October 29th, 5:37 PM

  It was October 29th, the first day of Hallow’s Eve festival.

  Slater Academy held it every year. People from the nearby towns came, there was live music, plenty of food and games. It was Maximillian's favorite time of year. He got to take three days off, silence his phone, and return, to more money, more people who enlisted and well-rested.

  Maximilian was packing his things with his wife, Delilah and she decided now was the right time to bring up something important. “Since we’re all leaving for three days, why don’t you give Sara a chance to prove herself? She’s plenty responsible.” Maximilian gave her a dead look. He didn't respect Sara. He didn't respect anyone really, but least of all her.   “Stop enabling him, Delilah,” he hissed. “He is a man, with breasts.”

  “Max,” she said in a warning tone. “We have talked about this. Respect is a two-way street.”

   Maximilian was weak to only two people in the world, and one of them was his wife. Like a child, he eventually listened to Delilah after he threw his tantrum, but this time would be different. “You can get me to be nice, but I named him, and that is never changing," Maximillian shouted. Delilah began to unpack her things. “What are you doing,” Maximilian asked. “I’m not going,” Delilah stated. “You can be rude to everyone all you want, but I won’t let you treat our children like this.”

  Maximilian was caught. Delilah, unlike everyone else, did not go along with his rude words and insults. She would look him in his steel-grey eyes and tell him everything and then some. “Levi says you’ve been going through his computer.”    Maximilian let out a long sigh. “He is not yet an adult,” Maximillian said, gritting his teeth and trying to grin. “I have every right to go through his things. I bought them!”

  “Max,” she shouted. “He turns nineteen in two months! He deserves privacy! Stop this!”

  “Delilah I will not be-”

   “They will put you in a home if you keep this up,” she pleaded. “Do you want that? Do you!?!”

  I sometimes fantasize about it, Maximilian thought

.   Inside a nursing home, Maximillian could torment the nurses and other various staff who were paid to wipe his ass until he finally died, sneering at the world for one last time.

“No,” he lied.

  “I want you to start calling her Sara,” Delilah insisted. “Say it or else I’m not going with you.”

  Maximilian gave her another dead stare and decided he could go with someone else. “No,” he repeated. Delilah stood there, mouth agape, upset that she made an ultimatum, and he didn’t care. Maximilian left and laughed on the phone as he talked to Mary Sue. Tired of her husband disrespecting their daughter, Delilah went her own way and would make Maximillian respect her, whether he wanted to or not.

  Delilah made a few phone calls, and quickly she overpassed Maximillian's authority. She knew that he had already silenced his phone at this point, refusing to listen to anyone but his inane and vapid thoughts. He would never find out until he returned.

  She made her last call to Sara, who was excited to be in charge for the next three days. “Thank you,” she cried over the phone. “It’s okay Sa-Sa,” her mother cooed. “You can finish an easy job, and daddy will have no choice but to respect you. I will force it out of him.”

  Sara sniffled on the other side of the line and sighed. “I think it’s a lost cause,” Sara mumbled. “Unless there was a gun to his head, I don’t think he’d ever do it.”

   “Don’t exaggerate,” Delilah laughed. “He’s not that stubborn.”

  “Yeah... Dad is...I'll call you tomorrow once everything works out,” Sara said. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, Sa-Sa.”

  Delilah ended the call and looked at her half-unpacked suitcase, and clothes strewn all over the bed. Delilah bought the next flight to someplace warm and packed extra swimsuits.

---

 Levi was still self-absorbed and racked with guilt.

  He and his girlfriend, Mary Jane were helping set up for the dance that would happen around eight PM. Mary Jane ironically dressed up as a superhero with long yellow boots, a white cape, a gold and yellow leotard with stars, and a giant A on her chest. Levi dyed his hair black, put makeup under his eyes, and wore raggy old clothes. He was trying to be a ghost, but instead, he looked like a very tired homeless man.

  The entire committee was quite proud of themselves. The theme of the night was True Love, which was a strange theme for a Halloween dance, but most of the people on the committee and in the school were women, and they voted for the theme.

