Knock, knock, knock.
I bolted upright in my bed. Sunlight streamed in from the still open window.
"Troy, are you ever going to get out of bed? It's already 7:45 am."
My mom peeked in and stared at me. I glanced over at the clock. I was gonna be late for school. I had never been late or absent.
"Yeah, mom I'm up."
My mom opened the door wider, taking a good look at me.
"Did you sleep with your sneakers on?
I looked down and realized I was still dressed in what I wore to the playground this morning.
"Umm, yeah, I had a stomachache and laid down for a quick nap. I didn't mean to sleep as long as I did."
I gave her a fake smile. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at me. She wasn't buying it.
"Well, if you feel up to going to school, it's time to get moving. Otherwise, let me and your dad know so we can help you."
She looked off into the distance as if she was thinking deeply about something.
"It's strange. I can't remember you ever being sick before."
She left my room and closed the door behind her. I jumped out of bed and raced to my dresser to find something to wear. I tossed clothes around in a manic scramble looking for the something that felt right. I pulled out an olive green hoodie that I hated. Today it appealed to me like a long-lost love. I grabbed a pair of black cargo pants and ran out of my room into the bathroom.
As I showered, memories of the fight with Nix played in my head. The moment she grabbed my right arm kept reoccurring to me. I glanced at my wrist where she had pressed her thumb into it and found what looked like a tattoo of three stars. They were tiny black five-pointed stars. I scrubbed at the area with my sponge, but it didn't work. The mark was there to stay.
I finished getting ready and left the house with the stars completely dominating my thoughts. Did Nix put them on me? What did they do or mean? Were they some kind of tracking spell that would allow her to see where I was at all times? Could she somehow use them to teleport to me? Then I had a thought that scared me to my very soul. Could they be some kind of attack? What if they slowly ate away at me or made me suddenly combust? I needed to ask her what the hell was going on with them.
I walked to school with my mind racing. If Nix wasn't responsible for them, then that would open a whole different can of worms about their origin. Did Typhon somehow mark me when we spoke? Oh crap, had I accepted that dream as a real occurrence? I was oblivious to the world around me as I followed the same route to school that I had been taking for over three years.
Slap, slap, slap, slap
The sound of bare feet moving quickly across the asphalt behind me caught my attention. I spun around. The street behind me was clear. I watched for a few seconds just to be sure I wasn't about to be attacked. When nothing moved, I turned around and kept moving forward. I really didn't want to be late. My mom's puzzled expression came back to me. She was right. I had never been sick before.
I had never been sick or injured in any way. I remembered a time when I was in phys ed and we were taking a test to see how far we could jump from a standing position. When my turn came around, Eddie waited until I jumped and rolled a basketball to the spot I was supposed to land on. He thought it would be funny to see what would happen if I tripped over it. Luckily for me, he rolled it too hard. It slowed to almost a complete stop and then rocketed away toward the other side of the gym. Or did it stop and then suddenly shoot away from me? I scratched the side of my head as I tried to remember whether it came to a complete stop or not. I heard more footfalls behind me. This time, I ignored them.
"It's in a rush. It probably wants to hurry and kill humans."
Something behind me said in a high-pitched whisper. I spun around again. Again, there was nothing behind me. Was I losing my mind? I turned, took a step, and then quickly turned back around. I didn't see anything, but a trash can sitting on the edge of the curb wobbled slightly. Something had ducked behind it.
'Find it and kill it!'
The thought sent a warm sensation throughout my body. I was not about to murder some poor stray animal for trying to follow me to school. It bothered me that my first thought was that sinister.
'I'm not a bad person. I'm not a monster.'
I reminded myself aloud as I continued to school. The back of the building was in sight. My streak of never being late or missing a day was going to continue. That was when I heard multiple sets of feet slapping the ground behind me.
"You are a monster. You love to kill innocents. It makes you happy."
The whispering behind me kept going. This time I didn't waste my time stopping and looking behind me. I was almost at school. If I looked back and saw nothing, it would be a waste of time. If I looked back and saw something, I would probably have to fight it. That seemed like a lose-lose scenario to me. I chose the third option and took off running.
"Why is it running away? You think we scared it?"
Okay, I definitely heard it say we. Whatever was behind me had at least one friend with it. I was not about to get killed trying to fight a group of assholes. Especially when killing them would only further demonstrate how dangerous, I am to whoever was sending these things after me. I rushed into the front door of my school building and past security.
"Whoa, slow down Troy. Normally, people move that fast to get out of here, not in."
Mr. Calvin, the security guard, held out a hand to stop me. I complied and handed him my backpack to inspect. While he did that, I glanced over my shoulder at the front of the school. The stone stairs leading to the main doors were empty. I shook my head in frustration and turned back to face Mr. Calvin.
After he handed me back my bag, I went to my locker. I was a little winded, but I successfully made it to school without some kind of catastrophic incident taking place. As I placed my things in my locker, I heard someone approach from behind my locker door. I looked up to see Nix standing in front of me. She was wearing a white button-up shirt and a black skirt with a purple bow in her hair. My mouth dropped open at the sight.
"What are you staring at and why do you smell like you were hanging out with a bunch of kobaloi?"