Ex-Eden

“What’s up with the sky?” Matt said.

“If that is your attempt at a joke, it was particularly awful.”

“No, im funny” Matt replied. “I’m actually asking- look at it! Its like that section is oscillating.”

She smirked, “I actually can’t believe you know what that word means.”

“ Are you gonna pay attention to the absolute freak show in the sky right now, or are you just here for quips?”

“Alright I get it ” she replied lazily. She tied the final knot on her white boots, well, formerly white boots, the spattered array of bloodstains ruined the image somewhat.

Sighing, the girl stood, violet eyes piercing over to the boy on the cliff. In the short time she had known him, he had proved to be nothing short of insufferable. Walking over and craning her head to the sky in the same angle as her companion, she waited.

…

“You know oscillating means moving right?” she asked, scoffing.

I know what I saw, Eris, there were colors too, almost like an aurora.”

“Maybe you’re geeked”, she smiled, a faint British accent coloring her tone, “Or touched in the head. Honestly, I'm really starting to think it’s the latter.”

“Whatever” Matt muttered darkly, “Lets just go back to campus before they come back.”

Eris smirked. “Your call, sire.”

Shaking his head and striding past her, he followed the path stretching out between the trees encroaching on the bluff.

He knew it would eventually lead them back to the metal gates.

For better or worse.

Chapter 1: It Started with a poorly placed bet

History class was boring. A very prominent universal truth. Such boredom, accompanied by having a night with only four hours of sleep and a lack of caffeine, would induce an altogether predictable outcome on its recipients.

Or, recipient, in this case.

“Mr. Ernest… Mr. Ernest!” a loud, squeaky voice screeched over the cloudy state separating consciousness from sleep, dreams from reality.

“Yezzir” The boy sat up, blinking against the harsh light of the classroom ceiling, dazed and confused. “The Mayans” he muttered incoherently, Oblivious to the soft laughter of his fellow students.

“Please try to stay with us Mr. Ernest, I will not tolerate the amount of disrespect you’ve shown me or your classmates again after today. As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted….’

“The Egyptians ” he stressed, with a pointed glare at the throughly cowed and formerly sleeping boy, “ created many prominent structures that were wondrous for their time, and a few that outlast even that.”

Matt stopped slouching and faced the board directly, trying to muster the necessary enthusiasm, failing horribly, but at least managing to feign a semblance of interest.

“The Great Pyramids of Giza” the teacher went on, “They are a wonder that have outlasted a time of wonders, a glorious piece of the ancient world steadfast in its existence. With inexplicable origins, and a fetid history.”

The professor took off his spectacles and cleaned them with a cloth from his shirt pocket. “More on that next week though, it is a Friday.” He said, looking at the clock on the wall.

“Remember that Wonders, ancient or otherwise, never cease. Have a good day children. Class dismissed.”

The throng of students happily packed up their supplies, papers, and books, eager to be out of class five minutes early. Matt followed the rest of the students, packing up quickly and getting out of his chair in the back, trying to avert eye contact.

“Not you, Mr. Ernest”

The hazel-eyed boy flinched slightly, turning away from the door to face the usually-stern teacher.

“Sit.”

“Im going to be late for my next class sir, it’s Ms. Devero sir, you know how she gets.”

“I’ll write you a pass” He replied smirking, “ That ought to ease Alexandria fury over your postponed arrival. Now then,” He continued, “Falling asleep in class isn’t normally like you Matthew, and as you know such a lackadaisical attitude towards academics isn’t tolerated here at Prewett, now is it?”

“No sir”- Matt replied sullenly. The adrenaline of a potential telling off fading as his sleep deprivation kicked back in.

“You need to get some more sleep evidently, I expect you to be attentive in the future. This is your final warning before a write up, I’m giving you a pass here, as I doubt you’d wish to deal with Hartigan in your current state.”

Shuddering at the thought of conversing with the stocky, beady eyed dean, Matt replied, “Yes sir, thank you sir”

“Best be off”

Scrambling out of the desk, backpack hastily swung over both shoulders, Matt exited the classroom and started walking down the hall, thinking of all the worse ways that could’ve gone in hindsight.

Falling asleep in Mr. Elm’s class was quite frankly asking for trouble, but the monotony of information on the Egyptians wore on his already waning consciousness. He truly couldn’t be blamed for falling into slumber.

He would’ve gotten plenty of sleep, and not had to deal with such consequences, if it wasn’t for the absolute shitshow of a dream he had last night.

