First Day of the Awoken Age

  Anticipation flushed through his entire body, his stomach in knots whilst his lean muscles felt the thump they always did before he put them to use as if they expected this of him even now. Usually, Setter only felt the anticipation before practicum or the fields related too, his tall rakish body would seem to be bad for fighting yet it was the opposite, yes, he couldn’t throw a punch to save his life yet place a spear and shield in hand and he was a tornado

  -And now, maybe with this new age maybe my skills will be useful-

  The line moved forward a few steps and Setter kept in with them unwilling to break away from the group, being the last person in the line was daunting as he didn’t know what it meant whether he was already out of favor with the newly elected Matriarch or if it was something else entirely. The carved hallways illuminated by torches of fire casting the already orange walls with ominous shades and shadows, perfect for the beginning of a new age as it was something memorable at least. Those same shadows cast their own illusions upon the thin black robes all of the acolytes wore, none of them wearing the hoods attached to the heads as this wasn’t one of those types of ceremonies but only added to the anticipation Setter felt and how his mind was cementing this image of the natural tunnels with their horrific illumination into his mind.

  Echoing from somewhere above in the Conventical itself those older than twenty-five years and those younger than eight engaged trying their hardest not to think about the fact that down here in these caverns their own children were making their own preparations with their own newly elected Matriarch.

  The line moved forward another few steps, through the wide opening Setter could see the naturally made amphitheater, spotlights powered by silent running generators aiming down to the Matriarch as she honored her acolytes with their Duties and thanks, her words echoing out into the entire cavern. The throng of others near age to Setter’s own twenty years almost completely filling the amphitheater, the few hundred people looking a whole lot more numerous down in this cavern to Setters eyes.

  -I wish I had my spear here. Not to use but for support, that would either be making the anticipation do summersaults in his gut or calm them to a manageable level and not the heights they had climbed too now-

  Out of all the acolytes he was the best trained in practicum, in many ways it dictated his life as he kept his golden curled hair short with only a few strands with a clean face he managed daily and a lean muscled body that was perfect for his abilities.

  The line moved again and now he was standing inside the amphitheater, the last of the entire line, the last acolyte to be given his duties -What did that mean she wanted of me? Did it mean anything- Ahead the Matriarch was honoring Deidamia Shahn and Torren Firangi both people who Setter had bedded many times and both worthy of whatever duty she was giving them. Now with his vantage at the height of the amphitheater he could see the Occultist symbol of twin-bull horned protrusions encircling the Enlightenment symbol from the hangings overhead as the perfect reminder of their faith and what would give them courage in the uncertain times ahead.

  ‘I will pay the Spirits any amount they can imagine making this New Age come right now if it means cutting this off right now.’ Came from the person standing next to him who hadn’t been there before, she was placed away from him enough to be in the line of already-honored acolytes but close enough that only he could hear her. And with the voice of an angel and that sting to her words Setter put aside his anticipation, a half smiling creasing his face in excitement.

  ‘Victoire Keita. It has been a while.’ Setter said turning to face the beauty that was Victoire. She was a Sun-Kin beauty beyond compare with a lithe-dancers frame accentuated by high check-bones and long beaded hair, studded with golden ringlets as the Heraldic golden metallic covered her entire body, embedded into her very skin.

  She had a way of grasping people just by her mere presence, when she walked people looked and when she spoke people listened. She never came off as stupid or self-indulgent always striking a fine line that she somehow danced upon. It surprised Setter that Victoire hadn’t ascended, she voiced no intention of becoming Matriarch, but she had never objected to ascending. Yet out of all the people there was only two choices.

  Victoire Keita, and Suasory Weimar who now stood at the stage of the amphitheater as the Matriarch.

  ‘If you don’t mind me asking, why aren’t you standing down there?’ Setter asked, casting a quick look to the newest Matriarch. Suasory adorned in the stylized robes of the thin black material yet her own one reinforced by the elegant seductive red dress she wore underneath it, the front opening showing off her generous cleavage of pure Polar-kin skin as her strawberry blonde hair fell around her crowned as it was with a circlet of capture starlight.

  -I think it’s just Old Magics but it was still impressive- The circlet was ivory white emanating a blue and green aura as if it was captured starlight. -Very impressive-

  ‘Suasory was the best choice it was plain to see so I didn’t put my hand up. We don’t even know what could be happening when this Age ends, that is something I wouldn’t want to be forced to face as a leader, Suasory will wrangle whatever is to come.’ Victoire replied in a clear-precise manner showing her Northern culturation, she too looked at Suasory yet there was something in Victoire’s look, some pain that was unspoken leaving Setter wondering what charge the woman had been given. ‘How are you anyway?’

  ‘Yeah… Um… Nervous. I think that I have done something to upset Suasory in the past otherwise why would I be the very last person to be given honors and I was not among the group chosen to undergo the Heralds Voice even after all of my extensive training like you and so many others. You have already gone haven’t you, do you know anything?’ Setter asked looking to Victoire.

  He studied those tattoos that glowed with an internal light that was not normal and wore them proudly as did a hundred others amongst them. Where once any notion of Occultism would have brought a quick death, and in modernity ostracization, now with whatever was about to happen it was those of the Sable Path that would lead the people of Ninth Earth towards salvation and former glory.

  Victoire nodded to say that she had already been, yet her mouth was turned upward with a coy knowing smile which was infuriating.

  ‘Out of everyone here Setter, believe me, you are not being punished. Instead, there is something the Matriarch must ask of you for this coming Age and whatever it entails.’ That was illusive at best and unhelpful at worst. ‘And before you ask, no, I am not going to tell you. It is for the Matriarch alone to honor you… as much as it is an honor.’

  He gave her a flat stare, and she retorted with a coy smile that broke him easily. The line lurched forward, and he kept in toe as those in front of him got their honors, one of them being Tubbs someone Setter considered a good friend when he was around but due to Tubbs family living to the north it was only on the utmost holy occasions that they saw each other. The big brawny man with his mane of curly brunette was given his honors and duty which he took with pride, as was expected. Setter watched as the Matriarch honored the last two who stood in line before him, yet the entire time her eyes could not stay still upon the acolytes and flickered to him multiple times allowing for the anticipation to morph instead into anxiety.

  And then it was his turn.

  The others withdrew joining the thousand other acolytes upon the amphitheater. He stepped forward inclining his head in respect to the ascended Matriarch before him, he had to push away the thoughts of her nude or in some other provocative position that he and her and some others had been in. She looked resplendent and already Setter could feel the authority that ebbed from her.

  ‘Setter. It is good to see you, I wish however it was under better circumstances… We face the unknown, the Heraldic Age is ending and, in its wake, will be a whole New Age.’ Matriarch Suasory Weimar announced this being the same speech she gave to every acolyte. ‘Through the sacrifices of Matriarchs in the grips of Transcendentalism we know that this change is coming, the rest of civilization however is numb to heartbeats of the earth and thus they will be swept under the wave of chaos.’

  It was what any Occultist done once you reached an advanced age and were ready to be embraced by death you drank a concoction that linked you the metaphysical beyond. This concoction would kill the drinker within a few months, but those last months were spent foreseeing things few people could even comprehend… Like the end of an Age.

  ‘It is for this reason that we gather here in the Conventical, our religions only haven in the world. Our faith in the Occult has allowed us to survive persecution and desecration of a thousand torments from all the other Enlightenment faiths as they fear our truth, and with this great Event there will be change but the people will still see us as Occultists who are witches and warlocks who kill for joy and eat babies-’

  Her pitch rising in intensity, the scars and pains of those inquisitions of the unknown that had plagued humanity for four thousand years and probably longer during the early epochs of barest necessity. Their people learned in their subjugation by the drug induced genomic retrospection meaning all who were in this amphitheater had felt their ancestors struggles as if they were along with them.

  ‘-It is for this reason. For the fear they hold over us and the truth they fear that I ask you Setter to give up the light of the world, to wrap yourself in Deaths embrace and bring the fires of judgement to our enemies.’ -No… There is no way that she is asking me to- ‘I ask of your Setter Buraus to set aside your name, your loves and hates, your soul. And I ask that you take a title that hasn’t been used by any in our religion since the Great Wars. I ask that you become The Bloodied.’

  Shock washed through the crowd of acolytes, the sparse conversations and whispers that had been present all throughout this ceremony now ceased. He felt all the eyes upon him, the many lovers among them that he had taken now looked at him with unease and shade as those he had wanted to bed would look at him exactly the same, loathing and fear mixed together would be how they viewed Setter even if he denied the title, but the sheer fact that they had not asked another soul meant that he was the one and only option.

  If he denied he would be an outcast, the sacrifice of The Bloodied to put aside everything of theirs and pledge themselves fully to the will of the Occult is what gave the Bloodied much love, but… Of course, there were a million buts really.

  ‘I know what I ask Setter. I know it is an incredibly tall order. I am asking for your complete subservience to where you are needed whether you believe so or not, I am asking you to never father children or take another to bed, I ask that you forsake your name and family. And I am asking you to fight our most dangerous battles and die an early death. I am asking you to become an unfeeling weapon of the Occult and of the Faith in its truth.’ Suasory let the gravity of the situation settle upon him, she asked for his death by suicidally picking fights but the fact that they were asking him meant that he was the best warrior they had.

  He could deny this honor and duty; it would pass to another but who was a better warrior than him. He could fight those with guns, and he could beat all. He could be the difference between saving another acolyte of the Occult or their death.

  ‘I accept.’ He felt the words dribble out of his mouth after a long moment of thought. ‘I accept the duty of The Bloodied, I renounce my family and name… I renounce the tattoos I have acquired. I accept the destiny and death of The Bloodied.’

  And with that he co-signed his own death-warrant. Fear swelled him in, as did the tiniest inkling of pride at the good he might do.

  Awakening to a macabre silence, the world had not ended in thunderous cacophony but in silence, not fire, not flood, just absence. When the old vanished and the young awoke. What was built crumbled, what was lost returned. And in that quiet after they rose, they became – Orphans of the Awoken Age.

  -Haha, that is far too poetic for me. Wake your ass up otherwise Mr Daya is going to be pissed-

  Shaking himself out of a slumber so deep he felt an untapped reserve of energy and strength that was quickly stolen as feeling rushed back to his body and he felt the hardwood table he had been using as a pillow, his jawbone feeling out of place whilst his teeth ached. Because he had fallen asleep during one of his final History classes, he kind of deserved the pain that throbbed throughout his lower face, trying to reset it with a minor click to indicate some sort of relief.

  I’m about to finish school and me being the dumbass falls asleep, yes I am going to be a great member of society.

  Prying his eyes open took more effort that it should have but after that first burst of light fell upon his irises and that pain flashed by, he was met with the classroom, the room of blues and whites was nothing special as the bar-legged tables shaped around the room in a U gave a perfect periphery to see the entire class. Allowing his eyes to settle from their strain Ayer’s head swept over the room seeing everyone else in a position like him, their heads downcast and bleary eyes opening to see the world for the first time in what must have felt like an eternity if it was anything like what Ayer felt.

  Seeing that it was everyone, from the other goof-offs in the class to the academics and then onto the inbetweeners followed by the geeks relegated his thoughts into static amazement, what the hell had happened that made them all fall to sleep.

  If this was happening to everyone. Ayer turned his attention to the seats next to him, his attention shooting to his side seeing the weakly rising figure, Viking Djuric. Physically Viking towered above all others with lean agility to his shape, whilst Ayer stood at an even six-foot with broad-flabby features, Viking’s chestnut hair trimmed into the current trend perfectly enhanced by his Polar-Kin pale skin, against Ayer’s bewildered long-raven hair made worse by his undertone of slate against Middle-Kin coppers with a sharp hawknose his family -And others- were renown for.

  Just beyond Viking where the two girls who always sat on his side, often they even tried to beat each other to be seated next to Viking as seemed to be the way of things. Viking was popular and attracted attention whilst Ayer was barely a wallflower.

  Swinging his attention to his opposite side Ayer saw Maya Wainwright sitting up pushing through the delirium that they all appeared to be suffering from like only she could, her beautiful face of large deer eyes and silken hair framed her pale sleek figure which fought off the effects as the last bits of sleep were beaten away from her eyes allowing for a sudden alertness to cut through her entire body, comparing his skin tone to her own she looked as if she was a recluse who spent all day inside whilst his slate-copper skin would make any think that he spent all his time outside when truly the opposite was the truth for both of them.

  -Fucking hells, she is so fucking hot-

  ‘Well, it’s good to see that I wasn’t the only one who was bored to sleep.’ Ayer joked minimizing his tone so only those around him would hear, throughout the classroom other small conversations or confused statements being thrown around between the different groups.

  ‘It’s just a good power nap before acing this class, ain’t nothing more too it.’ Viking replied, his voice tinged with enthusiasm and excitement like it always was as he seemed to be a font of positivity. To be fair Ayer had a hard time imagining Viking going through any real troubles in his life, everyone liked him, everyone was good to him, his parents may have been separated by they were amicable and he even had a positive relationship with his older sibling… Viking literally has no problems in life, of course he’s going to be positive beyond reasonability, hell I would be too…

  ‘It does make me feel better in-’ Before Ayer could finish Maya drew all attention when she said aloud.

