Awakening from the tormented slate that had cursed her, yesterday, Victoria realized rather suddenly that she had boarded the station of transportation that had driven her home, rather than her usual entrance upon her familiar train, of which had, likely, already arrived at the customarily typical time. Fretting over her major predicament, scouring for the keys to escape, she soon came upon the conclusion that she unfortunately was trapped within the bus’s confines. Luckily for her goals, however, it appeared that she had, at the very least, taken the vehicle towards her destination, rather than the opposite direction, that she had first believed to have taken, before awakening from her deep mental fog of the daybreak. As her cognitive functions began to return, she sought to understand the relic, or rather, ‘modern’ invention that had been given to her; from a fictitious reality to her strifeful one. In a similar vein, she pondered the happenings of last week, and wondered, too, upon the reality of their existence.

No . . . all of that . . . certainly did happen. After all, if it didn’t . . . then how could I have completed this extra credit assignment? That . . . all certainly did happen. With James . . . Ariannah . . . Raina . . . Lucas . . . wait . . . oh, right! Lucas . . . after I responded to him after waking up from . . . ugh, I forgot to check if he responded or not . . . he probably did, considering his mindset, which is not . . . ideal. He’s going to be back, isn’t he? Well, he did apologize, so, there’s that. Hopefully the hostility has worn off . . . after these few days. At least he won’t be back . . . wonder how Raina’s friend and Amalya’s families are holding up . . . can’t imagine the pain they’re going through . . . or maybe, I can? No . . . that’s just the selfish side of me, speaking . . . why did I bring the corpse here, anyway? I’m not seeing him until tomorrow. Um . . . let’s look on the bright side of things . . . no Doomsday Prep, this week . . . one less class with those teachers, though, I suppose walking there might be more cumbersome than if I were already, there. It feels like I’m just a sleepwalker; sleepwalking past life . . . but, then, who are the ones who are awake?

Dwelling on the nature and woven patterns of her life, she had become, once more, lost within her own thoughts, as the bus drove past the familiar landscape of her city of birth, or, more accurately, the streets and neighborhoods of her birth, all of which were located within the perimeters of Onaxago. The second largest city, stationed within the confines of Almascitisa, Onaxago was a majorly industrialized area that consisted of the groundworks of numerous generations that spanned a many millennium, before reaching the technological prestige it is often associated with its contemporaries. According to Victoria’s limited and fading memory of the events in her elementary history class, it began, like other civilizations on Ceres, on 1 ACE, or the first year after common era. It is said that their ancestors had seeded the imprints of life upon each terrestrial body of the solar system, before it departed beyond the reaches of the Oort. Before the process had begun, however, the planets and other minor bodies of the system likely had modifications done to their surfaces and other features, to create a more suitable environment for human fertilization and colonization. Due to its nature as an elementary course, however, Victoria believed that it likely missed the nuances and details of the foreign time, especially within such a deep, unobtainable past between them.

After much tribulation and searching within the furthest reaches of her brain, Victoria has shockingly arrived to school, though with seconds to spare, before the noisy bells began to signal the students to their designated rooms of education, though it would only be the most studious to arrive on the bell’s exact chime. A position that she would not bother to even make an effort towards. Unshockingly, however, it seems that misfortune would prey upon the weakest and most pitiful ones, and its ravenous eyes looked greedily on Victoria as a main target; yet, it would stalk, before its quiet pounce. She had been nervous of approaching her Computer Science room, though, clearly, a sullen mood had befallen the cables and wires that entrapped the room in an unforgettable atmosphere. The only point of interest that struck out upon Victoria was the ceremony, beginning with the commemoration of Amalya, with a solemn silence from Sebastian, and a wishful, secular prayer towards James’ safety in his journey towards recovery. Shouldn’t have pulled it out, then. The rest of the class was followed by a similar trial of events; the riveting clacking on keyboards and motionful strokes of the computer mouse, as well as the occasional cold glance from Audrey.

