Faze

Chapter 3: Challenge

Chapter Three

Another day, another fight. Sunny was starting to question his dad's choice to move to the small town. He leaned against his locker with Lola, both of them watching the little fight before them. This time, Leland seemed to be having a disagreement with someone other than Devlin.

He had been punched in the face but it didn't seem to be that big of a deal as he tried talking the other person out of it, "I don't think challenging me is that wise."

Sunny quietly ate a bag of plain chips as he watched, waiting for something to happen. It seemed like a one-sided fight, Leland would take punches while he tried to talk his opponent out of it. It didn't seem fair, and Sunny thought that he was losing.

"You can at least fight me back for a change, I am challenging you after all," He said but Leland didn't seem fazed. If anything, he became more aware of the fight, a spark faded through his eyes.

He took the boy's pointer finger and bent it back behind his hand, "Surrender."

"N-No," The boy's body moved with his finger and after he spoke stubbornly, Leland bent it back further, but not enough to break. "Okay, Okay! I surrender!"

"Let's go," Lola yawned boredly as the fight didn't seem to be that serious. Everyone knew Leland would win anyways. "Before we get stuck in the crowd."

"But it's almost done," Sunny said, disappointment in his voice. He didn't get to watch fights often. "Don't you want to watch?"

Leland didn't let go of the boy's finger just yet. He held onto it tightly and spoke with a warning, "I suggest you get Nathan to stop sending you fools after me just to lose and get beat up, is that what you really want?"

"Who's this Nathan guy they keep talking about?"

"Okay let go," Lola pulled his arm and tried dragging him away from the fight. "We can't get involved with them."

He shrugged, "they can't be that bad."

Leland shoved the boy to the ground and went to storm off but he stopped, staring directly at Sunny as if it were a coincidence. Sunny didn't say anything and neither did Lola, both feeling as if the grim reaper were near. The anger in his eyes softened before he walked off with Zephan to cool down.

"You're dead," Lola said, successfully dragging him away.

"Why? He just looked at me."

"Exactly," she said, going on to explain. "Normally he would say something if someone was staring at him like that. You might be next on their list for the eye contact you bravely made."

"I'm sure you're just being dramatic," he shrugged and Lola let out a dry laugh.

"We'll see. Don't say I didn't warn you."

_____________

Sunny sat at his bedroom window, letting the breeze welcome itself into his room. The night sky was pitch black and freckled with thousands of stars. It was hard to see the stars in the city from the light pollution, it was a nice change.

He looked at the stars further but his eyes always wandered to the woods. A part of him put his bed next to his window for this reason. Another part of him was more normal and liked waking up with the sun shining on his face because it put him in a better mood. But the trees were no sun and the leaves swayed with the truth, Sunny loved the woods, but he wasn't sure why.

He rested his head against the windowsill, feeling the light nighttime breeze on his face and smelling the smells of nature. Despite his choice of school, Sunny agreed that Marshal picked a nice place to live. He watched more, more, more, more. He felt like the trees were calling to him to enter, to become one with the forest.

Then a shiver shot down his spine, sending the hairs on the back of his neck to stand like a startled cat. Although what he felt was less than fear and more curiosity. He sat up from his position and dangled his feet out of the window. Something was out there, watching his every move and it intrigued him. "Hello?"

He jumped out of his window, his bare feet grounding with the grass. He slowly walked towards the treeline as if there really was something there. The moonlight couldn't show it even if there was. "Hello!" He shouted again, this time cupping his hands over his mouth. His echo returned with silence although the leaves never stopped dancing from the trees. "I know you're in there!"

The light from the moon peaked its way through the canopy and Sunny could see footprints that were fading away. They belong to a dog or perhaps even a wolf. He kneeled down and pressed the palm of his hand to the print, letting out a small gasp when he realized how big it was. Definitely a wolf, or maybe something more. He didn't think they could be so big. The print was bigger than his hand, although Sunny did have small hands for a teenage boy.

Then from the distance, a wolf let out its cry, or even a song. It howled to the moon and it was unlike anything he had ever heard before. The sound was beautiful but when more wolves cried to the moon, his adrenaline returned to fear and he retreated back to his bedroom, slamming his window shut.

Taking one more look at the woods, Sunny was met with golden brown eyes that could only belong to one of the wolves. His heart increased its beats but he snapped his curtains closed to stop the wolf from completely mesmerising him.