Chapter Text
Mackenzie:
“In detail, okay, I could do that for the hundredth time. It was my birthday, my seventh birthday. It was supposed to be simple and calm, a short ceremony, that’s it, but it was hell instead. All my friends came: Rusty, Lucky, Jack, Chloe, Indy, Judo, Honey, Snickers, and…Bluey. My god……”
“Please continue.”
“Ok…so everyone came, and everything was going perfect; we were having so much fun before that goddamned ceremony happened. We were playing in the backyard, and my mother came to get me; she told me it was finally time and all my friends could come and watch. We all excitedly ran inside the house; we knew what would happen, or at least what could happen. I was going to get my gift, but I had no clue— I had no clue I was such a…forget it.”
“Was that when it happened?”
“Yes, it was. Pat, Lucky’s dad, was pretty good with his gift back then, and he could practice the ceremony at home; well, at this point, I should call it a ritual more than a ceremony. It had everything to do with a ritual, the weird chant in an unknown language, the crop circle on the ground in white chalk. The room had to be dark for some reason, and the only available light could be candlelight; it was strange. Now that I think about it, it was much more sinister than it looked when I was a kid. Anyway, the ritual happened, and at first glance, it would have looked like I hadn’t ‘succeeded’; nothing had changed. No one would have been surprised if nothing ended up happening; only one in a million kids are born with ‘gifts’. But still, I was really disappointed; I mean, come on, what seven-year-old doesn’t ever dream of having powers, then actually having that chance when you’re seven to learn you’re just a normal dog? It was heart-wrenching.”
“Stop delaying, Mackenzie; recount what happened, exactly.”
“Sorry…my god. So then, while everyone had let out sighs of disappointment, they were joking of course, no one expected anything to happen with odds like that. I looked down at myself; I was embarrassed, I felt humiliated, and I didn’t even know why or how, but something just felt…wrong. I looked at my paws in disgust at myself, and that’s when I saw it…”
“Your runes, is that it?”
“Yeah. They were both there, and the one on my back was there as well I’m guessing, but I couldn’t have realised it back then. A wave of happiness swept me away; I was overjoyed. I was unique, and it felt so good, but…I had no clue what was going to happen next. Excitedly, I rushed to show the parents, who were ecstatic to see that I had a gift. Those smiles and laughs were probably the last ones of that entire day. As I raised my paws to show everybody my runes, something struck me inside my body: an unusual spike of energy was building up, and of course, being a seven-year-old, I wouldn’t even have the closest clue on how to stop it. Pat was trying to coach me through it while the other parents and adults rushed the kids outside…or at least most of them. Pat had a much more passive gift, healing, but of course, he would be no help; there was no way controlling a power like healing would be anything like what was happening to me.”
“Mackenzie…”
“Yes, fine, I’m getting there…jeez, aren’t you supposed to be patient? Anyway, that’s when it appeared…”
“The demon, that’s when it appeared?”
“Y-Yes, the demon…exactly. Anyway, it had taken control of me for the first time; I wasn’t in control, even when I could see everything happening; my actions weren’t mine. The next thing I knew, my arm raised independently, aimed directly at my friends, huddled up in the back of the room. I did all I could back then to stop it, but I just couldn’t…and then it happened: something unknown to me shot out of my hand in a rope-like fashion attacked my friends, and caused half of my house to blow. A vast dust cloud filled the room while parts of the upstairs floor fell, crashing beside me. The blast had caused damages that made the aftermath of it all look like an earthquake hit Brisbane; objects shook, fell, broke, and the ground got covered with rubble and debris. The blast was stopped; meaning it had hit something before reaching my friends. Once the dust fell, and my vision cleared, I saw Bluey lying over someone on the floor and Bluey’s parents rushing towards her. At that moment, I had somewhat guessed what had happened, but I couldn't; I couldn't believe I had done anything; I didn’t want it to happen, yet it did; I just prayed that I was wrong.”
“Do you know who was on the floor, who was hit?”
“It was Bluey’s sister, Bingo. She put herself in front of the shot to save her sister and her friends…from me. It hit her, and chaos ensued. People started chaotically running around the rubble to get to Bingo. Pat went to her as fast as he could and started doing his thing while I was busy being tackled by Honey and Chloe’s fathers. I wasn’t even fully back to normal yet; I was still half ‘transformed’; it could've hurt them as well, but it didn’t.”
