The Redo of a Novel's Villain: Moira

01 - Back?

Elijah leaned his head against the window, feeling the bus tremor. Brown eyes quickly went over the text on his phone. In tiny letters, To be continued... stood infuriatingly at the bottom of the page, marking the end of the fifth volume of Castelle of Lux. What was most galling was that it had ended on a cliffhanger, a major one, which made him feel like bursting a blood vessel.

Tap, tap, tap.

Elijah's index finger tapped in frustration and anxiety. The boy's been checking and refreshing the page since morning, a pinched feeling pooling in his guts.

The notifications from the Col group chat did not help either. Elijah swiped to the messaging app. He quickly scanned the texts left by his friends, Valentino and Liwei. They were talking about how the author was going to go on an extended hiatus because of personal issues or something. Great. He sighed before typing a brief reply. Eventually, he moved his attention to the person beside him. Kayden, his best friend since they were babies, spewed out complaints after complaints about their teacher.

"This morning, I was running late to school, right?! So I was running for my life because if I get a late arrival on my attendance again, my mom will whoop my ass." Kayden deadpanned with hands gesturing all over the place. He continued, "It was one minute. One minute until class started, and at that point, I was bolting up the stairs! If it weren't for adrenaline, my lungs would've shrivelled up and died.. or exploded? Either way, I made it to class right before it began––I swear––but Mr. Rhipley still gave me a strike! The amount of willpower that kept me from beating up his balding ass could probably hold back a fucking tsunami! I've never wanted to push someone down the stairs so bad-and I've wanted to push a lot of people down stairs." Kayden gave Elijah the look. The one with the chin down and eyes peering up.

Elijah snorted, patting his friend's trembling shoulders. Through some giggles, he remarked, "Relatable. Last time, he warned me because I was wearing my jacket while walking outside in the courtyard. Apparently, it was against 'uniform codes.'" The boy air quoted, lowering his voice to mimic his teacher. "Sir, last time I checked, it was a lunch period in December when I was about to shrivel up and keel over from the cold. You can't expect a shirt and cardigan to keep me from ceasing then and there."

The two snickered before switching topics.

Kayden pursed his lips before enquiring, "Are you free tomorrow?"

"No, I have art class. Why?"

"Mom got me a special ticket to a Cerus concert, and it said I could bring a plus one, so I wanted to know if you wanted to come with..but! I guess I'm just going to have to ask someone else."

"What?! No! I'll ask my mom if I can move class to Friday."

"6 pm's the deadline."

Elijah grinned. "Bet."

Hushed laughter lightened the quiet atmosphere of the bus. The vehicle drove onto a bridge that crossed over two winding river canyons. Elijah was about to switch to the camera app and snap a quick picture of the scenery when he spotted something. Sweeping a casual look at the driver, Elijah noticed the hunched-back, grey-haired old man was trembling.

Elijah frowned, "Does the bus driver look odd to you?" He kept staring at the old man, who was increasingly trembling. Concerned, the black-haired boy approached him with Kayden close behind.

"Sir, are you okay?" Elijah reached out to shake the man's shoulder when the driver suddenly collapsed!

The body fell on the wheel and moved it. The sudden shift and change of gravity could be so clearly felt it chilled him to the very bone. The entire bus took a sharp left turn. The two crashed into each other before colliding into the floor. Butterflies zipped around in their guts, and the change in gravity was petrifying. Any sense of grounding vanished with the bus leaving the ground. Everything spun–their vision, thoughts, emotions, and themselves.