k Guys, sorry for the really long wait on this follow up but well... I've had difficulties getting it up. I'm sure you know the story already. So, sorry about that. I hope Chapter 2 is worth the wait!
I tried my best with writing your characters, but I don't think it's as good as I'm normally able to write (but, I'm usually wrong about these sorts of things XD), so sorry if I wasn't able to reach my full writing potential with your charries. But in my defense, this isn't the most exciting chapter for them yet. Their major storyline will come soon.
Anyway... You've heard enough from me already. Please R&R! :D
Oh, and here's the rating of the story.
Rated T For: Coarse Language, Slight Supernatural Themes/Horror (depending on your interpretations of the story)
Chapter 2 – Routine?
For Lewis, no matter how thought provoking everything occurring in his life was, time was never going to stop. His life would keep going and he was just going to have to deal with it like he did every other day, even if he knew the life he had lead was never going to be the same again.
The morning woke him early as he was dragged out of bed by the sounds of music blasting from his Ipod Clock, which had been set to wake him up at 6:30. Lewis didn’t usually find himself out of bed until around 8, before spending a rushed 5 minutes to get ready to leave for school, but this time he wanted an early head start.
He yawned and rolled over, shutting off the blaring sound of “Woke Up This Morning” by Nickelback [A/N: Cause what else would he want to wake up to? XD] before he woke anyone else up before carefully lifting himself out of bed. He stood in front of the mirror on the back of his bedroom door and after wiping the last of his sleep away from his eyes, he gazed deeply into his reflection in disbelief still utterly confused by what was going on.
He did one final test, standing in front of the mirror and saying the ‘magic words’ once more as if hoping that everything that had filled the period of the last few weeks of his life was all just a dream. But it wasn’t. He was still a dragon and as he looked down, he noticed the ‘mark of the spider’ as he liked to call it, was still there.
He sighed and quickly changed into his School Uniform, which in itself seemed like just another rambling, tedious task. He pulled on the thick, cotton pants that kept him warm all summer and winter as they had to wear them all year round due to the dress code. Thankfully it was winter though. He then pulled on his white button shirt and pulled on his tie, before heading out to the breakfast table.
By the time he was done it was still only 7 o’clock and though he could hear the sound of his brother standing underneath the shower, there was no one else out at the Breakfast table yet.
Just like his daily routine, no matter the major things going on in Lewis’s life, all the little things he’d known and grown up with seemed to never change. Like his school. It was still the same place of hustle, bustle and non stop chatter amongst students it was, like any other school. With kids sitting at benches talking, or finishing homework off at the last minute or trying to provoke a fight amongst the two kids who absolutely despised each other. Lewis smiled, it was nice to know that some things didn’t change.
He made his way over to his locker, which was surprisingly vacant this time. Usually his locker and the few ones surrounding it seemed to be a very popular place for people to sit, which makes getting stuff out of your locker or putting something away a lot harder.
Lewis reached into his pocket, placing his bag down beside him and pulled out his keys before unlocking the padlock on his locker and swinging the door open. He opened up his back and began to place his required books for the day on the shelves within his locker. It wasn’t much longer before he was joined by his friend and ‘locker neighbour’ Mark, who always came a few minutes after him. Today was once again, no different.
“Hey man,” he said seeing me as he opened his locker, locker #69
“Hey,” Lewis replied, putting the last of his books away into his locker.
“What’s up?” Mark asked once he’d put his bag away as well.
“Not much,” Lewis replied, the understatement of the year.
“Yeah, me neither.” Mark said as he returned to his feet. Mark was roughly Lewis’s age, younger by about 8 months with short cut brown hair and blue eyes.
“Still got the mark, thing?” Mark asked
“Yeah,” Lewis replied, seeing that his sleeve had slipped down revealing the scar on his wrist “the doctor said it should wear down anytime soon,”
”Dude, he’s been telling you that for like a month now,”
“No,” Lewis replied “He’s been telling me for a little over two weeks and it’s not like I can rub an ointment or anything else on it to make it go away.”
“Yeah, I know,” Mark replied “But still. There has to be something more he could do.”
“Well, apparently not.” Lewis said
“Doesn’t it freak you out?” Mark asked, suddenly causing Lewis to stop what he was doing and pause momentarily staring down at his right wrist which was gripping the textbook he was putting away into his locker.
“What do you mean?” Lewis asked eventually, trying to pretend like he didn’t know what Mark was on about.
"Well, it's a mark caused by a spider bite... Don't you find the fact that it's in the shape of a spider a bit creepy?"
Lewis didn't respond, he just looked down slightly upon the marking on his forearm as if just noticing it for the first time.