  ‘-What the hell?’ The attention of everybody in the class flew over to Maya only to see her staring at the head of the class, her eyes wide and maybe even a little scared if Ayer was right. He liked to think that he knew her well enough to know when she was scared at least.

  Their reactions were just as immediate as everybody looked to Maya then to the front of the classroom where the teacher was meant to be standing in front of the whiteboard, the scribbles from Mr Daya’s rushed handwriting in multiple colors sat midsentence as if he had just stopped and given up midway through a thought with his utensils statically waiting in their usual spot.

  Hushed whispers of desperate confusion erupted now, as people were starting to get scared which apparently was contagious as Ayer felt it bloom inside of him as well. Ayer had an image of himself as the dissociated youth who kept a healthy distance from most of the people at school which allowed him to avoid their drama, yet now he felt completely implicit in all of it.

  ‘What the fuck is happening? Ayer, do you know anything what’s going on?’ Maya asked, turning her body to face him as she leant in close and as stupid as it was Ayer felt himself go rigid as he fought his body which thought that this might be the perfect moment to be aroused. ‘Please tell me that you know something about what is happening here?’

  Her voice was low but desperate and even knowing how serious she was being the first thought that rushed through his mind was how beautiful her voice was, he had heard her sing a few hundred times throughout this past year of their… whatever they were… and for a girl who couldn’t sing her speaking voice was beautiful and vibrant. But she was also scared like most of the other people in the class were by the sounds of them.

  ‘I just woke up like everybody else, shit I can’t even remember falling asleep. What about you?’ Ayer asked only getting a disagreeing headshake from Maya. ‘What about you Viking man, any idea what happened?’

  ‘You’re looking at the wrong place Mi Hama, I barely remember walking in the door.’ Viking replied, yet as neither Ayer nor Maya broke their attention from Viking eventually, he said. ‘Um, last thing I really remember was the revision for the factors leading up to the Great War, and that’s it… My notes don’t even go that far.’

  ‘That’s about as much as I remember as well.’ Ayer agreed, they had just started on the revision and then nothing as his mind became a blank slate.

  ‘Yep, me too.’ Maya added and to Ayer’s surprise he felt the strain of a hand locking his own and looking at the table he saw her hand clutching his. She was probably just scared and wanted some comfort… but this felt like it was more, this felt like all those times when her touch had lingered on him… and if she wanted emotional and physical support isn’t that what her boyfriend Adrian was for.

  -Fucking hell, it’s been a year of play-flirting, but should we talk and see if it’s something more… No we really shouldn’t, why would she want me when she has a genuinely good guy who is a jock- That was a stupid idea and he knew it immediately, they were just casually flirting as they had been since the start of this year when the class began, she was a beauty who played sports hung out with the popular crowd and was dating perhaps one of the best-liked people in the school so why would she even spare a glance for Ayer in any way really.

  Shaking the stupid out of his head, Ayer got up from his seat the eyes from the rest of the class shooting to him, some out of curiosity and others out of accusation as if he had done something yet none said a word, not even Maya who for the briefest of moments looked upset that he broke off their handholding. That was wrong though, like everyone else she was just upset about this weird situation.

  Leaving the room and entering the carpeted hallway of the Secondary College Ayer moved towards the nearest room that bordered them. Like every other classroom window, they were affixed to both sides of the rooms, looking through these large open windows that sinking feeling at the bottom of Ayer’s stomach only got worse as he was meet with the exact same scene that had played out in his classroom.

  No teacher stood at the head of the classroom yet the stack of books and utensils that must have been the teachers was left bare, the students from the younger year appeared as if they just woke up from a very long nap most of them looking around frantically. Seeing Ayer standing in the hallway, his own uniform giving away that he was a student -That darkened insignia of Durrahan Secondary College with a book and a torch seeming ominous now for some reason- and definitely not a teacher drew their attention as they gestured towards the front of their classroom which Ayer could only shrug at before he told them through the window that their classroom was exactly the same.

  ‘These classrooms over here are the same as well.’ One of the others from Ayer’s class said, all of them coming out into the hallway going to investigate like he was doing. But the further and further out they went and the more and more classrooms they added to their mass the more it was beginning to sink in that something had happened. Something wrong had happened.

  The buzzing of a hundred phones getting dozens of messages run through the hallway next, Maya who had sidled up to Ayer without him realizing got a phone call which she took eagerly whilst Viking’s phone was bombarded sounding as if it was about to explode due to the deluge of calls or messages. Then Ayers phone dung with the solitary sound of a message and checking his phone he saw the group-chat, the five other people that were a part of the chat all posting and responding to each other stating that they were going to their lockers where they would meet up with each other.

  ‘Hey dude I’m going to go and see what my group knows about all of this, do you want to come with?’ Ayer asked far more awkwardly than he liked which Viking definitely picked up on by the way his smile broadened and his teeth seemed to reflect the light of his ego, he didn’t want to admit it, but Ayer was scared and getting distraught the more time passed with no solution to the sudden vanishing of teachers and staff of the school.

  ‘I’m going to check with a few people and see what they have to say, but we’ll catch up and compare notes… Who knows this might be something awesome… this might even be how you get laid bud.’ Viking grimaced, checking his phone once again as it continued to siren that he was being messaged with loud dings every milli-second.

  Flipping his friend the bird Ayer fled back into the classroom collecting their things they bid each other farewell and remarked if they learnt anything to message, most of the others had already had that idea and were swarming out of the room no doubt going to their own groups to see what they could find out. Ayer being the last in class as another message came through as a long moment turned into an eternity deciding if he was going to answer or ignore lead him to put his phone away without replying. About to step out of the classroom being the last one there when Maya came back in, the moisture line of a tear streaking down her face meaning that the phone call hadn’t helped alleviate things.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Ayer asked, she was quiet looking almost through him before she leant into him hugging him with everything that she had and immediately he felt that this wasn’t for him, he felt the desperation through their contact and how badly she just needed someone to hold her. Apart of him was jealous that he would never be that guy who would be with her as they embraced each other. ‘So, I’m guessing whoever called-’

  Maya cut Ayer off as she kissed him, leading him in a long passionate drawn-out kiss, her limbs wrapping around his as she basically leapt into his arms as he stood far taller than her, with her weight added and the force she used when jumping they moved back until they bumped into the teachers table where the kissing became heavy, his arms caressing the ins and outs of her perfect body as she done the same.

  That kiss felt like it was both a mere moment and the best infinity of his life, it was so perfect and so bad at the same time as a million feelings flushed through him all at once and none of which he could put into words at all. Before this moment he hadn’t even kissed a girl as passionately as this before, he showed his lack of experience with how bad he was, yet she seemed to make up for that as she led him. If they were going to have sex she would have to lead as well considering that he had only had sex once years prior and considering how bad it was didn’t want to have that same time with Maya. And then it truly struck him, Maya Wainwright was kissing him, not just kissing him as they caressed each other’s bodies a stone’s throw from sex. Why had this girl who was leagues above his own place be doing this?

  Pulling away from their kiss Ayer hadn’t even realized that his eyes had been open this entire time and how creepy that was, and as Maya pulled there was a brief flash of an emotion that he didn’t know as she bit the bottom of her lip in a coy half smile looking him up and down.

  ‘Holy shit… Um… Um…’ Was the only dribble that Ayer could even produce and for some reason a warm smile brushed over Maya’s face as if she liked this and didn’t find him to be a complete idiot. That has to be it, I am being such an idiot that she feels pity which is why she’s doing this. That’s probably also why she play-flirts with me as well.

  ‘That was… I ah-’

  ‘Hey Maya.’ The sudden voice announced, scaring the hell out of both of them with Ayer flinching far more than he was proud of with an odd jerk of his arms like he was batting something away.

  Standing at the doorway was Maya’s boyfriend, Adrian, a man of above average height with surfer blonde hair and complexion as one of his ears was studded with five different earrings, comparing Ayer to Adrian was unfair in every aspect as Adrian was just dangerously good-looking that made some women swoon whilst Ayer was both tall and fat with a few other quirks he hated about himself. Adrian was a man who played every sport under the Tyrsea sun but was also smart enough to be liked by the academics and then relaxed enough to get along with the stoners, Ayer was a guy who avoided talking to most other people outside of his immediate group and actively avoided sports or school participation.

  ‘Oh babe, I didn’t know you were coming by.’ Maya replied as if neither her or Ayer hadn’t just been making out with the highly likely chance that Adrian saw them, depending on which way he came he could have seen them through the large open windows although by the way he leant on the left-hand side of the doorframe it appeared he would have come from the opposite way and saw nothing.

  ‘With this shit happening I wanted to make sure you were alright, and I knew you had History with Mr Daya. Should we go and see what the group has to say?’ Adrian asked as he seemingly just caught sight of Ayer and gave a genuine smile and wave before saying hello, like Ayer hadn’t just had his tongue down his girlfriend’s throat.

  ‘Um… Yeah that’s a good idea, we can hopefully find something out. Did you want to come with us Ayer?’ Maya asked, no sign that she was enjoying or hating this, if she was feeling either way, she was hiding it very well. Even Adrian said that that was a good idea and reinforced that Ayer should tag along with them.

  ‘Nah I’m going to meet up with my own group at the locker bay… to see what they know about all of this… But… Um… Thank you for the invite.’ Ayer struggled out with many more pauses than he normally would have given as he fished for a reason just to get out of this situation. The fear subsided as he felt a pang of guilt now seeing Adrian and knowing what he was just doing with Maya.

  ‘Oh… Yeah that’s a good idea, I guess. Well, I’ll message you later… to find out what you found out.’ Maya saved, before grabbing her things and leaving, at the door Adrian wrapped his arm around her being the true supportive boyfriend. Yet before they had left Maya cast one more look back, her big, beautiful eyes holding Ayer in some expression he didn’t know before she vanished behind a wall and out of sight.

  Heaving a huge sigh of relief and finally taking in air Ayer felt the awkward material of the light-blue polo clinging to his skin from all the sweet that poured out of him just from that kiss and that brief exchange. Turning around so he could lean over the table and curse himself in private Ayer took in two more gulps of air before flipping the table with a silent grunt of regret and pain, afterwards he felt no better as his wasted muscles burnt and his face felt flush.

  Again, his phone pinged with activity reminding him where he was meant to be and collecting his stuff before slipping out of the room, a storm of different feelings clashing inside him as he felt fear and guilt in equal measures and unsure what to do about either.

  The cushion from the lecture theatre seat must have lulled her allowing for sleep to take her whilst she was meant to be listening to her lecturer, that annoyance of falling asleep panged through her as she growled at her own stupidity, yet she had never done this before which was an oddity. Maybe I need to get some more sleep or check my Melatonin levels checked.

  Blinking the sleep from her eyes Kailey hoped desperately that she had only subsided for a minute or two but by how energetic and alive she felt inside she knew that it must have been for a substantial time at least, it was either by luck or misfortune that she had nobody around her, the Advanced Law Degree she was undertaking being a course that always attracted a great many applicants when the year began but over the course of that time a majority of them dropped out of the classroom, when Kailey had started this year -her third year- off there had been forty people in the class and now there was barely twelve on a good day.

  Looking throughout the lecture hall, the dulled lights and blackened glass gave little illumination to the room yet thankfully she saw others still there, yet they too looked like they were just waking up from a nap by the way some of them yawned or stretched or still slept… All of them, really? Looking to the front she saw the screen of the project, the Ciaran University logo announcing who owned what and yet the lecturer Mrs Daya was nowhere to be seen.

  Throughout the class phones dinged with messages whilst others rung from phone calls almost in harmony and almost at once, a sinking feeling erupted in Kailey’s stomach which she ignored the second that it sprouted. Other phones vibrated loudly just like Kailey’s done as someone was trying to contact her, checking she read the caller id seeing her sisters name Indra Don Caldera who should have been in class herself and not calling.

  ‘Hey babe what’s happening?’ Kailey asked quickly wanting to hurry through the conversation just encase Mrs Daya returned to see most of the class on their phones, as much as university said they were all adults that also meant that they should have adult enough to turn off their phones. ‘I’m just in the middle of class so-’

  ‘-So, your teacher is still there then?’ Indra rushed, the words sounding as if they were in panic or terror which made that feeling in Kailey’s stomach tighten.

  ‘Well, no not right now… I don’t know what happened, but I must have dozed off… Stupid of me really but I just woke up and haven’t seen her. Why, don’t you guys have a teacher? Why don’t you just go and find another, the campus isn’t that big?’ Kailey remarked annoyed that she had to figure out her sisters’ own problems.

  ‘You just woke up? All of us here feel asleep as well and woke up ten minutes ago to all our teachers gone. No… No… No staff or teachers, the café workers other than the young one has all vanished.’ Indra blurted out without a single breath between words, and it was largely due to Kailey’s racing mind that she was able to keep up with what she was being told.

  By the looks of it the others were hearing the same news as conversation began amongst those in the lower tiers closer to the teacher’s desk whilst those on the phone looked around in horror. Something was wrong here that was undeniable, all the teachers and staff members suddenly disappeared.

  ‘Everybody fell asleep here too...’ Kailey let slip, unbelieving that it was something of importance, yet it appeared that it was.

