Molly jumped onto her bed, writing down the letter she was going to send to her BMFF (the M stood for moving). "Dear Connie. Florida is awesome! The summer sun is always around, there's a water park just a block away, and the alligators are so friendly that the rent for our apartment is cheap!" She tried to get one as a pet, even got Darryl on board to triple the puppy dog look… unfortunately, all that went down the drain when they ate Mom's leather jacket.
"Dad's job is going well so far, he's offering less flammable substances to housing to reduce wild fires." She continued. "The only issue is that some wild people like making fires, so getting people to use it has been an uphill battle. Not to mention there's no current solution to the tornado problem… good thing there's no sharks in them." Just lots and lots of jellyfish.
"Mom began going back to her musical dreams, and everyone in the family was super supportive of her, and we still are… unfortunately mom has this weird idea she can make the Triangle into an epic instrument for rock and roll. She managed to find a manager, but something tells me this Marty guy isn't up to anything good. My badification radar tingles whenever he shows up at the house." Which was really rare for Molly. Most of the people she met weren't bad, they were all just grumpy, but super nice deep down… except magicians …
"I befriended these two kids named Astor and Cody. They have this kind of weird but kind of cool step dad who works as a..." she thought about how it was spelled. "Is it Spatter or Splattter… h, Connie will correct me if I'm wrong." She shrugged. "Blood Splatter analyst. Basically he looks at blood and uses it to catch bad guys. I could never do that job, but Darryl seemed really into it… I might need to watch out for him at night." Not that she didn't love him with all her heart… but he was a proud agent of chaos.
"Speaking of Darryl, he's become a bit… problematic, as of late." She mused as she wrote. "Note for the future Connie. If you ever have a little brother, make sure they develop empathy before programming skills. Last week his school had to call in five specialists to undo the 'school's for fools' virus he unleashed." On the one hand, the paint ball fights were really fun, but it also led to Darryl getting suspended for a week, something that mom and dad weren't happy was going to be in his permanent record.
"Ooh, I almost forgot to tell you about the class with the talking lizard! And he's like this really wise grandpa type you can tell all your problems to." She chuckled. "It just goes to show that there's always more to the world than we imagine…"
"Molly, do you mind helping me with the groceries!?" Mom called out from downstairs.
"Coming!" She shouted back. The rest of the letter could wait till later. "You didn't run into any alligators on the way over here, did you?"
"Only two. But I also ran into a talking shark." Mom nodded. "Luckily, they only want to eat Seal pops instead of people."
"This town has a lot of talking animals." Molly mused as she grabbed a few bags. "You'd think more people would be aware."
"Florida's just weird like that, honey…" She sighed. "It's just that weird."
========================================================================
Libby had made a horrible, horrible mistake… she called Andrea… Andrea. Well, more like she pronounced it 'Ann-dree-ah' instead of 'Ahn-dree-uh'. But the point still stood! She insulted the princess of Brighton Elementary! Well, self proclaimed princess, but she had enough money to convince people-that wasn't the point!
Of course, that would almost be forgivable in the eyes of Andrea. Just endure the next five to ten years with slight isolation and the occasional nickname and she would be fine.
But yesterday… she committed… the unforgivable sin. She was invited to a sleepover, one that Andrea was hosting. It was Libby's big chance to finally fix her legacy… but then….she drank water before bed.
She would never recover… neglected for the rest of eternity to her sweater and turtles. If her mom allowed it, she would've come to school in a cardboard box in the shape of a shell she could bury herself in. But sadly, it was against school policy to do so.
"Now students." Their teacher got the class's attention. "We have a foreigner joining our class today, all the way from Korea." Oh, that was a nice change of pace. Lovely country too, from what she read. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"
In the classroom walked a boy… probably, it was hard to tell with the oversized hood. "I… am… Steven Diamond Universe… nice meet you." They seemed American from appearances, but the tone of voice indicated an accent of some Asian descent.
