IV

The remainder of the schoolday passed as normal. 

After their geography lesson, Joshua quickly dropped by his house to pick up some copybooks for his last few lessons, though his bag still felt light as a feather when it was so far from filled. 

After their last class, the two friends descended the school’s floors to leave and go home. They continually chatted and joked with each other, mentioning occasionally the crazier events of the day, but keeping their focus of conversation on the more typical, miscellaneous objects of jest. 

As they were walking up to the school gate, Owen noticed a considerable silence had overcome his company, and turned around to see what had brought the sudden quiet upon him, only to notice that Josh was no longer walking beside him, but had stopped in place some twenty metres back.

‘Hey,’ he shouted out to him, ‘you coming?’

‘Sorry,’ Joshua responded, ‘but I have a date at the back of the school.’

Owen’s eyes widened in disbelief.

‘You’re not actually going to meet up with him, are you?’ he asked.

‘Oh come on! I have to see this queen of his,’ Joshua said. ‘You’re telling me you’re not curious what he’s talking about?’

‘I mean I kind of assumed he was just crazy,’ answered Owen. ‘The queen is probably some poster of a swimsuit model with a crown drawn on her head with marker. I’m more worried about you meeting him and receiving a knife to the gut because Ms. Abigail liked your poem more than his.’

‘Oh please!’ Josh cried, ‘you don’t really think he’s dangerous? I’ve never met someone less intimidating in my life!’

‘Well those are the ones you have to watch out for the most,’ said Owen. ‘At least let me go with you. Just to be sure.’

‘But Owen,’ answered Josh, placing careful attention in his words, ‘only the fittest of mind are worthy of laying at the queen’s feet, kissing every ring on her royal fingers. You haven’t even submitted a poetry assignment, she wouldn’t deign to even be in the same building as you.’

‘Alright, alright,’ Owen conceded, ‘go see your queen and have her tell you you’re the most precious of them all. But if you feel something funny going on please call me. Or I guess call the police first, but let me know anyway.’

‘Owen!’ Josh pleaded, ‘stop being so dramatic! Everything will be fine. We will all sit down and have a civilised cup of tea. Worst case scenario, I will have to sing the national anthem, and that might be a problem because I only know like half of the first verse…’

Joshua cut himself off as a light bulb went off behind his eyes.

‘Oh, I know what’s happening!’ Josh said.

‘What’s happening, Josh?’ asked Owen, though he was nearly certain he was entertaining one of Josh’s jokes.

‘You’re jealous!’ yelled Josh, in a mockingly accusatory tone. 

‘Oh, alright—’ said Owen, rolling his eyes as he started to walk away.

‘That’s right!’ continued Josh, raising his voice more and more as his friend got further and further away, ‘You’re jealous that I get to meet her majesty herself, and you don’t!’

‘Enjoy your tea!’ shouted Owen, without as much as a glance back in his friend’s direction.

‘You know what? Maybe if I build you up enough, I can convince the queen to knight you! Like an honorary genius, you know?’ Josh added, but his friend was already turning the nearest corner, and he quickly disappeared out of sight.

A wide grin stretched Joshua’s lips as he turned and started walking in the opposite direction, though it slowly faded with each step he took towards his decision. 

Now that he was alone without the company of his friend, he was able to give his current actions a clearer thought process.

‘What if Owen was right?’ he thought. ‘Since when is meeting the quiet kid alone behind the school a good idea?’

But in only a moment he dispelled the negative thoughts.

‘No, what am I thinking,’ he said to himself. ‘This is the guy whose voice cracked when a standard dose of testosterone entered his system. I could probably overpower him with a pinky.’

‘And sure,’ he continued to himself, ‘he was a little upset about the assignment, but nobody would get violent over homework of all things. My biggest worry should be remembering all the juicy details to tell everyone when I get home.’

Tracing the perimeter of the school building, Joshua started to wonder where exactly Adam had in mind when he sent him going in this direction. There were many places one could call the back of the school, but considering the sheer size of the edifice, all Joshua really had was a vague pointer, though he supposed Adam must choose a place somewhere out in the open, where they could easily see each other.

Turning the corner to the wide open area of grass behind the school, all Joshua’s worries were immediately dispelled.

Adam was standing out in the open of the unmowed pitch of grass, wearing the same dirty clothes he had on him earlier, though carrying on his shoulder a gym bag that took the place of his schoolbag. When he saw the gym bag, Joshua immediately remembered what Owen said to him before, and started to worry about what he might be carrying inside it; though the fear remained only in the back of his mind, and did not push him away from his decision.

‘Hi,’ said Josh awkwardly without approaching much closer, losing the greater part of his confidence when he did not have his friend by his side.

‘Hello,’ responded Adam, still possessed by the austerity that overcame him when he started talking about his queen.

‘Is she in that bag?’ asked Josh in a joking tone, though there was a mild trembling in his voice that he could not explain.

‘What?’ said Adam, clearly confused as to what Joshua was alluding to.

‘Your queen,’ Josh explained, ‘you said I would meet your queen. I was wondering if she was in that gym bag you’ve got there.’

Adam regarded Josh with a confounded stare, like he had just heard the most stupid thing ever uttered by a living person leave Joshua’s mouth. His stern expression was quickly lost, however, and an uncanny grin grew on his face. Josh wondered if that meant he understood he was only joking, or if he perhaps thought him more stupid than before, and was delighting with something else entirely.

‘No,’ he said finally, ‘her majesty Nia is not in the bag.’

A ghost of a smile twitched the corners of Joshua’s lips.

‘So what do you have in there, then?’ he asked. ‘We going to meet your queen at the gym?’

Adam looked down at his bag, and then back up at Josh, with a calculating look on his face.

‘Why don’t you come here and see for yourself,’ he said after a short pause.

There was something that deeply unsettled Joshua in the goading way he said the sentence. He was beginning to feel on edge, almost like prey surrounded out in the open, where each rustle in the nearby bushes felt threatening, and he did not have enough eyes around his head to watch every possible avenue of attack.

A low voice at the back of his mind was telling him that now was the time to leave, that he could just turn around and go, forgetting all about it, but its quiet murmur was overpowered by Joshua’s ego, which assured him everything was fine, and he had the situation under complete control. He did not back down.

Slowly, Josh walked over to Adam. As the distance between the two of them decreased, Adam’s calmness further began to resemble confidence and certainty, as though he had undivided power over their surroundings; and once the two were right before each other, Josh felt utter servitude to Adam’s dominating presence.

Adam extended his arm and opened the bag. Giving Adam one last glance, Joshua saw a smirk on his lips, which unnerved him that much more. Preparing himself for anything he might see inside, Joshua looked down into the open bag.

But much to Joshua’s relief, all the bag contained was what looked to be a folded brown robe of some kind, with a large hood draped over the top. 

He let out a nervous chuckle as he laughed at himself for creating such a tense situation in his mind, when his rational conclusion was right from the very start: this was the same Adam who hadn’t scared him before, and he should not be scared by him now.

Josh was about to curse Owen for ever sowing doubts in his mind, when something curious caught his eye.

Visible just above the place he was holding the bag open, on the inside of Adam’s left wrist, there was a tattoo of a single, thick black dot.

Josh felt entirely lost and confused, but the opportunity to look up and talk to Adam was not granted him, as he felt a sharp jolt of pain strike the back of his head, and he tumbled down to the ground, completely unconscious.

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