EUPHORIA | BOOK 3 of Death of the Future Series

02 | MICHAEL

Neo might not believe that this world was worth fighting against, but Michael believed it was. He hadn't brought it up again after that one time when they were fifteen, but now when he was about to turn seventeen with just one more year looming over his head before he had to meet with his Match, he was far more frantic than before to escape the invisible strings trying to control him.

Stuffed in a glass bottle and forced to spectate the events of his life before his eyes without having the chance to control them — he didn't want that. Not anymore.

Adjusting his navy blue tie over his neck, he gave another smile to an older woman who was talking to him about her daughter. Words were entering his left ear and then leaving his right. The facade he wore though was exhausting. Any moment now, a headache was about to bloom across his temples. Gripping his champagne glass tighter than necessary, he gave appropriate nods at certain places in the conversation, not bothering to really engage in the conversation.

Half of his mind was at the faraway hideout he craved to be there.

"Excuse me," Michael said as he walked past the woman with too much makeup caked on her face and dress that looked like it could choke her.

Glancing at the hall, his parents were at a corner surrounded by high members of the government, speaking. His mother had a wide grin on her face, looking so out of place on her usually stoic appearance. A sneer almost crawled on his face, tempting to destroy his mask of a 'properly raised young man'.

He had turned up to this ball in hopes that he could leave after an hour. And after noting that his parents weren't even paying attention to him, he made the decision to carry out that plan. Leaving the Great Hall was an easy task, especially when he was a Carmichael. They wouldn't suspect someone like him would break the rules set in this Area.

Loosening his tie once he was far enough from the domed-roof building, he took in a deep breath. Tucking the stripe of cloth haphazardly into his pant pockets, he quickened his steps past the quiet roads and pavements until he entered the neighbourhood of South House. The hideout was half an hour by foot from his house and that using his usual route.

There was another route that would take him to the forest that divided South with West House. One that he itched to take. One that he hadn't even shared with Neo. A smile crawled on his lips at the thought of his best friend, the one who he had known since he was eight. The only person he trusted in this messed-up place.

Would Neo be there if he went to their hideout?

He huffed a breath at that, already being able to hear Neo's voice in his head mocking him for such delusion.

His lips quirked upwards further at that.

Taking the other route, it led him to a quieter part of his neighbourhood where the buildings were less grand and less lavish. It was the less obnoxious part of where he lived, if one to ask him. But no one did so he kept this thought to himself. Shoving his hands in his pant pockets, he stepped past the houses, his mood brightening when he spotted the gated fences hidden past bushes and trees.

After a brief scan of his surroundings, he jumped over the fence, landing on his feet with a soft thud on the ground. And then, it was just another twenty minutes before he made his way into the very log where he met his best friend for these past few years. He stopped in his tracks when Neo was already there, munching on a bread as he played with his tablet.

Michael stayed there, staring at him.

From here, he looked far different from how he used to see him. Maybe it had been when he was sixteen but one day, Neo had just looked... nothing like a boy with too messy hair and too bright of pair of eyes. Instead, as his best friend had grinned at him, all of the 'too' parts of him fit just right. And his breath had hitched in his throat as his heart pounded in his chest.