Thesis ~ The Strangest of all Attractors || Ch. 1, Pages 17-21
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PREVIOUS SCENE (First present day segment of Chapter 1)
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The morning dew was fresh on the grass. There were signs that rain drenched this land a short time ago. This was a particularly nasty day.
The high school parking lot was full. The students lounged around the area. A parade of self-driving vehicles dropped them off and then sped out onto the roads in search for their next passengers.
The school was fairly modest. There were a couple of buildings here and there, a small courtyard, and an American football field in the far back of the place. A larger building was at the front. It appeared to be a church, or perhaps it was a church at one point. Now, it just seemed that it was another place left to decay.
Graffiti was on every inch of the walls of this place. Dirt covered the windows that weren’t broken. Other signs of decay were around. That was an all too normal sight in these places.
On the far edge of the parking lot, away from the masses, stood Michelle. Her hair was usually long and straight. Today, it was all over the place. It did not care for this humidly. She wore faded jeans and a plain white t-shirt, which made her look unassuming.
She rested against her flashy red car.
Unlike her outfit, this car stood out far too much.
She stared silently at the crowd with her piercing eyes. Every so often, her hand would reach for her jeans pocket, but she would immediately recede the hand before it would enter the pocket. Michelle would then shame herself for falling into whatever temptation was calling her.
Breaking out of her pose, she turned and leaned down to the partially open car window behind her.
“Okay. Seriously! You sure this is the right school? Wouldn’t be caught dead in this hellhole!” she exclaimed to the people inside.
“He goes to this school,” a voice responded from inside the car.
Michelle grumbled in dissatisfaction as she turned back. She tapped her foot on the pavement impatiently.
Getting into this school was going to be a pain. Police were in there, doing body scans and ID checks on every student walking in. She knew they would snatch her up in two seconds the moment they saw her.
She needed to be careful, but that was a given.
Noticing a large group of teens heading her way, she decided to duck back into her car.
Looking into the rearview mirror, she viewed the group passing by. One took note of her flashy red car.
“Goddamn! Dude! Whoever rents out that car must be swimmin’ in cash ‘n shit!”
“What model is that?”
“Hey! Y'all fuckin’ stupid? Might have connections to head government cucks! Don’t be messin’ with that bullshit! We gonna get our heads chopped off, and I ain’t playin’ that!”
Michelle laid low in her seat.
Being in a crowded place wasn’t good for her kind of trickery. Especially in this car.
Brilliant move I had coming here, driving this stupid thing around, she thought to herself.
Much to her relief, the school bell rang. As she looked back, Michelle saw the group trotting away to the school entrance.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she turned on the radio and leaned back into her seat.
“...and on news of the economy, all politicians continue to seek retribution against those who abandoned our great U.N. nations for the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean Colonies, along with other illegal nation-states not sanctioned by U.N. global law. These former citizens evaded their financial obligations, and all the blame rests on their shoulders, according to President-”
“No. Not listening to that dribble,” Michelle uttered under her breath as she punched the dial on the radio.
“-as we all know, Taviset Disease is the leading cause of all deaths worldwide, as it is extremely contagious. We understand the continuing challenges we must face, confronting this grave threat. This disease remains prevalent in low population areas, where the doctors from the World Health Organization have had the least control over outbreaks. Our carefully managed sanctuary cities have proven to be the best line of defense. If you have feelings of abdominal pain, are coughing up blood or are having other symptoms relating to Taviset Disease, please-”
Michelle flipped off the radio and sighed again.
She was tapping her fingernails impatiently on the wheel while resisting the habit of grinding her teeth.
She spun herself back to the two people sitting behind her.
“You two keeping an eye out for him?”
They stared blankly at her. One was a girl. She had dark brown hair with thin-frame glasses. The other was a boy. He also had dark brown hair. The two had these piercing green eyes. Those eyes almost seemed as if they were glowing. Their stares were unpleasant in such a blank and soulless way.
“I had just witnessed the car rented out to the older brother drive itself out of the parking lot,” the boy mildly proclaimed.
“Jesus Christ! You gonna keep that to yourself?”
“No, Miss Auzolle. Your instructions were to look for the younger one.”
“What? I thought he was the younger one!”
Michelle jumped out of the car and took off running.
“This is not gonna to go my way today, swear to god!” she rasped to herself as she took off running to the front of the school.
She ran as fast as she could up to the front entrance, nearly missing a passing car as she raced herself. She stopped short of the concrete steps that lead to the wide open doors of the school and paused herself abruptly.
She was on the lookout. So far, there was no sign of him.
Just her luck. It was hard enough to find him where he lived. When it came to attempting a proper introduction, it would prove harder, simply tracking him down on foot without causing public alarm.
Michelle continued gasping for breath. She attempted to calm herself.
“Damn! I missed him.”
She began to head back to the car.
“Oh!”
She was knocked over. An array of papers flew over her head. She found herself falling backwards onto the cold, wet pavement.
“Ah! Fuckin’ hell!” she growled in anger as she jumped up from the pavement.
She was just about to split until she saw the person who ran her over.
It was him! It was Christopher Blithe-Havins.
Just seconds ago, Chris was in his usual dreary daze, his mind on getting through the day. He was getting to his first class without any sense of the people around him. Now his book and papers were scattered all over the place.
To make things worse, he had this girl, facing him. She looked angry.
But to Chris’ surprise, the girl he knocked over changed her expression in an instant! She broke into a smile!
“Running late this morning?” she asked him.
“Uh-I-I’m sorry-I-I guess...”
The feeling of embarrassment was overwhelming. He furiously grabbed up all his papers and books that fell out of his book bag. He was desperate. Chris wanted to get as far away from this scene as possible. The chances of anyone at this school giving Chris a break was dimmer than dim!
Once again, to Chris’ surprise, the girl broke out into laughter.
“It was never my intention to stand out here like a stump in the forest and snap at you! I am so incredibly sorry!”
Chris was stunned. He didn’t understand. It was his fault.
“It’s- it’s alright,” Chris managed to push past his lips as he continued to gather his materials. His eyes were focused on the ground. He couldn’t let her see his face.
He realized he didn’t have his biology book. Chris jumped up and rapidly skimmed around in panic.
“Searching for this?”
The girl revealed Chris’ biology book. She wore a huge grin on her face.
“You dropped it right here.”
“Um… Thank you.”
Chris timidly took his book. Before she could say anything else, Chris bolted and ran into the school without another word uttered.
A few seconds after he left, the school bell rang, on the stroke of seven-fifteen. Michelle looked back and broke out into laughter. She shook her head to herself.
“Able to meet after all. There! Hard part’s over with,” she sighed with relief as she headed for the car.
*
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NEXT SCENE (Coming soon)
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