Ancient Forces (2018 Reboot)

Chapter 17 - So Close Yet so Far

Zayne let out a sigh as he entered the school once again. It was Wednesday, so he was expected to leave with Aleah and head home with her after the day. From there they were then going to head to the mall and shop for a suit for Zayne since he didn't have one. They were going to be hitting as many places as they could before it closed around seven, so Zayne was already expecting a long and tiresome day ahead. Ver was planning on picking him up right from the mall, but she wasn't going to be getting off of work today until around seven thirty, and with an extra thirty to forty-five minutes to actually drive there, Zayne was expecting to be home around nine or nine thirty. In light of this Zayne had brought extra snacks and money provided by Ver for his dinner. The biggest upside to this deal was that the mall had a food court, and there was a Chick-Fil-A there.

Zayne himself wasn't planning on wearing a full on suit. He was going to bring up the option of just buying a nice shirt, tie, and pants instead of a full suit. Knowing Aleah however, Zayne had spent a considerable chunk of his recent night finding prices and reasons to back up his claim. It was going to be a long argument over the issue. One that Zayne intended on winning but knew more than anything that he would most likely lose.

As Zayne opened the doors to the main lobby room he was assaulted by the daily smells and sounds of people discussing and enjoying the company of others. It was just like any other morning, except for one small detail. Zayne scanned the room swiftly and found his morning group, who had recently been more punctual at morning meetings. As he approached he kept getting an odd fear drifting in the back of his head. He would occasionally glance around at the people around trying to find the origin of his fear, but he couldn't find anything. He was becoming paranoid by the time he'd met up with his friends.

"Hey, Zayne, you know what I realized?" Austin said as he approached.

"What?" Zayne nervously replied, trying to hide his anxiety.

"That weird kid with the music is gone. I haven't seen him in a while. And now that I look at you, you look like me on a casual Sunday at the park," Austin accused.

"Eh well, you know sickness is going around. I'm not feeling too good myself," Zayne wasn't lying there, "and you know that kid might have moved. I thought I heard something about him moving a while back."

Austin gave him a suspicious squint, "Uh huh. Yeah..."

"Oh, Zayne did you see that weird kid who was screaming at you a few weeks back?" Aries asked.

"What? Weird kid? Wh-" instantly Zayne felt his skin turn cold and his hairs stood straight up.

Zayne quickly whipped around and looked directly across the room to the doors. Standing there at the doors, smiling at him with that same devious smile, was Anton. The little devil was waving a poster for the dance that he'd stolen off of a wall at Zayne, pointing to it, then to him with a sinister look. Zayne's creeping fear was rapidly replaced with a sense of urgency. He dropped his bag and turned to face everyone else.

"Hold on to my stuff," was all he said before he took off towards the entrance.

Shoving and pushing past people as fast as he could, he was trying to reach the entrance and get back outside before Anton escaped his grasp. How had he gotten in here? How had no one noticed him? The questions fluttered away as Zayne erupted out the doors and looked down the stairway to the main entrance. The doors were just now closing, meaning that Anton had just gotten out. Zayne took off down the stairs and busted through the front doors into the parking lot area. He quickly surveyed the land and saw Anton bolting across the open field of grass, the same one Zayne had chased Eli across. Without hesitation, Zayne took a single step forward to give chase, but felt a hand grip the back of his shirt and hold him in place.