2 Years, 2 Weeks, 2 Lives

by Phil Cocker

He replied sarcastically. “I do hope you've not been letting things slide out there.”

  “No, no, not in the slightest.” Eklan replied, a little too quickly. She regretted her haste the instant the words left her mouth, knowing that any mistake would be picked up by K'nash. She still had a lot to learn.

  “I know where and when every single thing that happens under my Supreme command, Junior Commander.” K'nash's voice growled, clarifying the difference in rank, his anger at being lied to evident to all who may have heard, even whilst he still had it in its contained form, as it was at that moment. “I didn't get to my rank by letting my underlings make a fool of me.” His fist thumped the table, making everything bounce. “I have spies everywhere, even where you are.”

  Eklan listened, not afraid to talk, as she was afraid of no-one, even K'nash who's name alone brought nations to their knees. No, she was intelligent and had enough experience within her young years to know when she had to keep her mouth shut. She also took note that she had a spy within her ranks, someone disloyal to her. She vowed to find the culprit as soon as possible, and remove them from her ship as soon as practical.

  “I know you haven't been back there in the last two years.” He growled. “Two – Years.” He enunciated each word. “What reason do you have.”

  Eklan tried to think of one, quickly.

  “WELL!” K'nash barked, both hands gripped the table, the knuckles white as the edge of the metal desk slowly bent upwards.

  “Sorry, I didn't think.” Eklan watched, amazed at the strength of the man, despite his advancing years.

  “No, you didn't think.” K'nash let out a roar which rattled around his office, making the photographs hanging on the walls rattle in their frames. Each one told the story from a young soldier, standing amongst the ranks through many battles as he rose from standing behind Commanders to being one. The last few showed him aside Heads of State, some more proud to be next to K'nash rather than the other way round.

  “But I didn't realise he was important to the overall mission.”

  “Of course he is important, every genetic lineage is important, no matter how far down the line the genetic code has stretched.”

  Eklan didn't argue, she wasn't privy to such secret instructions between the Council and Supreme Commanders. What she did know was her Great grandfather's name was still working its magic within the Corp.

  Distracted.

  “Yes, yes, we’ve all seen lightning before, so can we calm down a little then”. Mr.Higson, who was standing in for Miss Holmes, the General Studies teacher, calmed the class down. He was Eric’s Mathematics teacher, taking the top set in that subject, but as he had a free period, he had offered to take the class for the young teacher who currently had her leg in plaster after an unfortunate fall from a Mountain Bike whilst racing round Grizedale forests tracks. Mr.Higson flapped his palms slowly in an attempt to lower the increasing chatter as everyone grew more interested in the dramatic outside.

  A huge bear of a man, he was known as a gentle giant by his friends as his appearance belied his softer side. He’d played rugby as a prop forward at local county levels in his youth and then had got to just outside the top leagues whilst at University earning his degree in Higher Mathematics and a second in Quantum Physics. Even though he wasn't a Physical Education teacher, to keep relatively fit, he would help coach the sport during PE lessons. Mr.Higson could also play the acoustic guitar quite well, no mean feat for a man with such large hands. Folk songs could be heard echoing along corridors on many occasions at lunch times and breaks to help while away the day. It had been rumoured that he’d also played the odd, more colourful, Rugby song he’d learnt as a young man for the year 11 team. The story continued that the Headmaster had to have a strong word or two with him. Truth or fiction, he was very well liked by students and teachers alike. He was known to be relatively firm, but always very fair.

  “Right!” He called out a little louder, trying to get the class back to some order. “Come on, come on please” He clapped his hands to grab their attention. “I realise it’s Friday morning and we’re all probably looking forward to a lovely weekend of joyous sunshine and merriment, but right at this moment it is time to get back to work and more importantly back to the topic of music and memory.” he continued, although even he had noticed how fierce the storm was outside. How the contrast from the bright summer sunshine to the jet black clouds that had moved so close, they loomed ominously over the edge of the school's grounds, threatening to deliver a mighty bolt of electricity.