“I’ve realised you keep saying ‘The demon’, this transformation of yours, instead of yourself. Do you believe it wasn’t your fault, that you’re not the one responsible for all of this? And you’ve also just said ‘transformed’; so it’s a transforming gift, right?”
“Yes, yes you are, good job. And, of course, I’m saying it’s the demon; it wasn’t me! I wasn’t in control, I couldn’t do anything to stop it, it just…happened.”
“You do know that the girl died, right? How did you feel with—?”
“HOW THE HELL DO YOU THINK I FUCKING FEEL?! HAPPY?! I couldn’t sleep at night for months and months on end, thinking about what I had done. When I learned what I did, I was killed inside; the young and innocent me was gone from that day forward, I couldn’t think, I couldn't handle it, it was too much for me to deal with!”
“How do you think the family felt? Sad? Angry? What do you think?”
“Fuck. You. Mate.”
“Okay…did you personally know the person you killed?”
“Yes, of course I did! Everyone knew Bluey’s sister; everyone loved her! She was sweet, she was always happy, you would have had a hard time getting her down, she was just a ray of sunshine that couldn’t be put out.”
“Oh…so, tell me what happened after. How did you deal with all of it?”
“It was brutal, traumatic, painful, torturous…just plain horrible. There was no escaping what had happened. While I was locked into my home by my parents’ orders, people protested for months straight outside of my house, wanting me to be locked up for my crimes; they called it murder. It wasn’t murder! It was an accident! Then I got my first therapist, Mrs Kells: she was great, and she helped a lot for the first year after; then she moved away, and I was alone again. My only social interactions were with my parents, who had to homeschool me, and randoms on some video games I played back then. I also only got to go outside from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m.…that hurt a lot.”
“What did you do for those three hours? While the city was trying to get rid of you, what did you do to keep sane?”
“I always went to the creek…it was so peaceful at nighttime, no one could be heard, it was perfect. It was therapeutic for me to go back there every night, I mean, that’s where Bluey, Bingo and I first hung out together with no one else around, and it reminded me of them to go back. I also got the privacy to train at the creek. Learn how to control it, and after a year, I was finally able to, to some degree.”
“Slowly gaining control…okay, that’s great. I think our session is over now; thank you for coming, Mackenzie; you know how good it feels to talk, so if you ever need to urgently, you have my phone number. Oh! And good luck back at school Monday; you’ll do great!”
“Okay, miss. I’ll see you next week, I guess…”
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I knew my therapy session was supposed to help me capture my worries and thoughts and bring them out in the air to make myself feel better, which I always found useless. This wasn’t my first time there, yet she kept asking the same questions as the first time. Is she expecting different answers? Am I giving more detail every time I go? I didn’t know, but at least it was over for today. There are only a couple more weeks, and then I'll be done.
My father had to come to pick me up from the therapist’s place. It was on the city’s outskirts; we still didn’t want to take any risks by having me outside too long, even though I’d be going to school in a few days, and even when it’s been years since anyone had seen me, nine years to be exact. I wasn’t too fond of going back to school; odds are, I’d be beaten up or completely shunned and evaded once they found out who I was; it was one or the other. School wasn’t a necessity for me; it wouldn’t matter in the end. My life was ruined here from that day forward, and it will never, ever, ever get better, and I've come to terms with that over the years. Even if my education went well, and if I graduated, and if I would even get into university, who in their right mind would hire me? No one, that’s the answer. I was more notorious in our city than some of the police’s highest suspects, all because of that stupid accident and this stupid demon! Worst of all, I will have to face everyone I had hurt that day. Parents come on the first day to see what the new school looks like and how it works. Mine won’t show up, but I have gotten used to that since the accident. It would be super late when I got home, of course, it would be, my parents were still mortified about what would happen to them if they were seen with me…the murderer, that’s all I’m known as to the media…just a cold-blooded uncontrollable maniac, that’s what I am.
The following two days went by horrifyingly quickly; now, it’s Monday morning. “MACKENZIE! WAKE UP! YOU HAVE SCHOOL, REMEMBER?!!” She yelled from the downstairs kitchen. “I’M UP! I’M COMING!” I yelled back to answer her; that was what our conversations had dumbed down to in recent years. I had a terrible night’s sleep, nightmares running through my head, the accident, over and over again; it still hurts the same nowadays, and it still felt fresh as the memories rolled back in.
