No Turning Back [REWRITTEN]

Chapter 1

"Maybe they are. That doesn't make them real."

"Stop being so literal, man," Tyson elbowed me playfully. "I was just joking."

After a short amount of walking, we made it to the small clearing of houses that we'd been trying to reach. It was a small cluster of simple buildings, like small cabins. In the middle was a large patch of dirt, where a few old picnic tables stood.

On one of the picnic tables was a dark blue, slumped figure, jet black hair sticking out from arms that covered a hooded head. There were some papers below him, and a pencil. One of the papers had blown off the table, and sat in the grass a few feet in front of me.

Tyson grinned at me. "Called it."

I rolled my eyes, giving him a side eyed grin as I walked forwards and picked up the paper on the ground. There was a bunch of text on it, as well as what seemed to be a diagram of the human skeleton. Anatomy, I guess.

I proceeded to the picnic table, setting the paper down on the table while the wind was down and putting my hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Malachi, wake up, man," I said, slightly shaking him by the shoulder.

I heard a groan from within the mass of jacket and hair, and he lifted his head to look at me. His dark blue eyes were a bit groggy and disoriented, and the bags under them proved he hadn't done much sleeping for a bit. But that was generally a normal look for Malachi - even when he got a full night's sleep, he always looked deprived of it. Maybe it's just a school thing, I felt the same way in high school.

"Morning," I said, even though technically it was past noon. Not long past, but technically afternoon.

Malachi blinked, processing my words. "...is it morning?"

I laughed. "No. No, it's not. When do you think you fell asleep?"

Malachi sat up from his slumped sleeping position (I'm genuinely shocked he hasn't suffered scoliosis from the constant bad posture) and glazed at the watch on his wrist. "Uhh... nnnine...?"

"Well, good, you got three hours, at least," I said, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "Come on, I'll help you clean up your homework."

Malachi took a minute to wake up, and I started getting his papers in order. However, as soon as he seemed conscious enough to process what was in front of him, he stopped me.

"No, just- no. Let me do it."

He took the papers from me, put them back down, and started to reorganize them.

"So, is Noah around, or is he not here yet?" I asked Malachi as he organized his homework.

"He's around here somewhere," Malachi responded, not looking up at me. "I told him to wake me up if he saw me asleep, and he didn't, so I assume he's off with Milo or something."

I had a feeling Noah probably did try to wake him up, but had failed. He's a fairly responsible kid... most of the time. "Alright. You need any help with anything?"

"Nope." Malachi made sure all the edges of the papers were aligned by lightly tapping the stack on the wooden table, picked up the papers, and stood up to put them away somewhere. "If you see Noah anywhere, ask him if he's had any lunch. Specify a fulfilling lunch, because knowing him, his consideration of "lunch" is a bag of potato chips. And if he hasn't, send him to me, I'll make him something."

"No problem," I nodded. He walked off without another word. Usually he was actually quite friendly, but he was a bit grumpy after waking up.

That feeling began to creep across my brain again. I looked around once again, trying to find the source of that odd, unnerving paranoia that I've been feeling. I still couldn't see anything in the denser woods beyond the clearing. Just a... flicker of light, like a reflection turning away.