Chapter 2: Changes

Leaving the park, Jonathan walked calmly to the parking lot. The foot traffic was rather sparse but not so few that it would be hard to make out the faces of those you walk past.

Unfortunately, even in such a situation, it was rather normal for people to simply ignore even familiar faces.

No one wants to be the "weirdo" calling out to strangers for no reason. 

To be called a pervert trying to pick up women.

Maybe even be called a scammer trying to sell scalped tickets or something.

Much like everyone else, Jonathan simply focused on his goal, to get to his car as quickly as possible.

But, in this city, no, in this world, there are coincidences and outliers.

It just so happened that today was one of "those days", for Jonathan.

"Professor!"

A voice called out, it was not too high pitched nor was it deep. It was just at that medium range. The words were spoken with great strength, they were calling out.

Raising his head, Jonathan scanned the surroundings with his eyes. He moved in a way that his action of looking around were not too obvious.

Much like him some others did the same, it was unknown whether they also had such a title or they were just curious at who it was being called.

"Professor Wight!"

Unfortunately, the second time the voice called out, the caller, a man in his early twenties, added onto the title the last name of the person he was calling out to.

Although unlikely, the last name Wight was not one that was "extremely rare". Because of this, Jonathan did not react explosively and simply sneaked a glance towards the direction where the voice came from. 

Turning his head slightly, his eyes caught the image of the young man calling.

Seeing the familiar head of bright red hair caused Jonathan to quickly recall where the sense of familiarity came from.

As his mind churned, the young man had finally arrived before him. He had a clear complexion, although average looking, his bright red hair coupled with two bright green eyes made the young man stand out.

"David Hughes…"

Finally recalling the young man's name, Jonathan let out a weak sigh. 

David Hughes, he's a student of his, a history major who was deeply interested in Norse history. Though his interest stemmed mostly from an even deeper interest in Norse Mythology.

He had read a lot about Norse Mythology, this even extended to his preference for fiction. David was particularly interested in any hero, character or even series that took focus on Norse themes. 

If Norse Gods were involved he would spend hours reading such fiction, watching movies, tv series and even animated shows. It was so bad that he even used a history report to start talking about a newly adapted anime series involving mythologies, where God's battle humans.

Jonathan was not entirely against such acts, heck, he had too much on his plate to even care.

But David seems to have interpreted Jonathan's inaction to his antics as an act of silent agreement, though it was closer to being an apathetic acquiescence, Jonathan did not have much time to actually care about such things.

"So, why'd you call out to me in the middle of the street?"

Hearing the question of his history instructor, David beamed with a bright smile as he began to explain.

From what Jonathan was told, David was actually a very outgoing and kind individual.

For a few months now he had been volunteering at a public grade school. Apparently, due to the fact that there were more private institutions in opening in the recent years, and with more parents wanting their children to study instead of "wasting away", many students that used to go to public schools have instead transferred to private academies.

This led to a decrease in funding for the public schools and because of this, the instructors also transferred to seek better opportunities in the private academies.

What this led to was a lack of instructors in the public schools.

The problem is, despite the lower number of students entering public schools, the number that went there to study was not zero. 

After all, only poverty is eternal. If there are children whose parents had a few hundred or thousand bucks to spare, then there would also be parents who could barely save a dollar.

That was how reality worked, that was the truth of society and the fact that many did not want to face.

This situation is what led to many undergraduates volunteering at these schools. Some took it as a part time job others volunteered out of sheer goodwill.

Though even those that volunteered simply wished to add more experience to their CV.

David though was an outlier, after prying in deeper, Jonathan found out that the bigger reason for David to do volunteer work was that a girl he had a crush on was also volunteering.

Based on the kids description, the girl was well off, her family was able to support her studies and she was also very smart, hardworking and kind. Moreover, she was a latin beauty!

'This kid is quite something!'

Jonathan cursed internally as he looked at the selfie photo David had with the girl. 

'Interesting, she has a rather large bust, and from the shape of her body the time and effort she spent on maintaining her appearance is not something to scoff at…'

The girl was wearing a white crop top and a pair of cargo pants that paired a cargo jacket draped over her shoulders. Her skin was tanned, face clear and without any blemishes, her eyes were clear and lacking any sign of sleep deprivation. 

She sported a wide smile that revealed a row of perfect white teeth. Looking closer, Jonathan noticed that the exposed part of her stomach showed what could only be described as a washboard, well defined and given her posture, she was not flexing it at all…

'Damn… is this real?'

"Photoshop?"

Jonathan asked, his expression showing a deep look of suspicion.

"What?! Its true! Angela may look like a model and it may seem impossible for me to be friends with her but its true!"

Hearing David's response, Jonathan shook his head answering back-

"No, I meant the gir- Angela, did you photoshop the image to make her look more… beautiful? Or is it some beautification function?"

With Jonathan's response, a sense of realization dawned over David. The young man grinned, a cocky air enveloping him as he answered.

