Chapter 12 (K)

It takes me a minute to soak that in. Gerad killing someone? That’s impossible, right?

“Wasn’t he in an accident? How could an accident be your fault?” I ask. Please let him be wrong, let this all be a mistake, a delusion…

“It was an accident. But if I hadn’t made him stop that day…if I hadn’t tried to get his attention…if I never saw him that day…” his voice fades, and he buries his face in his free hand.

I feel awful. Here’s Gerad right in front of me, suffering, and I was the one who triggered it. “Gerad,” I start, and he looks up at me. His sadness washes over me, and I take a deep breath, gripping his hand tighter. Don’t break down now, I have to stay strong. Strong. I feel immensely better.

“You can’t live life full of regrets. What happened in the past stays there, and there’s no use keeping on thinking of what could’ve happened. You can’t change the fact that Lukas died,” he flinches, but I continue, “What you can do though is to honour his life with something more than regret. I’m pretty sure he’d want you to do that. He sounds like a very good friend. This message is just a joke, a nasty and idiotic prank someone pulled. If I ever find out whoever made this, I’ll beat the crap out of him or her.” I know these are merely excuses, and threadbare ones at that, but at least they’ll provide some comfort.

Chapter 11 (K)

We enter his place, and he ushers me into his room. I find it surprisingly neat for the guy who normally procrastinates over everything that has anything to do with work. There’s an old desktop in the corner, even older than mine. It looks at least 5 years old.

“Want anything to drink?” he offers.

“No thanks. Is that a 2016 model?” I ask, pointing to the desktop.

“Even older. 2014 SP model,” he says. “It quits on me so many times that I often think about throwing this one out the balcony and buying a new one.”

“And let me guess, you’re too lazy to. You would kill someone if you threw that giant 44 floors above ground!”

“I never even thought of that. I guess if I ever want to murder somebody, it would be with that.” He pauses. “Anyways, I’ll get the charger. Feel free to explore,” he waves his hand and leaves the room.

I put my purse down and take out the tablet, laying it on his bed. I spot some printed photos on the wall close to the window. Almost no one prints out stuff anymore, since the number of trees dropped to about 20% or what it used to be a decade ago, and paper price shot up. Besides, it’s much more convenient to just share and find stuff on our devices. These photos must be pretty important if they’re printed out.

Chapter 10 (K)

When I get there, Gerad is already waiting for me.

“That was 4 minutes and 32 seconds,” he says cheerfully.

I give him an exasperated look. “Do you always keep track of time like that? If you put as much effort as you do doing worthless things towards your homework, you might not have that rep of being a slacker,” I exhale. He just gives me a crooked smile and shrugs.

“It’s just the way I am.” He starts walking towards the elevators and I hurry to catch up with his long strides. The elevator door mysteriously opens when we approach, although there’s no one around and just a second ago the elevator was at the ninth floor.

I look over at Gerad, and he holds up what looks like a mad scientist’s remote control gone bad. There were wires and springs poking out, random buttons on every side of the polygonal prism. I raise an eyebrow.

Chapter 9 (K)

 “Kaya, how are you feeling?” my mom asks, waking me up. I feel extremely groggy as expected. I went through a lot of excitement earlier today.

“I’m a lot better, Mom. By the way, what time is it?”

“Oh, 2:00.”

Did I actually sleep for 5 hours?! Sheesh. I must’ve been more tired than I originally thought. I crawl out of bed and fall. I land with a very undignified yelp on my butt, the sheets entwined around my legs. I’m agile when it’s crucial, but in everyday life, I’m an absolute klutz.

Then I remember the Maury’s USB key. I frantically search for it in my pockets, hoping I hadn’t damaged it in my fall, and to my relief, I find it unharmed.

I grab my tablet and wake it up. I have a few unread messages, mostly my friends asking where I am. That can wait for now. A warning flashes onto the screen: 1% Battery Power Remaining. It’s just enough power for the documents on here to load all the documents for me to peer over. I don’t bother plugging in the charger; I probably wouldn’t be able to find it before the battery died, and it takes forever to charge.

Chapter 6 (N)

Six missed calls, twenty two new messages, all from Yin and Yang. I decided to read one of them, "Answer please, Light! It's not like that. Nothing is between us! I'll prove it.".
Yin sent that a few minutes ago. I wasn't sure if I should, or shouldn't reply. But just then I got an idea. I called Yin.
"What was that all about?" she asked.
I didn't answer.
"I am not Yang's girlfriend, and I do not like him any more than you do!" she stopped abruptly. She was still there. I sensed a mischievous smile. I didn't talk either.
"I get it," she said, ending the silence.
"Get what?" I said.
"Oh, nothing," she said, in the same tone I said to them.
"Yeah, I got to go," I said. I wanted to end this conversation.
"Sure, you do," she said. I hung up immediately. Who does she think she is?
"Enough talking on the phone, go to sleep," said my mother me, but she wanted my siblings and I to go to sleep. I took a shower, put on my pyjamas, and put my phone on the charger. I closed the light, and something weird happened. I was glowing a red colour, I got scared, and it turned light yellow-ish. I calmed down, it turned blue.
I realized it was linked to my emotions, but I've always felt emotions, how come I never glowed before? But I've never felt angry at one of my friends.
I decided to sleep.
The next morning, the glow was still there. But I still wasn't going to forgive Yin, or Yang. I did my morning activities, but the glow wouldn't go. It changed colours, but didn't go away. I ignored it. I couldn't find my parents, or anyone. I went to my mom's room. There was an electronic tablet, on her bed. I picked it up, a hologram appeared. It was my parents.
"Hi Light, we're going to your aunt's house. We were going to take you but you have a party. You know where everything is. If you need anything, just call us. Bye honey, love you," said mom.
"Oh, and this is your gift, just plug it into your phone, and all it's features will be downloaded," said dad. It shut off. I picked it up and plugged it into my phone. I was so happy my parents gave me a gift.
I looked at the time, it was 2:30pm. The party's in a few hours! Everything was ready, except me. I went and changed my clothes, and did my hair.
Now it was 3:05pm. I got bored, so I went and called Valentine.
"Hi Valentine," I said, I was suddenly tired.
"Hi, are you okay? Your voice sounds weird," she said.
"I'm just tired,"
"Go take a nap,"
"I hate naps!"
"Then go lie down, and go get a drink,"
"Okay mother,"
"So, why did you call?"
"Do you still remember the plan?"
"Yes,"
"Okay, good. But don't make it obvious! I kinda blurted it out yesterday..,"
"YOU WHAT?"
"I mean I told them that I thought that they were BF and GF,"
"What did they say?"
"I was fighting with them, and I left it at that. Yin called me today and she kept on saying that they aren't. Then she..,"
"SLOW DOWN!"
"Then she realized something, and she refused to tell me,"
"Wow, I never thought of Yin that way, you know? Mysterious,"
"I know, right?"
"I have to get ready for the party, is it still on?"
"Yeah,"
"Okay good, talk to you later,"
"Bye,"
I didn't tell her about the glow. WAIT! The glow! Everyone will see it later! What am I going to do?

