Episode 1: The First of Flames
An overview on El Monte High School… The students of 2007 had left and there comes the newcomers, class of 2011. The year, 2007… the incoming Freshmen had been chosen to be much different than usual. The numbers ‘2-0-1-1’ represent something hidden and sacred but can be easily deciphered. Something is changing about this school. It’s already starting construction, but there are many things hidden about this school that not everyone knows. More precise, only a tenth of a percent of the school may know.
~~~
It was the first day of school for all students. A girl nearby the gym called for a boy, “Hey, Matt! I’m over here!!”
Matt was looking at a map. He ran towards his friend and said, “Jen, this is the gym right? I was looking for room 101 on this map but I couldn’t find it anywhere.”
“Stupid. The administrators emphasized so well on how the gym has no number but you can claim it as room 101. It’s like a secret code, you see?” Matt was surprised at what she just said. Jen went on, “Just kidding. But seriously, you should listen more because it can be very important! You would have gotten late on your very first day.”
Matt joked, “Sorry mom, but I don’t need to listen to many things. Just like you. Hehe!” He ran off into the large gym and Jen threw the map onto the floor. She followed him inside. After that moment, a shadow rose above the map. A shoe had stepped over the map… This living being stood there for a few seconds, watching them.
~~~
Matt and Jen sat down together on the bleachers inside the large gym. Jen had a finger on her mouth with a questioned expression, “Hum… Come to think of it, why DOESN’T this room have a number?” She looked around, “It’s perfect, really. It doesn’t make sense to just suddenly put this as ‘101’ on our locators.”
Matt agreed, “Yeah, but it doesn’t matter, right? We found where we were supposed to go.” Matt continued to talk. Behind him was a dark figure.
Jen turned around to notice the dark figure, “Hey Matt…” She began to whisper, “That guy behind you… he’s looking at us. It’s sorta creepy, don’t you think?”
Matt was about to turn but it would make him obvious. He closed his eyes and then suddenly scratched his head. He turned around to take a glance, “Ow, something hit my head! Ow, ow, ow.~” He turned back to Jen and whispered, “He wasn’t staring. He’s looking down…”
Jen stood up, “But…!” A large explosion hit the school outside of the large gym. Matt stood up in surprise.
“W-What was that?!” He yelped. He ran off first and Jen wanted to grab a hold of him. Every student was rushing out of the gym to check out what the commotion was. Half of them only screamed and ran somewhere else. Jen stopped to watch as the dark figure of a man slowly walked outside.
~~~
Outside, Matt ran towards the commotion. One tall boy told his teacher, “Gee, mister. Do I really have to take pictures for Journalism?” He gave a huge sigh.
There was a bunch of fire on the blacktop. Matt noticed that one of his other best friend, Stan, was surrounded by fire. Jen followed Matt outside and she stopped in surprise. She stared closely at the flames, “T-That’s not possible…! It’s like the flames are moving on its own.”
Matt clenched his fists, “No way! Stan, get out of there!” Stan could not hear Matt clear enough from the large commotion. Matt pushed the crowd away and when he was at the end, he slipped on a puddle of oil. The oil slipped towards the flame. Matt was on his back and he looked up at the sky, “Ow… Ergh…” The flames were coming to him really fast. He was feeling really hot. He said slowly, “It burns… it burns… Somebody, help…” The flames all around him worsened. He could see Jen crying from the distance. Matt’s eyes closed…
~~~
Matt opened his eyes again. He was watching the sky. He thought to himself, “I must have seen something in the sky before. Was it just a bird? Oh well.” A dark-skinned boy knelt down on Matt and he poked him on the cheeks.
“Matt? Hey, stop zoning out.” It was one of Matt’s friends, Kalpesh.
Jen ran after Matt and knelt down, “Oh my gosh, Matt! You’re okay. That was really quick though. You just ran out and then all the sudden you’re on the floor?” There was a commotion going on around them.
Matt turned to Stan who was leaning against a wall. He placed his hand over his forehead. He was clenching his fist, sweating as well. Matt sat up, “W-What’s going on? Where’s the fire?!”
