It was early 1:00 a.m. in the morning.

Alex blankly looked out the train window staring at the distant lamp lights passing by in a blink. The murky night limited his vision to look farther away. A while later the train stopped at a station. Alex who was completely slumped in his seat adjusted himself as he straightened up. He was about 5'6, with a decent face that might seem like a handsome one on his lucky day. Like many other teens his body was on the slim side. The doors opened as a single person with a briefcase walked into the coach.

He was tall man about 6 feet, having little greying beard and complete grey hair with a few locks of black hair here and there. He was wearing black casual clothes and a goggle. But the most peculiar thing about him was the Chinese hat he was wearing on his head.

Alex vaguely took notice of him as the man took a seat in front of him. Apart from a few other people here and there the coach was mostly empty. The man immediately rested his head back and soon drifted to sleep.

Meanwhile Alex grabbed his bag from the luggage rack above. He opened it to remove something to eat while he waited for the next station which was also his stop, Uphill station.

However, suddenly the train came to an abrupt halt throwing the passenger inside off balance. Alex’s bag fell from his hands along with his stuff which dropped out of it while he fell to the left almost hitting his head. Luckily, he wasn’t hurt.

He quickly bent down to gather his things and stuff them in his bag. As he got up, he noticed something strange about the man. Even after the sudden halt he didn’t budge from his place. He was unmoved, resting his back sitting on his original position. What made Alex feel even weirder was that the man was still asleep.

‘What the…’ He couldn’t help but contemplate this situation when suddenly the voice came over the speaker in the coach informing the passengers that they had some obstacle on the track which was now being cleared and assured them that the journey would resume shortly.

Alex didn’t think much of it as he packed his bag and put it back on the luggage rack. However, what he didn’t notice was that the man’s briefcase had opened up after which something having black legs like structure crawled out of it and the second his attention was attracted by the announcement, the thing had slipped inside his bag.

Not long after the train started back again and pretty soon Alex reached his station where he got off completely oblivious about the thing in his bag.

…

UPHILL CITY

It was early 3 a.m. in the morning. The only thing Alex wanted was to lay down somewhere but the place ahead of him stopped him from giving in just yet.

Apparently, he had taken the wrong route to his new boarding school from the station. He had been walking for the past half an hour since he arrived in the interiors of the city. There weren't any cabs available at this hour.

There weren't many locals he can see about aside from some whom he deemed to better be away from as they were clearly drunk. But he was lucky to come across some villagers who directed him to the school.

A few minutes later he reached the gates of the school. As he looked at the large school gate up and down a voice called out to him.

"What are you doing there!?"

As if snapping out of a long sleep he covered his eyes from the flash of the guard’s torchlight. Alex responded "I am a new admission here; my train was delayed and I was a little lost."

The guard moved a little closer and found a young boy rubbing his eyes. The guard then asked for his name to be checked in his register whether there was a new admission coming in today. After confirming Alex's registration as 'Alex Morgan' and appointing someone else to his post he led him inside.

Alex followed the guard through the school gates observing the guards(watchmen) cabin to the left side of the old creaking giant gate. Lamps were lit at almost every turn. As soon as he walked a few steps he sighted a three-way junction.

The guard lead him toward the left path. It was plain and clean with bushes, benches and a waste bin to either side. Ahead lay the boy's dormitory.

As soon as the guard left the appointed room, Alex fell on a random bed, too tired to even change his clothes or take a shower. The room could be more precisely called a hall which had many beds lined in arrangement for the students. He didn't care as even the other students hadn't arrived and he was alone in the big room or more likely a small hall which had beds arranged in lines for the students to sleep.

It was common for students to come to boarding school just a day before. He had travelled a whole day and had arrived two days before the commencement of school. ‘Hopefully I could live my next three years peacefully here.’ Were the last thoughts he had before he fell asleep.