"Come on, teach! Just because you have never met a hottie before doesn't mean others can't! Live a little! New York is filled with chicks!"

David started to blabber and suddenly, he paused, he turned to Jonathan before letting out a snicker before saying-

"Wait… or maybe-"

Jonathan could already tell where David was going with his words. Annoyance surged in his mind as the piled up stress he had been keeping in found an outlet. Unable to control himself, Jonathan's eyes went red with anger as he screamed-

"FUCK OFF!"

Realizing that his professor was really pissed, David, not wanting to escalate the situation, replied, half teasing, half reminding Jonathan of the situation. 

"Wow! A teacher cursing at a student!"

David's words worked as Jonathan quickly calmed down, moreover, with David talking in a teasing tone, when Jonathan calmed down people stopped caring.

It would have been a different matter if Jonathan remained enraged or if David turned to flee or respond in anger.

Interactions that led to confrontation was not something new, this city, as great as it was, is also a hell hole for emotions.

The great divide in wealth, the abundance and lack, the bright lights and joy contrasted heavily with the dark alleys, crime and just blatant disregard for others. 

A city where police officers always carried firearms, with live ammunition and could kill. This is the same city where citizens would blatantly sneak into train stations, pickpocket and fight just a few feet away from law enforcement.

There was an interesting social commentary Jonathan could do but he held back.

"Sorry about that, I've been through a lot recently…"

Although many would think it was uncouth for a professor to apologize, Jonathan was not one to let his pride dictate his life. He knew he made a mistake and since he was aware of his error, he would of course ensure that he made up for it.

Sometimes, saying "sorry" may not be able to do much but it was a good start. It could be meaningless but so long as the speaker meant the apology, it was a start for them to atone.

David did not really take it to heart, in fact he knew that he had gone too far when he teased his professor.

Especially since his Professor Wight was really going through some really tough times. Moreover, it was not much of a money issue but more of a family problem.

The disappearance of Jonathan's parents was old news, rumors were quick to spread and something as big as a teacher finding out his parents had vanished from the face of the earth was something hard to hide.

Not to mention, ever since that day, Jonathan had been a LOT more languid. His lessons, which were already boring as they were, had become a hell for sleep, though it did become the haven of the sleep deprived.

After all, Jonathan stopped caring about whether the students listened or not since his parents went missing. Interestingly, one of the things that set Jonathan apart from other instructors was that he showed a bit of care for his students.

Unlike other lecturers who really just went in, talked and left, Jonathan made sure that his students were AT THE VERY LEAST, paying attention. He would conduct pop quizzes which would go off the record if the results were bad and even set up some make-up quizzes to bring up grades.

Many seniors would recommend Jonathan's class as history was one of the general subjects most majors took.

Of course Jonathan had multiple history classes, the general ed was always filled while the more specialized classes were also filled up. There are even non-history majors who took his class as an elective since he was one of the few instructors students could get along with.

Because of this, when Jonathan started to change, many students were quick to notice it.

In fact, there were students who formed groups trying to investigate the disappearance of Professor Wight's parents themselves.

They were aware that Jonathan was taking matters into his own hands, conducting his own investigations and they would help him out by giving him their own findings.

Of course few leads were found and the more people dug into it, the more they realized how unnatural it all was.

The disappearance was too clean, moreover there was no reason, no indication for it.

Even some psychology majors found the case interesting and involved themselves as part of their training.

All of this went unnoticed by Jonathan though, after all he was more focused on resolving his own problems, not that it was a problem. 

When all this came to him, David realized that he may have done something really bad. He rubbed the back of his head, an awkward air emanated from him as he spoke.

"Sorry teach…forget about what I said… I know you-"

David did not want to disturb Jonathan any further, upon realizing his mistake he tried to put everything behind and leave but Jonathan's following words made him pause.

"I'll do it"

Unable to comprehend what he just heard, David stared at Jonathan, his eyes opening wide as he asked-

"What?"

Rolling his eyes, Jonathan shooed David away as he said.

"I'll teach for free, I know the school, its quite close to where I live. But I'll only go there when I'm free so-"

Hearing Jonathan's reply made David beam.

"Of course! I'll inform the principal right away! Don't worry Teach! All you have to do is show them your ID and you'll be fine~"

Jonathan nodded his head as he turned away from David, understanding his teacher's actions, David also waved as he left the area.

When David was gone, Jonathan stopped, he turned around staring at the direction David headed towards.

'I don't know why but that Angela girl…'

Jonathan took out the black book, he opened it only to see a change in the displayed page. 

A new passage was added in-

'20 kids came to study, one laughed'

'19 kids came to study, two cried'

'21 kids came to study, none spoke'

'21 kids came to study, three cried'

Four lines, all words were written in red. 

Was it a puzzle? Or a hint?

Why was it about kids?

Why did it appear now?

Questions upon questions came up in Jonathan's mind, his gaze lingering on the direction where David had left-

"Angela…"

Jonathan closed the book, his expression unreadable as he walked towards his car.