  ‘Everybody fell asleep Kae’s, and when we woke up there was no one here that wasn’t a student really. Some of the people have been all through the campus and haven’t found any teacher or staff, some have even said that it doesn’t look there is movement in the town either.’ The words took a long moment to sink in as the image of Durrahan being near abandoned but once it did bile crept up Kailey’s throat as her gag reflex kicked in and she found herself vomiting in the empty chair next to her.

  Many of the other students rushed over asking if she was fine and after assuring them that she was Kailey also informed them of what she had just been told, she had to witness as their own faces paled or darkened as that feeling of wrongness became engrained. Many of them quickly left the theatre after hearing this from Kailey as they rushed to do one thing or another or check on someone allowing for Kailey to return to her conversation with her sister.

  ‘By the Path, are you out of the class yet? I’m heading for the car now and I’ll be at the school in twenty, don’t go anywhere!’ She told her sister yet immediately pulled herself up. ‘I am sorry, Indi.’ She said as a murmur of apology, apparently Kailey always got bossy when she was stressed and now also when she was frightened. ‘I’m on my way now, I shouldn’t be too long.’

  Packing her laptop into her large purse Kailey made her way out of the lecture theatre as she was one of the last to leave with two people at opposite ends of the theatre on the phone whilst three more had convened in a group speaking in rushed tones. Pushing through the doors into the atrium of the building.

  Walking out into the sun Kailey’s eyes burned from the hot Tyrsea sun’s glare at its midday zenith, throwing her arm up to protect her eyes she was meet with her pastel-blue skin whilst her elongated fake nails had recently been done the night before to be contrasting white and gold, she could feel the pull of her wavey platinum hair whilst her jeans and shirt were already making her hot even though it was midspring.

  When her eyes finally adjusted, she saw how sparse the grounds of the University were, the simplistic wide-single-drag with the modern structures to either side stood silent whilst only a handful of students went about their activities which was odd considering that this campus was always busy all-day round. She saw someone sitting by themselves crying and another two frantically making phone calls with no answers, as she moved, she saw the perfectly manicured lawns and garden beds yet in the middle of a patch she saw a lawnmower idly sitting with only half of the lawn cut.

  -By the Stones, something is off here- This phrase just kept rolling through her mind as she saw a few more people but all of them were of age with her, that self-reinforcing evidence starting to daunt her.

  ‘Kae’s!’ Someone said as she crossed the campus stealing her attention out of her own mind. Turning she saw that it was the tall broad-shouldered fair skinned Daven Millard, pulling away from a small group Kailey noticed one of the girl’s lingering attentions on Daven which didn’t surprise her as he had that affect without evidently realizing it. ‘Holy shit, did you wake up without your teacher in class as well?’

  ‘Yeah, we were in the middle of class and… and… I woke up and Mrs Daya was gone, I don’t even remember falling asleep. Hell, neither did the others when I was talking to them… What about you?’ Kailey found herself asking as the two stood, she knew that she should be making her way for Indra but finding out what Daven knew could be instrumental in figuring out what the hell was happening in general.

  ‘The exact same, except that I was at home, dozed off and when I woke up and checked the time, I was fifteen minutes late for class, so I rushed here. I had only just gotten to the bridge between Durrahan and Ciaran before I realized that something was off and on doing a double take, I realized that there were no other cars on the road… I mean there were cars, but they were all in parking spaces and the like, none on the road. There is bloody nobody out there, nobody in the shops or in the parks and nobody going in and out of the six-story hospital -which is weird AF enough-. Just so fucking weird.’ Daven replied, his drawl of an accent illuding to his less than stellar academic capabilities as he was only going to university on a sports scholarship and showing even more that he couldn’t get out of the Hollandia Basin and go to a university like in Por Hollis.

  He was a genuinely nice guy who happened to be directly from the movies as he was appealing enough from girls across the spectrum with most holding some flame for him at one time or another. Kailey had never liked him like that yet she got along with him, yet he was in so many ways a dull jock which made him stand out at the university like a sore thumb as like all the local boys who didn’t have the brains, he should have gotten a trade yet instead he didn’t which always surprised Kailey.

  ‘So there really is nobody out there? I wonder if there are people further out then?’

  ‘Well maybe not, Joe-Joe over there just said that she called her sister who picked up and said that the same thing happened to her entire school in Jarak Jaen so maybe the others have vanished as well or maybe they’re all there as well… This whole shit is fucked!’

  Shit! Kailey to get to her car and get a wiggle on with Indra waiting at the school.

  Finishing the conversation Kailey didn’t see where Daven went as she shot straight for the carpark around a few more buildings before coming to the two-story parking-lot, like everything in Ciaran no cost was scrimped so when the school projected that their enrolment was high the local council had installed this carpark. Ascending the flight of stairs Kailey came to the mostly deserted carpark as random vehicles sat idle all over the place, from her estimations not even a quarter of the lots were taken and yet some people had still parked next to each other as an expensive sedan was parked right next to her compact beetle of a car.

  Flinging herself inside and turning the keys in the ignition, the low mumble of the vehicle announced all was well, yet the dead air of the radio spoke otherwise. Kailey glared forward for what felt like moments but was minutes before finally those feelings became crippling, bowing her head as her knuckles went white wrapped around the steering wheel and Kailey finally released all her fears in a torrent of weeping and screaming.

  How the hell… Why the hell… How had that just… Did that really just happen… Why would Maya kiss him? All questions that rushed through his mind as he trudged out of the schools main building making his way towards the locker-bay. As he moved, he saw more and more crowds as each of the groups were gathering in their selected areas, most of their members teary or outright crying whilst the stalwart ones kept their composure yet amongst all of them there were clear signs of unease… Ayer himself felt those same signs as his hand twitched almost uncontrollably and his chest felt poisoned.

  Storming around the side of a building a group of three speedily made their way making people move around them but with their quickened pace and Ayer’s internal monologue he bumped shoulders with one of them, snapping him out of his own thoughts as they turned to face him and he turned to face them. Seeing their faces, he knew them as people from his own year, two of them beefy with toned bodies whilst the other was small and brawny from sports announcing them as the jocks and friends of Adrian and Maya.

  ‘Watch where your fucking walking next time Ayer!’ Braden Cali, the small Stone-Kin said fearing no reprisal from Ayer who towered over him. Yet that was Braden, suffering from that small-person syndrome where they make up for their lack of height with aggressive and bossy mannerisms, with Braden himself starting a few fights for those reasons.

  His immediate reaction was to scrunch his face before completely ignoring the group turning his back to them and leaving them without another word, from his periphery he saw a blur trying to approach but stopped by a far larger blur before being led away. Watching this with his periphery vision Ayer studied for a moment longer until he was sure that Braden had been turned away, he had never thought of himself as a paranoid person as he preferred to think of himself as a disaffected person around his peers but there were just some of them that he didn’t trust in the least.

  Coming to the tin structure that was the locker bay Ayer wasn’t ten feet away and he could already feel the intense heat emanating from the tin-shed, he felt sweat pump out of his body as the school polo and shorts felt restrictive and suffocative but that could have just as easily been to do with that feeling of poison in his gut that was now spreading over his tongue. Entering his bay Ayer was meet with the group of five that was his friends the ones other than Viking that Ayer liked out of this entire school, each of them seeing him straight away and like the many that he had passed on his way here Ayer saw the looks of apprehension and confusion on all of them.

  ‘Ayer bud how are you man?’ Devotion Gregory asked concerned as he had no doubt been asking the same of the others, out of the entire group he was the one who was the most attuned with how people felt and would remind everyone when they were going too far. His skin of the Sun-kin with a shortcut hair and obese figure a welcome sight considering all that was happening.

  ‘I’m fine Mi Hama… So, I’m guessing the same thing happened to all of you as well… I mean, waking up from a random sleep with no teacher and all?’

  ‘Hahaha. So, you’re just coming from History or Commons then?’

  ‘History… How do you know that?’ Ayer asked truly stumped, he was sure none of them knew each other’s schedule, he surely didn’t know any of theirs and they were his best friends in the school.

  ‘Because every bloody time you have a class with Viking you say that Mi Hama shit like you’re a gangbanger from the eighties.’ Eerden Tres Murphey joked getting a chorus of laughter from everyone including Ayer who had never noticed that about himself.

  ‘Me and Torrand were out on the football field for PE and Health, all of sudden we were waking up in the grass and Mr Ebden was nowhere to be seen.’ Devotion said gesturing towards the quiet and reserved Torrand, instantly noticeable due to his Sea-kin skin, dulled black hair and chin-beard as he gave a nod of agreement without adding another word. ‘Shortly after that Braden fucking Cali and the girls in the class were getting weird trying to lead the class which was annoying enough but once they found out that this had happened to other classes that completely broke down and they were the first out the door to find their friends.’

  The mere mention of Braden Cali brought back the quick flash of him from before, Ayer wondered if he should bring up how panicked he was when they collided with each other yet kept quiet

  ‘Even though they were trying to be the teacher it wasn’t too bad… I did get to have a chat with Indra right before everything went to shit.’ Torrand mused, his long-time unrequited crush on a girl far above his own station in the schoolyard hierarchy combined with the fact that he was naturally quiet and unassuming meaning that he had never made his intentions known nor had she ever picked up on his interest in her.

  ‘Hmm… Okay that makes a lot of sense why Braden was a lot more of prick than usual just before.’ Ayer absentmindedly replied getting their attention forcing him to tell the brief exchange they had just before, hearing Braden’s instant escalation made a few of them curse him and call him a few names Ayer had called him in his mind since he was nowhere nearby.

  ‘Well shit. We’re alone with no teachers and apparently nobody outside of the school.’ Eerden Tres Murphey stated, out of the group he was the sportiest and most defined with a lean frame and bulk, his brown and ginger hair shaved into the current undercut style. Out of all of them he was the one who could have easily joined the sporty group, yet he chose to hang out with them and had a very vocal dislike for Braden. ‘Like three people from my Accounting Class tried calling their parents and there was no answer, so who the hell knows how many people have just suddenly disappeared… maybe everyone who wasn’t in this school barring the teachers?’

  ‘That’s a bit off man, I was with Ifrit Kallos, and she managed to call her younger sister at the Middle Years Campus and apparently, they had the exact same thing happen to them. And you know how they are just across the road from that Primary School, apparently, they saw that those kids were there as well… So, who the hell knows who may or may not be out there?’ Willis Bluewater explained, his dark Sun-kin skin paired with his small and skinny frame made it hard for people to believe that he was a senior about to go out into the world rather than a year seven student just entering Middle Years.

  ‘Is it just me or is anybody paying attention then.’ Ross Herma remarked, his bespectacled bloodshot brown eyes announcing that he had had a cone in the short time that they had awoken, his entire frame being the largest out of the entire group with only Ayer coming close as the gigantic Middle-Kin’s frame. ‘Could it be that like everybody over a certain age disappeared? Or maybe students in schools survived rather than the general population? Or maybe those whose frontal lobes hadn’t developed…’

  For the longest moment the group just looked at Ross, out of the entire group he was the one who had fallen into the Juana Root trap the easiest although Ayer trailed just behind him there. Where the group was usually strait-laced Ross and Ayer were the two who stood out like a sore-thumb, although Eerden did also but for different reasons. Yet still looking at Ross the group faltered and broke out laughing, everyone laughing as hard as they could and everyone just a little bit too fake as they wanted to pretend like they were afraid.

  ‘Hahaha. Ross, only you and your pot addled mind could think of something like that.’ Eerden joked and the group responded with another rapturous laughter.

  Ayer himself clung to his chest as he laughed hoping that it would strangle that poison feeling in his gut. It didn’t. After the laughing passed and the group were now in deep discussion as the revelation of some weird time alteration happen -apparently from when they went to sleep to when they woke up fifteen minutes had passed yet Torrand swore black and blue that the day had been nearly grey whereas the sky now was completely clear as if it hadn’t seen a cloud in days-.

  ‘In the grand scheme of current mysteries, I don’t really think we should be trying to guess at the ratios of who did or didn’t survive. But who knows maybe they’re the secret to finding God or maybe aliens…’ Ayer remarked rhetorically?

  ‘Who knows bud, it might be the secret to getting a girlfriend.’ Eerden joked getting another small laughter from the group and even from Ayer as a part of him thought about telling them of Maya and him, about how she had kissed him, how she had wanted him for the briefest of moments. And then that moment passed and instead he flipped Eerden the bird.

  As the group continued to talk and let time pass so they didn’t have to go home and face what they had been fearing Ayer done the opposite clearing out his locker stuffing everything of vague importance into his school bag before he slipped away from the group, saying that he was going to the toilet softly and once he was sure nobody was coming with him took off. He had the suspicion if he made it overt that he was going home they would either try to convince him out of it or they would try to tag along with him, neither were options he wanted.

  Walking through the school campus was an odd sensation as due to his status of being disinterested few people tried to speak to him and it was only a few others from his year that tried to get his attention which he ignored. But everywhere he stepped he saw small groups of crying students, as he went out of the main building and into the large parking lot, he saw the group of jocks all of them looking as shaken up as his own group had trying their hardest to conceal how truly terrified, they were… At least that is what he thought he was seeing; he could have as easily been wrong.

