It was a Friday afternoon, the warmth of summer still lingering in the air, and she should have been enjoying it. She should have been glad she was done with classes for the week and she now had the weekend stretching out before her, with fun and excitement waiting for her. But Bridgette Wells wasn't enjoying it. She wasn't looking forward to the weekend. She wasn't anticipating parties, or games, or whatever else it was that college sophomores did on the weekends. And she wasn't glad things had returned to normal. Because truth be told, things hadn't returned to normal and they never would. Not for Bridgette, not after all she had gone through.
It had been just under a year since Bridgette and her friends had gone through hell. A year since she had faced and killed Chris McLean, her former English teacher. A year since she had lost people she cared greatly about. A year since she herself had died, only to be brought back to life by Dr. McLellen. It had been a year and yet Bridgette still couldn't forget. The sight of Izzy hanging by her throat in that horrible room. The sight of Duncan impaled by twisted, cruel metal spears. The pictures of Jen and Harold and Caitlin and Cody and Sierra, all butchered by McLean. The dying words of Eva, begging Bridgette to kill McLean after Shane had shot her. The wicked, terrifying smiles Shane and Chris had given her as they tortured and killed the people she loved. McLean's cryptic warning about another killer who was lurking out there in the shadows somewhere. Her own pain as the bullets had torn through her flesh. The sound of her own final, shuddering breath. All of these experiences were burned into her mind and try as she might, Bridgette couldn't forget them. The images filled her mind when she slept, haunting her the way a ghost haunts a building, turning even her most pleasant dreams into nightmares which made her cry out in the night only to have Geoff wrap his arms around her and hold her close, a stream of comforting words whispered into her ear.
And yet, through it all, Bridgette had persevered. Despite the nightmares and the fear and the constant reminders of the past she was still standing, still breathing, still sane. Early on she had been convinced she was losing her mind, but as the year had progressed she had slowly come to realize that she wasn't going insane. Still, it wasn't easy and she knew things would never be the same again. There was only one way they could be, but that was impossible. She couldn't bring Duncan and Izzy and all the others back from the dead. If she could she would have done it by now. But she couldn't and she had given up on that idea within a few days after Nikki and Gwen had become concerned about her. The thought still crossed her mind from time to time, but it had been months since she had last seriously considered the possibility of resurrection.
This was a good thing as her roommates, Nikki Wong and Gwen Carver, had been getting worried about her mental state. Bridgette didn't see why they were so concerned. They had lost just as much as she had and yet she was the only one who had considered the possibility. She supposed it didn't matter. Resurrecting the dead wasn't possible anyway so Bridgette had dropped the issue, hoping her friends would stop viewing her with so much concern. She hated that they all looked at her like she could break down at any moment, but it wasn't easy to escape their looks of concern, especially now that everyone was living in Fort Columbus.
This was an arrangement that had been made without Bridgette's knowledge, while she had still been recovering from her fight with McLean. Originally many of the others had been in other places. Heather, Justin, Tyler, and Alejandro had been at Hallesley. Trent, D.J., Beth, and Courtney had been at Mount Royal. Lindsey and Katie had been at Thurmond. And Jude, Starr, Geoff, Jonesy, and Zeke had still been in Fulton, the city where they had all attended high school. True, Owen, Wyatt, Marlowe, LeShawna, Nikki, and Gwen had been at CSU, but Bridgette had not expected the others to join them in Fort Columbus. But after everything that had happened they all seemed to want to be in the same place, lest something happen again. Bridgette couldn't really blame them for wanting to be together and she was glad that they were all there, but it annoyed her that no one had told her about this arrangement sooner. Still, she couldn't be too upset with them, especially considering she had made a promise to herself that she would never take her friends for granted again. There was also the fact that Geoff, Jude, Starr, and Zeke had been planning on attending CSU anyway and the others had simply decided to transfer. Bridgette knew it hadn't been easy for some of them, especially Heather, Courtney, and Lindsey who had all wanted to attend Hallesley, Thurmond, and Mount Royal since they were kids. But there were too many bad memories at those schools now, especially for Courtney and Lindsey as Thurmond and Mount Royal marked the sites of Jen's and Caitlin's murders.