Despite the mundanity of the circumstances of the day before her second class, the events of which followed would be of a much different story, mostly due to the change in Victoria’s schedule. This mainly consisted of the replacement of two classes in separate times of the day with new classes, which unfortunately meant the search for the new room was upon her, once more. It seemed, that, auspiciously for her, the next class she would take, after Computer Science, was found within the same chambers in the Peace Building as her Advisory class, which had mostly consisted of frivolous espousing of information and discussions of shared interests with Anterior, who, surprisingly, despite her actions in the previous chapter of their school year, had not been suspended for this week, unlike Ariannah. Coincidentally, they would share such upcoming class, together, and, furthermore, it was also doubly opportune that teacher teaching their class would be none other than Mr. Leo, the seemingly ancient figure within the leagues of Ms. Cwena, who doubled as one of the primary philosophy teachers, as well as his role as a dream teacher. In spite of the pseudoscience background of Dream Class, it seemed that, not only was it supported with other, more scientific facets, but its title was rather deceiving, as well, as it included unimportant bits to Victoria, such as the psychology bits, as read from the syllabus she had received the week, earlier, and the more tantalizing sections, such as the units based on socialization.

As she walked past the perfumed shawls that hung forebodingly above the silky doorway, she saw familiar faces and sights, though they brought vividly original installations along with their entrance into the understandings of Victoria. Octagonal, hazel tables that replaced the rectangular constructions, of which has become lined upon a discrete corner of the hauntingly still room, with smoke, from new, enigmatic teacups, filled with a dark substance, shooting forth into its impossibly high ceilings and sprawling designs that appeared to have been created by incorporeal floorwork. Despite the major yet minor passages of time that had occurred since Victoria laid her eyes upon such grandeur decorum that dressed the room in a faint, notable scent, it was apparent that a majority of the population of the class, mostly made up of the younger grades and years, had never been to the Peace Building for a class, much less visiting it for pure enjoyment, as it was lacking in functionality, greatly. If it wasn’t for my Advisory, I think I’d likely be in a similar situation . . . And yet, the room had life breathed in, in more ways than one, with the presence of both the professor and other, more experienced navigators of the halls. Anterior likely had a class nearby, for she was already seated on one of the geometric stools that followed their larger counterparts, and her eyes were wide open; her constitution of the fumes likely stronger than Victoria’s, whose eyes were thin slits amongst the sea of brine that had formed suddenly. Alongside her, was the older interpreter and the deaf child, who were seated in a further corner of the room, though his description as a child was rather unapt, considering it was his final year at this school. Sitting down on a nearby side of the table, she met her blurry vision to Anterior’s focus, and engaged in a decently particular conversation.

“Hey, Anterior,” attempted Victoria, covering her face with hands before unsubtly readjusting her unruly hair, which she did not have a time for, namely due to her poor scheduling and mistakes, such as the one of the transport, earlier today.

“Hey, Victoria! How’s your weekend?”

“Uh . . . fine. I guess. How about, uh, you?”

“Honestly, about the same . . . the only really notable thing was an altercation between me and my dad.”

“Mmm. Something similar happened between me and my mother, and, uh, I think I handled it pretty well, to be honest.”

“How so?”

“You know the usual; she screams a bit at me, then I scream a bit back. It’s basically a routine we follow at this point. And, um, sometimes I scream at her first. That’s basically the only notable difference between most of our fights.”

“Does it ever . . . get physical? Like she hits you, and you smack her in the face, or something?”

“She stopped doing that when I became around her height; she’s just, uh, like that, you know?”

“Yeah, definitely! My parents used to be sometimes . . . difficult, to manage. Has your dad done anything, recently?”

“Um,” nervously said Victoria, as even though she had already known the state of Anterior’s parent’s marriage, she had never had the courage to stage her own, though with the drowsy nature of her current decisions, and the mellifluous tones of her voice that Victoria enjoyed listening to, it was likely to spill out, if not for the class beginning, and the noting of a plethora of new classmates, dotted around the room, and, specifically, one particular iconoclast to Victoria’s ideals; Mia. who was seated on the perpendicular to Anterior’s, yet on the side of Victoria, nonetheless. Learned that from Geometry! As Victoria saw Mr. Leo rising from his lounging chair, it appeared he was much taller than he first seemed, likely due to the hunching of his back to an excessive degree. Despite the smooth transition from the passing period to his class, however, his minor movements were shaky and brittle, as though he was near collapse, at all times.

Opening his full lips, he began to speak, “Welcome, welcome, everyone . . . to Dream I!” With a minor pause, as though he was awaiting applause of some form. “I am your teacher, Mr. Leo, though I think some of you might already know me from the other courses I teach,” he winked, directed in the general direction of Ren, who was shuffling in her seat, as though it were covered in tacks and nails. “If you’ve taken the likes of classes or those in the same field such as stuff like, say, Psychology or Astronomy, you’ll likely hear about me, from your fellow students, and perhaps, even be taught with me!” he chuckled with a giddy twinkle to his image. “Anyhow, about this course. If you weren’t aware, there was a syllabus posted last week, which goes over the general stuff about what we’re going over this semester, next semester, and my general grading policy. Please take it and get your parents to sign it by this Friday, and if you’ve gotten it signed already, you may give it to me at any time during class. Of course, I doubt many of you have-”

Almost appearing to be telepathic, Mia began to finish his train of thought in a most awful manner; obnoxious to a fault, announcing to the whole class, “Well, I’ve turned it in! Can’t we just get to the, uh, highlights?”

