The next day, everything seemed to go slowly. He'd walked his way back home in a sort of fog, part of him afraid anything could happen now, leaping out of shadows to his throat. But part of him was too amazed to be as careful. He climbed silently up the rowan tree near his window in the old Victorian-style house, the legacy of his grandfather left to his daughter after death.

With care, he climbed the small roof over the porch and dropped into his bed, forgetting, no, ignoring the need to change to into clean clothe and falling into a troubled slumber, full of demons, darkness and chase that in any other night would have tored him out of sleep but that tonight only made him thrash around and barely get any rest at all, something he real felt when his thrashings took him beyond the edge of the bed and onto the hard wooden floor.

"Ow..." he mumbled in half-sleep, his eyes opening to a room barely illuminated by early dawn, still quiet, not a single noise disturbing the quiet in which he almost gave into the need for more rest.

"Up!" came the shout the second he closed his eyes again. "Lex! School!". That made him open his eyes. School? Oh gods...first day of school. He'd been so enthralled in self-pity and demon-chase he'd forgotten. He groaned and distangled from his sheets, which had fallen all around him.

"Going..." he croaked, coughing once and shouting so that she would hear. "I'm up! I'm up!" standing up in the yesterdays clothe, eyes puffy, and his whole body hurting so much he could barely walk, Alexander, only known as Lex by most, including his teachers after he managed to change the documents of inscription, something he was very proud of. He didn't like Alexander, never gave that name out except when it was official matters, and even then, he skipped it when possible.

He left the bathroom back to a more presentable appearance. His dark hair pulled out of his face though it fell no longer than his ears. A black buttoned shirt like yesterday's, along with black jeans and black shoes. Actually the only thing not black on him was the small chain in silver that he carried around his neck, for even his eyes were a sooty gray.

The kitchen, a mix of old-style with the newest technologies, shone brightly under the light of dawn, and Lex, resting against the doorframe, smiled slightly as he saw his mother bumbling around it worrying about the pancakes, the juice, dad's coffee and everything else. Mom wasn't the type that made these breakfasts every day. But it'd become a family tradition to hold an expectacular breakfast the first day of school. He loved it, though it'd been a while since he'd shown much happiness around his parents.

He wasn't mad at them...they were good parents mostly, even if they worked overmuch and sometimes took to conservative points of view that drove him out of his mind. He toned the smile down and entered the kitchen, sitting in his usual place and mumbling what was now generally accepted as: "Good morning Mom."

"Morning!" chirped his mother, taking the apron off and sitting across him, trying to hide the dissaproving look on her face at his clothing selection. She'd voiced her ideas before, to no avail, and as always, he ignored it, taking a pancake and the syrup before his father entered and started making weird experiments with the food like he was prone to. If it was possible, he'd finish and leave, avoiding the offer to take him on their way to work, he'd taken a lot of care about his image in this school, since his arrival very, very late the last year. He wouldn't be surprised if some didn't know he'd been in the class the year before, he'd been a shadow in the back of the class, present in none of the extra activities, parties or even the detention room. Those who knew him by name were a few classmates which had heard it from the teacher, most called him the 'kid in black', coming from the seniors, or 'the black guy' from those in the grades under him. And he liked it just like that.

Gulping down the food with at least a moderate use of manners he waved, took his things and left by the back door, walking but not really seeing where he was going, still not aware of what happened around him, barely had he seen what moon and sun took under their light. The images repeating again and again, ways to find out where the strange guy was flicking through his mind.

He hadn't seen him before...which meant he had just moved. The small town only had one institute, which meant he should have seen him...but he could be hometaught, yeah but...

His thoughts stopped, 'but you would've seen him around'...not true, he thought. Back in his last town he had gone about. Movies, arcades...he now avoided crowds and light. Midnight projections, home computer, and his books. The library he did visit, but most in his age bracket did not.

With a gut wrench he took the mental trail and booted it out of his brain for later. Not a good moment, no, school came into view. He was 15 minutes early, but he wasn't the only one. Not that he cared or actually knew any of them, he just walked by, making a head or two turn, though no lifted hands or smiles. He went to the stone stairs, climbed to the top and sat atop one of the trumped pillars by the doors, pulling a book feigning reading as he kept thinking of ways to find the boy.

But nothing came to mind as he saw the groups of all friends, new students, cheerleaders, jocks, geeks and rest. The bright late Summer light, the cloudless sky, it was really a perfect day, and he was like a speck of a black hole in the middle of...

'Ah! Stop it, now!' he shook his head, put the book away and tried to snap back into existance. But it wasn't worth it...was it? The day was too shiny and cheerfull for his usual mood and doubly so because of yesterday. He sighed, taking his things again and entering the double doors of the local institute as they opened to students for the first time in the year for the dismay of most if not all.

Locker hadn't changed, and the black candle and pentagram he'd put in it to scare anyone off either had worked or hadn't been tested. He smiled a bit as he put down most of the books. First class was orientation. Nothing to take, just the usual speech from the tutor to all ignoring students.

He walked down the crammed halls and entered the class the first, going to the back corner, away from the window where only a couple of seats sat in shadow at this time. He took the one just against the door and started working with the only thing he'd brought to the class, a pencil and his small sketchbook, mostly full of scrawls made when bored and between, though mostly during, class. Monsters, cute girls, strong guys, more monsters. Most unfinished, none beyond simple penciling.

He didn't pay much attention as the rest of his class came in, nor when the teacher did and the general chatter stopped to be replaced by the drone of a thousand-times repeated speech from the tutor, Mr. Adams.

"...also, I'd like you all to welcome your new fellow students, Shirley Appleton and Bennet Rodriguez, from..."

The tattoo desing suffered some.