  It was studying the group that he saw Viking amongst them already a cigarette in his mouth as his usually pale face was rose red whilst he dramatic waved his arms around speaking to some of their members. Then his attention unflinching as she looked up locking eyes with him and holding his gaze. Maya’s big, beautiful eyes taking hold of Ayer before he broke off and looked elsewhere, flinching away from the confrontation of her stare as he couldn’t even tell what she wanted whether she was berating him for kissing her or seducing him.

  Turning his back to them as he came to the street Ayer followed the route, he always used to walk to his house far on the eastern side of Durrahan with the small-cities skyline already visible from the school’s central location in town. A township of a hundred thousand people and yet the entire place felt near empty.

  Travelling through the bright and welcoming streets of Ciaran, with their perfectly manicured lawncare and painstaking city-planning that made even one of the side streets seem like it was meant to be in some Pavilion movie or television show. Yet the beauty only emphasized how wrong something was, how there should have been some sort of activity even in the deadest street yet there was nothing, there was only lawns half mowed, and cars parked in the driveway awaiting to be taken somewhere.

  ‘By the Waters this is fucked up, like beyond fucked up… I have never seen this town so dead, and I have lived here my whole life.’ Kailey released in a torrent as originally, she had been very quiet with the wheels of thought churned in her head, yet she wasn’t the kind to stand on ceremony nor to take her time deciding something. But everything felt wrong.

  ‘Until we know what is actually happening, we shouldn’t worry too much.’ Was the only response she could give to herself, she wished that she followed her own advice, right now her heart was stuck in her throat and her gut felt like it was a moment away from emptying through any entrance or exit. ‘let’s just focus on getting Indra.’

  The car went eerily silent like the world outside, although she moved through the streets it was terrifying seeing the world so still and empty where it should have been busy with activity. Passing the massive steel worked truss bridge connecting Ciaran and Durrahan, its four laned road completely clear from any vehicle like Kailey had never seen.

  Halfway across the Link she finally saw another car moving across the bridge, the tight-packed mini standing out with its sun-catching bronze raced across the bridge as a group of several high schooler kept their attention forward, it was only at the last moment that one of the even saw Kailey’s car his eyes linking with Kailey’s and that scared face turned to surprise for the brief moment of clear vision that they had with each other.

  Passing each other without anything else it was like Kailey had lost her mind becoming dull, she had just finally seen another group of people and neither of them could say a word to the other. Maybe it was just the time passing through the dead streets and then finally seeing someone alive. It was only as the vehicle left the Link that she finally opened her mouth to fill the cold silence.

  ‘Okay… Okay… At least we know that there are other people alive still.’ She repeated to herself as a mantra. The bronze vehicle itself moving into Ciaran rather than turning back around to catch up to Kailey which left her wondering who or what they were going to inspect.

  The streets of the less-polished Durrahan were just as dead as those of Ciaran although where that town had beautiful landscapes and manicured buildings gleaming in the sun Durrahan looked like a perfectly functionable city with brick-and-mortar buildings of drab colors. Somehow this made the anxiety of the situation worsen inside of Kailey’s already tight stomach.

  The main street littered with cars in every parking space and half-eaten meals showed that people had been here, but something had happened to them as if they had just vanished in the middle of whatever they were doing. Then there were the groups of people that loitered around the main street, some groups barely being out of Primary School whilst only one of the people who marched through the main street heading off somewhere looked to be from one of the Secondary School, but he was gone almost as soon as they saw him.

  Doing a double take on the boy recognition exploded across her, yet from behind she couldn’t be sure as his floppy raven hair looked the part, yet she could also be incredibly wrong. The memory of who it might be was also an array of emotions and feelings that she was not ready to untangle.

  ‘If it is him, I should go and talk to him. Maybe he knows something about what is happening?’ Kailey offered. ‘No, I am probably wrong. Without my glasses I can’t see for shit. I need to get to Indra she will probably have some information for us hopefully.’

  Five minutes later she as pulling up to the front of the Secondary School with its ultra-modern building and wide carpark, already large groups poured out of every orifice of the campus, and with whatever was happening it appeared that most of the students had stuck around the school for a while but now that time had passed many of them had built up the bravery to seek out what was happening further afield.

  Kailey’s little blue compact car glided into a spot right in front of a milling group twice as big as all the other clusters, this group itself didn’t appear to have any interest in leaving the school grounds as the dust the boys kicked up from their roughhousing was all the evidence Kailey needed to be sure that they were pretending that everything was normal.

  Flying out of the car before the engine was even off Kailey and Indra practically collided with each other, embracing each other ravenously, neither willing to let the other go from the hug. She felt herself practically strangling her sister as her muscles complained, yet she could feel Indra doing exactly the same, Kailey felt her own ribs buckling from Indra’s hold and felt the heated discharge of tears washing down her face.

  Time seemed to pass incredibly slowly yet all to quickly until finally Kailey asked Indra if she was okay getting a nod from her younger sister, her gaze fixed judging every micromovement Indra made and already she could tell that her sister was barely holding it together, yet she was putting a brave face on. And I must do the same.

  ‘How have you been doing Kae’s?’ Indra asked. She was in every way a younger version of her sister, she had the Caldera platinum hair although hers were in locks framing her beautiful face as her emerald eyes looked at everything wide-eyed and excitedly with a slightly darker version of the Sea-kin pastel blue skin. And as always a digital camera hung around her neck being the woman’s third-eye ‘By the Fires, I couldn’t even imagine what it was like for you guys coming over here from Uni. Please tell me you saw people?’

  Flanking either side of Indra were her two friends, one being a beauty who stole Kailey’s breath away for a moment longer than expected as the girl looked beyond her years with her silken-pitch hair and large cerulean eyes. The other an attractive woman in her own right of obvious Sun-kin descent and frizzy-black hair frosted with tips of ivory and more jewelry than anyone should be wearing at school.

  ‘Yeah, I saw a vehicle crossing the Link and a few kids from some of the other schools but other than that… Other than anyone older.’ Kailey admitted, her movements getting fidgety signifying that she was ready for a cigarette.

  ‘We heard similar things from a few people who went and checked out the town. They said that food was left half eaten, cars had their doors opened with shopping still in carts… Like people suddenly stopped what they were doing and left or disappeared or something.’ The pale-skinned beauty said, even her voice was beautiful which irked Kailey as the Spirits blessed Maya Wainwright with a so much and gave other people… Like her… So little.

  ‘I noticed that as well… Oh I hope none of you mind.’ Kailey remarked unable to control herself anymore as she produced a cigarette, that first huff releasing tension from her posture immediately and ease was finally sunken into her muscles. ‘So, the exact same thing happened to everyone here too?’

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  All three girls gave their own accounts, Lysander and Maya were in classes whilst Indra was out on the field for her class, yet they always started and ended the same. They all awoke to no teacher, had a very long moment of confusion before they all met up with each other making their very big group who was taking a bigger interest in them.

  During Maya’s story one of the boys, handsome with surfer-blonde hair came up behind her wrapping his arms around her surprising her with a look creasing over her face that for just one second seemed to dislike what he was doing or dislike who it was. Interesting. Then a few others of the group came over, the only subgroup who didn’t end up crowding them was a group of boys their leader evidently a guy who was far shorter than the rest with a bulldog-face that seemed ready to snap at anyone who looked at him wrongly.

  -Interesting again, Indra keeps very interesting company evidently-

  ‘Sounds exactly the same as what happened to us… Hell happened to everyone at Uni.’ Kailey remarked, finishing her cigarette letting it fall to the ground before she stamped it out. ‘So, what happens now. We know that most of the other schools seem to be around, but who knows how far out that may be… Fucking hell how wide reaching is this thing, is it just this town or is it the whole world? We need to figure some of these things out.’

  ‘I know that the others of the Student Council are still around, maybe we should speak to them.’ The greened skinned Sea-Kin Lysander Don Dean suggested. An alteration of her uniform near the school’s insignia that announced she was one of the student councilors, the recognition of Kailey’s own time with those extra duties which she’d been promised would do something for her future career.

  ‘That is a good idea, if we don’t find anybody and nobody takes control of the situation then this could turn bad really fast.’ Kailey trumpeted gaining everybody attention, yet it was something she was sure about, leave anybody without some form of rudimentary governing body and things would get out of hand fast. ‘We need to take some sort of control otherwise who knows what anarchy could happen if nobody does something’

  And with that the others around them nodded their heads in vigorous agreement, everybody apparently folding to the oldest person around for guidance. Yet even as that short guy nodded his head in agreement there was something angry behind his features, something dangerous.

  Now standing in front of the terribly aged fiberglass building that was his home Ayer was in disbelief or anticipation… But the bad kind, the kind of anticipation where your gut is heaving and that poison taste on my tongue sours every thought I have. The long walk home had cemented one thing, that the world was emptied now, the only other people he saw where either from the schools below or looked to be university students by the one car that drove by.

  So, it appeared that Ross Herma was right. Although knowing one thing to be true Ayer was sure, when the rest of the world went right his own parents would buck left. It was the natural way of things and one of the few constants he could always count on to continuously fuck up his life.

  His phone beeped again, twice more. He wasn’t sure how things were still working but he had received the same text from twelve different people some he didn’t even know how they got his number, yet they evidently had it. Yet he knew who it was, the same person who had tried contacted him several times already.

  The decade old ute sat in its usual position just before the carport with the roller-door down hiding the fact that behind that roller-door the structure was dilapidated. And scanning the front door he noticed that it was wide open to allow for natural airflow into the house, his father’s contract had run its course, and he hadn’t secured any other work since meaning that they had no money to pay for air conditioning. And that also meant that he would be home. As would his mother who had barely left her bedroom in years… The thought of them two even speaking to each other yet being so physically close seemed like an impossibility that even the current impossible situation would not mend.

  Steeling himself for whatever outcome he would find in there Ayer braved his fears and hopes walking into the house.

  ‘Ma… Dad!’ He repeated the call several times from the door alone yet nobody came, nobody answered back although that wasn’t really out of the ordinary. Looking through the loungeroom with its outdated furniture none of which matched the others as they had gotten one piece at a time and built upon from there. Finding nobody in there and white-noise on the airwaves Ayer moved on.

  ‘Ma… Dad!’ He called once again stepping into the kitchen Ayer was met with the musky stench that had to be mold somewhere out of sight yet left to grow unobstructed, in there he found a cup of coffee ready to be made with the milk out and the kettle boiled but left unattended. Peering out the kitchen window into the backyard Ayer was met with the cramped tight junkyard that was his backyard as several unusable vehicles littered the space barring any kind of traversal out there, not that he would as Ayer basically spurned anything of his fathers.

  ‘Ma… Dad!’ Ayer raptured louder than even he figured he could go, ringing throughout the entire house. Walking towards the bedroom wing of the house Ayer peered into his room finding nothing out of place and by enlarge the cleanest room of the house with clean clear walls, a desk with a computer sitting at its center and a small tv facing his bed.

  For some stupid reason Ayer even investigated the cupboards before moving on opening the door to his mother’s room finding it to be a mess of books, he also found the small army of cats in there as they were eager to get out leaving behind a full kitty-litter which hadn’t been cleaned in weeks whilst the linens were torn to shreds. Perched in a type of ceremonial alter was her kukri, the weapon all pureblood Natives were forged when they came of age, and there hers had collected dust leading Ayer to pick it up and carry it with him.

  Moving on he came to his father’s room; it was clearer than his mother’s but that was simply because his father owned nothing as it barely looked like he lived here at all. The stench of an old man who only consumed beer think in the room and a fridge sitting in a corner running so there was the easy access to his stash.

  But that was the entire house, that was every place that either of his parents would have been in the entire world.

  So, they are gone like everyone else. They are actually gone… Guilt rushed over him with the realization that his own parents being gone was a weight off of his shoulders, a leash around his neck that was suddenly loosened. He felt utter and completely free.

  -I shouldn’t feel fucking relieved; they were my parents. What kind of sicko am I who doesn’t care that they’re parents might be dead-

  Unsure what to do about… everything… Ayer feeling the heaving of his guts and the poison on his tongue raced to the toilet releasing a torrent of bile before forcing another out of his system, the smell was disgusting enough to announce how horrendous the sight must have been, the smell of toxicity and unprocessed foods filling the tiny cube that held their toilet. Flushing without looking at the disgusting mess he had created Ayer pushed himself away grabbing a soft drink from the kitchen which he used to rinse out his mouth several times before sculling the rest.

  And with utter and complete freedom what did Ayer do, he sat on his father’s comfy chair with a pair of headphones the EDM music flowing through him releasing whatever tension still gripped him, his mind racing with feelings of guilt and fear and panic making his body sickly yet he tried to turn away from those thoughts letting his brain activity fade slowly easing the burden of feelings he usually wouldn’t allow himself to feel. That blade sitting on his flabby protruding stomach going with the ebbs and flows of deep breathes.

  So enraptured, caught between the music and his musing Ayer lost track of time. If he had of been paying attention, he would have noticed the slightest changes in the colors of the outside world announcing they were passing into mid-afternoon, yet if he had of been paying attention, he would have fallen to his emotions breaking under them. At least this way that poison on his tongue was forgotten and his stomach no longer churned as if he had an alien in there. The outside world was blocked to him utterly and completely. Until the outside world pulled him kicking and screaming back to reality.

