Chapter 3

Infinite silence
flowing right in with the dawn
This is wrong, this is wrong
And I cannot sleep without the radio on

And how could anyone
You are in my dreams
Half human, half machine
You with someone else that I have felt and seen
I cannot rest, or my consciousness contest
Looking right through the lens
From winter brings the spring again

Circa Survive, In the Morning and Amazing…

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As far as I remember, standing here in this room with Sarah has been the most uncomfortable moment I have ever experienced. What's really annoying is that she doesn't say anything; she just looks at me giving me the silent treatment. I think I should just apologize so we can just get this over with.

I examine her face for a while and notice that she is indeed cute, so I unconsciously smile which of course makes her angrier. Soon I realize that I am smiling so I purse my lips together. My God, she looks even cuter now. Dozens of ideas suddenly rush through my mind on how I can wipe that look on her face. I massage my neck because it starts to ache for holding this position for a very long time; I guess she feels the same too. I think should I just apologize so that we can finally get to bed.

I take a step closer to her but she puts up a hand to indicate that I shouldn't move any further. Okay… If she doesn't want me to be close to her then I'll just have to talk louder. I take a deep breath, I think this helps project your voice louder doesn't it? When I open my mouth she immediately turns around and crosses her arms over her chest, talk about rude but I guess I deserve it. I take quick and large strides to get to her side; she gets startled as I put a hand on her shoulder. She brushes it aside and gets under the sheets right away with her back to me, all that without saying a word. I was left speechless, so I didn't bother to talk with her any further.

I took off my clothes and didn't even care if it was inappropriate, I had a really loooong day so pardon me for my lack of manners. I take a look at her one last time, and she still hasn't moved from her position. What a long day, it's been so overwhelming that I still have no idea what I'm going to do with myself. Let's just worry about that tomorrow because thinking about it now would not help me sleep. I clear my mind of all the events that have transpired today, and with that I take a deep breath, close my eyes and fall into darkness.

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I look at my surroundings and I find myself in school. I look around me, I see that all the people look like their barely teenagers. I don't know how, I just do. School's out because I see students rushing to their lockers and shoving their books in so that they could leave right away. I pace through the hallway and slowly observe my surroundings. Almost all the classrooms are empty with all but a few students who chose to remain inside.

Someone suddenly slams into me and I get knocked down to the floor. I look around to see who had bumped into me but the person was already halfway down the corridor, I could hear him saying something about it being my fault for leisurely walking down the corridor. What am I doing here anyway? I groan and stand up to brush away the dirt from my clothes.

After a few steps down the hallway I hear voices arguing. I follow the voices to an almost empty classroom, almost meaning there are only two people left inside. I remain outside and watch the ongoing commotion. I see a big stocky looking kid and he's looming over someone but I can't tell who he's talking to because he's covering the person.

"No, leave me alone!" I hear a girl speaking, she sounds really harassed and irritated.

"I said give it to me now!" He threatens her. What could he possibly want from a girl? A kiss maybe? No, I don't think he's that desperate so it must be something material.

"No!" she says again.

"I know you have it, I heard you talking to your friend earlier. You said you were going to buy something that costs a lot of money after class."

"This is really important, I've been saving up for a long time. There's no way I'm giving you my money." I still don't see the girl but I could tell she was backing away from the kid because he was moving forward.

"Like I care. Just give me your money so I won't have to take it forcefully, that way you won't get hurt."

"I guess I'll have to take my chances then." She says defiantly.

I see the kid growl in frustration while he kicks a few chairs and tables. I hear her scream a little as the kid advances towards her. This is getting way out of hand, first bullying, next is extortion and lastly assault, on top of that he's doing it to a girl. What a sleazebag. So I decide to help her out, not that I feel bad for her or anything but I'm pissed with the kid.

"Hey, what's going on?" I ask him as I enter the room. Macho boy turns around and looks extremely pissed. "None of you're business kid, now get out. If you tell anybody I'm going to pummel you hard you won't be going to class for a whole week."

Kid? What the hell is he talking about? Does he know who he's talking to? Then I realize what he was saying when he comes to me. Somehow he looks bigger than me, waaay bigger. Oh, fuck I'm thirteen. Then he sends me flying across the room with a forceful shove.

I get up slowly because pain shoots through my back, damn that hurt a lot. I'm gonna beat the shit out of this bastard. I casually walk towards him; his back is now turned to me because he's facing the girl again. He hears me approaching and slowly turns around arrogantly. "Didn't I tell you to get los-" I take a swing at him and he goes down. I quickly mount him before he has the chance to get up and put all my weight on him. Then I continuously pummel his face until he begs me to stop. I get off him but not before I spit on his face. "You're trash you know that?! You should know better than to pick on a girl."

