I wake up with a start, breathing heavily.

If I could see my face, it probably would have a sweaty and frightened look. I sweep my eyes around rapidly before quickly calming down once I realize I am in my room.

"Phew," I sigh, sitting up on the bed. "It was just a dream."

I recall the content of the dream I just had. It was a very bad dream, a nightmare even. In the dream, I was walking to the living room to watch the latest episode of my favorite anime that just came out, leaving the laptop I was using on the dining table, visible to the eyes of anyone that walked past. This wouldn't have been much of a problem, but the thing was, I forgot to shut the 'homework' file I was looking at!

I madly raced back once I realized this grave mistake, but it was already too late. Mom was standing there in front of the laptop, frowning at the content it was displaying.

Now, if it were my dad, the situation would've been much less intense since he would probably relate to me, being a man and all. But since it was my mother...

"Joe Chadwin... care to explain yourself?" my mom glanced up and spoke.

Heart beating fast, I tried to think of a good excuse, but it was in vain. How could I get out of this mess?

Luckily, the alarm clock rang just then, and I was startled awake.

I once again heave a sigh of relief that it was just a dream as I get up to take a shower. I should be happy. After all, I'm going on a school camping trip today.

I look at the mirror as I brush my teeth, viewing myself. I'm your average kind of guy; I have an average height for a sixteen-years-old, an average look, average weight, average brown hair... pretty much everything about me is average. You could say I am... an average Joe.

I finish my morning routine, and glance at the alarm clock on my night stand. Sweet! Twenty minutes before I have to get going. There would be time for me to watch the last episode of my favorite anime.

I dash downstairs and wolf down my breakfast, earning me a chide from my mother to slow down. “Where’s dad?” I ask.

“He left for work earlier this morning, dear,” my mom answers.

“Oh,” I reply, finishing my cereal. I then scurry to the living room, sit down on the couch and turn on the TV, proceeding to watch it with gusto. From the corner of my eyes, I see my mother watching me and shaking her head.

Sadly for me, the time comes for me to go before I can finish the episode. I groan in disappointment, grab the supplies and bags I prepared last night, and wave goodbye to my mom as I walk out the front door.

"Take care of yourself, sweetheart!" mom shouts after me.

I turn back and say, "Of course, mom! Love you!" I smile at her and begin walking down the road, but abruptly stop a few seconds later.

For a moment, I don’t why, but a sense of dread and an unspeakable ache in my heart suddenly comes over me. I feel as if I should look back at my mom one more time, as if it would be the last. As shocked and worried as I am about what's happening to me, I still comply with the feeling and turn around once more.

Even from several meters away, my mother’s features were prominent enough for me to appreciate. Never had I thought I would describe my mom as exceptionally beautiful, but now, for some reason, that fact became as apparent as the daylight highlighting her face. Her dark brown hair compliments her light brown skin. No eyeliner nor lipstick is present on her face, so it was not the kind of beauty that was sharp and eye-catching like models I often see in magazines. Rather, she is beautiful in a kind way, like the soft but pretty tone of blue in the sky. How could I have not noticed all this before.

“What’s wrong, dear?” Seeing the look on my face, my mom walks up to me and gives me a hug. Like a dam that is broken, tears begin falling down my face.

“There, there. You’ll only be gone for several days. It isn’t like this is your first school camping trip,” she consoles me.

As suddenly as it had come, the feeling had gone away, and I feel stupid for crying. “Thanks mom. I guess I better go now.”

⚔

"ALRIGHT PEOPLE, LISTEN UP! I WANT YOU ALL TO SIT IN A SINGLE FILE FACING ME! ONE LINE FOR TENTH GRADE, AND ONE LINE FOR SECOND GRADE! GET TO IT! OI, YOU PEOPLE WHO JUST ARRIVED, MOVE IT!"

I can already hear the tenth graded PE teacher, Mr. Brownie, yelling as I walk into the school. His words and temper aren’t as sweet as his name, and there wasn't a time he wasn't screaming his lungs out. I sometimes wonder if he even has a normal voice.

Suddenly, I see a figure sprinting towards me, coming to a stop right before he could collide with my body. "Hey, Joe!" the person says.

