Chapter 1: Student by Day

  This day began much like any other, with the sound of my alarm going off. Not to wake me up, of course, I'd been lying awake for who knows how long. The alarm was more just to let me know that tomorrow was already here. Even with it set as relaxing synth lo-fi, the reminder wasn't any more pleasant.

  I let out a deep sigh. "There goes the last of my summer." I moaned while rolling out of bed.

  It was the first day of my sophomore year of high school, and I was ecstatic. So ecstatic, I laid on the floor for several minutes, staring at the ceiling with only a synth beat to distract my mind. I could have stayed there forever, but unfortunately, my sister had to bust open my door and flick on the lights.

  "AAHHH! Turn it off!" I hissed while covering my eyes.

  "Oh, good, Rayleigh, you're awake." My twin, Riley, said, "I thought you were going to sleep in til noon again."

  "When you put it that way, you make it sound like it's my favorite thing." I yawned.

  "Yeah, I know about your condition, but still, try to get better at getting out of bed."

  "I am out of bed."

  "Not what I meant, bozo." She sighed while going to open my window curtains. "Anyway, if you can't sleep, what do you do all night?"

  I hopped up on my feet. "I'm awake now, so you can leave. I need to get ready."

  "Fine, keep your secrets." She said, leaving, "Oh, by the way, Dad's making breakfast, so hurry up."

  What was that? Could she be on to me? I thought. No way, I'm just being paranoid. I should just be worried about school today. I rushed through my morning routine, throwing on my best outfit, brushing out my curly hair, taping up my glasses, and putting in my ear piercings, only to cover them with my hair before going downstairs. Can't believe my parents haven't noticed yet. I took a seat at the kitchen counter just in time to be served a plate of eggs and sausage.

  "So the mad genius finally leaves his lair." My dad joked. "Must be pretty excited to come to breakfast on time."

  I said nothing.

  Riley interrupted with, "Well, I'm pretty hyped for it. I can't wait to see everyone, it's been too long."

  "You've been hanging out with your friends every day this summer," I remark.

  "Yeah, but only with the besties. I still want to catch up with everyone else, you know?" She asked.

  "Not really. Maybe if I still had a bestie, I'd care more about my social life." I moped.

  "Oh, I'm sorry, bro, but I think it's time you move on and start enjoying yourself again." She suggested.

  "Your sister's right, Rayleigh." Our mom said, "The new school year is the perfect chance to meet new people."

  "Our class isn't that big, I've known most of them since at least middle school," I argued.

  "Well, maybe there'll be some new kids this year, you never know." My Dad suggested.

  "Yeah, new kids… Maybe…" I mumbled.

  The kitchen got uncomfortably quiet for a moment after that. With nothing better to do, we got on our phones and kept eating, not long after Riley broke the peace.

  "Oh, hey, you guys hear what happened last night?" She asked, holding out her phone. "Check it out, that new vigilante was at it again." We leaned in to see that she was looking at the Shadow Brook local news for this morning.

  "Hmm, what'd they do this time?" Mom wondered.

  "Don't know… Looks like they're hijacking that train," Riley guessed.

  "Hold on, that doesn't sound right, play the video." I scoffed.

  "Fine." She hit play, and I watched intensely.

  "Good morning, this is Amelia Live reporting live from the scene of the crime last night." The reporter spoke, "Around midnight, the Fast Travel Spirit Train was attacked by a super villain just after jumping through the Shadow Brook gateway. The villain, going by "Crooked Cassidy," broke onto the moving train in an attempt to kidnap the conductor's son. Fortunately, her plan was thwarted by the new masked crime fighter, the Night Hopper. Unfortunately, the conductor has stated he plans on retiring the Spirit Train after this incident. Now, a word from one of the first-hand witnesses." They cut to an interview with a girl who looked to be about my age.

  "I was a passenger on the train, coming to the city for the first time, when suddenly it seemed to change into like an old steam engine. Then this cowgirl-looking lady broke and began threatening the passenger with her gun, like it was an old western. I was so scared, but then a hooded hero came down through the roof and fought her off. They even risked their life to save me. If you're watching this, thank you so much! Good luck out there!"

  "See, Night Hopper wasn't the one attacking the train; they were trying to save it," I said with a grin.

  "Unfortunately, we can't say that this Night Hopper was successful in saving the train." The reporter continued, "Although some call them a hero because, thankfully, no lives were lost, others are outraged at the way they handled the situation."

