Eight minutes later, as Shane and Alicia neared their high school, they heard their peers' voices heading to their classes. As Shane and Alicia entered their school building, they heard footsteps running towards them.

  As Shane and Alicia looked back, they first saw Everett, with dark black hair, wearing a plain flannel jacket over a plain white t-shirt and blue jeans. Most who saw Everett were afraid to talk to him because of his imposing stature and personality. Shane had known Everett since the 2nd grade and was his best friend.

  To the right, they saw Nathan, with his dark red hair, wearing a navy blue polo shirt and khaki pants. People also avoided him because of his know-it-all personality. He was much shorter than Shane and Everett, but he would always say he was of average height, which he was barely hitting. Shane has known Neil since 4th grade and became friends when they were paired together on a science project.

  To their left, they saw Franco, with his curly chestnut hair, wearing a grey shirt with floral patterns and black jeans. He was one of the most popular people at their school, thanks to his cheerful personality and his role as student council president. Shane has known Franco since their 2nd year of middle school, when they were on the student council together.

  Behind all of them was Ivan, with his messy black hair, wearing all black from his shirt to his shoes. He was Franco's best friend, which surprises most people who meet them, because, unlike Franco, Ike has always been an introvert, trying to avoid talking to others as much as possible. Shane met Ike around their 2nd year of middle school because Ike was always around Franco, and they got along well when they learned they read the same books.

  “Hey Shane, Alicia. Wait up for us.” The first to speak was Everett. “I just want to make sure that we are still on for later.”

  “Yeah, we’re good for later. I just won’t be able to stay any longer than the time we already have planned because I promised Mona that I’ll take her out to eat.”

  “Oh, so you finally decided to spoil your little sister again. I guess it's been a while, so we’ll try not to keep you for too long.”

  “Well, if anything, it should be a joyous occasion; you're always too busy, so it’s good you're finally spending some actual quality time with your sister doing something fun,” said Nahtan as he slapped Shane’s shoulder.

  Franco, who saw how uncomfortable Ike was being in the middle of the hallway, said, “Hey, how about we go to our first class and talk there? Ike seems a bit uncomfortable with all the people here.”

  As they all looked at Ivan, they saw their friend, afraid of being around too many people in one place, looking as if he were about to lose consciousness. Ike has always been scared of social situations; the only people he was used to being around were his friends and family.

  As they entered their classroom, the noise from the hallway began to quiet down. Their first class period was Physics. It was a class that wasn’t too popular, so the teacher didn’t really care where people sat as long as they didn’t disturb the class.

  As they made their way to their seat, they saw two people already sitting at their table.

  The person sitting on the top-right side of the table was the first they saw. This Alexa, with light pink hair, wore a casual yellow dress with sunflower patterns. She is Nathan's twin sister, but most people didn’t believe it when they heard it because, unlike her brother, Alexa enjoyed spending time outdoors, especially with flowers. Shane had met her a little while after becoming friends with her brother.

  The person who was sitting across from Alexa was Elena. She had long, wavy, pure-white hair and wore a shirt with a galaxy design, along with a medium-length black-and-white skirt with a zigzag pattern. Along with her outfit, she had thin, round, black glasses.

  The first to notice the group that had just entered was Alexa.

  “Hey. Elena, look who just arrived.”

  As Elena closed the book, she looked up at her friends with a smile.

  “Oh. Hello Shane, Alicia, Franco, Ivan, and Nathan. It’s nice to see all of you again today.”

  “Hey. How long have the two of you been here?” said Shane as he looked at the two girls right in front of him.

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  “Oh, us, we've been here for around 10 minutes because Elena wanted to find a quiet place to read before class started,” replied Alexa with her usual cheerful tone.

  “And Shane, I hope you're ready to help these guys understand the subject like us. You know it really only you and I who fully understand this, and we both know these guys are going to be completely lost,” said Elena in a snarky tone.

