Hey guys, I know that I suck for only posting now. And I'm sorry for the genre change but I hope that you'll also give this a chance. Btw, I'll update a sequel or a spin-off of MBGMFIL pretty soon so stay tuned.
A/N: So I’ve been fighting with myself for all these months that I haven’t posted. I was deep in thought whether I shall post this or not. It’s actually in a different genre which is why I have my doubts. Nevertheless, I’ve decided to finally write and upload this story that has been pestering my mind for a couple of years now.
There’re actually 4 books in total. Namely: The Search, The Truth Behind the Shadows, Witchcraft, and World’s End.
For those hoping for more MBGMFIL, I’ll probably write a sequel or a spin-off of some kind so stay tuned.
Hoping that you’ll give this scifi story a chance,
signing out,
A.G.
The Book of Zenith
One: Run
Prologue:
If you’re reading this, it could only mean two things. One is that I’m dead; or two, due to my carelessness, I dropped this and you, after coming across it, just want to read someone else’s diary. Either way, I don’t really care. But before you read this, let me tell you that whatever is written in this rotten black book is based on my life. No lies. Just the truth about WHO or WHAT I am. Written in here are events that happened these past few years. If you’re a Humdrum, you’d probably think I’m crazy…but if you’re an Elite, then good for you since you’ll be able to relate to me. Or maybe not.
But whether you believe what I write here or not, it’s totally up to you.
You’re now in possession of my diary, which is private. And I know that even if I tell you to stop reading, you wouldn’t…so what’s the use?
Hopefully, you’ll enjoy reading about my insights and private life. (Yes, I’m being sarcastic)
Sincerely,
LCH
P.S. Sorry for the terrible handwriting.
Chapter 1
First entry: December 5, 2011
Dear diary, something weird had happened today. I’m just not sure what it is exactly that happened…but it was really weird. There’s this guy who just disappe----Or maybe I’m just hallucinating or something? That could be it, right? Because there’s no way – absolutely NO WAY – that a person can disappear into thin air…
Right?
December 5, 2011 had been a day which started out as normal as it could be. The crowded hallway, as usual, was filled with chatter and excitement. No one would even expect that that day would be marked as the beginning.
The start of it all.
“He’s coming this way!”
“Oh god, he’s so cute.”
“Hurry, hurry, act cool!”
More giggles and whispers. This could only mean one thing: Brian McLarry – every girl’s stereotypical dream guy. If perfection ever existed, people would bet he’s the greatest example there is. To-die-for looks, the kindest personality, high IQ, a charming smile… basically, he’s got it all which is why he was considered as the model student in Darlington High.
To sum it all up, it’s like he’s the ‘Prince of Darlington’ which is what others entitle him as and also what they think of him as: royalty.Most of the girls in Darlington fell head over heels for him, some even gave him flowers and ask him out, and the other guys, instead of getting jealous, decided to follow him in hopes of becoming like him.
Seriously, where in the world can you find another guy like him? Brian McLarry himself is like a miracle. A miracle that’s now coming at a certain girl’s way. Just like in the movies, everything happened in slow-motion: carrying a book with his left hand, he combed his hair with his right, his brightest smile flashing towards everyone as he walked.
See? They would swear: there were even sparkles and dramatic light following him. His very presence screamed ‘perfect’ all over the school’s hallway; which is the very reason why, as an ordinary teenage girl, Lauren Caleb Holden also found it hard not to fall for his good looks and charm.
“Caleb. Caleb? Hey. Holden! Lauren Caleb Holden!” Camilla snapped her fingers two inches away from her friend’s face. “Earth to Caleb, hello?”
Caleb snapped back to reality, “Oh sorry, I must’ve spaced out.” she shook her head, trying to clear it. Camilla looked at her as if saying ‘hell yeah you did’. “So, what were you saying again?”
“I said nothing. Brian ‘your love’ McLarry just passed by and greeted you. And what did you do? You just stared at him.” She looked at Caleb with disbelief, “You just stared at him, for goodness’ sake!”