  ‘Ayer.’

  At the same time the voice rung out a delicate hand brushed over his shoulder and down his right arm. Alarmed and frightened for no reason Ayer flew from the chair his phone and music sent flying whilst he raised a fist, the kukri flying away from him as well and laying on the floor. Dashing to the other side of the small loungeroom as his body twisted to face whatever the hell was there his arms coming up in a vain attempt to appear threatening… As if anyone could ever view you, Ayer Bradshaw, as threatening. Idiot… did Ayer see the last person he was expecting or maybe the first person he should have expected.

  ‘Did I scare you or something?’ Maya Wainwright mocked, yet from her it was like a compliment rushing through that beautiful voice of hers. She stood in the middle of the loungeroom doorway the outside light illuminating her like of the Wind Spirits the Enlightenment talked about in their absolute beauty, her hair looked as if she had worked on it since the last time, they saw each other as her arms crossed below her breasts framing them perfectly with the casual and slightly revealing top she now wore and form-fitting yoga pants that where hard to ignore.

  ‘Holy shit… Maya… What are you doing here?’ What was she doing here? Why was she here, why was she at his house, the very place even his group had never seen through no small feat of his own, hiding this crap-shack from everyone he knew. The shock wore very quickly as he raced along this train of thought, being immediately replaced by anger… Why is she here, she shouldn’t know where I live, nobody should know that? What is she doing here?

  He schooled his face from showing anger it but with each passing second, he got more infuriated.

  ‘What can’t I come and visit a… a Friend?’ Her words cut his anger apart easily, it wasn’t completely gone but now he could smoother it better. And what was that, the way she said the word "Friend" and that coy face she made, the way only half her lip smiled wolfishly at it. Was this some sort of joke about their kiss earlier as if to say "We are as much friends and not lovers as a prostitute only gives out hugs" or was it the opposite, did that kiss of theirs sour her due to his inexperience and now she was confirming that they were just friends.

  -Fuck I hate girls, why can’t they just be simply like how guys are. All guys know what other guys want and what they will do to get it… but no… girls must be a whole seven games ahead of every guy-

  ‘Actually, I am here because of what is happening. My group and older people are working to figure out what is happening, and we are having an assembly in the Convention Centre since it’s the only place that can fit everyone. We have found out some stuff that everyone should know but we also need to make sure that people don’t start turning on each other since there is nobody around to tell them not too.’

  She was probably right about that, if there isn’t a bigger boot to enforce the rules then everybody would just do as they pleased. Yet in a way this of course was a group of people doing as they pleased yet framing it as them doing it for the benefit of everyone else and considering that people like Braden Cali were a part of her group and no doubt would be doing something with all of this, that wasn’t giving Ayer any confidence.

  ‘Wait… So, what have you found out?’ Ayer asked completely being disarmed by Maya, completely forgetting how infuriated he was that she was at his house… How did she even know where he lived in the first place, nobody knew where he lived?

  Maya’s gaze drifted around the room as she considered whether to even reply to him, her attention finding one thing after another an odd mix of a grimace at the disgust she would have felt being in such a place whilst she also wore a look of intrigue as if she were deep in study.

  ‘Um… I guess I can tell you since we... Since we are… Friends… But you can’t tell anyone else, once I tell you we have to go and pick up a few other people and tell some others. Okay, do you swear on… On your love for me?’’ There was that smile once again that predatory smile and how she tinged her words deliberately, she was too smart for him and he was intrigued by her and by this situation, so he nodded his head, a beaming smile spreading like she had won some sort of landmark victory. ‘We got people to drive for one hour in all directions, some of them went through farmlands others went through towns but all of them said the exact same thing… Nobody above the age of like twenty-five was there, entire towns were just filled with primary school kids and some farmhands had woken up in the middle of fields without any idea what happened.’

  The realization fell upon Ayer, that churning in his stomach before didn’t come back though as if it had been signaling to him that everything had changed and now that there was some sort of concrete proof it was sated. His tongue still felt of poison but even that wasn’t as bad as it had been previously and like before that weight that once broke him under its might was utterly and completely gone, the previous feelings of guilt began creeping in again, but he turned his mind to thinking instead staying away from that viper’s nest that was his feelings.

  ‘Holy Shit… So, it’s a thing… People have just up and disappeared like… magic.’ Ayer commented vacantly not expecting any response.

  ‘Magic or something weirder… Some people… Lysander… became a devote Enlightened the second all the people returned, for the next hour all she would talk about is the goddam Path, the Angelyn, the Light of Eternity and all of it. Like I’m not an Atheist or anything but I don’t fucking care to hear about religious for an hour straight.’ Maya admitted although Ayer had already figured out as much by the Elegist symbol she wore around her neck, although like most people of faith this day it was mostly for style rather than real belief as she only used Elegist doctrine when it suited her.

  As she spoke Maya continued to study the room and even the house with all her senses, she moved around the room casting a few glances at Ayer as they spoke and sometimes it appeared just to look at him as if she was putting pieces of a puzzle together in her mind. And then as she was moving around the tight room as he stood there watching her, did she sway past him her backside rubbing up against him for the most pleasurable moment of his entire lifetime. Surprised breath left his lungs and whatever brains he had left as well as he focused on not finishing at the briefest of touches from this angelic figure.

  Maya’s head spied to see his reaction, if he had of been unoccupied, he would have noticed the smile on her face that said more than any words could have.

  ‘You’re not talking much are you there.’ Maya remarked, her eyes taking another run over the house as she spied around a wall and into the kitchen with all of the grace of a bull. ‘Whoever knew that Ayer Bradshaw himself could be so easily unbalanced… that is not a good sign there.’ She continued demeaning him like he was just a plaything with that predatory smile and musically soft ring to her words.

  But you are a plaything Ayer. She doesn’t like you; she just enjoys mucking around with you, you guys just flirt and now the kiss it isn’t because she likes you but because you were there, and Adrian wasn’t… You are worse than a plaything, you aren’t even a sidepiece. You are the guy that is led around on a leash and who goes willingly.

  This realization made him almost convulse if he hadn’t of already upheaved his stomach, this felt worse than the guilt, felt worse than how he was unphased that the world suddenly seemed all wrong. He felt heartbroken. The logical part of his mind said that he never really loved Maya at the most it was just a crush, but he had control over it, yet now it felt like he had found his lover in bed with someone else.

  -How Adrian will feel when he learns about them-

  ’What are you doing here Maya!’ Ayer threw out like an accusation, the heat rising to its utter limits.

  ‘I told you. I am picking you up and getting other people to head to the Convention Centre-’

  ‘-No, not that! What are you doing here? With me?’ Somehow Ayer watched Maya’s already ivory skin pale, taken aback by the heat in Ayer’s voice that even surprised him. ‘We have been flirting all year and I didn’t expect anything of it, we were just having fun since you had a boyfriend. But you kissed me today… that changes everything.’

  ‘I didn’t kiss you.’ She threw back out absolving herself of any blame. ‘I hugged you and… And we kissed. I didn’t force myself on you and you didn’t exactly stop it, in fact you were really into it considering how long we kissed for. No?’

  He couldn’t argue with that, in this moment of heightened emotions he wanted to imagine that he took the moral high ground but that was completely fictional. He enjoyed it, just like all the other girls he had ever kissed he had vigorously enjoyed it and somehow with Maya it seemed even better just because she was the best-looking girl he had ever kissed before. But he was not going to be the blame for this, she was the one who was playing him, and he was the one being played.

  ‘You have a boyfriend… Or is Adrian just a really-really-really close friend who you’ve been having sex with for the past three years?’ Ayer shouted at her, calming the second the word "Adrian" slipped his lips as if the name was a realization unto itself and her face contorted as if she had just been slapped, she felt the force of that name too. ‘Look I don’t even really care about that really. I just want to know what you are doing, in your mind? Why are you playing these games?’

  Maya became flat, her arms now crossed yet not in the suggestive way they had been previously as now her arms blocked out her cleavage in full. She looked reviled yet her eyes were full of rage, whatever pleasantness she had come here with, whatever ideas she had come here with were now dashed.

  ‘What games am I playing? What about the games that you play you prick!’ Maya scolded her arms rushing about wildly before she pointed a dangerously sharp accusatory finger at him. ‘You have hit on every girl in our year, whether we have a boyfriend or not you have tried with all of us! Oh, you might seem innocuous and disinterested, you pretend to be a world apart from everyone, but you are just like all the guys who you pretend not to be like. You pretend to be different than Braden Cali but at least he hasn’t tried his luck with the whole fucking school.’

  Being called a prick fanned the flames of his anger more as he was already beyond how heated he had ever been before. All of this as a small part of him wanted to ask what "innocuous" meant, because he was evidently an idiot.

  ‘I’m not in a fucking relationship; I have not entered into an agreement with someone to say that we are officially together and that I am from now until the end of the relationship am with them. You have! And I doubt that Braden and all the other guys in your group haven’t tried their luck with every chick in the school, all of those guys are constantly hanging around girls from the year below "trying their luck".’

  ‘Oh, bullshit Ayer, you talk a surprising amount of bullshit for someone who pretends to be smart and logical. Yes, we flirted for fun, every bloody guy does the exact same thing even when they are in relationships and yet I can’t because I don’t have a dick! I enjoy flirting and being flirted with, so does everybody, that shit doesn’t just stop when you get into a relationship, but everybody is expected too.’ Her words were like the crack of a whip each one sharp and stinging and each one fully directed at Ayer.

  ‘So why the FUCK did you kiss me then!’ Ayer flung out, his last-ditch effort to keep whatever high ground he thought he had when he made his first outburst, that same feeling of anger was still bubbling over but now he realized how stupid it was of him to lash out, how stupid it was to aim his frustrations at Maya just because she enjoyed flirting like he did. How stupid he was to have done everything that he had done.

  ‘I… Um… I. I wanted to feel like shit wasn’t being turned upside down, I wanted someone to tell me that everything was going to be alright. Someone who would hear me out and actually listen to me.’ Maya swallowed hard as if she was beating down harsh feelings of her own.

  It’s Maya goddam Wainwright, what harsh realities of life does she face? Which hair conditioner to use to get her hair the right amount of bounce? That her well-liked and nice boyfriend maybe liked to play sports a little too much? That she was only getting a five-year-old car rather than the latest model that she wanted? She doesn’t know anything about hardships, about what life is like when the world itself doesn’t accommodate for you!

  ‘Isn’t that why you have a boyfriend!’ It felt good to release, like he was finally getting his own hard-won barbs in now that she had admitted that she wanted the kiss.

  Maya looked paralyzed; the intense eye contact they shared during the heart of their argument now faded entirely as she couldn’t even look anywhere near Ayer as if he was now repugnant, her body wobbled for before she caught herself, hardening her will so she didn’t collapse. Ayer watched as her eyes fluttered as if seeing the world anew, he turned out to be completely wrong as he noticed her batting away tears that gushed out as she barely held back a torrent of emotions evidently far more consuming that Ayer himself felt.

  With the heat in his heart quickly dying he cursed himself for fucking up perhaps the only chance he was ever going to have at sleeping with someone like Maya Wainwright, a girl who was destined to do something impressive with life. But above that seeing how his words had cut her Ayer felt worse than any annoyance about screwing up his chances at sex could have made him feel.

  ‘You don’t know anything Ayer… You’re not as smart as you pretend to be, and everybody else isn’t as dumb as you believe they are!’ And with that Maya rushed out of the dilapidated shack that was his house.

  Shying away he saw the kukri sitting on the ground as she rushed past him. Ayer walked to the front door watching Maya racing across the front lawn flying into the pristine white SUV that had never been taking off the road. The expensive glossy-white of the car reflecting the sun burning Ayer’s eyes as if in revenge for what he had done to Maya, the angry face of the vehicle would have been enough to scar someone who didn’t know that it was all plastic that would barely hold up against a brick-fence. And then the lumbering vehicle came alive before roaring off as quickly as it could.

  -How badly did I just fuck everything up-

  ‘Kailey… Kailey… KAILEY!’ Shock brought her back to reality as she didn’t even realize that she had drifted along her own train of thought. ‘Were you even listening?’

  ‘Sorry I… I was lost in thought.’ Kailey admitted unphased about how it will sound to Indra and the others. ‘What were you guys saying?’

  Like the sisters they were Kailey and Indra looked to each other, having an entire conversation with each other without saying a single word. Indra not being impressed and let it show with a minor tweak of her eyebrow whilst with a subtle shrug Kailey admitted to fault but under the circumstances, she felt that she was easily forgivable especially with how much stuff she was sort through.

  ‘We’ve just finished and agreed upon my motion, to start collating interviews, photographs etc for historical reference and now we are trying to figure out what we can do to keep the lights on.’ Indra finally said from her position at the long table. Being here brought back many memories for Kailey and all of them were attached with a laundry list of emotions, so many good yet so many so very bad.

