Monday Morning

I pass the rest of my weekend lost in thoughts and the horrible anticipation of seeing Drew on Monday. I try to figure out if what the man told me is true, about the Laen being vile and evil but it is futile and I know it. The only way to do that would be to know the Laen personally, and the only way to know them would be to become one of them.

I also think of the Fasurus. I remember the fear I felt all the times I saw them, the devilish looks they all possessed. Did he really expect me to believe that they were victims of the Laen? But what if they were, and those evil auras had been grown to protect themselves from the Laen?

Finally, I think of Drew. For some reason, it is hard to reconcile Tahku's image of the 'evil' Laens with Drew. I just cannot imagine him being evil. He did save me when 'Taur attacked, and he also stopped David from totally destroying my mind. I shiver as the memory of not being able to remember anything comes to mind. That is not something I want to experience again.

Lost in these thoughts, the weekend passes and soon it is Monday.

As I open my eyes on Monday morning, the first thought that comes to mind is, today, I am going to see Drew. And with that I become breathless. My emotions are conflicted. I want to know what will happen when I see him, and at the same time, I am scared of what will happen when I see him.

I have to force myself to calm down and stop thinking about what will happen before I can get out of bed.

I get ready for school as quickly as possible, hoping to get to school early so as to make plans to avoid Drew for the rest of the day. I have already made up my mind to avoid lunch today.

Thirty minutes later, I am done with getting ready and eating my breakfast. My mom comes into the kitchen and begins to boil some water before turning to look at me.

"Ian," she says softly.

"Hmm."

"Are you okay? Is there anything disturbing you?"

"What? No?" I say as I beam her a smile."I totally fine."

"If there's anything disturbing you you can tell me, okay?"

"Okay."

She does not say anything after that but keeps giving me worried looks until her water boils, then she uses it to make her morning tea.

Once I am done eating, I get my bag and head to school.

This is the earliest I have ever gone to school, and it becomes evident once I reach school. The school is practically empty, with only the janitors and a few students around. I do not see any teachers.

I do my best to avoid going anywhere I might see Drew, up until the bell rings. He is not at homeroom which relieves me but puts me on edge at the same time. Where is he? Didn't he come to school today?

When homeroom ends and he still doesn't appear, I realize that he probably didn't come to school. That relieves me to no end.

The bell rings signaling the end of homeroom and I pack up my stuff quickly. I have biology and I want to get to class early so I can get a front row seat.

As I move down the hallway, I hear a familiar voice. Cassandra. She is in front of me, talking to Diane about something funny, judging from their laughter.

"Hey, Cassandra. Diane." I greet them as I get closer.

They turn to look at me."Hey Ian." Cassandra says while Diane gives me a small wave.

As they are about to walk past me, Cassandra suddenly stops."Oh, Ian, Drew's looking for you. He's down the hallway." she says pointing in the direction I am going.

I freeze as soon as I hear that. I begin to consider turning around and the urge to do that is so strong that I have turned around partially before stopping myself. I will have to see him sooner or later so wouldn't it be better to do it now, since I have a class I can use as an excuse to leave him if I want to.

I turn back around and slowly begin to move as my heart pounds in my chest. I try to imagine what he will say or do, but nothing I can imagine seems satisfactory. He can use magic. Who on earth knows what he is going to do?

Soon I see him. Leaning on a locker and looking directly at me. I expect him to come to me, but he doesn't, choosing instead to let me go to him. My heart beats faster as I stop in front of him.

"Hey." Embarrassingly, my voice trembles a bit as I spoke. I clear my throat as he stands straight.

His face is blank as he speaks."Please follow me."

I expect him to go in the opposite direction of my class so I can use getting to class early as an excuse to get away from him but he doesn't do as I expect, choosing instead to go in the direction of my class.

As I follow him, the world around me begins to get blurry. It is not that obvious at first, but when it reaches the point where I cannot clearly see the face of people besides me, I finally notice. Only Drew remains normal.

"What's going on?" I ask him as I look around me. It feels like everyone around me ceased to notice my existence. Like I am not even here.

"Just keep moving," Drew says calmly, "or you'll be stuck here forever."

I begin moving as soon as I hear that. There is no way I want to be left in this...place. At the same time what he says alarms me. Why would he do something like this, making me nonexistent to the world unless maybe he had bad intentions?

"Where are you taking me?" I ask suspiciously this time. Before, when wanting to meet him, I had assumed that maybe we would talk during lunch. The thought of that many people around me would have made me feel safer, but now. He can do whatever he wants to me and no one will even notice.

"Somewhere we can talk without distractions."

"I have a class right now–" I try to excuse myself, despite knowing it is futile, and he interrupts.

"I know. And don't worry, you'll get to class early," he says, turning around to give me a reassuring smile. He had obviously anticipated my excuse.

The world is now nothing more than an indescribable blur of colors. After a few more steps, I stop, shocked as I look around me. We are not in the school anymore. Hell, I am not sure we are even in the city anymore.