Blyke's POV
"Found it!" I hear John yell out from his room.
I walk over to his room and open the door, shouting in an annoyed tone. "Can you be any louder? I'm trying to study over here!"
"Shit, did I say that out loud?", John mumbles to himself. He took a second to reply. "Yeah, of course, I can be louder." He retorts.
That little-
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice John holding something covered in dust.
A memory book? I wonder what's in there.
At that moment, a great idea struck me.
"Thud!"
I slam the door and rummage through a desk drawer, frantically searching for a certain object of importance.
My phone! Where is it? Not there, not next to my notebook, it's not charging, either.
I mentally facepalm myself as I see the glass object in the most obvious place it could've been, but I hadn't searched in, somehow.
There it is! Of course, it was on my bed. How could I have missed it?
I look through my texts and find Isen.
(Bold will be Blyke, and regular will be Isen.)
[I found something that might interest you.]
[What?]
[PHOTOS.]
[Of John when he was younger.]
[Wha-]
[Why?]
[OK, show me.]
[There's a problem.]
[...?]
[John's in his room.]
[So? Just text me when he's not in his dorm, and I'll come.]
"Click."
I press the power button, locking my phone screen to pause and think.
Why is Isen so interested in John? Well, I got to admit, I'm a bit curious as to what I'll find in that book.
John's POV
"Tch" Seems like he's in a bad mood today.
Whatever.
Not like I care.
I glide my hands along with the dusty, yet smooth cover of my book of memories. I open it to the first page. There, my eyes glance at a picture of me as a baby, my dad, and a woman.
Could that be... mom? Damnit, someone cropped her off the photo!
Even though I can't see her face, I see that she has long, luscious blond hair.
"You can't miss someone you've never had.", A voice in my head taunts me.
Sometimes I wish I remember Mom. I wonder what life would be like with her.
Definitely different.
I flip to the next page, which I see a picture of Adrion and I, licking our ice cream cones. I recall that day very vividly.
"Hey, John!" Adrion called out to me, getting my attention.
"Yeah? What is it?"
"What flavor ice cream did you get?" He licked his cone, a small drop of drool running down his chin. "I got my favorite! Mint chocolate chip."
"I got chocolate.", I replied in a monotone voice.
"Mint chocolate chip is the best flavor in the world! You can't deny it!" Adrion said, skipping, hyper from the sugar.
"Nooooo~"
"Yes, it is!" Adrion pouted.
Suddenly, Claire coincidentally walked up to the ice cream truck.
"That'll be $2.99."
"Thank you!" She replied to him, a wide grin present on her face.
"Bye, have a nice day! Come again!"
"Hey, Claire! Over here! Whatcha get?" I yelled out to her.
"Mint chocolate chip! It's so good!" Claire shouted, bubbly from excitement.
"Wha- Hey! No, chocolate is better!"
"No, it's not!" Claire and Adrion said, in unison.
"Since you say it's so good...", I trailed off, walking over to the ice cream truck and then asked for a spoon. While Claire was distracted, I scooped some of her ice cream and tried it. "Mmm! You're right! It really is the best flavor in the world!"
"See! Told you so- hey! Why'd you steal my ice cream!" Claire pouted, annoyance present in her tone.
"You said it was good! Did you really think I'd buy another cone?"
*end of flashback*
Adrion...
I treated him terribly when he only tried to warn me that Claire was rallying up people behind me back. Instead of thanking him, I beat him up, only believing in what I wanted.
"Monster."
And Claire...
"HAVE YOU SEEN YOURSELF?!... YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYONE BUT YOURSELF!"
I squeeze my eyes shut, tears threatening to fall down my cheek.
I wish I never did that! I wish I was a better king.
I wish she never betrayed me! Then, I would've tried to change, and we'd still be friends!
I let out a sigh, shaking my head.
Who am I kidding? If she never betrayed me, I probably would still act like terribly. I wish...
Wishing won't change anything.
I can't change the past.
I flip to the next page.
My first day of school.
A picture of the sunny morning, and also right after school. I flinch, remembering something.
Narrator's POV
"Daddy!"
"Hi, John! How was your first day at school? Did you do anything exciting?"
"Hmm... yeah! But where's mommy? I barely even remember her! Everyone else's mommies pick them up from school." I look down. "What happened to mine?"
That was a question William didn't want to answer. Truth be told, he had no idea. When John was only 2 years old, she had left the house, never to be seen again. The only thing she left behind that was hers, by accident, was a stamp, with a logo of a flame. He just thought of it as another one of her regular stamps, and since she had collected numerous different stamps over the years, he threw it out, not thinking much of it.
"I don't know... anyway, since it was your first day, want to go to the ice cream shop to celebrate?" He asked, changing the conversation.
"Yeah!" John replied, oblivious to the nervous look on his father's face.
John's POV
Whenever I asked about mom, he always changed the conversation.
Eventually, I just stopped asking.
Does Dad not even know where she went? Or is he trying to hide something from me? Nah, he'd probably tell me... right?
I slammed the book shut and threw it onto my desk.
Enough of that for today.
Normally, I would call Sera and ask her to play Angry Pigs or something like that.
I don't think I can today...
I glanced over at the clock, checking the time.
9:34
Already? I'm not even that tired, though. I guess I'll just take a shower.
Remi's POV
I turn on my laptop, the screen illuminating blue as it turned on, then I logged in. Opening Google, I enter type into the browser, trying to look for that blonde haired lady. With sharp claws, may I add.
"Click."
That's not her.
"Click."
A model? That's not her either.
"Click."
What the-? A Broadway show about fire? That's definitely not her. She doesn't have blue eyes. She has dark yellow, golden eyes.
After about 50 websites, I was about to give up. Then, I found something.
"Could this be Ember? Woman with Blonde Hair and Yellow Eyes Recorded Attacking Vigilantes."
I scroll down.
"Sharp claws."
"Flames."
Just like Ember! She's our only lead. I wish I wasn't knocked out! Then I could've questioned her, and maybe even get my revenge! Maybe, I can find her again. If I can find another mid-tier who allegedly, all of a sudden, started ruling a town, then I have a shot at finding her again. She has access to injections which boost your ability level drastically. How could Ember make something like that? There must be something powerful backing Ember.
Why hasn't the government done anything yet? It's always considered "breaking news" whenever a vigilante dies, even though it happens all the time.
At first, people thought superheroes were pretty cool, but when they started dying, they suddenly got a bad rep.
They still haven't done anything about Rei's case. And instead of telling me they're working on Rei's case, they just kicked me out, and told me I was a nuisance. Heck, they haven't even done anything on the case of the first superhero who died!.
At that moment, something clicked for me.