Leo slammed the door shut, his backpack bouncing on his shoulder. "Of course, the dog couldn't see his other toys, so he had to go for my lunch bag. And the bus has already left."
Arin, his twin, ever the calm one, had mild irritation in his eyes, "You're 3 minutes late, brother. The bus is already too far from us."
"What's life without a few problems?" said Leo, betraying his beating heart. 'Technically, I'm only slightly late. And life without a little adrenaline is as dry as spaghetti without the sauce.' Leo thought, sprinting toward the main road.
"Sprinting won't make the bus come back, Leo. We're gonna have to jog our way to school." Arin huffed.
A few blocks away, the bus had already disappeared around a corner. Leo skidded to a stop, chest heaving. "Yep," he said, dramatically, "the universe clearly hates me."
'First day of school and it's already going bad.'
Arin sighed, looking at him with his usual expression when Leo was being… Well, Leo. "Let's walk."
As they entered the school grounds, they heard the sound of the bell chiming. "Late already. The homeroom teacher will surely not be excited to see either of us. I hate you, Leo," grumbled Arin.
"My bad, brother, but it's not my fault that the dog wanted to play fetch with my lunch bag!" exclaimed Leo.
During this, a group of upperclassmen appeared, blocking the path to the entrance of the school. "Who do we have here? Freshmen?" said a tall, skinny dude. "Hey, Jarred. We got new prey."
Leo's first instinct was to joke. "Quite bright, aren't you?"
"You think you're funny, do you, you little brat? Let's see if you can run as well as you can talk." Said a big, burly dude that all the others parted ways for.
"Aah… so you must be Jarred. The big burly bully leader, right? Well, guess what? We really can run. So…" said Leo, waving before grabbing Arin's hand and dashing for the library while Jarred was talking.
"You just can't help but make enemies out of seniors, can you?" muttered Arin.
"What can I say, Arin? I have a great amount of talents, both negative and positive," said Leo, grinning ear to ear.
They banged the door shut in the face of the bullies and locked it. Arin observed his surroundings, "Leo, that's our way of escape! Step on my shoulder and get onto the roof!" yelled Arin.
"Ok. Here I go," said Leo before climbing and jumping for the hole in the roof.
After climbing on top, "Here, hold my hand, I'll pull you up," said Leo before reaching down to Arin and pulling him up as well. After they both got onto the roof, he saw a dark, grey humanoid beast lurking nearby. 'What the heck is that thing? I'm not dreaming, am I?'
"Arin, what do you think that thing is? And why is everything so black?" asked Leo. Arin looked at it, 'Is this some sort of weird dream? Why is the sky so dark now? What happened?'
Only when the creature started grabbing for him did Arin wake up from his thoughts. Leo, being the impulsive kid with ADHD he was, jumped onto Arin, protecting him from the hand of the dark creature. Its eyes started glowing when it pointed at Leo, and Leo instantly fell unconscious.
"Leo! Leo! Get up! What is this? Leo!" yelled Arin before he got punched in the face by a black fist. The creature started dragging away Leo's body. Arin's knees buckled, "Noooooo! Don't take him away! Please!". The creature put a finger on its lips, and in Arin's mind, he heard it: Quiet brat. It then pointed at Arin and snapped its fingers.
5 minutes later in a corner of the library
Arin woke up in a pool of sweat. 'What was that thing? Why did it take my brother? Was this a nightmare? Then why am I in the library?' "Gosh darn it. Why my brother? It could have taken me instead," cried Arin. A few minutes later, he saw a flash of light. 'What's gonna happen now? Am I about to go into some isekai world or something?' He went up to it before slowly touching it.
A Bright Golden Flash