  "Oh, hey, would you look at the time?" I laughed as I pulled Riley out the door. "We really got to get heading out to school, bye mom, bye dad!"

  We rushed down the road to the bus stop, arriving just in time before it drove away. I got on and rested my head on the window and almost fell asleep despite how bumpy the ride was. However, before I knew it, we were being kicked off in front of the school to start our day. While hopping off, I pushed my hair behind my ears, showing off my piercings. As I stepped inside, my heart started feeling real heavy. Memories of the good times I had spent with Silvia flooded my head, and though I had thought I had gotten over it, the pain of knowing I'd never make new ones resurfaced. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. I've had practice dealing with this before. My mission today is clear: find new people to befriend. It's what she would've wanted. My goal here is to not only survive high school but maybe, just maybe, enjoy it. Huh? I felt someone grab my hand.

  "Hey, are you all right, bro?" My sister asked.

  "What? Yeah, I'm fine. I- I can handle myself. Ya know that, right?" I said half-heartedly.

  "Yeah, I know, dummy. To be honest, you can probably handle yourself a lot better than I can." She stated earnestly.

  "Really?" I questioned.

  "I know I can give you a hard time sometimes, but just know that I'll always be here for you, alright?" She comforted.

  I nodded, "Thanks."

  I didn't think that some simple words like that could affect me that much, especially coming from my sister, but as she said that, I felt as if a weight had been lifted off my soul. Like my subconscious had appreciated the sentiment much more than I had realized at the time. As I was sitting with that feeling, the bell rang, and it was time to go to first period.

  We walked into the band classroom and were promptly handed new music that we were to memorize and perform during halftime at all our home football games, the first one being that Friday. I got my tuba out of the dusty instrument room and took my seat in the back corner of the classroom. Looks like I'm the only tuba player this year, figures. I looked over to see Riley happily chatting with the rest of the percussion section. Best not bother her right now. Man, it's gonna be pretty boring if I don't have anyone to hang with at the football games. Yawning, I scanned the room for any new faces I'd want to meet. I looked through each of the sections with no luck. The second bell rang for class to start, and I had almost given up when a familiar-looking girl ran into the room.

  "You're late," accused our teacher, Mr. Hertz, "Do you have a tardy slip?"

  "Oh? No, I didn't kno-" The girl started.

  "Yeah, I don't really care. Take a seat." He yawned, then chugged an energy drink.

  She nodded and sat by the other flutes. I stared across the room, trying to remember where I had seen her before. A second later, she turned back to me, giving me the same sort of look. As my brown eyes met her starry black eyes, it clicked. I automatically smiled a bit, and she smiled back. Then we both quickly looked away and began to play our music.

  The rest of the school day wasn't too eventful. My next class was math, algebra 2, to be precise. Not much happened in that class on the first day, or really during the rest of the year either. I barely talked to anyone and possibly fell asleep, like I often did in that class. Although technically it wasn't really sleeping, more like closing my eyes and getting absorbed into a world of my own thoughts until it starts to become more real than what's presently happening. It might as well be sleeping because that's what takes up most of my time in bed. It may just sound like dreaming, but that's not what I mean. Trust me, I know when I'm dreaming, and it usually doesn't end well. Regardless, I'm getting off topic, back to that day…

  After math, I had some of my favorite classes, Electronics and Computer Science, both taught by the same teacher, Mr. Johnathan Queen (or just Jonny if you were cool with him), and were in the same classroom. Lunch was between 3rd and 4th period, so last year Silvi and I would normally stay and eat in his room. However, this year I might need to find a different spot. Jonny's cool, but I don't want to have lunch alone with a teacher every day. I brushed those thoughts aside as I walked in and sat down at my old table from last year. Looking around that familiar room, I started to get excited, thinking about all the new projects I could do this year. They're not going to be as cool as what I worked on this summer, but at least with all the practice I got, I'm sure anything Jonny will throw at me will be easy.

  "Excuse me," I looked up to see a boy I hadn't seen before asking, "Is this seat taken?" Gesturing to the empty chair next to mine.

  Out of instinct, I responded with, "Oh, sorry, it isssss…." Then I remembered.

  "Ah, no worries then." The boy shrugged.