“H-h-he greeted?” she blinked. A smile crept on her face, but then it slowly vanished as she realized how foolish she must’ve looked in the eyes of the person she’s been crushing on for almost a whole year. Or worse, what if he thought that she was trying to ignore him when in fact she was drooling over him? Oh god, oh god.
“Why didn’t you wake me up? I was obviously in daydream land.” Caleb complained.
“I was trying to do that ever since I saw him down the hall.” Camilla rolled her brown eyes then sighed, “Oh well, better luck next time dear. We’re gonna be late for Calculus.”
Caleb looked at her watch. Crap. She slowly turned her head towards Camilla, her face distorted with fear “We’re already late for Calculus.” As if on cue, the duo bolted into a run. They wouldn’t want to get into Mrs. Cadigan’s nerves. Heck, no one does.
Calculus went by pretty fast for the two. A couple of formulas, a couple of numbers, a couple of letters and whoosh! The bell rang.
If you’re wondering about what happened when they got into the class a few minutes late, well suffice it to say, they were still kind of lucky. All they received was a bit of yelling and complaining about students not giving a damn about academics nowadays, and threats that if they ever arrive late to class again, they’ll be sent to detention. She wasn’t kidding. Mark Trough and some of his Basketball teammates – the seniors last year – tried to test Mrs. Cadigan’s patience. Clue: they weren’t lucky. They received one hour detention everyday for a whole week which meant no Basketball practice for them for 5 whole days. This also meant that Coach Gordon became angry since they were his best players then. Frankly, Coach Gordon is another teacher you have got to be aware of. His bulky biceps do not do ‘detentions’ and ‘irresponsibility’.
Left with tons of homework, as soon as the bell rang, Caleb and Camilla headed to their lockers.
“Seriously, why did they have to change our class schedule? It just became more confusing.” Camilla complained, frowning at the piece of paper she was holding. “What do you mean? Let me see.” Caleb peeked at the paper. She was right, the arrangement of classes were different for each day.
“Oh wow, that is confusing.” she nodded in agreement “Why did Mrs. Edna have to get pregnant?”
“Beats me,” Camilla shrugged, “The only good thing is that both of our schedules are still almost the same.”
They got to their lockers which were just beside each other. Caleb’s was 404 and Camilla’s was 405.
Caleb opened her locker and was about to put in the dreaded Calculus book she was holding when something caught her eye. She was pretty sure she didn’t leave that thing there before. She picked it up and examined it. A bud of a flower. How the heck-?
Caleb looked around suspiciously. Darlington’s lockers only had three thin slits for letters or mail. They couldn’t have slipped it in here unless they had her locker combination. And from what she remembers, only she knew it.
Suddenly, she had a feeling like she was being watched. There. Caleb spotted someone looking at her. With a smirk on his face, the man winked then pulled his coat tighter. He was just a few meters away but Caleb couldn’t see the details of his face. Although she was pretty sure she hasn’t seen him in Darlington before. There also weren’t any news about a man transferring that school year. The only people who were supposed to be new there were the freshmen and three transferees – who were all sophomore girls. And that guy certainly didn’t look anything like a small freshman.
Turning his back away from Caleb, he began to walk away – slowly at first, and then began walking faster. Unconscious of what she was doing, she followed him. She was curious if he really was the one who put it in her locker. And if he was, how did he get her locker combination?
The man suddenly disappeared from the main hallway and took a right. Caleb was sure that where he ran to was a dead end – there were neither rooms nor exits over there. She started to jog to catch up then took the right turn. The hallway ended there, as she had expected – just bulletin boards and cased fire extinguishers. She stopped as she saw the guy look around calmly. She started to walk towards him, observing. Caleb smirked at him, and he just stood there and looked at her as if he has been expecting her all this while. She noticed his eyes momentarily snap at something from behind her then back at her again.
