Archive of Our Own

Ezra slammed the front door shut behind him, after Sera, his best friend, walked out holding both of their skateboards. The scorching summer heat beamed down on them both, already creating an unpleasant experience for Sera while Ezra fumbled with his keys trying to lock the door. She put her hands on her hips, holding the skateboards between her arm and body as she glared at him and his purple electric guitar, for some reason he brought with him.

“How much time are you gonna take?!” She blurted out, about to smack him with her own purple skateboard. “The skate park is all across town, you know!” She stared down at his pink-dyed hair, wanting to snatch it even though it was real and not a wig.

“Chill, girl.” The guitarist said as he turned around, his calmer voice creating a noticeable conflict with Sera’s earlier. “There, I locked it. Let’s go.” Without skipping a beat, he grabbed his own skateboard, a simple black one, from Sera and gestured her to come along. The skater just stared at Ezra after he did an unexpected move, but she shrugged it off and smiled.

The two hopped off of Ezra’s porch and walked to the driveway, where they mounted their skateboards. Both Ezra’s and Sera’s parents were away, unaware of their whereabouts, making it a perfect time for them to hang out at the skatepark. The wheels made a brain-scratching sound while it made contact with the concrete, but it was short-lived as the skateboards got onto the asphalt, creating a rather crunchy unappetizing sound instead. They rode through the suburban neighborhood they were in, passing by watered lawns, sizable homes, green trees, and narrowly avoiding other cars.

Sweat already poured down their faces as they reached the main roads of the town. The burning heat touched upon the sides of their faces, but they pursued, knowing it was just an ordinary summer day.

“Sera, that final blow you did on that thing last mission was awesome!” Ezra spoke, since the silence between them was getting too unbearable for him. “And don’t me started on those dodges,”

“Okay, I get it!” Her voice boomed, speaking over Ezra’s. “Plus, you saved me multiple times with that guitar, dude. You did great too!” The Coalition was no easy feat for the two, but it became a part of them in just a few months. Beating up weird murderous anomalies and getting in endless loops of healing gets tiring, but they went through with it.

Stores and restaurants passed through their vision as they ripped through the streets of the city. It was as if they were cars driving down a massive empty highway. Weirdly, there were less vehicles and pedestrians than normal. Sera couldn’t help but notice the quaint flower shop to their left which had been abandoned for a few weeks now, or the pizza delivery place to the right that had a few conspiracy theories due to a recent event. Ezra was too stuck in the thrill of skating, though. Not until he almost rammed into a city bus.

As the sun peaked in the sky, both Sera and Ezra rode under a busy underpass. The area was just a few minutes away, somewhere away from residential or commercial buildings. It took the city a while and a lot of persuading to build a skatepark, and when they finally set up a location, it felt as if it was in the middle of nowhere. Still, it was always a place where skaters can hang out.

Ezra couldn’t shake the feeling something wrong was about to happen. Something about him or even Sera, he couldn’t shake off the feeling of premonition in his mind. So, he pushed it to the back of his head, suppressing the feelings as if it was forgotten memories.

Arriving at the skatepark, they took their time to admire the view. They been here too many times to count, since of Sera’s parents, but today they took things a little different. The skatepark had had concrete ramps, in fact the entire thing was concrete except for the railings which were metallic. The area was surrounded by a forest of oak trees, giving the area a rich natural aroma.

But something was off. Where was everyone? The skatepark was completely deserted. No people, no skaters, not even the birds or even litter on the ground. Ezra’s suspicions only heightened at the sight. He wanted to tell Sera about his thoughts, but he didn’t want to ruin the enjoyment both of them had in the moment. Still, he had a sense that he should bail out and leave. But now, might as well enjoy the time currently.

If only he had known..

His thoughts were interrupted when Sera tapped on his shoulder from behind. As he turned around, having to move his purple guitar out of the way, Sera was already at the half pipe not too far away. “Check this out!” The skater yelled from up on there, waving at him. She then skated off the half pipe and did a kick flip and transitioned into a grind on a railing. Ezra watched in amazement how she could do tricks like this easily.

“That was totally rad!” Ezra said, putting his hand up for a high-five, which Sera gave into.

“Thanks, dude. Can you do it too?” She shot a menacing grin at him, knowing that he would never match to her level of skating.

“Sera, you know I can’t even do a single kick flip. What makes you think I could do that?!” But before he could say anything else, the feeling came back and invaded his mind again.

“Just kidding! I know you won’t catch up to my level.” Sera rubbed her skill further into Ezra, but it was all just jokes, and both of them knew that.

His thoughts were eating Ezra up inside, and he finally decided to tell his best friend. “Sera, it feels off. It’s weirdly empty today. Shouldn’t this place be packed?” He wanted to say a bit more, but decided to back down on his words as he feared it would sound too negative.

“Boy, don’t worry.” She said, looking around, nonchalant about the situation on them. “More space for us!” Still, with Sera’s rather careless response, his concerns wouldn’t die down. But, it was great there was more space for them to hang out, and they knew they should seize the opportunity for themselves.

For the next few hours, both Sera and Ezra would hang out and skate at the skatepark. Mainly consisting of Sera doing remarkable tricks only the best of skaters could do, and Ezra falling the simplest of tricks. Most were unsuccessful and ended up with him on the floor, or him narrowly falling with Sera saving him. But as the sky faded into orange, and the sun started to set, it was time for someone to go.

