Fandomania

Chapter 1 - Awake

Miles Martyson woke up. He had no idea where he was or how he had gotten there. He sat up and blinked. A bright light was shining right in his eye. The light shut off and he blinked again. The whole room was white, from the wallpaper to the sheets that covered his lap.

"He's awake! You gave us quite the scare there, kid."

"Who're you?" Miles mumbled, trying to get his bearings.

A young man dressed in all white stood before him, scratching his short, cleanly cut beard, almost entirely blending in with the room.

"The guy responsible for keeping you alive. Not an easy task, I'll tell you that."

"Where're my parents?"

"They, uh, they couldn't be here at the moment," the doctor responded hesitantly.

"Oh."

Miles should have known that they wouldn't be there. They never were, for anything. His dad was always working, though he never told Miles what he did. His mom was always doing work around the house, as well as dealing with Miles' brother, Marcus.

"They have, however," he continued, "been notified that you are no longer comatose and should be able to leave the hospital in an estimated two weeks time, depending on the speed of your body recovery."

Two weeks? Body recovery? Miles didn't even know what had happened. He didn't know why he was in a hospital. He didn't even know the date. How long had he been in the hospital? How had he gotten there? How long had he been comatose? Miles had so many questions, but asked none of them. He just sat there, in the same place he had been for an unknown amount of time, thinking, readjusting to the world.

--

Only two days later, he was out of the hospital. No one knew how. Some claimed it was magic, others called it a miracle. Miles' whole body had revamped in a day. He wasn't a scientist, but something about that seemed odd. And it was August, meaning back to school. Miles had no idea what to expect. Last year, school was only two months in when Miles went into his coma. He had no idea what happened. No one had told him. One day he was at school, the next he was in a hospital bed almost a year later. It all happened too fast.

Now he was expected to go back to school.

"It'll be fine," Martha, Miles' mother, had said in midst of scrubbing a dirty dish.

Miles had just gotten home and been told that he would be going back to school the next day.

"Hey, Mom?" Miles had asked, finally putting his finger on what had seemed off about his home.

"Hmm?"

"Where's Mark?"

Miles had not seen his older brother or heard anything about him since he got out of his coma.

Martha turned this time, stopping what she was doing to look at Miles. Her face was cold, eyes distant.

"Marcus..." she began. "He, uh, he's not here... anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"He, uh, he started acting strange. He wasn't himself for quite awhile. Then he was gone. No note or hint to where he went."

Miles had then gone up to his forgotten room, left exactly how it was, and he sat for hours thinking.

Ring!

12 very short hours later, Miles now walked hurriedly to his first class. He was back at Woodside High. On first sight, nothing there seemed to have changed. Not yet, anyway. The seniors stood with their backs against the wall of the hallway, laughing as the freshmen ran to their class, not wanting to invoke the wrath of their teacher. The smell of the school hadn't changed one bit, it still smelled like wood and smoke.

"He's late."

Miles had just opened the door to his first period class, finding the math teacher, Mr. Smith, staring at him. His arms were crossed.

"Sorry, sir," Miles apologized. "I'll just, uh, sit."

Ignoring some sniggering in the back of the class, he took his seat and listened as Mr. Smith started his lesson. They were starting the year learning about trigonometry. Math had never been hard for Miles, but this went over his head. He supposed it was probably because he had missed almost the entire year last year. He'd go to a counselor after class and switch his classes to the ones that he was taking last year. Then he'd get back on track.

After class, he started back down to the first floor. He needed to talk to a counselor and get his classes straightened out as quickly as possible. Approaching the last flight of stairs, Miles' ankle hit something hard and he tripped, tumbling the rest of the way down the stairs.

"So, No-Style-Miles is back, huh?" the voice came snarling from the top of the stairs.

"Bailey."

Bailey was the bully. Or, more accurately, Miles' bully. It seemed like his life goal was making Miles' life as miserable as possible daily, in the eight hours of high school.

"I was getting worried," Bailey continued. "Especially after you pretty much exploded last time I saw you."

"I what?"

Miles had been told that he merely fainted in class and didn't wake up. Nothing about nearly exploding was mentioned to him.

"Oh, that's right, we're not allowed to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Miles pressed.

"I'm surprised your folks didn't tell you. But, then again, they don't seem to care for you much."

Miles heard laughing behind Bailey. His "meat squad" was arriving.

The meat squad was Bailey's group of friends. They did everything he asked, sharing his life goal of torturing Miles. They were the burliest sophomores in the school. They had beaten up a group of seniors that made fun of Bailey freshman year. No one messed with Bailey again. Miles managed to sit up.

"I mean, come on. Isn't that why you're brother ran away?"

"Shut up..." Miles mumbled.

The meat squad tensed up behind Bailey, but he waved them off.

"Ooh, looks like I struck a nerve, huh?" he snarled. "Turns out no one really loves you. Who knew? Oh, wait, everyone."

"Shut up!" Miles leaped to his feet and started towards Bailey.

Bailey merely stepped back and let Rocco, the biggest and surliest of the meat squad, step forward.

Then he swung. The biggest guy at Woodside High. Miles braced for impact. But none came. Miles opened his eye to see that his left hand had caught Rocco's fist. Rocco looked down at his right fist, wondering how it had been caught at lightning speed by the least athletic person in the school. No one had reflexes that fast. Miles and Rocco stood there for a second, contemplating this.

Then Miles swung back. His fast made contact with Rocco's jaw and he fell. The whole floor shook with impact. Teacher started running in to see what had made the noise. Bailey and the rest of his meat squad fled, as they always did when teachers arrived, leaving Miles standing over an unconscious Rocco, something you don't see every day.

Fandomania
Chapter 1 - Awake
February 12, 2019
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