"Ooh wow, that is like, top fourteen or top fifteen of the top twenty coolest names I've ever heard." And right on cue, Andrea Davenport showed WHY she was the princess of Brighton by putting on her surface level kind demeanor and genuine enthusiasm, eagerly shaking the nervous new kid's hand. "And your accent is quite lovely too. Welcome to our little town, Mr. Universe. Whoa, that is fun to say." Andrea kept shaking the boy's hand, who just seemed confused by the gesture. "I'm Andrea Davenport, and don't worry about being new, I, and everyone else here, will be more than happy to answer your no doubt many questions about our school."
He nodded slowly. "Pleasant to greet you, Anlea Davedoor." The kid greeted with a shy smile.
…Oh dear, oh sweet Mary and Joseph... this wasn't going to go well. "…Andrea Davenport." The rich girl's eye twitched.
"...Is not what I say?" The poor, innocent and doomed kid titled his head. "Anlea?" And the girl began to grind her teeth.
"Ah, Andrea." Their teacher spoke up, "Mr Universe here hasn't gotten a full grasp of English quite yet, his speech skills could be lost under accents and translation errors."
The girl looked at the teacher, before shaking her head. "Right, right, sorry, of course, just a translation error." Andrea tried her best to force a friendly smile. "Everyone makes mistakes, so I'll just make it clear. It's pronounced "AH-dre-ah." The girl enunciated for the new boy. "Got it?"
"I think so, sorry And-dries." The boy bowed his head… And the popular girl looked like she was about to pop a blood vessel. "Sorry, was it Andrews?"
"That's a boy's name!" She exclaimed, causing the boy to jump back, tears beginning to form in his eyes.
MIIISSERY
And Libby felt… slightly less better than she normally did. She could fear tears welling up in her eyes. "Sorry, sorry Andela!" The boy mispronounced again as the area seemed… bluer for some reason.
"Just… just…" Andrea seemed like she was trying to fight through tears too as her face just grew a scowl. "Just SHUT UP!" Andrea screamed, as the blue faded.
"Andrea, yelling at a student, especially a new one, is unacceptable." The teacher called out, wiping away her own tears. "Report to the principal's office now."
"What!?" Andrea screamed indignantly. "But, but-daddy won't-"
"Now."
The girl sent the new guy a glare, keeping eye contact as she walked to the door… hitting said door, before opening it up and walking into the hall. "I'm… I'm sorry…" The boy wiped his eyes, still clearly shaken.
"It's fine, Steven. Why don't you take a seat? We have plenty available." The teacher pointed to the several empty desks.
"Right…" Steven slowly looked through the seats that were open as everyone looked at him like he was a dead man walking… and socially… he was.
Steven sighed as he muttered to himself, burying his head deep into his cloak as the rest of the class just muttered about the boy's impending doom by Andrea.
…And Libby stared at the boy all through class.
========================================================================
Scratch floated across the town in aimless confusion. "Alright, alright. If I was a possibly living guy causing endless misery, Where would I be… where would I be…" What was the most miserable place in the world? "Oooh, the DMV!" Perfect!
He flew over to the office in question, watching the endless lines of people staring ahead in miserable waits, endless bureaucracy and slow computers… but, no new faces. "Gah! Why is it so hard to find someone miserable in this town all of a sudden?!"
Well, everyone was miserable, but the point stood! The way the Ghost Council described it, finding the source should've been like finding chocolate in the center of a vanilla scoop! Easy to get to and satisfying to find! But he's already been to the library, town hall, the sewage system, he even went to the local bakery!
…Okay, so that last one wasn't really a miserable place, but the point stood… again! He was checking everywhere, and still bupkis! "Gah, the one time I'm motivated to do my job, and suddenly it's impossible to do! Why is reality making my afterlife so difficult to get through!?"
