Chapter 2 a HARRY Stiuation
Consciousness came slowly, But surely. Groooaaan!
"Where the hell are we?" His eyes counted the landmarks first familiar;
One tie dye buss? Check
20 students? Check.
5 Hippies? Check.
One pizza boy? Check.
Missing in action: The Cliff they flew off!!!
Okay, that was a quantitative assessment, time for the qualitative assessment
Buss; still tye dye and hurting my eyes, a little bent and worse for the wear. But not bad for falling off a cliff.
Students: Some limping, some pulling each other off the buss. But again, Not bad for falling off a cliff.
Hippies: already reconnecting with nature and doing their…. Hippy thing. The bus driver seems to be trying to light a fire… with his mind. Did he hit his head or was he like that in the first place? Hard to tell.
Delivery boy: No sound, not whining, out cold being tended to by some students. Bleeding from the head, but in one piece.
Cliff? Still non-existent.
There are rocks, boulders big as the buss piled endlessly in all directions. Above? A sorry excuse for a sky, A blue-gray strip!
"HOW MANY TIMES I GOTTA TELL YOU TO STOP PLAYIN ON THE ROCKS! FOO! I pity da foo who hurts hiself AFTER fallin' off a cliff…" Mr T hollered. Some of the kids were exploring. Some finding places to hide. Some just sat down and put their heads between their knees, giving up on making sense of it. Mr T. sighed. It was what he felt like don't, but he was the teacher, even the sub had to be in control. After that event… he wasn't sure how much control anyone had anymore…
"RYYYYYYYY" he turned thinking something was amiss. No. It was just the Suzie hollerin' again. Rysarus (whom was apparently now her boyfriend) apparently and groggily was awakening.
"get off me!" ry groaned attempting to roll away from her and clutch his throbbing head at the same time. He only managed to fall back over as she clenched him harder.
"I WAS SOOOO WORRIED YOU"D NEVER WAAAAAAAAAKE!" bawling.
"Girl!" Mr. T yanked Suzie off him by the scruff of her outfit. "Give 'em some room, I you give him a concusion I'll throw you in DETENTION!" the threat made no sense now, but it was the best Mr T could come up with. Anyway it worked. Clenched her own hands together as if they needed restraint. She opened her mouth to speak, Ry covered his acing ears. "AN stay quite for a bi!" Added Mr. T. Her mouth clamped together and she bit her lip. Ry looked relived.
"Ambulance here yet?" Ry hissing as he found the bleeding spot on his head.
"No Ambulance. Can't get a hold of 'em." Replied Mr. T
"Don't the busses have radios? Or someone's got to have a cell…"
"No service."
"maybe I can climb up the… what the?!?!?"
"Welcome to neverland." Mr T gave Ry a good hard slap on the shoulder. "Don't wander far. I'm taking attendance in a few minutes."
He was on solid ground, well ground he could see this time. It was covered in the strange dry gray-teal moss, speckled with some taller glass emerging from. What else was around? He couldn't see there was this weird mist that played tricks on his eyes. Where did that girl go? Did she fall somewhere around here? What was her name again? He had an awfully hard time remembering things…
"No! I like pie!" distant voices, but pie! It had to be her! He dashed towards the sound.
Figures emerged from the mist, two, locked together. He slowed his pace. Was he… interrupting something?
No. Nothing so intimate as he first thought. One tossed the other and they nearly collided with him! He dodged just in time and the tosser; a well built guy in a wierd orange and white suit came forward. Huffing. "I think NOT!"
The tossed; a thin boy with blue hair and a matching blue suit lay stunned on the ground, staring at the air above, mesmerized.
"WAIT!" A third came, huffing. "can't we ALL like pie?" he had a light blue suit.
"Hey, your outfits match."
The orange boy halted in his tracks, carefully examining all their attire. "no we don't. not at all."
"Well its different colors, but it's the same… suit." Said the light blue one. "what would you call this stuff?" He tapped his shoulder. "its hard like armor or something…"
Orange boy looked at new comer. "Well you match too then, because yours is the same but red."
"hm" red looked down at himself. He couldn't seem to see himself very well, but recalled the mirror.
He had almost forgot the whole coffin and mirror thing. It was so strange how things slipped the mind so easily. Like the reason for the brawl, or its very existence…
"why are you lying down?"
The blue one only blinked still staring upwards
"what is your name?" asked the red one.
"umm…" the orange one though good and hard. Sorting through names the girl had given to him, which was his? "suzie… no… Napoleon!"
"Napoleon, Have you seen a girl?"
"The pie girl?" piped the boy on the floor, suddenly aware of his surroundings.
"Yeah! The Pie girl!" said Napoleon. "I remember her now! Where is she?"
The red on looked down at the dark blue one on the ground. He remembered… The coffin, yes he was laying in the coffin beside him when he woke…. "I know you…" There was a thickness to this statement, like it was more true than he thought. It didn't come to him.
