Arrival

Chapter Two

"The future is nothing but the imagination of the human race made into reality"- Unknown.

"Hurry Katerina! Don't want to be late to school, now do you?"

"Shut up Entius! We won't be late! You always say that!" Katerina yells back down.

"Yeah yeah, whatever! Don't want to keep Kane waiting out there!"

"Ah he'll be fine! I'll be down in a second anyways." Katerina shouts as she starts walking down the stairs, "I keep forgetting how impatient and pushy you are!"

"Haha, that's what you love best about me! Don't deny it!" Entius laughs as he sticks his tongue out at her.

"Oh you hush! Don't want to keep Kane waiting now do we?" retorts Katerina. 

"Hey! You aren't allowed to use my own impatience against me!" exclaims Entius in response.

"Just did! What'cha gonna do about it hm?" laughs Katerina

"I'm gonna do this," Entius replies and smiles as he leans closer to Katerina.

"What are y-" Katerina is stopped mid-question by Entius kissing her before pulling away, "Oh, I guess that does work, Entius," Katerina mumbles, blushing slightly.

"Haha I knew it would! Anyways, we should really probably get out that door before Kane gets impatient," as it seems to be planned, a horn is heard from outside, blaring loud and long, "Haha, well, right on cue. Let's get going!" Entius laughs as he slings his backpack around, and picks up Katerina's bag on the way out the door. Katerina shakes her head and follows after, waving to Kane when they get outside.  As they get inside the car, Kane turns towards them and huffs, "thought you might have decided to keep me waiting all morning you two!" He turns around and pulls away from the curb. Entius and Katerina turn and laugh, but are drowned out as Kane turns the music up loud. As they are driving along, five minutes away from the school, Kane turns the music down, "Have you two noticed that there seems to be something different today, like something happened..." 

"Ya know, there is something that seems off, like there seems to be less people up and about, I wonder what happened?" ponders Entius. 

"I don't know, but I agree, something is off about today. Surely nothing major had happened without us knowing, right?" Katerina adds in, bit worried. 

"Haha, I'm sure it's nothing; we are just overreacting. We'll find something out at school about why there aren't as many people out and about." Kane states matter of factly. He pulls into the school parking lot which is emptier than usual. They get out and cautiously look around as they walk into the school building and to their lockers which happened to be near each other. "It's strange, there seems to be a lot of people missing, but no one is commenting on it or seeming to notice," Katerina whispers to Entius and Kane. "I don't like it..."

Entius looks up and around and stops, "There is something going on, but what?"

Kane quickly makes a noise as he opens his locker, and stumbles back, the color drained from his face. Entius, closest to him makes a grab and takes hold of him, "What's the matter? What has gotten into you?"

"Entius... look," Katerina shakily points a finger at a paper on the inside of Kane's locker, "Read it."

Entius makes an inhuman noise in the back of his throat as he reads it, "I-it can't be... Someone has to be playing a joke on us!"

Another sound is heard, coming from Kane before he speaks shakily, and clearly afraid as he reads it aloud, "They will know, they will come, and they will find..." Kane slams the locker closed after he was done. "What! What will they find! First it cut out on us, now its a ripped paper! And who are they! What do they want!" Kane breaks down punching his locker each time, shouting. "Are they responsible for this? What is going on?"

Katerina gasps and looks at Entius as he suddenly slaps Kane across the face, making him drop to the ground. "Snap out of it Kane!" Entius shouts, "We won't know anything by just shouting, or losing it here!"

"Entius is right, Kane. It's obvious something beyond our control is happening, and we are the only ones who seems to be able to do anything about it, so we have to get a grip, and find out what all we know." 

"I-I'm sorry, don't know what got over me there, haha. We'll be fine, it's just a prank, right? Haha." Kane laughs it off. Entius and Katerina stare at him in concern, "Are you sure you're fine? You are starting to worry us Kane..."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Let's get going to class before we're late." He takes the lead and starts walking ahead. Katerina and Entius stay behind a little and trail behind him.

"Kane, I'm worried about him, that wasn't like him, and this whole situation scares me, it can't just be a prank. There are so many people that aren't here, and yet no one is saying anything about it. What if it gets worse? Is this the end? What if... whatever that note is, what if it is real? What if there is something out there that isn't of this world?" whispers Katerina quietly, so for Kane not to overhear.

Entius looks over at her, and chews on the inside of his lip before replying, "Everything will be fine, I'm sure of it. I don't see how it could be something else that isn't from Earth, something like that only exists in science fiction films and books! Haha," he pauses and looks at something in the distant before continuing, "But, we should still look into this since people are seeming to be missing with no one noticing, and if we try to tell the cops, they'd blow it off as some sort of prank us teenagers are trying to pull, or call us crazy. We have to do this on our own."

Katerina sighs, and looks at the ground, "I suppose you are right, but what if that small chance you are wrong? What could we do? We are just a bunch of highschool students, nothing special. But I guess you are right about not being able to go to the police, they would just ignore us," she takes a shuddering breath before continuing, "Entius, I am scared about all of this, and not just the English test we have shortly, but what the future could hold for us, what is going to happen?"

"It'll be okay, and so will the English test," Entius lightly punches her shoulder at that, "Besides, the future is what our efforts have made it. So let's just worry about school right now, and after we survive the school day, we can start thinking about the possibilities of what could be happening."

"I hope you are right Entius, I do hope so." whispers Katerina, "Without hope, there is no point."

"Alright who is read-" Kane stops abruptly, and the color drains out of his face for the second time that hour, and backpedals out the door and slams it shut cursing everything that he can think of.

Entius and Katerina both rush forward and grab Kane before he falls down, and Entius slaps him again, "Kane! What the hell? What's wrong?" Shouts Entius into his face, Kane only responds by shakily raising a finger and points towards the classroom. "Stay with Kane, I'm going to check out the classroom Katerina." Before she could argue he hops up and walks across the hall to the door, and slowly opens it, the color in his face drains away also, "Oh. My. God. This is bad, this is so bad," he turns to tell Katerina to stay away, but he was too late and she already seen the classroom and screams as her face turns as white as freshly fallen snow. "No, no no no, Entius! What are we going to do? Entius, what the hell is happening? They are all..." she breaks down crying, right before she faints and Entius barely catches her in time and lays her down beside Kane, who also seems to have fainted and sits down next to them. Whispering to himself, "I don't know what is happening anymore, what is this? Why here? Why us? What did we do to deserve something like this? What did they deserve! Oh god, I hate this. I hate it! This is a nightmare! A nightmare I say!" he slowly breaks down into tears as the shock of what he had seen wears off him.