I woke up, drenched in sweat, I glanced at my clock, it was five minutes to two in the morning. I tried to get back to sleep and not think about that dream, or shall I say nightmare? I tried to get back to sleep but couldn’t, I gave up when I heard my mom cooking breakfast downstairs. I dragged myself out of bed, but my knees didn’t cooperate. They buckled up under me, and I fell with a thud. “Ouch” I heard my mother’s footsteps echoing through the hallway. She burst into my room. “Are you okay?” she asked. “Yes mom, I was never better” I replied. She helped me to my feet, and we descended the stairs. The food was fabulous as usual, mashed potatoes and omelets. We ate in silence, I cleared my plate, thanked my mother, and headed for the door. “Cole,” she said.

I turned around. “If those guys bother you today, try to act more mature, okay? For me”. “I’ll try mom” I promised. And with that, I headed for school. I thought about what she said on my way to school. It was only a ten-minute walk from my apartment to school, but today it felt like a lifetime. It took some time, but finally, I reached my school, it was an old school with a castle-like texture. It had huge rectangular windows, covered with iron bars, and huge metallic doors with extra locks. Well, maybe not the last part. But you could easily mistake it for a prison, if not for the big billboard right in front of the doors reading: New York Eagles Middle School. I started for the main entrance when something in the corner caught my eye. “Oh great,” I thought “It’s billy and his goons again.” I rushed to the front door, keeping my head down. I bumped into something soft. “Ugh,” I thought “Billy’s big stomach”. I looked up and saw Billy towering over me, blocking the sun.” Well, well, well, What do we have here” he said mockingly. I tried to go around him, but his friends were blocking the way. “What do you want Bill?” I asked angrily.” I just want to know why are you still here, aren’t you supposed to be chasing that three-butted dog or something?” He mocked. His friends doubled up laughing. I knew he was referring to Cerberus, the three-headed dog. But that guy is a fool, a head and a rear-end are the same thing to him. I clenched my jaw. I thought about what my mom said earlier today, and decided to play it cool. “Well yeah billy, that’s why I’m here, I was looking for you, and you just made my job a whole lot easier by coming here willingly. ” I smirked. His face turned a dark shade of red. His friends stopped laughing. He gave me a murderous look, “What is that supposed to mean?” He asked, clearly confused. “Idiot,” I thought “His IQ is lower than the temperature, and we were in December”. I seized the opportunity and ran for the entrance while they’re still dazed. They started after me, but I quickly disappeared into the crowd. I knew Billy was off my back for the rest of the day because he wasn’t in any of my classes. My first class was history with Mrs.Burton, my favorite subject with my favorite teacher. We flooded into the classroom. The classroom was warm and cozy, and Mrs.Burton’s smile filled you with warmth. She was in her early thirties. As she took the attendance, I opened the mythology section. My dad was a mythologist, so no wonder I loved mythology. The heading read: Kronus and Ouranos, I knew the story by heart. I read it a million times. Gaia, also known as Mother Earth, Gives her son Kronus a scythe, and with the help of his siblings, the Titans, he cuts his father, Ouranos, into pieces. “Cole Archer.......Cole Archer” repeated Mrs.Burton. I looked up from my book and saw twenty-four pairs of eyeballs staring at me.“Uh, here, MrsBurton”, I stammered. Everybody laughed. Mrs.Burton tried to calm the class down and gave me an apologetic smile. I just shrugged, I was used to being the laughing stock of everybody. We started our lesson, it was about the Egyptian god Ra, the God of the Sun. Ra lived on a flying ship that towed the sun using a rope made from souls from the underworld. He would fight Apophis, a huge worm-like creature, threating to consume the earth, and wipe it from existence. Ra used his spear, one of the most powerful weapons in mythology, to redirect the power of the sun and continuously blast Apophis until he would retreat to darkness. Apophis can never be killed, as he is a god, so that way Ra has to battle him every night or risk the destruction of the world. I was so immersed in my book that I didn’t notice the bell ringing. It wasn’t until the whole class left that I realized I was alone. I stood up and collected my things. I hoisted my bag over my shoulder and headed for the door. “Cole, can I have a word with you please?” said Mrs.burton. “Um, sure” I replied. As I came closer to her, I felt her gaze fixed on me. “I noticed that you are a little distracted these past few days,” she stated. “Is there anything I can help you with?” I hesitated “Uh, no, thank you, just school pressure.” she looked me in the eye, and said “Just remember Cole, whatever happens, stay strong, we are on your side. “Okay.” I said slowly, and hurried out of the room before things got weirder. “what was that about” I thought. “she must be talking about how teachers are always helping you and all that” I settled for that answer. History was always the high point of my day, after that everything was dull. It was lunch break when I noticed them, the two men from yesterday were here. I started panicking all over again, “what are they doing here” I cursed silently. I elbowed the guy next to me, a fat guy who was bent over his XXXL burger. He gave me a look of disgust “what do you want?” he said through a mouthful of food, “Do you see these guys over there by the door?” I asked. “what are you talking about?” he said, clearly confused.“Those guys right there, by the door, can’t you see them?“I pointed frantically in their direction. “Get glasses.” he said and went back to his burger.

