Chapter Text
Tasen woke up on the morning of his first day of senior year with an uneasy feeling. It was unlike other mornings where he just wanted to stay in bed forever with a feeling of safety and warmth. Tasen needed to get out of his bed or his uneasy feeling would grow. He slipped out of bed and his arms stretched above his head, feeling his soft blue dyed hair that had a small red streak. He just couldn’t seem to cover up the deep red it used to be. He slowly crossed the room as he made his way to the window. His hand grabbed the curtain and pulled it away from the glass, letting in the soft dawn light.
Tasen’s uneasy feeling didn’t seem to want to leave him just yet. It was fading slowly, and growing less and less intense.
He slowly turned toward the bathroom, tearing his eyes away from the beautiful sunrise. His hand gripped the rusty handle that had worn out throughout the years and turned it while leaning on the door. The door creaked open, as if it was sighing in annoyance. His bare foot stepped onto the cold tile floor of the bathroom. His hand pushed the door toward the wall and instinctively grabbed toward where his glasses were before he remembered that he had left them on the couch with his mask and phone. He had been out later than he had wished the night before due to last minute clothes shopping. He didn’t really care about his appearance, but his mom sure did. She always asked him to take a picture of himself for her so that she could see her little boy grow up, no matter how far away she was.
Instead, he grabbed his weights he had gotten from the gym and brought them over to his closet, where his clothes from last night were in a paper bag, waiting for the first day of school. There was a leather jacket, a black short sleeved turtleneck shirt, and some new jeans in the small bag. Tasen grabbed each piece of clothing separately and thought of what his mother would think of them when she received his message.
Fully dressed, he walked over to his bed with a shoe and a sock in each hand. He sat down slowly, hoping that the feeling wouldn’t come back when he sat on the bed. He slid socks and shoes onto his cold, bare feet. He waited for a few moments, as if he was daring the uneasy feeling to come back. When it didn’t, He stood up slowly, and walked out of the open door to his room. He walked down the hall to the living room and put on his glasses that were in between the cushions. He put on his mask that was wrapped around the glasses, and he grabbed his phone, sliding it into his small back pocket.
He grabbed his backpack that he had used last year, since he couldn’t afford a new one. It was still in good condition, because he didn’t use it roughly. It had three zippers, a pocket for his chromebook, and a few pockets in the front that he put his colored pencils and his house key into. He grabbed his phone out of his back pocket after he had put on his backpack and made sure everything was in it, then he walked towards the front door.
His hand hesitated as it hovered over the handle. This was his last year of high school, and he was going to a new school that was nearer to his dream college. It was almost scary to think of being in a new place for his final year. Instead of grabbing the door handle, he took his phone out. He took a selfie to send to his mother. He knew she wouldn’t stop bothering him until he sent one, so he thought that he could just get it done quicker.
While the message was sending, Tasen finally grabbed the door handle, and the uneasy feeling came back. The feeling was even stronger than when he had had it before. It was a sickening feeling. It felt like his body was trying to warn him. He pushed down the feeling, opened the door, and took a breath of fresh air. He slipped his phone into the back pocket of his jeans, and, after a moment of deciding which way to go, he started jogging toward the bus stop.
He was met by a bunch of small groups of people that looked both tired, and annoyed by the fact that school had finally arrived after the long and entertaining summer. Tasen didn’t know where to stand, so he went towards the closest wall, leaned on it, and tried to not make eye contact with anyone. He started to identify each group of people. The group that was nearest to the curb was a group of girls that he assumed were the popular girls. Another group was near them, and they had all of the jocks and “cool” people. The other group that was farther away from the bus stop seemed to be the smart group, because they were discussing homework they had gotten over the summer.
After what seemed like an eternity of observing the groups, he finally decided that he was right about his assumptions, and the bus finally drove around the corner. The small group of students all went towards a spot on the curb where he assumed that the bus was going to stop. He hung back for a little bit until the bus drew closer. When the bus was slowing to a stop, he started to make his way toward the bus. Everyone poured onto the bus and immediately made their way to the back, because they wouldn’t have to deal with the bus driver in the back.
The bus driver looked tired and bored, like most teachers were. Tasen noticed that all of the people ignored the existence of the bus driver, and walked past him, even making rude and mocking faces. Tasen felt bad for the bus driver. One of the popular kids pushed past Tasen, and he felt the uneasy feeling, but now he felt sick as though he had a headache. He grabbed his head, and tried to wrest away the pain. It softened slightly at the contact of his hand, and he walked up the steps of the bus.
He smiled at the driver and said, “Good Morning!” The bus driver seemed genuinely surprised. Tasen sat on the first seat that was closest to the bus driver. “What’s your name?” Tasen asked as his headache faded away. The bus driver glanced back at him with a happier face than earlier and said, “Lorianne. Yours?” Tasen paused for a moment to admire her name and then said, “Tasen.”
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As Tasen entered the doorway to his first class, he was surprised to see that he was one of the first ones there. He sat at a desk near the back corner, and tried to remain hidden as more people came in. He waited as the others walked into the room.
