Chapter Text
Vacuous, I say, utterly vacuous! I texted while eating my cereal
It's literally genius. Sam texted back.
She had been telling me about another "revolutionary" idea of hers.
Think about it. If you constantly order yourself as an Uber driver, then you would automatically pay yourself money, AND you can drive yourself anywhere else! I stared at the text long and hard before it hit me. She was joking. With this new understanding I had, I played along with the joke.
After reflecting upon this for a while, I have concluded that you are completely right. I started
Finally! C'mon Quinn, you're the smart one.
I know, I apologise, for you see, I have been tripping mad balls as of late.
That made me chuckle. “Shit” I said, it was past the time I usually left for school. I walked to school, occasionally, my mom would drive me there, but I usually walked.
I scarfed down the rest of my cereal, grabbed my bag, and got halfway downstairs when, “Ga’ dammit.” I left my homework on the counter. I went back up, grabbed my homework, rushed out the door, making sure to lock it behind me, and went on my way.
At first, I walked quickly, but my pace soon slowed. Mornings are the best time for walks, followed by evening. I went through a forest behind my school to get there which was actually quite beautiful. It had lovely scenery, a tree canopy, and a garden our town had built in honor of Earth Day about 5 years ago. I took in my surroundings. There was a family of deer and a few bunnies. Little birds hopped about on the pathway and flew away as I approached. The sky a lovely pink, blue, and purple color, the clouds looked like cotton candy stacked atop one another.
Normally, this would give me a deep sense of calm, but there was this unshakeable feeling that something was… wrong. Like there was a… mistake somewhere. That something wasn't meant to be here it was upsetting the Earth itself. Try as I might to shake off that feeling, it kept creeping back into my brain, and disrupting my soul.
It was a bit warm today, though summer is nearing its end. I was sweating by the time I had reached school. Using my shirt in an attempt to cool off, I headed into the library and found Sam in our favorite spot.
She was on her phone.
"Hey bitch," She said, as I sat down to the left of her. "Good morning to you too, harlot." I replied, setting my bag down next to me. She put her phone down and looked at me, "So, how you been?"
"Alright, I guess." I shrugged, "Did you do your homework?"
"You're a nerd."
"I'm just trying to help you not get your arse beat, but achcha."
"Yes I did my homework."
"Good"
Sam rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Nerd"
I rolled my eyes back and grabbed a snack from my bag
"Anyway. Did you see the new episode of Blood and Shadows?"
"No, what happened?" I said through chews "Actually no, don't tell me. " I said as quickly.
"Ok, but just know that something happens,"
"I said, don't spoil it for me."
"I didn't. All I said was, something happens. Something always happens in that show. "
"The time when Lauren admitted she cheated on Blake." I started
"I hated her so much after that." Sam
"And then it was later revealed it was with Stephanie."
"That was when I started to relate with Lauren,"
"Indeed." I sigh."Stephanie is a very foxy woman "
"I would cheat on a man with her."
"Yeah. Say, how’s the Vincent and Fredrick situation looking?"
Sam raised an eyebrow and smirked, “Yes.”
We continued with our conversation, Sam sometimes getting us looks from people who sat beside us with her with her weird remarks and conversation topics.
Eventually, the bell rang. Sam sucked through her teeth and groaned. "No, I hate my first period class!" She whined
"What do you even have in the morning?"
"Algebra." She groaned
"Ha, yeah, I would not wanna be in your shoes." I replied
Begrudgingly, Sam picked up her things and walked out of the library with me. "It's too early in the morning to be doing about math,"
"Yeah. Well, see you at lunch"
Sam shot her eyebrows up in acknowledgement and trudged to her 1st period class. I chuckled and walked to mine.
The first few periods went by relatively quickly, and before I knew it, it was lunch time. I sat down with my lunch, and Samantha stole from my plate. Without thinking, I took one of her chicken nuggets. She stared at me. I shrugged at her, and ate the chicken nugget. She playfully punched me, "Puta," she giggled, and sat down
"You wanna go to Alfredough’s after school?" She asked
"Oui." I said, mouth slightly full. "Do you have currency on your person?"
"Yeah" Sam replied
A group of guys started to yell, I flinched and covered my ears, I’m a bit sensitive to loud noise. Sam placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, "You wanna go to the library?" I nodded. We ate our lunch quickly and got out of our seats. As we were about to exit the café, I saw the snack booth was open today.
"Ooh, wait," I said to Sam, grabbing her arm
"What?" I walked over to the line. "You fat bitch, we just ate!"
"I am aware of that, but this is dessert."
Sam rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, shifting her weight to one side, and waited for me. Fortunately, there weren't that many people in line. I got three chocolate chip cookies, with a watermelon and strawberry flavored drink. "Alright, we may depart,"
"About time."
