“Look out! Above you!”

A woman cloaked in green, adorned with a large matching hat shouted, her hand outstretched. A large beam of fire plummeted toward me from above, I don't think my measly sword will do anything against that. This was it, my end. All and all, it was a nice life, I have no regrets. All that's left is to welcome the warm embrace of a bone-searing inferno

As I had accepted my fate, coming in with an unexpected slide on his knees, the party's tank, Mulhord, slipped in beside me. His shield was faced upward, casting a glowing barrier from the gem resting in the center of the shield. The pillar of fire crashed down onto the barrier, sprouting out in every direction as it made its best attempts to find somewhere to go. Mulhord propped himself up on one knee, struggling under the unrelenting force of the flames. It sure made me feel like a damsel in distress. Mulhord isn’t exactly the dreamy type, though.

The blazing beam eventually dissipated into swirls of embers, revealing the source of this fearsome attack. A large crack rested in the sky as we focused our gaze, the scaly beast that caused my previous monologue staring back at us through the other side of said crack, plumes of smoke rising from between the gaps of its teeth. Its body was a dull red, spiraling patterns of black traveled down its back. My party gathered, standing side to side in a compact circle as we looked on at the oversized lizard. 

We could take this threat, I know we can, one final push!-

“Mmm.. guh..”

A repeating beeping rang through my ears. 

What is that? Why wont it stop? 

These thoughts ran through my head as I tossed and turned. Before long, I came to realize I was in my bed, and that my alarm had been going off. Guess I was pretty immersed in that dream. Ahh, what bliss. Dreams are like a pleasant reality, no memory of your worries leak through. Usually. 

As I attempted to open my eyes, my brows pushed together, furrowing. Light leaked into my retinas, forcing me to squint. I laid there, gazing up at the off white paint of my ceiling.

The same old ceiling. I'm back in reality.

My body squirmed as I struggled to reach for the source of my disdain. My hand eventually landed onto my phone, frantically tapping its screen to stop the excessive beeping. Bringing my phone to my face, I sluggishly analyzed the screen and its contents. Ah, right, my alarm goes off at 6 am. I seemed to always forget this when I first woke up, most of my memories seem to escape me in the same fashion. Only when I'm still drowsy from waking up, of course. I'm not some blue fish with memory loss. 

I threw the covers from atop my body, sloppily folding it over itself. My legs swung to the side of the bed and hung over the edge, where I proceeded to sit up and start my day. One big yawn and an aggressive eye rub later, and I was off. 

I got myself dressed, got all my equipment for school ready, and went to the bathroom to clean up. Swinging the door open, I'm greeted by the large circular mirror resting on the wall directly in front of me. A boy, maybe around 5 ‘10, brown eyes, okay figure, and dark brown hair stared back at me. Good morning handsome.

Rubbing a few strands of my hair between my thumb and index finger, I could tell that it seemed a bit dead. It’s likely because of my impulsive decisions to dye my hair repeatedly, but let’s just leave that in the past. Look ahead to the future, and whatnot.

That just about wraps up my morning routine, time to take my leave. As I Made my way to the door, I realized I’d forgotten my bagged lunch. If I didn’t leave now, I’d likely be late, so with an open palm and a flick of my wrist, a paper baggy on the counter across the room suddenly flung towards me. I quickly snatched the bag out of the air and rushed out the door. 

If I hadn’t mentioned this already, I’m an esper. 

Since birth, I’ve had the ability to grab something with my mind and move it to my will, among other things. Despite having “powers”, It’s not all It’s made out to be. Without any “SuperVillains” or opponents at all, there aren’t many chances to fulfill your typical superhero fantasy you may have thought up. I'm sure there are others that share my gift, but it seems they’ve all come to the same conclusion as me. I realized all this pretty early on in my childhood, so I gave up on trying to do anything actually interesting with these powers. The amount of force in which I can move objects isn’t even that strong, I can probably push someone onto their rear on a good day.

These powers make me hardly any different from your average joe, which is pretty lame, but it’s not like it’s ever actually benefited me to begin with, so it doesn't feel like I'm missing out on some grand experience. It certainly wouldn't help me get to school. 

I took my usual route, a lot of sidewalk and a few crosswalks, resulting in a 15 minute trek. As I walked, my eyes traced along the cracks on the ground. My feet subconsciously avoided the lines segmenting the sidewalk, adding an arrhythmic pattern to my stride. 

