The Last Seasons (Chapter 5, first 2 sections)

The Artist’s Heart

Stacey swiped her hand over the holographic table, getting rid of the arithmetic equations that were written on the air above it. She sighed, putting her head on the desk.

“That’s how I feel too,” a boy said as he walked by.

Stacey smiled. “I hope you’re doing better at than me, though.”

“Probably not,” he called out behind him.

Coking her head sideways Stacey said, “Give me an artist pen.” As soon as she was done speaking a thin holographic pen materialized in her fingers. She began to doodle through the air above the table, producing flowers, grass and blazing sun above to top it off. “Green, yellow, red, white and blue. Alright now, lighten the blue a tad bit,” she said as she colored in her work with her fingertips, filling in the sky around the sun with the lightened blue. She picked her head up as her drawings grew in scale and became more extravagant as she populated the scene with bald eagles.

“Alright, make the eagles fly around,” she said, tapping her drawings of eagles. “Beautiful,” she said as the eagles soared over the majestic field that the computer had rendered after she had drawn out the initial concept. She smiled at her work. This is way better than math. Why isn’t there a class about this?

“Wow! That’s gorgeous, Stacey!” a girl said behind Stacey.

Stacey turned around to greet her friend. “Hello, Sarah. How’s your morning?”

“Oh you know, boring,” she said, setting her bag down beside a chair.

“Why don’t you join me in drawing,” Stacey said, gesturing to her artwork.

Sarah shrugged. “I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“What could my friend draw on the field of flowers?” Stacey asked the holographic desk. The word: FIRE was projected over Stacey’s drawing. Stacey raised a hand to it and deleted it.

“That was interesting,” Sarah said, taking a seat beside Stacey. “I think I’ll go ahead and try it.

“Give me a pen thingy, too,” Sarah said.

“Oh, Sarah, are you actually going to draw what the computer suggested?”

“Why not? Seems simple enough,” Sarah said, drawing individual flames over the field and among the eagles.

Stacey held her breath, remembering the carnage from her dream. And just why had the computer suggested fire of all things? It was just as demented as a person.

“That is so BA. Better than awesome!” Sarah said as the eagles burst into flame, and fell down on the flowers like blazing meteors. Flower petals scattered throughout the field as the eagles crashed down on the field, sending plumes of burning feathers fluttering through the air. For a second Stacey was too stunned to move or say anything. She had drawn out the details of the dream to get a better understanding of it, but now that it was being played out in such graphic detail it was a lot more difficult to process it without re-experiencing the horror that she had felt during the dream. Why had she invited Sarah to draw? She could have just asked Sarah what her thoughts on it were instead.

It took her a moment, but Stacey finally snapped out of her trance. “Not so fast there,” she said, drawing storm clouds and rain droplets. She leaned back and felt her spirits lift as the computer rendered the rest of process.

“I like hanging out with you,” Sarah said, admiring the downpour of rain as it extinguished the flames. The remaining eagles flapped their wings and raised their beaks toward Stacey, as if thanking her. “You’re so pure.”

Stacey smiled. “Aww. Thanks, Sarah, I cherish your presence too.”

“Thanks.”

“You are exceptionally welcome.”

Sarah looked away for a second, but Stacey could still see her blushing cheeks. “I wish I was more like you,” Sarah finally said.

“Not like me you don’t.”

“You have no idea how hard it is to be like you.”

“No I mean,” Stacey began, unsure whether she should take the conversation any further, because if she did she risked suspension from school. She smiled and just gave her friend a hug, realizing that for now what she could do was love her friend by keeping silent and just listen. A time to tell her about the source of her pure joy would come whenever it was ordained.

“Stacey, I…” Sarah said, “I’ve been hurt so many times that... That it’s easy to hurt others. Just look at what I did to your eagles and flowers,” she said gesturing toward Stacey’s artwork.

Stacey said nothing, but kept hugging her. Sarah hugged her back and leaned her head against Stacey’s, strands of her shoulder length blonde hair poking Stacey in the eye. Stacey blinked the hair away, never breaking Sarah’s embrace, nor relieving the one she had on her.

