From Embers

F I F T E E N

That night

Nothing more eventful happened throughout the day. The lockdown was still in effect and we had food delivered to us earlier in the night. We all ordered pizza. It was probably the best I had ever eaten. I was worried about Scott even though I knew he would heal from his wounds. I'd never seen someone so close to death before. It was pretty traumatizing, and for a moment. I thought he was really going to die in my room. He did, for a moment. I saved his life. If he didn't come to me when he did, he would probably be dead. I pushed these thoughts from my mind and lied down in my bed. I looked over at my clock and it was almost eleven o' clock. I probably should head to sleep. It's been a very long day: I killed a Wendigo, saved someone's life, told my friend a whole other world exists, and went to class. I guess all in a day's work for an initiate of the Hierarchy. Was this going to become the norm for me?

I closed my eyes and turned out the lamp on my nightstand. I needed rest. 

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I woke to the sound of footsteps in my room. I opened my eyes a sliver and there was a dark figure standing in the corner of my room. I kept breathing deeply, as if I were still in sleep. The figure didn't move or do anything for a moment. I couldn't make out who it was in the darkness of my room. I started to sweat from the fear of why there was someone watching me sleep. I didn't know whether to spring out of bed ready for a fight or if I should just wait to see if they do anything. I decided the latter, I would wait it out. It felt like hours before anything happened. The figure pulled out something small. From what I could make out in the darkness, it was a small black box. The person flipped something on the side of it and a dim light shined through the top, illuminating the person's face. My heart fell through the floor when I realized who it was. There was no possible way it could be him. I had to be hallucinating. 

My father stood in the corner of the room. 

I opened my eyes fully and rose from my bed. 

"Dad?" I spoke quietly.

The device shut off instantly and the figure was gone, all at once. I rubbed my eyes and turned on my lamp beside my bed. I stared into the corner of my room as a multitude of emotion flooded through me. I don't know if what I just saw was real or if I was just seeing things. No. That had to be real. From what I could make out in the dim light, he looked older. His hair was whitening. His face was older than I last remembered. My father had to be alive. He was just here. Wasn't he?

I turned off my lamp after contemplating my sight for a while. Lying back down, I drifted off into a restless sleep. 

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I woke to a phone call from the operator, but this call wasn't the usual happy wake up call. It was Headmaster Pearce. 

"Good morning Students. I'm calling you this morning to tell you all that classes for today are cancelled. The lockdown will hopefully end for the campus around noon and the day will proceed as usual. You'll regain full access to the campus and be able to move around freely. Practices for all of our teams will resume this afternoon as well. I apologize for the sudden announcement yesterday. There was a threat on campus that needed to be dealt and your safety is my top priority. I hope you all enjoy your day off from classes and everything will resume as normal tomorrow. Thank you." He spoke calmly.

Threat is an understatement. That thing was a top security clearance type of threat. Something the government wouldn't want people knowing about, like aliens or something. I got up out of bed and walked downstairs. No one else was up yet. They likely fell back asleep after hearing there weren't any classes. I've been here for a few days and even I was happy to not have class. I grabbed a banana, some strawberries, and almond milk from the kitchen. I was going to have a smoothie for breakfast. I threw the ingredients into the blender and turned it on. It was surprisingly silent. There was almost no sound emitting from the blades. I never wanted to leave this place, I wouldn't know what to do back in the real world. It felt like I was living twenty years in the future. Everything was so technologically advanced here. Every day something new impressed me. After liquefying all of the ingredients, I poured it into a tall glass. I fetched my tablet and phone, then sat down in the living room. I turned on the device and set it on the stand that popped out of the table in front of the sofa. I turned on a movie that I'd seen hundreds of time, but never enjoyed any less. I lost myself into the screen in front of me and relaxed. Before I knew it, Diego and Alex had come downstairs and started making food for themselves as well. They sat down beside me and zoned into the movie.

"What movie is this?" Alex asked.

"It's a movie I used to watch a ton as a kid with my dad. It's the first Iron Man movie." I answered.

It was almost over by the time they came down. I looked at my phone, it was almost ten o' clock. The lockdown would end in two hours. I wanted to join an athletics team, just to keep myself busy in the afternoon. I'd ask Alex what teams we had here on campus later, but I think I already knew the answer to that question: all of them. I wanted to run, so I would probably just join the track team or cross-country. 

The real question was: would I use my newfound speed on the running teams?