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“Fudgefudgefudgefudgefudge”, I muttered under my breath as I raced into the bathroom. I quickly shoved a hairbrush into my backpack and rushed out again, catching a quick glance of my panicked face and messy, turquoise hair in the mirror. “I’m going to miss the bus!” As I was about to run out the front door, I paused and considered taking a pill. “Nah, I can miss one day.” I say as I move into motion again, throwing open the front door and running out into the driveway just as my bus pulled up alongside it. I did a quick skip as I ran to the bus, mentally lecturing myself to get ready earlier. As I climbed up into the bus, I finally exhaled a breath or relief.
“Good morning Aluna,” Miss Jackie, my bus driver, said to me as I walked past her to take my seat. “Oh, good morning m’am”, I replied as I twisted back to face her. I turned back to see that my seat had been taken by another student, so I walked past into the seat behind it. I silently grumbled about how rude people could be as the bus creaked into motion, taking me along with the other students on the bus to 7 hours of teachers droning on and on about things that we’d forget in 2 weeks. I stared out the window as the bus drove past countless houses and trees, lost deep in thought.Before I realized it, we were already pulling into the school’s driveway. The bus pulled up alongside the curb and I got off to walk alongside hundreds of other students making their way into school. I exhaled a small breath of wonder, admiring the Huckentuk High School’s architecture, even though I’d had quite a few weeks to appreciate it. The hallway I walked in led to the school commons, a wide, open room that was the width of the entire school and was two-stories high. Students were sitting at the various tables that were scattered throughout the room, using the last few minutes before school started to finish up homework and to chat.As I entered the commons, I turned right and went into one of the several hallways that connected to the large room. At the end of this hallway, I looked at the black staircase that led up to the second floor, and proceeded to climb it. As I rose to the top of the staircase, my mind wandered to what I would be doing after school. Probably homework, I decided, as I made my way to my locker. I spun my combination, 01-21-33, and set my back-pack down on the polished stone floor. I then opened my locker and admired how clean and organized it was. While other students had crumpled papers and water bottles strewn throughout the bottom of their lockers, my locker floor was completely empty and my textbooks were all on my top shelf. I actually had to lean forward onto the tips of my toes to reach my math textbook because the shelf was so high above my head. I unzipped my back-pack and placed my textbook inside. Then, I shut my locker door, zipped up my back-pack and slung it over my shoulder, and began to make my way to math class. As I entered the door, I saw my teacher, Mr. Kurtis, browsing his computer. I said a quick hello and proceeded to sit in my seat, where a girl approached me. “Hey Aluna!”, she exclaimed. “So, did you get some good sleep?” She slid into the seat next to mine and looked at me with expecting eyes. This cheerful girl was one of my best friends, Charlie Agler. She was always positive, and we agreed on nearly everything. “Hey Charlie,” I said. “Yeah, I think I got 7 hours, which is more than I can say for most nights.” Charlie laughed a bit at that, her tinkling joyful laughter helping to improve my mood. As I began to laugh along with her, my friends Emmie and Kiki entered, arguing over something like they often did.“I do not look like a kiwi!” Kiki grumbled. “Come on, you can’t deny it forever. Look at your head!” Emmie jokingly replied. “It’s a perfect kiwi shape.” Kiki grumbled as she took her seat across from me, Emmie laughing behind her. Kiki was a bit of a serious and blunt girl, and she wasn’t afraid to speak up when she was made fun of. She was a close friend of mine, and I usually took her side. Emmie often made jokes that came at the expense of Kiki, but they were all in good fun and she would make sure that Kiki knew that. “Oh, come on Em, leave her alone.” I said as Kiki gave Emmie a triumphant look. “We all know that Kiki is from a race of alien kiwis.” As I said this, both Emmie and Charlie doubled over in laughter while Kiki just stared forward. She took a deep breath, proceeded to open her mouth, but evidently couldn’t find a suitable response because she closed it seconds later. “Sorry Kiki,” I said, trying to stifle my laughter. “I couldn’t help