The Thought Keepers: Ability

Chapter 3: Reality Check

My screams echoed in my ears. After a while, I opened my eyes. Was I already dead?

The bus was moving, but slowly. It waded through an invisible sea to reach me. I walked along the side of it, staring up in wonder as it came to a screeching stop inches from my feet. The sound was like a morphed train blasting its horn.

It was another dream. It had to be.

I maintained the thought that I had fallen asleep standing up, and passed out at the bus stop without realizing. But as the ringing in my ears stopped, and the bus driver leaned over to look at me strangely, I knew I was wide awake.

I got on the bus in a daze, passing students on my way to an empty seat. While stepping over someone's stray backpack, my footsteps faltered.

The alleyway was full of thick fog, not unlike the cloudy world from my dreams. A small figure trembled behind a dumpster, hugging his knees. His greasy brown hair was muddled, face a dirty mess of snot and tears. His clothes had been torn to shreds by what seemed like the biggest cat in existence.

Matthew?

Through the wisps of fog, a pair of bright pink eyes appeared, searching. With his whimpering and the faint smell of sweat, he wasn't hard to find.

The creature emerged from the vapor completely, and I honestly wished it hadn't. Its face was a skeletal mess of darkness and teeth, its pink eyes each the size of my hand. Atop its head, a pair of long, shadowed ears stood straight, flickering for traces of sound.

With excellent precision, it quickly located the boy, crouching behind him in a deadly embrace.

The sounds of Matthew's screams echoed through the alleyway, followed by the unmistakable darkness of laughter.

The filthy ground beneath my cheek alerted me to my fall. I grimaced, struggling to my feet. The bus driver eyed me without saying a word, waiting for me to sit down so he could drive us to school.

I slid into a seat near the back, clasping my shaking hands together. Matthew was fine. He just had a bad habit of skipping class, that's all. It wasn't uncommon for kids to skip first period.

I was off the bus as soon as the doors opened. I wanted to check my face for dirt, but also gather myself in a bathroom stall and remember what was real.

Completely distracted, I bumped into someone on the way in. My breath hitched when I saw a familiar boy with greasy brown hair. Except it wasn't that greasy looking anymore.

"Matthew?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Sorry," he grinned. His teeth gleamed in the lightening blue of dawn. "Wasn't paying attention."

I scrutinized him, wondering how he could go from wearing basketball shorts in the dead of winter to a light gray peacoat and button up. With his brown hair slicked to perfection, he looked like he was either on his way to a high-profile office job or a walk down the nearest runway.

"No, it was my bad," I said after too long a pause. Upon close inspection, finding no trace of blood, sweat or tears, I concluded that I fainted on the bus in light of a traumatic event. Matthew was fine. More than fine, really.

His grin seemed to widen, hazel eyes glinting. "Your name's Zekara, right?"

The warning bell for first period rang out, saving me from entertaining a full conversation with him. "Yeah, we're in the same history class," I said. "And we're about to be late."

...

Despite showing up on time for school, Matthew did not attend Ms. Price's class, so starting the project was a bust. Violet was missing today as well, so it just left me and the curly-haired new kid, Carson. Unfortunately, we were too busy reviewing for the test on Friday to introduce ourselves.