Who's raiding the place? Police, The Bureau, the Men In Black? All my young mind understood was that columns of charcoal black vehicles had suddenly drifted into my motel's parking lot. A normal guest like me didn't want any of that. Basic timing saved me from running into them. It was the periphery of my vision which captured a brief glimpse after exiting the room. Quietly, I went back inside.

Before the incident, I was planning to catch a late-night snack. At a vending machine downstairs. It was a godsend, providing daily cheap eats consisting of plastic wrapped bread, cookies and chips. Some nights I splurged on dinner, frozen pizza from a convenience store a short walk from the establishment. Regular people would believe my diet was lacking in…nutrients. Compounding the malnutrition, I usually disregarded exposure to sunlight. The tone of my skin could be considered zombie-like. At the very least I practiced daily hygiene, but still…My parent's honor has been disgraced many times over the course of a month.

Dropping out of school, eating sloppily, playing games all day and lazing around. Any parent of mine would be dissapointed in just how slothful their only child turned out to be.

Whatever, something really big was about to go down. Police or whoever was responsible, were going to bust down a couple of doors. However, it was not my problem if law enforcement dished justice on some criminals. I just had to hunker down and ride out the whole ordeal.

I had bigger matters to attend to, besides worrying about the police. I'm Christian Friedd, the only child of a well-off couple. The two of them weren't uber rich, but my parents were nothing to scoff at. Both spent more time wooing international elites than they did in my childhood home. So, I grew up into a sheltered person. As I became older, the flaws of lousy parenting showed up. I started skipping school, sneaking back home to chill all day long. But…at the coming of spring, that family ceased to be.

It's fine. I'm not traumatized or anything. When it happened, I knew the time had come. The shock from hearing about the accident gave its way to a quick coming of age story. Unexperienced as I was, I honestly did believe a strong enough kick could make me a mature adult in matter of minutes. I made the choice to live a free life.

I sprung to action. Or a horrendous catastrophe would have taken place. Recently orphaned, my relatives were prepared to take me in. An aunt or uncle would have adopted me into their household. To explain why that was problematic, my family, the Friedds…are mostly a bunch of wannabe oligarchs. If I hadn't fled home, I would have been forced into fighting my cousins. Didn’t speak much to them in the first place. But warring in a power struggle to see who inherits the family’s wealth was not to my liking.

So, I took my own inheritance early. Simply, I sacked my childhood home, loaded to the brim with treasure. The closets were stacked with valuable items, ready for a steal. Fine jewelry from Europe, the latest flagship electronics and a diverse array of foreign currency bills. All those were pillaged in less than a day. Finally, my parents had a knack for giving unusual holiday presents. Whether it was my birthday or Christmas, there were no giftboxes, wrapped in colored paper. It always was some new investment asset. Something I could place under my wealth column, according to them. Actually, spending from my financial account was a no go. But I found the blessing of cryptocurrencies to be the cure to my main problem. My escape wasn’t going to fly under the radar. In time, the Friedd family was going to search for me.

What did I have that stacked up against them, with almost unlimited resources? Spare cash and untraceable virtual currency. The get rich quick scheme of stealing anything that wasn’t bolted down to the house landed me a small fortune. I found it easy to run away. As long as I took the required precautions. Even as my family sent Private Investigator goons to chase me, I fled without a trace. Ending up in a shabby motel room, on a desert town a few pegs away from being a Ghost one.

Regarding my sleeping arrangements, I wasn’t picky if there was a quality connection to the net. That cruddy motel was the only place where a minor could stay indefinitely without the staff giving it second thoughts. Or questions, as long as the cash flowed.

Honestly, it was really the proper place for a SWAT team to barge into. But who cares? I had my games to play. If I managed to hold out until becoming a legal citizen, far from the clutches of the Friedd name. If I had achieved that, my dream would have been realized. Making an honest living out of gaming and slacking. Not delivering homework to increase that day’s kill-to-death ratio was proper training. Of course, my goal was dismissed time and time again by every adult I knew personally.

The usually quiet locale got noisy to an unbearable degree. Crap, those guys are a nuisance. I couldn't focus on the zone. Anyways, where was the element of surprise? Boots went stampeding through the stairs, and the audio cue grew closer to my location.

Wait…Am I the one being swatted?

I turned towards the entrance and it didn't came crashing with an explosive display of violence. It was simply knocked on. The soft thuds were more ominous than frightening.

I stepped up from my chair and shouted at them. "Go away! I'm not interested in visitors."

Yet the door surrendered open, without offering resistance. I had made sure of tightly locking the deadbolt. Despite that, the entrance was wide open. The visitors barged in, 10 people or so. The first to enter were two teenage students, a girl and a guy, both my age. They wore navy ties embellished with a big, bright white star outline at the endpoint. Wine colored blazers atop dress shirts. The school I used to go to, had drastically different uniforms. Since they were strangers with no connection to me, I tried to shoo them with grace.