Okay, okay… he checked places. Maybe the guy wasn't here yet? He could try sitting around at the bus station all day… and eat the popcorn stand next to it… yeah! Sounds like a plan! He could even stop by the taco shop too! Ooh, maybe he could get a couple drinks of strawberry soda while he was at it! And a churro, life, either kind, wasn't complete unless you had a good churro in your mouth! Ten scoops of ice cream wouldn't hurt either-
MISERY MISERY MISERY
"AAAAAH! Why am I sad!?" He shouted, gripping his head. "Why am I crying!? I'm thinking of ice cream! Ice cream is inherently good!" That made no sense! Why would-and the misery stopped. "What the… what happened?" Something was off. "Okay… I was flying here and-life sucks!" He cried, tears flowing from his eyes. "It's all useless-and I'm good again." The hell was going on…
The area seemed a bit more blue than usual… huh… THAT must have been the source. The source… was moving away.
"Oh no, you don't! I'm the ghost, the only one pulling a disappearing act here is me!" He shouted as he followed the blue light… air… bubble thing. But he made sure to keep a healthy distance. Scratch was normally a grumpy person, but this .. this was too much negativity even for HIM! No wonder the Chairman wanted it.
And it led him to… "School, of course! The source of all CHILD misery!" Only a child could feel that hopeless! Which meant the source had to be a kid! A new kid he hadn't made miserable yet, which meant any new kid in the school HAD to be the source!
He phased through the walls, invisible as always, checking everywhere. The classrooms, the principal's office, the cafeteria… taking a few plates of the meatloaf surprise, because ooooh boy that was some good stuff. The surprise of it was that it actually tasted like meat! Okay, focus, new kid, new kid, find the new kid.
New kid meant crowd, so look for where everyone was. Focus on the crowd… ah, it was just the Davenports. Couldn't make THEM miserable, they were rich and delusional. Probably nothing to concern over- "I swear, I'm going to make that new kid pay!" …bingo!
Scratch moved closer. Revenge was a dish best told while invisible, after all. "You do realize he really couldn't say your name because of the accent, right?" One of the bigger girls, Kat something or another, pointed out.
"Once is nothing, twice is forgivable… but five times!?" She roared. "I mean, come on! And he got me called to the principal's office! I could've gotten in trouble with daddy!"
"...but you didn't."
"No, daddy was busy with a meeting, but that doesn't mean I'm not right to not be angry about it!" She proclaimed. "He needs to be taught a lesson!"
Scratch floated behind a boy. Now what did the kiddies call it… oh right? "Make a mean meme about him." He did his best child-like impression.
"That's perfect!" Andrea grinned, before frowning. "No, he's from another country, he probably can't even read the insults… but we can isolate him until we come up with a meme he CAN read!"
Got it, just wait until they isolate one boy, find the source of misery, and study them to see what makes them tick. Come on, come on, isolate that brat. Isolate… isolate-ooh chocolate milk! Dibs! Yes, victory-what was he supposed to be doing again? Something about being alone and isolated...
"Hello…" Some kid in a cloak waved at the students… who walked away. "...Okay…" He put his hand down. "Is this line for-" he tried to ask another kid..only for them to walk away more. Isolating him… new kid!
Success! Scratch floated down. "What makes you tick?" He mused, seeing the kid flinch for some reason.
"Not real." They muttered. "Not real."
Wait… Was he no, Scratch didn't make himself visible. Scratch looked into the mirror. Nothing there. He was invisible to anyone other than ghosts, and those he WANTED to see him. No one else could…
"It does not exist, the mister does not exist…" The kid muttered to himself. "Ignore the floating blue snot… ignore the blue snot…"
"Hey, who are you callin' snot, buster!?" He shouted at the kid, still invisible, and getting close to the boy's face.
"Gah!"
Fwooosh
And… ice covered the section of the wall the boy was near… what the-holy heck it was cold! "No. Not now." They covered themselves up, running out of the cafeteria. "Not real."
"That… that was slightly more unusual than usual."The source of misery could see ghosts, make ice, and was skittish… time to play detective Scratch! Get into the boy's head and make him scream!
