Chapter 1

I shrieked when I felt something cold get dropped down my back, and I whirled around to see my sister's mischievous expression.

"WHAT THE HELL ELLIE?! YOU WANNA DIE?!" I screamed, my friends holding me back from strangling the laughing girl.

"Calm down Em, it's just an ice cube!" Ricardo exclaimed as he struggled with me.

"AND MY HEART STOPPING!" I replied, pushing my elbow into his face as I forced him off of my arms.

"Ow!~" He whined, glaring at me as he rubbed the side of his face. "The hell Em?!"

I looked at him and stuck my tongue out, which he reacted to by doing the same thing.

Ellie adjusted her bag's strap, smiling at the same time before spinning the lid on her drink shut, keeping the ice cubes frozen and her drink chill, though I sure as hell wasn't.

We were both waiting at the bus stop, along with my friend Ricardo, for the bus to arrive. Unfortunately, like usual, it was late.

"Gaaaaah!" I groaned out, massaging my temples. "If this keeps on happening I'll be getting in trouble with mom! Why does the bus take this long to arrive anyway?!"

"Well..." Ricardo said as he stared at traffic-plagued street. "There is a bit of a jam..."

"Now's not the time for sandwich making, and enough of these stupid jokes!" I stated irritably. "I still have an essay to finish, and I still need enough time to finish it before first period starts!"

A small bead of sweat ran down both Ellie's and Ricardo's faces when I said this. "So that's why..."

~-One late bus-ride later-~

I dragged myself into my classroom as elegantly as possible, almost tripping when my foot caught on the edge of the classroom's doorway when I tried turning too quickly.

My algebra teacher looked up with an annoyed expression, which turned into surprise when he realized it was me. "Oh Em, usually you're not this late." I checked my watch. 30 minutes into class. Brilliant. "Well take a seat quickly, and I'll give you a worksheet to work one and today's notes to copy down."

Mr. Rueb (pft, his name) turned around to grab some papers from his desk as I made my way towards the far back-wall of the class. I didn't meet anyone's eyes.

It wasn't that people were mean to me, or that I was bullied, I was just normally quiet and kept to myself more than I conversed with people.

I received my worksheet and took out a couple sheets of paper to take notes on, since I wasn't able to stop at my locker to get my notebook. Ah, I even left my water bottle in there... oh well. Swallowing wasn't a top priority today I guess.

I sat at my desk, bored as class continued on. Man, I wish Ricardo was here.

I picked up my pencil and began doodling.

You know One Piece, the anime? Not the swimsuit, the japanese manga slash cartoon? Well, I'm a fan of it, though I didn't tell anyone except for my mom and sister. Otherwise it'd be embarrassing as hell, because every other person I've talked to seems to hate the anime.

"I don't like the animation style or art! It's not even art!" Screw those people. Hell it depends of perception and how you see things. If you don't say it's art, then fine. Just tell me why afterwards it's so popular. Just tell me why it's animated and how what you're seeing isn't art. Forget it, this is a philosophical situation I'd rather not get involved with in this fanfic. Please don't kill me.

"It just goes on forever! I hate that!" Well so does FairyTale, Bleach, Naruto... I understand the plots are different in each, but there is usually the common goal to achieve or defeat an enemy, in which in One Piece there is a ton of. But overall, be careful before you complain about an anime "going on forever, because there are a lot that do.

So yeah, there's my philosophical rant on crap I'll probably be attacked for stating. Yay. America and people who judge others a little too harshly. First Amendment please. Can't I speak my mind without being verbally abused? Damnit.

My pencil lead snapped when I was just finishing up Pheonix Marco's hair. I then took the liberty of smearing the remnants of the snapped lead across the paper.

Now Marco looked like he had a cherry stem growing out of his hair. The hell.

I looked outside and saw that it had just gotten really dark , and the gentle breeze that had been blowing in through an open window had suddenly become a violent wind, causing several papers on Mr. Rueb's desk to fly off and land on the floor.

