Ancient Forces (2018 Reboot)

Chapter 7 - The Decision

The car pulled up to the front entrance of the school just like any other. The door swung open and a single crutch came out, followed by a slightly bandaged leg. The second leg, his left, came out fully revealed and totally normal. Zayne stood up and leaned against the crutch as he turned to look back inside the car, facing his Aunt Ver at the driver's wheel.

"Remember what we talked about. If you feel the surge coming-"

"Ask to go to the bathroom and calm down yes yes I know," Zayne finished.

"Okay. Just making sure. I'm picking you up at twelve-thirty today okay? That should be plenty of time to think about your answer, right?" Ver asked kindly.

"I guess yeah. I'll see you later," Zayne replied as he started closing the door.

"I love you," Ver quickly said just before the door closed.

"Love you too," Zayne answered as he shut the door, then turned and started limping towards the front doors of the school.

The sun was blocked out as the building loomed over his small figure, seemingly taunting him as he approached. Zayne ignored it and focused on the doors. What would it be like, he wondered, with all his friends? Had everyone heard about his parent's death? Would they try to comfort him, or would they try to not acknowledge it? How would everyone treat him? Suddenly a realization washed over Zayne, stopping him in his tracks towards the doors. What if Anton was here? He was apparently a student here, and no one but him and Ver knew who he really was. He would be perfectly normal in this setting, except for maybe his yelling at Zayne on Friday. Zayne shivered and kept going. Whatever the case he was safe here. Well, safer that was. Even if he was here, Anton wouldn't risk being caught here, would he?

Then again, Zayne remembered Ver's explanation of the Mythic and their goal. To cause chaos. If he revealed himself to be a mutated spider monster here that would certainly cause chaos for a while. The ideas floated but eventually silenced themselves as Zayne opened the doors and stepped inside. He slowly climbed up the stairs and entered the main waiting lobby. Everyone was there, the usual chatter and noise just like any other day. Zayne began to scan the crowds, looking for any face he recognized. At this point even the scared kid's face would be comforting. Instead he found no familiar faces, only casual expressions across the lobby from teen to teen. No one had apparently given much thought to the incident.

Two men came up behind Zayne and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to face them fully, concerned for a moment before sighing easily. It was two policemen, one much younger looking than the other. The older one seemed to be in his seventies, with a short grey mustache and soothing blue eyes. He had lots of wrinkles and did nothing to hide them. He seemed to be at peace with his age situation. The younger looking officer seemed more hyper, with shorter blonde hair slightly covering his ears and neck. His darting green eyes scanned the crowd of students before them. Zayne gave them as warm a smile as he could.

"You wouldn't perhaps be Zayne would you?" the older policeman asked.

"I am," Zayne replied as he stood up as straight as possible.

"We'd like to ask you a few questions if you wouldn't mind. About your parent's incident," the younger policeman jumped in.

"Oh uh," Zayne delayed, looking back into the crowd for any face he could meet with.

"We understand if you would rather not talk about it," the older man spoke up.

When he didn't find anything, Zayne looked back to the officers with a serious expression, "It's fine. Ask away."

"Right this way please," the younger officer aided Zayne as they moved towards a back room where teachers usually met for lunch.

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