Eye of Moros

Theodore jolted awake to his alarm screaming. He rolled over in an attempt to shut it up but didn’t realize that he was on the edge of the bed and fell to the floor with a loud thud, one that caused his roommate to slowly open his eyes.

“Sorry,” Theodore said as he peeled himself off of the floor and quickly shut off his alarm. He tried his best to get ready for school as quietly as he could, though he kept stumbling over himself as the room was too dim to see much, despite the light slowly seeping through the large glass windows in the room. Once Theodore was ready, he left his room and headed down the grand staircase to the cafeteria on the main floor of the dormitory. Although the dorm was old, the main floor was nice and warm which was a huge contrast to the rain beating against the brick walls and glass windows. Theodore grabbed his breakfast food before he sat down on a table as far away from people as he could get. Although Theodore had been at the school for almost three months, he still wasn’t quite used to the food being so good. He was used to food that came from a cafeteria being practically inedible but the food was probably edible because this was the most expensive school that his parents had sent him to.

Just as Theodore was finishing up his food, he couldn’t help but notice one girl, Athena, who joined the back of the line, a girl that Theodore unfortunately knew a lot more than he wanted. When Theodore had first arrived at the school, he hadn’t known that Athena also came to the school. When he did find out, it was almost like he and Athena had made a silent pact to not interact with each other and that they would try and pretend that their parents didn’t work at the same place. So far, no one had managed to find out, but Theodore couldn’t help but worry that it was only a matter of time that their classmates found out.

Thankfully, the bell rang and Theodore dumped the remainder of his food into the garbage before he headed off to his first class. When he got there, he found a seat at the back of the class. Although Theodore understood about half of what the teacher was saying, he couldn’t muster up the energy to try and understand more, so he hoped that if he kept his head down and avoided eyes contact, that the teacher wouldn’t call on him and he would be able to breeze through the class.

Thankfully, his strategy seemed to work for this class as the teacher didn’t bother to call on him. When the bell finally rang, Theodore took the opportunity to practically sprint out of the class. He did his best to loiter in the hallway for as long as he could while avoiding attention, before he slid into his seat in his next class right before the bell rang. Although Theodore still took a seat at the back of the classroom, this was the one class that he was actually stoked about. The teacher in the class was a pretty good teacher and he took his time on explaining what he was teaching to ensure that everyone understood what he was talking about. In the middle of class as the teacher was in the middle of talking, a gentle tune played over the PA system. Immediately the teacher stopped talking as the principal’s voice came over the speaker, “Can Theodore Greaves and Athena Bishop grab their things and come down to the office.”

Theodore felt everyone’s eyes on him as he slowly got to his feet and packed up his items. When he left the classroom, he found Athena alone in the hallway as she walked towards the office. Theodore quickly jogged to catch up with Athena and he asked her, “Do you know what’s going on?”

Athena seemed surprised to find Theodore talking to her, “I don’t know,” Athena admitted, “I hope that this doesn’t take long, though. I was in the middle of a test and I hope that I can get back with enough time to finish it.”

“I hope this takes long,” Theodore said, “I don’t have anything better to do.”

Athena and Theodore reached the office together and were told to take a seat in chairs that practically swallowed them both. They could see the principal pacing inside his office, talking on the phone to someone and as he went back and forth, he seemed to grow more and more angry before he eventually slammed the phone down on his desk. Through the windows in the office, Theodore and Athena were forced to watch the principal’s face slowly go from a red tomato back to a somewhat normal color as he took a couple of deep breathes. Once the principal had calmed down, he stormed out of his office and started angrily whispering to the receptionist before he turned to face Theodore and Athena. He attempted to plaster a smile onto his face, a smile that quickly fell flat. “Theodore, Athena, your parents have requested that you be released from school early. Theodore, your dad sent a car to pick you up and Athena, your dad said that he would be coming to pick you up. They both should be here in about five minutes.”

“Did they say why they wanted us released from school?” Thedore asked

“I don’t think so,” the principal said. Then he seemed to realize, “Wait, don’t both of your parents work at Kingston Labs. Maybe it has something to do with that. I heard that Kingston Labs is nearing a breakthrough on a project. You probably know more about it.”

Athena shrugged, “Not really,” she confessed, “Our parents don’t really talk about their work.”

The principal seemed disappointed, though he had a certain look on his face that made Theodore believe that the principal didn’t really believe him. Thankfully, Athena’s dad walked into the office which caused the principal to immediately go quiet. Athena breathed a sigh of relief as she gathered up her stuff.

Athena’s dad turned to Theodore, “By the way, Theo, your driver is waiting for you outside.” Then Athenas dad turned back towards the principal, “I assume everything’s set for pulling Athena out of school early.”

“You just need to sign here and then you can take her,” the principal explained, “Theodore, your dad’s already signed everything so you’re good to go. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

Theodore nodded. He grabbed his stuff before he marched outside to find his dad’s car waiting. Theodore threw his stuff into the backseat before he climbed in afterwards. His driver immediately started the car and peeled out of the parking lot.