  Team 57 was an oddity where most of them were men, and Levi sometimes forgot whenever he wandered campus and was confused why there were so many women.

  Mary Jane was excited to spend time with Levi, and she joined the committee to try and get closer to him. Instead, she broke most of the decorations with her herculean strength and had relegated herself to simply carrying the heaviest props.   Santos laughed as once again she broke something and she gave up trying to help at all.

“Who are you,” Mary Jane snapped. “Do you even go here!?!”

“Yes I do,” Santos smirked. “I’m just repeating a year.”

   Santos had long given up pretending to be a senior in the training program. He was young and never aged, but sometimes the things he said or did gave him away. After living through the same days over and over Santos didn't care. He liked to instead spend his time teasing all the young adults who in his eyes, were fetuses.

  “I never see you in class but you’re always around campus,” Mary Jane hissed. “You some kind of pervert?”

  “Only when you’re not around,” Santos said deadpan.

  Mary Jane scowled and tried not to smack him, fearing a life sentence for tearing his arm off. Santos loved to bother Mary Jane. She was tiny, hotheaded, and just like Levi, self-centered. Her only saving grace was self-reflection and self-control, the two things that Levi lacked often.

  "Santos, leave her alone," Levi grumbled. "Why are you even here?" Santos had joined the committee to simply trail Candice, hoping that he would find something to solve his perpetual two-month loop. Instead, she helped with many parts of the festival, and Santos was genuinely confused.

  Candice was helping put decorations on one of the tables and Santos glared at her, upset that she didn't leave now that Ace was gone. Candice jerked quickly and glared right at him, and Santos's eyes started to pulse red a silent threat.

“Stop staring at my ass,” Candice sneered. Everyone looked at them, watching the awkward confrontation.

  “I don’t date senior citizens,” Santos barked.   

Candice laughed. “Oh I’m going to love taking care of you later on,” she chuckled. “I’ve had my eye on you quite a long time.”

   Everyone was confused. They could not tell if they were flirting or arguing. The attractive looks and long stares from both of them didn't help either.

   “I’m seeing someone else, someone less revolting,” Santos sneered.

  “You can at least apologize before later on,” she said. “I am a forgiving person.”

“Eat shit,” Santos sneered.

Levi ignored the entire ordeal, because daily Santos was more of the antagonist, always negging her when she had been surprisingly...quiet. The only thing she had done out of the ordinary they noticed while following her was making multiple visits to the nearby museum, but even the reason for that was never understood.

Santos left, tired of watching nothing and doing nothing. Everyone went back to what they were doing, and Mary Jane shook her head in disapproval. "Is he your bodyguard," Mary Jane asked. "Because you don't need one! You don't need him!"   “I don’t even know anymore,” Levi grumbled. “I’m just trying to get through the week.”

  Mary Jane frowned and held his hand. “You can talk to me,” she offered. “I care about you.”

  “It’s nothing,” Levi sighed. "I'm okay." He went off to help the others finish up, and Mary Jane sat on the bleachers, watching, tired of putting them behind schedule. Mary Jane sulked and decided to leave as well, tired of him hiding things from her that didn't need to be hidden and decided she would just wait for him to tell her what was bothering him when he was ready.

---

7:57 PM

  Tyreceus was just released from the campus hospital. He had to stay with the nurses for three days, as he didn’t trust himself alone anymore. He didn’t want to work, or eat, even sleep. His son was no longer around, and his mind was sure he was dead.

  He lied when they asked him the required discharge questions, left with medication he would never take, and sat on a bench outside. Tyreceus felt like all his sacrifices for his son were in vain. Years of lies, half-truths, and hard work disappeared in a day once Ace has vanished.

   He sighed and watched the people pass by, trying to find an excuse to not go home. He couldn’t, so he returned to his empty apartment. Unas was on the dining room table, there to greet him.

"You have been gone for too long," Unas grumbled. "I am hungry. I require meat."

