With trembling fingers Marcus reached for his alarm clock. His vision was blurry and his head foggy. Unable to read the neon-green numbers on the display, he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. but it did little to improve his eyesight. His room was pitch-black and the display of the digital alarm clock cast a faint emerald glow across the room.

It was a minute past three-o-clock in the morning.

Marcus let out an annoyed grunt as he lay back on his bed, still holding the alarm clock. In three hours he would have to wake up again to get ready for school. It annoyed him that he couldn’t remember the nightmare. It must have been a pretty intense dream to wake him up.

It didn’t take too long for sleep to overcome him, and in a matter of seconds he was sleeping again.

The alarm clock rang exactly at five-thirty in the morning. Marcus didn’t think he would be able to hear the alarm at all. It was still dark outside, only a white line that outlined the tallest buildings across the horizon. Soon the streets of Telervo would be filled with people trying not to be late for work or school. Endless lines of cars, buses and motorcycles would soon fill up the city streets, and the subway would also be packed. Marcus tried to avoid crowds as much as he could. Rubbing against complete strangers made him uncomfortable, unless it was a beautiful woman, but that rarely ever happened.

Telervo was just like any other city, nothing out of the ordinary, with public transportation, businesses, schools and other assorted elements that made city life busy and stressful. Fortunately his family lived outside the city limits, and life in the suburbs was peaceful and quiet, the complete opposite of those who lived inside those giants of steel and concrete.

Marcus carried on with his normal morning routine, and went to school, taking the No.3 bus that would drop him just a couple of blocks from his destination. Sometimes, Marcus wondered why he should repeat this routine in what appeared to be an endless loop. Once in a while, he contemplated the idea of skipping school just for one day. But, if he did skip school, where would he go? He couldn’t go to the places he liked to hang out after school. Someone would recognize him and report him to the proper authorities, as Telervo had a very strict policy regarding education. Any student caught wandering the city during school hours would be reported to the board of education and sanctioned. And the last thing he wanted was to cause his parents any kind of grief.

Anyway, he was just months away from graduating, and after that he could do whatever he wanted. Marcus just had to tough it out for the time being.

That morning the No.3 bus was unusually full. His usual spot at the end of the bus was being occupied by a businessman who was talking on his phone while taking notes. Marcus knew that no one would give him their seat. He was an average seventeen year old, whose only outstanding trait were his piercing blue eyes that stood in sharp contrast to his medium length, jet-black hair.

The trip to his usual stop lasted at least forty minutes long, but somehow, standing up, the trip seemed to last longer than usual. But a figure standing near the bus stop made the trip worthwhile.

A sixteen year old girl with long, auburn hair, who wore a school uniform with the same colors as his, waited patiently for someone. Her name was Abigail, a fellow classmate and childhood friend. Marcus couldn’t wait for the bus to stop. Perhaps meeting up with her for a short walk before arriving at the school gates was the best part of his day. However, this time she wasn’t alone. There was a boy wearing the same uniform as the one he was wearing talking to Abigail, and for some reason his heart sank.

The brakes of the bus hissed and it came to a stop; the doors opened and several of the passengers stood up and left. Marcus stood motionless, shocked by this unexpected complication, which almost made him miss his stop. If it hadn’t been for one of the passengers who shook his shoulder, he would have missed it for sure. As it was, he immediately snapped from his self-imposed daze and jumped out of the bus.

His abrupt arrival interrupted the conversation that Abigail was having with the stranger, who just smiled at him and helped him regain his footing. Marcus was about to fall from the bus stop’s platform.

“Are you OK?” Abigail asked.

It took a moment before Marcus could answer. “I’m fine,” he said adjusting his schoolbag.

“We better get going,” said Abigail, but Marcus felt that she wasn’t talking to him, but rather to the good-looking boy standing beside her.

She turned around and the trio started walking to school.

Somehow, the walk to school seemed longer than usual. Marcus watched closely as Abigail talked to the new student, whose name was Alexander, but Marcus didn’t bother to hear his last name. He wanted nothing to do with the new kid, who was a very handsome man, a couple of inches taller than he was, short, spiky crimson colored hair and piercing green eyes with a slight hint of yellow.

Finally they arrived at school and Abigail offered to show Alexander around before the classes started, then she turned to Marcus, “you don’t mind, do you?” She asked, her was face beaming, which took Marcus by surprise. Was Abigail ever this happy?

“I don’t,” replied Marcus nonchalantly, even though he was burning with jealousy.

Marcus watched as Abigail and Alexander went inside the gargantuan building, which today was like a monster that was swallowing students.

What a crappy way to start the day, Marcus thought as he adjusted his schoolbag and slowly walked towards the main building.

During the rest of the school day, Marcus couldn’t keep his mind focused on his classes and ended up getting in trouble with some of the teachers that caught him staring into nothingness. And to make matters worse, Abigail and her new friend were nowhere to be seen.

Why did it bother him so much that Abigail spent so much time with some complete stranger? But that was Abigail, a kind soul that never thought twice about helping others. At times Marcus wondered how she could be so pure in a world that tainted everything that lived in it.

Taking the last bite out his sandwich, Marcus left the cafeteria and went back to classroom 5-B, which would be empty as there were still ten minutes before recess was over: ten minutes he would use to cool his head. Hopefully, he would finish the assignment that he forgot to complete the night before.

