//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: When Lightning Strikes // by Necrogen Lord //------------------------------// "Well, that concludes our class for today!" Mrs. Turner said, clapping her hands. "I hope to see you all here tomorrow, and that you enjoy your next year in our class! Goodbye, everyone!" With that, the class began to pack up with the hustle of the first day's end, Sunset and her friends chatting together as well. "Well, that was quite a day," Rarity said. "Yeah, glad that's over," Rainbow said. "So who's up for a relaxing afternoon at my place?" Pinkie said, bounding out of her seat. "I say we party for the start of a new school year!" "Didn't we already have one last Friday?" Fluttershy asked. "Yeah, but that was before Trevor came to school!" When Pinkie said that, the girls all turned to the new student as he was packing his belongings, his eyes going wide when he noticed the sudden attention. "Uh, w-what's up?" he said. "We're gonna hang out at Pinkie's house and we'd like you to join us," Rainbow said. "Why? I'm not... I mean, I don't-" "It's alright, buddy!" Pinkie said as she wrapped an arm around him. "We're just gonna hang out and eat some pizza and play video games and stuff! It'll be fun!" Sunset pulled Pinkie off of the shaking student before calmly explaining. "We just want to invite you to maybe hang out with us. You don't have to if you don't want to, I understand if the pressure of the first day's a bit much." Trevor looked between Sunset and Pinkie, taking in a few sporadic breaths before nodding. "Th-thanks, but I-I need to... make sure everything's alright at my place, I just moved in and, uh... sorry." "It's alright, you don't need to make excuses, darling," Rarity said. "Moving in to a new town can be quite troubling, not to mention starting school today. No need to strain yourself." "Yeah, don't feel bad about it, it's hard to keep up with me!" Pinkie said. "Just remember," Applejack said, "your invite's always good whenever ya wanna drop on by. Just make sure ya send word ahead." "Oh! Great idea, AJ!" Pinkie said. "We can give you our numbers so we can all stay in touch and answer any questions you might have about the school!" Trevor stood from his seat and ducked his head, adjusting his hat as he spoke. "I don't have a phone of my own." "Really? That sucks, man," Rainbow said. "What if you get attacked on the way home from school? Don't your parents care about your safety?" Trevor's hand shook as he brought his hat over his face before storming out of the room. As he left, the girls watched him slide between some students to distance himself from them. After a second had passed, the majority of them turned to glare at Rainbow. "What? It's a reasonable question," Rainbow said. \\\\\\////// Trevor rubbed a sleeve-covered hand over his upper lip, his eyes stinging as he walked faster than the students around him. He knew that they could see his tears running down his face and his snot wiping, and knew that they would likely make fun of him for it, but at that moment, he didn't care. He was experiencing such an overload of confusion, like someone had poured bleach and kerosene into a sink filled with acid before slamming him face-first into the putrid concoction. Making his way out of the front doors, he noticed at least two dozen eyes land on him from the parking lot, a mass of suit-wearing agents all entering their disguised vehicles as they prepared to follow him back to his designated residence. He felt some fort of comfort in knowing that they were nearby, ready in case something wrong could happen. A faint burning sensation swept through his scalp before he swallowed a lump in his throat. As the students around him dispersed, Trevor made his way to the sidewalk leading to the South section of the small town, his mind redrawing a still image of the map he had seen once a few days ago. Being what he was granted him some advantages, such as his photographic memory in some cases, his enhanced stamina and slight edge of physical prowess, allowing him to walk to and from his residence and school at a higher speed than most others would. These were still outweighed by the countless downsides to being a freak of nature, but Charles wanted him to think positively on these walks. Use this time to calm down. "Heya Trevy!" Trevor nearly tripped over himself when he heard the familiar voice right behind him, instinct and fear struggling over one another in a fraction of a second before he yelped in surprise, and thankfully did nothing else. Walking up to him were Sunset and Pinkie Pie, the former sporting a sweat on her brow as she caught up with the ladder, who was bouncing along casually. "You were right Sunset, he does have the same route as