“Well, Mia, of course you have,” he unexpectedly responded to, in an eerily similar fashion that mirrored Mia’s; that of plain happiness, which was odd, considering Mia’s recent loss in a relative, though he hadn’t quite stepped past the somber state of moribund, which would likely cause greater suffering within her mind; to have oneself trapped in a form not yours; both in body and mind. Sorta like sleepwalking. Figures. I wonder how she’s been holding up . . . wonder if she’s deluding herself on his heinous actions . . . to witness a friendship fall apart, like that, too . . . wonder what she thinks of me, considering I’m cozying up to an ex-friend of hers . . . actually, I wonder if she’s even here, today, come to think of it. “Anyways, without further ado, let’s introduce ourselves . . . through some basic tea! I’ve been brewing them since the last period in preparation for this. They have quite powerful odors, and I’ve picked quite the variety of leaves and other herbs and foliage to wither and dry; and this is perhaps one of the final weeks before major tea productions become a bit . . . more slow; rather irritating, yes? Anyhow, it is said that scents can trigger deep emotions hidden within you, and possibly more. I must warn you, however; the tea is not to be drunk. I don’t want your mouths touching my porcelain wares; I also doubt many of you would appreciate the bitter flavors that they contain. Got that?”

“Yes,” everyone hollowly replied, as though zombified into silence with Mr. Leo’s calm, and authoritative voice, even with the occasional hiccups in his speech.

“Good, good. I’ll be passing them out now; beware the heat.” He strolled in a manner of a careful hush, being stuck in a constant style of a reserved ostentation; confidence exuding every step, despite his unassuming demeanor. Pacing nonchalantly around the decorated enclosure, the talkative students, namely, Ren, began to chirp like a flailing bird with an unscrewed head, towards peers that would prefer to be left to their own devices, though Victoria didn’t mind, at least, until her nerves were struck.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Hey, girl!” attempted Ren, trying to catch Victoria’s loose attention, split on Anterior, her, and the newly placed, aromatic cup that had been placed in front of her; disrupting airflow with a noxious, yet attractive steam. However, it seemed, whether intentional or not, Anterior noticed, and engaged with Ren in a most abhorred expression on her face, as though pitying Ren.

“Hey, uh, Ren! What’s up?”

“Oh, you know, not much. How’s your life been? Has it been alive since the last time we’ve seen?”

“Uh,” blanked Ren, clearly made uncomfortable or dumbfounded by the astonishingly strange question proposed by Ren, “What do you mean by that? My life’s been great, if you are asking me, that.”

“Oh, no, no. I was just wondering . . . if karma had caught up to you. Cause, y’know, everything has some amount of moral weight to it. At least, I think it does!”

“Karma . . . has, what? I haven’t really been doing anything wrong . . .” said Ren, as she sighed loudly, before its transformation into a curious yawn.

“Well, your spirit . . . oh, wait, sorry, loomkeep . . . your birth loomkeep was behind you, after your act of shedding blood!”

“I don’t know what astrology pseudoscience you’re trying to sell to me, right now, Ren.”

“Remember the thing?”

“What thing?”

“That was standing behind you! I thought it was rather disappointed.”

“Alright. Going to disengage now.”

“Oh, come on, Anterior. Don’t tell me you don’t know about the skeletons in your closet . . . both figuratively, and literally . . . I mean, I can’t be the only one who's seen it, right?”

“Okay . . . look, Ren, I don’t know what your deal is, but can you please leave me, alone. Please, and thank you.” The silence between them lasted for a full ten seconds, before restarting, once more.

“Anyways, y’know . . . my dad’s quite well connected with your family, didn’t y’know?”