He knew what Mark was talking about. He thought about it all the time himself. But for some reason he just didn't want to accept it. He didn't want to show a fear or a weakness because he was afraid that he might let it distract him from all the things that are already going on in his life.
"Look..." Mark continued eventually "I don't want to scare you or anything, but to me it just seems a litte...weird. Almost as if it was some kind of a sign."
Lewis still didn't respond, he was just sitting there contemplating what Mark was saying. For once, someone had put his own thoughts into words he could understand.
A sign? Lewis thought, running his hand over his wrist gently.
That's what it feels like... But what does it mean?“Hey guys,” another of their friends Callum said. Breaking the silence between them, as he made his way over.
“Hey,” Lewis replied, still a little taken back by what Mark had been saying.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Mark said, looking around at all the new faces that were suddenly appearing within the school grounds.
“Nothing, just some kids from other schools.” Callum replied
“Other schools?” Mark said who always seemed completely unaware about what was going on around him. Even in his own school.
”Yeah, the exchange student thing, remember?” Callum said
“Oh yeah,” he replied “So, where they from?”
”Dunno,” Lewis replied “Most of ‘em seem to be American.”
“Lewis did say a friend of his was coming in from Vic,” Callum said
“Oh yeah?” Mark asked
“Yeah,” Lewis answered “Liam’s his name. He’s a little younger then us.”
“Right.” Mark said “Uh, anyone else while we’re on it?”
“Dunno, we’ll have to see.”
“Yeah,” Mark replied, before turning his attention back to his locker “sh*t, what have I got?”
“Well, let’s see,” Lewis said, leaning up against his own locker “I’ve got Social, so that means you have... Commerce.”
“And then?” Mark asked
“You should check your diary more often,” Lewis laughed “Maths.”
Mark continued to curse under his breath as he threw around the contents of his locker, which was more plastic bags and loose sheets of paper then it was books or pens. Maths and Commerce, not exactly his favourite subjects. Eventually, he produced his Math textbook and got to his feet after grabbing a hold of a small folder containing the remainder of his required books and equipment.
Once Mark had his stuff, he and Callum began to make their way away from their lockers and upstairs to the main classrooms. But as they began to walk away they suddenly stopped, when they noticed Lewis wasn’t following behind them.
Mark, Lewis and Callum had been friends to each other ever since they first come to this school four years ago. They were all freshmen when they first arrived, because they hadn’t gone to Grammar for Primary School, they’d been to different schools. After first meeting in 7th Grade, they become good friends and always watched each other’s backs. Whether it was to avoid teachers, peers, parents or even just each other.
After getting to know each other so well they could tell when something was up with one of their ‘gang’, as Mark’s parents referred to them as [A/N: True story lol]. Mark and Callum could tell something was wrong when they saw Lewis just staring off into space, focused in such a way that he didn’t even notice them begin to leave.
“You coming, man?” Callum asked, as he made his way back to where Lewis was standing.
“Yeah, just hold up,” Lewis said, opening his locker, the one across from Mark’s and getting out his books.
“Is something up?” Mark asked, as Lewis pushed through the piles of books that sat upon his locker shelves.
“Nah, nothing,” Lewis lied “I’m fine.
“Oh yeah guys,” he added “I won’t be at the afternoon class this ‘arvo, I’ve got permission to stay back for a few minutes, I’m supposed to be helping one of the exchange students out.”
“Oh okay,” Callum replied “Who is it?”
“Like I would know,” Lewis said, taking out his Social Studies folder and placing it across from his other stuff.
“Well, didn’t you get like a personal information file or some sh*t like that?” Mark asked
“Nah, nothing.” Lewis said, shutting the door once he’d retrieved his belongs and pulling himself back up to his feet.
“Weird,” Mark replied
“Yeah, I know” Lewis said “I mean, I got stuff like that on my last exchange. Sure, it was only a tour and not a proper exchange, but still. It shouldn’t be any different.”
“So do you reckon she’s hot?” Mark asked, Lewis rolled his eyes almost in unison with Callum.
”We haven’t even established the fact that it’s a girl yet,” Callum said
“Yeah, I’d say she was hot.” Mark continued, with a stupid grin on his face.
“F**k you man,” Lewis replied, attempting to throw a playful punch at Mark’s arm. But Mark saw this coming and moved out of the way.
“The evil look,” Mark said, his arms raised as he put on a fake and melodramatic tone, as he slowly backed away from Lewis like he was some kind of wild animal, preparing to strike. Lewis rolled his eyes and threw his Math text book at Mark, who stood laughing, until the book caught him hard across the side of his rib.
“Ow, d*mnit man,” he said, still half laughing
“You had it coming,” Lewis replied with a grin, before bending down on his hands and knees helping Mark pick up his books, as well as collecting his own.