He observed each and every one of them, giving them names, and mentally putting them in the social groups he thought that they looked like they belonged in. He had put them all in their groups when all of the sudden, he heard a backpack hit the ground with a very loud thud right next to him. He actually jumped softly in his chair. It had scared him pretty badly. But then he heard laughter.
The person that had dropped the backpack had completely slipped past his watchful gaze. He didn’t know how she did it, seeing how she was wearing a full-on knight costume and had light blue hair. The fact that she was also very short was probably the reason he hadn’t seen her but, she also had two different colored eyes. How did she slip past?
As her laughter died down, he realized that she was actually one of the shy non-popular kids that had accidentally dropped her backpack too hard. Although she was kind of shy, she also had a conspiratorial gleam in her eyes. When she spoke, it was almost in a whisper, while her eyes were fiery. “Hello! I’ve never seen you around this school before. Oh I forgot! My name is Marnie. What’s yours?”
Marnie? Oh yeah… I remember researching names before for a book I was writing. Marnie means "from the sea", "sparkling", or "shining". This girl was definitely shining. And she had a sort of vibe that she gave off that meant Ocean. “I’m new to this school. I’m going here for my last year of high school because it’s closer to my dream college.” She looked like she was thinking about his statement so he stopped talking to her and looked forward.
He was sitting there for a few seconds before he heard her voice talking again. “That would make sense to be closer to your dream college and get used to the area. But you never told me your name.” Oh yeah. He thought. “I’m Tasen.” She held out her hand to me and mumbled,“Nice to meet you Tasen!” Tasen reached out to grab her hand.
When his hand touched her’s, He felt the headache again, but almost like it was just sadness. He gasped in surprise and grabbed his head, trying not to show how much pain he was in. But obviously, she noticed.
“Are you okay?!” He tried to ignore her and the headache. He grabbed his computer out of his backpack and started typing on a document. Whenever he was writing a book he calmed down and just focused on the book, but this time, all he could think about as how his headache felt like sadness and loss.
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As Tasen entered the cafeteria, he saw the friend groups again. Popular kids at the middle table like they were trying to assert dominance. All the awkward kids were in a small corner table. The shy kids, like Marnie, were at another corner table. The jocks and the cheerleaders took up a few tables, talking about future and past games that they had won or will win. There were the nerds and geeks filling in the rest of the tables.
He started towards the shy kids table, dodging around the popular kid and jock tables, because no matter what school he went to, he was always asked to join those tables. A few of the girls looked at him as he passed because his height always attracted attention. His height was the reason he was introverted. He didn’t like being the center of attention.
As he approached the shy kids table, he saw someone that was even shorter than Marnie. He had gray hair, but other than that he didn’t have any stand out traits.
As Tasen sat down next to Marnie, he waved to the gray haired kid. He waved back, and his hand was really fast. Tasen was kind of surprised that his hand could move that fast. “So, what's your name?” Tasen asked. The boy looked at him and said,“I’m Abel. I was in your first period class, I was just late today. I’m really late every day. I’m just especially late on the first day of school. The first day of school is always a bummer right? I know that, but I also think that the day before the first day of school is even worse. It’s like, you know that the day is coming, and you stress all day remembering if you had homework over break, and if you have all your school supplies. Speaking of school supplies, I left mine at home and so I…”
Holy crap. Is this child ever going to stop talking?? He thought. He had a weird look on his face, so Marnie leaned over and whispered,“Don’t worry, his voice will tire out eventually.” Tasen nodded to her, although he was quite frazzled by the tiny child. He looked like an elementary schooler.
Another tiny child came up behind him, and said hello to Marnie. Who’s this? He thought. “Oh Tasen, this is my little sister, Beatrice, but you can call her Bee. She’s a freshman so she’s new to this school too.” Tasen looked at the person. She wasn’t actually small, but everyone that was shorter than him looked like an elementary schooler.
She held out her hand to him. “Nice to meet you, Jason!” she said brightly. Tasen looked at her. She didn’t seem to be joking. She looked genuinely sincere. She must’ve just heard her sister wrong. “My name’s not Jason,” He said. “It’s Tasen. With a T.” “Oh,” she said, lowering her and as she tried to hide her embarrassment. “Well, nice to meet you, Tasen with a T.” Tasen smiled at her, to try to relieve her of some of her embarrassment.
Bee looked relieved that he wasn’t mad at her. She smiled back and held up her hand to him again. Tasen was starting to pick up a pattern. When he touched someone, he would feel the feeling in a different way every time. When he touched the popular kid, he felt a sickening feeling, and when he touched Marnie, he felt an extreme feeling of pain and loss. He was kind of doubting his conclusion though. Surely this tiny, peppy child won’t give me a feeling of sickness, pain, or loss.. He thought. He reached out toward her hand, and shook it.
BANG. Tasen didn’t hear anything like a gunshot, but he suddenly felt a savage shot of pain in his chest. He cried out in pain. Bee jumped back in surprise. He felt like his lungs could no longer supply air for him. He started struggling to breathe. His senses were starting to bail on him. The pain caused his legs to buckle. His head hit the floor with a thud, but he couldn’t remember how he had gotten on the floor, as he faded into unconsciousness.