Over my shoulder, I heard a few footsteps approaching. Before I got the chance to redirect my gaze to the sound, I was dealt a slap to the back of my head.

“Ow-”

I was met with the face of a boy I knew well. His light brown hair was parted a little off-center, and he wore a simple brown jacket over a white tee. I’ve come to know him as Sam, short for Samuel. A wide grin was plastered on his face. Cheeky bastard.

“S’up man? Noticed you weren’t walking with Ashley today. You havin’ some sort of lovers quarrel~?”

He rested his hand on my shoulder while speaking. His remark only left me rolling my eyes as I brushed his hand away.

“I told you it's not like that, dumbass. She’s out of town for the week. You would know if you listened”

That cheeky grin of his quickly fell into a scowl. I had no shame in openly insulting him. I’m sure he feels the same way. Probably.

Our paces began to match one another as the conversation continued.

“Alright alright, whatever. Moving on from that touchy subject” He gave a brief exhale before continuing “You havin’ any progress on that bike? I still can't believe you are trying to fix that thing”  

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

His hands flailed outward as he spoke “It's basically just a hunk of metal in the shape of a bike.”

To explain this bike in question, I had recently found a motorcycle trashed on the side of the road. It appeared completely unrecoverable, it was clearly missing vital parts to allow it to run and some basic essentials- like a seat. Everyone says it's a waste of time, but I think otherwise. Thus, I took up the task of fixing up a motorcycle for myself, with my zero years of experience.

“Look, I saw it and didn’t want to let up the opportunity, im learning as I go” 

My statement was returned with a look of doubt.

“...So, you’ve gotten nothing done”

“Pretty much”

Sam only released an exasperated sigh. I'm not sure what he expected of me, I'm not some mechanic. It's just a little passion project, nothing more nothing less. It’s nice talking to him about it though.

Sam is one of my two real friends. I can be open with him and let loose a little. I met him in the 2nd grade, he came up to me while I was at my locker and said I look like some character from a fantasy tv show he was watching at the time. Definitely a strange way to start a conversation with someone. 2nd graders are sorta like that in general though.

As we strode along the sidewalk, we came to a stop at a crosswalk. The small screen displayed an orangish-red hand, but Sam was having none of it. Repeatedly, as if something were going to change, Sam pressed the metal button sticking out the side of the pole, a voice escaped from the box, repeating the word “Wait” as he berated the button with aggressive jabs of his finger.

Finally, as if being spared by god, the hand became the image of a person walking, prompting us to cross. I took the opportunity to immediately start walking. I do not want to be seen with this clown.

“Wait!-” Sam abruptly shouted out to me. 

My head jerked as I turned to face the road at my side. I'm usually not very absent minded, but I guess I was in too much of a hurry to escape Sam. That said, it seems like I'm going to be experiencing a lot of absent mindedness from now on. Likely due to the truck heading my way. 

..Wait. Truck?

Those headlights were unbearably bright, or maybe that's just for me. Are trucks really this big? No.. It's just really close.

My body froze in place, my legs wouldn’t budge, it was taking all my effort just to keep them from collapsing. My eyes never felt more open, my gaze was wide as it focused on the front bumper of the oncoming vehicle.

Hoooooonk-

Huh?

The truck stopped. It managed to brake completely before ramming into me. My legs gave out as soon as the threat had vanished. I fell onto the asphalt, leaning back on a hand as my eyes stuck to the truck. They were practically glued to the bumper.

“Dude! What the hell were you thinkin?! Are your eyes closed?!”

Sam's words didn’t reach me. I had just barely escaped being isekai’d-

Clearly shaken, I rose to my feet with the assistance of Sam. We got chewed out by the driver briefly before he took off. Jackass. It was clear to walk, he should’ve stopped.

This is why I only have two real friends. People suck.

That probably would’ve been a gruesome sight for anyone that watched if I’d gotten hit. Not sure how Sam would feel. I’d like to imagine he’d start grieving at least a little, but not going to the point of throwing up. That itself always seemed strange to me. Whenever I imagine a dead body, I can't see myself throwing up or really freaking out. Though I guess I’ll never know how I’d actually react, seeing a dead body isn’t a common occurrence.

After what felt like hours, we finally made it onto school grounds as we sauntered into the building. Sam had an uneasy air to him, as if he was more traumatized by what happened than I was. Breaking away from him, I walked over to my locker to deposit some textbooks I would not be needing for a while. The locker was a dull blue and sported multiple scratches, likely from peoples bags dragging along the lockers.

