"Yuri? Hello? What took you so long to answer? Are you almost here?" Reina sounded concerned.
"Y-yeah. I'm at the front of the school. What's up?" I responded.
"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to make sure you didn't oversleep today. I know you don't really get excited to go on school field trips like I do but this will be fun! I promise! And guess what? We're in the same group too! So don't worry. I'll stick with you throughout the rest of the week!" That's right. Reina had been excited about this trip ever since last year when we were Sophomores. She thought about how this could be our chance to get to know more people from different classes and possibly make more friends along the way.
I didn't think too much about it. After all, getting to know more people didn't interest me in the slightest.
I could feel the wind beginning to grow as I walked past the sign that said Pinewood High. This school was the only high school in town. Our town is small enough that we even share this school with middle schoolers. After all, we're only a population under 2,000. And every year I speculate it will continue to decrease. It's in the waters, I tell you. No, it's in the air. Yeah, I should stop delving too deep into this although it's only for my own amusement.
"I'll see you soon, Reina," I reached the steps that lead to the door.
"Okay, see ya," Reina hung up.
I walked into the hallway full of lockers and students passing by. When I got to my locker, Peter was standing there waiting for me.
"Peter?" I poked his forehead. He had been staring down at the floor holding a tissue that covered his nose.
"Oh, hey Yuri," he looked up and smiled.
"What's wrong? Are you having a nosebleed?" I asked.
"Oh, this. Yeah. I woke up this morning and my nose started to bleed. It cleared away before I got to school but it's bleeding again," he brought his head up and then shook his head.
"What are you doing?" That's not how to treat a nosebleed. Let me take you to Mrs. Carriwood. I grabbed Peter's hand and guided him over to the nurse's office. I could feel his hands had been sweating. I held my hands up to his forehand with the other hand on my forehead to compare our body temperatures and he felt too warm. I don't think he's well.
"It's fine. I'm feeling okay. I think it should stop soon," Peter has insisted we don't go. But I stayed stubborn. How could he be okay like this? We finally got to the nurse's office, but no one was around. I checked my surroundings to see if there was anyone nearby who could tell me where Mrs. Carriwood had gone. But there was no one around.
I dropped Peter on the only bed inside the nurse's office so that he could lie down to stop the bleeding from falling.
"Stay here. Let me go grab the nurse," I left the office and headed down the hallway and toward the principal's office.
I could hear voices talking and I saw Mrs. Carriwood arguing with the principal.
"Mr. Wilbert, I don't think you heard me clearly. I have been getting dozens of students in the infirmary in the last week or so. I do not have enough medical supplies to keep everyone treated. We need to request more funding in the medical department," Mrs. Carriwood was serious. It was unusual to witness her arguing with anyone. She was soft, sweet, and kind. You wouldn't think this was actually her.
"Mrs. Carriwood, would you please keep it down? I understand that there is a lack of medical supplies in the infirmary, however, our school has just been funded by the Forbs family through their generous donation for our county improvement plan," Mr. Wilbert stood up from his chair.
"Please, I will schedule a meeting with the rest of the staff some other time about this plan. I am due for a meeting with the Forbs in a few minutes," he gestured his hand towards the door waiting for Mrs. Carriwood to leave the office.
Mrs. Carriwood headed outside of the office and stood still when she saw me in confusion.
"Yuri. What brings you here my dear?" She continued to walk back with me to the infirmary.
"Peter's nose is bleeding and his body temperature doesn't seem normal. Can you please check on him?" I was concerned. I hoped Peter would be okay. It's like everyone around me was getting sick and it was beginning to worry me.
Peter was lying down, and he was beginning to look drowsy. I shook his hands to wake him up and he slowly opened his eyes. This nose was still bleeding but it seemed like the flow was lessening.
"Alright, let me take it from here," Mrs. Carriwood grabbed some painkillers and some liquids for him to consume. She told Peter that he would need to stay until his body temperature went back to normal.
