Drake sprinted off, down the never-ending corridor. He knew Midnight had to be here somewhere!
He came to the end of the hallway and turned down the connector passage. If Midnight wasn’t in here, there were only about three other places he could be. Luckily enough, Drake found him near the end of the hall with another student. He stopped running. The other student appeared to be intimidating Midnight; probably making fun of him for how he dresses. That’s why we stick in a group, Midnight! Drake yelled to him in his mind. He wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t think trying to take the bully would be the best of ideas-he looked like a major jock-but he couldn’t see one of his own being harmed. He wouldn’t have it.
The bully grabbed on to the front of Midnight’s shirt with one fist. Drake stepped forward and the bully turned around at the sound of the footfall with Midnight still in his hand. The boy whimpered slightly but wouldn’t show his pain.
The bully’s face dropped. “Oh, hey, Drake.” He said timidly. He smiled awkwardly and looked at Midnight. “Um, hey, so, sorry man.” He whispered strangely to him as he sat him down, back on his feet. “So, yeah,” He stumbled on his words. “I should probably get going…”
“Yeah, you should.” Drake said harshly. He wanted to add something that would make the bully leave faster so he could question Midnight. Then he realized, I don’t even know this guys’ name but he’s scared of me? Awesome!
The jock waddled out of the hall and jumped into a sprint down the hallway.
Midnight took a single step closer and just said, “Hey, thanks, um… Drake?”
Drake smiled even though Midnight wasn’t looking at him. “No problem. It’s Midnight, right?”
Midnight looked up, astonished that he knew his name. “Yeah. That’s what they call me. You can call me Michael though. I mean, if you want.” He rubbed his arm and looked away, almost like he was embarrassed.
“Cool. So, my buddy, Alecks and I, we have a question.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen you guys together.” He stopped, looked confused and squinted around. “Where is he? I’ve never seen you guys apart.”
“He’s talking to one of our friends right now.” Drake wasn’t about to say, ‘Oh, he’s distracting my friend so I could find you.’ That just sounded too stalker-ish. “But there’s something I wanted to ask you.”
Michael looked puzzled. What could they want with me? “Okay?”
“You see… We know you really like Halloween and scary stuff, we do too, but we thought you’d know a bit more about this subject than us…” Drake found himself stalling. And he wasn’t sure why.
“Out with it!” Michael laughed.
Drake laughed, too. “Okay, well, we were wondering if you knew anything about Samhain.”
Midnight stopped smiling.
“Where did you hear that name?” Midnight asked nervously.
“… Alecks said he heard it from somewhere.” Drake honestly didn’t know where Alecks heard it. “… I’m guessing you know about it?”
“Oh yeah.”
After Midnight appeared to not be telling anymore Drake prodded.
“And…? What is it? What do you know?”
Midnights’ green eyes stared, frightened up at Drake’s. His black hair covered most of his eyes and his red lowlights parted over each one. His eyeliner appeared as if it was a day old and his black lips seemed chapped. His Slipknot shirt and dark baggy jeans quivered slightly along with his petite body. His fragile arms clenched each other.
“… I’m afraid I have to go now,” was all Michael whispered before scurrying off down the hall and turning a corner. Drake moved forward to follow him but when he looked down the corridor that Midnight took, he was gone.