"Wrong room folks. I'm not the guy you are looking for."

"Denied." The girl said.

I would later find out her name, Reyna. I don't believe I will ever be able to forget it. Just by themselves they weren't intimidating. It was the heavy cavalry they had brought with them. The men who had raised a racket at the halls. The 'soldiers' had come out of a historical reenactment. They carried swords inside ornamental scabbards. And they dressed in antique military attire. I knew fantasy when I saw it. Those men and women fitted right in. Needless to say, they defied my expectations of guns and bulletproof vests.

My parents were supposed to have died in a freak accident. But everything could happen, when they had many enemies. For all I knew, it could have been those guys. Who somehow found their way to me. Their sharp weaponry frightened me, but I wasn’t unarmed either.

"Mr. Friedd. You are now under the custody of the Seven Star College."

I heard all sort of groups, police, some drug cartel or even terrorists. I couldn't believe that a school could bust into a motel carrying lethal blades. Noticing I didn’t get the gist, Reyna mocked my intelligence while repeating the name.

"College? What the hell are you doing in here? That's not how you greet someone."

"It's a welcome party from Seven Star's Student Council President. A warning, she's normally rude to outsiders…and insiders. On the flipside, I'm the Council Vicepresident. I would like to speak with you. Like…civilians." He jabbed at his partner, with the last sentence.

A school's Student Council? I didn't believe the people carrying sabers were students. The President, her VP and their own private army. What kind of Student Council has a security force?

The Vicepresident, in general, had a frail aspect. He was slender and didn't manage to inspire half the fear in me that her opposite sex partner did. She carried herself pretentiously, like my Friedd relatives did.

"So…you come up to my room. Scare me shitless a-and you tell me you are a pretty princess and a good boy. Taking me to High School? I refuse! School is useless for someone like me. I'm never going to need any of those math formulas or useless facts in my career! They are nothing more than trivia!"

I resolved they had to go back. Like I said, I wasn’t defenseless. I pulled open my desk’s drawer where I stored my super special attack. An ultimate move discovered when I found a stun gun on Dad’s wardrobe. I'm not a legal expert but surely it must be ilegal for a minor to possess such a weapon. But I pulled the trigger, and electricity arced from terminal to terminal.

"Zap, zap! This is self defense everyone!" I waved the stun gun at them.

The soldiers unsheathed their short swords and prepared to strike. I wasn't a fool; this plan was all a ploy. I planned on dropping the device if things failed to de-scale. No one was going to chop me into bits and gibs.

"The school prohibits its students from wielding assault weapons. By pointing that at us, you are in infringement of the College’s rules.” She said.

"But I'm not one of your students! I'm exercising my rights in my private property."

"Reyna, fix it or we won’t be able to take him." He said.

"Giving me orders? I can think for myself, thank you."

"It is only a suggestion. But I do ask if you may have mercy on him."

"Fine." She turned towards me. "Drop the weapon. Or it will get ugly, as a matter of fact."

I refused to let go and lose my chance to bluff through. I ain't scared of kids. The soldiers on the other hand. Were practically almost at my neck. They closed in on me.

"I was merciful and sensitive, Otto. The new student rejected it with much rudeness. Take him away!"

Sharp blades advanced on my position. Was that her mercy? Fearsome. It made my will to fight evaporate. I dropped my weapon. As the stun gun hit the floor, my hands went up in the air trying to display good behaviour.

"Now you want to come with us?"

"Yes-yes. I will."

"Too late. You already misbehaved. As Council President my duty is to discipline students. Or to phrase it better. Rough you up to keep you in check."

On the floor, the stun gun started its electrical arc. No one pressed the trigger, but the air zapped with tens of thousands of volts. It didn't make sense.

"Seven Star is an institution for special, unique people. Be grateful we are making you join our community."

Special? You can say that about anyone. My mockery changed once I saw the stun gun floating in the air. Its prongs aimed right at my chest. It took its sweet time to move inches away from me. I tried to flee the painful destination, but I couldn’t dodge. Whichever force lifted the weapon sent me down on my knees. I had no way of running, as much as I struggled for freedom. I was about to get fried.

I pleaded. "I'm all yours, I will become a great student. The highest grades! Just stop, stop it!" Reyna didn't stop. "Basta, you smug whore! Don't do it! I surrender!"

Reyna was, indeed, a hopeless bitch. Who schocked me into paralysis. Then released me, so I could fall to ground like timber. One of the soldiers pinned me down. He shifted around in my pockets, stole my smartphone and my wallet. Another one handcuffed me. Using those plastic strips that are disposable.

Officialy arrested, I was thrown into a limo like a sack of potatoes. Carried away by the soldiers. Which had dragged me out of the hotel room. If anyone had saw me, she or he would believe that my sobbing looked, and sounded, pathetic. The kidnappers started the engine without disclosing where they were taking me.