“Jez, why did you have to be in the highest level Maths?” Mark said, handing Lewis back his textbook which was three times the thickness of his own.
“Oh it was all part of a divine plan, leading up to this very moment,” Lewis replied sarcastically
“I think we should see the welt,” Callum said grinning, still on his feet, from behind them.
“What?” Mark said, looking over his shoulder, but it was too late. Not that Mark would be able to over power Callum anyway. He grabbed Mark from behind unexpectedly, pulling at his shirt so it was no longer tucked in and continued to pull it upwards; exposing Mark’s skin and the newly added pinkish mark that sat along his side.
“Hey, piss off!” Mark said, shoving Callum off him eventually who continued to laugh at the sight.
“Ouch,” Lewis said with a grin, after seeing the mark his Math book had left on Mark’s skin.
“Well, plenty more where that came from,” Callum added, laughing, as Mark tucked his shirt back in and picking his stuff back again.
“Hey Callum,” A voice called across from them, as all three boys swung their heads across to see another boy standing a few feet away from them, gesturing Callum over “Come on, we’re gonna be late!”
“Well, looks like I’ve gotta split,” Callum said eventually after hearing the call of another one of his friends.
“Yeah,” Lewis replied “d*mn, this sucks. I wish we were all in the same Roll Class again.”
“Tell me about it,” Mark replied “But I dunno, I guess it just makes more sense to work with the House Groups.”
“Yeah,” Callum replied, before being cut off by the sound of the second bell ringing, letting students know that needed to be at Roll Call now.
“Sh*t,” Callum said, after hearing the bell “We’re late. I guess I’ll see you guys later,” Callum said, tucking his books under his arm and heading off to the Nicholli (his house group) Roll Call Class.
”Yeah, cya man,” Mark and Lewis said. Once again, almost in unison, as they headed off to their house Roll Class, Ironbark.
“Oh crap,” Lewis said as he and Mark raced up the stairs to their Roll Class, which thankfully wasn’t too far away. “I hope Thickett hasn’t locked the door.”
“Yeah, me either,” Mark replied as they covered the final steps and headed over to the door.
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John still couldn’t believe what had happened. His partner had died in what could only be proposed as a freak accident less then two weeks ago. Everything that had happened that night had just been so terrified; and the strangest part of it all was it was just regular things that a lot of doctors deal with on a day to day basis. Sure, the concept of death always makes you feel sad or worried regardless of your medical training, but on that night John had really feared for that boy’s life more then any other patient he’d had to operate on.
When he thought he’d lost him, he hadn’t felt more low before in his life then he did at that one moment. In that period of less then hour he went from terrified, to depressed to confusion and terrified once more. Their medical system was flawless and chances of their equipment making an inaccurate estimation of a person’s heart rate were incredible low if not non-existent. His life had been lost, there was no denying it. Yet somehow, the boy still survived. It was uncanny.
So here he was now, the only person in the world that could clearly remember that one night. Sure, the boy had already been asked questions on his release, but he claimed he couldn’t remember much and the details of the night that he provided didn’t seem too relevant. So, the spotlight had been shown upon the one living person who had been conscious during the entire event, John himself.
“Alright, Mr. Ferguson,” the uniformed man by the name of Officer Hanson said, taking a seat at the chair across from John. John glanced across the room. It seemed like a real ‘Hollywood’ Police interview room set-up. A dull room with few distinguishing features, a large series of mirrors that looked like they held a lot more then just reflections within them and as usual a table with a few chairs sitting at it, which seemed to be the main focus of the entire room.
“I’ll ask you one last time…” Hanson continued, as John swallowed feeling another thick bead of sweat trickle down his face. They’d been locked in this tiny room for what felt like hours.
“What happened that night?” Hanson asked eventually
“I don’t know,” John responded, clearing his throat as the words left his mouth. “I told you, I don’t know. It’s beyond me.”
“What you told us,” Hanson continued “Was that one minute your partner was alive and the next he was dead.”
“Yes,” John replied “and I still stand by what I said. I just don’t how or why it happened.”
“You know the difference between life and death is often murder,” Hanson replied
“I told you,” John continued “I didn’t kill him.”
“We’re far from pointing fingers yet, Mr. Ferguson,” Hanson replied “I’m just trying to provide answers.”
“Well, I don’t think that’s the case,” John continued “I didn’t see anyone come in, and anything more complex then that, like taking a shot at him from the distance blindly in the night just seems pointless.”
“So no one held a grudge against him that you knew of?”
“No,” John replied “But I did notice a very interesting pattern about his death that night.”
