Chapter 03

Steven

Monsters, Monsters, Monsters... It didn’t used to be like this all the time. I've known Fran since we were kids in elementary school. She was just a normal kid back then. I remember the first day I met her—she was wearing a bright pink backpack with a keychain of some princess.

"Hey, you!"

I jumped a little. I was very shy—still am, quite a bit, actually.

"Umm... Me?"

I hid my eyes behind my glasses as I looked up at her. She was just as stunning as ever—blonde hair, big circular glasses, and those green, sparkling eyes. She walked up to me and put her face right next to mine, inspecting the details of my face.

"You have green eyes too! My name is Francine! Nice to meet you!"

She was so close to my face, I felt like I couldn't breathe. Were my hands always this sweaty? Is it hot in here? Oh yeah, we are outside. It's fall. I am wearing a sweater.

"Umm, uh, okay."

I didn't really know how to talk to other people at the time.

"Fran—Francine? Why do you want to be my friend?"

As if she had known me for a long time, she instantly answered,

"Because you're kinda cute."

My cheeks were on fire. I was already sweating, but now I was unconsciously taking off my scarf and pulling out my inhaler. What does she mean? Before I could get a proper explanation, we were ushered into the classroom, where we were seated next to each other. I might not have known what she meant by cute, but at least I had a new friend.

One day, we had a field trip to a mountain peak to learn about nature. We all climbed onto the bus. I sat at the back, kind of hoping Fran would sit next to me, but another girl came up to me instead.

"Um... can I sit here?"

I didn't want to say no. I sat there for a second, thinking.

"Uh!? I mean, I don't want to make you uncomfortable!"

She exclaimed after I took just a tad too long to respond.

"N-no, please sit here! It's okay."

With a nervous smile, she scooted in next to me. She had reddish-brown hair and also wore glasses. Apparently, everyone I knew wore glasses or something. Her hair was short, only reaching her shoulders, and her bangs slightly covered her eyes.

I anxiously looked forward to seeing if Fran got on the bus. When she did, we waved at each other, and she smiled. She walked closer and realized she couldn’t sit right next to me. She walked up to the red-haired girl and said,

"Hey, that's my spot."

She pointed at the seat where the girl was sitting. The red-haired girl froze, her eyes shut, and she held her books tightly to her chest.

"It's okay, Fran, you can sit in front of me."

Fran realized there was still an open seat in front of me, and her hard glare suddenly brightened.

"Oh yeah, that works!"

She plopped her pink backpack onto the seat next to her and sat on her knees while facing backward in her chair.

"So, what's your name?"

The red-haired girl, a little surprised that someone was actually talking to her, said,

"Rebecca Rose... But you can call me Becca."

I chimed in,

"Well, if you want to hang with us today, you can, Becca."

She looked at me with excitement, then at Fran, who also seemed excited. She nodded a lot and giggled a bit, letting out a big sigh of relief. She was quite brave that day.

The bus started climbing the large mountain. Some dark clouds had formed above us, and soon enough, it started to rain—hard. The driver could barely see out the front of the bus. There were a lot of switchbacks, so he was taking it slow, but suddenly, two white lights appeared, coming directly toward us. The bus driver swerved into the opposite lane, but the bus wouldn’t stop turning.

The next moment, it felt like we were all floating. It was a strange sensation—one that seemed to last far longer than it actually did. Then, the bus lurched hard as it hit the ground. My head slammed into the window, and everything went black.