The arrival of her Hayward friends in Fort Columbus wasn't the only change in Bridgette's life. She, Nikki, and Gwen had gained a new roommate, a girl named Lucy Charleson, who was a friend of Bridgette's from Point Stevens. Lucy had taken over Izzy's old room, much to Owen's chagrin, and though it had taken awhile for the others to get used to her, she was now an accepted member of the group. Originally Bridgette had not wanted to get a new roommate, but Nikki and Gwen had talked her into it, arguing that it was easier to pay the rent with four people. It was clear that Nikki and Gwen had been considering Beth, LeShawna, and Courtney as the primary candidates, but they had all chosen to live elsewhere in town. So they had gone with Lucy after Bridgette had received an email from her stating that she was coming to CSU. Bridgette had been excited by Lucy's arrival as they had been very close and Bridgette hadn't seen Lucy since moving from Point Stevens to Fulton.
Lucy was not the only new roommate Bridgette had gained. Geoff was living at the hose as well, despite the protests of the others. He was sleeping in Bridgette's room and was pitching in on rent, but the others were still uncomfortable with him living there, as this house was supposed to have been a girls only living space. Bridgette argued that it wasn't a bad thing to have a guy in the house, especially given all that had happened. For his part, Geoff simply shrugged off the criticism in his usual calm, collected manner, only further annoying Nikki and Gwen, who still insisted Geoff should move in with Trent, Jonesy, and D.J., who had gotten a place just down the street. The others were now living off campus as well, all except Zeke who had to live on campus because he was a freshman. Wyatt and Marlowe had gotten an apartment on the other side of town in the same apartment complex where Katie and Beth now lived, in separate apartments. Jude, Starr, and Owen had gotten a house across the street from campus as had Courtney, who was living alone. Heather, Alejandro, Lindsey, Tyler, and Justin had gotten a place a block from the apartment complex where Wyatt, Marlowe, Katie, and Beth lived. And LeShawna had moved into a small apartment near campus where she lived alone, despite her fears of being by herself. Despite this, they tended to use Bridgette's place as their hangout spot, which Bridgette and her roommates were only too happy to allow.
Bridgette was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't realize she was home until she tripped on the bottom step. Muttering to herself she pulled herself to her feet and made her way inside. The house was deserted as the others were all in class, but Bridgette didn't really mind. She found she liked these moments of solitude more than she had before as they gave her the chance to think. And she had done a great deal of thinking in the last year. She had thought about the past, the future, the friends she had lost, the friends she still had, how short and precious life was, and most of all she had thought about McLean's warning. She had finally told everyone about it nearly two months ago, but she was still no closer to finding the truth then she had been before. Thus far McLean's prediction had not come true and Bridgette had wondered more than once if he had just been messing with her in an attempt to get the last laugh before he died. But given what she knew about McLean that didn't seem likely and she remained convinced that there was another killer out there somewhere. But who this killer was and when he would strike she had know idea and the fact that he hadn't shown his face yet gave Bridgette a small bit of comfort. Still, she had a feeling that despite the current state of calm it was only a matter of time before she and her friends were thrown into the fire once again.
A/N: And there you go. The prologue to the final part of my crossover trilogy. The usual statements must be made here, namely that I do not own Total Drama or 6Teen. I am simply borrowing the characters for this fic. As usual, there are a few characters who are mine and I'm sure you can figure out who they are on your own. Also, yes, I did finally name the city where Hayward High is located (the city is called Fulton, in case you missed it). Finally, I am going to give this warning now so I don't have to worry about it later. This fic is going to be even darker and more violent than the Lessons of Life. As such, I am warning you now that many characters will die and the expectation I had with TLoL regarding this remain the same. That is, if you are not happy about how a character dies or you have any other complaints, insults or other comments about character deaths, please keep them professional and refrain from directing your anger at me. I am only doing what I feel is necessary for the story and I would appreciate not being called names for making the decisions I make. If you cannot refrain from hostility, you will be blocked. And remember, if there is something you don't like, you can always choose to stop reading. I will not hold it against you, I promise. Thank you for understanding and I hope you enjoy the story.