  ‘I’ve already said what we need to do about that!’ Their cousin Archibald Don Caldera pointedly espoused. The male version of the Don Caldera’s with a slight-sickly frame of dulled aquatic blue from lack of sunlight, his hair kept short but untamed and an odd smell that the sisters had clocked from their cousin the moment he walked in. If it wasn’t for his incredible intellect, they would not have extended a position for him but having completed an engineering degree and going through two more at the age of twenty-four said enough about the man.

  Next to Kailey was a rakish Sun-Kin with wavy hair accentuated by astute clothing announcing Dahl Whey-Cortland, Kailey had become familiar with him through school as he was a few years above her yet already, he was destined for greatness being halfway through a doctorate. At least, that was before this shit happened.

  ‘I need to admit that I am unsure why we need to worry about this? Electricity is still running with no issue now so why are we even talking about this?’ Dahl admitted with a refined Mesosea accent from his parents, an awareness of his words as he seemingly picked everyone specifically to get his point across.

  ‘I agree with Dahl.’ Spoke Kailey’s oldest surviving friend Sarika Mews-Gimbutas, her pale-auburn skin contrasted by her light-brown hair styled into a ponytail with tips dyed golden as flecks of similar gold ringed her naturally chocolate eyes with a spindly frame.

  ‘It is because, it might be working right now. But what happens tomorrow, or the next day. Or worse. What happens a month or two down the trek when we are solely reliant upon whatever source of electricity, and it just suddenly shuts off.’ Came from down the end tracking all attention to her.

  Vicraera Don Wicks had been quiet most of this meeting, Kailey even wondered why she had come yet Indra had argued to have her here as apparently, they were good friends. Yet from the moment she came in and sat down she instead had been drawing in a book looking as if she had little interest, her Middle-Kin skin accompanying long brunette-locks of hair framing a pretty face and apparently one that was eager to appear disinterested but one that may be highly attentive.

  ‘Vic is right, do we even know where our electricity comes from, or what could happen inbetween now and a month? Who the hell knows how long all of this will last for as well, we need to take a long-term approach just to be safe?’ Indra composed quite well if Kailey was being honest. A swell of pride for her sister welling up in her breast.

  This seemed to speak to most people sitting around the table, these leaders if that was what they truly were. Hell am I even really a leader? But if they didn’t do anything then who would, so many questions and so few actual answers and out of all of them Kailey was unsure which one annoyed her the most.

  ‘Me and Jess know an electrician; we can ask him what he knows and maybe get every other electrician and apprentice and see what they can do to sure up our power supply.’ Kailey announced, solving the problem with ease as everybody agreed with her idea. ‘But we should probably end this meeting soon otherwise we will miss our own assembly.’

  To this everybody peered around the table before looking outside to see that the sun was already beginning to descend out of the sky

  ‘Everybody else should be there in the next two hours, right on dusk, so I am going to walk down there now. Then we can bring them up to speed on what we know and everything else that we don’t know. I mean what we know is incredibly small and what we don’t know is a list that seems to be ever growing.’ Cynicism was never a good shade, but Kailey felt it appropriate given the current circumstances. She often caught herself wondering if this was happening the world over, maybe the Basin over, evidence would say yes but what if there was some bastion that survived completely… or… or… Don’t give into fantasy Kailey.

  Indra cast Kailey a look, unentertained by the defeatist remark even though that was her basic attitude about everything in life, yet when Kailey done it, she got a frown. At least Indra didn’t give her a similar look. Saying goodbye to Indra and the rest of this group Kailey left the school, Kailey realised she shouldn’t have been detoured as she originally came back to get some equipment and take it too the convention centre but was side tracked by the meeting… Shit, they have probably left already, those metalheads have a thing for being punctual which is more surprising than how willing they are to actually be helpful.

  Walking through the near empty hallways Kailey was more impressed that she was going the right way, made easy thanks to the simplistic layout of the building but sometimes Kailey swore she got lost in the supermarket when she was so deep in thought that her body just continued acting of its own accord. Kind of like now as her mind fell into a deep meditative thought, the ever-rising pile of concerns only growing and growing, she was almost too the door when at the edge of her audibility she heard.

  ‘Kailey… Hey Kailey!’ The person called snapping her out of her trance. Looking up she saw one of Indra’s male friends rushing over, his surfer blonde hair and handsome features announcing him as the beauty Maya Wainwrights boyfriend. Although Kailey was not inclined towards men, she could see how this guy was attractive, chiselled jaw and light blue eyes the colour of the ocean. ‘Hey, the bus has already left so they could continue setting up the Convention Centre, but they asked if I could take you.’

  Not surprising, she had expected the others to have left, hell she had told them if she wasn’t there when they were ready to just leave without her.

  ‘Oh cool…’ She replied to the handsome youth with his foreign accent, too handsome for his own age really as he even spoke with a calming voice that was beyond his years reminding Kailey of the affect Daven Millard had on people, especially females. ‘Well, I guess we better get going then… Um… Adrian, right? Maya’s boyfriend?’

  To that he smiled, a knowing smile as if he expected her to say that.

  ‘The one and only.’ He said with a flourish of his hands, as if he was dismissing the idea. -The idea of what though?- ‘I guess we should be on our way though.’ Adrian remarked moving the conversation away from Maya and their relationship.

  -Maybe, I am just reading too much into what little I know of people I know nothing about-

  Adrian was quick to take her to a shiny sedan, its luxury of leather seats and wooden vinyl being familiar to Kailey from her time back home and even sitting in the vehicle letting herself sink into the materials she was hit by the same feelings. The feeling of anxiety and petrification, unsure what was really happening and if the steps she was taking was making any sort of a difference. And then he took off, slower than she expected as he didn’t seem to be driving like every other guy of his age.

  ‘So how long have you and Maya been dating?’ Kailey asked absently as they moved onto the main road of Durrahan, the cemented grey tones were a world away from the vibrancy of Ciaran’s naturalism and vivacity. She said it more out of reflex as Maya was the only obvious thing she knew about Adrian, across her lap a notebook which she scrolled through.

  ‘Ages now…’ Adrian said adrift in his own mind, the tinge of alertness that was there beforehand now gone as he became quiet and contemplative. She felt the tension oozing off the youth, feeling how he clammed up around the issue.

  -Odd-

  Driving through the cemented streets of Durrahan as every so often there was a square of open earth with a particular tree, yet what she really saw instead of the concrete jungle with its two-story buildings was the emptiness and void of life, the dusk sky overhead closing the oddest day in history. Passing a church standing taller than all the other buildings, its arched peaks raising four stories tall with wrought-iron Enlightenment symbols, light poured out from its main halls whilst a gaggle of people hung around its wide-open doors.

  Midway along the stretch of gardened earth she saw the familiar sights of the Radiant-Tree and pergola sitting across from the Town Hall. A hangout spot of her youthful rebellion when she wanted to piss off her parents spending time in Durrahan past times they felt comfortable, even if it was truly a safe space.

  ‘What do you think about all of this. Are you like Indra’s friend and believe it’s something to do with the Spirits or the Angelyn?’ She asked trying to fill the silence her earlier question had made. At the very least it snapped him out of his silent stupor, as his body shot up a little straighter whilst his eyes peeled opened as if seeing the landscape for the first time.

  ‘If I’m like Lysander Don Dean? Um… I don’t know. Obviously, something big is happening, something otherworldly yet to start spouting like a shaman of the Enlightenment feels a little too… Easy. And since when is anything in life easy?’ Adrian admitted, his attention never leaving the road even as he was in the deepest depths of thought.

  ‘So, what do you think of Lysander saying that it’s something to do with them?’ Kailey was still surprised how quickly the girl seemed to throw herself at the mercy of the Metaphysical and the doctrine of the Enlightenment once all the drivers returned with the similar news of the outside world.

  Originally Kailey thought of the girl as capable as she was the only member of the group who worked in the school’s council as well as doing a number of harder classes, and then the news reached them, and her entire personality changed in a moment.

  ‘It was surprising when I heard it, and when I spoke to her, I was even more shocked. But she is scared like the rest of us. Once we have some definite answers, hell once some time has passed and normality has been restored, she’ll be fine.’ He said passing the church and coming into view of the Convention Centre, its wide squat building with a full front facing window spewing light out onto the street, a defiant soldier standing against the night. ‘But that’s what we’re doing here, figuring things out and setting things right. Really, it’s because of you that we are even doing this, without you getting us organised and started we would be in a worse off position.’

  ‘You are praising me for nothing. It simply needed to be done.’

  ‘And maybe it would have been done by someone else… Or maybe nobody would have done a thing and nothing would have been done, and when some time passes, we still know nothing and everything falls to anarchy.’ Adrian said talking through his train of thought. ‘By you being the first person to start organising people, you save us the trouble of finding out what other… worse… alternatives there could be out there.’

  -Okay. So, he is smarter than his good looks- Kailey thought to herself, curious about the innerworkings of his relationship with Maya all because of that one second look Maya had as he wrapped his arms around her, and then there was his despondency when she asked just before. -So… Two really attractive people whose relationship is rocky, this might make things a little more complicated-

  ‘And now you get to tell everyone else what we found out. A large group of people being told something that is going to both scare and confuse them… This is going to go swimmingly, obviously.’ Adrian joked, yet easily conveyed that he didn’t envy her job in the slightest. Nor did she really.

  ‘Let’s hope that people are only either scared or confused and not both at the same time… Hell, why we are at it, let’s hope that they pay attention and listen to us. All we need is for some people not to follow the rules and they can ruin it for everyone else.’ Why did she draw the short straw, nobody wanted to be the one who spoke and somehow that job had been dropped upon her when realistically she done nothing of importance since saying that they needed to organise?

  ‘Well, I’m not sure if it’s much but you know that the group stands behind you. And more people than you expect probably.’

  ‘I guess that will have to do for now at least.’ Kailey admitted as they moved out of the sedan, getting ready to tell a large group of people that they had no idea what the hell was happening.

  Trudging in through the wide opened doors of the Convention Centre, its front-wall nothing but glass letting the light spill out against the unnaturally unlit Durrahan. With each step Ayer felt the jostle of the crowd as thousands poured into the wide-open room, a mass already pooling within that filled half of the floorspace, with far more to come.

  Ayer looked around himself, even with people on all sides he felt completely naked and alone. The heat of the day easing and now it was cold enough that he wore jeans and a plain grey t-shirt with nothing stylised or popular about what he wore. Around him there were those who too had changed out of their school uniforms with another large portion who still wore their uniforms, there were those older ones who had been at work or University some of them wearing casual whilst others wore their attire of the day. It made a muddled incoherent mess of peoples with barely any cohesion.

  More than once Ayer caught sight of a person in high-visibility workwear which made him look sharp, thankfully each time it wasn’t who he was keeping an eye out for. Each time that fear would well up inside of him in before subsiding as he saw that it was someone else. Yet this alone showed how many more people outside of the schools had survived on from the disappearance. All of them easily below the age of twenty-five or more likely younger, from all the different kin of the world and all with their sharp-ears eagerly pointed towards the large stage that stood stalwart and mighty against the bare backdrop of the Convention Centre.

  By the time the horde he was moving with came to a stop thickly in the middle of everything Ayer had already done four sweeping glances around the room seeking out anyone who he knew, hell at this point it could have been someone he was only an acquaintance with and that would have suited him just fine. Anyone who he could speak with who wasn’t going to give him grief, just anyone who he even vaguely knew would do at this point.

  The Spirits responded in kind to this plea, the crowd seemed to magically part towards the front where Ayer spied Maya and she spied him… Not her, anyone but her… She broke their eye contact immediately turning to speak with Indra Caldera whilst another one of their friends who looked slightly younger than them just stared through the crowd directly at him, with a tweak of his vision Ayer was left the image of her boyfriend Adrian hoovering around Maya. And for the briefest moments they looked at each other reminding Ayer of just how much of a dick he was.

  ‘Ayer… Hey Ayer.’ A voice rang out stealing his attention through the crowd, he finally saw someone weaving through the crowd until Nerissa Domal broke through to him although caught some aggressive glares as she made her way over, including pushing someone twice her size out of her way. ‘Thank fuck you’re here, I was worried that I would have to hear all of this by myself.’

  She remarked throwing her pastel-purple arms around him whilst her wild midnight black hair whipping him with its braid, she refused to release the hug after a long minute of such close contact even when Ayer thought that by all rights the hug had run its course. He also wasn’t going to complain about being pressed so deeply against someone else. Like always Ayer was shocked by the drastically different demeanours of Torrand and his cousin Nerissa, where one was quiet and introvertive the other was loud and extroverted, sometimes to an obvious degree especially when she finished school the year before and lorded over the group her entire last year.

  ‘How are you doing?’ She asked with a complete tone change, softening to a pointed tip like she was trying to dig under his skin. Although that was probably just his own interpretation. Maybe I am being too dickish since the whole Maya thing.

  ‘Well, I am next to a beautiful woman now so I would say my luck is looking up thank the Waters.’ Ayer let slip, he caught himself just after finishing the sentence only now realizing that maybe Maya was right. Do I flirt with everyone? Yet the very concept that Maya knew anything about Ayer caused a heated rage to fan his emotions, he forcibly had to stop himself from even thinking about her just to calm himself enough to speak with Nerissa.

  Nerissa smirked at the comment replying with. ‘A charmer as always.’

