The Breath Of His

2. Was bad enough for me to die and come back?

I hobbled out of the classroom after everyone else. I just didn't want them to be stuck behind me and end up grumbling and cursing me. One thing that troubled me was how Dylan Barbosa looked at me. I don't know what had happened, but in the middle of the class, Dylan snap his head in my direction to glare at me with hostility as if I had killed his puppy. It was difficult for me to concentrate over the next half of the class when I felt the holes burning in the side of my head.

But why the hell did he do that? My thoughts were interrupted when I neared the exit.

Uncle Ted stood by the door watching over me as I left, "need me to help you to the next class."

"It's alright, thank you," I smiled at him and head towards my next class on my own.

The corridor was bustling with students and their chattering. Bullies were poking fun out of innocent students in the corner, a group of nerds were enthusiastically discussing about some answer one of them solved in an easier method. Jocks and cheerleaders flirting openly with all that skinship. Being a loner let me observe all of this closely because I never fitted in any of their groups.

I was what they called the teachers' pet. There weren't many here anyway. Nor did it bring any attention to me. I was more like invisible in the sea of these people. It wasn't wrong to say that I was an outcast.

Nothing about me stood out.

I hobbled my way down the corridor and took a left where it was an entirely different story. All the eyes in this area, directly or discreetly followed one group of people, the hottest and most reserved group of people. West Zervos and his gang.

Carlene stood with her back pressed against West's chest as his arms wound around her waist which she held with hers. Kai and Dylan stood before them and talked in rather hushed voices. Not very long after I sighted them, the entire gang snapped to look at me as if I had called out loud to them, except for Carlene who looked confused but followed their gaze and ended up looking at me.

It just rose gooseflesh in warning all over my skin. I could feel their eyes burning into my flesh until I hobbled around the other corner to disappear from their sight.

If I confessed that I had a secret, would it be strange? And nobody, I mean nobody knew about it. Not even my parents or even my cousin Ivan who was closest to me.

It would have been weird as it is to deliver the news that the only surviving child of my parents was a freak.

And I didn't want them to take me to the asylum to run all sorts of tests on me to make me normal. Especially, when my secret was a skill not very different than the sixth sense.

Well, if I be more accurate, I could say that I sense the accidents in advance and the magnitude of it. It gives me chills and palpitations and of course, goosebumps. But the goosebumps I got from Carlene's friends was nothing like my mishap detector. It felt more on the weird side and... hostile.

There was one thing that eat me on the inside which was the question I kept asking myself, on the night of my fateful accident, did I detect the danger? Especially, since it's magnitude was bad enough for me to die and come back?

And the fact that my detection skills have been heightened after the accident... was just cherry on the top.

Even now the slight tingling of my skin had me turn my head from my locker to look at the hallway to find Nerdy Nelly walking with his head buried in his book towards the group of jocks and cheerleaders, only for Harold to stick his leg out causing Nelly fall face first. The bullies laughed at his misery and high fived like it was a big accomplishment they had achieved.

See, my power had heightened. Never once before was I able to detect such trivial incidents. But now, it was another story.

I swallowed my saliva to wet my dry throat before pulling out my books and closing my locker.

The first time I detected an accident was when Jackie, our golden retriever came under a truck. I was barely six back then but I could never forget what I felt before the accident. The palpitations I had was extreme. A level four, as I came to name it. I felt it, he couldn't make it.

Then, I had also sensed the flooding that happened years ago that had drowned and destroyed some parts of school that the school is still coping up and also took some lives, a level five.

Last year, I had sensed the level four at Louis's party and just like I felt, two boys had drowned in the sea.

I had been too frozen to react on encountering a level four after a long time to react accordingly. If I had warned the people before hand, I could have saved them...

Resigning to the guilt I felt for the lost lives, I hobbled just to stop outside my next class.

The teacher was already in and I was late but that was not what stopped me. My body was tingling with gooseflesh. No, not my accident detector but something else. It was like waves and waves of energy rolling off from inside the classroom. Like a nuclear reactor was inside.

I should be feeling the dread seep in but surprisingly I wasn't. Whatever this energy was, it vibed with mine.

Pulling myself together, I knocked before entering the class. Mr. Stanley allowed me in. Pity clearly visible in his eyes as he asked me to take a seat.

My eyes scanned the room for the source of such tremendous energy as I hobbled to the nearest empty seat but before I could pinpoint it, the energy subdued as if that person became aware of my searching eyes and masked it.

It became a little difficult to tell where it came from, especially, when half of the room had faces I had never seen before. Two of them in particular were out of this worldly.

One was a dirty blonde who whipped his head up to meet my pale blue eyes with his hypnotic blue ones. He was very handsome with strong jawline and ivory skin without a blemish. He looked like he was on an edge. Not like his open hostility was of any help in keeping me calm and relaxed.

The guy next to him was a golden blond, just as handsome as his neighbor or perhaps even more. Not once did he look towards me.

Instead, he whispered something to his ready-to-pounce neighbor making him to settle down and look away from me. The scene was relatively odd since the strange boy went from being hostile to carefree state. As if nothing had happened.

Hesitantly, I took my seat, my eyes not looking away even for a second. Begrudgingly, I turned to face the teacher when he started the class with his explanation. Something told me it was going to be strange year ahead when the start itself was quite bizzare.