  That seat next to mine was where Silvi sat. She was always my partner in Mr. Queen's classes, but now- Now her seat is open. I thought about telling that boy that he could actually sit next to me, but by the time I realized my mistake, he was already across the classroom, taking a seat next to someone else. The bell rang to begin class, and I was left with a table to myself. This is awkward… Maybe he didn't notice. I looked back over to him and saw that he was looking up at my table with a bit of confusion. Man, this sucks! A new kid wanted to sit by me, and I totally blew him off. He even looked pretty cool too, like someone I'd want to be friends with. He appeared to be Korean, with bright teal, almost cyan eyes, with glasses similar to mine, and pure white highlights in his black hair. Looking back at him, I notice he also had his ears pierced with little "X" studs. Just off of our shared style, I thought we'd probably get along. I don't know why, but for some reason, I got the feeling he might be entitled. Maybe it was his eyes, both the unusual color and the way they seemed to ever so slightly shine in the light. Strange that I somehow subconsciously picked up on that, even though I wasn't paying that much attention to him in our first interaction, and even though the color was different, something about his eyes reminded me of Silvi's. I wanted to ask him about it, but I knew it was probably a bad idea. Some kids prefer to keep their powers a secret, and with the disappearances, it's smart to do so. Besides, with the bad first impression I had, I felt today wasn't a good time to get to know him.

  Before I knew it, lunchtime had arrived; I had made it halfway through the day. Now my only worry was where to eat. I briefly considered going up to the roof. It would be the perfect spot for peace and quiet, and would guarantee no one would bother me, but if anyone were to see me going up there, it could mean big trouble. Before I could decide if it was worth the risk, I got a text from my sister.

  "Why don't you come eat with us? I've saved you a spot in line," Riley sent.

  I reluctantly replied with a thumbs-up and walked to the cafeteria. Normally, I wouldn't mind spending lunch with her, but because of that "us" in her message, I know I'm about to end up as the third wheel to her and-

  "Sam!" Riley shouted, waving them over, "AHH! I've missed you so much! It's been too long!" She practically jumped into their arms.

  "Yeah, I know, babe," Sam laughed," I haven't seen you since second period. It's too bad we only have like half our classes together this year."

  I coughed.

  "Yo, what up, Ray?" Sam said, going for a high-five, "How's school going for ya, bro?"

  "Hahah, no one really calls me that… But yeah, school's been… fine." I sighed, holding up my hand.

  "Hell yeah!" Sam proceeded to high-five shockingly hard, leaving my hand all tingly.

  "That's good," Riley cheered. "Have you met any new kids yet?"

  "Yep, sure have," I announced.

  "Nice! Like who?" she interrogated.

  "…"

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Riley grinned, "Well, I just had a class with that new flute girl, and we talked for a bit. She's pretty nice, but is new to the city and could use some more friends. You should talk to her." She suggested.

  "Well, maybe if I have another class with her," I mumbled.

  "Oh, don't be shy, I could introduce you to her." She offered.

  "Yeah, no thanks, I can talk to girls by myself, you know!"

  "Hmm, not interested?" Riley teased, "Sorry, I was just trying to help you out because I thought she'd be your type."

  I blushed, "Huh? What do you mean by that!?"

  "Oh, come on, Rayleigh, I'm your sister. I know your type better than you do." She claimed.

  "I think you're just saying that because she's your type too!"

  She thought about it, "Hmm, maybe. But this is more my type." She said, grabbing onto Sam, "And by your logic, they're your type too."

  Sam looked at me with intrigued puppy dog eyes.

  "Yeah, hell no!" I scoffed.

  "Awe," Sam groaned.

  "Why do you sound so disappointed?" I asked.

  "Well, ya know, in case things with Riley don't work out, it's always good to have a backup." They chuckled.

  I clenched my fist and stared daggers at them.

  "Oh, relax, bro, they were just messing with you." Riley giggled.

  I wanted to say, Well, I don't think that sense of humor is very funny, but I kept that thought to myself. For the rest of lunch, Riley and Sam devoted most of their attention to each other, leaving me to quietly eat the edible half of the half-eatable school lunch as I third-wheeled.

  I was so relieved when lunch finally ended. At last, I could bid farewell to the lovebirds and go back to the comfort of Mr. Queen's class for computer science. I happily made my way back up to his room, with only one worry. I selfishly hoped that the new boy didn't have his class again; it was awkward enough to have one period with him. Crossing my fingers, I walked in, only to see him at the front of the class, talking to Jonny. Great… I tried to make my way over to my side while avoiding eye contact, but as I sat down, I got called on.

