Chapter 189: Autumn. 2012 CE

It was a cool November morning, the yellow leaves were falling on the ground, the authentic smell of dirt calmed Helios’s heart as he walked towards his school. It was close from his home, so he either used a skateboard, or walked to school everyday except when it was raining, where his mother would send him off.

He liked the sound of the wind in the morning, that’s why, when he was walking towards his school, he didn’t use an earphone at all, but, when he entered school grounds, he quickly took out his phone and wore his earphone.

[Now Playing: Tom’s Diner - Suzanne Vega, DNA]

As the beat started to kick in, Helios smiled, brightening his day more and more. He walked happily towards his school, bopping his head once in a while.

♪I am sitting in the morning, at the diner on the corner

I am waiting on the counter, for the man to pour the coffee♪

The music continued to play as he walked through the crowd of pre-teens that was blocking the entrance. It was raining the night before, so the pathway was slippery and wet. Helios walked through the crowd casually as the music kept blasting on his earphone.

Once he got inside the school, he saw the muddy tiles because of the wet pathways outside. The janitor was just waiting for the crowd to settle down besides his mop, shaking his head in surrender.

♪And he fills it only halfway~ and before I even argue,

He is looking out the window at somebody coming in♪

As he entered the building, he continued to walk to the corridor that his locker was in. Again, it was a busy morning. The floor was a bit slippery because of the rain from the night before, Helios passed through quite a lot of people, but none that he knew. His locker was right around the corner, from his earphone, he could hear someone was being yelled at by the teachers, but he ignored it. Instead, he looked at his locker, and opened the lock. The combination was ‘069’, and as the locker was opened, he took today’s books, and stored the rest of it in the locker.

He closed the locker, but once he closed it, on the edge of the corridor, he saw his friend Gwen with her other female friends. Both of them had eye contact across the hallway for a few seconds, Helios just smiled at him, while Gwen gave him a small wave, Gwen then was dragged by her female friend, and Helios continued on his day.

As the music was still blasting on his ears, he felt a tap from his shoulder, which made him turn, only to see a scrawny kid looking at him excitedly.

It was Peter Parker.

Peter was trying to say something to him, but Helios didn’t hear him because of the earphone. Peter told him to take it off, and he did just that.

“What?” Helios questioned.

“Dude! Where’s your uniform?” Peter exclaimed.

Helios was confused. “What uniform?”

“You know, the marching band uniform!”

Helios looked at Peter as if he was an idiot. “I didn’t join the marching band, what are you talking about?”

“But you said you took band the other day?” Now it was Peter that was confused.

“Yeah, a band.” said Helios as if it was the obvious thing. “Not a marching band…”

“Oh…” Peter finally realised. “I thought… Are you kidding me… I thought you went to the marching band! So I entered it!”

Helios sighed in pity. “Well, good luck with that…”

Helios then walked towards his class, which Peter followed. “So which Electives you took again?” Peter questioned.

“I told you many times Peter…” Helios murmured. “I took Band, Media, and Robotics.”

“The Robotics is new…” Peter commented. “I’m in Robotics too, why’d you take it? Oh, is it because of your–”

“Dude!” Helios exclaimed, making the other passerbys turn around to him, he apologised, and turned to Peter once again. “Not cool.”

“Sorry… Sorry…” said Peter in guilt. 

Helios sighed as he continued walking with Peter. “I’m working on a project with Gwen… so I took it, that way we could do it in that class.”

“What kind of project?” Peter asked.

“You’ll see.” Helios hummed. He entered his first class with Peter, and once he entered, he already saw Gwen sitting on her usual spot. Helios then walked up to her, sat beside her, and Peter also sat beside Helios.

Gwen then leaned towards him. “Did you bring it?” she asked excitedly.