--THE END--

So? Love it? Hate it? I know it's short!
Any ideas? COMMENT!

Sorry!!! SORRY!

I haven't updated my story!!

I'm only on the 6th chapter!!

But every time I start writing, a distraction happens, and when I come back to finish, I forget what I was going to write, so I have to come up with another thing!

It's time consuming. 

But I'll update when I can, and I promise I will try.

Thanks for sticking with me though.

-N

P.S. K is having writer's block, could you please help her? :)

Ok, readers, this is where your precious opinions are needed.

I HAVE WRITER'S BLOCK!!!!!!

Please help me!!!

I have Kaya kind of stuck where she is right now, and I'm thinking that perhaps the USB key doesn't have the virus, but it leads to one of her friends...
except now I don't know which friend, why it leads to that friend, or what happens after!

So if you have any ideas at all that might help, please comment!

5 more days!!!!

Hello all, and we hope you're enjoying the novels!

Both of us are in full-blown panic now as it's Jan 4, and we're not even close to finishing. We said we're hopefully finished by the holidays (heck, this blog is even called "K and N Holiday Novels"!) so it sucks that we probably won't finish by our goal.

BUT we're going to continue writing when we can! I think it'll become "K and N Whenever-We-Can-Write Novels". So even when the holidays are over, please keep cheering us on!


Sincerely,
K

Chapter 8 (K)

Bingo. The window pops open and no alarms sounds. I quickly check to make sure no one is around, and then slide in. I land on a pile of clothes that are lying on the floor. Yep, this is definitely Maury’s room. I examine the disheveled state of the room, taking note of the mess everywhere. The bed isn’t even made. It’s almost hard to believe anyone but Maury has been in here, even though the government must’ve made repeated trips.

I search for the computer, but as expected, it was gone. I wasn’t getting my hopes up for that. Instead, I drop to the floor and look under the old glass table.

I can tell by the slight imprint on the glass that the computer sat on the table, therefore making any surface around it suspect of holding a vital clue. In this corner of the room, there was almost no light, and I curse myself for not bringing a flashlight.

I rely solely on my touch, brushing it along the rough wood close to the walls where it the finishing had come off. My fingertips brush along the wall and then something cold and hard. It’s almost out of my grasp, but I manage to pull it out.

It’s an USB key. It’s in the shape of a skateboard, and the label “M. Spiel” was written on it with black sharpie. I think back to 4 months before, the last time I ever saw Maury Spiel. I can’t be sure, but I think this is the one he used the last time before he disappeared. Awesome.

Suddenly, I hear the door to the house open and several voices come babbling from outside.

Chapter 7 (K)

I left a message to the school saying I was “sick”. Man, if my parents find out, I’m going to be in so much trouble. But this opportunity is so golden that it’s impossible to let it get away. Maury’s mom will be away at work, and my parents will think I’m at school.

I rush up the stairs and change into my least conspicuous clothes. I grab my key, phone, wallet, a water bottle, my dad’s old Swiss army knife and my tablet. Stuffing everything in my backpack, I sneak out of the house, and lock the door. I cross my fingers hoping I see no one I know, as the gig would be up if they saw me going the opposite direction of school.

I start walking to Maury’s house, which is about a 2-minute walk from where I live. I cut through the Salvation Army parking lot and onto the side street. There’s an alleyway that I take regularly, so I avoid that and take the long way around to make sure I don’t bump any of the people I say hello to each morning. When I catch view of Maury’s house, my feet quicken. I’m almost there, just a few meters away, when I see the door open.

“Crap!” I mutter under breath. So Maury’s mom seems to be running late for work. I dive behind a bush, being careful not to crush my tablet. My heart was running wild as I felt as though she was going to turn around and look at where I was hiding. I curse at myself for not choosing a better spot. If she turned around now, I was done for.

But thankfully, she didn’t. She just walks to her car and drives off. God. That was close. I have to say I feel sorry for her. Ever since Maury’s dad left when he was 3, it’s always just been Maury and his mom. Now that even Maury is gone, she’s by herself. It’s no time for thoughts like that, at the moment though. I roll out of my hiding spot and get up. I brush off my pants and walk to the window I know belongs to Maury’s room. No, I’m not a stalker. Maury was my friend from grade 6, and if he hasn’t moved rooms (which I doubt) I should be fine.

No, I've never skipped school to do something like Kaya did. Don't worry. 

This is a bad place to leave off, but oh well...