myself.” She looked at me and sighed, her mouth turning into a small smile. “You’ve betrayed me Aluna,” Kiki stated. “Prepare for my wrath.” I paused, a bit confused at her statement as she continued to say “You can’t borrow my calculator today.” I playfully groaned and joked “Oh, what punishment. I shalt ever turn against you again!” Everyone laughed as the two-minute bell began to ring. Emmie and Kiki moved away to go to their seats, leaving only Charlie and I who were still laughing. Math class went slowly, with the most memorable thing being when Mr. Kurtis accidentally knocked a textbook off of his desk and onto the floor, which caused us all to jump. As the end of the hour bell rang and everyone began to pack up and leave the classroom, I mentally tried to calculate how long it would take me to finish the homework we had been assigned. As I walked to my next hour, science, I dodged a red-haired girl who was rushing through the hallway at top speed. As she passed me, I realized that it was my friend, Avie Tarus. “Avie?” I tried to say as she went past, but she didn’t hear me and kept moving. I decided to ask her what the rush was once I saw her in third hour. I entered the science classroom and saw that Mrs. Lawrence had forgotten to write the agenda on the board, something she often forgot to do. I sat down at my table where Kiki was already sitting, and we were joined by Emmie and Charlie not long after. When class started, Mrs. Lawrence strode to the front of the class.“Put away your notes for today class,” she announced. “Today will be an easy day. I’m just going to see how much you know about our next subject.” As we moved to put our notes away, Mrs. Lawrence continued to say “Can anyone tell me what makes up our known universe?” Several people raised their hands, and Mrs. Lawrence picked on a boy sitting in the back. “Elements?” He mumbled, seeming unsure of his answer. “Yes, that’s correct Jason.” Mrs. Lawrence replied with a smile. “And can anyone tell me what those elements are?” This time, I raised my hand. I knew this answer all too well because of my condition. Mrs. Lawrence pointed at me, and I answered “The four elements are fire, wind, earth, and water.” “Very good,” replied my teacher. “So, as you all know, the universe is made up of the four elements, fire, wind, earth, and water. And as I’m sure you all know, we all reflect one of these elements. Can anyone tell me how?” She pointed at a girl to my left. “Alyson?” The girl said “Through our hair and eye color.” “Yes, good job,” Mrs. Lawrence exclaimed. “Black, white and grey represent air; Red, orange, and pink represent fire; Yellow, green, and brown represent earth; And blue, indigo, and purple represent water. Now, for today’s activity, we’re going to split you up based on your element. Fire goes in corner one, earth goes in corner two, wind goes in corner three, and water goes in corner four.” I moved to the fourth corner, gently tugging on my wavy, turquoise hair. Charlie moved to join me, her dark blue bob swaying as she bounced over. “What do you think we’re doing Aluna?” Charlie asked. “I don’t know,” I replied. “Wonder what it is.” Charlie whispered as Mrs. Lawrence raised her hand, our signal to stop talking. Once all was quiet, our teacher said “Now I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’m making you do this. Well, our next unit will be about genetics. We’re talking about how you got your element based on which of the four elements your parents had…” the activity continued onward, with us being given 20 minutes of free time after it ended. My friends and I decided to use the time to talk and discuss about how the day was going, when I recalled what had happened in the hallway earlier with Avie. “Hey, do you guys know if Avie is ok?” I asked. My friends turned to look at me, with serious expressions on their faces. “Earlier in the hallway she bumped into me and she seemed upset about something…” My friends seemed a bit uncomfortable by this question, and they began to shift in their seats. Finally, Charlie spoke. “Aluna,” she mumbled. