The bell rings on a boring Tuesday, dimmed with a blanket of clouds. One of the sunrays barely seeps into the school through the hovering mass. The gates creak open as students flood outside from the corridors – one of them being shoved down to the ground as a flock of tall boys donned in gray sneered at them.
"That's going to teach him a lesson, for sure." One of the boys snickers.
"Gosh, why won't he stop reporting us?"
"Cuz he's a pussy," The boy says, laughing. "You know that, Jake." he snickers again to which Jake returns to him a nod.
A streak of awkward silence curtains around them. "Anyways, c'mon, Jake, Terrell, let's go look for Aiden." He gestures to one of the playground areas.
"Shit, I forgot where the basketball court was," Jake says.
"Isn't he the only guy who hangs out with the jocks?" Terrell creases an eyebrow.
One of the boys shrug. "Who cares." he smirks. "Football is better anyway".
"Should we separate?"
"Yeah we should, good call." he glances at his sides, when a large person protrudes in their view out of the many kids. "We should not get caught by that guy." he bites his lips and clenches a fist.
"He's so persistent."
"Thank god he's the only guy that doesn't fear us, but yeah, let's separate."
They scramble to look for Aiden. Discovering that the court was blocks away from them, they peer through the fences. Few minutes later, Jake and Terrell find themselves just a few meters away from each other just near the basketball court, met with crinkled faces, they slowly close their distance near the entrance.
"Aiden's not there!" Jake exclaims. He paces swiftly to Terrell.
"That's unusual," Terrell says, scratching his chin. "Guessing he's talking with his sister, I dunno."
"Hey!" a high pitched voice whirls into the duo's ears.
Jake and Terrell turn around, both of their eyes widened. They see a girl rushing towards them as she stood out from the other classmates. Recoiling, they shamble one step backwards from the emerging appearance.
Terrell adjusts his head slightly upward, meeting her eyes. "Who the hell are you?"
"Oh, it's about Jake. He lost something last week while he was in school."
"Oh!" Jake's jaw drops. "Y-you found my comic book?" his eyeballs lock at her as a jolt courses through his stomach; it mixes with the pulsations of his thumping heart.
"Yup. You know Scott right? He found it hidden beneath the school papers for some reason. He told me to look for you because he was having allergies."
"E-ey… do I even know you?" though his mouth morphs barely a smile, Jake stands frozen.
"I'm his sister, don't worry about it." She chuckles a bit.
Jake's teeth meet his tongue, eyes hovering at the ground as his eyebrows crinkle at the thought. "Alright then." He looks at her again, and straightens up his posture. "Sounds cool."
"I'll show you where he is." She beckons at Jake.
Jake and the girl head off from the playground and into the school. The inharmonious choir of the playground area fades from their distance as they enter in the corridors. Pacing hastily towards their classroom, Jake's eyes waver around her face.
"May I ask… what's your name?" he mutters, lips fluttering.
"Oh, Amanda," she said, cheerfully. Her eyes catches the door of her classroom as they widen. "Oh hey, we're already here."
On the first glimpse of the classroom, nobody was present. A layer of musty air creeps up to their nose as soon as they entered. Amanda's lips sag down just a little as her head bobs around.
"Hmm, where's Scott?" Her gaze floats through the rows of the desks as it lands to his usual seat. "He's not there."
"I guess he's in a different room?" Jake mutters.
"Or maybe he could be outside." She shrugs.
Amanda paces to the window, slowly trailing her eyes throughout the playground area. Jake follows through, glueing his hands towards the glass with his head craning at the noisy sandbox area.
"Wait, somebody has your book!" Amanda exclaims.
Jake jerks his head to her. "Huh?! Where?"
"Look!" she gestures at the swing, dotted by groups of children and teachers.
Jake fixates at the area she pointed at, but nothing seems to match. "I see nothing."
"Behind that guy, use your eyes." She huffs, gesturing again at the playground with her lips pursed.