"Yeah, that Girl… I think her name is Ryo---"
"NO! YOU are Ryo!" They jumped surprised. There she was. She stood as they had all remembered her, tall, her twine hair, her bright eyes, her curves. She held a staff, wood dowel topped with golden wings and rings hung loose, but they did not move, this place had a strange habit of having absolutely no wind.
No air.
"I'm Ryo?" Said the boy in red, who was apparently Ryo.
"And I'm Napoleon, Right?" chimed orange proudly.
"you so funny Shu!" She giggled "And touma stand up this is no time for sleeping!" Touma rose from the ground brushing the moss of his blue hair.
"Who are we? What are we doing here?!"
"I see… re-acquaintance may be required, its been some times your minds expired!" She smiled, her voice was playful. "Merry meet again my friends!." They stared at each other. "DO IT!" she frowned.
They stared at one another. "I'm Ryo." Said ryo.
"Napoleon." Proud orange.
"Touma."
Light blue wasn't sure, the girl whispered in his ear. He was "Shin."
"Hmm…" Said the girl. "now where is Seiji…. Lets look for him!
"Wait!! Where did we come from?"
"Where are we going?"
"All of you so desperate for knowing, unusual, but a good sign. But I won't tell you your story. You won't remember it anyway! And we must find seiji, neh?!"
they were ready to go but something was missing… "well What's YOUR name," said ryo embarrassed "I can't remember…"
She smiled again. Whistling. "I are Hairy Car Tires!" She sang, she tapped her staff the rings bounced off one another and rang, the vibration seemed to sharpen their senses and clear up the mist. They followed
After much deliberation and confusion the misplaced student body concluded that it wasn't worth trying to explain. They took attendance, built a fire. They couldn't light it, but the sky was not darkening, it wasn't even cold, they couldn't even find any wood! There was nothing but rocks!
However, a fire, which on all the movies and survivor shows was the key to survival in the wild, it seemed important.
Ry volunteered to see if there was anything on the bus that would help, matches or something to burn. Not because he wanted to be helpful but because it gave him a chance to get away from Suzie. Suzie was attached to his hip and babbling her jaw off as soon as they decided he did not have a concussion.
"Its to dangerous for girls." He told her.
"but not to dangerous for a man in a skirt" muttered Mr. T. Ryo was to busy making his escape to beat up his insulter.
Through a broken window he peered in the bus to see if there was books or something… a spearhad? Coming from the roof of the bus… he stood, there was the rest of the spear lodged into the roof of the buss. It had a wood shaft and a yellow-metaled top with rings. Maybe gold… He reached to see if it would pull out and as soon as he had his fingers around it…
"That is mine." Said a voice. Female. He turned to see her. She was very tall, for a girl, taller than him, long stringy brown hair. She was dressed in, strange rags that were the same boring brown as the rocks. Was everything here brown?
"Well, Its in MY bus." Gripping it harder. She smiled. She sunk and crouched, her shoulders flexed and her body moved like rubber, like an animal like… His cool evaporated he became very afraid. He had no idea where he was or who this person was, just because she was a girl doesn't mean she wasn't a psycho-ax-murderer-killer-something!
"I dare you. Take it." He stared, there was a fire behind that made her brown eyes glow. She smiled. On the spot ry was suddenly unsure of himself. But What else could he do? He used his strength and pulled the Staff spear out…
The rings! They rang! They rang in his head, they rang in his bones, in his eyes he could see nothing but gold he stumbled through space he heard a hum, who was humming??! It was ever growing nearer and nearer, where was he going? Prying his eyes open he was still, standing where he had began. She was gone. So was the staff.
Others ran to the bus. "What was that ringing?! Was someone singing?"
Ry stared.
"WHERE DID SEIJI GO?!?!?!?!" during their journey Hairy Hollered and bounded away.
The rest sat alone, peering into the gloom, the mist was returning. They stared at each other. Napoleon decided it was a good time to take a nap.
"I'm so tired… I always feel so tired, this moss looks so soft. I want nothing more than to go back to sleep in that yawn coffin thing…" he lay down, the others itched to follow his lead.
"NOOOO NAPS!" The staff struck napoleon upon the head. She tossed Seiji from her arms to the ground before them. He was so cold, they could feel his coldness without touching him. He stiffly moved.
"There is an agreement to be made, there are rules that must be followed, or you'll be lost. You shall be swallowed."
"First, never stray
"Second never sleep
"Third, keep your mind at present if you wish to keep them at all! You'll wander without a cause you'll be a walking nothing walking in nothing till you become nothing! Understand!"
They didn't get the last bit. But nodded to avoid her wrath.
"Swallowed? Are there monsters here?" They looked over their shoulders into the gloom. Did he see something? Did he hear a roar? Was his mind playing tricks on him again?
Her gaze was as slow burning embers. "It is the monster."
Shivers climbed their spines. She smiled and merrily they went along again.