“It’s getting late, Sera.” The guitarist said with a frown, not wanting to end this fun moment they were having together. Fortunately he had a black face mask concealing it though from her. “I have to go.”

Sera turned around to face him, still holding a grin from her previous performances. “Aw, can’t stay?”

“Can’t. My parents are coming home soon.” Ezra told his parents that he wouldn’t be going out today, and both Ezra and Sera knew that. “They told me to be back before the street lights turn on. Peace, Sera.”

“Peace.” Her grin slowly faded away as he saw him skate away and go off into the horizon. She was all alone now. For the next few minutes, Sera would be doing some amazing tricks, but nobody was watching. Even if her skating was incredible, what would it be worth if nobody saw? As she skated towards the street, about to leave, she saw someone passing by.

A boy in a blue letterman’s jacket.

As the boy got a little closer, she saw he had black dreadlocks, dark skin, a bandaid on his nose ridge, and was holding a black skateboard in their right hand. It was another skateboarder, and Sera wanted to meet him, as the loneliness was getting unbearable. She swiftly approached him riding her skateboard, already having the conversation starter in mind.

“Hey bro, what’s your name?” She took note of the stupid grin that the boy had.

“The name’s Riley. And yours?” He had a carefree tone, as if he liked doing the extremest of things. A thrill-seeker, that’s for sure.

“Sera. Nice to meet you, Riley. Wanna see something?” Without skipping a beat and letting Riley speak, she did the same trick she showed Ezra. She did a kick flip on the pipe and then a grind. “Cool, right?” She said, having a smirk on her face.

“That. Was. AWESOME!” His voiced echoed across the empty skatepark as she stared at her in bewilderment. “I could never, though.”

“Oh yeah? Let’s see you try.” He stood there for a few seconds, unsure if he wanted to show his terrible skills to her. But, he then plopped his down skateboard and went on the pipe. He tried to do a kick flip, but failed. Riley was almost set tumbling onto the concrete floor, but miraculously put his hands down on the ramp, saving himself. Knowing it would probably end up in failure again, he picked up his skateboard and rode to a pipe and tried to grind on it. Riley failed. This time, he faceplanted into the concrete before he or Sera could respond. But, he didn’t care. He got back up again, still with that stupid grin. It was like both of them shared something in common, and Sera liked it.

Over the next hour or two, they spent their time together in the skatepark. They became friends, even though they lived across the city. Before Riley left the skatepark, both of them decided to sit on the half pipe’s ledge for a few minutes. Riley had football practice tomorrow, and it was getting dark.

“You know, I’ll introduce you to my friends Dakota and Mamo eventually. They’re both chill.” Riley said, standing up.

“That sounds rad, dude.”

“Thanks, Sera. You said you’d be here on Saturday, right?”

“Yup. See you later, Riley.” She waved at Riley, seeing him lift his foot off the ground while on-board. “Peace!”

“Peace.” Sera watched as Riley faded into the dark, happy knowing she made another friend today, but also down having to see both Ezra and Riley go like that. She chose to stay for half an hour more, as her parents were probably looking for her.

She found herself on the top of the half pipe again, about to go down. But, she felt something was wrong. Terribly wrong. But, she thought nothing of it and rode down.

She slipped.

Her skateboard ended up on the curbside of the street as she tumbled onto the asphalt of the road. It hurt like hell hitting the ground like that, as the small stones and pebbles stuck onto her arms. She saw herself bleeding on her shins and knees, as the pain vibrated throughout her whole body. Her vision was getting foggy, and it was even worse being stuck in the middle of the street in the complete dark.

It all got ten times worse when she heard loud approaching honks coming from the right. She could see car headlights approaching her, and she knew she had to get out of the way as soon as possible.

Sera tried to crawl away. As she looked at the approaching car, her face turned into fear. It wasn’t a car. It was a city bus. And she couldn’t get away.

In her final moments of life, thoughts rang across her mind, of her favorite memories, of the things she wasn’t able to do, of how her life was getting taken from her, her friends Ezra and Riley, and so much more. But she didn’t want to die. Alone. She shed tears as the bus slowly inched closer towards her.

Her life flashed through Sera’s mind as she braced for impact. But when she closed her eyes as the bus was going to make impact with her, she felt something else. Something cloudy like cotton candy. She touched the ground and the air around her, feeling a weird texture instead of asphalt and air. Was this the afterlife?

Sera slowly opened her eyes and looked around. She didn’t see a skatepark, or an afterlife, for that matter. She was surrounded by cabins, and she could see a thick, white mist in the distance. Where was she? The only thing she saw that she knew was her trusty skateboard, on some grass instead of the curbside.

This wasn’t the end.

As Ezra first knew of the news that Sera was missing, for the first days he spent all day putting up posters and looking for Sera. As the days past and the situation was looking dire, he didn’t lose hope, vowing that someday he would bring her back.

On Saturday, Riley waited for hours at the skatepark for Sera. Tensions were high, after news of a skater girl going missing shocked the skateboarding community in the city. She wasn’t going to come. He looked forward all week for this, and she wasn’t there. He never saw her again, out and about.

…

…

What happened to Sera?