Author's Note: I keep meaning to add one of these. To clear a few things up, last chapter was the beginning of Act 2. It's going to start off slowly, but eventually everything will be explained and Act 1 will be brought into this as well. Right now these are more introductory chapters, but next chapter things will pick up and a few things will make more sense. Thanks for reading.

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Chapter Sixteen

“Hurry the fuck up, were already running late!” I am jolted awake by a light shove. Amanda is standing over me looking a little annoyed. Her brow is furrowed in a comical attempt at looking angry.

“We’re going to be the last in line for lunch again! All the good deserts will be gone.” Amanda mumbles to herself as I slowly stand up and shove my books into my backpack.

“You know, you can always go down without me.” I say apprehensively, knowing the reply I’m going to get.

Amanda glares at me and angrily says, “You would just sleep through lunch, you ass. We tried that before.” The last few words were said in a hiss, not unlike a rattlesnake preparing to strike. I finally get all my books packed up and follow Amanda out the door. We’re making our way down the narrow corridor of our high school. The whitewashed walls and ceilings make it feel more like an institute for the mentally insane rather than a high school for maturing teenagers. The only inclination that this is a place of learning is the variety of posters and banners hanging up on the walls.

We cross under a faded that has been hanging above the entrance of the cafeteria for years. A reminder to avoid drugs is plastered across it in dark red letters. If anything, this banner just serves as a reminder for the kids to buy more.

“Goddammit! I knew this would happen.” I am interrupted from my thoughts by Amanda’s sudden outburst. I look over to see what she is so angry about and see the line to get food is now wrapped all the way around the outskirts of the cafeteria. With the line like that it will be almost fifteen minutes before we get any food at all.

“We’re you expecting anything different? It’s always like this when we arrive.” I lazily reply as we get in line at the very back.

“For some strange reason I actually was.” Her words trail off as she catches sight of someone she knows much further up in line.

“You should go join them. I’ll see you at our usual table once I get my food.” I already knew what was coming and chose to preempt her upcoming farewell.

“I’m sorry Cee, make sure you stay in line and don’t go straight to the table. You need to stop skipping meals.” Amanda says in a worrying tone. She’s always worrying about me. It almost feels like I have two mothers. I watch as Amanda runs up to her friends in line greeting many others she happens to see along the way. Her popularity always amazes me.

Once I’m sure she is out of my line of sight I turn around and head toward a large table at the back of the cafeteria. The table is half full and sitting on the left side is an excessively attractive guy. He notices me walking towards him and gives me a halfhearted wave.

“You didn’t get food again? Amanda’s going to be pissed when she makes it over here.” Josh says this while chuckling. He finds the altercations Amanda and I have amusing.

“She’ll get over it, or force feed me her food.” I say with a shrug as I sit down directly across from Josh and pull out my Biology homework that was due next class.

A few minutes later Josh loudly says, “Holy shit! Have you seen the news recently?” He is staring at his phone intently as if it would disappear the second he takes his eyes off of it.

“About the cystallus right?” I reply without giving it much thought.

“No, something huge just happened in Europe. Here, read this.”

Josh hands me his phone and I begin reading the article. Physically touching the screen of a phone is no longer necessary. The phone uses a combination of sensors and cameras in order to monitor what you are reading and even what your intent is. A few of the newest phones even have a neurological link that allows you to control your phone purely with your thoughts, which just so happens to be the phone this rich bastard has.

The article is long and horribly verbose. I skim through it and pick out the most interesting bits. A large explosion just happened in the exact middle of China. Everything within a one thousand kilometer radius was completely destroyed. Following the explosion, a multitude of residents outside the blast radius began experiencing rapid changes within their bodies. The changes were usually very hard to notice, but a few were said to have gained super human abilities.

Once I finish reading I hand Josh his phone and say, “This isn’t the first time this has happened you know. This is already the sixth time one of these red explosions has occurred.”

“Yeah, but this is one had the largest amount of casualties yet. It said almost ten million people died. How does that not scare you? What if we’ll be the next ones to be wiped out?” Josh is working himself into a fervor when Amanda finally appeared.

“Come on Jay, stop reading those articles. There’s no point in worrying about something we have no control over.” Amanda says this while giving Josh a kiss on the cheek and sitting in the seat next to him.

“Where’s your food?” Amanda now has turned her attention towards me and I don’t have a good response ready.

“Don’t pretend you’re suddenly interested in doing your homework. You said you would get food this time!” This is one of the few times Amanda has gotten this mad at me. I’m used to her being playfully angry, but this time is different. She looks like she is actually about to hit me, which would not make me want to get food any more than I already do, which is not at all.

Josh, noticing the tension, stands up and whispers into Amanda’s ear. Whatever he says works because Amanda calms down and begins to eat, but not without glaring at me for a few seconds.

I just can’t let it go and say, “What I eat isn’t any your business.” The second the words leave my mouth I regret it. Amanda stands up and slaps me. It isn’t a hard slap by any means, but I definitely feel it.

“What the fuck! You couldn’t just let it go. You’ve been such an asshole lately! Ever since the accident I’ve been scared. What if you try it again! What if this will be the last day I see you..” I’ve heard enough. Without saying anything I get up and start walking towards the exit.

I get halfway to the door when I feel someone grab me from behind. Amanda has her arms wrapped around my stomach and I can hear her lightly crying. Her barely audible voice from behind me says, “Please don’t leave, I’m sorry. I’m just worried about you. You don’t seem to be yourself lately.” Now we have the attention of almost half the cafeteria, it’s a little unnerving.

I turn around, look Amanda in the eyes and say, “I know and I appreciate it, but I’m fine, really. I just need to get out of here for a little while. I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that I left. I didn’t look back, but if I had I would’ve seen Amanda standing hunched over in the middle of the aisle looking defeated and Josh standing at our original table looking conflicted. He was obviously trying to decide between comforting Amanda and chasing after me.

I am now all the way out to my truck without being stopped. Leaving school has never been a difficult thing to do. There are not enough teachers to keep track of all the students all the time. All they are able to do is implement a set of meaningless punishments for kids who don’t show up to class. I’ve missed so many classes that I will never be able to work off all the detentions I have.

After a short drive I make it back home and immediately go to take my medication. Two red and one blue pill that take me a couple tries to get down. I didn’t always have to take this shit and my life has not always been a melodramatic special you might see on late night television. It all started six months ago. That night I was home alone watching tv when I suddenly blacked out. The next thing I know I was in the hospital with over three hundred stitches in my back and chest. Apparently, I drove my truck into a tree in an attempt to kill myself. I’m not sure if that’s true, but I have no way to find out what actually happened. Once I made it out of the hospital I was forced to go to a therapist where I was diagnosed with multiple mental health issues. The most prominent being depression, but the other being Antisocial Personality Disorder. The strange thing is that these two rarely go hand in hand and that Antisocial Personality Disorder is now just a nice way to call someone a sociopath.

The only one people know about is the depression. I would rather keep the fact that I am a sociopath to myself. You can imagine how this news affected the way everyone treated me. Amanda started freaking out about everything I do and all my classmates spoke very carefully when they were around me. It was annoying the first week I had to deal with it, now I just ignore it. The most annoying part of the experience has been the voices. They come and go, but they always have some strange saying or advice to give me. This is something only I know about. The last thing I need is to also be diagnosed with psychosis or something similar to that.

I lay down on the couch to begin my midday nap knowing I will be woken up by Amanda when she busts in here after school lets out.