Jen slapped Matt on the face, “You idiot! Stop scaring us. There’s no fire.”
Matt stood up and he looked around, “What happened to all of the flames…?”
Kalpesh explained, “There was a huge explosive noise about less than five minutes ago but no one witnessed it. They were all in class. As they came out, nothing was wrong with the blacktop. It’s sort of strange.”
Jen placed her hands on her hips, “And here you are, just playing games with us, Matt.”
Matt was sweating, “B-But! I swear, there was flames and everything!”
Jen patted Matt on his shoulders, “Something is wrong with you. Let’s go. Maybe you need to calm down.” She dragged Matt away. Kalpesh called Stan to follow. The tall boy with the camera looked at his pictures of flames and the back of Matt’s head. He seemed confused and he had a suspicion for Matt but he could not tell who this person was.
~~~
Matt sat down with Jen, Kalpesh, and Stan. The three of Matt’s friends were his childhood friends. Matt met Jen slowly in elementary, and they both had feelings for each other. Stan was Matt’s main friend since first grade but occasionally they had a few verbal fights. Kalpesh was Matt’s safest friend. The both of them rarely argued and Kalpesh’s different race made him a unique and rare friend for Matt.
Jen was still complaining at Matt’s confusion. “Geez, Matt. I don’t even know why you would do such a thing. I could have cried to see you on the floor dying like a little crap head.”
“R-Really?” Matt blushed.
“Hell no. That was the stupidest trick I’ve ever seen! How dare you pull that on me?!” She stood up and she gripped her hands. Matt knew that she always did that before she was about to grab a hold onto something, or more horribly, someone.
Kalpesh closed his eyes and asked kindly, “Uh, let’s not fight. It’s alright now. Maybe Matt wanted to see how much you cared?”
Jen punched Kalpesh to the floor, “NO! That is not true. I’ve known Matt for so long.” She crossed her arms and looked away, “Hmph. I remember the last time he hit me. It was with a watch, and… and a rock!”
~~~
Back in third grade…
Matt and Jen were in their third grade classroom on the day before Christmas. They were making a house with candy and cookies. Jen giggled, “Look, Matthew! I built this nice house candy.”
Matt poked it and got some icing on his fingers, “Cool! Can I have some?”
Jen pointed at the board, “NO! Look at the board, Matthew! It tells you what you have to do. I think you didn’t pay attention. I’m telling.” She raised her hand and for self-defense, Matt swung his watch onto her shoulders.
Jen turned to Matt and she began to cry. Matt stood up and screamed as he pointed at Jen, “She started it!!”
~~~
A few months later in third grade…
Matt and Jen were on the jungle gym during lunch. Jen had her friend, Tanya play with her. They both swung in a circle, holding hands. Matt sat down with boredom so he decided to join them. He stood up and thought to himself, “Why does that Tanya girl get to have fun and I can’t? Meanie.” He pushed Tanya down and swung Jen’s arms vigorously and she fell onto the floor. Tanya began to cry as she ran away. Jen got angry.
“I hate you, Matthew! You’re so mean!! I’m telling the teacher!”
Matt panicked and he looked around. He picked up a rock and he threw it at her forehead, “Don’t tell the teacher!”
Jen began to cry, “Mmm… Wahhh!!! Mommy! Teacher!! Matthew is being mean to me!!!”
Matt pointed randomly at no one, “She started it!!”
~~~
Jen sighed, “Those were horrible moments. I don’t even know how I liked you three years after that.”
Matt joked, “You love bad boys.~”
Jen punched him and screamed, “SHUT UP! I…” She blushed. She was getting closer again. Matt quickly stood up and ran. Jen stalked him down the hallways and screamed his name in anger, “You’re going down, Matt!!”
Matt constantly ran for his safety. He ran down a hallway and he noticed that Jen was no longer behind him. Right before he was about to stop, he hit a girl with each other’s foreheads. The girl fell down. Her short-shorts showed clean shiny skin. She patted her forehead, “Ow… you piece of shit. That hurt!”
Matt took a step back, “Eek, you’re so feisty!” He pointed at her short-shorts, “And why are you wearing something like that? Isn’t it inappropriate?”
