The Eternal Sleep

My name is Luca Danvers

“Mr. Jettson, I see that you still haven’t made a choice, I’m beginning to wonder if you’re even considering it?”

“No ma’am, it’s still in my bag if you want to check.” If it was physically possible, Luca would’ve already crawled into said bag and used it as a hiding spot. For the last ten minutes, his teacher had been badgering him on his collage choices, asking far more questions than had even been remotely easy to answer in a single day.

“You, among several others chose to take the exam early for a reason. You and I very well know that most of those other kids have already handed in letters to their school of choice, right?”

“Yes, but I’m not like other kids. You know that.”

“Yes, that is right Mr. Jettson and that’s why I’m pestering you so much.” She gave him a miserable look, her hands twitching around her folder, “Look Luca, the school board is just worried about you.”

“And what for?” Luca raised his head slightly and tapped his fingers restlessly on the desk, contemplating if it was possible to just grab his bag and run.

“You are one of our brightest minds, the clearest we’ve seen was in your finals, scoring a near perfect score-“

“And what, far as I  understand, the decision still remains mine.” He cringed as he voice came out weak, his foot bobbing to an odd beat on the ground.

“But you are also someone who has been through a lot this year.” She continued to speak in a pitying tone, “We just want to know what you’re going to do with that stress.”

“There is no stress,” Luca hissed, tensing in his seat in response. He knew he’d acted out when his mother’s wedding was upon him, but he didn’t need a talking to when it was so many months behind him, “There is nothing stopping me, I just haven’t made my choice yet, we still have a month.”

“Yes, but-“

“Yes, but, nothing!” Luca grabbed his bag and headed to the door, ignoring the possible principal lecture he could get for his disrespect, the anger burning his chest painfully, “I’m fine and I don’t need your help. I didn’t then, I don’t now, and I most definitely won’t in the future. And for future reference, my name is now Luca Danvers, my father can keep his useless name.”

He slammed the door behind him, speed walking to the school’s exit, gripping his bag to tight and breath coming in out in gasps. He needed to get out if there, he didn’t care if the school technically hadn’t rung the dismissal bell.

The fresh air definitely helped clear his head, the guilt from his rushed actions leaving a faint buzzing in his head. He wanted to turn around and apologize but the teacher’s pitied look was a printed image in his head. He tugged his bag closer to him, and pulled his hoodie over his head, relaxing slightly with the small about of security.

He contemplated leaving the school altogether, but the security was certain to notice him, he slightly regretted making friends with them as it was sure they would call him out and ask him too many questions as well. The next best place he could hide was the library, he just hoped it didn’t have a lot of people.  

Luca pushed open the doors and pulled back his hoodie, waving at the librarian, she hardly paid him any attention. He’d been in here so often to hide from the general noisiness of high school, he had his own spot usually kept clear by the librarians.

He grabbed a random book from the tray peeking out from behind a shelf and slumped heavily on his chair, tossing his bag to the side. His heart finally calmed, the shakiness in his numb fingers slowing. He tossed the book on the table, digging into his bag.

The teenager pulled out the collage forms and laid them out carefully on the table, the well-known ones on the top. He rubbed his face, it wasn’t the choice of which school, he could make that decision easily, there were so many other factors he had to take into consideration.

Money would not be easy, the distance, the subjects. His family still lived in an apartment, they were paying for Jasper’s tuition, his mother worked on shift in the restaurant and his father was still trying to find a permanent job. Luca wasn’t old enough to get a job in the area he lived yet, and by the time he turned eighteen, collage classes would’ve already started.

He knew he was making excuses; it was an easy decision. It was still in a sealed envelope, mocking him with it’s too neat handwriting and colorful stamp. The school of ‘Scientific Research and Technological Advancements’, the place of his dreams and his admission still unknown.

It’s been a week and no clues, no leads and no idea what they were going to do next. Luca sighed and leaned heavily on Armando’s hunched back, his screens dissolving. “We don’t have a first clue on what we’re doing.”

“Nothing, not even someone else getting a card or anything?” Jay paced the rooftop restlessly.

“No, it’s almost like we’re looking for something that doesn’t exist.” Armando sighed and leaned back on Luca, swiping away his screens too.

“And how long we have on this competition again?”

“Two months and a half I think?”

“Okay, okay, that’s still a good time frame, I would’ve preferred a year or no time constraint at all but-” Jay yelped as Olivia pulled him down to sit, rolling his eyes huffing as he fixed his rumpled jacket.

“Look guys, all we’ve done is sit on this roof and look at screens and quarrel.” Rena sighed, walking towards them.

“And your point?”

“Okay, look at it this way, we have three months remaining in this game. Sorry, two and a half,” she rolled her eyes at Luca’s raised eyebrows, “I, for one, sure wouldn’t want to spend it wallowing in ridiculous impossibilities.”

“Then what do you suggest we do?”

“I can’t walk in real life; I want to do something darn well exciting.” She stressed, her body language stressed, “I want to do something so exciting that I’ll remember it for the rest of my life, and I don’t want to do it by myself, I want to do it with the people who got me out of my head and had me seeing the enjoyment in life.”

“Ren’s right.” Olivia stood up, “If it’s something we’ve all learnt over the last year, we can’t keep hitting a brick wall with our fists and expect to break it down. If this is my last two months with all of you, I want to spend it doing something fun.”

“I’m in.” Jay stood up, his expression determined.

“Okay, then what’s the plan?” Luca pulled himself up, offering his hand to Armando.

“Do we really need a plan?” Armando glanced at all of them.

“I say we start by doing a quest.”

“Good thing I have one in mind.”