I had to take the bus to school; of course, I did; my parents feared me. They would never go out of their way to help me; sadly, I had gotten used to it. Before heading out, I used the hair dye I had bought to cover up my runes, which ultimately turned most of my fur entirely black; only my tail and legs still had the white areas showing. Getting the one spread across my back was tough, but I prevailed. I then peacefully started walking to the bus stop, and that’s when I realised that strangers didn’t know what I looked like nowadays. There are so many border collies around; what is the difference between one and the other? Nothing. Especially not for people who didn't know you, although your friends could recognise you, but not random strangers, so my route to school will be calm, for now at least. I then got onto the next bus and quickly ensured that none of my ‘friends’ were on it; after the coast cleared, I sat down at the back of the bus. Something great about the back of the bus is that no one wants to sit there; everyone wants to leave the bus first; so I’m in the clear. For multiple stops, I watched people get on and off the bus, students and faculty getting on, and adults who had jobs getting off. It was calming; just watching people get on and off the bus was therapeutic for me. The feeling of society. Then, the bus stopped again, and I looked out of the bus window to watch the people getting on and off, and then I saw her. Bluey’s getting on? Fuck, let’s hope she doesn’t come back here, I told myself, praying that she would stay away from me. “If she recognises me, it’s over; she’ll probably freak out. I don’t want that to happen; please, Bluey, stay away from me.” I prayed. She walked onto the bus with another dog, a Dalmatian that looked like, “Chloe?” I guessed as the two started walking down the aisle of the bus. “Come on, stop there, don’t keep going!” I thought as the two girls approached me rapidly; they were going to sit back here, I just knew it. The two girls were getting closer and closer; in response, I quickly turned and faced the window, hiding my face as best as possible. Then I felt something tapping me on the shoulder; I slowly turned and came face to face with Bluey; I pathetically let out a bitchy yelp; I sounded like a complete idiot. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to spook you.” She said with a smile. “My name’s Bluey, and this is my friend Chloe; you look new here, am I right?” She asked nicely. Is she presenting herself to me? She must not recognise me, that’s good. I mean, it has been over nine years, and my fur has also changed colour, so I couldn’t blame her for not realising. But this is good. Hopefully, these two aren’t the only ones who don’t recognise me. “Uhm, hello? Are you there?” She spoke, waving her paw in front of my face. “You haven’t said anything for about two minutes. Are you okay?” “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. My name’s Ash-es…” I guess I’m going by ‘Ashes’ now. What the hell kind of name is that… Jesus Christ Mackenzie. “Ashes… That’s a funny name.” She giggled. “You’re a Kiwi, aren’t you? Your accent isn’t from here, is it?” “You got me, and I’m guessing you two are from here.” I laughed. “Born and raised!” Chloe loudly interjected on the bus, gaining everyone’s attention. “Oops…sorry!” She quickly apologised before Bluey and herself sat down next to me. “So…Ashes…weird name.” She scoffed. Are you heading to Ballymore High School? First day, I’m guessing.” She asked me. “Yeah, I’m starting the second semester; it’s going to be tough.” “Oh my god! There’s a chance we could be in the same class; I sure hope we are; we could use more boys in our class.” Bluey exclaimed, receiving a sad nod from Chloe. “What class are you in?” She asked quickly. “I’m in the…1M5, homeroom 309, and the teacher is…Mr. Dobermann, I think.” I answered. “Holy hell, that’s our class as well! Oh my god, you’re going to love it. Don’t even think any other class is better; it isn’t.” She exclaimed excitedly. “We could show you around the school, couldn’t we, Chloe?” Bluey asked Chloe, giving a cute face with her big round eyes in full force, “We would love to Ashy, but I think Bluey forgot we have our project to finish today, and we’re nowhere close to finishing, so we should probably work.” She said snidely. “Oh yeah, right…” Bluey recalled, embarrassed. “But hey, you could still join us and see our project, maybe give an outside opinion; we would need that right now.” She proposed, desperate for something. “Oh, and don’t worry, we won’t forget to show you around the school.” She finished with. “That would be great, thank you,” I said gratefully; this was unexpected; my improv game was on point. “Oh, it looks like we’re here, thanks again. So, do I follow you?” “Sure, you can; we early believe it or not; we start later on Mondays. Chloe and I only came so we could work on a group project with some of our classmates. You’re welcome to come if you want.” She proposed. “That sounds fun; lead the way, you two,” I said, as the two girls picked up the pace as they headed into the school.