“And what might that be?” Hanson asked
“Well, I didn’t tell you this earlier because I didn’t think it was relevant,” John began “But now I’m started to think it’s somehow linked to Andrew’s death [A/N: Andrew = his partner].”
“Go on,” Hanson requested eventually
“There was a call for an ambulance a few hours earlier,” John continued “A boy had just been bitten by a red back spider, so we went and picked him up. It was late and we were struggling to get to the hospital in time, even though the roads were practically empty. So, we moved to the small Medical Centre in West Gosford, where Andrew’s death occurred and that’s where we stated to work on him.”
“So, what does this have to do with your partner’s death?” Hanson asked, listening to John’s story with great interest.
“Well, I just find it rather interesting that, the boy died that night. We were too late. The poison rushed to his heart and he was a goner before we had the chance to save him. But, before we could announce his death he…” John stopped and swallowed, still finding it hard to describe the story to this day “He came back to life.”
Hanson watched John in silence with a mixed number of expressions upon his face. Shock, disbelief, confusion and one that proposed that John was some kind of wacko who needed to be locked away for some time. But eventually, he broke the silence once more, signaling for John to continue.
”What do you mean by ‘came back to life’?” he asked
“Well,” John replied “It’s pretty self explanatory. His heart rate stopped. But, several minutes after we’d used the defibrillator to try and revive him, it suddenly started again… That was when Andrew died.”
“So you’re saying that you believe this boy’s… ‘Revival’, had something to do with your partner’s death?”
“Well,” John replied “I’m just saying it seemed odd that one life would be lost and another saved within the same area in a span of less then 2 minutes.”
“It is rather suspicious,” Hanson said, scratching his chin in wonder “Who was this boy?”
“His name was Lewis Shlect,” John continued
”You were treating him for a… Spider bite was it?” Hanson asked
“Yes,” John replied “He’d been bitten by a Red back spider.”
“What’s his condition now?” Hanson asked
“His fine,” John said, his voice emphasizing just how puzzled he was by this occurrence “He’s never looked better. I don’t understand. Just over two weeks ago he was hanging by a thread and now he’s as fit as a fiddle.”
“Listen,” Hanson said, pulling John closer to him and dropping his tone. “You’ll be in a lot of trouble if this gets pinned on you, I hope you know that.”
“The thought did cross my mind,” John replied
“Now you look like a nice guy,” Hanson continued “and I’m sure there’s a good chance you’re telling the truth when you say you didn’t kill him. But you were the last person to see him alive. Until you have evidence clearing your name you are a suspect.”
“I can get you through this," he continued "But you’ve just got to help me out in return. Understand?”
“Completely, yes,” John replied
“I want you to get me some medical records of this boy," Hanson said, pulling away from John and returning to his normal tone "Before, after and if possible, during this little accident of his. I'd like to see what’s been going on with him.”
“Yeah, I should be able to arrange that.” John replied
"Good," Hanson replied "You can go now."
"Thank you officer," John replied, pulling himself out of the chair he'd been seating in for what felt like hours.
Medical records? he thought as he made his way out, being guided back down the halls and out of the station by another officer
What exactly is he looking for? John continued, his mind still wandering far behind the police station’s walls. He shock his head, in the end it didn’t really matter, he had to do this. He had to clear his name otherwise he would be put away for something he didn’t do.
“I still don’t understand,” John mouthed to himself as he made his way out of the entrance and headed over to his car “What could’ve possibly happened to have taken his life that night? And what saved it? How is this boy linked?” he added as he opened the door and seated himself comfortably in front of the steering wheel.
There were still a number of questions left unanswered but one thing was for certain. Even though he’d never met the boy personally or been given much information into his background (excluding medical details) he could tell there was something different about this boy Lewis. Almost as if a higher power had been intervening, turning the hands of fate and switching a fatality from one person to another.
He inserted his keys into the ignition and turned them slightly, glancing over his shoulder in preparation as he switched the gear into reverse. But as he glanced over his shoulder, unexpectedly out of the shadows of the backseat of his car leapt a small dark figure that clung onto his face viciously, sinking its fangs into his flesh.
He let out a scream and trying to swipe the spider away, but it was hopeless. It already had its no doubt poisonous fangs sinking deeply into the sides of his face and the spider itself was a lot larger then the kind John or in fact any other human was normally familiar with which made fighting it off him rather difficult.
It wasn’t long before the venom kicked in and John collapsed against the dashboard of his car, his eyes rolling into the back of his head and blood trickling from underneath his eye as he lay panting desperately, gasping at his last remaining seconds of life.
The second paramedic to die within the past two weeks, and they share one thing in common – The patient they had operated on two weeks ago.
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