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Avie has been kind of rude to everyone lately.” I was a bit shocked by this, and asked her what she meant. “Well…” Charlie said. “Remember how I was her partner for the project in Social Studies yesterday?” I nodded that I understood. “Well,” Charlie continued. “She made me do all the work.” My brow furrowed as I tried to think of a response. “Are… are you sure that you just… didn’t let her do anything?” “That’s the thing, I gave her the paper so she could do her half of it, but she just stared at me and… well, the paper didn’t get finished.” After Charlie said this, Kiki raised her hand to show that she had something to say. “I wasn’t going to say anything,” Kiki voiced. “But she’s been rude to me as well. She’s been going through my pencil-box and stealing my pencils. Then during lunch she’s been stealing some of my food.” Emmie butted in with her piece on the matter by saying “Yeah, she’s been being kind of a bully. Yesterday, she told me that she wouldn’t be caught dead in my shirt. She also said that I was ‘making her feel sick’ and she just walked away. I mean, it doesn’t really bother me, but still… someone needs to talk to her.” I just sat there with my jaw hanging open, trying to comprehend what they were saying. There’s no way that Avie, my best friend who I’d known forever, would do any of those things. Not the Avie I knew, the Avie who was there for me and visited me every day when I was in the hospital. Not the Avie who stayed with me when no one else did, the Avie who told off the people who made fun of the “Diseased Loony”. Not my Avie. “There’s no way Avie would do those things!” I declared, raising my voice. Everyone was silent for a minute, as Emmie stated “Look, I know that she’s your friend, but… we kind of want her out of the group. Even if it’s difficult for you to think of her doing those things, she did.” “Have any of you tried talking to her?” I asked, my voice still raised. “Look, I understand that she’s a bit gruff on the outside, but she’s really a reasonable person!” My friends looked down, and eventually, Charlie spoke up, “I… I can try to talk to her.” “Thank you,” I said, lowering my voice. We sat in silence until the bell rang, at which point we packed up our stuff and left, still in that uncomfortable silence. As I made my way to Social Studies, I tried to think about what my friends had told me. Could Avie really have done those things? Not wanting to think about it, I entered the classroom and sat down in my seat. As I copied down the agenda, Avie sat down next to me. “Hey Avie,” I muttered a bit uncertainly. “How… how are you doing?” Avie looked at me and paused a moment before responding. “Ok.” She turned and began to copy down the agenda herself. After she was done with that, she looked at my wrist. “Hey, I love your bracelet,” she stated. I looked down at my wrist and admired the charm bracelet that was there. “Thank you,” I said. “It’s a gift from my Grand-““Can I wear it?” Avie cut me off. “E…Excuse me?” I replied. “I asked if I could wear it. What, got water in your ears?” I sat there for a few seconds, taken aback by her attitude. “Um… it’s really important to me, I’m sorry but-““Please? I promise I won’t damage it.” Avie looked at me with piercing red eyes. “Um, o…ok” I mumbled quietly, as I slowly took off the bracelet and gave it to Avie. “Thanks.” She said as she put it on, admiring how it looked on her wrist. “It looks really good on me, don’t you think?” Avie asked. “Uh… yeah, I guess it does.” I replied, still a bit confused as to her change in attitude. It was at this time when the bell rang, and Social Studies began. The Social Studies teacher, Miss Grace, rose from her desk and moved to the front of the room. “Okay class,” she lectured. “Today we’re going to finish up the project we started yesterday with our partners. Move around the classroom, move out into the halls if you want. Just remember to stay in the area so I can call you back in.” After she said this, everyone got up and tried to force their way through the sea of bodies to their partner. I was in the only group of three, the group consisting of me, Kiki, and Emmie. There was still a bit of awkwardness between us, but we managed to decide to sit near the door. Several groups moved past us to go into the hallway, one of those groups being Avie and Charlie. Once everyone was settled, we just kind of sat there, waiting for one of the members in our group to say something. “So…” Kiki said. “We finished yesterday, so I guess we can double-check our answers.” We went back into awkward silence. “Hey guys,” I muttered. “I’m sorry that I yelled at you. I… I do believe that Avie might have been being a bit rude to you guys, and I’m sorry that I didn’t believe you at first. If there’s anything I can do to say sorry, please tell me.” Emmie looked at me and offered a weak smile. “It’s alright,” she remarked. “I understand that it might have been a bit difficult to believe. She is your best friend after all.” “Thanks.” I replied. I look at Kiki and she avoids meeting my eyes. “Kiki?” I asked cautiously.