  "Rayleigh," Jonny called, waving me over.

  "Yeah? What's up?" I asked, getting up.

  "Have you met Yong-Rae yet?" he asked.

  "Uhh, not really, no," I answered.

  "Well, we were talking during lunch, and he really shares your passion for technology," he informed.

  "You don't say," I said dryly.

  "Rae is new to this school, and from what he showed me, his talent for tech rivals yours. Since this is your second year taking this class, I won't have much more to teach you, so I think you two should sit together. You might learn a thing or two from each other." Jonny explained.

  "That's cool with me," Rae agreed.

  "Ah, good idea, thanks." I nodded. Well, I guess there's no avoiding him now.

  "Awesome!" Jonny grinned, "Wait, I just realized, Yong-Rae and Rayleigh, your names match! I hope that doesn't get confusing."

  "That shouldn't be a problem. I don't like being called "Ray". I sighed.

  "Oh, well then you can just call me "Rae". He said, reaching out a hand.

  I shook it, feeling relieved that he seemed to have gotten over what happened earlier. We went back to my table, I took my same spot, and he took Silvi's old seat. Class began, and we listened to Jonny's introduction and instructions and started work on our first project. We worked quietly for a while, and I assumed he would try to talk to me first, but when I noticed that wasn't happening, I figured I should try to break the ice.

  "So, uh, where'd you move from?" I asked him.

  "Wanna guess?" He asked back.

  "Well, are you from Korea?" I guessed, Rae nodded, "Seoul maybe?"

  "Ha, close, my folks are from there, but I grew up on Long Island." He said.

  "Oh, over on the East Coast, that's still quite the move." I point out.

  "Yep."

  …

  "So… sorry about last period… I thought I had a friend coming, but I found out she wasn't taking that class anymore." I told a white lie to avoid "trauma dumping".

  "You can be honest with me," Rae called me out.

  "What-" I turned over to him, and for a brief moment, I caught his eyes faintly glowing.

  "Mr. Q was telling me about your friend from last year, and how she's… well, no longer here." He explained.

  I told the truth, "Oh, right… I had sorta forgotten about that for a second."

  "Right. It's fine, man. But if you don't mind me asking, what happened to her? Rae inquired.

  I took a deep breath and got serious, "Silvia was kidnapped by villains."

  Rae's jaw dropped. "I'm sorry, that's just awful."

  "Yes, and the worst part is she wasn't the only one. There have been several cases of teens "going missing" in this city lately, all of them had titles." I warned.

  "Oh, shit…" He gasped. " Oh yeah, I saw something about a vigilante guy stopping a kidnapping. Is that normal?"

  "Heh, yeah, Night Hopper," I coughed, "Between you and me, they're doing more about that problem than the real heroes."

  "Wow, and I thought things were crazy in Queens." He said.

  I leaned in close and whispered, "Just try to watch your back out there, okay?"

  He looked confused at first, then gave an understanding look. "Thanks for the heads up, but I think I'll be okay."

  I hoped he was right. For the rest of class, we got back to work. I found out he was really good with computers and coding. Maybe even better than me. He already knew everything I learned from last year and far beyond that. It's a shame I can't show him my best work, I thought, It'd be cool to impress him back, but whatever, I'll let him think he's got me beat.

  I had almost forgotten that I signed up for my next class. Out of all of them, it was the only one I wasn't sure what I was getting into. It took me a while to find her room because it was out of the way at the end of a hall I've never gone down. I was almost late, but luckily I wasn't the only one. The class was half empty, and the teacher was absent. I found a seat in the back by a window and waited. Our teacher ran in a minute late, carrying a stack of textbooks and a coffee cup. She dumped them on her desk and got right into teaching.

  "Good morning- or- man, it's afternoon already, huh? I'm Mrs. Lancer, and I'm sorry for keeping you all waiting." She introduced, "Oh wow, looks like I got quite the turnout this year." I looked around and counted only a dozen students other than myself.

  "Okay, let's all do an introduction in a moment, but first, time for a little pop quiz!" She continued, "Can any tell me when the world entered the age of heroes?"

  A hand in the front of the class shot up as someone answered, "The first team of officially recognized heroes was The Empowereds. After they defended the Earth from the Invasion of 2012, our country created the N.H.A. I'd say that'd be the start of the new age."