  Entering through the path Nerissa made another figure stalked up to them, on height with Ayer and a lean frame bronze Middle-kin skin with a braid of silken brunette hair was a woman he had never seen before. She appeared to have the same thoughts as her glare fixated upon him for the longest time, distrust easy to read followed by annoyance and then at last what Ayer could only think of as hurt as she cast a short look at Nerissa.

  Nerissa herself didn’t even seem to notice the woman for the drawn-out minute until she finally followed his attention that was fixated beyond her.

  ‘Oh sorry. Ayer this is my current lover Reyes Eyries, Reyes this my friend Ayer Bradshaw.’ Nerissa remarked as a statement of fact, for her extroversion she was ultimately stupid about human behavior and maybe even mostly stupid about her own behavior. Yet it was Reyes’s faltering features that announced the true extent of Nerissa’s words as Reyes looked like she had just broken inside, her composure going back to being unreadable and closed herself off as she crossed her arms.

  ‘Nice to meet you, Reyes.’ Ayer offered his hand, yet Reyes just looked it over without uncrossing her arms. If he hadn’t of just witnessed how Nerissa’s words had just affected the woman, he might have been offended yet even as he let his hand fall Ayer could understand what must be running through the woman’s mind.

  ‘Reyes comes from Anglesea.’ Nerissa said casting a flirtatious look to the tall woman, the moment their eyes locked her features smoothly creased into a smile which thawed Reyes frozen features with the slightest blush of her checks. ‘She is a wiz with anything mechanical, that’s how me met. My car broke down and she was the mechanic that fixed it.’

  ‘Still can’t drive to save your life I see then?’ Ayer vacantly responded only realizing what he said the moment the last words were spent, so invested was his attention on inspecting the area that he had left his mind to falter. To his luck Nerissa just laughed and even Reyes gave a knowing smile as if she had the same thoughts.

  ‘You are not wrong there, although in my defense it was the road itself and not my driving that caused the damage. It was the pass between Por Hollis and the Basin where those bushfires tore through last summer.’ Nerissa remarked quickly followed by a disbelieving statement from Ayer. ‘You know jokes are often a way for people to pretend they aren’t afraid. You know you can be honest and show your feelings Ayer.’

  Nerissa persisted, a response Ayer knew she engaged in when she felt attacked, completely changing subjects before firing on all cylinders with everything she had to detract away from the criticism she was coping. evidently her first year in her Psychology course had not taught her to be better with her responses or more tactful. A part of him was even annoyed that she would dare try to therapize him, she had no idea anything about him, she was acting just like Maya trying to assert what wasn’t there.

  ‘You know the buzzards that are all around us, they will jump on the first sign of weakness they see even if they are all feeling the exact same way. Best to keep the fa?ade up and the persona of a calm and collected individual showing to the world to keep them all from circling.’ Ayer replied immediately cutting off the conversation as tension between both him and Nerissa erupted. Apparently, she doesn’t like the brutal truth of the world.

  The next five minutes passed at an extended rate and each elongated moment felt like he was being dragged over gravel. Although they waited impatiently next to each other whatever familiarity had faded as Ayer prayed desperately to the Skies that Nerissa would leave and some random would take her place, yet that didn’t happen. Instead, Nerissa and Reyes waited and they continued to pass barbs until finally a group took their place on the stage finally beginning whatever the hell all of this was.

  As a group of drastically different people from a vast age-range made their way onto the stage a wave of shushes washed over the crowd followed by an eerie silence as everybody waited with timid anticipation. The group upon the stage seemed to sense this as their movements became quickened and somewhat more deliberate, some people took positions of authority at the front of the stage whilst others were milling around the back yet still nobody had taken the podium. And out of all of those faces up on that stage Ayer barely recognized any of them, some he knew from a few years older and younger than his year, others he vaguely recognized from outside of school and others yet again he recognized from his older siblings’ time at school.

  Cutting through the crowded stage someone finally took the podium, and immediately his heart dropped with his tongue becoming a sponge of that poison that raced through his body making Ayer desperately want to throw up for the second time today. He only hoped this would fade quicker than the last time he’d had the same poison feeling in his body.

  As he was going through this Kailey Don Caldera began to speak.

  ‘Hello everyone… For those who don’t know who I am, my name is Kailey Don Caldera, I have lived in the region my entire life and grown up here. And too be completely honest I am scared, I am scared and unsure, and worried. Because neither I nor anyone else truly knows what is happening here.’ Ayer was sure that there some sort of commotion or comment made further up yet didn’t hear what was said nor did it seem to effect Kailey as she pushed through continuing her speech.

  ‘I am also going to be utterly and completely honest with all of you here and now… We truly do not know what in all the different hells is happening here. Some of you are already aware.’ Kailey’s voice sounded rimmed with rage with the statement, and her glare came down harshly upon a large section of the crowd, some of whom were wearing religious robes. ‘But we sent people out in all directions to see what they could find. And what they found is what we see around us right now. They found completely barren and bare population centers left only with the youth of the world. They found no sign of struggle or evacuation, or anything that would explain why so many people just up and disappeared.’

  Again, something was said aloud yet Ayer did not hear what was said, it was followed by a large chorus of agreement from those children who now wore those articles of the faith.

  ‘In light of this. All the unknowns around us I ask something simple but ultimately incredibly hard considering that we have all lost parents and loved ones and now have been left this world. I and everyone up here asks for patience as we establish some form of order, patience as we search for the truth. And patience as we figure all of this out.’ Her words were resonating that was for sure and even just by a quick scan he could see that much of the crowd were already nodding their heads in agreement. ‘At this point we only have the ability to help each other, we are figuring out the finer details of this as we try to future proof against whatever might be happening, but I also ask that if you are not comfortable going home alone, stay with friends, and to those who are asked feel empathy for those who ask and let them stay.’

  Kailey stepped aside letting a spindly tall youth take the podium, his voice breaking multiple times as he explained some provisions such as no stealing from supermarkets, pharmacies, hospitals, police station, firing ranges and a long-long list of other places that were now illegal to go near making the next two hours very dry as this makeshift council explained what they were planning and why they were planning. Ayer just thanked the Stone that his body did not break at the very sight of Kailey. That hearing her speaking did not shatter whatever solidity he believed he had, but there was always a searing pain when his eyes would find her in the back of the crowd.

  When the last of the makeshift council finished their declarations Kailey once again came up to the podium with a concluding speech. Realizing that this was basically all done Ayer turned away.

  ‘I’ll see you later Nes’ Ayer gave curtly pushing himself through the crowd without anything further. He felt the questioning looks and even heard the barest of questioning murmur rise from Nerissa, but he was already winding his way through the crowd.

  Few others had the same idea, most instead seemed to be completely transfixed upon the useless words about charity and strength making his exit a slower process than expected. He was slow to move around people avoiding cutting through groups only communicating when there was no alternative route to take and even then, he attracted harsh attention from people until he finally broke through the last line escaping the Convention Centre and everything he was feeling.

  Leaving behind the golden glow and the crowd for the silent Durrahan with its shadowed streets. Absorbed entirely in his own mind until midstride an iron grip latched onto his bicep shock and fear flooding him as he turned to face whoever was there. And surprisingly -Although I should have known- Ayer was met with the visage of a man slightly taller than he was but with far more bulk whilst his skins were a tapestry of illustrations from head to toe, his undertone skin of slate grey concretes and overtones of warm coppers complimented with a thick beard and fade haircut drawing all attention to his oceanic eyes.

  -FUCK. How did he see me-

  ‘Why have you dodging my calls!’ Juries Bradshaw accused. The crease of his right eyebrow with the word Infidel tattooed above it, Juries repressing his need to punch something. And Ayer being an idiot never considered the idea that his older brother might have changed out of his workwear and into normal clothes as he had, meaning that Ayer had been keeping an eye out for the wrong indicators of his brother.

  ‘I have been dealing with some stuff.’ Ayer replied knowing full well that Juries face would crease further with both his fists locking together like they were liquid metal finding their new form.

  ‘What the Fuck Ayer. Grow the fuck up, everybody has been going through shit with this happening.’ Juries exploded with wide swings of his fists into the air followed by a quick slap across the back of the head, Ayer expecting it took the softened hit which was Juries for a warning shot. ‘Fucking hells. So, am I right to guess that the parents are dead as well?’

  The comment amazed Ayer, so far, he hadn’t thought about the finality of what was happening, he hadn’t considered that Juries might not know and the realization of it upon his older brother… Maybe they are dead, is that such a bad thing… the bile sprung forth racing up Ayer’s throat with barely a moment’s notice giving him the barest of seconds to turn away from his older brother releasing the second torrent of vomit. As the remnant of spital and watery chunks came Ayer felt a comforting hand rubbing his back easing the tension until he remembered that it was Juries and straightened himself.

  ‘Yeah, yeah they are gone as well.’ Ayer said cleansing the last of the bile from his mouth, a sensation of motion on his back indicating that Juries was patting his back whilst he was still bent over.

  ‘Thank fuck for the small blessings, apparently the Angelyn aren’t always dicks for no reason.’ Juries remarked, and Ayer agreed without delay or guilt. ‘I spoke with Sil a few hours ago before the phone lines went down. She said the same thing happened where she was somewhere in Eurosea.’

  ‘We can agree on that as well.’

  ‘So, are you staying at home then? If not, you should come live with me until that group sorts some shit out.’ Juries offered. To Ayer though that sounded like suffering through every hells one at a time, Juries had roommates each of them being tradies and all of them having the same mentalities and jovialities that Ayer couldn’t stand.

  ‘I am good to stay home tonight.’ The snap didn’t go unnoticed as Juries just glared at Ayer for a long moment eventually shrugging his shoulders.

  ‘Fine. Do as you want. I’ll drop in and check on you tomorrow though.’ Juries arranged without wriggle room as finally people slowly crept out of the Convention Centre announcing that they were finished, and most people would be returning home ending the weirdest day in history.

  The car glided down the dark and empty streets, the few streetlights that remained active eating away at the dwindling electrical grid giving few places of solace whilst shading everything else entirely. Or maybe that was just her mind playing tricks and altering what she was seeing.

  Turning down the familiar suburban street with its ten-year-old houses and aged facades the car came to its destination pulling into the driveway of a house which could have been a cardboard copy of a house barely down the street as all modern homes seemed to be the same house with slight variations between them. Her own attention finding light spilling through the open front as the windows went from the top to the bottom with a glass door splitting either side of the feature.

  She released a deep breath, a momentary howl to unleash the pain and fear that she had been bottling up since everything started falling into place and she realized just how changed everything was… It’s okay, we’ll find out what happened, we’ll find mum and dad eventually…

  Approaching the door Kailey was quick to move out of some unnerving fear that made absolutely no sense whatsoever especially now that so many people had disappeared, yet all the same she did rush from her car to the glass wall where she knocked with a bit more force that she was meant to. Almost immediately the sound of footfalls came from inside, the blinds allowing light to seep out of the house unfortunately giving her no visual of what was happening until the door opened and Nerissa Domal showed herself.

  ‘Kae’s.’ Nerissa swoped in with a deep embrace, and the tension that Kailey felt she had been carrying around all day rushed away. ‘How are you lovely? I was surprised to get your text in all honesty.’

  ‘Yeah, I just… just wanted someone to talk too.’ Kailey said with heated cheeks and the accompanied stirring in her heart and loins whilst following Nerissa into her house. Her oh so familiar house.

  ‘Oh… you’re here to talk… of course.’ Nerissa remarked with a hum to her voice and a chirpy smile. ‘Well, you have perfect timing for a… talk… Me and Reyes got into a big fight.’ Nerissa led Kailey to the familiar couch with its comfy bulk and like the many other times Kailey sat down she felt herself immediately sinking into the thing. All whilst Nerissa folded herself into place with her plain top and leggings both facing Kailey.

  ‘Why is that?’ Kailey asked, mostly out of compulsion. She had no ill will towards Reyes, but they were not friends and never would be, they were both to different people and when Reyes and Nerissa got together Kailey found herself distancing herself to avoid the swirling of exaltation that happened whenever she was around Nerissa.

  ‘Before you were on stage at the townhall me and her were just in the crowd waiting. Anyway, I saw someone I knew standing by themselves, so I went over to them to give them company and Reyes followed. During the conversation I introduced her and said, "that we were currently dating" and then apparently me and this guy were flirting, but that is just the way he is… Honestly, he is a little pudgy for my liking but, he is a nice enough guy… So anyway, after the townhall we got into this big fight and she said something about me "not being committed enough" and said that she didn’t want to keep going with me anymore.’ Nerissa said with derision.

  Nerissa produced a bottle of wine gesturing it to Kailey who found herself nodding, usually she hated drinking, she hated the way she felt, and she especially hated hangovers and how she was unable to function for the next day. Yet she found herself agreeing, watching as Nerissa poured a glass before handing it over to Kailey who eagerly took a sip… Just to ease the stress of the day…

  ‘Mmh. I am sorry to hear that Rissa.’ Kailey replied, although now another question nagged at her. ‘So, you were flirting with this guy?’

  The smile that crept over Nerissa’s face said it all right in that moment.