I let out a sigh of exasperation, “I was the only one who can see them..... I’m crazy” I thought. I went through the backdoors of the cafeteria and into the bathroom. “I’ll stay here until the bell rings” I decided. Thoughts raced through my mind, “what do they want, who are these people?”. The bell rang, and I headed to class. The next class was math, with Mr.Potter. We filed into the class, I took my usual seat, the farthest corner, as farthest away from Mr.Potter as possible. Don’t get me wrong, Mr.potter is a great guy and all, he cracks jokes and is openminded. Personally, I’m a funny person, but I wasn’t the same for the past three weeks, since the breakup with Mallak, My ex. She broke up with me for no apparent reason, one night she called and said that we could no longer be together. I pleaded with her but to no avail. And who did she leave me for? Billy. That’s right, the guy who couldn’t tell the zero from a donut. That’s another reason why we detest each other very much, aside from him being the biggest bully in New York. As the rest of the class took their seats, I put my head on the table, trying to come up with an explanation for what was happening. Suddenly, someone plopped into the seat beside me, that was weird, nobody usually sits beside me. I raised my head, only to see the two men sitting on either side of me.

“Why are those two men following me?” I exclaimed silently, “they’ve been following me since I left for school.” I started panicking.“Even in the hallways, I saw them staring at me, Who are these people, and how didn’t anyone at school notice them?” I quickened my pace. My student badge read “Cole Archer”, I promptly put it in my pocket. I didn’t want those creeps to know who I am. They weren’t the normal creepy guys you’d see in low-budget movies, wearing black suits and shades. They wore normal clothes, which, unfortunately for me, made them blend in and look less suspicious. the reason I found them creepy is that their gaze was fixed on me, and they had a sort of robotic movement. The first guy seemed to be in his late thirties, with jet black hair and olive skin, and had a Middle-Eastern look. The second guy, however, was much older than the first, with white hair and florid skin, which I found a rather unique and fascinating combination. They were closing in on me, I quickened my pace even more. I saw the younger man whisper to the other guy, he nodded and they crossed the street and disappeared into the crowd. I let out a sigh of relief ” that was close” I thought.

After what seemed like forever I reached what I call home. It was a small apartment in the messiest part of town. I unlocked the door and tiptoed my way to my room. I closed the door after me as quietly as I can and turned around. I gasped. someone was sitting on my chair. “Where were you!” shouted my mom “mom!” I replied.“you scared me” I realized I was holding my breath. “Do I have to stay up late every night until you come back?” she yelled.

“where were you?” she repeated, “I was in detention” I muttered,

“detention till 9 o’clock?” she questioned “then I went to jake’s” I lied, jake and I didn’t talk in weeks, I was actually deep in the woods by the creek, where I could relax. she gave me a questioning look. She turned on the light. It was her time to gasp.” Who did this to you?” She exclaimed, staring at the deep gash on my forehead,” it’s nothing mom, I just fell” I lied.“No you didn’t!” mom said, “Was it Billy?” she inquired.“No Mom, I already told you, I fell, okay?”. I walked to my desk and dumped my books. She walked to me and placed her hand on my shoulders,” Cole, tell me what happened” She said softly. I slumped my shoulders, I knew I had to tell her.” He called Dad a wimp, mom, he did it right in front of me” I started to sob into her shoulders, I told her the whole story, we sat there in silence. ” You could’ve handled this in a..more adult way,” she said smoothly. I knew she was right, but part of me wanted to resent her for saying this, this was my Dad after all, how could she wave off something like that easily? Billy Johnson was the most notorious bully in our school, and I was his number one victim, we had several incidents before, but none as violent and aggressive as this. He picks on me because my father was a mythologist, and one day he left to seek some hidden item before I was even born, and never returned. We all assumed he was dead, it was 14 years already. Billy always taunts me by saying that Dad ran off because he didn’t want to see how ugly I will be when I was born (I’m not exactly prince charming). Today he said it in front of half the school, that was the last straw, I went ballistic. Although I got a nasty gash on the forehead I still managed to do some excruciating pain to his big fat face. We went to the principal’s office, which became like a home-away-from-home to me for the number of times I visit it every day. Mom just patted me on the back and told me to go sleep. I couldn’t sleep that night, I kept thinking of what happened in my mind until I fell asleep. Then i started dreaming, I was on what seemed like a cliff, I looked down and stumbled backward, all I saw was darkness, how high was this cliff? and suddenly I saw a person’s hand reach over the cliff, I stood there paralyzed, I kept telling myself that this was just a dream, and kept pinching myself to wake up but to no avail, I stared as the person pulled himself up the cliff, and fell motionless on the ground I heard wheezing, the person was clearly tired and probably hurt. I rushed to his side, as I got closer I realized that it was a man and he was unconscious, I knelt beside him and lifted his head, I nearly dropped it back, he looked familiar.... then it hit me, that man..... was my dad.