Chapter One.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters but my own .

The bus was so incredibly noisy that I couldn't hear the music blaring out of my headphones. I think every Junior in high school was on this bus for our trip through New Mexico. I had no idea why Principal Warren decided to send us to New Mexico other than the fact it would be 'educational' or something. New Mexico and the word 'educational' do not belong in the same sentence as far as I am concerned.

Not a damned thing I have seen so far would be classified as educational, yet our History teacher proceeded to drone on and on about the importance of every rock we drove by, always giving it some form of random name that I nor anyone on this sweaty bus could pronounce.

"Can we stop for a bathroom break, dude?" A guy in my class asked. He was one of the typical jocks. Never took off his school football jacket and his girlfriend was head cheerleader, who was blonde and a complete air head. Hey, I did mention typical.

"Some people pronounce it diff--not if only one person needs to use the restroom, Mr. Logan. There would be no point," Mr. Forner replied, stopping in the middle of explaining something else unimportant. This resulted in a rampage of others who also supposively needed to use the bathroom. I turned my music up louder so I couldn't hear the rants.

In the middle of my looking out the window and day dreaming, I didn't recognize any hostility on the bus any longer. I assumed the battle of whether or not to stop was won by Mr. Forner. I was sitting close to the back of the bus, my auburn red hair flying every which way from the person in front of me's window, which was cracked a few centimeters, and looked back to see why everyone had become relatively silent.

I shouldn't have, for Zack, the one who had piped up earlier, happened to be making out with his cheerleader girlfriend.

I swung my eyes farther back and recognized another kid from my class who's name was Rick. I guess you could call him 'goth' or 'emo'. Whichever. He wore the skinny jeans and the tight black shirt with the hightop converse. His hair looked like a giant poof ball, but was all just one big spike of black. He had headphone in as well, nodding his head to whatever music he was listening to, while watching out the window.

I faced the front, watching a few kids throw paper wads back and forth. You know sometimes when extreme things happen, and it becomes really slow? This didn't happen that way. It all went extremely fast. First the bus hit something in the road, then was zigzagging out of control, gaining momentum. All the kids were screaming and holding onto whatever they could find.

My headphones had come out of my CD player, causing it to drop onto the bus floor with a loud thud. Some kids had been thrown from their seats and into the seat beside them.

The bus suddenly stopped. Mr. Forner stood out of his seat, his fake gray hair lopsided on his shiny bald head, "Is everyone alright?" he shouted, adjusting his faux hair. I mumur of 'yes' sounded throughout the bus. I was in too much of a shock to reply. I was alright physically but my brain just performed a 360 here.

The bus driver opened the bus' door and stepped out to get a look at what we might have run over. The bus erupted into conversation of what could have possibly happened. A few moments later, the driver steps back onto the bus, "Looks like we have some flat tires. I couldn't see what from, but they're there alright. They're all slashed up," he announced, causing more of an uproar.

Mr. Forner held his hands up, "Quiet everyone, please. Everything will be alright. We'll just call a mechanic and until then, everyone needs to exit off the bus." Everyone stood and began to file off the bus. I grabbed my bag and thought I was the last one off when I get a tap on the shoulder, "Hey Amber, you dropped this." I turned to see Rick holding my CD player.

"Oh, right. Thanks Rick," I replied, taking it and putting it into my bag along with my headphones. I had forgotten to take them out of my ears in the rush.

Finally every student had gotten off of the bus. Some were going behind bushes to relieve themselves after the hours of traveling. I needed to go but decided to wait it out. I didn't want to go in front of everyone. Mr. Forner walked off the bus, his cell phone waving around this way and that in the air, "Anyone have a signal?" he asked.

Everyone pulled out their phones to check, resulting in more arm waving, then a mumur of nos. I didn't even bother to pull my cell phone out. I knew I didn't have a signal. I barely got one bar in my own room, what makes them think I'll have one in the desert? I placed my bag on the dusty ground and sat on a rock, hoping a snake wouldn't decide to reveal itself from the giant hole underneath it.