He followed the boy down the hallway, keeping his head down as he tried to put himself in a corner. Alright, mope time! Time to hear all the boy's secrets- "I've learned to slam on the brake…" …What the… "Before I even turn the key…"
He floated in to see… the boy singing. "Before I make a mistake…" He muttered. "Before I lead with the worst of me …"
"...Doesn't he have an English problem?" Scratch asked. "How is he singing that well?"
"Give them no reason to stare..." The boy kept singing as all the students kept turning their heads away, even as he was reaching out. "No slipping up if you slip away… So I got nothing to share..." The boy took out what looked like some kind of sketch pad. "No, I got nothing to say…"
Scratch turned to all the other students… who weren't paying attention. "I get the whole mob mentality thing, but are you people really just going to ignore the sudden musical number?!" He shouted. even though only the brat could hear him.
"Step out, step out of the sun, If you keep getting burned." The boy walked into the playground, hiding in the shadows of the walls as everyone else played. "Step out, step out of the sun, Because you've learned, because you've learned!"
The boy stood on top of a jungle gym. "On the outside, always looking in! Will I ever be more than what I've always been?" He went to a window, knocking on it for the students inside. "'Cause I'm tap, tap, tapping on the glass…" He tried to get someone's attention… but no one paid attention. "I'm waving through a window!"
A ball hit the boy in the back of the head, and the kids that kicked it picked it up without even acknowledging the victim who got hit by it. "I try to speak, but nobody can hear! So I wait around for an answer to appear!" All the kids began walking inside the school as the doors were closed, leaving the boy outside. "While I'm watch, watch, watching people pass… I'm waving through a window, oh!" He jumped to the top of a slide. "Can anybody see, is anybody waving back at me?!"
"Again, they should be more shocked at the perfect English." Scratch mused.
The boy burst through the doors as he passed by the trophies on the walls. "We start with stars in our eyes! We start believing that we belong!" The boy was hit in the face by an opening door and was ignored again. "But not every sun rises! And no one tells you where you went wrong!"
The crowd kept following Andrea, and kept ignoring the kid, even as he was shouting out the lyrics at the top of his lungs. "Step out, step out of the sun if you keep getting burned…" the spotlight completely shined on Andrea, pushing the boy more in the dark. "Step out, step out of the sun... because you've learned, because you've learned!"
He looked around, crying. "On the outside, always looking in. Will I ever be more than what I've always been?" His tears grew as he began glowing… blue. "'Cause I'm tap, tap, tapping on the glass, waving through a window. I try to speak, but nobody can hear!" The glowing got brighter. "So I wait around for an answer to appear. While I'm watch, watch, watching people pass!" It covered Scratch… as he felt sad once more.
A sadness that was being pushed on him… a sadness that was only getting bigger and bigger. "Waving through a window, oh Can anybody see, is anybody waving…!?"
The boy walked into an empty classroom, staring at a paper forest decoration on the wall. "When you're falling in a forest and there's nobody around… Do you ever really crash, or even make a sound?" One of the paper trees fell to the ground. "When you're falling in a forest and there's nobody around... Do you ever really crash, or even make a sound?!" The boy sang louder as he climbed up on a desk. "When you're falling in a forest and there's nobody around! Do you ever really crash, or even make a sound?! When you're falling in a forest and there's nobody around! Do you ever really crash, or even make a sound?!" A big blue ball of energy floated above his head. "Did I even make a sound?! It's like I never made a sound! Will I ever make a sound…?"
The bell rang as the students began rushing into the hallways… everyone still ignoring the kid. "On the outside, always looking in! Will I ever be more than I've always been?! 'Cause I'm tap, tap, tapping on the glass! Waving through a window!" He pounded a fist into a wall, demolishing it like it was made of paper. "I try to speak, but nobody can hear! So I wait around for an answer to appear!"