I hadn’t been to school in ages; being here generally felt weird. I got so used to the comfort of homeschooling that this whole system, a student's responsibilities, has gone vacant in my mind. Bluey and Chloe took several turns left and right, navigating the entire school before we finally arrived in front of classroom 309, our homeroom. Bluey burst through the door and screamed Good morning like a maniac to the kids sitting in the school. At the same time, I shyly stood behind them and tried not to attract too much attention, that is, until I was pulled into the middle of the room by Chloe while she presented me to the three other kids. It was like I was being paraded around. “Everyone! Meet Ashes; he’s the new boy in our class!” Chloe proudly said she had achieved something spectacular by finding me, which she didn’t. “Hey mate, Rusty.” Rusty spoke, presenting himself while he shook my paw. “And the terrier is Jack and the hound over there stressing in Indy.” He said, introducing everyone else. “Yeah, hey, as Chloe said, it’s Ashes. She said you were working on a project; what’s it about?” I asked enthusiastically, primarily a fake expression, although part of me was interested. “It’s about gifts; little Jacky here has one, but he still can’t manifest it, and the test is tomorrow; we’ve pretty much tried everything; it’s a lost cause.” He acknowledged sadly, disappointed about failing the class. “I think I might be able to help. I may not be in your group, but that doesn’t mean I can’t give you external help,” I said, giving Rusty and the rest of the group hope for a miracle. “Jack, what’s your gift?” “I get possessed.” He said proudly, which shook me; possession is the worst to deal with, exhibit A, me. “I get possessed by some sort of flame spirit.” He said proudly, oh, how naive. “Okay…come here, get closer,” I said, gesturing for Jack to stand before me. “This might hurt a lot, but you’ll thank me later.” “What are you going to do?” He asked curiously, which I detected had a hint of fear behind it.
“Let me explain. I will press one paw on your forehead, the other on your chest. I will then slowly drain a small amount of your spirit into my gift. After that, I have to mix some of my gifts with the sample I took and return it to you, okay? It’s something I learned over the years, I’ve never done it on another dog however…meh, how bad could it be?” I informed them as he stood firmly before me; his small stature made him less intimidating to work on, but still, this ‘spirit’ could be the real deal. Jack nodded while the rest of his group stood behind me, patiently yet nervously watching. Rusty and Indy were too scared to watch, and so was Chloe. Only Bluey was still standing behind me with her eyes wide open with curiosity. Then, it began: I slowly moved my paws to their designated locations while I closed my eyes to concentrate. “Calm down. Feel the energy, feel him. Breathe, and slowly, let it out.” I told myself as a whirlwind of black-tinted flames whirled above Jack’s head, causing the room to tremble. His bright red flames threw up into the air and were quickly caught by mine, resulting in a mix of black and red flames, dominated mainly by mine. Now that they were merged, I slowly brought the fire down onto Jack, gently enveloping him in the essence and connecting my gift with his. “Let’s see how this works.” I uttered as I gently removed my paws from him and ordered him and the rest of the group to open their eyes; the ‘ritual’ was over, much easier than when I was a kid. However, when I turned around, while I did see Rusty, Indy and Chloe in surprise at what happened, I only remembered that Bluey didn’t close her eyes; she saw everything. Her face was shocked horror, a traumatic sight replaying in her eyes; she was trembling, then her gaze caught mine, and her expression was close to death like I had murdered someone in front of her eyes. She then fell to the floor and backed away to the wall in fear, screaming, “NO! NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!!!” She cried out in horror, pointing towards me. Suddenly, I realised the whole group was staring at her and me, I had to do or say something, or I was going to be screwed. “Bluey, Bluey. Look at me; I don’t know what’s going on.” I expressed before facing her friends. “Do you know what’s going on?” “No, no, we don’t!” Indy said in a panic. “Bluey! What’s going on? What did you see?!” She then asked, urging an answer from the heeler. “IT- IT- IT’S HIM! THAT’S MACKENZIE’S GIFT!!” She yelled at me; I had to give her a confused and scared look. I can’t let them find out. “HE’S BACK! HE’S BACK! GET HIM AWAY FROM ME!” “Bluey…that’s not Mackenzie. Not only does he not look like Mackenzie, but just because he’s a border collie, you think that’s him?” Chloe asked Bluey curiously. “Think about it, he may have a gift, but he’s not Mackenzie, are you?” She turned and asked me sharply. “No, no, I’m not him, trust me. I must admit we may be similar by what you’ve described, but I can assure you I’m not him.” I said calmly, trying to soothe her. “Yeah, Bluey, he isn’t Mackenzie.” He commented. “People with gifts can recognise other’s gifts if we sense them twice, and I’ve never seen this one before, so it can’t be him.” He added, too bad for him, he saw my demon that day, not my energy, so of course he didn’t recognise me. That was a hell of a close call, though. “But- But, I swear, it felt the same, it felt-” she exclaimed loudly, no longer screaming. “I-I’m sorry, Ash, I-I don’t know what got into me…” She uttered as tears filled her eyes. I finally got to witness what I had caused her, the pain I had caused, the trauma, the tears that must’ve fallen for the past nine years…my god. “Uhm…if you don’t mind, what happened with Mackenzie?” I gulped down my words as I choked up myself, even though I couldn’t deal with the pain I had caused.