I immediately recognize him. It was Matt. We have been best friends since kindergarten. Matt is outgoing and loves to express himself in the most expressive way possible. We are both a bit on the geeky side, and we always get along with each other.

"Wassup, Matt!" I study the curly black haired teen. He still has dark circles under his eyes as usual. I wonder often if he even slept at all, though he must have last night, for he was so energetic today.

He gestures to Mr. Brownie. “Lively today, isn’t he.”

“He’s always lively,” I reply. “Look at the second graders’ faces though. They seem frightened.”

“Boy, I would love to see them when they finally have him as their PE teacher.” Matt chuckles.

My eyes wander to the things he brought with him. There was a sleeping bag, Matt's usual school backpack, another bag that reeked of tuna sandwich, and... was that a mini television?

"Matt, don't you think this is a bit... too much?" I say, my eyes still lingering on the television, now also noticing two joysticks sticking out from the same small bag he somehow crammed the TV in.

"What? Oh, this. It's my portable gaming console!" He excitedly begins telling me how the thing has incredible resolution for such a small screen, and all those ICT things I cannot bring myself to care about.

I cut him off before he could ramble on any longer. “Uh, where will you find an outlet to plug it? You do know we’ll be camping in tents, not motels, right?”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

He grins and opens his mouth, pauses, closes it, opens it again, then closes it once more. A stricken look comes over his face.

“Nooo!”

I watch as Matt raises his arm to the sky and pretends to sob. “Curse yeh, formidable might! Why must thou do this to me!”

“Matt, stop, people are looking.” I stifle a laugh and drag him towards the tenth graders line. We have to take a seat all the way at the back, being the last individuals. I hurry to sit in front of Matt, not wanting to deal with his supplies in my face.

After giving us a death glare for being slow, Mr. Brownie begins to explain to us our purpose for being here, where we are going. As if we didn’t know it already. He starts listing all the rules and regulations: no running in the bus, keeping our volume of voice to a minimum, don’t bring any electronics, yada yada yada.

I whisper to Matt, “Are you sure Mr. Brownie won’t confiscate your mini TV?”

“It’s a portable gaming console, Joe. And no, I'll tell him it’s a microwave if he asks.” he whispers back.

“Aren’t microwaves also viewed as electronics?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s considered an electrical device.”

“Same thing.”

“Nuh uh. Well, even if Mr. Brownie thinks it is, we wouldn’t be able to use it anyw-”

Matt stops talking all of a sudden, and it takes me a moment to comprehend why. An unearthly silence has fallen on the school ground. Where is the chattering of the other students? Where did the domineering voice of Mr. Brownie go? Unless… oh no.

A looming shadow envelops our body, accompanied by sounds of heavy breathing, as if a giant angry animal were standing next to us.

We slowly look up with dread to see Mr. Brownie towering over us. If looks could kill, I’m sure me and Matt would have died a thousand times over.

“Are you maggots finished talking?” he asks in a dangerously low voice. I can’t believe he could sound so menacing even when he wasn’t shouting.

Me and Matt slowly nod together.

“Good. You two are going to be sitting with me at the front of the bus, and I don’t want to hear a single word come out of your tiny mouths the entire trip.” He pauses, then bellows, “DID I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?”

His sudden yell causes me and Matt to jolt and nod again as the other students snicker at our predicament.

So here I am with Matt, sitting in front of the bus, in different rows, separated by the footwalk, looking dejected. Of course I had to be the one to sit next to Mr. Brownie, and he had to take the seat beside the window in our row.

Great. Just great.

There were a bunch of others talking too, so why did he have to target us? Ah, maybe he was looking for someone to make an example of, and since he had his eyes on us from the beginning for being last to join the line, he chose us.

I grumble internally as I watch the scenery fly past outside the window, or at least try to, the burly body of Mr. Brownie blocking most of it.

The laughter, shouts, and curses of the students behind us makes Mr. Brownie stand up every so often to bark orders for them to quieten down, and to be a better role model for the second graders.

Beyond bored, I listlessly stare into space as the gentle rhythmic motion of the bus drives me to sleep.

⚔

An unprecedented swerve of the bus jerks me awake. I barely have time to register what is going on before physics takes hold of me, and I fling off the chair, banging my cheeks against something hard.

