Project Archangel Book One: The Conspiracy Project

Michael Wydic was never one of those quiet kids. He came from money and had a lot of friends. Everybody loved him, even the teachers. Anything he did wrong, they would always look the other way, and everybody wanted to be his best friend. I remember, once in elementary school, the class was required to give a report on what their parents did for a living. Michael told everyone how his scientist parents owned their own pharmaceutical company and made a lot of money.

Sometime, about halfway through 5th grade, he just disappeared. He suddenly stopped coming to school, and no one ever heard anything else about him, not even the teachers. He didn't appear on milk cartons or in newspapers. It was almost like he had never existed. He was just gone. His parents, when they were home, would tell people their son had gone to boarding school, yet none of his friends' letters or emails ever received a response. After about a year, they vanished too, but they never sold their home.

Then, on the first day of my senior year, I walked into homeroom to see a thin, dark haired boy slouching in a seat at the very back of the room. His black hair swooped to cover his eyebrows and he was dressed in a plain black t-shirt over a pair of washed out black jeans that were almost gray now with a pair of expensive high tops on his feet. No one had ever seen him before, making him the talk of the classroom. Those of us who remembered Michael were shocked when the teacher called out the name "Wydic? Michael?" and he answered with a mumbled "present."

I had never really been particularly close with Michael, even though we had been in the same class since kindergarten, but this guy was nothing like the boy I remembered from elementary school. As he moved silently through the halls between classes, seemingly unseen by every other student but me, he didn't talk to anyone or make eye contact. His friends from elementary school didn't bother to speak to him. He just glided along on his own, nearly invisible.

On my way to my second class of the day, which was way out in the portables, I happened to see Michael again, standing out back and smoking a cigarette. I briefly contemplated approaching him and telling him smoking wasn't allowed, but he probably already knew. Besides, if any teachers said anything, he'd probably just buy their permission. I decided to just pretend I hadn't seen him and continued walking to class.

I wasn't surprised to see Michael walk into class and sit down in the back corner about a minute before the bell rang. He didn't say anything and simply laid his head down on the desk. It was so strange to see this silent and mysterious guy, knowing he had once been a spoiled little rich boy with all perfect grades and an extremely active social life. Now he just slept through class and smoked outside of the cafeteria. What had happened to him in the last six years to make him into this antisocial creepy kid in all black?

---

Following second period was lunch and my friends and I were all excited to see each other again. Naturally we all had stories from our crazy summers to share. Brenda had hooked up with a guy at the beach; Sammy had gone to an anime convention; Bradley had met a boy who was visiting from Sweden; Sarah had gone to several poetry conventions; and Shawn had gone to a horror themed amusement park in California. Compared to them, my story of sitting on my couch or visiting the library all summer seemed pretty lame, but we hadn't really been able to do anything cool this year with them cutting my mom's hours at the daycare. My dad had to work a few more hours to make up for it, and we couldn't afford a fancy vacation.

We jumped from topic to topic until Michael walked by and everyone started talking in hushed whispers. He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket and disappeared out the door.

"Who's that?" Cameron asked once he was gone.

"He looks kinda scary..." his girlfriend, Alyssa, muttered.

"He looks kinda like my type," Brenda smirked.

"Any guy who wears all black is your type," Sammy teased.

Brenda shrugged. "What can I say? I love bad boys."

"Too bad they don't love you," Shawn laughed, earning himself a smack on the arm from Brenda's fingerless gloved hand.

"He's in my classes..." I muttered.

"Which ones?" Brenda asked.

"All of them so far."

"Lucky..."

"Who is he?" Shawn wondered.

I looked at Sarah. "Do you remember Michael Wydic?"

"You mean that rich kid from elementary school?" she asked between sandwich bites.

I nodded.

"Sure. Why?"

That's him.

Her eyes grew wide. "No way!"

Cameron looked confused. "Michael who?"

"He went to elementary school with us, and one day he just vanished."

"Vanished?"

"And now he's back," I explained.

"In all black," Brenda sighed dreamily.

