Beyond the Horizon(An apocalypse novel)

Chapter 2: Class

Stepping out of the house, Miles slipped his phone out and dialed an Uber. The school bus was already long gone.

The wooden stairs creaked loudly as he stepped off the porch and onto the street. The house had certainly seen better years. Still, it was no small wonder how Henry kept it all together given his prolific drinking habits; yet, somehow he did. That was Henry for you.

Miles felt no particular bitterness towards the man; he didn’t deserve to. For all his issues, he was still a good person. It made him feel dirty in comparison. After all...

The boy shook his head. ’Again. Again. I need to stop this.’

The whine of a car slowly coming in to park was a helpful disturbance. His ride was here. Fallen leaves crunched beneath his feet as he stepped into the vehicle.

"Good morning."

"Morning."

The driver remained silent afterwards, much to Miles’s relief. He wasn’t one for small talk, either. He pressed his head against the window, staring outside as the old neighborhood slowly rolled past him. The cool glass calmed his thoughts.

---

His school was in another town, one much closer to the city than that dying suburb. It was much larger than what he’d expected to find coming here. Luckily, no one seemed to know him there. It’d be hard for high school news from California to reach all the way to the Midwest, especially a little-known town in Nebraska.

The car screeched as it came to a halt. The world outside already looked more populated than his neighborhood. He paid quickly before stepping out of the car; the driver moved on wordlessly. A few students passed by him, all in a hurry—latecomers like himself.

’I should probably join them.’

And so he did, picking up the pace as he passed through the school’s entrance.

---

It didn’t take long to reach the familiar doors of his classroom. Through the gaps, he heard the sound of a class already going on inside. He paused, then carefully pushed the door open. The class stopped.

"Lovely to have you join us, Mr. Miles."

A bespectacled woman glanced tiredly at him from the front of the class. She didn’t sound all too pleased.

"I’m sorry, Mrs. Martinez. I—"

"Just take a seat."

She scratched her forehead before waving him off, her hand pointing vaguely to the back of the class. Miles nodded before heading there silently, head down and eyes locked on his destination: a seat by the window.

The class continued before he reached it.

"Someone tell me what the author’s intentions were in Chapter three."

It wasn’t until he finished setting up that someone answered. A hand was raised from the front rows.

"Yes, Chloe."

A dark-haired girl stood up, adjusting her glasses before speaking.

"He—"

"Khh—what a dork."

He heard snickering coming from the desk beside him. A solidly built guy with short, straight hair was chuckling all by himself. The boy’s brows perked up the moment he noticed Miles watching him. He pointed a thumb at the girl still speaking before shaking his head.

"Get a load of her."

Miles could only roll his eyes in response. Quite unfortunately, the goof before him was the only person he’d grown somewhat close to during his time here. He considered that an achievement in and of itself, but there were times the boy made him question things.

Oblivious to Miles’s thoughts, he continued his rambling.

"I mean, the nerve on that chick. Acting all sweet and smart up there—she’s a devil, I tell you. Fricking dorks, but of course you wouldn’t understand, either. You’re one of them, too."

The boy deflated into his chair with an exhausted look on his face. Miles finally gave him a reply.

"Jayce... You got rejected again, didn’t you?"

Jayce looked away. "No... Maybe... fine, yes, I did."

Jayce’s posture slouched at the admission; he had the look of a man pondering life’s greatest mysteries.

"Jayce. Miles. Would you like to share what it is you’re discussing with the class?"

Jayce shot back up, his posture rod-straight. "It’s nothing, ma’am. Miles was just asking about a Chapter he didn’t understand."

"Is that so? Then I suppose you’re an expert regarding this topic, no?"

"Eh..."

"Chloe, please sit down. Jayce, tell me what the author’s intentions were in Chapter three."

"Wait..."

After an embarrassing amount of attempts to answer her question, Mrs. Martinez shut Jayce down with a single word.

"Detention."

"Aw, come on."

"Do you wish to extend it to tomorrow as well?"

"No, ma’am."

Jayce quietly sat back down. Miles could feel his glare burning holes through the back of his head, though he made no move to face Jayce. He was too busy fighting the growing grin on his face.

Unfortunately, his friend wasn’t known to be a quitter. The sound of something landing on his desk finally got his attention.

A note.

’1 – 0’

He shot Jayce a glance before shrugging, shifting his attention back to Mrs. Martinez. There was no point in worrying when Jayce would’ve forgotten this even happened by morning.

The lecture dragged on. A dull blur spent half paying attention to the teacher and half sketcing crows in his note book—just about the usual.

"I’ll be seeing you next week, then."

Mrs. Martinez was just about finished now. She let out a sigh of relief, picking up her materials as she headed for the door.

It was then Miles felt it.

A gaze from on high. Solemn. Indescribable in intentions. The world beyond its focus melted away from his mind. The sky, the roof, even his body—it stared directly at him. At his soul. There was nothing beyond him and it.

Time stretched endlessly beneath its all-encompassing presence. Only after what seemed like an eternity did it shift its gaze. Suddenly, he was back in his body. The roof was above him once again, and he could feel the sky beyond that, too.

His brain had barely begun reorganizing itself when the window beside him burst.