us!" she said. "Yeah," Sunset said. "Listen, I want to apologize for whatever Dash said to make you upset. It's just that we only met you today, so we're unaware of anything that might be offensive." Trevor turned his gaze away before picking up the pace, hoping to lose them. "T-That's fine, I'm alright, see ya." Pinkie turned a corner out of sight, waving her goodbye to Sunset. "Wait, hold on!" Sunset said, jogging to catch up with him. She managed to get a pace with the student and held a piece of paper out to him. "Jeeze, you're fast! Just, please, take this." Trevor glanced at the paper and carefully removed it from Sunset's grasp, reading the numbers that covered it. "It's all of our numbers, in case you have any questions," she said. A small feeling of warmth crept over Trevor's face as he pocketed the information, the numbers etched into his mind. "T-thanks, Sunset. I-I guess I'll... see you tomorrow?" "Yeah, sounds good! Hey, hold up for a second?" Trevor stopped at that moment, Sunset pausing to catch her breath. "Whew. Okay, so... what time do you think you'll end up walking to school from now on?" Trevor pulled up a memory of his schedule and then a map of the distance between his residence and the school, the numbers running through his mind as he blinked. "A-About 7:20?" he said. "Great! We can meet up at this corner," she said, pointing to the street signs. Trevor looked up to see the crossroad read, 'Maple Avenue' and 'Amber Road'. "A-Alright then," he said. "Um... t-thank you, Sunset, for helping me today. I didn't expect anyone to, uh... be so welcoming." "Hey, don't worry about it, I've been there before. It's not easy adjusting to someplace to different than what you've grown used to." Trevor slowly nodded. "Y-Yeah..." "Well, see you tomorrow!" she said, walking down the street with a wave. "Uh, g-goodbye," he said, waving back. \\\\\\////// With Sunset and Pinkie gone, Trevor increased his walking speed slightly enough to manage to walk halfway out of town in the span of a few minutes. Decrepit neighborhoods started to grow abundant, several rotting houses marked with eviction notices barely peeking out above the flora as he traveled further South. The armored vehicles started to depart one at a time as they tailed the Conduit to the abandoned part of town, a few taking turns in case he tried to run away. After another few short minutes of relative peace, Trevor made his way to a stony path laden with weeds to a rusted fence. Behind the barrier was a small house in pristine condition, completely out of place in the immediate area. The front door, however, was metallic and bolted at the edges. In front of the gate, Director Ross-Walker stood with a smile on his face. "Trevor," he greeted as the Conduit walked up, "enjoy your first day back to school?" "Y-Yes sir," Trevor said, straightening up. "Easy there, I've told you, this isn't an interrogation. I imagine you've had quite a day, why don't you just vent a bit and then we can talk about how it went?" "Yes si- I mean... a-alright," Trevor said. Trevor took his messenger bag off of his shoulder as they made their way towards the door. Charles reached for the handle and jostled it a bit before grunting. "Well, this is embarrassing," he chuckled. "Would you mind?" Trevor moved aside as Charles stepped back before grasping the handle and pushing his weight into the armored door. The entrance opened with a heavy creak as Trevor stepped inside, the sunlight slightly illuminating the interior of the estate. It was a simply furnished house with a black couch in the main room, a beige carpet covering the entire floor and a 30" TV on a cabinet opposite the couch, a small wooden table between them. The kitchen was visible through a bar-like counter near the doorway, a small island with green marble in the center of the predominately white kitchen. Through the kitchen, he could see a door to a bedroom open, a twin-sized bed with blue sheets over it, and a door leading to a full bath next to it. "This is it, Trevor," Charles said, patting Trevor's shoulder, "your new life starts here." Trevor nodded as he breathed in deeply through his nose, taking in the scent of his house. His. House. Not his cell, not his chamber, not his closet. Not Augustine's property. It was the very first thing that officially belonged to him. "And remember," Charles said, "out back is a transformer and distributor if you need to vent. Just make sure you don't overload it." "Thank you, Mr. Ross-Walker." "It's Charles when it's just us, alright kiddo?" Charles said with a pat on the back. "Now, I believe I saw you walking out of school with a couple of girls chasing you?" he said with a smirk, eyebrows poised for wiggling. "That's... i-it's not like that, Mr. Charles."