Jake cranes toward the window with his eyes darting to each person he can see. Just as his eyes narrow at a fixed spot, a wave of force crashes at the back of Jake's head, as his sight plummets towards the top surface of the bookshelf.
"Augh!" He shouts. His head was stinging, and as he twists his body around to get a hint of what went through him, his peripherals catch a blurry Amanda, her hands already lifted above her face as she was carrying a chair, she throws it towards Jake, just as he was about to react.
Jake's body jerks away from the chair, but one of the legs hits his head. He lurches a few steps backwards, one of them planting onto a protrusion, sending his ankle crooking sideways as he topples towards a plank. Hands flaunting around, Jake's hand grips the upper part of the nearest chair only for it to skid away from his reach. With his eyes meeting the desk, it was already too late to regain his balance, as he thought. Then… SNAP!
"Ha, couldn't even fight back, sounds like you overdosed your own medicine." She laughs.
Jake hears another remark from Amanda, although at this point the words echo each other into incomprehensibility. Seeing nothing but black, he tries to utter something, but somehow was restricted by the weight of his jaw, or perhaps his face was planted at the floor. He tries to get up, but was restricted by the same weight pushing against him, which spreads all the way to his whole torso, then to his body like a blanket. As the warmth flows slowly in turn, every part of his body relaxes despite the pain he faced, and all he could hear now is his own breath.
A tuft of air reverberates through the surface of his skin. Imbued with a coniferous scent, Jake's eyelids rumble by the light rays soaking through his sight. Just on his waking, something smooth and round presses against his head, as a tingling oozes on the bilateral sides in a pulsating manner. He lifts up his hand to flick off the flaring sensation. Only did he sense his forearm being positioned near to it. His eyes flutter the moisture off his sight, revealing a collection of foliage, which however seems quite a dreary yellow to him.
Jake gasps, trying to comprehend why his sight went off a tangent. He recoils, noticing that gasp produced a bubbling noise resembling of mucus. As the specks of the morning blobs fade off, his peripherals traces the patches of grass that were filling the horizon of his sight. The senses empathizing the tips at his torso, they wriggle away from the blades, and somewhat rhythmically, in synchronization with the stimuli from his head. As he glances down, the vegetation was oscillating in a vertical motion. His heart starts to race upon this realization. He bobs his head, only for his facial muscles to wrestle against some mass of tissue pulling every jerk of his movement inwards.
Air starts to cycle hastily within his lungs. He cranes his body to see what is going on, but his muscles were still grappling the heap of fleshy mass engirdled around his neck. His limbs flail against the surrounding grass, although no sensation except a whaft registers on his hands. Despite his legs rapidly pushing against the ground, there was no surge of movement forward. As his heartbeat ripples to his whole body, the foilage oscillates in an increasingly greater magnitude the more he flailed, to the point that his eyes were able to catch a glimpse of the fertile soil.
His mind suddenly catches the gist; he was bouncing all along, but his limbs did not meet the ground, although there was a sensation lingering near to the soil, hinting a string of tissue embedded to him. His eyes shot down to take heed on it, to which his muscles instantly clench. every limb that was once connected to him was not there; only his head was present. It comes to him that he was somehow decapitated, yet there was no blood nor entrails, not even pain. However he can find no clue what is causing all of this bouncing.
With his nostrils quickly pulling as much air he could, he rustles up a cry, and his lungs exploded like a cannon. An abrasive squeal bubbles out from a thick mucous wall, jutting out a continuous stream of snot., every part of his hips were bombarded with piercing stings realizing all of his attempts were futile. Jake wriggles every body part he could, as a struggle against his own weight persists, only resulting in him springing in random directions. Suddenly, something dislodges from his head, leaving his eyes wobbling uncontrollably as his body increasingly tips.
Jake's body tumbles from each bounce. The increasing motion renders his sight a blur. He tries to continue screaming but all was suppressed into pathetic squeals. Then, he crashes into a rough surface, and once again, all went black.