Today was not a good day.
I was climbing a fairly steep mountain somewhere in the deserts of Nirvada. The blazing, hot sun was not giving me an easy time and there were no clouds in the sky at all. I was thirsty, hungry, and most importantly; tired. If I could go back in time, I'd take staying at school instead of going out on this stupid trip.
Speaking of school, I was currently on a field trip hence why I was walking up a mountain the name of I couldn't remember. My group consisted of seven other kids who probably thought the same as me because unless they were masochists, I couldn't see how anyone could enjoy this.
I felt like I was being fired on a pan, you could probably break an egg open on the ground and it would become fired in a matter of seconds.
But It's not like I could do anything about it. My parents insisted that I go as a way to "break me out of my shell" and force me to socialize so that I finally stop being an introvert. The only thing it actually did was prove to me why it was better to stay at home, in the comfort of my air conditioner playing video games and snacking.
Readjusting the straps on my shoulders, I heaved a sigh of exhaustion and discomfort, flapping my hat on myself in a pathetic attempt to blow some wind onto my face. Putting the cap back on, I looked up and couldn't be more relieved in my life; I was at the top, the end of the suffering, my salvation.
Reinvigorated with my goal in sight, I soldiered on without another stop. While I hadn't increased my pace as that would actually be very dangerous since I could possibly slip and break something on the way down, I didn't slow down at all, paying attention to every step to make sure each was careful and calculated. Wouldn't want to fall down when so close to the end.
After a minute or so of more climbing I finally reached the top, clenching my fists and raising them in the air with a "Yeeeeees!" I'll admit one thing though; I loved the sweet taste of victory, actually, two things; victory, and the view.
The view was incredible, it was breathtaking, it was… kinda worth it, actually. From where I stood you could see mountains for kilometers, the valleys between them, very little of the greenery that managed to survive in the harsh landscape. I could even see a gas station in the distance from up here! The beauty of it all overwhelmed me for a moment, but only for a moment, because the voice of someone I hated with a burning passion brought me out of my joyous moment.
"Damn, I didn't think the snail would make it up here!" Some of my classmates giggled at that, while others just shook their heads and ignored it. That was one of my bullies. His name I will not specify since he doesn't deserve that.
I walked past the main group of my class, the top of the mountain was mostly flat but still had a slight tilt north-eastwards. I settled with my backpack about two meters from the edge just to be safe, using my backpack as support for my back as I just sat there, hands held together over my lamp staring at the clear sky.
I liked the blue color, it calmed me. The same reason I also liked the sea, not necessarily swimming in it, just gazing over it all. Especially if I had a nice, cold soda in my hand.
Heavening another sigh, remembering that I hadn't put any sunscreen on, my rest had to be cut short for now. I brought my backpack around to my side and opened the third zipper, rummaging through to find the bottle of the cream that protects the skin against the deadly lasers of the sun. The backpack was about half my size in height so if you placed it standing up right, it would reach up to my pelvis area. My father lended me his traveling pack as they didn't want to buy another one just for this trip, it would have been a waste of money anyway. Inside the pack were many, many essential items besides the sunscreen I was currently using such as my wallet, my phone, my keys, three water bottles each of one litter, a solar charging pad, my toothbrush, extra clothing, a secure case with my glasses, I only needed those when watching television and driving in the future when I get my license and so on.
You get the picture; I was prepared. Okay, maybe over-prepared. My mother had insisted that I take everything that I'd need for this trip, I probably won't even use half of these things. But you can't argue with a mother once she set her mind on something, everyone and their family's quirks I guess.
As I was finishing with my legs I heard our tour guide call out to us to gather around for some lesson or something, I wasn't fully paying attention to whatever he was saying. Storing the bottle in my bag, I lazily made my way to the forming circle of children around the guide, using my pack as a stool this time.
"Alright guys. Do any of you know what mountain this is?" Nobody answered at first, not a big surprise since who knows that stuff anyway? But after a few seconds of silence the bully raised his hand with a grin on his face. I knew exactly what was coming before it even happened.
"Yes?"
"Mount Joe."
The guide was visibly confused before falling to the simplest trap in the book. Was it on purpose? I don't know? Do I care? Hell no.
"Joe?"
"JOE MAMA!" The bully and his group of friends burst out in laughter, repeating similar variations of the joke to each other a couple times while the guide just pinched his nose bridge and shook his head, a gesture I emphasized with on a spiritual level. If I had a dollar for every time I had to endure cringing on this level, I'd probably have one hundred bucks, which is still a lot.
