Cold. It was so cold. Ugh…why did it have to be so cold?His head pounded, His brain was gonna burst from his skull…Ugh… wait, wa- was there something dripping down his face?
The moment he opened his eyes, Randy regretted everything. Every last little choice he had made in his entire life had led up to this point and he regretted it. Well he would of, were it not for the fact that his all blood was slowly draining to his head, so that's why his head hurt,he probably would have just "Nina flipped" up and gone home. But he wasn't wearing his mask. was he? Yes, I can see the long red scar- tha that's not the scarf, but it can't be blood right, it's not his right?
DRIP… splsh… DRIP… splsh… DRIP… splsh
Wha? Whazzat sound? … DRIP…splsh.He heard it so clearly.Was that there before?He listed for a bit, followed the sound-no feeling slowly down his face, his eyes followed red. That's what was dripping down his face.The wave of pain and memories hit him so hard he would have screamed. But he couldn't. So he didn't.
Let's recap for a moment.
It all started out normal enough:
Howard and Randy were walking down the hall towards their next class, nothing unusual except Randy did look a bit- off.
"Cunningham! Cunningham! are you even listening to me?"
"Hmm?! Oh a yeah sorry-yawn-bout that-yawn- Howard the Nomicon's-yawn-had me late night training again".
"Seriously? Isn't that like the 5 times already?"
"Three actually"-
"I mean, it's totally shoobing you up and that's wonking my game!"
"Wha?"
"Oh! Don't make that confused faced, you know exactly what I'm talking about!"
"Come on Howard you're over exaggerating here".
"No I'm not".
"Name one time"-
"In the middle of Gym, with Coach Green, you were soo tired you fell asleep and I was the one getting hit with flaming dodgeballs!"
"Okay, okay, so that was onetime!"
"Oh yeah? What about the lab with Mrs. Driscoll hmm? You dosed off and put too much chemical into the compound, when it exploded I was left with green hair for two tours! Two Hours Cunningham!
"But".
"And let's not forget when you were so tired you couldn't even make a full sentence without yawning".
"Hey that just happened!
"Don't care Cunningham, do something about that dumb book!"
"Howard", Randy glared at the pudgy redhead
"Look all I'm sayin is that you should talk to the book, before you crash into a locker door
"Wha? I never crashed into a" - BANG!
"I tried to warn ya".
"Yea, yeah help me up wouldya?"
"So are you gonna talk to it or what? Asked Howard to a recently picked up Randy, who was currently rubbing a bright red mark on his forehead.
"Yeah, first I'm gonna ask it why it wants me to keep doing the night training and if it could lay off on me for a bit"….
Randy took out his math book from his bag opened it to reveal the hidden Nomicon from within its pages
"Okay nomicon we need to talk". –zizz…zizz…zizz
"Um… nomicon?"-zizz…zizz…zizz
It was like a low buzzing noise, but it was so soft it could barely be heard-zizz…zizz-it was something akin to-
"Huh, who knew books could snore?".
"Yeah, I didn't even know the nomicon couldsleep".
"Well dealin' with you shoobing everything up daily, even it's gotta get tired".
"Tru- hey!"
"Ha!" laughed Howard as he shoved Randy a side.
"Oh very funny Howard"! Shouted Randy indignantly as he put away his (ahem)math book ever so gently so as not to wake it.
Man, maybe Howards right, thought Randy as he could still hear the faint buzz like (snoring as Howard put it) sound from in the bag . Maybe I do tire out the Nomicon by shoobing up all the time.The latest robo-incident that almost lead to a few deaths had a lot of injured civilians, it was stillfresh in his mind. Maybe that's what the nightly training was for? To improve on the things he messed up? Or was it the things he was gonna mess up?The Nomicon is omniscient. Ish. Kind of. It was complicated right?
It did know almost everything, and it shared its knowledge but understanding said knowledge was easier said than done at times, especiallyfor Randy.
"Cunningham! Hey Cunningham! "Stop staring into space or you'll be late for class!"
Randy's mind snapped back to focus on Howard, who was a little way from the door to their next class. When did he move so fast?
Relax Howard we've' got plenty of ti-RIIIIIIIING!
"Sure we do, man you are just off your game today Cunningham".
"First", he listed off his fingers" you can't make a sentence, crash into a locker and then mess up on your timing and remember last week's robo-incident. How could I forget?
"Oh man, you really shoobed up, that was terrible!" Howard chuckled motioning with his hands while recalling the incident. "People screaming, buildings burning, ha it was a disaster! Sheeesh Cunningham! you really gotta step up, get in the zone bro!"
"Now come on, thanks to you were late to class and I am not staying for detention!"
Randy numbly walked into class following after Howard what class is this any way? Probably Spanish, oh well, not like that's gonna help me,a fake smile plastered onto his face like usual these days. To anyone around he didn't look all gloomy or anything, on the outside atleast, he could vaguely remember one of the Nomicon's lessons "The mask worn too long becomes the face" Huh that explains it, the reason no one noticed, hmm guess it's better that way, nobody's gonna get hurt this way.The incident still haunted him.
So lost in thought Randy didn't even notice when Mrs. Driscoll called his name for attendance.
