Empty Fairytales [A Youtuber Fanfic]

The Law

"When darkness arrives
I cower and hide.”
________________________________

Three weeks had passed.

It felt like three years.

The end of the semester was fast approaching and of course like all universities, the University of Cincinnati was no exception to ensuing mayhem.

Everyone cramming months of studying into a few days. People desperately clutching caffeinated beverages in hopes that the tighter they clutched the cardboard cups the more the caffeine would be mainlined into their bodies.

Mark, of course, was studying. His roommate was studying and all the kids that resided in Calhoun Hall were, hopefully, studying.

However, a noticeable buzz filled the air of the entire campus.

A tangible energy that added another layer of apprehension to the already charged atmosphere.

Preternaturals.

People started to visibly take sides on the whole matter. The university itself had no official statement on the issue, but the college’s populace had quite the opinion on the matter.

Those who became actively weary of others began to make and display posters and graphics depicting. They depicted their vehement dislike for these preternaturals. Making claims that they didn't belong in society and that they therefore didn't belong on the campus. Names such as carnies, fur-fucks, and an assortment of derogatory terms became widespread thanks to the internet.

Those who accepted the preternaturals made sure to be supportive of people they thought were 'odd’ or 'different’. They decided to coin the term 'pred’ as the official shortened word for anyone who was preternatural. This led to a sweeping wave of stereotypes surrounding how one could tell someone was indeed preternatural and a backlash from the internet surrounding the term 'pred’ due to it’s creation at the hands of non-preternaturals.

In all of this chaos, no one stopped to think that in the three weeks since the attacks not a single person had come forward as being preternatural.

At least, not in person. The internet seemed to have a wave of people suddenly popping up and claiming they were preternaturals in some way or another.

Mark had trawled through many of these posts on various social media sites.

A part of him hoped that these people weren't lying, that they were preternaturals and somewhere out there they were living relatively normal lives despite all of this.

Another part hoped they were all lies. He knew that the current state of the world’s governments would have any of these people potentially monitored for such claims or worse these people would be hurt by family members or friends.

Mark was beginning to read the same paragraph for the fifth time, his sanity almost spent after four hours of reading the same textbook, when an LCD screen was suddenly shoved in front of his face.

“Hey!” Mark shoved the offending piece of technology away from his face, glaring at his giddy roommate.

“Take a look at this, man.”

With a sigh, Mark turned away from his fruitless studying and focused his attention on the laptop in his roommate’s hands.

“Connor”, Mark brought the laptop closer to his face and adjusted his glasses as if it would change the words on the screen, “what the fuck am I reading?”

Connor snatched up the laptop and began to type away with renewed vigor,

“Dude, they figured it out. They isolated a gene that contributes to preternatural mutations. Do you know what this means?”