  “I’m not cutting myself again,” Tyreceus complained.

“Kill someone then,” Unas replied. “Kill anyone! I’m hungry.”   

I should kill myself, Tyreceus thought.

  He picked up the sword and pulled it out of its scabbard. He stared at, as it emitted a soft red glow, and wondered how he would make it quick and painless.

"Do not do it", Unas whispered. "I will be alone. Please."

  Tyreceus was surprised. He quickly put the sword away and sighed.

He has never said anything like that to me before, Tyreceus thought. What's gotten into him? I’ve always wondered if he even liked me.

  " I like you a lot," Unas said." You are a good man and a good father."

Tyreceus' face flushed and he felt ridiculous, getting complimented by a sword in his apartment. "Let's go to the festival," Tyreceus mumbled. "It's better than sitting here, waiting for the day to end."

  Unas agreed, and Tyreceus returned to the campus.

By the time he had returned, it was already night. He parked his car and left his wallet and phone inside, worried that someone would steal it when he walked through the crowds. He made his way through the giant parking lot and to the festival to try and find another distracting event to ignore the call of the void.

  Students waved at him, and he waved back. He tried to put a smile on his face for his students, but he didn’t try very hard. Everything felt dull and grey. He ate cotton candy and people watched again, unsure what to do with himself. He jerked as he heard screams and then it stopped.

  Tyreceus told himself that, the war was over, it was just children playing. He would sometimes get jumpy, the last symptom he couldn't shake of PTSD, from any slight noise. The screams erupted again and this time people went to go see what it was. The ground shook as people went to go see the scene. Tyreceus looked up in disbelief.

It was a dinosaur.

Specifically, it was the skeleton of an Argentinasarous.

  A lot of the people laughed as they saw it, convinced that it was a cute contraption to scare people, and it worked quite fine. Their laughter subsided once it stepped on a young woman, her bones crunching, her blood covering its skeletal claws. It was silent for three seconds as everyone looked.

They looked and stared, and it was as if a collective cough was being stifled by everyone in a three-mile radius.

Tyreceus wondered if it was a bad joke or some kind of well-made hologram. He did not have to wonder for very long.

  Mass panic ensued. People flew into the sky that could, and everyone who had abilities attempted to take it down. It was not a vile, unthinking beast, but it was cunning and deceptive. It attacked several of the people who came to help. Then it faked out and crushed five of them with its tail.

  Tyreceus pulled his sword out of its scabbard, and his long hair turned into a fiery halo. Before he took even one step, an invisible shirt yanked him by the back of his collar.

"Stop", Unas said. "You cannot fight unless it is for revenge. You will be consumed by the flames."

“They’re killing people,” Tyreceus shouted. “I have to do something!”

  "Yes, and you do not care for these strangers," Unas cackled. "If it were your sweet son that died, then yes!"

“I have to wait for them to all die?”

  "We’ve already been through this," Unas sighed. "Don’t try to kill yourself again."

Tyreceus grit his teeth as people screamed, and he ran off, suddenly wanting to live. A loud boom could be heard, and Tyreceus stopped to look up in the air.

   A bright light shined as it soared into the air. He covered his face as it glowed bright and then stayed up in the air, glowing faintly, like a tiny sun. Something seemed to shine in the sky and Tyreceus scanned it, trying to understand what was happening.

  Those who were trying to escape by flight crashed straight down and plummeted to their deaths. One of the people crashed right down next to Tyreceus, and his blood splattered all over the orange and black sidewalk.

  Tyreceus looked at him and recognized him as one of the librarians. His head had exploded like a watermelon, and there was cerebrum on Tyreceus's shoe. The blood covered the left side of his body, and it dawned on Tyreceus that this was planned. "There is no escape. I can't fight until most of them have died," Tyreceus said.

"No," Unas replied. "You can't fight until someone is directly in the way of your revenge, or has personally wronged you."

“I miss my son,” Tyreceus whispered. “I don’t care about anyone else.”

He dragged his feet into the nearest building and simply waited for the end.