The girl got up and said angrily, “You’re a hypocrite. Crashing into me like that is just as inappropriate, you know.” She stopped looking angry. She examined his face, “Hm?” She suddenly knelt down to view her bag.
Matt noticed that the girl threw out all of her books. One of them was her agenda. He saw her name placed onto it, “Shirley Cao” he read.
Shirley quickly placed her agenda back into her bag, “H-Hey! Don’t go on reading my stuff. Hm, let me see…” She took out a picture, “Ah, here it is!!” She skipped back up and said proudly, “Look at this! What do you have to say about it?”
Matt examined the picture, “AHH!” It was a picture of him in the flames. Matt shook his head, “This is the evidence of the flames. Jen did not believe me. Hehe, I got proof now!” He was about to grab it but Shirley hesitated.
“Nuh uh uh, stupid boy. My friend showed it to me. I want you to give me an explanation, kid!”
Matt crossed his arms in anger, “I don’t have to.”
“Excuse me?!” She clenched her teeth. Matt quickly took the picture off her hands and he ran off. The girl screamed, “You’re not getting away from me!” She tried to run but her short-shorts were rubbing tightly on her legs, “Aw man. This is so uncomfortable.”
~~~
Matt sat down alone at a few benches near the cafeteria. He focused on the picture. He thought to himself, “How come everyone is pretending that nothing happened? Maybe… maybe nothing DID happen. Was I going crazy? No, the evidence is right here! But how can I explain this…?”
“That’s a nice picture you got there. May I dispose of it?” An unfamiliar voice was heard from behind Matt. Matt turned around and a boy’s face was looking at the picture. Matt was startled and he dropped the photo onto the ground. The boy behind Matt picked it up and he introduced himself, “My name is Santiago Vallejo.” He took out a school map, “I believe this is yours? You dropped it on the way to room 101.”
Matt was shy to new people. He stood up and stuttered, “I-I’m Matthew Tran. Can I have that picture back?”
“Why, so you won’t get exposed?”
“Exposed? How can I get in trouble for this? It’s me being a victim of a fire. I just need answers.”
“Alright then. Sit, I will give answers.” Matt sat down and Santi did the same, but on the other side of the bench. He spoke, “You are abnormal. The moment you dropped that map, I knew you were going be someone like me.”
“Someone like you? What do you mean?” Matt was confused.
Santi snapped his fingers and the photo on his left hand was instantly placed onto the table near Matt. Matt jumped, “What the?! How did you do that?”
Santi closed his eyes, then he opened them in a glare, “Do you think you are worthy to know?” Matt nodded his head in eagerness. Santi pointed at Matt, “You. Put your head closer to me and look at me.”
Matt did not know why he had to do so, but he listened. Suddenly, Santi raised his hand slowly on purpose then he waited until Matt paid attention. Santi quickly whipped his hand towards Matt’s face but Matt covered his face with both his arms and small flames appeared onto them. Matt opened his eyes, “You didn’t attack me? HUH? I’m… I’m on fire! Help me!!”
Santi snapped his fingers to reverse time by a few seconds so that Matt could not summon his flames. Santi sighed, “There you have it. The thing is, I cannot control my time magic as well. As you can see, it does not reverse the memory of those who have secret magic as well. It only reverses their movement. As for regular humans, I can reverse their memory AND movement.”
Matt was shaking. He panicked, “How did I get this?! Tell me!”
Santi laughed, “Hah! Why, the sky. You fell and faced the sky in search for something above. You get it on the verge of death. As of now, I only know of you and I who are abnormal.”
Matt squealed, “What... NO!!! I want to be normal!”
~~~
---- Next chapter preview:Matt: On the next chapter, a mysterious announcement shows up in front of the whole school! A glass cup is said to spill over when adding water while in the room but Santi finds it strange that someone would pour water in their own bedroom. Santi and I go on to find out what the strange incident is!
Jen: What is this glass cup you speak of?!
Matt: Bleh... er. Next chapter... A Mystery of the Glass Cup!
0 comments:
Post a Comment