"This mountain is actually called…" I completely filtered out whatever he was saying. Not out of disrespect to his profession, it's just a bad habit of mine. Ever since I became a teenager I've been spacing out at random times of the day, sometimes it would be harmless, but other times it could actually be a danger if the timing was right. Later on in my life around the time when I turned fifteen, I believe, other symptoms began appearing. Logically, my parents were very concerned with my health, so they took me to a doctor to check up on what was going on with me.
They discovered that I had some type of depression, I think it was called Dysfopia? I can't remember exactly, it all seems so foggy to me at times, sometimes everything is just so… weird. It feels as if I'm just… not there. The doctor said it was once of the symptoms, but then again, I don't want to come off like those kids that self diagnose themselves and show it off to everybody around them. Weird flex but okay bro.
Beep beep
Beep beep
Beep beep
Speaking of my condition, the watch on my wrist alerted me that it was time to take my medicine. Opening the fifth and smallest compartment of my bag, I took out a pillbox, the pills rattling inside once I gave it an experimental shake just cause. Twisting open the cap, I let one fall into my hand. The pill was round and small. If I had to estimate its size, I'd say its diameter was half a centimeter. It was completely white as well with a plastic outer shell. I put the pill in my mouth, taking out a water bottle and downing the medicine with a few sips, some for extra as it was hot and I didn't want to risk becoming dehydrated. That would be embarrassing.
Closing my backpack, I gave my full attention to the guide as he went on to explain more about the history and geography of this place. It wasn't as boring as it seemed, but it didn't stop the idiots of my class from trying to be "memelords" and cracking a joke every 5 seconds. Although by now most of them had shut their mouths thanks to the teacher scolding them a couple of times.
However, they still wanted to have some fun, so of course they chose a different target; me.
Now, I wouldn't say I was some Mike Tyson, but I could throw a punch or two if push came to shove. What I definitely could do was roast. Not having a filter on what I said had its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage was being able to say funny shit at just the right time and place, magnifying the comedy. The disadvantage was that nobody wanted to be my friend. But I'm okay with that, it's a part of my life.
"Honestly, I'm kinda surprised you managed to make it up here. Thought you'd fall all the way down to your mom's basement." He whispered to me, his friends snickering at his decent insult. But I wasn't in the mood for this game right now, maybe on the way back. Something I wished had happened.
"Listen. Can you just once in your life, fuck off? Please?" I asked in the nicest tone I could muster.
"Nah. You a bitch. How about you take some of your happy pills and finally touch some grass, hmm?"
"Already did the first one and the second, your point?"
"Exactly, fucking commie. Go back to Mexico dipshit." Now this is getting spicy, not only did he get the geography completely wrong, he also brought race into this; big mistake. I retract my previous statement; Ground Control, we have a lift-off.
"Hey, you see all those tree down there?" I gestured with open arms to everywhere around us, gaining a confused stare from all of his friends and him.
"We're in the fucking desert. Are you dumb?"
"No. The trees represent every brain cell you and your goons have combined. I counted at least seven, which is still impressive." At that they went silent, dumbly staring at me while I just smiled, adrenaline long since pumping in my blood.
I'm ashamed to admit it, but I've fought a couple of times in the past. The first few times I got my ass kicked, but they do say you learn with experience. And it wasn't something I could've just avoided, I was and still am a prime target for these assholes.
There were witnesses to our little chat; the teacher, the guide, the security personnel, the students, God- haha, you thought! There is no God; he's dead.
Back on track, I've learned that it's best to give your opponent the first punch, that way you can claim that it was self defense. However, it doesn't always work since the teachers like to punish both the assailant and the victim for some dumb reason, now that is what I call communism.
After a moment of silence one of the teens in the front went "Ohhhhhh!" followed by the rest erupting into chitter chatter of laughs and encouragements to start a fight. I wasn't going to, unless he wanted to. I knew what I was throwing myself into and I was fully prepared to face the consequences, this trip was boring anyway, so fuck it.
I just sat there as the bully clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white as milk, but before he could do anything drastic, the teacher was behind him with put a hand on his shoulder, gesturing for me to come with him as well away from the crowd.
With the situation defused, I stood up, strapping the travel pack on my back again. The reason I did that was simple; I didn't trust any of these bastards, not one bit. I'd rather shoulder the weight the whole trip than leave it alone for even a single moment. You call it Paranoia, I call it extra measures. We are not the same.
Once we were well away from the group with one of the security guards standing beside us, the teacher took one look at both of us and gave a disappointed shake of his head.
"I thought we went over this enough. If you keep fighting like little kids I'll have to send you back home."
"First of all, he started-" I quickly cut off the bully before he could turn the situation around on me.
"Bullshit, you-"
"SHUT IT!" We didn't say a word after that, simply opting to stare at the teacher.
"I don't care who or what or how or anything. You will not ruin this trip because of whatever this is. You will keep away from each other until the end of the day, then I will call both of your parents and we'll see what we can do about this."