  ‘So, you’re still sitting on the fence I see.’ Kailey joked getting a precocious laugh from Nerissa who inched a bit closer.

  ‘A little jealous are we Kae’s?’ She replied, Kailey’s own face must have given it away by the laugh Nerissa released as she closed the gap between them. ‘Oh, Kae’s how I do love to make you jealous… I am still just seeing what I like and who I like, I mean sometimes Daven Millard piques my interest, sometimes Ellaria Pritchard... Every time you pique my interest though.’

  The stirring and passion reached critical mass. Kailey hooked her finger into Nerissa’s collar dragging her closer, forcing their lips to meet immediately shooting into the familiar intimate kissing and tongue play that Nerissa so loved and Kailey had learnt from her. Kailey took the lead assisting Nerissa to remove her top, then Nerissa done the same to Kailey until they were both bare chested and topless, their kissing moving away from their mouths touching each other as they explored each other’s bodies with hand and mouth and every other appendage they had at their disposal.

  Pulling away was the hardest action to do in that moment but somehow Kailey found strength and gained Nerissa’s attention. ‘We should go up to your bed.’

  Nerissa smiled, her beautiful oval face and pastel-purple skin and midnight hair a visage of beauty. She was just beautiful and sitting there with her breasts exposed she shot in for another kiss meeting Kailey’s lips in a gentle embrace before rushing off down the hallway, leaving Kailey with the pleasant image of Nerissa running nude.

  At least the Cosmic Soul have blessed me with this tonight…

  -Fuck the Angelyn… Fuck the Spirits… Fuck the Cosmic Soul… Fuck it all- Was the only thing that routinely went through Ayer’s mind like a treadmill.

  This night felt far colder than it should have, or maybe Ayer’s fear was just infecting his senses, and he was imaging it. Either way he regretted wearing the combination of a t-shirt and jeans instead of anything more comfortable, although it was his fault for wandering the Durrahan streets in the middle of the night instead of going straight home. He had so much to process, and it felt like a good idea at the time yet now he concluded that he was just an idiot and at home he still could have easily thought through the events of the day only inside the passable warmth of his crap shack.

  The trek had taken him from one side of Durrahan to the other and now he was heading back as the midnight sky littered with stars shone brightly and the red-hued moon glowed with a menacing light announcing that it was two in the morning. Yet even as he vacantly crossed the road and into the long stretch that was his street, he still had a way to go, enough time to contemplate so much.

  -Mostly how much of an idiot you are and for multiple reasons, how you’re an idiot for thinking that you had a shot with Maya Wainwright or how you had a shot with her but destroyed it because your stupid, you’re an idiot because you flirted with someone else’s girlfriend. hells probably the love of someone else’s life. You’re an idiot for feeling the way you do that your parents are gone, you’re an idiot for not caring that your own parents are dead- He was an idiot for a great many things in life it seemed.

  Passing the houses, he had grown up around since his early childhood, the familiarity working against his psyche those places which he could picture instantly now stood vacant and silent, those places where he once knew the people who lived in them and would see them every day now stood like a graveyard. The lovely old lady Ms Wicks house with its decrepitude pealing walls yet an immaculate garden, the Hawke house with the childless couple who had done massive renovations to their place being a part of the gentrification wave that was pushing through their neighbourhood, the squalor house half burnt from a fire allowing for the other half to be utilized by homeless and degenerates, then of course the drug house where the forty-year-old dealer would sell to kids Ayer’s age… How many times I had to duck people I knew going into that house…

  All these memories he had of this place, of this street and of these neighbours seemed completely useless too him yet now as he trudged along, they flooded over him threatening to make him breakdown and cry. He had thought so little about how he looked at these people with awe and want, how he looked at the Hawke’s and wanted so desperately to have a relationship like they had with each other, how desperately he wanted to have Ms Wicks familiar ties with her grandchild who visited her every weekend, or that drug dealers carefree abandon to sell to kids and demand more from them in lieu of payment as odd as that was.

  Crossing the street into the property of his parent’s house Ayer fixated upon these minor things that he once never considered but now saw in its entirety, he realised how he longed for some sort of connection, how Ayer Bradshaw so badly wanted to belong to something or someone… Fuck, maybe I should apologise to Maya, maybe I shouldn’t have been ducking Juries…

  The thoughts flashed through his mind as he glided through the door of the house, he was instantly met with the dark of the hallways, the unmovable shades and how they pooled in certain corners creating pitch black vortexes where nothing could live. The house which he had lived in for his entire lifetime, the house where his fucked-up existence centred around.

  Wait. The door wasn’t locked!

  Ayer swivelled to inspect the door, wondering if he locked it when he left earlier but that was something he was sure he done. On his first step doubt crept into his mind and body, as he wondered if he was truly stupid enough to not lock the door, with everything that was happening it wouldn’t exactly be high on anyone’s list.

  On his next step surety blustered in, he wasn’t a complete idiot and growing up in his street he was trained to lock the door every time he left… Although that was mostly so his mother wouldn’t have to leave her room, but it was muscle memory at this point. And then reaching the door he noticed the slightest indentation on the skirting as if someone had jimmied it open.

  White heat flashed, a shockwave of pain starting at the side of his face and then racing throughout his body causing a searing pain unlike anything he had ever felt before. Ayer’s body went limp and followed the momentum of whatever just happened sending him slamming into a wall before he tumbled into the loungeroom on his ass and knees. Pain shooting through his lower body from the direct contact the carpet had with the concrete just below.

  Bleary eyes opened or more likely were pried open by sheer force of will alone, allowing Ayer to see the shaded house and the winds outside that bashed against the house. Standing in the archway between the hallway and loungeroom a domineering silhouette loomed, the shade of a bat in hand at the ready announcing to Ayer’s slowly churning mind that must have been what done the damage.

  ‘WHAT THE FUCK!’ Ayer shouted at the universe, completely undirected as the first tears broke free and his throat closed up tight. ‘Fuck… Fuck… Fuck.’

  ‘I honestly don’t know what to say Ayer. I really don’t. I have never even thought about breaking into someone’s house and hitting them with a bat before let alone doing it. But because of you I’ve done it. Because of you I have done this and I don’t even know what this will lead to.’ The voice responded in the clear baritones of a familiar voice, a voice right at the edge of his comprehension yet he just could not grasp who it was, not that his mind was working well enough to do the work itself. ‘You just had to kiss my girlfriend.’

  The burning sensation suddenly went frosty cold with the realization, thankfully there was only one person this could be. And upon that notion Ayer for the third time this day alone felt vomit spurt out of his mouth and onto the carpet next to him, his own body retching in convulsion and upon his hand falling onto the carpet he could immediately feel the cold stone below.

  ‘Adrian-’ Ayer began saying before being interrupted by the looming figure.

  ‘-Shut up Ayer. Just shut up.’ Adrian replied, the sound of exhaustion fresh in his voice as if he had been struggling for days. ‘I never really thought that you were dangerous, at most I thought that you were just an idiot trying your luck with anyone just like Viking although he is at least likeable. Hells the fact that he is such a good friend made this decision so hard but even he can’t protect you after you kissed Maya, right as something happens which would have brought us back together you had to kiss her.’

  Adrian rushed in as Ayer was pushing himself up, his knee collided with Ayer’s stomach as the flat of the bat was pushed into Ayer’s head sending him stumbling back colliding with his father’s recliner and tumbling over it. A metallic object sitting just under him. Thankfully this time he was quicker to move and as Adrian came in for another attack Ayer was moving out of the way, using his knowledge of the house in its pitch-black state to his advantage knowing what to avoid whilst listening out and hearing Adrian’s grunts of frustration as he collided into the coffee table, then the stud-protrusion which jutted out of the wall, then into the spare tv cabinet. Each time Adrian cried out or swore Ayer was given a respite knowing exactly where his attacker was.

  Pain flourished through him yet again as the bat somehow found him in the grim darkness colliding with his bare skin and rattling the bone. And just as quickly Adrian was at him, bounding across the room as Ayer was crying out in pains before his attacker’s fist racked across Ayer’s face.

  Stumbling back and out into the laminate hallway Ayer was gripped by fear, his tongue felt disgusting, and his throat felt like it was choking whilst he so desperately just wanted to cry. Tears covered his face making the few viewings of the world he was allowed inbetween Adrian’s fist raining down upon him and the tears that pooled in his eyes very rare until finally somehow after flailing about in some sort of self-defence Adrian was off Ayer.

  -Strength-

  With this brief respite Ayer turned onto his stomach crawling away from Adrian, from his attacker, from the person who above all deserved to be doing this to Ayer considering everything that Ayer had done to him.

  ‘I’m sorry Adrian… I am so fucking sorry.’ Ayer croaked out through sobs. The fear almost completely incapacitating his movements.

  ‘You’re Sorry! What good is being sorry, what is that going to do for you Ayer!’ Adrian raged, the sound of him grabbing the wooden bat echoing in the silence of the house. ‘You kissed her, what else does that mean. Did you fuck her when I wasn’t paying attention, have you two been screwing around this entire time but it only took whatever the fuck happened today for me to notice… You done this to yourself Ayer.’

  -Fight-

  Adrian rushed across the space between them, his feet colliding with the laminate flooring like thunder enrapturing the fear like Ayer had never felt before even during the worst of his childhood… And then something else came over him, he jumped up from his place cowering in fear and smashed directly into Adrian who was taken by surprise as the fear flipped into intense psychopathy. Ayer let loose his own barrage of floundering limbs, no coordination or skill behind any jab or punch instead just pure bestial ferocity.

  More than once the bat collided with his body, and each time Ayer barely felt it, more than once his enclosed fist or arm collided with a piece of the house as he and Adrian smashed through it. In the haze of everything Ayer snarled and barked like a mad dog only made the better by the surprise that flashed over Adrian whose face was now bloodied and bruised by the unexpected assault which led them from the hallway into the loungeroom then into the kitchen.

  Somehow with strength he never knew he had Ayer twisted ripping Adrian off the ground and sending him through the open space of the counter, Adrian’s back clipping the top-cabinet yet still he flew out into the dining room and onto the table. Invigorated Ayer came around, yet the emotion dimmed threatening to steal away any fight that Ayer had, as he came to the table with Adrian prone atop it, Ayer felt confidence that this had been ended… And then the Adrian jabbed with the bat, its flat colliding with Ayer’s throat.

  Ayer was barely a step back when Adrian was upon him as he sluggishly brought the bat once again on Ayer this time hitting his shoulder making Ayer crumble for a moment. And then just as sluggishly the bat was smacked into Ayer’s leg making him collapse entirely, finding himself stumbled through his own house sinking back into the loungeroom where he’d been only moments before. His torment aggressing upon him with every step.

  ‘YOUR DEAD!’ Adrian screamed as he limped over, one of his legs dragging behind the other whilst half of his face already ballooned due to the damage done. ‘You are the worst person in the world, and your death will only make shit better!’

  Realizing that he was done all Ayer could do was cower in fear, his hands thrown up in a vein bid to protect him from the oncoming blows of the bat.

  -NO-

  In a vain attempt his freehand grabbed whatever came to it as those fingers raced across the floor for anything, his blood like gravel and his muscles frozen as Adrain came down for a final attack. Ayer found something, his hand wrapped around whatever it was and with a vicious yank and slash struck out.

  His eyes were still closed, he was still cognitive, and his eyes were closed for a very long time it felt, for longer than it would have taken for that bat to have finally hit him. With tentative curiosity he seen past his hand gripping tight to his mother’s kukri, the blade cleaved into Adrian’s neck with blood already syphoning from his body.

  In shock and awe Ayer watched as Adrian collapsed onto the floor unable to support himself anymore, Ayer watched for a long moment long waiting for Adrian to move but instead he lay there completely limp, completely lifeless.

  -What have I done-

  The phrase raced through Ayer’s mind multiple times as he gawked at Adrian’s dead and lifeless body. He killed someone; he had literally killed someone. He watched the paling bruising face of Adrian stare unflinchingly into the void, someone who Ayer had seen basically every day of his life, someone who Ayer remembered going to primary school with was now dead in his place at his hands and for the fourth time today Ayer threw up leaving nothing in his stomach as the last true contents left.

  ‘What have I done!’ Ayer sobbed, crawling into a ball whilst smacking his head in frustration and in the smallest hope that this was all just some sort of nightmare. A nightmare which he could wake up from, yet his body refused to. ‘Holy shit I am so sorry Adrian. I am so fucking sorry… FUCK… What have I done?’

  ‘Shit, shit, shit. I need to do something. I need to. I need to hide the body or run away or-’ Ayer rushed through his options, his brain still in pain from being hit across the head running as fast as it could but no matter what it was still sluggish.

  Until a conversation from the recesses of his memory, perhaps the most frightening conversation he’d ever had with his father came to mind. Making Ayer remember there was a place close by to hide the evidence as his father spoke about a friend being swallowed up at the Old Quarry which had become a sinkhole, not to mention helping his father get rid of a bloody hammer there as well. His muscles tuned for survival he done all he could and went to get rid of all evidence as tears blurred his vision casting everything in unnatural hues.

  Ending an unnatural day as outside overhead a high-raised aroura crept across the midnight sky, the pale bone shards of the destroyed moon spread across the canvass of space.