The driver was still waving his cell phone around, not giving up on the signal. The only way to fix a flat on a bus would have to be getting a mechanic. No cell phones, no mechanic. Which meant no traveling. Well, Mr. Forner wanted to see all the pretty rocks in New Mexico, now he could see them up close and personal.

"Hey is that a building over there?" One of the kids throwing the paper wads said, pointing in the northern direction of where we were. Everyone looked over, seeing a small gas station up ahead. "Lets head over there. Everyone stay together and don't leave anyone behind," Mr. Forner ordered, beginning to walk in that direction. I grabbed my bag, sighed, coughed from inhaling some of the dirt dust, and followed behind the rest of the class.

It took maybe ten to fifteen minutes to finally arrive at the gas station. I looked around, seeing trademark bottle trees here and there. The pumps looked as if they hadn't been used in ages, though they still looked like they worked. The windows were dusty and appeared non-repairable. A song that sounded familiar to me was playing softly, reverberating across the hills:

Something in the way she moves,
Attracts me like no other lover.
Something in the way she woos me.
I don't want to leave her now,
You know I believe in Hell.


Mr. Forner led the way up the wooden steps and through the gas station's door, a muffled chime resounding from the bell above the door.

"Hello?" Mr. Forner called. I heard foot steps that sounded like boots clodding from behind the counter. "What can I do for you?" A haggard man that appeared to be around forty, maybe fifty, asked. Mr. Forner adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat, "Well, you see, we were passing through and our bus hit something, causing some flat tires, more than enough to keep us from going anywhere. Would you happen to have a pay phone so we can call a mechanic?" he asked.

The man lit a cigerette and looked from Mr. Forner to the students who had decided to venture into the gas station. Some of the others had chosen to stay outside and goof around, tossing a foam football to one another. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "No. We don't got no pay phone," he replied, looking back to Mr. Forner. My History teacher nodded and ran his hand across his forehead, capturing the beads of sweat that had formed from the heat.

"Alright. Well, do you know where I could find one?" Mr. Forner asked, beginning to become annoyed that the man wasn't helping very much. The man finished his cigerette quickly and threw it on the wooden floor, stopping it in, "Can't say I do."

Suddenly I saw a figure dash in front of one of the windows out of my peripheral. I whipped my head to the side to see what it was, coming up with nothing. The figure had moved too quickly. Rick glanced at me, then the window, a confused expression on his face.

Mr. Forner sighed and looked around the store just to be sure the man hadn't been lieing, then began moving towards the isles, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to pick up a few things," he stated, picking up a few cans of green beans. I was still staring out the window when I realized I couldn't hear the jocks passing the football around anymore.

I rushed out the door, the chime resounding once again. I looked around, seeing nothing but a few tumbleweeds. "Zack? Joseph?" I called, remembering a few of the names of those who had been outside. The heat was causing my black shirt to stick to me. I was also wearing jeans, which wasn't a good thing to wear in such dry and hot weather.

Nobody answered my call. It was silent outside, all but the familiar song we had heard while first arriving. The sun began descending behind the rustic mountains as I spun around, frantically looking for any sign of a football jacket, my bag slinging against my back. I saw a shadow over by a large, wooden outhouse out of the corner of my eye.

I spun to face it, seeing nobody. I started walking over there slowly. "Joseph?" I called again. I could see the figure moving as I spoke. I finally reached the outhouse and extended my hand to pull the handle.

It's just like ripping off a bandaid: fast and painless, I thought to myself, grabbing the handle and yanking the outhouse door wide open.

Author's Note: Okay so the song is from Across The Universe. The actor Jim Sturgess sang it. It might have been originally sung by The Beatles but I'm not exactly sure. If you do, let me know. Also, I really hope you like this so far lol.