"Concentrate!!"

"I'm doing it as much as I can" 

" Look, you are new here so I'm going easy this time. I'm your mentor. You do as I say if you want to live, or you leave this room and never come back. Your choice."

He nodded. Although he hated it, he knew she was right. It was do or die. 

"Good. Now concentrate!! Focus your mind on the task at hand. Think about nothing else. Let's try again."

He did as he was told. He forgot about everything but the task at hand. After a few minutes, it seemed to work. The birds stopped flying, the leaves stopped rustling. Though it was only for a few seconds, he'd finally done it. 

He'd stopped time.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mark was a normal kid. He thought he had the best life ever. He had everything. Loving grandparents who treated him as their own. Friends who were there for him wherever he needed. He never wished for anything more than what he had. He was happy.

All that changed when he met Claire. She was the kinda person who grows on you. She opened the path for him to a life he never knew was destined to have and he discovered that he was so much more than merely normal.

But now his secret is out and his life and the lives of those he loves are in danger. Now he has to choose between his family and his destiny and the fate of the world depends upon his choice.

Timeless Teenagers

He opened his eyes to the rising sun throwing its rays at him and a headache pounding through his skull. It was a miracle he’d gotten any sleep the previous night, considering how much his thoughts had been whirling, trying to process what happened. He looked around and realized he’d fallen asleep on the couch. There was no one else there, everyone else was probably asleep. 


He got up and looked around for his phone, finally remembering he’d put it away in his room before the party. He went down to his room and found the phone lying on the study table. 


His room was pretty minimalistic, and most people were surprised to see it considering how passionate he was about things. There was a study table, a bed and a side table. The walls were covered with generic paintings put there by the interior designer. The truth was that he didn’t spend enough time in the room to care much about how it looked. It was fine for the sake of sleeping, which was it’s only function in his life. 


He picked up the phone and saw the notifications filling the lock screen. His party had blown up online and he’d been tagged on instagram and twitter too many times to keep up. So many people had texted him asking about it too but he just couldn’t be bothered with that. He swiped it all away and opened Andy’s contact. She was most likely to be the only one awake so early. She hit call before he could overthink what he’d say. She picked up on the second ring. 


“Mark? Are you ok?” she breathed out, reminding him that she’d probably been in the middle of her usual workout. 


“Yeah, I’m fine. Just some things came up. I’ll tell you in person. Can we meet in around an hour?” he said, all in one go. 


“Sure. Just us or everyone?” she asked. 


“You know Hunter's gonna bite your head off for waking him up so early.” She warned. 


“That’s why you’re gonna call him. And Jane too. I’ll talk to Fred and pick him up. We’ll see you guys at the café. I’ll also be bringing someone else, so be prepared” He said, referring to their usual hangout. 


“The only reason I’m agreeing to this is because of yesterday. See you there.” She said, sounding resigned. 


“You’re a wonderful friend. Thank you. See you.” He replied and cut the call. 


Next, he called up Fred. He wasn’t hard to convince to get up and get ready. Fred was a pretty easy going guy, which is why Mark was happy he was the one who lived closest to him. He’d easily pick giving Fred a lift over Hunter or Jane. Despite being his best friends, they were sometimes too over the top to handle. 


After the call, he got ready to go. He’d made up his mind. He’d go see his friends by himself. To hell with what Claire said, he could take care of himself and didn’t need a babysitter. He also didn’t need to leave immediately; he could stay for a little while. Wrap everything up and then he’d go. 


With that thought, he left the house, only to see Claire sitting on the porch with a phone pressed to her ear. The moment he closed the door, she looked back at him and quickly said her goodbyes. Now he needed to get rid of her.


Chapter 7: Get your affairs in order