Normally, through a time-tested combination of masturbation and weed, he slept rather peacefully. What dreams he had were hazy and infrequent, benevolent and barely recalled the next day. This had not been that.

“Ah!” He gripped his head, as if it would somehow reduce the slowly growing pounding in his temple that had revealed itself merely minutes after his rude awakening.

The morning had been awful. He had never been a morning person particularly, and waking up in a cold sweat while swinging a hand directly on a blaring alarm clock (so hard that it bruised a little) wasn’t what he would call a good start, he was grateful for wakefulness at the time.

His dream had been terrifying in its clarity, yet remained mysterious in its potential meaning.

A forest covered in snow, with dark, shrouded, and massive evergreen trees- some taller than the school, others ranging to the size of skyscrapers, still a rough estimate in the dream-world.

If that wasn’t eerie enough, burning crimson letters had appeared in the icy snow, a mantra that was seared into his unconsciousness, as much as he tried to suppress it during the day.

Find the remnant

‘Remnant of what” he thought furiously, “The hell is a remnant. What is that even supposed to mean?” As always, such thoughts yielded no divine answers, and Matt snapped out of his recollection.

“I better get to Ms. Devore’s class before she tears me a new one.” He said to himself, dismissing his confusing recollection. Sighing and jogging off in the direction of the class, he winced as he passed the open door to the side of him. Luckily, the hard-ass biology teacher didn’t notice the loud echoing footsteps past his classroom.

Find the remnant

“I’d rather find a girlfriend” he muttered, Mentally preparing himself for the next segment of the day.

——

It would’ve taken a braver man than he to walk into Ms. Devore’s class late and unannounced, and pushing his anxious footfalls over the doorstep almost came with a guarantee of social consequence.

“Ahem” - The brunette, middle aged Pre-calculus teacher stopped in the middle of her lecture, the potential scent of drama breaking the class out of its reluctant monotony.

“Mr. Ernest, nice of you to join us. It likely would’ve been smarter of you to wait outside.”

He smiled weakly, holding up the neon orange pass in silent defense.

“Very well, take your seat. Quickly now!”

Matt tucked his textbooks to his side and kept his head low, skirting around the outskirts of the lines of desks and navigating the path of least resistance to his seat towards the back. As he approached the traditional wooden desk, a pang of his former headache returned, accompanied by a slight misstep.

Tripping gracefully, his balance promptly decided to shoot itself, and he crashed to the classroom floor.

“Mr Ernest,” Ms. Devero sighed, “Can you please see an end to the disturbances you cause today.” She snapped

“He probably can’t through those thick ass glasses he wears” Erik muttered- more like shouted- in the deafening silence of the classroom, much to Matt’s contrition.

The class exploded into giggles as Ms. Devero gave Erik a brief reprimand, much to Matt’s chagrin.

“Be quiet, Mr. Lewis,” she snapped, as Matt scrambled off the ground and sank into his seat miserably. “As I was saying, regarding imaginary numbers, we use the variable i to denote these values. In many equations this variable serves as an effective substitute…”

Matt sank further in his seat, the words of the teacher washing over his embarrassed frame. Not only did he have to come late, but he really had to go and slip up in front of the whole class like that! Alicia was in this class.

Turning his head slightly and scanning the room he spotted the pretty, blue-eyed, brunette girl several desks over from him, giggling slightly with one of the guys next to her.

Matt sighed again, feeling the weight of embarrassment and exhaustion take their toll on his psyche. This day really couldn’t end fast enough.

As if adding salt into the wound, his headache returned with a throbbing prominence,

Find the remnant

———-

Class really didn’t end fast enough. By the time Ms. Devero had finished lecturing, Matt’s already battered psyche took a slight turn for the worse. The headache had not lessened in its intensity, and it was honestly becoming a little debilitating. The day itself was almost over however, and the sun shone with the kind of optimistic luster only an afternoon could bring.

“Only 1 class left today” Matt thought to himself as he walked swiftly out and away from Devero’s class, “ and hardly the worst one.” Trying for a smile.

He wanted to head back to his locker and deposit his books, since carrying them all into his last class seemed like an awful concept. Knowing the passing periods were minimal, five minutes at best, he’d have to hurry to get up two flights of stairs for the last class.

His headache throbbed away with a vengeance however, and his desperate flight up the stairs ended not at his locker, but at the 3rd floor bathroom outside Mr. Nelson’s class.