I sipped my drink as we walked, allowing Sam to have some. "I'm so glad it's Friday, and we're having a three day weekend."
"Yeah." I say while fanning myself, "Why is it so hot in here?" I groaned. "Because you're wearing 3 layers of clothing, most of which are black, long pants, and knee-length socks in early September. Like a dumbass"
"But I like wearing 3 layers of clothing, most of which are black."
"Then stop bitching about a problem you caused yourself.”
“Hm, no. I think I'm gonna keep bothering you instead.”
“Okay boomer.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
The cool air hits me as I step into the library. It's always been cool here, even in the winter, which then makes it uncomfortably frigid. Sam walks to the back of the library and plops herself down on one of the sofas. I navigate the fiction section and start looking through the books. "Are you actually trying to read right now, nerd?" Her voice was hushed, influenced by the energy in the library
"Indeed I am. As you can see, we are in a place to read books. You have a good pair of eyes in that noggin of yours, Miss Robles, you can see." I reply. She chuckles and gets on her phone. “An admittedly empty noggin.” I say under my breath and start flipping through the books. Pensive, “Oh, I need to return some books.” One of them catches my eye, "The sandstorm." It was about a group of teens getting carried away to a mystical land via a sandstorm which appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Fun. I go to the librarian and check the book out, this was the last book I could check out with all the other ones out. I thanked the librarian and sat down next to Sam.
“Alright, finally.” She started. “So-”
Sam proceeded to detail me about the events that took place in the classroom. “I’m honestly so glad he broke his finger, he needed something painful to happen to him.” She paused for a moment, looking like she wanted to say something but contemplated, and eventually decided against saying it.
The bell rang, Sam complained, and I dragged her ass back to class.
2:00 on the clock, it was nearing the end of class, I looked up from my watch. 1o more minutes until I can leave. This Friday has been going on for long enough and I was ready for the bell. Today was nice though, everyone had been a bit more quiet. Although it was awkward silence, the type of awkward silence between you and a crying stranger next to you.
"Ok, class. You may take out your phones. If you did not finish the assignment, it is now homework." Thank the gods I finished it.
2:02, it's almost over. The clock always felt deliberately slower whenever I acknowledged its existence.
2:03. I sigh and take out the book I checked out. The moment I got to page 2, the bell rang.
The class erupted into a cacophony of books getting shoved into bags, the sounds of zippers zipping closed, and people pushing out their chairs, all more than eager to get out of school and go home. I put my things into my bag as well, but I stayed behind a little. I always hated how chaotic the hallways got, and tried to avoid it as much as possible.
Sam popped her head into the class,
"Yo. You ready to bounce Teddy?"
"Yeah, just, wait a moment", I put the book into my bag and swung it over my shoulder, wishing my teacher a good weekend.
We went into the library again while waiting for the chaos to die down. “So, what book did you check out this time?”
“The Sandstorm. Seems like an interesting read.” I replied
“Nice, nice. Hey, have you been feeling that?” She said abruptly. “Like something is… Is just not right?”
“You've been feeling it too?”
“I'm pretty sure everyone's been feeling it. All my classes have been awkwardly quiet. Like a more lighthearted version of going to someone you don't know at a funeral, but everyone feels the same way.”
“Odd analogy, but I understand what you’re saying.”
After escaping, we went through the playground, which was a shortcut.
"So we're going to Alfredough's, right?" Sam asked, kicking the mulch with her feet
"Indeed, and you're paying this time". She almost stopped, “Bet”, and continued.
Over on the park swings, there was a kid, or what looked like a kid. Their skin was an odd color, and their back was sort of boney. And, are they naked, or are their clothes just oddly the same color as their skin? Is that even skin?
"Quinn. Who's that?"
I shrug and shake my head, we walked over towards the swings, they were moving too much, the kid wasn't moving their legs at all, and it wasn't windy. Even if it was windy, the wing shouldn't have been moving that much with what looked like a kid our age on them.
Once we got near the swings. We slowed down, so it didn't look like we were actively trying to look at them, their head was down. Suddenly, they snapped their head towards our direction, it looked like one of those horror movie jumpscares. It had no mouth, just 2 bloodshot eyes, and its hair was melting into its scalp. Its skin looked slimy, and pink, like raw chicken. It had no nose either
I stared at that thing. Is it even a kid at all? Why did it look like that?
It started to move. The skin over its mouth started to tear away, creating a makeshift mouth, bits of skin hanging from the top. It was smiling. Swiftly, I grabbed Sam, and we took our leave, nearly jogging as we left.
The rest of the walk was quiet. Neither of us said anything, although we wanted to. We ended up going to Sam's house instead.