  As if in utter disbelief at what Elena had just said, Alicia yelled, “Hey, that's so rude, did you just call us dumb, Elena?!”

  “Of course she did, Alicia, and you should be the last one who is mad, you barely passed our last exam,” said Shane in a teasing tone.

  When it came to academics, Shane and Elena were considered among the brightest in their class.

  “Well, we’re lucky that today, Mr. Hayn isn’t talking about anything new, and he just made today's class a study session.”

  “I hope we cover a lot during this class period so that we don’t need to spend too much time after school. I'd rather not have to break my promise to Mona.”

  ***

  A few hours later. It was currently after school.

  As they were now in the library, Shane and Elena sat next to each other in front of the rest of the group so that when someone needed help, they could just look forward and ask one of them. Currently, Shane was trying to show them the formula for kinetic energy to Franco and Alexa because when Shane saw them looking at one of the practice questions, it looked like they were staring at something they never learned.

  As Shane finished his explanation of kinetic energy, he looked to his left and saw Elena trying to teach Ohm’s Law to Alicia.

  “Elena, please go….”

  As Shane was listening to Alicia trying to get Elena to go slower with her explanation, everything suddenly went silent. As Shane looked around, he noticed that time had stopped. As he tried to see if tapping on Elena's shoulder would allow her to move again, he suddenly heard something that brought him to a complete stop.

  “Shane.”

  He had heard someone say his name, but that wasn’t what had surprised him. It was from whom the voice came that surprised Shane.

  “Shane”

  This voice. Why am I hearing it now and here? It’s not possible that he is here. If it's him, why now? I haven’t listened to this voice in over a year. Shane thought to himself.

  “Shane”

  As the voice kept on saying his name, Shane yelled, “Dad, are you here right now?”

  “...”

  As Shane yelled, the voice of his father had gone quiet. Shane couldn’t see his father, but he was able to hear his voice, though he didn’t know where it came from.

  “Dad! Where have you been? Why did you abandon Mona and me? How are you currently talking to me?”

  “Shane.”

  Why is he not responding to my question? Is this really my father, or is some other entity using my father's voice to speak to me? Shane thought to himself as he considered all the possible things that could be talking to him.

  “Shane”

  “Dad. Can you please say something that isn’t my name? And could you tell me where you been, you know how hard our lives have been since you disappeared.”

  “Shane, you need to awaken the power within you.

  As Shane froze when he heard his dad finally say something that wasn’t his name, he said, “What the hell are you talking about, Dad. What is this power that is within me?”

  “You need to ask Arthur Ravenscroft for help. He will teach you about the power within you. He’s the only one you can trust.”

  “Wait, that's Alicia's dad. Does she know anything about this? And why is he the only one I can trust?”

  “...”

  Shane's dad's voice suddenly stopped, leaving Shane with questions that needed to be answered.

  That was my dad’s voice. What does any of this mean? How does Alicia's father play a role in this? Does he know where my dad is? I’ll have to ask Mona if something weird also happened to her when I pick her up. Wait, should I pick her up now? No, because if she didn’t experience this, it would only cause her to worry. Thought Shane to himself.

  The moment Shane finished thinking, time went back to normal.

  “...slower. This is too much information to take in at once,” said Alicia as she had her hands on her head, trying to comprehend what Elena was talking about.

  It looks like everything is back to normal. Did I just imagine that now? I’ll ask Mr. Ravenscroft if he knows anything about this.

  “Hey Shane, you're there,” said Alexa.

  “Oh yeah, what’s up?”

  “No, nothing, it just seems like you were lost while staring at Elena.”

  “Oh. I guess I just lost focus, so do you need help?”

  “Ok, can you please explain the formula for kinetic one more time, please?”

  “Sigh. Fine.”

  As Shane was about to start explaining again, he looked at Elena to see if she was weirded out by him looking at her. But to his surprise, she seemed completely relaxed, but he did notice that her face went a little red after she heard Shane was looking at her.