Chapter 7: searching

Walking out of his second class classroom, Owen noticed that the principal followed him outside and started talking to the two teachers who were standing outside the door. He suspected they were talking about the way they behaved in the classroom. He then noticed that they were looking at the classroom to the right of the classroom the principal was in. He then turned around to find Emily, but she wasn't anywhere to be found.

"Emily?" Owen said as he gazed around at the big campus flooded with students that are leaving their classroom. He called out her name once more but still no reply. Then, all of a sudden, he felt a tug on the back of his shirt. He turned to find Emily looking at the ground. It looked like she was about to cry.

"Emily? What's wrong?" Owen said turning to face her.

"You shouldn't be here...he is here," She said mumbling under her breath. She took both her hands and started shoving him a bit to try to get him to leave.

"Who's here? What are you talking about," Owen said as he tried grabbing her hands.

"G-go...please...he will kill you go," Emily said with tears streaming down her face. Owen knew something was scaring her, but what. He tried calming her down. He held both of her hands.

"Please tell me," he said. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw the teachers crowding around the other classroom. They looked like they were ready to fight whomever was on the other side of that door. The principal stood behind them. The principal took out her blade along with the other teachers. All of their blades were green colored.

He looked back at Emily who was crying and is now shoving him a little harder.

"Please Owen, Please," she said shoving a little harder.

"Is he in that classroom?" Owen asked pointing to the room that the teachers were surrounding. She nodded her head and continued to shove him. He was now terrified. Whoever was on the other side of that door was dangerous. Whoever it was had not only the teachers scared, but Emily as well. He looked at the room then shifted his gaze to Emily's crying face.

"Okay then, we are getting out of here," he said.

"W-what?" She asked. In an instant, Owen grasped Emily's hand and turned and ran into the crowd of students.

Navigating through the crowd of students was rough. Owen wasn't thinking of getting to his next class. He was just trying to get away from whoever was in that room. The crowd was thinning out. They could see the other side. They were almost there.

BOOM! It sounded like a bomb went off behind them. Owen tried not to look back. He started pushing through the now spooked crowd. Students around them started scrambling and screaming. They knew something that Owen didn't. He held tight to Emily's hand until she forced her hand out of Owen's. Owen stopped and looked behind him. He saw Emily who fell to the ground.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Owen screamed as Emily tried getting to her feet.

"I need to do this Owen," she told him.

"Why?! Who is in that classroom?" Owen asked.

"I can see him...I don't know how, but I can see him," Emily replied.

"Who?!" Owen asked with much urgency.

Then a voice screamed from inside the crowd of students and teachers "Emily! I know you are here! Come to me you little bitch!"

Then, out from the crowd, there he stood. A tall man with long frizzy looking hair. He had a white tank-top on, holding a dark green blade in his hand.

"There you are!" The man screamed while looking at Emily

"My dad," Emily said responding to Owen's question.

"Where have you been hiding all this time? You needed to stay home with your father," he said grabbing her by her other arm and yanking her.

"Ow, dad, stop. I had to go to school today," she said to her father, which by now seemed utterly insane.

"School?! If you had enough time to go to school and waste the day away with useless knowledge, then you can very well stay home. I can teach you all you need to know about hunting spirits. Now be a good girl and come along with daddy," he said while yanking his own terrified daughter by the arm.

As her father continued to yank and drag her with him, he felt a tug in the opposite direction. Once he felt the tug, he stopped and turned to face whoever was opposing him. The father saw Owen holding Emily's hand and giving it a gentle pull. Owen looked up at the crazy man that wanted to drag his daughter off to god knows where. Any other person would probably have let this man do whatever he wants. If he would want to take his daughter out of school, they would might as well let him; but, in this instance, Owen felt different.

He felt like he should not let him take her. Something inside of him did not want to depart from his new friend. Owen showed this emotion, not only through his actions, but through his eyes as he stared down this man that said to be her father. He, himself, was terrified of her fathers gaze. The look he gave Owen the instant he turned to look at the 14 year old boy.

"S-she...She should s-stay, s-sir," these were the only words he could muster while staring into the man's cold and seemingly murderous eyes.

"And who the actual hell are you?," he said to the terrified boy.

"O-Owen, s-sir" Owen said shaking.

"And you think you can stop me from taking my daughter away from this hellhole you call a school? Hey, dumb-ass, she is my own daughter. She doesn't belong to you. She belongs to me, and I say that she is going. So get your filthy hands away from my daughter before I make you wish you weren't alive," her father said. Owens hands were quivering. He didn't know what to do. He just sat there holding her hand.

"O-Owen, i-it's okay...don't worry about me...I'll be f-fine. Y-you go...I-I want you-u to be o-okay...," Emily said to Owen as she started to cry.

"I d-don't w-want to leave you," Owen said.

"You h-have to...," Emily said.

"Emily?! Is this prick a new friend of yours? What the hell have I said about making friends, Emily?," Emily's father shouted at her.

"D-dad...I-I...," she said as her dad then interrupted her.

"What the hell did I say, you little bitch?!" He shouted.

"F-friends w-will o-only slow y-you down...," She told him in fear.

"So what?!," he said shouting at her once more.

"S-so I shouldn't h-have a-any, because i-its a w-waste of time," she said.

"Damn right it is. Well, guess what. I'm gonna kill this Red X worshipping prick and you get to watch me tear his guts out of his torso," he said coming closer to Owen with his blade in his hand.

Owen let go of Emily's hand and started backing away from the crazy man until he tripped. Owen heard a series of no's from Emily's mouth as her father walked towards Owen. Her father lifted his blade. Emily couldn't watch her own friend being killed, but she was too scared to intervene. She just stood with her eyes closed, waiting for it to be over. Owens life seemed to flash before his eyes as he saw her father's raised blade. He closed his eyes, clenched his fists...

...and waited for the inevitable.