Chapter Text
I knew it was the end.
But I was not ready.
I had to live.
I could not allow myself to perish.
As somebody once told me, “It is not death you fear…
It is losing everything you have that scares you most.”
I stare out the window as my headphones play music at full volume, mostly drowning out the voices of all the children. The city seems much more dull than usual. Then again, it’s always like that when you’re remembering the eons you spent living in nature and are therefore used to natural life being literally everywhere. I suppose it is still that way, though society has very much challenged that.
Finally, the bus arrives at the school. How splendid. The last thing I need is endless amounts of mostly useless information forced into my already deranged mind while being stuck with hundreds of foolish and ignorant children. At least not everyone is like that.
“I am going to assault every single one of you with a cucumber.” I remark out of absolutely nowhere as I set my backpack down. As expected, everyone listening turns and looks at me as if I just recited The Bible in Japanese backwards. They respond as such, too.
“What?” Evie questions like her art makes any more sense than what I just threatened.
“But I like cucumbers.” Sarah (or as we like to call her, Soap) responds.
“Then I guess I’ll have to assault you with a carrot.”
“Aww.”
Everyone else just laughs.
The average conversations begin. My girlfriend, Annie, tries stealing my phone to see my Spotify history, only to give it back when she finds nothing interesting. Some of us recite memes for no reason whatsoever. You know, average teen behavior.
The bell rings, reminding us that we unfortunately must suffer more today. Thankfully, my first period is theater. The one class that I don’t utterly hate.
Our class play is called Belle and That Beast Guy, so right off the bat you can tell it’s stupid. I was unironically assigned to be The Beast. If I’m being honest, I kinda wanted that role, so that’s nice.
“Once upon a time, there was a prince.” Becky, otherwise known in the play as Candle Gal, gives me my cue to step on stage. “He was a spoiled brat.”
I whip my head towards her. “Hey!”
“He had a teacher, a mysterious old woman. She tried to teach him.”
Her voice is, honestly, kind of bland. She definitely sounds like a she’s just doing a class read-aloud, a glaring sign that she doesn’t care at all. Unfortunately, she’s not the only one. The only person that actually gives effort into this class (other than me) is Nat. But hey, at least I’m not the only one who actually puts emotion into their dialogue.
After what feels like hours, the bell rings for next period. It feels like hours.
The next one does, too.
And the one after that.
Basically, all of them are like that, except for lunch.
“Guys, Gerald’s here!” Sarah points out.
“Yeahh!!” Everyone cheers
Gerald is a hoverfly that visits us during lunch. We try to give him food, it never works.
Considering my friend group is a bunch of mentally unstable quierdos, lunch is just another day, another 30 minutes of absolute chaos. It’s actually really fun.
Of course, it cannot last forever, as the bell for us to go inside rings.
Then the bell to get to class.
The entire day feels like years, until after 7th period when we can all finally go home.
One bus ride and car ride later, I finally arrive back at my house. Exhausted, I flop onto my bed and let out a long, exasperated groan. Why must life be so hard?
I roll onto my back and stare at my ceiling. Today was pretty boring, wasn’t it? Oh well, tomorrow will be better, right?
…right?