School Days chapter two: Finding

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Franken awoke to the smell of eggs. He was back in his bed. Back in his home. As he got out of bed he grabbed his slippers, also homemade, and pulled then on. His parents were sitting at the table of their humble home eating breakfast. As he sat down to his eggs his mother finished her eggs. His father chuckled as Mary kissed her son as she left.
Kurt Stein was a retired doctor. His own grey hair was shorter then Franken's and his blue eyes were larger and twinkling.

"Did you sleep well son?" Kurt asked as he picked up his own empty plate. Franken nodded, not willing to give up his eggs just so he could talk. Franken's father walked to the kitchen too.

Franken could feel his parents eyes on him, but he didn't do anything. Those boys were the ones that were chasing him. He didn't do anything, and those boys almost killed him. He finished his eggs and brought his plate to the kitchen. His parents were still watching him.

"Should I get started on my chores?" He asked, trying to bring his parents back to the present. Both blinked back into reality.

"Franken, you almost drowned yesterday. You should lie down," Kurt said crossing his arms.

"I feel fine."

Mary walked up behind Kurt and put a hand on his shoulder. "Your father is right. You need to go back to bed."

"But who's going to feed the chickens?"

"I will handle it," his father said. "Go back to bed."

Franken sighed. He wasn't going to be able to talk them out of this one. He walked out of the kitchen and back into his room. He sat on his bed. He didn't want to be here! Franken reached under his bed and pulled out his sketch book. The first few were a mix of his parents, his chickens, and different frogs and snakes. A few years ago he had noticed something if he stared at people long enough. He noticed floating balls in the middle of their chests. Curiosity always was his biggest problem. He learned that each and every floating ball was different. His teacher's beige one was unlike Wolfgang's mud brown one. As he curiosity grew the more he realized that there was something wrong with him.
Other people couldn't see the floating balls, not even the kids who still believe in Santa Clause or the Slender Man. Maybe he got it from his mom, who seemed to be able to do anything except see the floating balls. Or maybe he was insane, like the kids at school said. Or, like he had always suspected, he was alone in the world.
Whether he was mentally stable or not wasn't for him to decide, so he had always assumed that only he could do it. He was the only one who saw floating balls of light when he looked at living beings.

Well, all except plants. Plants were difficult. Human ones came in different colors and facial features that matched their personality, while animal ones were light color and vaguely shaped like the animal's head. His chicken Goldilocks used to have one that was very lightly tinted a yellow and had a beak, while Mrs. Wagner cat had a tinted red floating ball with cat ears. He believed that because animals acted on instinct their souls were white, and then tinted a color to match their personality.
Plants, on the other hand, didn't have a consciousness like humans or animals, they didn't have floating balls of light when he looked at them, but he did feel something. He didn't know what it was, and not knowing annoyed him, but so far he hadn't been able to figure out plants, in that sense.

But he did notice something else. It happened after Goldilocks died. He was feeding the chickens when he felt something that felt somewhat like Goldilocks' floating color ball. It was similar to the plant thing, he could feel something, but couldn't see anything. So while he was feeding the chickens he would focuses on that feeling until his head hurt. Finally something happened: he could see the color ball.

Goldilocks' color ball was see through, but besides that it seemed alright. He continued to work and finally he could see Goldilocks herself. Transparent, unaware, but she was there, picking at the ground as though there was chicken seed there. He continued to work up. From chickens, to cat, to dogs, to wolves, and now he was going to try humans. But unlike the others he needed to get into the cemetery for that, and he wasn't allowed to go after trying to dig up a body.

He closed his sketch book and placed it into a (homemade) bag. Along with that went a candle, matches, drawing pencils, writing pencils (yes, there is a difference), and an extra pair of woolen socks. He had fallen into a freezing lake at one time and found that if he kept his feet at a conferrable temperature that he could at least walk home.
He threw the bag over his shoulder and went to his window. It looked like a long way down from up here, but then again he was really short so that could be an adding factor.
Stein opened his window and carefully lowered himself out of it. He had done this before, and since it seemed like he was going to live his life as a midget he never had to recalculate the fastest and easiest way down.

The last part was the most changing for him. He had to jump down from at least six feet of the ground. For most kids his age it wouldn't be a problem, but for him, well, that was a different story. Jumping from this height he might potentially break his leg. The last time he did it he had twisted his ankle, and couldn't walk on it for a week.
He jumped. He wasn't worried about falling his back. He always landed on his feet, but this time he didn't land at all. He looked down to see that he was suspended in the air about three feet from the ground. And from the pressure that he was feeling under his armpits he was sure that he was being held. Sure enough when he looked he saw his father's disapproving gaze from above him. Kurt slowly lowered his son to the ground.

"What, if I may ask, were you doing?"

Franken opened his mouth to talk, but stopped when he felt something. People who he knew floating color balls were easier for him to read and feel, but this time it wasn't a person that he knew, or even seen before. He had no previous knowledge of this color ball. Or the ones that followed this man. Unheard of in this town.

Kurt noticed the change in his son instantly. He turned to face the threat, pulling his son behind him, even though whoever it was wouldn't be here for another ten minutes if Franken was just sensing them.

"Go get your mother," he told his son. Before he could Mary appeared out of nowhere. She also stood in fount of Franken, next to her husband.
"What is it?" she asked.

"I don't know."

Mary kneeled down and grabbed her son's shoulders. "Franken, please to inside."

"But-"

"Do as your mother says," Kurt barked. Franken frowned, but did as his parents told him to do. As he got into his room he could see the man he had first sensed. He had dark skin, dark brown dreadlocks, and had a necklace of bones around his neck. He was tall and lean and walked with a good humor about him. Behind him was a woman in her mid-twenties, with long brown hair and green eyes. She wore cowboy boot and a western hat. Following them was a group of men and a group of women, and for some odd reason all six of them walked in groups of twos.