“Do you want my forgiveness?” she asked, staring at me until her eyes bored into my soul. “Hwah? What?” I replied confusedly. “Do you want my forgiveness?” She repeated. “Um… yeah… yeah I do.” I stammered out. “Then tell Emmie that I’m not a kiwi.” Kiki jested with a smile, causing everyone to laugh. As I tried to get my laughter under control, I managed to get out “Alright, Kiki…hehehehe… is not a kiwi!”, which made us all laugh harder. “Alright,” Kiki said once she had finished laughing. “You’re forgiven.” Emmie opened her mouth to say something when a piercing scream rang out. We all looked at each other, suddenly alert, and sprang up from our seated position. “That sounded like it came from the hallway!” Kiki exclaimed. As we ran out to the hallway, we saw that a small crowd had begun to form in front of the top of one of the stairs that led to the first floor. As we rushed our way over there, Avie ran past us. “Avie?” I tried to ask, but much like what had happened in the morning, she didn’t hear me. Or maybe she’s just ignoring me, I thought. As we made it to the stairwell and pushed our way to the front of the crowd, we saw what they were looking at. There, at the bottom of the stairs, was a person. As I moved to get a better view, I realized that I knew who this person was. Lying at the bottom of the stairs with one of her legs twisted at an unnatural angle was Charlie. I rushed forward to help her, Emmie and Kiki close to my side. Kiki paused and exclaimed, “I’ll go get Miss Grace!” and rushed back up the stairs to get our teacher. As Emmie and I got closer to Charlie, I could feel tears start to stream down my face. “Charlie?” I quietly murmured as I moved forward. “Oh… Oh, Charlie…” Emmie and I sat on the ground next to Charlie, not sure what to do. What could we do? We didn’t know anything about what to do in a situation like this. As tears began to fall off of my face, the crowd at the top of the stairs parted to let Miss Grace through. “Move people, move!” she shouted as she shoved her way through the students. “Get back to the classroom, now!” She paused and gasped when she saw Charlie’s twisted body, and hurried down the stairs once she got over the initial shock. She bent down and touched her fingers to Charlie’s neck to check Charlie’s pulse. She then proceeded to pull out a red cell phone and call 911. “I need an ambulance right away! One of my students has fallen down the stairs and appears to be unconscious…” Miss Grace shouted frantically, and after a pause, “Yes, she is alive. I just checked her pulse… We’re in Huckentuk High School, in one of the stairways that leads to the second floor… Yes, that’s the right street… I…I can do that.” Miss Grace then proceeded to motion at Emmie and asked “Can you take off your jacket?” Emmie responded by quietly saying “Oh, um… yeah,” as she unzipped her hoodie and took it off. Our teacher then proceeded to use her free hand to gently lift up Charlie’s head. “Put it under her head.” Emmie cautiously slid the jacket under Charlie’s head and Miss Grace softly put Charlie’s head down on it. “We put a jacket under her head, is that ok? . . . Yes, I have two of my other students with me, they’re close friends of. . . Yes, I understand. Girls?” I looked up at our teacher through my tears, feeling useless. “I need you to get back to class. The paramedics should be here shortly and I need you out of the area.” Emmie and I slowly nodded our heads and silently climbed up the stairs. As we shuffled our way back to the classroom, we could see curious students peeping out the doors of their classrooms, probably still trying to figure out where the scream came from. I couldn’t look any of them in the eyes and passed them in silence. When Emmie and I made it to the classroom, everyone in the class looked up, and turned their heads back down when they saw it was only us. I took my seat next to Avie and sat in silence. At that moment, a note landed on my desk. I looked around to see who sent it and saw the boy behind me looking at me earnestly. I turned back and opened the note to find almost illegible handwriting, but I did my best to read what it said. ‘You’re one of the girl who fell’s friends, right?’ I grabbed a pencil from my backpack and wrote back ‘Yeah.’ I passed it back to him and he gave it back to me a minute later with the words ‘Look, I saw what happened. She didn’t fall.’“What?” I said out loud, and he put a finger to his lips. ‘What?’ I wrote and passed it to him. When I got the note back, he had replied ‘She didn’t fall, she was pushed. She had been arguing with someone over by the stairs and that person pushed her.’ ‘Who?’ I responded. ‘It was someone with red hair, they ran off afterwards.’ ‘What’s your name?’ ‘Steve’ ‘Thank you Steve.’ When our written conversation ended, I felt sick to my stomach. Who would do such a thing, intentionally, to someone like Charlie? Then, it dawned on me. I slowly turned and faced Avie. She had been Charlie’s partner for the project. She had been running away from the stairs right after the scream happened, and she had dark red hair. Could it really have been Avie? At that moment, the bell rang, and everyone silently stood up and went to leave the classroom. “Avie…” I said quietly as she moved to push in her chair. “I need to talk to you…” Avie turned to me with an expressionless look. “What about?” she asked calmly. Feeling butterflies in my stomach, I asked “You’ve been acting really weird lately. Are… are you ok?” Avie looked at me, and rolled her eyes. “Tch, did your friends say something to you?” “D-does it matter?” I stammered back. “I’m just really concerned about you.” “You shouldn’t listen to them, they’re just telling lies. You know, I really think that we should leave the friend group. They’re all so mean, and they’ve been bullying me.” Avie insisted, pretending to pout. “They’re really just a bunch of double-faced, ugly jerks. They should all just go kill themselves.” I’m taken aback by her words, and it takes me a moment before I respond by saying “What’s gotten into you lately?”
“Nothing, I’m just finally speaking my mind.” She responded hot-headedly. “And you know what? I’m sick of you judging me. Just leave me alone, creep.” Avie turned to walk to the door, but not before I said what had been on my mind. “Did you push her down the stairs?” Avie paused. “Who?” she replied. “Did you push Charlie down the stairs?” I yelled. Silence passed between us, and I understood. She really did want them dead. “You… you did, didn’t you?” I uttered, taking a step back. “How… How could you?!” Avie turned around and looked me straight in the eye, a crazy smile across her face. “She was in my way.” Avie said with a laugh. “I just took care of the problem.” A sudden wave of nausea washed over me, and I found myself running to the trashcan in the corner of the classroom. My hands clasped around the rim of the can, I vomited violently, feeling the eyes of my former friend on me all the while. I lunged forward and continued to spew into the trashcan, a foul taste ringing through my mouth. As I finally was able to take a breath, I looked at the vomit that was in the can. Or, what should have been vomit. I began to panic as I realized that instead of there being vomit in the trashcan, there was water. A lot of water. I shakily stood up and realized that Avie was right behind me. Stumbling back into the wall, I covered my mouth to stop myself from puking more. Avie stepped past me and looked into the trashcan. “Oooh.” She whispered with a smile. “I think you may want to do something before your condition gets worse.” My eyes began to water as I stumbled out of the classroom, rushing to my locker. I need a pill right away, I thought. RIGHT. AWAY. As I reached my locker I could hear the bell ring, signaling that lunch had started, but I didn’t care. I quickly spun my locker com and hurriedly began to move my hand around the top of my locker shelf, blindly searching for the pill bottle that I kept there. Just as my hand closed around it, I felt a pair of hands shove me from behind. I tripped into my locker and as I tried to turn around, the door shut behind me. I began to full out PANIC. I had always been terrified of cramped, dark places, and this was definitely one of those places. “Help!” I shouted, my voice full of fear. “Please, open my locker!” I heard familiar laughter, and realized that Avie had shoved me into my locker. “Avie, please, LET ME OUT!” I began to feel my legs turn to jelly, and I could feel the water running down my face. “Please, I need to get out!” I quickly tried to move my arms to open my pill container, but my locker was too tight. I began to hyperventilate, feeling the walls close in on me. “Please, I need to take my medicine! You know that I’ll melt into water if I don’t! Please, PLEASE, PLEASE!” I cried, doing my best to make as much noise as I could. “I NEED MY ELEMENTAL STABILIZERS, PLEASE JUST OPEN THE DOOR!” “What’s your com?” Avie asked with a tone I couldn’t quite place. “I need it to open your locker.” “IT’S ONE, TWENTY-ONE, THIRTY-THREE, PLEASE JUST OPEN THE DOOR!” I could feel myself start to shrink, I could feel the water soaking through my clothes, and I could feel the darkness growing closer, closer… “Hm… Should I help you though?” Avie muttered. I felt my eyes go wide and as I tried to bang my hand against the locker, it only stuck to the side. “AVIE, PLEASE, I’M DYING!” I