Zenith - Prologue
"It's down the main hallway, last door on the left. They hid it under the desk in the back!" I declared to my sister as she dashed past me. "We've only got three minutes left, so make it count!" I ducked into the music room, breathless from my last run into enemy territory. We were one flag away from a total victory.
I was startled by a noise behind me. An enemy? I turned around, ready to strike, only to see the slim figure of a young girl standing by the window. Her silhouette was sharply outlined by the full moon's light. What was someone like her doing in the school at this time of night? "Hey..." she spun around to face me. As she stepped away from me, the light fell on her face. It wasn't a girl, but a young boy with soft features. "Hey...what are you doing here?" He stared at me with wide eyes, as if surprised to see another person. I couldn't blame him. The school building was off limits at night, although that never stopped us from our weekly games of capture the flag. He took another tenative step back, and I saw that he was clutching a violin in his arms.
"Are you practicing?" I asked. He nodded slowly, never taking his wide eyes off of me. "Do you know how?" No response. "Well, you have to tighten the bow first," I said with a smile. I reached out for the bow in his hand, but he took another shy step back. "Come on, I'm just going to help you." I took his hand gently and removed the bow. "See? You tighten it like this so you can play." I placed it back in his hand. "Try it."
He lifted the violin to his shoulder and held the bow awkwardly against the strings. "Ah, no," I tapped his bent wrist. "Your wrist should be straight."
He stared at me for a second before lowering the violin. "So...I did it wrong?" he asked, his voice no more than a whisper.
"Ah? Well, I guess so..." I pondered. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small knife. The silver blade glinted in the moonlight as he drew the blade across his arm. "Hey!" I reached for the knife. The sudden movement startled him, and as he jerked his arm away from mine, the blade found its way into my arm. "AGH!" I drew my arm back quickly, holding it against my body. I could see blood dripping from between my fingers. "What was that?" I asked, biting back my words as the sharp pain pulsed through my arm.
His eyes were dull as he explained calmly, "I did something wrong, so I must be punished." He looked at the blood trickling down my hand, and his eyes widened slowly. "But you weren't supposed to get in the way," he whispered. His voice cracked, and it seemed for a moment that he was about to cry. But the moment passed quickly, and his eyes resumed their dull shade.
"Well, don't do that!" I snapped, "It's insane!" Before I could say anymore, I could hear the pounding of footsteps in the hallway.
"Kane!!!" I could hear Minya screaming at the top of her lungs. "STOP HIM!!!" I dashed into the hallway just in time to see Justice rush past me with our team's flag. My hand shot out, and I grabbed him by the collar.
"Agh-!" A sharp pain shot down my arm as his body jerked to a halt. I let go of him in surprise as blood from my arm splattered across the hall. Without hesitation, Justice leapt to his feet and dashed back up the staircase to his territory, flag in hand.
Minya approached me, still gasping for breath. "What happened?" she managed to breath out as we heard the school's clock announce 1:00am. She froze for a moment, staring at my arm. "Blood..."
"Oh, yeah," I mused quietly, staring at my arm. I turned back to look into the music room, but the boy was gone. "Yeah..."