The school year could start in worse ways. Like the building setting on fire.
However, Casper would prefer that over this.
The school bully, Thatch, biting his tongue off as he tried to turn him into his eternal thrall. It wouldn't be that bad had blood not of gone everywhere. And he means everywhere. Staining the vampire's dress shirt and getting all over the plush seats of the flying ship. Red flew through Casper's incorporeal form as he stared down in horror.
He's lived a relatively sheltered life, he quickly realized as he frantically grabbed hold of Thatch's shoulders and whipped his head around to see if he could spot a first aid kit. Even more so when none of the children on the bus seem to care. In fact, most mumbled something under their breaths and tried to hide snickers.
"Help!" he stuttered out, looking around the ship for any kind of help.
Thatch clamped his hand over his reddened mouth and shoved Casper away clumsily as the captain, Cappy, sauntered over nonchalantly. He blindly, mainly because he was blind, stumbled over with the relative ease of familiarity of the siege.
"Aye, what're ye playin' at back 'ere?" He barked out, as if a student weren't in danger of bleeding out right now. His parrot, also called GPS for guiding parrot system, waved his scarf covered head.
"Squaaawk! Thatch bite off his tongue." Squawked the bird, sounding fairly amused.
Casper takes a startled step back when Cappy takes Thatch by the arm and hulls him to the front, the latter gurgling through the coagulating blood pooling in his mouth.
He took a wavering step towards the retreating duo before getting pulled back into a stained seat. It also pulled him back into reality as he heard his classmates laughing and cheering him on. Beside him sits a girl, her skin grim and gaunt from visible decay. She's smiling at him.
"Hey, nice one. That guy is a total jerk."
Casper blinks, most likely looks like a fish out of water.
"I.. I didn't mean to. Honest! Is he going to be okay?"
The girl rolls her eyes. Her blue hair swaying from the wind with general abandon. Not quite reaching reckless status yet.
"Ugh, probably. Would've made the school year more tolerable if he bled out. I'm Mantha." She held out her hand to him as if Casper didn't feel like fainting right now.
"Uhh, I'm Casper." He sputtered, taking her hand.
"I'm Ra."
Casper turns and sees a mummy boy. He's wearing a toque with some Egyptian symbol on it and dusty ribbons covering his body. He has a confident smile on his face. What was someone like him doing here?
Two skeleton girls, both baring colourful markings on their faces, turn from their seat in front of Ra and face him. One blonde and the other pink haired.
"Ra? Like rah, rah, go team?"
"Like a cheerleader?"
Ra gives a smirk at the two and leans back against his seat to look cool and interesting.
"Yup, I'm a cheerleader. I'll see you two boneheads at the pep rally." He winks at them before they turn back to themselves, discussing what they'll be wearing to the fake pep rally.
"So, um," Casper hesitated. "Why are they sending you guys here?" Asking no one in particular. Mainly just trying to find some kind of common ground after watching his classmate almost die. It was also a good question considering their apparent lack of empathy and general compassion for others.
"I have unraveling issues." Ra said plainly.
Mantha crosses her arms defiantly, her upper lip jutting out a tad bit.
"No one's sending me here. I signed up. People are always putting zombies down. And I am here to show them that zombies are just like everybody else!"
She threw her hands in the air to put emphasis to her passion and in doing so, launched her arm through the air. Rotting flesh flings through the air. Kids grumble in protest at the assaulting substance as it leaked into their clothes and hair. Thankfully, the wind was enough to push the smell away.
Ra catches her arm before it can fly overboard and tosses it back to her.
"And I gotta work on that." She grimaces.
"That was great, the way you stood up to that vampire." Ra remarked as Mantha shoved her arm back into its socket.
"I knooow! He is such a prick."
Casper rubs the back of his neck, looking sheepish. Not the nicest language either.
"I don't know, I don't think he deserved that."
"Oh, yeah. And I suppose Pheros didn't wash his eyes out with urine to get his eyesight back. Ha ha! Ha haa, uhh. Mummy joke."
The rest of the boat ride went without a hitch as they pulled into the school. Minus the sea monster trying to devour them. Casper, for a moment, felt lucky he was already dead.
Hi! If you're wondering why you're seeing this fic pop back up it's because I am going through major rewrites! This series has evolved past what my small raccoon hands can handle and I'm rewriting this all to reflect that. Alright, see y'all soon!