  "Close, what you said is true," Mrs. Lancer corrected, "but that wasn't the answer I was looking for. Heroes have been around earlier than that."

  The class looked around at each other for a few moments until someone half-confidently raised their hand and said, "Well, I heard that the early 20th century was called the golden age of superheroes. Back then we didn't really understand what the "superpowers" were, so the real heroes were written off as myths, but they were the inspiration for the comics that popularized the idea of superheroes."

  "That's a great guess, but maybe I should rephrase my question. When was the first hero?" She asked. At that, the class looked a bit confused and frustrated. "No volunteers? That's fine, I'll make some volunteers, starting with… you there in the back," she pointed to me.

  "The first ever hero? Well, anyone could be a hero, right? So, heroes have probably been around as long as humans have existed." I made up in a panic on the spot.

  "BINGO!" she yelled, "We may live in a time where the supernatural has become somewhat commonplace, but all throughout history in every culture, there have been legends of heroes with unreal powers. However, with what we understand now, it's possible that those myths may have been more real than we have ever thought. If that sort of mystery interests you, then you'll enjoy A.P. Superhuman History. Oh, my, where were we? Yes, introductions, I'd like to get everybody's name, grade, and superpower."

  A girl in the front raised her hand, "I don't know if you're used to teaching at a super school, but I'm pretty sure everyone here is powerless."

  Mrs. Lancer shook her head. "You misunderstand, you don't need a title to have a superpower. Although they may be more entitleds in this school than you realize, what I meant was the type of power everyone has." She explained. The class still looked confused. "We all have some kind of special talent or unique ability, like being good at a sport or doing card readings, for example. Let's start with the smart guy in the back."

  … Oh, that's me! "I'm Rayleigh Robinson, I'm a sophomore, and … uh, superpower, well… So sometimes when I dream, I- well, things happen then ah they- Actually never mind that's stupid. Ah, so I did track and field last spring and got the best long and high jump scores for our school, so I guess that's like my superpower." I managed to get out. I don't know why that was so hard. For some reason, it felt like I was coming up with a lie when what I said was true. I put my head in my arms and tried to hide my embarrassment as the rest of the class introduced themselves.

  Once everyone had gone, our teacher took her turn, "Hi, I'm Mrs. Lancer, my grade is teacher, and my power is this." She opened the textbook on her desk, her dark blue eyes took on a purple glow, and the historical tale began to come to life. "My title is The Story-keeper, it's not useful for anything heroic. It simply lets me view accurate recreations of events that have already been written. My power can make teaching more interesting, but," her eyes faded back to normal as she closed the book, then turned on the smart board to a slideshow, "it's nothing that can't be done with modern technology. That brings me to my first lesson. What are titles, and how exactly do they work? To cover the basics, titles are the technical term for what are commonly known as "superpowers." We don't have exact knowledge of how they work. Some theorize that they are some kind of mutation, but as far as we can tell, they aren't linked to any gene. However, they are somewhat hereditary; because of this, the percentage of entitled individuals has been slowly rising over time. Modern estimates put them at 3% of the human population. But enough of the explanation, let's take a look at them in action."

  She clicked the slide to show a video of a pro hero in action. "This is our number one rated hero, SuperStar☆. He has the title: The Star☆. As you could guess, he can shoot blasts of "star energy" but also use that energy to fly and bolster the strength of himself and his allies. However, this power comes with the caveat that the more popular he is, the stronger he becomes. As you can see, his title incorporates the literal and figurative meaning of The Star. Now let's look at a few more examples." She went through a few more top heroes and their titles: Mrs. Mystic: The Magician, Dr. Hallow: Hanged Man, and Drako-Knight: The Dragon.

  I nodded along as she went on to explain more things I thought everyone should know by now. I get that not everyone is as big into superheroes as me but I feel like people should talk about them more. I suppose it's one of those things, like the existence of aliens; my generation has just grown up with it being fairly normal, so we often forget how crazy it really is.

  Before I knew it, it was already time to go to my last class of the day. For some reason, it seemed like today was flying by, at least compared to last year. Even so, I was more than ready to go home. Talking to Rae had inspired me to make my secret project even better. But before I could do that, I had to sit through a boring English class. I walked in, took a seat at an empty group, and got ready to mentally check out for the rest of class when someone walked in who caught my eye. Without realizing it, I must have been staring at her for a bit too long because she walked over to me and, for a few moments, just stood over my desk, looking at my face.

