Chapter 38 : Traces of trouble
After the morning incident, Sasha and Crysty got a ride to college offered by Eva. Eiden was offered a seat too, but he politely declined. There was something else on his mind. A gut feeling nagged at him something he’d remembered, something he’d misplaced.
He made his way back to a location he vaguely recalled from earlier frantically searching, pacing, and checking every possible spot. His bag, his pockets, even behind nearby bushes. His fingers grew restless, rifling through places they shouldn’t have to.
He knew this wasn’t the safest decision. In fact, at one point, he was almost kidnapped or so he felt from the creepy vibes a shady guy gave off. Still, he believed that failing to find the item was almost as bad as getting kidnapped. Maybe not as bad, but close enough for his panic to justify the risk.
After several fruitless minutes, he stopped.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. His shoulders dropped, and with a dejected sigh, he picked himself up. He checked the time. Damn. He was going to be late.
With no time to waste, Eiden broke into a light jog toward college. As he neared the gates, he noticed some familiar faces jogging alongside him, apparently in the same time-crunched misery as him. Deuel, Petter, and John.
They spotted each other, and without needing to say anything, naturally formed a jogging group one that was united by the shared pain of poor time management.
Petter, however, seemed to be seriously out of breath. His lungs wheezed audibly, and his steps were wobbly. He looked one failed breath away from collapsing. Eiden glanced at Deuel, then back at Petter, and asked between breaths, "Why are you guys late?"
"Woke up late," Deuel replied, his words spaced out with exhalations. "Probably because of that group chat marathon last night."