Night

As the sun started to set, more and more people woke up, cars were going there normal speed, and everyone started acting normal again.

"Our parents are awake! We gotta go home!"

They ran out of the police station and exchanged numbers before they separated and started running back to their homes.

When Kaline got to her house, she saw her parents standing outside holding her backpack and lunchbag.

"Mom? Dad?"

"Sweetie where have you been you're gonna be late for school."

"School?"

"Yes school the place where you learn things."

"Yeah but... it's night."

"And?"

"Are you feeling okay sweetheart?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

"Hurry and go or you'll miss the first bell."

She put on her backpack and grabbed her lunch bag.

"Bye mom, bye dad."

"Bye sweetie."

"We love you."

"Love you too."

At first she thought it might be a joke until she saw other kids getting in their cars and others walking to school. She took out her phone and created a group chat with the others.

"Guys we have to go to school at night."

"Yeah it's super weird," said Jordan, "What's going on?"

"I think it has something to do with everyone sleeping earlier." Leo stated.

"This is getting really weird." said Taylor.

"Let's just go to school for now we'll meet up after."

"Alright, see you guys later."

So she continued to walk to school when suddenly her phone started vibrating and saw that Jordan was calling her.

She answered, "Hey Jordan."

"Hey, I think we go to the same school."

"Really?"

"Look to your right."

She turned and saw Jordan standing on the other side of the road.

"Oh, hey."

He chuckled and quickly jogged over to Kaline.

"I can't believe I've never seen you before."

"You probably have, we just never met before so."

"Well I'm glad we met now."

"Yeah I am too."

"Um hey, thanks for saving me from that..."

"Vampire?"

She laughed, "It just sounds so ridiculous."

"Well it's the only thing that makes sense."

"I know it's just, this is all so weird ya know?"

"Yeah, but don't worry we'll figure it out soon."

"I hope so."

When they walked in the school, everything seemed normal, people were walking around and talking with their friends and hanging out in the quad.

"Seems like nothing's changed."

"Yeah, except for the fact I can see the stars from here."

Kaline giggled, "You wanna hang out before school starts."

"Yeah sure—"

"Hey Jordan!"

They turned and saw Jordan's friends waving to him.

"Um—"

"Go ahead."

"Thanks Kaline, I'll see you later."

When he ran off, she walked to a bench in the quad and started to read when she heard someone call her.

"Good evening Kaline."

She looked up and saw her history teacher smiling down at her, "Oh, good evening Ms. Mclay."

"Are you alright? You look tired."

She yawned, "I'm fine, I've just been up for a while."

"Oh, how long have you been up? You know you need sleep."

"Yeah, seems like everyone's been sleeping a lot."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing, I'll see you in history Ms. Mclay."

"See you then Kaline."

When Ms. Mclay walked away Kaline sighed and thought, "Smooth Kaline, real smooth."

As soon as Kaline sat down at lunch she put her head down and immediately fell asleep. When she felt a tap she raised her head up and saw Jordan sitting in front of her.

"Hey, why aren't you with your friends?"

"I wanted to sit with you. You're the only one who knows what's going on."

"Yeah, well I'm just trying to sleep so I can survive the day, or night."

Jordan chuckled, "Probably a good idea. I've been getting a little drowsy too.

"Set an alarm so we can wake up."

He smiled and they both laid their heads down and went to sleep. When the bell rang Kaline raised her head and started to shake Jordan.

"Jordan come on, we gotta get to class."

"Five more minutes," he groaned.

"Come on, we gotta go."

He yawned and grabbed his stuff before they walked to their classes together.

Meanwhile at Leo and Taylor's school they were walking to class while talking about what was going on.

"I wish my parents let me stay home."

"Why would you wanna stay home?"

"It just doesn't feel right anymore. I feel like at any moment someone's gonna pounce on me."

"Look nothing's gonna happen, besides I'm right here you don't have to worry."

"Thanks Leo, I don't know what I'd be doing if I was alone."

"Well you're never gonna be alone, me and the guys will be with you."

Taylor smiled as they continued to walk to their class.

