The A.I. Protoforms

Chapter One: Glitch

           The bell rang. Jensi's heart pulsated quickly as he entered the bright classroom. He sat down at the cold, metal desk in the middle of the damp school room, and folded his hands neatly in his lap, pretending as if nothing had happened; like he had not almost been late for school. What was I thinking? his head rang. My perfect attendance could have been ruined. If it had taken a second longer to get to the classroom, his life would have been over with.

The teacher came in. As tall and graceful as she appeared, this facade was short-lived as she scanned the room. Almost everyone within the vicinity averted their gaze, too afraid to make any sort of eye contact with the she-devil. Her unemotional eyes came in contact with Jensi; dark and threatening as they were, he found that he couldn't even take a glance away; too afraid of what might come.

"Close call there.. wasn't it, Jensi?" Her sharp voice started. Jensi flinched. She glared at him through steadily fogging glasses. Those glasses had been foggy since the first day of school, seven weeks ago; always clear at the start of the day, but slowly shielding her horrific eyes from the plethora of children in front of her. Jensi nodded politely and tapped his pencil lightly on his desk in an anxious manner. It gave him something to do to distract himself from the dark eyes of his teacher.  He liked to pretend he was always busy. Though, he was far from it most of the time. He always finished his work the second it was assigned to him; and always came to class early-- Except today. Everything had been different ever since he caught sight of  that dark stranger staring at him through his bedroom window. That dark shadow roamed around in his head, pushing away each thought he had. It had been three days ago; and it was still fresh in his mind. 

He stayed up all night, frightened. Instead of finishing his schoolwork, he stared outside his bedroom window, hoping that the stranger ceased to come back. Maybe it was all a dream. But it had seemed so real. Jensi spoke about it to his mother, but the woman had only told him to not worry. That his little precious mind was only playing tricks on him. But he didn't want his mind to play tricks on him. He didn't want to feel anxious any longer. What he wanted was his normal life back. This paranoia of his was starting to get the better of him.

Jensi was going to make sure that nothing bad happened to him or his dear mother. Ever since his dad died six years ago, it had just been his mother and him. He felt as if it were his job to watch over the house; watch over his mother.

                                              '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The piercing sound of the bell ringing pulled Jensi away from his thoughts. Class was over.

The teacher stalked over to his desk as the students around him prepared to leave; each pale, bony hand wrapped over one another upon her abdomen. She spoke, "So, you are going to be late and you decide that you are allowed to daydream my entire class?" The teacher asked, glaring at him yet again. Jensi nervously placed his tongue over his teeth. The male felt his face warming in a sheet of embarrassment as a few guilty glances wandered over to him. He hated getting in trouble. Especially when confrontation was mixed into the deal.

Before he could reply, the ground began to shake. His whole body felt as if it had turned into mush as he struggled to keep himself straight in his desk. Others fell to the floor, smacking hard on the ground. Multiple groans of pain emitted from various parts of the school, and for a moment, Jensi thought he heard distant screaming in another classroom. Becoming distracted by this sudden sound, Jensi fell to the floor, though he was lucky enough to catch himself. From this angle, the earth only seemed to move more. His head vibrated with pain as he went on this rough boat ride, looking up at the teacher for some sort of help.

Her sharp features sharpened further, though her dark eyes glowed a slight twinge of worry as she backed up and held onto her own desk for support. The teacher seemed to crouch behind her desk before opening her mouth to say something. Jensi shut his eyes in horror as the room only shook more. Above the roar of moving objects and terrified screams, the teacher's voice rose above it all. "Get under your desks, it's okay!!" She yelled out through the commotion. Jensi opened his eyes and did as she said, for he felt she might yell at him even with everything going on. The voices around him quieted down as everyone crouched underneath their desks, holding on for dear life.