“Okay, what? That’s . . . just factually wrong? I’ve never heard one peep about you . . . My,” she said, as she gulped down a volley of tears through her sinuses, “‘Father’, as he likes me to call him . . . I know what type of person he is . . . he’s always quiet around his new ‘family’, but can’t keep his damn mouth shut when talking with me. Not once has he mentioned you! Can you and your jolly gang of obnoxious freaks go bother someone else!” Anterior was now in tears, with saline droplets frothing from the edges of her eyelids, and despite her lack of interest in approaching Ren after her traumatic event, it was a needed sacrifice for Victoria to confront Ren about her unrespectful nature towards her new friend. Maybe she’ll appreciate this . . . have to try . . . what’s up with her, anyways? Ren’s always . . . off. I wonder if being the oldest and having to deal with the likes of Audrey and James had fried her brain a little . . .

“Hey, Ren,” Victoria calmly explained, “My friend, here, doesn’t enjoy you taunting her. I understand that may not be your intention, but, uh, I feel as though you’ve overstepped your boundaries a bit.”

“Overstepped boundaries,” repeated Ren, before humming as though contemplating what next to say, as smoke poured from their cups into the surrounding air, of which was similarly coated in a distinct powdered scent. “I’d you say you might have when you attacked him, like that.” Really brought this up . . .

“Look, I’m usually a bringer of slight unfortunately news, but who attacked Amal-”

“Oh, no! Not James. I saw you were talking to this other guy next to James, and then he ran afterw-”

“You mean Sebastian?”

“The running, vaguely whiskered one?” What’s with these descriptors . . . I guess I did call Raina various marsupials . . .

“Yes. That one. Anyways, uh . . . did you see who he was running away from?”

“Well, he kinda went away from where you were, and then you were chasing him, or something.”

“No . . . I was running from Ja-”

“Oh, right, my brother. Yeah, he’s a bit wacky, sometimes.”

“Uh huh.” A bit wacky . . . are you kidding me . . . she really has a death wish, or something. “Hey, look; I didn’t really like him attacking us while wielding his little firearm.”

“Y’know . . . dad gave him that for his . . . I think it was his ninth birthday?” So it is the same . . . can’t believe . . . “Anyways, why do you care? I don’t think he hurt you? He only got hurt cause he maimed a couple of dummi-”

“Are you really about to sit here and call Amalya a dummy?”

“I mean, of course! Why did she run towards him if he was having one of his wacky moments?”

“Can you please stop calling it a ‘wacky’ moment? It’s anything but.”

“Sorry . . .” she stifled a gasp of air, as though she was preventing herself from laughing. “It’s just that . . . I think it’s kinda adorable. Like . . . he’s just so . . . mysterious, even though I know everything about him!”

“I don’t think it was adorable for him to shoot someone in the face.”

“Oh, please! He hasn’t ever done that to anyone else . . . I think.” The . . . irony . . . is actually infuriating.

“If you knew what I knew, I wouldn’t think this is so funny!” said Victoria, raising her voice by a decent number of decibels.

“Well,” she said, clearly unaffected by Victoria’s new volume, “I don’t. Gotta tell me your secrets, or I can’t know them!”

“Well,” Victoria said, attempting to keep her composure, as she shook with a purist form of rage, as Anterior sat silently, staring into the boiling goblet, as though she was sleepwalking, and had just seated herself upon the chair; face in hands, as Victoria’s was. “I don’t think I have t-to tell my secrets . . . for you to understand that shooting, not one, but two people is a very bad thing to do! Where’s the karma justice, or whatever you said to Anterior, there, huh?”

‘Well, he is in the hospital. I think that’s a pretty clear sign he’s served his karma. What about you? You seem awfully upset, like your spirits got into yo-” Victoria stood up as Ren continued, mid-sentence, staring down her table, of which oddly only contained her as the sole resident of its seats.

“Excuse me, but what are you implying?”

Unbothered, Ren stated “Oh, y’know, you’ve done some bad deeds in the past?” Imagine saying that . . . that my friend dying and my parent’s rudeness and ‘punishments’ are just . . . that my brother dying is just . . .

“Guess what! I don’t think you heard me back in that bunker, Ren! I don’t think you heard, anything, given your deluded thoughts on the events that happened, down in those depths! Y’know what your brother did to mine. I’m pretty sure he corroborated it. Maybe, my payback was finally granted to him, all at once! I hope he’s punished for all of his wrongdoings, and I hope you and your family can take a hike!”

“What if . . . your family was related to ours, too?” proposed Ren, in another ridiculous experiment of thought, that was rather unneeded at the current moment of heat that both had felt within their cores.