“Can I chill, I have to be in Mr Nelson’s class in like 3 minutes!”, Matt thought furiously to himself. “Like do I need more water or something what’s going on”

“I’ve stayed up late and gotten little sleep before,” he said to himself, splashing some of the sink water onto his face. Shaking his head, “Why is it so bad today?” he continued rhetorically, looking up into the mirror.

A gasp tore from his lips, heartbeat thundering through the sleep-deprivation and grogginess. Pedaling back and almost slipping on the tile floor, he turned around swiftly, seeing nothing but empty stalls.

“What in the fuck?!!” He almost screamed, tone lowering right before the words were delivered. He winced at the proximity of the nearby classrooms, who doubtlessly still had their doors open.

“Sleep” Matt thought fervently, “I just need sleep”

“I’m literally so strung out right now, shits going crazy.”

I’m seeing things now huh... sleep deprivation is a bitch.”

His self reassurances continued, heartbeat steadily returning to normal.

In spite of his own tentative levity, he couldn’t banish the sudden image in his head. In the split second reflection of the mirror, as he was wiping the water droplets from his eyes, he had seen someone. Someone standing several paces behind him, staring at him and his reflection. Not just a someone, a girl. An extremely gorgeous girl actually, with platinum blonde hair almost tinted blue in the lighting, a beautiful face offset by the expression on it. It screamed anger, no more potent than that, more like fury- all of it focused on him and his reflection.

“I’m tweaking, I have to be, maybe I accidentally took acid or something.” He muttered anxiously leaving the bathroom and trying to banish his wayward thoughts.

“Sleep deprivation, it has to be” He continued, uncertainty coloring his every step into Mr Nelson’s classroom.

The most terrifying thing had been her eyes, in the brief moment they met his in the reflection, haunting his subconscious as Mr. Nelson closed the door and began to take attendance.

They were purple.

———-

Despite the shocking interlude in the bathroom before class, the remainder of the day proceeded in a normal, lackadaisical fashion. After leaving his last class, Matt retrieved his backpack from his locker and exited the school with haste, walking over to his 2012 Toyota Camry. As he was about to open the door, hand on the driver’s side handle, a familiar boisterous voice yelled,

“ Hey Ernest, don’t skrrt off yet! We gotta talk about the plan for tonight!!”

“Emma, hi what’s good”, Matt replied, wincing a little at her loud tone and brightly clashing colors. His former freshman year crush turned lab project partner and occasional close friend smiled. She was wearing a white turtleneck with a bright orange ‘I Love StuCo’ jacket overlaid, along with her typical ripped jeans and vans sneakers.

“Michaels’ party is tonight, you’re still going right?! I wouldn’t put it past you to flake.” she shook her head in mild disapproval, “We’re all going to be there, so don’t think we won’t come drag you from your house if you fail to show.” She narrowed her eyes in mock anger, probably not entirely faked.

“Duly noted,” Matt replied smirking, “I’ll b sure to consider your threat with the weight it deserves-absolutely none.” His slight smirk taking a more arrogant and instigating edge.

“Try me Ernest” Emma shot back. “I expect to see you by the counter four shots deep by nine, if not I’m coming to collect you.”

“Oh I’m sure you would.” He shook his head slightly. “What are the odds of you ignoring my absence and having a good time anyway?” He asked rhetorically.

“Not likely.”

“Yea I figured.” He sighed. “I’ll see you later Emma, it’s been a hectic day but I’ll try to make an appearance. Don’t count on it though.”

“C’mon Matt you never come out anymore! Alicia is going to be there too,” her smile took on a teasing edge, “ I bet if you attended she’d be open to some moves tonight.”

He flushed a little, remembering his slip up in class, “I guess we’ll find out.”

“Yayy!” She cheered, “I’ll drive you there later if you want, might give you a few tips on spitting game.” She chuckled at the look on his face.

“Sounds tempting” he smiled back sarcastically, “I’ll text you when I’m sufficiently desperate.” With that final parting shot, he got into his car amidst Emma’s laughter.

“Bye Ernest! Don’t forget to come in theme.” She smirked again walking back to the red brick school for after class programs.

“See you”

Matt put his car in reverse, pulled out of the parking space, and exited out of the main lot. As he sped down the peaceful streets of the quiet sleepy town he called home, his mind drifted back to the strange interlude in the bathroom, and his even stranger dream from the night before.

“Find the remnant” he muttered to himself, turning up the radio station in the hopes of blocking out his thoughts. “Sanity is a poor bet anyway.”

———-