Alex

As all the kids fled out of the bus and on to the dirt road we always drove one. Tears started fading away from their faces. I felt like a hero but I didn't look like one. Heros didn't wear jeans and black sweatshirts. There was still something that made me feel uneasy. I felt like we were missing somebody. I knew all the kids on the bus and they all knew me. But someone was back on the bus. I hoped right on to the place I feared. And there in the back was Jayden. He didn't do anything. Just sat there crying.

"JAYDEN!" I yelled from the front.

He didn't look up. "JAYDEN C'MON OR YOU'RE GONNA' DIE!" I yelled again. I ran to the back to grab him. "C'mon man... w...we gotta... go." I couldn't control the tears. I just let them fall.

"Go." He said.

"What?! Hell no, not without you."

"You don't have much time! Go!" Jayden yelled.

"NO! YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND!!"

"Exactly, you're my best friend."

"Wha...what do you mean?"

"I'm a monster."

"No you're not!!" I yelled back.

"You may not understand now but you will later!" This was the first time in a while I had truly seen Jayden's eyes. They weren't the brown hazelnut color I always saw. They were red. Like a fire. And he...he smiled. At a time like this I thought, I looked at his toothy smile. His teeth were sharp. Razor sharp.

I ran from the bus onto the dirt road. The kids sat there waiting.

"C'mon if we don't get away we'll get hit by the flying metal." The kids and I walked closer into town. They all sat. Stunned at what just happened. I was the most stunned. I stood up watching as the bus was plowed over by the train. Jayden was dead. I would never see him again. One of the kids who was a grade below me called authorities and were all driven to school. Most of the kids just acted like it was a normal day. I mean they were fine and there was no reason they shouldn't learn. I was one of the kids who had been questioned about what had happened. There was another kid named Owen. He had curly black hair and Electric blue eyes, his smile was blinding. He mostly kept to himself. I won't lie I thought he was pretty hot. But he never talked to anyone. Do there was no chance for even a friendship.

They asked us simple questions like what happened. For some reason they thought that Jayden just went back to get something and then got hit. His family care in sobbing. But they weren't mad. They were just happy other kids were safe too. Jayden's parents looked nothing like him ether. I always thought he was adopted. But he never said anything about being adopted.

My mom came in around an hour later. Her makeup was a mess and so was her hair. It looked like she had been crying. But I wasn't sure if she was happy crying because I was alive and well or sad that it had happened. Both I thought. She hugged me so tight I thought I'd burst.

"Oh my baby!! Oh I'm so glad you're safe!" She cupped my face in her hands and looked at me, then hugged me again.

"Are you alight?" She asked

"Yeah Mom, I'm fine." Saying I was fine to someone was one of the biggest lies I've told. No one is really ever fine, Especially after they lost their best friend.

"Good." She had sorta a sad smile on her face. "C'mon, I feel like you've had enough excitement for one day, let's go home."

"Ok..."

As we left I could still see Owen waiting in the office.

I sat on the couch and my mom turned to me. I looked back at her.

"Sweety, I...I think it's time you go to this camp."

"What do you mean?"

"Well your father" I was shocked when she mentioned him. She never talked about him. "wanted you to go to this camp. It's in Long Island."

I stared at her. "Long lsland?! That's in Now York!! Are you crazy?!" She looked hurt at my words. I felt sorry for a moment.

"Look, I know this hard for you but, it'll be for the summer. Do you want to go? You have until tomorrow to decide."

I was mad that my mom wanted to send me away to some far off camp, but at the same time I want to desperately leave this place and never come back.

As the night went by I kept on think what I should do.

M