RRRRRRIIIIIING!
The school bell of Royal Woods Middle School rang. 8th period was finally over and it was time to go home once again. It was Friday and everyone was in a good mood for the weekend. Everyone except a certain brunette.
Lynn had packed the last of her textbooks into her bag and closed the locker. She zipped up her bag and slung it over her shoulder.
"Just another day in hell..." she sighed as she turned to leave.
"Hey! Wait up!" A voiced shouted from the distance. Lynn kept walking hoping it was for someone else. She didn't need to be told off again by Margo or anyone of her "friends" do that matter. Especially not today.
She felt a light tap on her shoulder so she turned to see a boy struggling to catch his breath.
"I said... wait up." He wheezed as he gripped her shoulder for balance. Lynn recognized him almost instantly. It was her crush, Francisco. "Of all the times he wanted to talk, now was the worst possible one." she thought.
"Oh sorry. Thought that was for someone else." She stoically replied.
The Hispanic guy finally stood up and grasped some sense of air. He carried his usual goofy grin, complete with a chipped tooth which the girl in front of him gave him. His usual good mood was contagious as always, as it made the Loud girl crack a smile.
"I-It's ok!" He said cheerily.
"How was he always so chipper?", she thought. His dad's abusive, his mother doesn't do shit about it, and his friends are his bullies! Heck, SHE sometimes unintentionally bullies him!(Usually because her "Friends" rope her into doing so) How does he survive?
"What's up?" She smoothly spoke, hiding her pain deep inside of her to protect the fragile kid in front of her.
He looked at her cluelessly until a sudden realization hit him.
"Oh! Right! Sorry! Um, Margo told me to give you something. Now where was it?" He bursted out which nearly made Lynn break down into laughter. There was always something about him that made her crack up even when she was really down. It's something she always admired about him.
He grabbed his blue backpack and swung it around to the front. He unzipped the top and rummaged threw the stacks of weekend homework and past assignments that had accumulated inside. He grabbed a small folded up note and turned to her.
A look of horror struck his face as his stuff including the note fell to the floor with a thunk! He let out a little whimper of fear as Lynn quickly turned around and looked for whatever was scaring him.
"L-Lynn?" He shakily spoke in fear of what she'd become. He froze and stared which really freaked Lynn out.
"F-Francisco!" She yelled while grabbing his shoulders and violently shaking to garner his attention. He was terrified at this new sight. It wasn't Lynn, but it was. The REAL Lynn. She was bleeding from her left temple and burning from her right. Her right eye had a slash mark over it resembling the one his father had given Fran for being "disrespectful".
Her left eye was whitewashed and her nose was bent into impossible angles. She had a multitude of different slash marks on her face which only made it eerier for him. Her expression was no different than her disguised self and that sent him over the edge.
Tears poured down his face and he clamped his mouth shut in sheer terror. Lynn gripped him into a tight hug, and that's when he noticed the cuts and bruises trailed down her arms and legs. His heart was way past dropped now. This was a new level of pain for Francisco.
She was damaged far beyond possible. She was broken beyond repair. His heart shattered into a million pieces as her image flickered back to her "normal" self.
"W-What happened?! Are you ok?!" The brunette quizzed him in a hush but dire tone. He wrapped his arms around her and cried into her shoulder. He gripped her harder at the thought of losing his own mind.
They didn't speak. They just stayed like this for a few moments until Fran let her go and backed away. He wiped his tears and took a deep breath.
"What happened?" Lynn calmly asked to not scare him even more.
"I-I..." Francisco was on the verge of tears again. He took a deep breath then continued, " I saw you... only it wasn't you... it was some deformed broken version of you..." he shakily spoke.
Lynn's heart stopped in her chest.
"Y-you... you can see them?" She asked.
"See them? W-what do you mean?" He followed up curiously.
"Paco... you can see them?!" She grew hopeful. That there was a possibility that she could prove she's been telling the truth. Her eyes were wide as she gripped his shoulders tightly.
"See what?!" He repeated in confusion. His heart rate rose in fear of what she would do next.
"The... scars." She stated quietly. She remained deathly still almost as if she wasn't completely there. Like she was a living shell of her former self.
"Scars?" He was dumbfounded.
"Yeah. The only thing that remains... each time I die." Were the last words he heard before the world went black and he landed on the linoleum tiles below him with a thud.