I leave him quivering on the floor and begin to talk to the girl.

"Are you ok?" I ask.

When I turn around, I find myself facing a familiar set of teary blue eyes.

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Thud

I stumble out of bed dumbfounded; it felt as if I was falling down from a 50 foot story building. What a weird dream. I look around and notice that it's still dark. I wait for my eyes to adjust to the darkness so I check my clock. It's two in the morning and I still have classes tomorrow. I try to get back to sleep but I feel that someone else is awake, of course who else it could be but Sarah.

My eyes find her sitting up on her bed her back against the wall and looking outside the window. She looks so beautiful especially with the faint light of the moon giving her a calm aura of radiance. She looks so sad and downhearted; I guess I don't blame her. I mean from what I dreamt about tonight, I think that this Jack person might have been someone really important to her.

"Hey." I manage to get out, but it's very subtle that I doubt that she heard it.

"Hey." I guess she did.

"Can't sleep?"

"You could say that." She answers so bluntly, I think she's still mad at me.

"Look about what happened earlier."

"Don't worry about it. I don't have any right to get mad at you. I don't even know you."

"Hey, let me finish ok." I tell her. "I think I know how you feel, it may have just been a joke but everyone's still pretty shaken up. I guess it's still too early to joke about that. I'm really sorry."

"Thanks." She turns to me and smiles. My eyes fall down unto the ring again. That ring has really been bothering me for a long time now; I think Sarah might shed some more light on the matter.

"Nice ring. Where'd you get it?" Her hands go to the ring and her fingers instinctively play with it.

"Oh, this? I bought it myself. Cool isn't it? I saved a lot of money for this when I was a kid." I swallow hard.

"Why didn't you just ask you're parents to buy it for you?"

"This isn't for me. I bought it as a gift for someone else."

"Well, didn't the person like it?"

"Yeah he did." She gave a small laugh and I could tell that her voice has gone teary. "He didn't like it as first because it costs so much. But then he finally accepted it because I started crying I thought that he didn't like it."

"Why'd he give it back then. Did you have a fight or something?"

"No… it's because it was the only thing they found when he disappeared." She trailed off.

"Jack must really mean a lot to you."

She didn't answer back. I look back at her and she's fast asleep. I decide to follow suit and close my eyes.

I wake up the next morning when I feel the sunlight hit my eyes. My head feels heavy so I just lay down for a while before getting up. I put on a new pair of jeans and a plain white shit. I look at Sarah's bed to find the covers and pillows neatly fixed; I guess she already went down to breakfast. How thoughtful of her of not waking me up, I hate being interrupted when sleeping even if it's to get up for class.

I wonder how my mother felt when she was waking me up everyday for school. My mother, my parents, I don't remember any of them. I quickly shake of the thought before I get depressed any further, it's a new day and it's the first day of class. I'm really excited to experience what it feels like to be in a class, I think most people would find it weird but I'm just curious that's all.

I go down to the kitchen to eat breakfast but suddenly I'm reminded of what I did last night. Jeremy might hit me for what I did to him but I guess I deserve it. Gathering up my courage I went towards the kitchen. Everyone stops talking when I enter and all heads turn towards me. There were only three people in the room: Scott, Ashley and Jeremy.

"Where's Sarah?"

Jeremy stands up from his seat and comes up to my face. Then without warning he bitchslaps me, Scott and Ashley burst into boisterous laughter while I remain there rubbing my cheek.

"I'm glad you're alright man, believe me I really am. But never ever pull that shit on me again." His looks at me steadily and also burst into laughter. "Scott told me everything, so you don't have to explain everything." Then he goes back to his seat and sits down.

I grab a seat and rub my swollen cheek, I mean that really hurt.

"So where's Sarah?" I ask them again.

"She left early; I think I remember her saying that she had something important to do." Ashley answers my question. Oh yeah, that reminds me. I talked to her yesterday and she told me that I could stay for free since… you know, since I'm lost. She's a nice person; I wonder why she ended up with Jeremy. Well I guess you can't help who you love right?

My cellphone rings while I'm halfway through my meal. I find out that it's Tyler after looking at the screen. I excuse myself and leave the kitchen to answer the call.

"What's up?"

"Where are you? I just came from your room and I found another guy there. He said he doesn't know anyone who goes by your name. Are you running away? You in trouble?" He's sounds an overprotective mother.