"And creepier than ever," Sarah added. "I remember this kid with perfectly groomed hair in khaki shorts and polos who couldn't shut up for a second.

“There's no way that's him," Bradley, who had also been with us since elementary school, insisted.

"It's him," I responded. "The last name the teacher said was 'Michael Wydic' and he responded."

"It has to be a different Michael Wydic," Sarah insisted.

"Or something really fucked him up while he was away," Cameron suggested. "He looks cool."

"He looks hot!" Brenda butted into the conversation. "What do you think? Alternative school? Juvi?"

"Rich kids don't go to alternative school or juvi. They pay off the cops," Shawn sneered.

"Military school then?"

"Then why would he be back?" Bradley demanded. "No. It had to have been something much worse."

"Like what?" Sarah raised an eyebrow.

"Something beyond our wildest imagination."

"Like what?" I echoed Sarah's question.

Bradley shrugged carelessly. "I don't know. I just know it must have been terrible."

Just then, the door opened and Michael came back into the cafeteria. Brenda followed him with her eyes as he took a seat away from everyone, on the floor, and opened a bag of fast food. He pulled out a hamburger and took a bite, followed by a sip from a large drink.

"Oh my god!" Brenda exclaimed. "He left school grounds for lunch! No one is allowed to leave school grounds for lunch! He is so hot!"

"I think she just came..." Sammy laughed.

"I think I just found my soul mate," Brenda sighed. "Should I ask him to sit with us? I should ask him to sit with us."

"No!" Sarah cried. "He might stalk and kill us or something."

"Mmm, he can stalk me all he wants.”

"Just leave him alone," Alyssa muttered. "He seems content where he's at."

"Besides, you'll find a new soul mate by the end of today anyway," Sammy teased.

Brenda crossed her arms and pouted. "You guys suck."

---

The lunch bell eventually rang, and all the students stood up to throw their trash away and head to class. As I walked, I found myself wondering who was going to be in my next class with me. Michael again perhaps? I didn't realize how late I was running until I heard the warning bell ring out.

"Shit!" I exclaimed and started walking faster. Late on the first day!

I walked into class just after the tardy bell rang, only to find that the only remaining seat in the room was in the back corner, right next to Michael and at the same lab table.

"You must be Miss Tyler," a skinny lady with short hair spoke the moment I walked in the door. "I'm Mrs. Sanchez. I'll excuse your tardy for today as it's the first day of school, but don't let it happen again."

I'm not even that late!

"Please have a seat, Miss Tyler."

I quickly scurried to the only remaining seat in the room and sat down beside Michael. He glanced at me briefly and returned his cool blue eyes to the notebook he was drawing in. At a quick glance, it looked like he had taken art lessons from Tim Burton himself.

"These will be your seats for the rest of the year, and the person next to you will be your lab partner, so get used to seeing them," the skinny teacher continued. "I'm passing out your paperwork now, one of which is a nametag for your desk. You may decorate it however you like, as long as it isn't offensive, while I'm going over the paperwork, if you can still pay attention to me."

Needless to say, everyone pulled out markers or colored pencils and began drawing and writing their names.

---

Finally fourth block came around, which meant there were only 90 minutes left before the end of the day. Of course last block was the class I hated the most: Math. I wasn't surprised to find that Michael was in that class with me as well, sitting at the back of the classroom as usual. What did surprise me, however, was that he got all the problems correct on the practice quiz our teacher gave us to see what we already knew. He got all of them right before Lacey Smith, the smartest person in our class, was even halfway done. When the teacher said he'd gotten 100 percent, I could see the anger and competition glowing like fire in her eyes. Michael, on the other hand, just returned her fury with a blank stare. Clearly he wasn't interested in any sort of competition.

---

Once school was over and everyone had rushed from the classroom, Michael and I were the last to leave. We both headed toward the bus loop, but I found it rather hard to believe a rich boy like Michael would ride a bus home. Not surprisingly, he turned off and headed towards the back of the school, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. Shaking my head, I made my way to the buses, but mine had yet to arrive, so I sat down with Cameron, Alyssa, Brenda and Sammy to wait. Both of the latter could drive and had their own vehicles, but they had been waiting with the rest of us losers since ninth grade. It was just tradition.