The two stayed that way for a while, the drawing in front of them continuing to flourish as the surviving eagles walked over the field of flowers, soundlessly screeching under the rain, which had now become a drizzle.

“You’re a good friend, Stacey.”

In her mind Stacey was still debating whether to tell Sarah about the power that was the source of what made her who she was. But she didn’t, and instead lived out what she believed and remained a still, caring presence for Sarah. The same calm and gentle presence that the powerful spirit behind the papers was to her.

“They don’t teach us this in school. And yet here you are, the nicest, and most caring person I’ve ever met,” Sarah said. “It’s like you just have layers and layers of kindness in you.”

Stacey smiled. Sarah was spot on. Stacey indeed did have a spirit that lived within her that was truly the one who loved others whenever she just wanted to keep to herself, go out into the woods and admire nature. Far away from other people. Away from their struggles, their egotistical personalities, their arrogance, and the pursuit of her by desperate men, and women for that matter. But despite how much her body cried to be freed from the life-sucking gravitational pull of her peers, the spirit within her compelled her to live among them and offer them love.

Scholastic Kingdom

Daniel’s truck automatically closed the door behind him as he threw his backpack on. Dozens of other kids were hanging out around their vehicles, talking and laughing. Above them the sky had darkened, making the morning look like late afternoon. So much for sunshine, Daniel thought, making his way toward campus, which loomed ahead, stretching five stories up, glass walls staring at him, students and staff marching around inside. They walked along hallways, and up and down stairs. It was like looking at a giant art farm, which he was a part of.

“Hello,” Daniel said as a cute girl smiled at him as he walked past her. Daniel winced inside, hating how he could never quite figure out what to say other than hello or nothing at all whenever girls acknowledged him. At least girls that weren’t already his friends. The struggle was real with him. But he wasn’t too worried. After all, he was only seventeen, so he still had many more years to master the skill is engaging women. Still, he hated himself for being so pathetic at in the moment.

“Welcome, to North Dakota High School, where knowledge is the most valuable capital,” said a holographic projection of John Hammond, the school’s head Principal. Daniel saluted Mr. Hammond as he walked by, admiring the Velociraptor projection next to him. The white haired John Hammond was a curly black haired man of eccentric taste, which no doubt contributed to his expensive and outrageous purchase of the genetically engineered dinosaur, which while only about two feet tall, was an extremely intelligent little fellow, smarter than any common dog. To Daniel however, with all of its feathers, looked like a giant turkey instead of the resurrected ancient beast that it was.

“There’s the man,” Will said, dragging Daniel into a bear hug. Daniel planted his foot and unwrapped Will from himself and pushed him back, propelling him a few feet away. “Woah, you’re a strong little man.”

“You know it,” Daniel said. Will was right. At just two inches shy of six feet Daniel was rather short when the average height of teenage guys was six feet, and six two for adults. And to top it off, Daniel wasn’t even particularly muscular. He just had a sort of natural ability to acquire strength easily that Will envied in the workout room.

“So what’s new?” Daniel asked him as Will walked beside him toward the stairs.

Will shrugged. “The usual you know. Just another day at our amazing school!”

“Sounds about right.”

“Anyway, how did your little chat with your internet buddy go?”

“It was alright,” Daniel said, understating the entire situation.

“Did you at least learn what her name is yet?”

“No, but we learned that we both have something in common.” The exact same dream, and the same amount of puzzlement.

“You two should have found that out a long time ago. Unless it’s something real deep,” Will said, nudging Daniel.

“You have no idea,” Daniel said, breathing loudly and shaking his head.

“Ah. Getting real without even knowing her name. Nice.”

Daniel groaned inside, annoyed by the whole situation. It was easier for him to talk to a girl online who wouldn’t even tell him her real name than it was to any number of beautiful girls that frequented North Dakota High School by the hundreds. And sure enough there they were, beautiful girls everywhere. Some walked alone, others with their packs, and then there were the girls with a significant other. It was the latter that really made his head spin and his eyes threaten to water. Not from sadness, but from a combination of annoyance and discomfort.