Starting from now until around 3 pm, my mind will be going on autopilot. That’s just about the only way I can survive a school day.

Closing my locker, I began to turn to head towards my class, before I was stopped by an… interesting duo.

“Yo! I wanted to ask you somethin’ real quick”

At my side stood a student, he had black hair and a few piercings on his left ear. The middle of his bangs was clipped up to keep them from getting in his eyes. A not-so inconspicuous blonde gal was latched to his arm. It was Adam and his girlfriend.

“Hit me.” I replied shortly.

“I wanted to see if you’re free this weekend? Hostin’ a party at a rental house and wanted to get a bunch of people to show up. You down?”

Mentally sighing, I put on my best poker face and responded.

“Im down” I replied shortly

Adam gave a wide toothy grin as he shot my shoulder with a quick jab. That kinda hurt-

“Great! See you there! Bring snacks-” Adam trailed off while speaking as he was tugged at the side. His girlfriend suddenly began pulling him along by the arm, trying to drag him to their class.

I simply watched as he was dragged away, giving a short wave. I'm not sure if I’ve ever talked to her. She seems… enthusiastic. 

As for the reason that I was utterly uninterested in that conversation, I simply just don't like parties. Adam is an alright guy, he makes sure to treat people with respect and is actually pretty smart, I just don't enjoy people as a whole. Don't get me wrong, I'm not antisocial or anything, people just get on my nerves. Maybe that's just highschool, but plenty of adults are the same. It all boils down to who you hang out with, not much else to do about it but suck it up.

Moving on from that interaction, I promptly slammed my locker closed as I made my way to my first period. I start my day off with Physics, but end up not learning anything due to falling asleep during the lecture.

I was greeted by a few students as I traversed the halls. Despite how I sound, I’m actually decently known. I make sure to be involved with sports and converse with my classmates. I'm not a shut in, see? Though that leads to moments I’d rather not be involved with, like drama or the party from moments prior.

I stopped before a wooden door, its handle an aged silver. Time to go into autopilot, only 6 hours of this. As I twisted the handle to open the door, I gave a short wave to someone I vaguely knew that had been passing by. Stepping into the classroom, I shut the door behind me. A short yawn escaped me as my eyes squinted, a reflexive tear welling up in my eye, obscuring my vision.

Hm? Something seems different..

I rubbed my eye with a sleeve to clear up the swelled tears. My gaze rested on the floor, as I stood there perplexed. 

Since when was the flooring made of wood? 

I slowly peered upward, scanning the room I currently stood in. The walls consisted of layered logs, the floor dressed with a maroon carpet. Seemed like a humble cabin.

Hold on. Wait. Why am I… in a cabin?

A short rustling caught my attention as my head shot towards the sound. My eyes widened as they landed upon the source. A large, maybe queen sized, bed sat at the far end of the room, I'm not sure how I hadn’t noticed it, but the bed isn’t what was important here. Two sets of frightened eyes glared back at me. A bearded man laid on the left, whilst a blonde woman lay on the right. She was pulling the cover that she had been laying under over her body. Had I walked in on something?

The man promptly uncovered himself as he swiftly planted his feet onto the ground. He was in his underwear. I was partly relieved, yet just as afraid.

The man was… yelling? The woman followed his lead and berated words at me.. But…

What the hell are they saying?

The man closed in, spitting out words I couldn’t recognize. All I could do was slowly back up, until my body pressed up against the door.

Shit shit shit, what do I do? What the hell is happening? Is this a class prank? Should I just apologize?

My body stiffened as my eyes darted around the room. My lips quivered as they managed to part slightly.

“I’m sorry! I will be taking my leave!”

Abruptly grabbing the handle behind me, I swung the door open as the guy broke out into a sprint. I stumbled out the door as I slammed it closed behind me. The scenery was rather green, cabins littering the area as roads traveled between them. Despite this not being my school, I paid it no mind, as I could only repeat one word in my head.

Run.

My body dragged along as I fumbled my way through the streets. The sweater I was wearing felt really hot for some odd reason. I thought it was fall? This feels like summer for god sakes.

I ran, and I ran. I did pass a few people, but I couldn't stop to converse, I had to run.

My head began to feel heavier, almost like it was being compressed. My movements grew sluggish as my vision blurred.

Shit, what the hell is going on, why do I feel so tired.

Finally, I succumbed to the feeling and fell flat on my face. I lied planted in the gravel, completely unconscious.