"Sucks none of us have the same classes this year," Cameron muttered.

Alyssa nodded her agreement. "I don't have anyone to partner with now."

"Kelsey has Mr. Tall, Dark, and Sexy in her class," Brenda pouted.

I rolled my eyes. "So? It's not like we're friends or anything."

"I'd be his friend," Brenda swooned.

"With benefits," Alyssa muttered.

Brenda smiled dreamily.

"Speak of the devil..." Cameron muttered as Michael walked past us, giving us a sideways glance from the corners of his eyes.

He was headed towards the student parking lot. We watched as he got into a shiny black sports car and cranked the engine.

"Oh my god!" Cameron exclaimed. "That model isn't even out yet!"

"That boy's got money," Alyssa stated.

We all watched in silent awe as the car quickly backed out of the parking space, squealing the tires as it came to a stop, then sped forward until it came to the stop sign coming out of the parking lot. Michael waited a beat before tearing out of the parking lot and disappearing down the road.

Brenda let out a dreamy sign. "He's amazing."

I rolled my eyes just as my bus pulled up. "I'll see you guys later," I muttered before boarding. I took a seat, put my headphones in my ears, and turned my music up loudly to ignore all the noise around me.

---

When I got home, my parents were just waiting to bombard me with questions. Before I even had time to put my stuff down, they started in.

"How was your first day, Kels?" Dad asked

"Any cute boys in your classes?" Mom pressed.

They went back and forth like that for what seemed like forever.

"How are the teachers?"

"Did you get any homework?"

"How was the bus ride?"

"What do you think of the freshmen this year?"

"Any new friends?"

I blinked, my eyes remaining wide. "Can I have a second to breathe please? Yes, I have homework," I lied, "I'm going to go start it now."

My mother seemed disappointed. "You sure you don't want to tell us about your day?"

"I don't feel like talking about it right now."

My father, a bit disappointed himself, nodded and let me go upstairs to my room.

I threw my bag on the floor by my desk and myself on my bed. Why did parents always have to be so nosy? If I wanted to tell them about my day, I would have told them. Why did it matter if I made friends or had a crush? Hopefully they would be over their curiosity by dinner.

---

But they weren't. The second my mother had laid out our plates, she was asking about my day again.

"So are there any cute boys?"

I shrugged carelessly. "One of my friends has a crush on a guy. He's kind of cute, I guess, but he smokes like a train."

She gasped. "He's too young for that! Who is he? Do I know his parents? I'll tell them right away!"

She already had her phone in her hand.

"Mom! This is why I don't like talking to you! You're so dramatic."

"Sorry..." She put her phone down.

"Even if you did tell them, they probably already know and don't really care. He's rich."

"Who is he?"

"Nobody."

"Apparently he's somebody if he has that kind of money," Dad interjected.

I rolled my eyes. "Remember Michael Wydic?"

Both my parents nodded. "He was such a pleasant little boy," Mom smiled.

"Yeah, well now he wears all black and smokes cigarettes.”

My mother seemed horrified, but my dad just asked "didn't he move away or something?"

I shrugged. "Who knows? No one knows where he went or what happened to him, but he definitely came back a completely different person."

"I’ll say..." my mother mumbled.

---

That night, I lay awake in my bed, staring at the ceiling. It wasn't the first night I hadn't been able to sleep, but for some reason I didn't feel tired at all, even though I had been sleepy earlier this evening. My insomnia led me back to Michael and fifth grade. Several students had noticed his disappearance and had gone to his house looking for him. They had been driven away by his parents, who had insisted that Michael was away at boarding school. The children had been told that if they wished to write him a letter, they could give them to his parents and they would send them to Michael. After many letters sent and not one response, people started to think the worst, but as there was nothing anyone could do, they slowly started forgetting about him. He was away at boarding school and that was the end of it.

I slowly drifted off to sleep with those memories floating around in my head.