The walls around Will and Daniel flashed with daily updates. This morning’s announce consisted of the high school’s ranking, which was third in the state and seventy eighth in the nation. Distinguished teachers also appeared on the holographic walls, flashing smiles and standing proudly in front of periodic tables, math equations and cheering students. None of Daniel’s teachers were depicted.

“Hey, it’s my Math teacher!” Will said, pointing to the wall as a thin woman with long brown hair appeared.

“She’s pretty,” Daniel said.

“And a pretty good teacher.”

“I could use a good math teacher, because Mr. McDonald is driving me crazy with all the debt problems that he is having us solve in class. I really don’t care to help some CEO in New York get his money back!”

“Hey, at least most of what you guys do directly impacts society. Mrs. Roberts usually just has us do equations with her and apply what we learned to solve an extra difficult problem together as a class before the break.”

“So in other words it’s still hard?”

“Well yeah, but Mrs. Roberts does a great job of breaking it down and explaining the steps in a way that actually makes sense. But then again, I could listen to her voice even if she were speaking gibberish,” Andrew said, leading the way upstairs.

Daniel glanced at a huge panel of glass, which from the outside was clear, but that from the inside served as a giant screen. In it was a sight that he had seen countless times on his way to classes, but whose visuals never ceased to astound him. As far as his eyes could see wildlife swarmed over the skyscrapers, and countless more buildings spanned the horizon as the school’s camera drone flew over campus, providing staff and students with an aerial view of their city.

“I still haven’t been to a lot of those places,” Will said, glancing at the giant screen.

“Me either,” Daniel said, catching up to Will as he stepped onto the second floor.

“Listen, I’m sorry for being rude this morning. Your friend, no matter who she is seems pretty cool. As cool as a random girl can be on the internet anyway,” Will said as he stopped to face Daniel.

Daniel thought for a moment, letting people go around them as they made their way to class. “Thanks. I needed that,” he finally said.

“Awesome. I’ll see you after school?”

“Yeah, or during a break if we meet on the second floor study lobby or something.”

“Alright, I’ll see if I can head there after my Politics class,” Will said, giving Daniel a quick handshake before heading off down the hall.

Politics class. Disgusting. Daniel had taken a class in Politics last semester and he hated it. Thankfully only students who had committed to serving in office as a career were required to take more than two courses of it in high school. Otherwise Daniel would have lost his mind. He had learned a lot in his Politics class, just not much that was practical. The course had consisted largely of both mock and live, immersive feeds of Senate meetings, which during exams, his classes would participate in. He shuddered, remembering how the holograms of real politicians had stood and talked before him and his classmates in the enormous education rooms, which resembled the actual meeting and debate halls of the nation’s capital buildings.

“Hi,” a girl said as she walked down the stairs, snapping Daniel out of his thoughts.

“Uh, hi,” Daniel said, in what was almost a growl. He felt his brow furrow in frustration as he walked past her. Frustrated with himself he looked back, and felt his body flush as the girl also looked back and smiled at him. He looked back ahead and sighed inside. He was lame. No. More than lame. Pathetic. Why couldn’t he get this down? It was so simple, and yet so hard! Even math was easier. And the worst part was that he was not very likely to ever see any of the girls that had expressed obvious interest in him again. Not in a school with over 43,000 students in it.

But as Daniel stepped onto the fourth floor and made his way to Math class he reminded himself that if he just focused on his academics he could worry about girls later once the madness of high school ended. He surely wouldn’t become valedictorian and get the seventy-thousand dollar prize, but he could at least graduate with grades decent enough to get into a good University afterword. And what a University represented was free time. Free time to acquire wisdom and enjoy life at a peaceful pace that high school left no room for. At least as long as the dream he had wasn't some sort of prediction. Because if it was, education would probably not be a priority anymore. Not when there were things blowing up, a frigid winter, walking dead people, and a strange, uniformed army out to get anyone who was left.