  As if on cue, a thick white crackling jagged line burst out of the cloud and raced its way to the top of the main gates of the school. An explosion of colours sparkled and flowed, as if a pot of gold had been hit by a cannonball. “WHOA!” Mr.Higson shouted in surprise.

  Screams and screeching chairs echoed around the classroom as they backed away from the window.

  “It's OK everyone, I realise it was close, and quite spectacular,” Which he thought to himself was the understatement of the century, “but the school is very safe.” He understood the Physics behind lightning rods transferring the 1.21 gigawatts of energy to the ground, but would have preferred an expert had tested the system that ran from the top of the year 11 common room to the side of the main entrance that morning, just to be extra safe, especially as his class was only one floor down from the roof. “Can everyone please sit back down?”

  This part of the school was the oldest, built in the decade after the baby boom years of the 60s. The windows were single glazed in aluminium frames, with loops that needed a long pole with a hook on the end to open the highest ones. As they were getting old, they were also getting loose.

  There was a huge flash of light.

  More screams.

  Eric realised it was directly overhead.

  The thunder boomed, rattling the windows.

  More screams.

  Eric flinched a fraction, not being able to fight the automatic reflex reaction to the noise.

  John Armer, the school bully, grinned as he whispered into a fellow students ear. “It's coming for you.”

  Jasmine Newsham screamed, flailing her arms around.

  Eric had heard, gave John a hard stare before grabbing Jasmine's hands. “It's OK, look at me.”

  Jasmine's head flashed from Eric to the windows as more flashes and booms followed in short succession. She never stopped screaming.

  “Jasmine, it's OK, listen to me.” Eric had to raise his voice.

  Mr.Higson's voice also rose to help calm everyone down, and he noticed what Eric was doing.

  Jasmine's voice trailed off slightly as Eric placed a calming hand on her cheek.

  “Jasmine, it's fine, the Lightning can't be chasing you.” He smiled at her, the flashes of lightning glinted off her eyes. “Just think how silly that sounds.”

  John Armer glared at Eric, his little joke ending so quickly.

  The lightning stopped, the thunder echoing in everyone's ears, long after it had ended booming above their heads.

  The door to the classroom flew open. “Everyone OK in here?” The Headmaster asked.

  “Not bad.” Mr.Higson half smiled. “OK, OK, everyone back to their seats.”

  The Head nodded and continued his checks around the school.

  Eric smiled at Jasmine, who smiled back, a little ashamed at her previous actions.

  John Armer barged past Eric. “You'll regret being a spoilsport Peterson.” He added through gritted teeth.

  “Look, it's all over with now, so let's back to the class.” Mr.Higson continued to take control back after the storm.

  Eric took his seat, but his thoughts drifted away. Why had there been no rain, and why did it flash so violently, so many times. This intrigued him. He had a thought that he'd seen this before, somewhere locked away in a memory.

  “That's better, thank you everyone.” Mr.Higson added calming as many down as he could, de
spite nature's theatrical display outside. He gave everyone a few seconds before he decided to continue with the lesson. “So, getting back to today's topic, I was explaining that we can all remember the lyrics to our favourite song quite easily, but we struggle with remembering other subjects, for instance…” He looked around the room to check the level of student’s abilities, and found a suitable candidate. “I realise we don’t all have the same level of mathematical ability, but for this example, What is the order that we use to complete a mixed sequence of calculations, Mr. Peterson?” The strong voice boomed across the classroom, bringing everyone’s attention back. That was, everyone’s attention, except one.

  Eric dazed out of the window lost in the thoughts of the thunderstorms intensity. The blinding flashes of powerful bright light, and deadly bolts of electric arced through the memories of the dream that had woken him that morning.

  “Oh Er-ic?” Mr.Higson sang, waiting for his star pupil to hear him. “Oh Er-ic, can you come back down to planet Earth please?” Mr.Higson’s voice became soft and musical as he tried to get his pupils attention. He then rolled up a sheet of A4 into a cone and used it as a Megaphone “Earth calling Eric, Earth calling Eric, come in Eric” He said in a mechanical voice, much to the amusement of the rest of the class.

  John Armer took great delight in seeing his latest enemy being humiliated, although he would have preferred it to be at