First Day In School

By Saturday I am sick and tired of reading, sleeping disgusts me and I despise staying at home. For the first time in my life, I long for school the way a starving man longs for food. Unfortunately, I still have two days to go before I can finally go to school.

I have read for most of the tests I will have on Monday and Tuesday and though there is still a lot I don't understand I am confident I will pass most, if not all of them.

As for my memory dreams, though I am happy they are coming back they don't really interest me. After all, Emily has told me about most of what I see in them. The only thing I am still unsure about is what happened at Cassandra's party that led to my accident.

Still, I had had one yesterday night, it was about me preparing for Cassandra's party. I had even bought Cassandra a gift, a necklace. I can still remember what it looks like. It is made up of a thin gold chain to which a butterfly is joined. The butterfly's wings are also golden, with tiny sparkling stones inset in them, but unlike the wings, the body of the butterfly is made up of a slightly large blue stone that sparkles in the light. Unfortunately, I was too chicken to give it to Cassandra myself and instead got Emily to give it to her for me.

Saturday and Sunday pass by slower than a crippled snail. Seconds seem to turn to minutes and minutes to hours. By the time I wake up on Monday morning, I am worn out from waiting.

I wake up early on Monday morning, eager to go to school. By six-thirty I am ready for school, wearing clothes I had picked out yesterday in a fit of boredom.

I head to the kitchen and meet my mom making tea -she drinks it every day and says it's good for the body.

"Good morning mom." I greet as I open the drawer containing cereal.

Mom seems a bit surprised to see me dressed up."Good morning." I glance at her. She looks like she wants to say more but doesn't. It was then I noticed how tired she looks.

"Did you sleep well yesterday night?" I ask.

She shakes her head slightly."No. I had a lot of work to do last night."

I frown, looking concerned as I pour some cereal into a bowl."Mom, you're getting old, you need your sleep."

She snorts softly."I'm not that old."

I shoot her a disbelieving look. Ever since my dad left us ten years ago she had begun to take up a bit too much work so she could take care of me and Emily. It made me feel a bit sad and frustrated. Sad that she had to work so hard, and frustrated that there wasn't much I could do to change things at the moment. Sometimes I wished I would just die, so as to relieve her of the burden of taking care of me, but that was just selfish.

Still, I couldn't help but feel useless most of the time. I will relieve her of her burden though, that is a promise that nothing is going to stop me from keeping.

"You're having your tests today, right?" she asks as she picks up her cup of tea.

"Yes."

"Don't fail any of them."

I smile reassuringly at her."I won't."

She nods and leaves the kitchen with her tea. I take my cereal to the dining table.

I leave the house at seven. Even though I am excited to finally go back to school, I still don't want to get there too early. From the school to my house is a thirty minutes walk, so I should get to school by seven-thirty. Just in time for homeroom.

I got to school a few minutes earlier than intended

After homeroom, I was taken by my teacher to an empty classroom where I would take my tests. And so began the most stressful hours of my life.

By the time the bell rings for lunch, I am worn out. Mentally and physically, which is weird because it's not like I was doing some strenuous exercise or anything. Anyway, I don't have to worry about my maths tests anymore so that's good.

The cafeteria is just as I remember it: loud, crowded, and full of strange smells, not repulsive, just strange. It is what I imagine would happen if someone packed a lot of apes in a small cage, except almost every one of them have phones.

I head to my usual, lonely place at the back of the hall, feeling a bit out of place. Everyone seems to have someone to talk to, well, everyone except me. I am once again reminded of my lack of friends.

"Hey, Ian!"

I look up in surprise and see Drew coming toward me. There is a slightly hesitant smile on his face as if he is not sure whether he wants to come to me or not.

I give a slight wave."Hey Drew."

He seems visibly relieved, for some reason I don't understand. As he sits opposite me his smile relaxes.

"I'm glad you're okay," he says.

"Yeah, me too."

He is silent for a few moments."Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," I say, slightly curious as to what he wants to ask.

"How exactly did you get injured?"

I shrug."I don't know. I can't even remember what happened that night."

Was it my imagination or did Drew just smile?"You must have banged your head pretty hard uh. Anyway, at least they caught the shooter."

His mention of the shooter reminded me of Arthur. I instinctively look towards the table where Cassandra usually sits, but he isn't there. I look around the cafeteria but I can't see any sign of him anywhere.

"What are you looking for?" Drew asks, noticing me looking around.

"Arthur."

"Oh, he's over there. he says," pointing to a remote corner of the cafeteria.

I look and am a bit shocked by what I see. He looks pitiful, nothing at all like the Arthur I remember. He isn't dressed like a slob or anything but the look on his face is just...sad. No one goes near his table, avoiding it like a plague as though he has some kind of lethal disease.

"I know," Drew says, "I kind of feel sorry for him too."

"What happened? Is it because of the shooter and -?"

"No. It started before that. You know Brian right?"

I nod. Brian is a senior, popularly known as the hottest guy in the school, according to the girls anyway.

"Well Arthur heard that Brian might be making a move on Cassandra and he got a bit pissed. No one knows exactly how it happened but Arthur got drunk, went to Cassandra's house, and may have tried to force himself on her."

My mind went blank for a moment. Then the anger came bubbling up."He did what?" I hissed. I can't believe I felt sorry for him. At that moment I felt like strangling him.

"It's crazy, I know, anyway, forget about him. I heard you are writing your tests, how's it going?" he said with a smile.

Although I was unwilling to forget my anger, I let out a groan."I know it's only the first day but I am sick of it."

Drew let out a laugh."Welcome back to school my friend, welcome back to school."

We chat a bit more until the bell rings and it's time to head back to class. For me, it's time to write the last test of the day.

By the time the final bell rings I feel like a bunch of drills are having a party in my head. My bed has never felt more alluring.

Before long I join the throng of students milling around the school. Unlike most of them, I have a clear goal. Home.

As I leave the school, I spot someone walking toward the parking lot. He looks a bit familiar. It takes me a moment but I finally realize who he is. My neighbor, the man Emily said rarely came home. I have not seen him since that night I came back home. I wonder what he is doing her.

As if knowing I was staring, the man stops and turns to look directly at me. I quickly look away. After a moment he turns back around and continues moving. He's a weird guy, I think as I continue on my way.

I am not far away from the school when I see it. And right there in the middle of the street, with people coming and going on either side of me, I freeze. And stare at the monstrosity right in front of me.

Am I going mad, I begin to wonder. There is nothing else that can explain the sight in front of me.

And very slowly, with my heart beating in my chest, I walk past it like everyone else is doing.

By the time I get home, I am shivering and feverish. I head straight to my bed where I am enveloped by the cool sheets and dreamless sleep.