Helios then pulled out his bag, and took out something out of it. It was some sort of high tech device that resembles a tablet. As Gwen saw it she squealed. “Took it from Dad’s office… I just saw some weird weapons design in it… so it’s probably nothing…”

“Wait, you didn’t tell him?” Gwen frowned, stopping herself from grabbing it.

“Well… he probably knows I took it anyway, he didn’t do anything… so it’s fine I guess…”

“Hey what’s that?” Peter suddenly interrupted.

“It’s a design tablet,” said Helios. “For 3D design, it uses holographic technology.”

“Wait what?!” Peter also squealed, but instantly shut up as people around him looked at him. “No way…”

“Yep.” Helios said casually as he put it back in his bag. “Anyway, Gwen, I’ll see you after school for it.”

Gwen’s face suddenly took a turn. “Oh… I can’t… my mom…”

“Gwen…” Helios frowned. “You know you can—”

“We already have a queue number Theo, it’s fine,” said Gwen dismissively. “We just have to wait.”

“Just tell your dad please?” Helios said. “Let him decide. Seeing your mom like that… it’s just…”

“...Sad?” Gwen murmured bitterly. “I– Okay… I’ll talk to my dad…”

“Promise?”

Gwen just nodded, but Helios touched her shoulder, making her look at him. Helios just raised his brow, making Gwen sighed. “I promise…”

“Good.” Helios nodded, but suddenly, a student coughed loudly, making Helios turn to him. He saw the entire class looking at the two, and Helios just coughed in embarrassment, releasing his grip from Gwen’s shoulder.

Helios then looked at the window. He saw a black van parked on the side of the road illegally, and a man suddenly got out of the car. The man was bald, and he was staring at the school, specifically Helios’s classroom.

Helios frowned, and a bad feeling started to slip to his heart.

—

In the Afternoon, when the classes were over, Helios was waiting impatiently beside a toilet as his friend was changing inside.

“Dude, come on!” Helios said in annoyance.

“This uniform is– tight!” a voice came out of the toilet. A couple of seconds later, a boy came out of it, it was Peter, wearing a marching band uniform. “Man, I look weird in this!” he complained, looking at himself in the mirror. “You’ve got to help me man… I don’t want to be in a marching band!”

Helios was confused. “But you took it?”

“On accident!” Peter refuted. “I thought you were in it too!”

“Well, there’s no regretting it.” Helios chuckled, patting the boy’s back and escorted him towards the outside. As they exited the boy’s toilet, he saw Gwen waiting for them as she chatted with her female friends. She turned towards them, which made the other girls turn as well. When they saw Peter, they looked at him with annoyance except Gwen, and when they turned to Helios they smiled.

“Hello Theo…” a friend of Gwen greeted Helios.

“Oh… um… Hi?” Helios didn’t know what to do, so he just shrugged.

Gwen just shook her head in amusement and said goodbye to her friends.

The three of them then walked towards the outside, where they were going to send Peter off, and then they will go to Gwen’s home to work on the project.

“Why are you in the marching band anyway Peter?” Gwen asked curiously.

“Oh don’t remind me again…” Peter grumbled. “I thought Theo was in it… so I joined…”

Gwen was confused, he looked at Helios, and he answered it. “I said I I took band, he thought I meant the marching band.”

“Oh.” Gwen giggled. “Well… good luck with that Peter…”

As they neared the exit, Helios then could suddenly hear a plea for help from the outside. He frowned, and stopped a couple of feet near the door.

“Theo? What’s wrong?” Gwen questioned in curiosity.

“Listen to that.” said Helios quietly. “Someone’s… asking for help.”

“I hear it too.” Peter exclaimed.

As Peter said that, the exit door suddenly slammed open, revealing a man that was glowing red running towards them.

“Help me!” he screamed as his face kept getting brighter and brighter. His body is really hot, literally, the ground he was kneeling on was slowly melting because of him.

Helios went wide eyed for a second before pulling Gwen and Peter’s hands away from the man.

He then shouted to the kids around him. “EVERYBODY RUN!”