  She asked, "Uh, hey, have I met you before?"

  I tried my best to keep my cool and, rather abruptly but plainly said, "No, we haven't, why?"

  "Oh, sorry, it's just you seemed… never mind." She started, but then began to walk away.

  "Wait, did you meet my twin sister earlier?"

  "Your sister… Riley?"

  "Yup, that's her."

  "Oh wow, now that you mention it, you look just like her. That must be it, not…" She laughed, "Anyway, can I sit with you? I'm kind of new here."

  Don't mess this up again. "Of course, I'm Rayleigh, by the way."

  "Oh, right, I'm Melody. Nice to meet you for the first time." She said with a tone that made me think she wasn't totally convinced of that.

  "Wait, maybe I have seen you somewhere before." I suggested, "You were on the news this morning, right?"

  Her confusion seemed to lift at that. "I was. They were just asking me about the uh- train incident last night." She answered, "It was kind of an intense welcome to the city, but it's good to know we have that vigilante looking out for us… What's their name?

  "Hmm, yeah, they've been on the news a few times. What'd the reports call them?" I pondered, "Like the Night Skipper or something."

  "Night Hopper," Melody said softly.

  I snapped, " That's it! Kinda crazy, right? Nobody knows where they came from or what they even are. Some think they aren't even human. Probably just silly rumors though."

  She laughed, "Well, whoever they are, I don't think they're someone to be afraid of. But I don't know many there's something to that. There was something about like, the way they look, the way they sound, the way they moved, it was… almost out of this world."

  I couldn't help but slightly blush. I coughed, "Like in an extra terrestrial way or a you like them way?"

  "What!? N-nooo - It's just they saved my life three times last night and I really appreciate them for it, okay?" Melody admitted.

  "Sorry, I was just joking." I apologized, "But it is reassuring to hear you think they're a good guy."

  "Definitely. They wouldn't say it themself, but if you ask me, they're a hero."

  "Unfortunately, if you ask the government, you need to be a licensed member of the N.H.A. to be a hero."

  "Really? Well, I suppose it's like that where I come from, but it's not likely someone will get in trouble if they use their title for good without a license."

  "Must be nice. Where are you from, by the way?" I asked.

  "Italy."

  "Oh," I sounded surprised, "that's cool."

  "Not what you were expecting? I do take after my dad. He was from Japan, while my mom was Italian. I grew up in Italy with my grandma, but she's beginning to grow ill now, so we're moving here to stay with my uncle." She explained.

  "Huh, no, it's just your English is really good, so. Well, I hope you like it here." I wonder what happened to her parents, but figured it'd be rude to ask.

  "Thanks," she grinned, "so far it's actually been pretty fun."

  Class started, and our teacher, Mrs. Murphy, introduced herself and gave us a simple creative writing assignment to get to know our writing styles. Melody and I partnered up and started bouncing ideas off each other. It's funny because before, I never really enjoyed writing fiction. I could come up with lots of ideas, but whenever I tried to share them, I'd feel like they weren't worth being told. But Melody, on the other hand, was so confident with all of her ideas. She even went along with all of mine, adding them to our story because she thought they were cool without ever worrying if they were really necessary. Even after class ended, I wanted to keep writing with her, but our short story was finished, so we parted ways.

  "Hey!" she called to me as I turned off to the hall, "See you tomorrow!" She waved.

  I waved back. "You too!" I smiled.

  The day was at last over. I met up with Riley and Sam, and we took the bus home. I untucked my hair over my ear and went right up to my room, collapsing on my bed. I actually made it. I can rest now. No! Where'd all my energy go? I wanted to fix those voice commands when I got home. But… everything feels so heavy. And if I'm going out tonight, I'll need to refresh if I want to be at my best. Maybe just a one-hour nap. I drew my curtains, locked my door, and set an alarm. I pulled something from under my bed and tossed it over me like a blanket. Even though my mind wanted to stop acting so tired, I was already committed at this point. To clear my head, I focused on my breathing and tried to imagine my soul leaving my body and floating around like it was weightless. After what felt like ages, my body began to succumb to the fatigue and go numb, then my mind grew quieter and quieter as it faded into subconsciousness, until there was only one sound left…

  tik - tok

  tik - tok

  tik - tok

  …