He flashed Caleb a lopsided smile. Briefly turning her head, she saw Camilla turn at the corner. Caleb looked back at him again and then noticed the plain black fedora hat that he was holding with his right hand. He raised it and put it on his head fashionably then winked at her again.
“Caleb! What’re you doing there?” she heard Camilla ask, just a few feet away.
Caleb turned around for a second, “There’s this guy who lef-,” she was about to point at the guy in the hat and coat, but when she looked back to where he was standing just a second ago, he was gone.
She wildly looked around. It was just a second. Merely two seconds and he was suddenly gone. There were no exits near him and also no place to hide. If he ran away very fast, it would’ve at least taken him more or less than 5 seconds and he would’ve passed her and Camilla.
But no, she didn’t even hear fast footsteps.
“Hey, you zoned out again. I’ve been calling you. Your phone’s been ringing nonstop.” Camilla explained. Caleb didn’t even answer her, who, after noticing what Caleb was doing, also looked around. “Why? What is it?”
Caleb stared at the empty space where the man was standing at just a few seconds ago. She spotted something unusual on the floor so she walked over and bent down to examine it. Picking it up, she realized what it was: a petal. A blue flower petal. And there was something written at the back. Two words that read: I know.
---I couldn’t sleep. I’m curious. Totally curious. ‘I know’. What does that even mean? Could it be that he was just a figment of my imagination? But that’s impossible. Maybe he’s a ghost?
Second entry: December 6, 2011,
Three facts that I’ve just realized:
First of all, in just a few more hours, I’ll be having my 17th birthday. Second, I am lost – metaphorically and literally. And last, I’m writing this entry from inside a cell where I am currently being held captive. And honestly? I have NO FREAKING idea how I ended up here.
December 6, 2011
“A lotus flower?”
Camilla asked as she pushed open the two large doors which led to the gym. Seeing how the place was still empty except for a box of volleyballs, they guessed that they came a bit too early for PE. But hey, better be early than late.
“Actually, it’s still a bud.” Caleb said as a matter of fact. She tried to pull down the shorts she was wearing. The new set of PE uniforms was totally uncomfortable; especially if you had ordered them one size smaller.
“Wow, guys are really becoming weirder these days.” Camilla examined the little present that was left on Caleb’s locker yesterday. “I mean, if the guy was trying to ask you out, he should’ve at least tried a less creepy way.”
Caleb rolled her eyes. “Pretty sure that’s not what he wanted to do.” Seeing as how he suddenly disappeared to nowhere and left a note saying ‘I know’, she was sure asking her out wasn’t really his intention.
“Are you sure that it was him? Because I swear, I saw no one with you in that hallway.” Camilla said.
“Gut feeling.” Caleb answered, feeling a bit of doubt.
There were only five minutes left before Coach Gordon comes barging in the gym so Caleb decided to get ready and tied her long dark brown hair into a ponytail. Just then, two freshman students wearing gym clothes came in, startled when they saw Caleb and Camilla.
“Um, excuse me, but I think you got the wrong room.” Camilla said to the two. The taller one looked at a sheet of paper then back up at Camilla. “I don’t think so. It says here, Tuesday: Gym, last period.” He stated, taking off his thick reading glasses.
Caleb frowned as she pulled out the schedule from her bag, “Wait a sec, I’ll check.” She said as she examined it.
Crap of the bulls.
Looking up at Camilla with a grave expression, Caleb was sure her friend also understood that they went to the wrong class. “Uh, Camie? It says here, Tuesday, last period: Calculus.”
“Really? I must’ve overlooked. Then when’s our gym class?”
“Tomorrow.” Caleb answered in a squeaky voice, “And by the way, we’re already ten minutes late.”
“What?!” Camilla snatched the paper from Caleb’s hand and scanned it. She looked up at her in panic then as if they have just mentally communicated with each other, they quickly grabbed their bags and bolted out of the gym.