"Randy!"
"Huh?! Oh yeah umm present?" Huh, so this is what class he was
"Do pay attention Randy"
"eh,heh, sorry about that Mrs. Driscoll", said Randy Sheepishly as he rubbed his hand behind his neck nervously.
"Alright class, now we normally wait till after finals to give a class trip but so far your mid semester grades will "Stick" with you and for some that's- well you should know. So a trip will be held to boost up your grades".
"And help the teachers with their pay,""Said"Mr. Driscoll
"Umm… Mrs. Driscoll?" Bucky asked "How much of our grade is the trip worth?"
"Thank you for raising your hand Bucky, and that's a very good question. The trip will be worth 20% of your grade" "Just enough to help you scrape though finals if need be". "Now take theses permission slips to your parents, these are to inform them of where you're going and how long you're going to be there".
RIIIIIIIING!
"Alright, class dismissed" said Mrs. Driscoll "Make sure your parents sign those slips!"
The rest of the classes went by quite quickly. Randy went through them automatically not really paying attention to anything as he was too busy mulling about the thoughts in his head. Wait since when do I take French?
By the end of the day, Howard caught up to randy who was slowly trekking down the hall. "Cunningham! Where were you? You totally ditched me in math class! "If you wanted to ditch so bad, you should've told me and-
"I didn't ditch you I was in class FC.
"Wait since when do you take French? "That doesn't matter now, did you see where were going for the tip?"
"wha? uuh No"
Seriously Cunningham, did you atleast read the slip Mrs. Driscoll gave us?"
"Uuh" hehe?
"Unbelievable!"
The trip was held on Friday at 5am, that way it could be a three-night four-day trip. Apparently anyone who needed help and had a signed slip was permitted, Randy's entire class was there, lining up to enter the bus
"Hey, looks like we're not the only ones who need to improve our grades, huh Cunningham?"
"Cunningham?!
Howard turned to see Randy Scanning the people on the bus
"yeah, even Debbie Kang is here"! Replied Randy with an indescribably passive face. Howard turned to see that indeed Kang was there talking to Fowler.
"probably jus' here for extra points to gloat about her perfect score"
Howard looked at Randy, rare concern showed on his face, "hey Cunningham, you alright?" You look a little-off."
Crap he noticed. "Nah I'm fine, just thinkin"
"bout what?"
Way to go Cunningham,Uhm about where were going
At this Howard pulled out brochurethat saidThe tour of "The origin of everything Mcfist"
"Man this is wonk!" I can't believe we gotta do a full report or a poster presentation on this?
"well it is worth 20% of our grade"
"tch, yea well brownnosers like Bucky, are probably going to do both".
"hey! I heard that" shouted Bucky from a few seats back.
"well maybe you were meant to!"
"whoa easy there Howard"
Alright children as you all know on every trip I prefer to have you all to be in pairs * aloud mixture of cheers and hooting* so pair up with your friends communicate, it's gonna be quite a ride to our first stop, when we reach our destination then I'll assign your partners * a chorus of aww's and a few "this is wonk"*.
Though the students were not particularly happy with the last option they chose to get up and sat next to their friend if they weren't already
Turns out when Mrs. Driscoll said "Quite a Ride" she meant the torture of lame jokes, even worse "Zings",five -200-bottles-of-pop-on-the-wall, all wrapped up in a gruesome 8 hour ride. Which still had the duration of 4 more hours to go.
By hour 10, the sky started to get dark and rain began to pour heavily.
A freak storm? At this time of month,Thought Randy as he stared at the greying scenery through the mass of rain drops, pelting against the bus window he was near.
Suddenly, through the corner of his eye he noticed a flash, it didn't register in his mind until it was too late.
The smell of burnt wood as lightning struck a tree, causing it to break and ram right in to the bus.
Flash… Spssch
The feeling of crashing and the glass splintering around, the taste of blood that is somehow dripping down your chin.The sulphuric smell of electricity on metal and metal on skin.
The temporary feeling of weightlessness… the sound Theresa's scream…. Collision…and then… then… black…
He knew where he was now he remembered.
Lighting struck a tree, the bus crashed into it breaking, flipping the yellow vehicle over, lightning then struck the bus splitting it in half.
He wasn't in the bus, tossed out at the impact. He was on the seat, (or what was left of it anyway) bent over backwards to were the heated metal (the only true thing remaining of the seat) stinging no-singing his skin-sticking to his spine.
He could smell it the blood, feel it too, and it scared him, it scared him so much, but it didn't show, nothing but a blank look on his face, he knew. He was vaguely aware of the words"The mask worn too long becomes the face".
The others Scattered around, out the corner of his eye, a distance off he could see purple, was it Theresa or Julian?He couldn't tell. He looked beside him the spot where his best bro sat empty.
He wanted to run away from the bodies and further into the forest. He didn't know where he would go, but he knew he wanted to run as fast as he could to get as far away as possible.
He wanted to but he couldn't and he said to himself "I deserved it not the others" and somehow he knew it was all –his -fault
So now he regretted it, regretted everything. Every last little choice he had made in his entire life had led up to this point, he now regretted it.
He would have screamed. But he couldn't. So he didn't.