Restarting From Genesis

"Ah, yeah, thank you Donovan." Arthur had snapped out of his daydreaming and responded, he closed the car door and waved his chauffeur goodbye before he turned around and walked towards the school. "I’m off, take care."

As he walked through the doorway, a wave of nostalgia hit him. This was technically his alma mater, so he couldn’t help but feel nostalgic, but the feeling of déjà vu blended with it, causing Arthur to feel strange.

He made his way past the doorway, the sight of hoards of teenagers clambering to get access to their lockers in a tight hallway made him almost laugh, but he realised he would soon find himself in that position, as soon as he could remember where his locker actually was.

Arthur continued walking down the hall, the sight of a couple familiar faces started bringing back even more memories, it was almost overwhelming.

After laboriously escaping the hoard, Arthur found himself in a wide room that led to more hallways, there was a staircase in the far end of the room leading to the second floor. Arthur walked towards the staircase and began his ascent, at the very least he knew that his locker was upstairs, the unpleasant memory of having to climb stairs several times a day never escaped his mind.

The top floor contained a crossroads that extended into three more hallways, Arthur took the furthest right and walked towards the end. As he approached the end, he saw the start of another hallway leading left, and from around the corner, he could hear voices.

"Seriously, we’re gonna be late, can’t you just move over?" A male voice echoed down the hall, it was somewhat whiny, but also contained a trace of desperation.

What came after the voice were echoes of laughter from what sounded to be a small group, Arthur felt a sense of familiarity with the first voice, but also dread as he remembered what was going on.

As Arthur turned the corner, his thoughts were instantly confirmed, what came into his view were a group of teenagers loitering around, blocking access to a section of lockers, while a two smaller individuals stood nearby.

Those two smaller individuals just so happened to be Arthur’s closest friends, who both had their lockers next to his, one on either side, meaning his locker was also being blocked by the other group.

As Arthur walked towards the group that was harassing his friends, the loudest one within the group noticed him and spoke out. "Oh ho ho, if it ain’t Arthur, where have you been for the past three days?"

Arthur sighed internally, he was mentally an adult, so he really didn’t want to put up with the harassment of an annoying child this time around, so he began formulating a strategy in his mind as he gave a quick response, "Hospital."

As he moved closer to the group, he stared the loud one down. Arthur was ever so slightly taller than him, and his background far outweighed him, he was superior to this child in every other way. The only reason he ever got bullied was because he didn’t enjoy physical activity or large groups, he pushed people away and ignored them if they were loud or obnoxious, forcing himself to be an outcast when he could have been the centre of attention.

"Move." Arthur uttered one command word, leaving all parties within this group somewhat surprised, Arthur’s personality was usually quite timid, but he suddenly obtained a spine?

The loud child in front of Arthur felt insulted, how dare he look down on him, he was about to act until he heard the next words Arthur spoke.

"So, I just found out, your father works for my company," these words were given in somewhat ominous voice, intended to be taken as a threat. "Plan your next move carefully, Ruslan."

Arthur learned of Ruslan’s father after he graduated from school, when he showed up at the science exhibit hosted within his father’s laboratory with Ruslan at his side. When his father found out about every little thing Ruslan did to Arthur during school, he destroyed Ruslan’s family, abusing his enormous power to make sure Ruslan or his father never found work.

Naturally, Arthur was satisfied at the time, after finally receiving vengeance. However, years went by, and when Arthur was twenty-seven, he passed a homeless man on the street, this man looked familiar.

It was Ruslan, however unlike the arrogant child he had come to know, he was nothing but a pathetic sobbing mess. He apologised to Arthur for all that he did to him, begged him for forgiveness, and when Arthur sat besides him to hear his story, he felt regret for what his father had done.

After that meeting, Ruslan’s father turned to alcohol for comfort and began brutally beating him. Calling Ruslan the worst thing that ever happened to him, ruining his career, his life, and he even shouted out in drunken stupor that Ruslan had even taken the life of his wife.

Within his father’s heart, Ruslan was nothing but a cursed child, but he was a memory between him and his late wife, so he took care of him. Until he finally broke down as a man, Ruslan’s father had died, leaving Ruslan alone in this world at the age of twenty-one, and he had been living on the street ever since.

Ruslan began to back away from the locker, barking orders at his groupies to follow, one started to argue, but Ruslan’s glare brought him back in line. He stared daggers at Arthur, making sure Arthur knew this wasn’t over, before turning and walking away.

Arthur sighed, he threatened a child and made the kid angry at him, but it was better than any of the alternatives he could think of. His internal monologue was distracted shortly after by the sound of awe coming from the friends behind him.

"Which one is my locker?" Arthur turned around to face them, with an awkward smile plastered on his face, as he came out with an unexpected question, to which his friends looked at him with confusion.

"I’ve been in the hospital for the past three days, the doctor said bits of memory could be hazy for a while." He lied to his friends with no hesitation, which surprised him a bit, but he felt like it was believable enough, at least more believable than telling them he came back from the future and couldn’t remember where his locker was because it had been thirty-two years.

The expression of his friends lightened up, the boy that spoke up previously couldn’t help but laugh, "You just came back from the hospital and then decided to threaten Ruslan... and it worked."

The girl beside him looked worried, Ruslan was known to retaliate harder against anybody who stood up to him. But she was happy to see Arthur stand up to him for once, he typically got the worst treatment out of everyone Ruslan targeted, due to Ruslan’s inferiority complex. She spoke up in a soft voice and pointed at a locker, "That one is yours."

"Thanks Holly," Arthur turned towards the locker and pulled a set of keys out from his pocket, thankfully it wasn’t a combination padlock or he’d probably need to get it cut. Arthur found the correct key after a few seconds of searching and used it on the lock, to which it unlocked with ease.

As his locker opened, Arthur stood there for a second, staring within. The inside of his locker was perfectly organised, just as he remembered it to be, and stuck to the inside of the locker door was his class schedule list. He stared at it and began reading the three classes he had today out loud, "Maths, sport and history."

"Ugh, we’ve got the assessment for sport today, don’t remind me." The boy behind him blurted out, clearly he wasn’t looking forward to it.

"Well, the maths exam comes first, Quinn." Arthur remarked, pushing his bag into the lower section of his locker and pulling out the relevant books for his first class, as well as his pencil case, before closing the locker and locking it once more. "Well, we cant be late."

His two friends scurried into their lockers and quickly grabbed their relevant materials, not wanting to be late, a few moments after they closed their lockers and walked over to Arthur.

"Alright, lets get going." Arthur announced, as he started walking towards the direction of his maths class.