screamed, knowing full well what would happen if I didn’t get a pill. “I’d really like to see you turn into a puddle.” Avie remarked. “I always wondered what would happen if you didn’t have your medicine.” I can’t feel my legs, I can’t move my legs, do I even have legs anymore? I feel cold, I feel cold, It’s so dark, it’s so tight, I’m dying, I’m dying, I’m dying, I thought. “Pl…lease…” I say with my throat full of water. “Av…ie…” I felt my head melt into my chest and my mouth go shut. I wanted to fight, I wanted to flee, but I couldn’t move, I couldn’t think, and the darkness grew darker, darker, ever darker, and tighter, tighter, ever tighter, and my thoughts merged together into a single thing: fear. And then the darkness squeezed tighter until I couldn’t even have that.___________________________________________________________________________________Tommy shifted in his seat as he looked at his computer screen. He could see the chat on his right monitor, and it was going crazy saying things like “Nooooo Aluna”, “RIP Aluna 2K18”, “I cry at your cruelty”, “How could you?!” and “Open the locker!”. Complying with the demands of his fans, he moved his mouse and selected the “open locker button”. As he said “It’s just a game, stop freaking out guys,” his red-headed avatar opened the locker which let the gallons of water that had been inside spill out.“Well guys,” Tommy declared. “I think that here is a good place to take a break. For those of you who are new to the stream, I’m doing what I call the “frenemy route” of the game “Elemenpals”, and we’re at the point where we have just killed Aluna. Next up is to get rid of Emmie, so let’s get started on that.” He paused. “Actually, I’ll be right back guys, I have to use the bathroom. As he got up from his chair and left the room however, something was happening to the game.The water that had been spilled all over the 3D hallway began to move into one single area, and it began to merge into a single, watery blob. The globule began to resemble a figure, and it began to grow larger. The figure moved towards the avatar, and the game the figure was a part of crashed. The people watching the livestream were confused as to what had just happened. Unseen to them however, water was starting to leak from the computer monitor. It began to gush out, and spilled over Tommy’s computer desk and onto the floor. The water spread out but didn’t leave any dampness where it had been. The water than began to move into the facecam view, and that’s when the chat noticed it. “What’s that?” someone typed. The water then seemed to notice the computer that it had come from, and a watery hand extended off of it and reached towards the computer. It observed the chat, but did nothing. It actually seemed to be trying to look at itself through the camera.Chat went crazy, some asking what was going on and other saying it was a prank. It paused, and seemed to turn around, almost as if it had heard something. It quickly oozed to a darkly lit corner, and Tommy entered the room. As he sat down, he noticed that the game had crashed. “Oh, come on guys, what happened?” He asked as he turned to look at chat. “BEHIND YOU!” a user in chat screamed. “Behind me?” Tommy asked. He didn’t understand what the user had meant until two hands were clasped around his neck.He tried to turn around to face his attacker, but what he saw made him wish he hadn’t. A melting, watery face stared back at him, with black liquid oozing from empty eye-sockets. There almost appeared to be oily, dirty wax dripping from the top of it’s head, and the drips extended from the top of the creature’s head and went all the way down to it’s chin. Or what would have been a chin, if not for the fact that the figure’s chin had just dribbled onto it’s torso. The figure moaned, and the drips of watery ooze that had been hanging off of the top of the mouth dripped onto Tommy’s face. The grotesque head got closer to him, moving on a neck that stretched longer and longer. “It’s not just a game to us,” It seemed to say. Or, that’s what Tommy thought it tried to say before he blacked out.When he finally stopped breathing, the watery figure moved towards the computer and entered it through the way it came. On the computer, the application “ELEMENPALS.EXE” began to run. A new game was put into action, but it would be different now. There would be no one puppeteering the avatar. The characters of the game would get their happy ending. After all, why would Avie try to hurt her friends? And if it really came to it... she could always be disposed of. Aluna would make sure they got their happy ending. No matter what. Dying sure can change your values.