"No, I'm cool man. I was told that there wasn't any place for me so I found another one. Sorry I didn't tell you yesterday, I just thought that I outta start doing things on my own. "

"Well tell me next time. I feel kinda responsible for you now since I'm the one who found you. " Man, this guy worries a lot; I'm starting to think that he's gay or something, but it's probably just me.

"Hey, look I gotta go. I'm gonna be late for class." I hang up my phone and check my watch. Shit! It's already eight forty-five and my first class starts at nine. I say good bye to the guys and run out of the house.

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Room 314, where the hell is 314. It's past nine so I know I'm already late. I entered the wrong building so that really ate up all my time. I guess I should've listened during the orientation. When I arrive at the room the professor stops me before I enter the door.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm here for class."

"You're late, my class started ten minutes ago."

"I know that, I just got lost. Sir."

"Excuses, excuses. Very well, make sure it doesn't happen again. What's your name?"

"Rutherford, Sir."

"Ah yes, Mr. Rutherford. Take the empty seat at the back row."

I take my seat and notice a familiar face sitting next to me. It's the girl that sent me to Ashley's. I notice her looking at me and I smile.

"Hey. Pam right?"

"Hi, I hope you found a place to stay." She answers back.

"Yeah I did. Thanks for your help."

"So, you're staying at Ashley's now?" I nod.

"Have you met her boyfriend?"

"You mean Scott, the crazy one?"

"Yeah I know. He gets all this crazy ideas. I don't even know how Ashley can put up with him."

"I wonder how she does it too. So anyway how'd you know Ashley?"

"I met her during the orientation. She's really nice and friendly too. But she and her friends are going through some tough times."

"What do you mean?" I lean closer to her.

"Well you see they kinda lost a friend. I heard he died in a crash. Since then all of them have been really depressed, but I think their other friend is the worst out of all of them."

"Who?" I ask curiously, but I do have an slight idea who it might be.

"That black haired girl. I didn't get her name because she's so cold. She doesn't talk to anyone but her friends. In fact I only heard her talk a few times."

"You mean Sarah?"

"Yeah, that's her. A lot of guys think she's hot but whenever they hit on her she just gives them a cold stare. The girl is an emotional wreck. One of these days she's going to break down."

I hope not.

We continued to talk but I changed the subject thinking I can't handle anymore issues regarding my past. Then after a while I notice that the whole room goes quiet. I look in front and find the professor looking straight at me.

"Quite an interesting discussion you're having there Mr. Rutherford. Care to share to the class what you were talking about?" He's really glaring at me. Oh boy, I sure made a first good impression on him.

"About what Sir?" I ask him back. "I mean we were talking about a lot of things, what do you want to hear about?"

His face turns beet red and glares more fiercely at me.

"Since that you don't find it necessary to listen anymore. I would suggest you leave this room because there are other students here, unlike you, who are willing to learn."

"I'm sorry Sir. I'll shut up now."

"Make sure you do Mr. Rutherford. I think we're not getting off on the right foot so I'll be keeping an eye on you." He turns around and faces the board to continue his lecturing.

I turn back towards Pam. She smiles at me apologetically and tells me that we should listen to the professor for the rest of the class. She focuses her attention at the frost while I remain looking at her. I think I like her, she's really easy to talk to, although she does tend to talk a lot. I quickly check her out. She's petite, blonde hair, brown eyes, nice body. She's not as beautiful as Sarah but she's cute.

I space out for the rest of the period and wait for it to end. I guess class was not as exciting as I imagined it to be. As soon as the professor ends the class, I follow her out of the room.

"Hey, wait up." She turns her back to me.

"I'm so sorry about what happened during class, I just got immersed in the discussion that I didn't notice he was looking at us."

"It's ok in fact I think I enjoyed our little chat. What do you say we continue it later? I'm having lunch at the Café, join me."

"Ok, I'd love to. Let's meet there around eleven thirty?"

"Good. Sound like a plan. I'll see you later."

"Alright. See ya later." She winks at me and turns around disappearing in the hallway.

I leave the building and head to my next class with a satisfied smile plastered on my face. Aside from getting bitchslapped and scolded, I think today is going to be a good day after all.

Or at least I hope it does.

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A/N: I would like to thank those of you who are still reading this story. Thanks for the reviews, really appreciate it. I don't know if you guys noticed but the pace has started to go slow unlike in Part 1, I'm trying to focus more on what David is going through. Oh, and before I forget please review. I'd love to hear what you think on how the story is progressing.