It doesn’t stop there. After a brief pause, I am thrown back and forth across the bus. Amidst a world of pain, I can hear the screams and cries of the other students, and the sound of the bus crashing and rolling.

My body can’t take it anymore. I black out once again.

Smoke. The smell of smoke is everywhere. I cough and bring my shaking hand up to my face to cover my nose. My ears are ringing, my head is aching, and every part of my body hurts.

Still lying down, I peer through my blood-matted hair and turn my head around, surveying the scene.

I unsuccessfully hold back a sob. Bodies of students, tenth and second graders alike, lay scattered everywhere with lifeless eyes.

The bus is overturned, obviously dented in some places, and the inside is a mess. An inferno has started at the back and is steadily spreading. Smoke is everywhere in the bus, causing my eyes to sting and water.

I can’t waste anymore time. I have to get out of here before the fire reaches me. I cough some more and try to push myself up, only to gasp at the sharp pain when I apply pressure to my left hand. It's definitely broken.

I grit my teeth in agony. But maybe it was for the best; keeping my body down would make me inhale less smoke.

A groan catches my attention. I swivel my head to the noise to find Matt with a broken seat on top of him, lying face first on the ground, blood pooling beneath it.

“MATT!”

I crawl over to him with my right hand and push the seat off him with difficulty, then turn over his body. I recoil in horror at the sight of his bloody face.

I panic for a second before noticing his nose is off-centered and bruised. I relax a little; the blood’s just from his broken nose. I can’t see any other serious injuries too.

With another groan, Matt’s eyes flutter open. “Ow,” he says and grimaces, probably from the flare of pain he must be feeling from his nose.

I stop myself from grinning since it hurts my damaged cheek. “Thank goodness you’re alive!”

He gazes around blearily. “So we crashed, huh?” he croaks. His calmness is making me a bit worried. Did he suffer brain damage as well? No. It must be from shock.

“Help me find an exit. There’s a fire at the back, we could choke to death if we don’t find a way out fast enough,” I say urgently.

Matt looks behind. “Just our luck. Why can’t I smell any smoke though?”

“Your nose is busted.”

“Oh. So that’s why it’s hurting.”

Rethinking it again, maybe he did suffer a head injury.

A soft cry catches our attention. It’s a little second grade girl, crying amongst the body of her friends. “Someone please… help me,” she says between coughs.

Her body is dangerously close to the blaze that’s swiftly advancing. A quick glance between me and Matt tells me we’re thinking the same thing.

We crawl as fast as we can to the small girl. As hard as we try, I still feel like we’re going at snail’s pace compared to the raging flame rapidly closing in.

“We won’t make it at this rate!” I shout. “Matt, can you stand!?”

He nods. “I think so.”

We wrap our arms around each other’s shoulder for support and rise unsteadily to our feet. We shuffle and stumble towards the girl, trying to keep our head down and rapidly coughing along the way.

After what feels like forever, we finally reach the second grader, the fire now only a few meters away. The smoke is suffocating. We immediately collapse next to the girl.

“Can you stand?” I ask with ragged breath.

She shakes her head, pointing to her right leg. It is broken by the looks of it.

“I… I don’t think I can hold on much longer.” Matt rasps.

“Hang on, Matt. Help me lift her up.” Together, we desperately grab hold of her arms and start dragging her away from the sea of flames.

Almost to the front of the bus, we at last collapse; spent. The smoke is too much, and it’s increasing by the minute.

We hopelessly gasp for air, only drawing fumes. There is no strength for coughing anymore. I hug the second grader close, using my shirt to cover her face. It isn’t much, and I fear I might suffocate her, but it’s either this or she inhaling more smoke.

“I think this is the end,” I say, my voice surprisingly calm, although barely a whisper. “Any last words, man?”

He stretches his hand to hold mine. “Wouldn’t it be cool if we somehow were reborn in a fantasy world?”

I smile, not feeling the pain in my cheek anymore, or any pain in my body at all for that matter. “Wouldn’t that be something, eh?”

“Yeah. I hope we’ll find each other again if that happens.”

“I guess that’s a promise.” With that, we fall into silence.

As my consciousness fades and my vision blackens, the sounds of sirens reach my ears. Maybe there’s still hope for the little girl after all, but not for us.

Damn it. I haven't even finished the last episode of that anime yet.