I held Peter's hand tightly and told him that he had time to rest before the field trip and that I needed to head to class for roll call. I told him to make sure he didn't forget all his stuff because this was going to be a week-long trip.
"You too. I'll see you in a bit," he smiled then proceeded to lay his head back down on the pillow.
I walked out of the nurse's office and proceeded in the direction of the stairs that would lead me to my classroom on the second floor. As I headed in that direction, I noticed a couple was heading in the direction of the principal's office.
Mr. and Mrs. Forbs were on their way to meet with Mr. Wilbert. They walked past me, and I waved and smiled, but was ignored. I felt kind of awkward standing there. I wanted to think they didn't see me but it's hard to tell if they chose to ignore me because they had pride.
Anyway, it was getting close to roll call time, and I began to run up the stairs when suddenly I bumped into a stern figure. I looked up to see that it was Cain Forbs. My classmate who everyone wanted to be friends with because of his parent's reputation in a small town like Waterfront.
Cain moved to Waterfront last year with his parents. They came from the big city but only moved here because of work-related reasons. I heard he was an only child. That's probably why he doesn't get along with a lot of students, even though they have approached him serval times, but he often ignores them. He was the only top student in the school. I'm sure that's because he had a future to hold.
"Oh, sorry!" I reacted after bumping into him.
Cain stood there and glared at me for a second without saying anything. Then ignored my apology and proceeded to head down the stairs.
What do I think of Cain? Well, he's hard to approach that's for sure. He gives off such a cold personality. He doesn't seem to like anyone in town. Does he think he's better than all of us because he's rich? Maybe that's what differentiates people like me who grew up here versus those who grew up in a big city. They often look down on us.
I entered the classroom and saw Reina sitting on her desk double checking that she had all her stuff for the trip.
"Yuri. Oh good, you're here! Mr. Flounder said that he'll be back in a few minutes, and we'll start roll call," Reina hugged me and continued to check that she had all her tools like a flashlight and a pepper spray inside her backpack.
"Alright, everyone please sit at your desk. I will begin roll call now," Mr. Flounder was back earlier than I had expected. It seemed like everyone was here except for Cain. But Mr. Flounder had already marked him present. I guess Cain had talked with Mr. Flounders initially and was excused because his parents were here to visit. Rich privilege, I'd say.
After half an hour had passed it was finally time for the departure. Every junior student began to head over to the front of the school and lined up in their class's designated school bus. There were only two Junior classes each containing about 20 students in Pinewood High, so we were only taking two buses for this field trip. Reina and I saw Peter lined up with his classmates on the other bus and waved. It seemed like Peter was doing fine now.
Reina and I sat next to each other on the bus. She looked super excited once we sat down. I smiled at her slightly envious of that feeling. I looked to my right and noticed that Cain was sitting on the other end with Kyle, a shy timid kid.
Once all the school buses were loaded, it was finally time to head over to Mt. Boulder which was about an hour or so from Waterfront. Why couldn't we just do the trip here in Waterfront? It's surrounded by trees anyways. But I guess Mt. Boulder was higher up the mountains and our school had a history of visiting Mt. Boulder every year for stuff like this.
I looked out the window of the moving bus and could smell the trees as we cruised past them. I put on my earbuds and turned on some music to help me relax during this long trip. But didn't realize I would fall asleep easily. Everything went dark and I could hear my music trailing away until everything around me went completely silent.
"Yuri?" Someone was calling me, but I couldn't figure out whose voice it was. Was I in a dream? I turned around and when I looked into the distance, I could see a tall dark figure standing still.
My body moved on its own and walked in the direction of the figure until suddenly it started running towards my direction. I needed to gain control of my body, but something wouldn't let me, so I stood still. My eyes were in tears as I attempted to pinch and bite myself. I bit my arms and I began to see a trail of blood running down and parts of my skin had been ripped off.
No! Stupid body! Just move! But it was too late. The figure had already reached my body which had been standing still. It grabbed me and started to bite me. I could feel the scorching pain all over as I screamed for help, and then suddenly I heard a voice again.
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