Fifteen minutes late; second offense. Never in Caleb’s life had she been put to detention. She has had a clean slate, a good record; and that’s why she was actually praying that Mrs. Cadigan would hear out their reason as to why they were more than ten minutes late. It was a risk she was willing to take rather than have her record tarnished. Caleb didn’t work this hard for almost four years to finally end up in detention at the last year of her high school life.
~
Caleb – after just spending 5 minutes waiting in the room – looked around in a bore. She noticed that the detention room contained 5 other students – one was Camilla, two were junior guys who both had bruises and kept looking at each other as if looks could kill, one was a girl with a nose ring which wasn’t allowed in Darlington, and a guy wearing glasses sitting two seats behind her.
Well here’s another one, Caleb thought. It was another unfamiliar face. She looked behind again just to find the guy staring back at her, his face expressionless. Caleb quickly looked away then took a last glance at him. He was still looking at her with those evidently light blue eyes of his behind those Ray-Ban reading glasses. Caleb also noticed his curly hair and his striped collared shirt that he was wearing underneath a black coat.
The door squeaked as it was pushed open by Mrs. Cadigan. It was the only sound that could be heard in the room, except for the ticking of the clock and the sound of their breathing. The clacks of Mrs. Cadigan’s heels were loud as she walked up in front with her hands on her bony hips.
She cleared her throat, “To all of you delinquents, do remember that during the period of time you will stay here: gadgets and talking are not allowed,” She narrowed her eyes at each of them and then continued, “If I hear a sound – any sound at all – you’ll be cleaning the gym as I’ve discussed with Coach Gordon.”
Seriously, what did we even do to deserve this? Be a few minutes late for her class? As if that was intentional... Caleb closed her eyes in frustration.
“The hour starts,” Mrs. Cadigan waited for the second-hand to strike 12, “now.”
With that, she sat on her desk and started grading papers, mumbling about how students nowadays are very different and how they treat teachers without respect, blah, blah, blah.
Camilla caught Caleb’s gaze and looked at her as if saying I’m already bored to death. Caleb just sighed then laid her head on her arms at the top of her desk and closed her eyes.
The whole hour of silence was close to a finish. Afraid of Mrs. Cadigan’s warning, no one dared to stand and even speak. For almost sixty torturing minutes, all they could hear was the sound of the friction of the ballpoint of the red pen and the test papers.
At the very much anticipated last minute of the hour, Caleb tapped her fingers on the desk without making a sound as she stared at the second-hand of the clock which seemed to move slower every passing second. At the span of sixty minutes, Caleb was able to sleep lightly, think about her future plans, play songs in her head, and write an air note of hate on her desk using the tip of her index finger. Not to mention, she also stared at Mrs. Cadigan for so long, trying to pierce a hole in her head.
Unable to believe that there were only a few more seconds left before freedom, Caleb sat there in excitement and looked around once more. Camilla and the other girl were sleeping; the two bruised guys were still trying to kill each other with their eyes; and the guy wearing glasses was-.
Wait a sec. He’s-.
Gone.
Caleb looked around wildly – confused once again. She had only been asleep for the first 15 minutes of the hour and, after waking up, she kept on looking around, checking up on everyone. And as she remembers it correctly, during that time, the guy was still there sitting upright. The last time she checked was just five minutes ago and now, he was gone. Whoosh, out of the room. The chair should’ve squeaked; at least the door should’ve creaked, but there was no sound. Even Mrs. Cadigan, who’s been very attentive at every single movement everyone makes, didn’t react.
The long ring of the bell suddenly got everyone’s attention. One student even shouted “Freedom!” as he ran out of the room in a flash. Caleb grabbed her bag and Camilla’s wrist, leading her out of the room.
“Hey, hey, hey, what’s with the hurry?” Camilla asked as they stepped in the hallway and Caleb started to frantically look around. Seeing just a bunch of random people, Caleb shook her head, “N-nothing.”
What was I expecting anyway? She thought, sighing.