"Marina, Could you please close the window?" My teacher asked, mild horror on his face when he saw the recyclable mess on the floor. Damn. Now he has to sort that all out again.

"Okay." The wavy-haired brunette got out of her seat and grabbed the opened window, struggling to close it before the harsh wind finally died down to a soft whistle.

I scratched my head for a second before looking down at my drawing. It was looking pretty good... until the cherry stem. I giggled a little, causing a questioning look from the person next to me, but I shook me head, indirectly saying it was nothing.

Class resumed as usual, with the sudden storm still raging outside.

Then, there was the sound of something heavy hitting the tall windows to our class, and everyone looked up just to see a massive tree branch pinned to our window by the apparently powerful wind. There was a cracking sound, and then one of the windows gave in, the sound of shattering glass disturbing everyone's ears, and causing some of the storm from outside to get into the room. Someone screamed, which woke everyone up from their shock, our algebra teacher then yelling, "Everyone! Into the halls, now! Get into the halls!"

He didn't even have to say it again before everyone was screaming and shoving their way out of the classroom.

"Move damnit!" Someone shouted over the screaming winds as the branch proceeded in smashing the rest of the windows. The class was draining quickly, but not quickly enough. Why did I have to sit at the back of the room?! Apparently other classes had the same idea, because the halls were now filled with screaming.

The cut I got from the chain-link fence burned on my hand, but I ignored it again, survival being more important at this rate than my hand.

The groaning sound of metal then reached my ears, and I turned around in horror to see that the abnormally large branch had finally pressed against the limits of the window frames.

Before I knew it I found myself pinned to the ground by something heavy, a pain exploding in my leg as I heard a distinct snapping sound. I screamed and looked up to see my frightened classmates watching me.

"EM!" One of the girls screamed, and I recognized her as Marina. There were tears in her eyes.

She pushed into the remnants of the room despite the people behind her shouting at her to come back and that it was too late.

She grabbed my arm as she began crying, attempting to pull me out from whatever was crushing me. I let out a cry of pain when I felt something else break, likely a rib.

"THE CEILING COLLAPSED ON HER!" Someone from the crowd of survivors shouted.

"MARINA, GET BACK HERE OR YOU'LL DIE TOO!" A guy screamed.

Blood pounded in my ears, tears welling up in my eyes as I tasted iron in my mouth.

"But, Em-!"

"STOP CARING MARINA! SHE'S DEAD ANYWAYS!"

I had closed my eyes, suddenly feeling tired from all the pain and the cold. In an attempt to keep breathing I coughed up more blood, causing a small scream to come from Marina.

Oh god. Oh god no. No no no. I wasn't dying dammit. No. No. No.

Images of my sister flashed before my eyes, and of my mom chasing us and laughing at our pouting faces last night at dinner.

Please, I don't want to die yet, oh god please. I don't even know if Ellie or mom are okay, or even still alive.

Damn this storm.

Feeling more weight being put on my body and the amount of pain it was for me to even breath, I weakly shook off Marina's shaking hands from my arm.

"Go..." I whispered weakly, suddenly finding it difficult to speak. I opened my eyes slightly to see her terrified, tear-stained face, which was now streaked with what I figured was my blood and rain.

The tanned girl whimpered, too frozen with shock to move.

"You..." She whimpered, eyes round with terror and sadness.

I felt the floor shift slightly, the sound of shrieking metal reaching my numbing ears.

"MARINA!" A teen screamed as he pulled her away from me. "SHE'S DEAD, OKAY! DEAD! LOOK AT HER! SHE'S..."

Suddenly everything was silent, though through my blurred vision I could still see the figures in the doorway, one shaking a smaller one by the shoulders.

Then I felt whatever it was on top of crush me completely. My eyes opened wide at the sudden pressure, and I saw a red liquid splatter out in front of me. I didn't feel anything though. Probably because I was already gone.

White flashed before my eyes, and then everything was silent.