When school was finally over the kids decided to meet in front of the police station then go to the park to talk. Leo lead them to a park and luckily no one was around. They walked to a picnic table and started to talk about what's going on.

"So we have to go to school at night, every one sleeps during the day, and there are men in sunglasses walking around trying to bite people."

"That pretty much covers it."

"Guys, I know that this is a little different but I think we'll be fine. Everything is basically normal other than the men in sunglasses."

"Taylor we've gotta figure out what's going on. There's got to be a reason why we weren't affected by it, maybe it's because we need to fix everything."

"But isn't going up against whoever's behind this gonna be dangerous?"

"We're gonna be in danger either way Taylor."

"We might as well try to do something about it."

Taylor sighed and Kaline held her hand. "You don't have to be afraid Tay. We'll be okay."

Taylor took a deep breath and nodded.

"Great, so what are we gonna do first?"

"Hey guys, look..."

They turned around and saw a group of men walking towards them. At first they didn't recognize them because of the dark, but when they came into the light they saw that they were some of the men from earlier.

"Oh no..."

"What are we gonna do?"

"Quiet! Just stay calm."

"Leo do you have your gun with you?"

"Now whatever would he need a gun for?"

They suddenly saw the group of men surrounding the picnic table.

"You kids aren't trying to hurt anybody are you?"

"Um--"

"No, of course not sir."

"Well that's good, just making sure you weren't trying to cause any trouble."

"Oh come on Draven, you really think these kids would do anything wrong? They have innocence written all over them."

"I know, I know but you can never be too sure. The innocent ones are always the ones causing the most trouble."

"Sir, may I ask you why you're so... interested in who's causing trouble?"

"Well it's our job."

"... You're cops?"

"We sure are."

"That's great... just fabulous."

"Are you feeling okay kids? You're acting a little weird."

"Yeah we're fine."

"You sure? You seem like you're hiding something."

"No sir, now if you would excuse us, we're gonna head home."

"Now now before you go I would like to check something."

"Ugh what?"

"Calm down, it's just a little check." The man came over to Kaline and lifted her hair back he looked for a second and then let her hair down. "You're not marked."

"Um... marked?"

"Yes, every person gets marked when they are first born."

"Are any of you marked?"

"Um... no..."

"Oh well... that's a pity but not a problem we can solve this easily. We would just need to request for you to be marked."

"Does marking hurt?"

"Oh not that much, it's just a little pinch on the neck."

"... Oh... that doesn't sound too bad."

"Well you kids better get home, it's getting a little late."

"Yeah, we should head home guys."

"Goodbye officers."

"We hope to see you soon kids."

They quickly got up and started to walk away from the park when they were finally away from earshot Taylor started to sweat and then she started to breath faster and faster.

"Taylor are you okay?"

"They're gonna bite us, THEY'RE GONNA BITE US!"

"Taylor calm down it's not gonna work."

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE ME FEEL BETTER! We have no idea what they'll do to us when it doesn't work."

"We're gonna be fine."

"How are we gonna be fine? We hardly even know what's going on?"

"Taylor, listen to me, go home and get some sleep. We'll meet up in the morning when no one's awake and talk about this."

"Yeah, Kaline's right we just need to calm down. We're gonna get through this."

Taylor takes a deep breath and nods.

"We'll meet up at noon."

"We'll come back here."

They all nodded and started to head back home.

When Kaline got home her parents were standing outside again. "I never knew you guys loved the outdoors so much."

"Kaline we got a report from a police officer saying that you're not marked."

"Oh, yeah um... can I ask you guys something?"

"Of course sweetheart."

"What's so important about this whole marked thing?"

"The mark is what makes us whole. It gives us our strength our speed, everything."

"We're so lucky the king gave us the gift of the mark."

"King? I'm sorry... did you just say, king?"

"Yes, King Alric, the ruler of our world..."

"Are you sure you're feeling okay dear? You seem to have forgotten a lot."

"Yeah, I guess I was just in the sun for too long."

"Well then go eat your dinner and go to bed."

"Alright mom."