know," I say urgently. The door slides open, and I run out. The men stop short. "Open it, Jake," the blonde man called Logan says. Jake palms the door open. How did he do that? He wasn't even registered. I then notice that Jake is holding a limp hand. The hand of a student, a boy that sits next to me in all of my classes. I notice with a flood of relief that he is breathing. Just unconscious.

Jake and Logan step out of the school. I scan for an escape. The school is on a hill, but I can still jog down and run into the surrounding woods. Or I can cross the bridge at the front of the hill, and sprint home. I prefer the latter, but Jake and Logan are coming towards me faster, and the woods are the closest. I close my eyes and sprint.

24, 25, 26. I count the roots I jump over, turning in a different direction after every four. No normal person would be able to follow me. My slender figure allows me to slip through small gaps in the trees. Surveying the area ahead of me, I dare a glance over my shoulder, leaping over 4 roots in the process. I see that Logan and Jake are having no trouble following me. And then I catch something out of the corner of my eye. Jake has a long, black tattoo running down his arm. At the top of it, a small, black bead sticks out a fraction of a centimeter. The perfect disguise. No one would ever notice it. But it must be some sort of serum, because Logan and Jake dodge every tree with the finesse of a gymnast, something that two men of their size wouldn't be capable of. 

I pick up speed, adrenaline turning my veins a light blue, neon color. That's just another one of my weird perks. And then I realize of something. If I stop, it would catch them by surprise. Maybe the bead will stop them, but more likely than not, their humanity will take over and they'll stumble past me. Just enough time to run back. I have the pathaway that I took memorized. I hit the brakes, and the men run past me, but they figure out what they were doing quicker than I had anticipated. They spin around, running towards me faster than ever. I take advantage of my lightweight clothing, bending and twisting among the trees with unrivaled flexebility. 

I sprint towards the light, closer, closer, closer, closer, closer... I collapse to my knees, a sharp pain in my back. Another pain in my arm. As my eyes close, I see a long, midnight tattoo running down my arm. At the base of it is a small bead.