The African man walked directly up to his parents, with the cowgirl not far behind. The other four stayed behind.

"Hello, are you Kurt and Mary Stein?" he asked threw a thick accent. He was still smiling.

Kurt answered the man while Mary looked up at her son. She pulled on the end of her nose. To many people that would look strange, but Franken knew otherwise. He and his mother had come up with a secret language that contained body movements. Mary pulling on her nose meant the she wanted him to run. Run into the woods and wait for them. She thought that whoever these people are that they were going to cause harm to him.

He grabbed his bag. He also grabbed a spare change of clothes, nightwear, two pairs of wool socks, a wool sweater, and a small blanket.

He swung the thoroughly stuffed bag into his back, and raced out the back door, only stopping to grab a loaf of bread and a small block of cheese. Who knew how long he would be out there?

As he raced into the wood he didn't notice the group of men start to follow him, nor did he notice that the girl group had disappeared altogether. He was too busy think of a good place to hide. They wouldn't find him, and even if they did he would make them pay.
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He was running. Where in the world was he? He had no idea, but there were two chicks after him, and something told him that he couldn't let them catch him.
He hid behind a rock, waiting for them. And they didn't disappoint. The ladies were always chasing him.

"He's close by," said the woman dressed in a baseball jersey and a baseball cap. Definitely American. "I can sense him."

Sense? Shit, he thought. A meister. And Father always said never trust those freaks. But I'm a weapon, shouldn't I trust them?

"Hey Carrie, do you think I should change?" asked the woman that was somehow able to run through the woods in high heels.

The baseball star nodded and heels changed into an oversized baseball bat that looked like it was made of rosewood.

Okay, let me get this straight. The heels lady is a Demon Bat, her meister looks like she eats, breathes, and sleeps baseball, and her name is Carrie. And the bat is probably only a head shorter than me, and more than half my weigh. And the bat's pink. Yep, I'm running.
And with that thought he took off, with the ladies not far behind. Spirit crashed through the trees, not really caring that he was probably ruining the landscape. He only stopped when he saw another meister holding what looked like a huge stick. The men pointed towards him, only they should have been looking up, seeing as something grey and only slightly taller than his waist jumped on them from above.
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Franken watched the two men from the tree tops. Somehow they were tracking him. One had said that he was close, and the other changed into a huge staff. This is a very strange day, he thought with a satisfied smile. He felt his electricity (another thing that he could do, but the others couldn't) move up and down his arm. With a wicked smile he dropped from the trees into the men.

He grabbed the end of the staff, using his own personal electricity to shock both of the men. They dropped like bugs. He heard females shout in surprise. He tried to stand up to see who he was facing next, but something ran him over. He spotted a flash of red, and the ground collapsed beneath him.
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The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the ground, which was strange because Franken was looking up.

I must be underground, he thought getting up. Then he remembered the flash of red. He brought to his attention various parts of his body, making sure that he wasn't injured. That's when he noticed the boy.

He was taller than him, with blood red hair. He lay on the ground, either sleeping or unconscious. Stein's bag lay next to him.

Franken ran to his bag, sliding on his knees part of the way. Looking through the bag he quickly took an inventory.

Everything was there. Franken hid his surprise, even though the boy was asleep. Nothing was gone. Not even the food, though it had been nibbled on, but the boy didn't do it greedily. He was careful to make sure that he didn't eat too much.

The boy stirred and opened his aqua eyes. He looked at Franken with an odd expression, like gazelle looking at a lion. He was waiting for an opportunity to run.

Franken didn't do anything. He simply plopped down on the ground and took a bit of bread for himself. The boy watched him uneasily as he moved into an aggressive crouch. Franken ignored the boy's movement and continued to chew on his bread. The redhead finally seemed to realize that Franken wasn't going to hurt him, so he calmed down. Instead of the aggressive crouch he settled into sitting on his bum, with his knees in the air. He simply watched Franken as he ate.

Franken looked at the redhead. "Who are you?" His tone was cold and uncaring, but the boy didn't seem to mind.

"I'm Spirit Al-" the boy stopped abruptly and looked down. "Spirit. Just Spirit."
Franken hit his hands together knocking spare bread crumbs into the dirt floor. "How did we get down here?"

The redhead -Spirit- looked up at the grey haired boy. "I was running to get away from these two chicks, when I tripped over you, the ground collapsed, and we fell down here. For some reason they didn't follow. I dragged you way from the hole, helped myself to some bread, and fell asleep."

Franken thought about what Spirit had just said. He grabbed the bag and put it back onto his back. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, finding the two females that Spirit was talking about. They were still above the ground, and one of them was scared beyond belief. They wouldn't be coming down here anytime soon. He opened his eyes before Spirit noticed. Him knowing that he was a freak was the last thing that he needed right now.

"We need to head this way," Franken said starting towards the other end of the tunnel.
"Wait, you want to head further underground?" Spirit asked with disbelief.

Franken nodded. "But if these people have followed me this far then they're good. You'll have to be fast."

Spirit stood and gave Franken thumbs up. "Don't worry. Fast is my middle name."
Franken tilted his head slightly to the left and looked at Spirit, obviously contemplating something. Then with a small noise that was almost approval he started off again. Spirit ran after him.

"Is something wrong?"

Franken shook his head. "I guess that my parents aren't the only people with a strange sense of humor about naming their kids."

"I was joking."

Franken stopped and did his contemplating look again, and with a small noise of understanding he set off again. "I'm not good with jokes."
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