“Oh…I-I guess I can tell you…” She said sadly as she cleared her voice, readying for a long speech. “It happened around nine years ago at my friend Mackenzie’s birthday party. And as you know, your seventh birthday party is when you learn whether you have a gift.” I nodded as she continued her story. “Well, everything that could’ve possibly gone wrong went wrong. Mackenzie- Mackenzie got his gift; he seemed so happy, and we all were; we thought it would be so much fun. Then, something happened to Mackenzie; he started laughing, manically too, like it wasn’t him anymore. His eyes had gone red, a black misty horn appeared on his head, and a single wing grew on his back. Once he transformed, his arm raised high as he pointed it towards me and my friends, some here right now, them, and some who are in a separate class from us. He laughed again as a power appeared in his paw that he aimed straight for us. He wanted to kill us, and in a way, he succeeded in killing my sister. My little sister protected us, she saved me, she saved all of us…it wasn’t supposed to happen like that. I’m not supposed to have to bear with burying my little sister; she wasn’t supposed to die before me. She had her whole life in front of her; she was only four years old, and Mackenzie took that from her! I spent the next few years of my life in crippling depression; I couldn’t escape the tears and the feeling of death around me. Every morning, I woke up to nothing, no sister, no best friend by my side to play with, to grow up with, to share my life with; she was gone, never to come back… I wake up every morning and look at the bed on the other side of the room my sister used to sleep in. My parents wanted to take it out and give it away, but I resisted. I can’t let it go; it’s her only possession that we still have. And every morning, I hope, I pray to any god up there, that she’ll be there, in her bed, fast asleep like she always was, that she’d come back…” She teared up; clearly, the story only brought back bad memories, so much so it was hard for Bluey to think about her sister before her death; she could only remember the pain; she had forgotten the joy, the enthusiasm in which she used to have with her sister, it was gone, and I caused it. “I’m sorry…” I uttered quietly under my breath. “W-What…?” She asked, probably because she was curious about why I was apologising. “I’m sorry for your loss, and I’m sorry for what this boy has caused. I can only feel a sliver of your pain, but let me tell you something; I realised when you spoke about your sister just then, it seemed you had forgotten your best times and had replaced them with painful and traumatic ones. Try, if you can, to force yourself to remember the good times; it’ll break you more and more if you concentrate on the pain, especially guessing how close you two were.” I said, choking up. Just thinking about the whole thing saddened me; it was hard to deal with what I did. “I-I guess you’re right…ugh, I’m a mess, aren’t I.” She laughed embarrassedly. “Thank you, Ashley, honestly, thank you. It helped to hear that, and trust me, I’ll do my best to follow your advice.” She voiced, smiling endearingly. “N-No problem, it’s nice to help.” I expressed, embarrassed about trying to teach her how to cope with her pain, the pain that I caused. At least she took it well. I then picked up Bluey from the floor, and to my surprise, and everyone else, she rushed into my arms and hugged me, almost pushing me to the ground, but I could hold my ground, and I only stumbled back a little. I looked at Bluey’s friends standing behind her with confused faces; all they could do was smile in response. I learned later that those smiles meant I was now accepted into the group. Bluey was the mediator of that decision.