“By the way, be warned. From now on, I’ll start hating on Mrs. Cadigan more than ever.” Camilla hissed, making sure Mrs. Cadigan wasn’t around to hear her.
“Y-yeah, me too. I can’t believe that we got detention because we were unintentionally a couple of minutes late.” Caleb said as they both started to walk. “I have a question: Did you see anyone leave the room?”
Camilla looked at her as if the answer was very obvious, “Uh, no. As if anyone would dare. I didn’t even hear any sound for the whole hour. I thought I became deaf.”
“Really? I mean, the nerdy guy – the one with the glasses – you didn’t see him go anywhere?”
“Nerdy guy with the glasses?” Camilla repeated slowly as she tapped her chin with her index finger, trying to recall.
“You know: the one with the curly hair and cool coat. He looked okay, too.” Caleb supplied but her friend was at loss. “You sure, Caleb? Because I think that the only people in the room were us, the girl with the piercing, and the two guys who got into a fight. I don’t think I saw any nerdy guy at all.”
Caleb frowned, “Are you sure?”
Camilla nodded. “Anyway, on a completely different topic…what’s your plan tomorrow? Are you going to stay at home or go out with your brother and parents?”
“You’re kidding, right? As if I’m not going to attend school just because it’s my birthday tomorrow.” Caleb rolled her eyes.
They reached the exit and got out, only to see that it was raining. Camilla’s phone started to light up and the intro of the song Highway to Hell started to play.
“You still haven’t changed that?” Caleb said with a chuckle.
“Hey, it’s a classic.” Camilla said before she answered the call. “Yeah this is Camie…oh hey Mom...no, we're on the way...yup...uhuh...really? Right now? Okay, you too, bye."
"What was that about?"
"Mom says Uncle Ronald and his family - from London - are in the house and she wants me to come quickly so that we can all have dinner together."
"Well you better go now."
Camilla opened her umbrella, "You're going to stay?"
"I left my umbrella in the locker. I also forgot to put back my books. I have no intention whatsoever to carry these thick babies home." Caleb explained, showing Camilla her bulky messenger bag.
"Okay," Camilla said, "Well I gotta go now. See you tomorrow, okay? Advanced happy birthday, Holden." she hugged her for a few seconds.
"Yeah, sure, thanks."
~
Caleb was going against the flow. All of the students were rushing toward the exit while she was walking toward the lockers. The rain had started to pour mercilessly outside and the loud thunders made Caleb shiver.
As soon as she reached her locker, she left the books in exchange for the umbrella. Looking around as she closed the locker door, she noticed that she was already alone. "That was fast." she mumbled, thinking of how quickly the students wanted to leave the school grounds.
Caleb started to walk - this time, towards the exit - when she suddenly felt like she was being watched. Turning around quickly, she saw no one. "Hello?" she called out. Frowning, she resumed walking - although this time, in a faster pace. She caught a shadow at the corner of her eye. She turned around as fast as she could but still saw no one.
Oh god, could it be a ghost?
She suddenly felt a presence. Then before she knew it, a hand was on her shoulder, making her heart jump in fear.
But you can't touch ghosts...
A pair of hands grabbed hers and it felt as if they put something on her wrists. Even though she kept on protesting, she was twirled around. Caleb now confirmed that she was, indeed, handcuffed. Not to mention: her handcuffs were glowing.
"What the he-?"
But that wasn't the case. Caleb's attention was caught by her assailants when one of them spoke:
"Lauren Caleb Holden, you are now under arrest for trying to expose your Elite identity to the public of New York City tomorrow at approximately 1am. Everything you say or do will not be held against you in the court since basically, there will be no hearing, so just shut up and come with us."
The man tightened his coat, put on his hat, and winked.
~
A/N: Aaaaaand, so that's it for Chapter One. I know it probably sucked and there might be a lot of questions like: what the hell is this story about?
But I'm pretty sure you'll get to know more on the next chapter. And NO, this isn't a horror story. THAT IS ALL.
AG, OUT!