Much to his surprise, the classroom wasn’t empty. The teacher who taught the next period was already preparing the material he would need to impart his class. His name was Mr. Aker, a despicable little man, with an oval-shaped head, thinning hair and heavy glasses that rested on top of his crooked nose and enlarged his small, rodent-like eyes. He was a man who enjoyed humiliating any student who was failing his class, and him inside the classroom before recess was over meant that he was feeling particularly cruel that afternoon.

Marcus was about to turn tail when a voice called out to him.

“Ah, Mr. Biel,” Mr. Aker said with a grin. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Marcus didn’t turn around to face the little man, a teacher that was universally hated by the whole student body, and he couldn’t tell him that he forgotten to finish the homework assignment he gave to the entire class.

“I can’t wait to read your book report,” Mr. Aker said, the pleasure of making Marcus uneasy palpable in his voice. “Oh, don’t tell me you expect the classroom to be empty, so you could finish the book report I gave you last week, do you?” he said examining his watch, his grin widening “I can hardly wait to read your report.”

Marcus bit his lip so not to insult Mr. Aker. How could such a horrible man be a teacher? He was right though, ten minutes wouldn’t be enough. But he only needed to finish the last page of his book report, so it wouldn’t take him more than five minutes to finish it.

“I came to grab a toothbrush, Mr. Aker.” Marcus said as calmly as he could.

Mr. Aker watched closely as Marcus grabbed his schoolbag from his desk and walked out of the classroom, and slowly closed the door.

Marcus rushed to the rooftop of the school, usually off limits to students, but he had managed to strike a friendship with the janitor who gave him a copy of the key that lead to the rooftop. Why didn’t he grab his schoolbag before he went to recess? He could’ve avoided that unpleasant meeting with Mr. Aker. Marcus made a mental note to be more careful in the near future.

Five minutes later, Marcus completed his book report. The subject that Mr. Aker taught was Literature, and he had assigned them one of the most boring books Marcus had ever read. It was sheer will power that he managed to finish the book in time to start on his report.

Now, he only had to hand it to him.

When recess was over, waves of students marched to their respective classes, and even though Abigail and Alexander were nowhere to be seen, still, Marcus was feeling rather good about himself. With his homework finished, he would fly under Mr. Aker’s radar this time around.

Oh, how wrong he was.

When Marcus handed over his book report, Mr. Aker actually took his time to read it, even though he just picked up several other reports from his classmates.

Marcus eyes widened as did the entire class, when Mr. Aker drew out a red marker from the pocket of his dirty, beige jacket and drew a giant letter on the front page of the report, then handed over to Marcus.

“Fail, Mr. Biel.” Mr. Aker said unable to contain his delight, “If you keep this up, you won’t have enough credits to graduate this fall.” And under his breath said, so that only Marcus would hear him, “Your breath doesn’t smell like someone who just brushed their teeth.”

Something snapped inside Marcus’ mind, as stood up from his desk, “What’s wrong with you, you son of a bitch!”

The air was sucked out of the classroom by the collective gasp of his fellow classmates, who stood by their desks, immobilized by Marcus’ sudden outburst. But no one was more surprised than Mr. Aker, who stood there with his mouth agape.

“Do you take some sick pleasure in humiliating your students, you sorry excuse for a teacher!” Marcus continued as he tightened his grip around Mr. Aker’s wrist. All his anger, his frustration that had been accumulating since that morning was pouring out him like torrential water.

Marcus went on, telling Mr. Aker what he thought–what the school–thought of him. The color was draining from Mr. Aker’s face, like he never expected to get yelled at, especially by a student, his serf.

But when Marcus was finally able to calm down, heat emanating from every single pore in his body, cooling him down, he released his grip around Mr. Aker’s wrist. Then he looked around at his fellow classmates. All of them were staring at him, mouths agape and eyes widened. What were they thinking about? How he stood up against a tyrannical teacher or how Mr. Aker would make an example out of him?

The silence that reigned inside the classroom was broken by the footsteps of Mr. Aker who was walking to the door. Slowly, without looking at any of his students, opened the door and closed it behind him.

Marcus slumped on his desk as the rest of his classmates tried to act like nothing had ever happened. Most of them were saying how finally someone stood up against Mr. Aker. Others, that he was in a lot of trouble and that probably was going to get expelled. Anyway, it was over for him.

Thankfully, Abigail wasn’t there to witness how he just spectacularly messed up his future.

The twenty minutes that the class was supposed to last went by rather slowly. And Marcus, for the faintest of moments, thought that he was in the clear when the door to the classroom opened violently and in stepped the Principal’s assistant with a ghastly look on her wrinkled face.

“You come with me,” Marcus didn’t need to know who she was referring to. “Just come with me. You’ll come back for your things later.”

Marcus felt like an inmate walking down the green mile before his execution. His heart was pounding a mile a minute, and his mind was racing with so many thoughts that his body was moving automatically. What was going to happen to him? Would he get suspended? Expelled? Were his parents going to be there?

The Principal’s assistant showed him a chair just outside the Principal’s office, where he could hear people arguing inside. All the voices inside were speaking at the same time, so he couldn’t make out what they were saying, but Marcus recognized one of them. His mother’s.

His mother, Evangeline Biel, was a gentle woman, who held the position of manager at a local bank. Usually she was kind and understanding, but Marcus saw a totally different side of her one day he went to visit her after school. She was fierce, passionate, and severe. A totally different woman from the gentle persona he called “mother.”