The rest of the day went much better than I thought: my class and teachers were excellent, and people were friendly to me. (Of course, they have no idea who I am, but still, it feels nice.) Oh, and the school is the best, no wonder everyone was happy there. It quickly sat in the middle of Brisbane, next to the river, giving most classrooms a scenic view for most of the day. The front of the school gave onto the main road, followed by trees around the perimeter, slightly closing it off from the main residential area; it’s great. I was in the last period of the day when my physics teacher came running into the classroom, late, visibly sweaty and out of breath. As he panted, with one paw on his hip and the other on the desk, stopping him from falling, he was asked what the matter was by one of my classmates. A few moments later, when he had finally calmed down and caught his breath, he explained what was going on, and I couldn’t have expected that much of a worrying answer from him. He said in a composed manner, “A certain student, I won’t name names, has been ‘interfering’ with the teachers.” “What do you mean interfering? Are they hurting people?” Another student asked worriedly. “Oh no, not at all, they’ve been taken care of now, but to answer your first question, they were hypnotising teachers and making them do…things, and there’s enough of that. Okay, open your books to page…74, please.” He revealed before continuing his class. At the exit of the classroom, once the class was over and people were heading home, I overheard a group of kids in my class insulting Jack behind his back, calling him a monster, disgusting and “Freak”, which is our derogatory term. All I could do was laugh in derision at those kids; they had no idea what they were saying; they were ignorant. Although part of it shocked me, from what I could remember, people revealed gifted ones and respected them massively when I received my gift. Did something change? The worst part was that Jack heard everything; they were walking right behind my group. I could see Jack twitching nervously, scratching his arm, and constantly grabbing and tugging his ear; it helped him relieve stress. Not only that, but he was visibly awkward, embarrassed, and on the verge of tears; there was no way they thought someone like that was a freak; he was just a normal kid, and I was starting to get pissed and eventually as the conversation behind turned into full-blown insults, I lost it, but I still had to lay low, so I did the next best thing, go-go gadget, normie punch! My fist was thrown straight through the boy’s face, and in retaliation, his three friends came at me. Sadly, they were pathetic excuses for fighters in any way: no coordination, strength, or actual skills in any department. The fight was quick and straightforward: dodge, punch, dodge, punch, dodge, punch, until finally, the four of them were all down and running away, yelping. When I turned around, however, I was met with the gazes of over forty students staring at me. Embarrassed, I jokingly said, “Oops, did I mess up?” With a slight giggle at the end, hopefully, they aren’t mad. Suddenly, however, Jack stepped forward and hugged me twice in one day; good job, Mackenzie, I thought to myself as he wrapped his arms around my neck and thanked me. Once that happened, the students dispersed, and only my new friends remained. They all thanked me as well, laughing and congratulating me for standing up for Jack; I learned later that day that Jack has ADHD and sometimes doesn’t deal well in those situations. He’s also pretty shy, probably, so he hasn’t stood up for himself.
As I walked out of the school, I received a message from my mother, “That’s strange; she usually never texts me!” I thought as I read the message: “You’re alone now…we’re sorry…” It said, and that’s it. Nothing else, but it seems my parents have…abandoned me. No, I must be reading into this too much; it just can’t be… I picked up the pace; I had to get to my house quickly and see what was going on. As I started moving, I was stopped by Rusty, Chloe, Bluey, and Jack. “Ashes? Why are you in a hurry? You checked your phone, and now you look scared…what’s happening?” Jack asked me sincerely. “Did you get some bad news or something?” “Uhm…fuck it, I’ll tell you guys. Maybe I have been abandoned if I’m not reading into this too much.” I uttered calmly. I didn’t want to believe it could be that. “WHAT!” The three of them yelled in unison in shock. “ABAND- THEY ABANDONED YOU?!!” Bluey cried out on her own. “If I’m not reading too much into it, I could be.” I reminded them, still calm. “It could just be something like…” I couldn’t think of anything else it could be. My arms and legs started shaking, and so did my paws, almost causing me to drop my phone while re-reading the message repeatedly. “I need to go…!” I exclaimed loudly as I started running towards the bus stop. “WAIT!” I heard someone shout behind me, it was Rusty. “We’re coming with you; we can’t leave you alone right now.” He said. “Why…?” I asked, curious about why they would follow a stranger. “You’re our friend now, mate, we’re always going to be there for you, and now you need us, so we’re coming,” Rusty explained swiftly as we ran to the bus stop; this is going to be a long ride.