Oh shit. I messed up big time. Now papa is going to pull out the belt- just kidding, haha! Unless? No. But what if? Okay, enough. Perhaps I miscalculated the risk of my comebacks and should have ignored him. Yup, definitely should have. I wasn't going to try and argue with him, I knew this was a lost cause from the start. But my bully didn't.
"W-w-wait wait wait, what do you mean call-?"
"Shut. It. One more word and you're going to detention till the end of this month." Our teacher is relatively young for his age. That fact is incredibly deceitful when judging what he will do to a pupil who misbehaves. Most kids expect that he'd go easy on us since he isn't like the "grumpy million year olds", but that's the thing; he is brutal. No not like in Mortal Kombat; in his punishments. He doesn't tolerate any shenanigans, but like ninety nine percent of teachers; he doesn't care who's guilty and innocent, that's just the way things are.
"Now. Will you go back and be nice, or do we have to do this the hard way?" We remained quiet, and that was the right answer.
"Good. Don't make me regret giving you this warning, 'kay?"
We simply nodded and went back to join everyone in the group, each of us going to opposite ends of the crowd. Well, that was something. Now I feel like garbage for some reason.
It makes me wish I wasn't here anymore.
Sighing for the sake of sighing, I decided that it was a good time as any to take some pictures. You don't get to be on top of a mountain everyday after all.
Most of the pictures I took were horizontal to catch as much of the view as possible, but I also took some selfies with the view behind me. I asked one of the guards to take some for me, and they were pretty good in my opinion. Since the connection up here was also pretty good, I sent the ones I thought were the best to my parents, even the silly one with me smiling dumbly at the camera.
I couldn't wait to come back home. Take a nice shower, eat some of Mother's good ol' Borscht and play Grand Theft Auto V till the morning comes. Today was Saturday, tomorrow was going to be gaming time. Thinking about it made me feel better about this day. Father always said that I had to look at the full picture; you can't always be an optimistic, life is hard and unforgiving. But you can't be a pessimist either, that's not good for your health. Moderation is key. That is what I learned from him. Life isn't all good and all bad, life is just life. It's difficult trying to explain what it means, it's full of surprises-
THUM!
The sudden boom almost made me jump in the air. My heart rate probably went up from that scare. It sounded like a brewing storm, but the sky was completely clear! How was there thunder?
Looking up revealed the answer; there was. There just was.
The sky had turned completely gray, the sun was no longer visible. However, to my surprise and everyone else's; there was no rain. In fact, there was no wind either. A darkened sky and the occasional thunder, but that was about it. I couldn't believe what was happening, this was impossible! I didn't even see anything happen, in just a moment the whole season changed! Just like that!
I wasn't the only one in distress. Everyone was. The security personnel tried to communicate with their radios to the bus waiting for us at the bottom, but there was only static. Checking my cell phone revealed my suspicions; somehow, this supernatural bullshit completely disrupted any connection I had to the networks. The same was true to everyone' devices, which in turn caused panic.
"Everyone, stay calm! Help is on the way-"
THUM!
A lightning bolt struck the tip of the mountain well away from us, but it was enough to send most of the class into complete chaos.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!"
"WE'RE GONNA DIE!"
"I'M STILL A VIRGIN!"
They screamed things along those lines or just sat there recording the phenomena we were experiencing first hand. I didn't know what to do. I just sat there staring dumbfoundedly at the sky.
I was never religious and neither were my parents, but I had already made some wild speculations. What was this like that time with Moses and God? Yeah, that sounds crazy, I know. Could you explain any of this? Probably not.
After a few minutes of this, everything seemed to calm down. I think my medicine might be a little overdue because I felt like I was tripping. What was the whole purpose of that? A half-assed storm appeared out of nowhere, showed off like the popular kids, then disappeared into thin air. I didn't even react to any of what just happened, opting to stay in my thoughts and observe. But hey, at least everything was fine-
THUM!
A bolt struck me square in the head, blinding the area around me for a moment. And the next, I had disappeared completely without a trace left behind. No body, no backpack, no remains of any living tissue, just a black splash mark on the ground. To everyone around me it seemed I had died with the worst luck imaginable.
How wrong they were. For this was the beginning of something else. Something far bigger than I could ever imagine.
This was the start of the adventure of a lifetime.
Author's Note:
My second story so far. Writing isn't easy, especially when thinking of a decent plot and editing chapters.
I appreciate any critism and feedback on what I write, I'm always looking for ways to improve and any tips on writing.
I don't have a real end goal in mind for anything that I write and or will write in the future, I just do this for fun.
Anyway, stay safe and hydrated.
-FacelessUser