“Ha. Haha. You are one strange person, Ren. Y’know that? In fact, I don’t know why you even started this. Just to mock us for what . . . he did to us? And what’s with these tricks you’re trying to employ? I don’t get you, or how you peo-”

“Can you people shut the fuck up; do you know what you’ve done to me and my family, you egocentric idiot!” suddenly ejaculated Mia, who, given her solemn yet fierce expression, had clearly premeditated intentions and was rather ready to strike at their faces, causing both Ren and Victoria to jump back in fright, though Ren quickly resumed her scheduled decisions. “Do you know how entitled you have to be to think that your suffering is the most important? Guess, what? Your brother died however long ago! Maybe, you should move on, instead of moaning about how we ‘disrespect’ you! You know how hard our lives are? Maybe, you don’t, because you are so deep into your own rectum to be unbothered by everything we’ve gone through. James has told me . . . everything! Everything about you, on . . . what is essentially his deathbed!” said Mia, as she stood up with Victoria, nearly equal in stature, before Victoria rose down in the sudden explosion that was Mia’s temper. “How you’ve bullied him. How you’ve creepily watched his movements in the school. How you and lackeys made fun of him in unison. And how he doesn’t want to come here, anymore, because of all the things that were done to him, here! And I’ve seen, with my own eyes, how your ‘supposed’ friends act. Stabbing two people in the first week is . . . totally . . . justifiable in your decrepit eyes. How morally bankrupt do you have to be to . . . to . . . to do and say such things!” Then, in a whispered tone, “You’re lucky, that, I haven’t reported you for hiding the bodies.” Despite her enmity towards Victoria and Anterior, however, it would be unceremoniously stopped by the sudden appearance of Mr. Leo, who slid towards them on his perennial sandals, of which was unbefitting of the coming climate in the following months.

“Hey, Mia,” calmly articulated Mr. Leo, as he smoothly descended upon their table as though an angelic form; created to shield Victoria from the harms she often inflicts upon herself. “I know . . . what happened to your brother is hard, but that’s no reason to take your anger out on Victoria, okay?”

“But-”

“And, anyway, he isn’t dead, yet. Don’t mourn his loss without his absence, alright? Look at how Ren is doing,” he said, gesturing vaguely in Ren’s direction, who was currently in the motions of drinking the tea that he distinctly said to avoid consuming, all with an oddly cheerful grin plastered over. “We can only hope he makes it through this.” And I wouldn’t really mind, either way.

“Yes, d-d-Mr. Leo,” gulped Mia, holding down the floodgates of violent streams of saline liquid emanating from her eyes.

“It’s okay,” he reassured, “We can talk after class.”

“N-no . . . you don’t have to.” Mia stopped her train of defiant speech, to stare pointedly at Victoria, as though looking at her believed, corrupted soul.

“It’s really fine. I don’t have to teach until . . . around the fifth period; or block A.” Why is he being so kind to her . . . of all people.

“P-please . . . I need some space, right now, d-dude.”

“That’s fine . . . call me if you need me, alright?”

“Whatever . . . sure,” said Mia, in a despondent tone, as she continuously look on at Victoria’s general direction, while Mr. Leo backed off into the corner where his desk was comfortably situated; far from the needless drama that they had already developed, since the previous time their eyes had met. The guilt insidiously began to unload; and Victoria soon felt the emotions, that, were equally palpable in their tear excretion and snot production, to Mia’s; an awe striking display. Anterior sat awkwardly amidst the dramatic showcase from both parties, unable to soothe either with her acquired registers, as the stale tea in the teacups sat, sullen and cooling. Despite seeming as though an eternity since Mr. Leo approached Mia, if it weren’t for his sudden, though rather predicted announcement, his forgotten status would likely be sealed within Victoria’s mind.

“Hey, everyone!” He resumed merrily with a slight charm, as his voice became, once again, much less emotionful and adenoidal than it usually was, though the continued rising of heat may have contributed to the slow thawing of such a distinctive, yet displeasing, way of speech, at least in Victoria’s opinion. “This class is about to end, so I’d really appreciate it if you took the time to pour out the contents of the teacup, and place them neatly stacked in the middle of each table! Thanks, and see you on Poop Day, where we’ll be looking at, ack, at how certain scents are received by the human brain, and how it may affect our moods! I hope you’ll be looking forward to it, and that I wish for you the best of the rest of the day,” he stated, of which for the final sentence, even Victoria had a confused look within her smeared face.

As Victoria looked at Mia’s spot, she had already packed and was ready to head to her next class, which she told Victoria as her final remark to her, before the bell rang.

“Hope you’re ready in Spanish. Cause I’ve got some more things to say to you . . . Victoria.”