Sadness was too real! He was questioning his afterlife! Scratch flew out of the school, taking a deep, deep breath. "Okay… source of misery… found…" When that kid cried, everything cried. Very unstable, unpleasant to be around…
But … when he cried, everyone else cried… dozens of miserable kids in one fell swoop…
Which meant… If Scratch kept scaring this ONE kid… he could fill his quota and THEN some in one go! He wouldn't have to work so hard for the rest of his afterlife! Heck, maybe he would finally get some respect in the ghost world! Enough to meet the dead celebrities, like Abraham Lincoln!
"Alright kid…" He chuckled evilly, rubbing his hands together. "Get ready for my A-game… the biggest scare of your life!" For the rest of his life!
========================================================================
Andrea Davenport was not a petty girl. No, never petty, Daddy and Mommy raised her to be better than that. But Mommy and Daddy also raised her to let everyone know she was better than anyone else, so anyone that got in the way of that had to pay.
Normally she was capable of letting things go, but when you got her name wrong… that was when she drew the line in the sand. Her name was something special, something no one else had or could replace. To get it wrong on purpose, was to insult her!
But, she was a fair girl… so after the boy was properly shunned and humiliated, she would leave well enough alone. Being angry ruined the pores after all. She left the green girl that drank water before bed during her slumber party alone, this would be the same.
"Alright people, wow me, what nicknames have we come up with for this kid?" She asked her council.
"Borea." One girl suggested. "Combining Bore, and Korea."
"Clever, but it might come off as offensive to Koreans, might want to save that one as a last resort." Andrea waved off. "Next."
"Bad Blue Boy, or B.B.B for short." A boy suggested.
"But people like bad boys, that's not insulting. But points for nice use of alliteration." She nodded.
"What about… Hoodlum?" Another girl suggested. "'Cause of the hood?"
"I feel like that's close, but it's not digging deep enough." Andrea muttered. "Alright, we know he's from Korea, he's always sad, always gloomy, always looks like one scare is about to kill him, like the reaper is about to catch him-" Andrea paused, before snapping her fingers. "Reaper of Gloom! That's perfect!"
"Nice thinking, Andrea." A boy smiled. "You're awesome at this."
"Aww shucks, thanks." She chuckled modestly. "Okay, we have our nicknames set. Now let us un-shun him… so we can shame him again!"
"Ahh… I think we shunned him too good." A girl said. "We're not sure where he is."
"Really?" Andrea asked, looking around. "I could've sworn I saw him dancing like two classes ago." Some nice sounding music was playing in the background too. "Where would he go?"
"I think I saw him singing in the art room." A voice called out from somewhere in her entourage.
"To the art room!" She pointed forward, as they made their way down the hallway. She looked through the glass, spotting the boy in question! He was messing with some paper, scribbling frantically on it with colored pencils. "There he is…"
"It no real it no real…. ignore world around you…it... no… real…" The boy repeated the phrase like it was a mantra. "Ignore… ignore… not real… not real…"
Huh, it looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown… maybe this wasn't a good idea. "Maybe we should save the shaming for another da-"
"Hey Reaper of Gloom, you're ruining the vibe here!" One girl in her entourage cried out, though her voice sounded… off somehow.
The boy jumped, looking up in confusion. "Reaper… what?" He asked.
The girl that spoke up looked like she had a dizzy spell for a second, before another girl spoke up. "We can't get a break, that kid looks like a real screw up!"
"Screw… screw up…" the boy's eyes were filled with tears… this wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to make fun of him, not make him cry!
"Guys..maybe this isn't the right time-" Andrea tried to reign them in.
"Andrea's right, we need to do more than just throw names at the Reaper of Gloom, we should throw paint at him too!" A boy suggested as they got a bottle of black paint, kicked open the door and squirted it all over the new kid.
"Hey hey, we never said we were doing anything physical." She glared as the kids laughed cruelly.
"I… I… I…" The kid began crying…
MISERY
As Andrea felt pain… beyond just pity… beyond sympathy… she felt more pain than she ever felt in her life. Her eyes were blurry and wet, her legs too weak and pathetic to stand, her thoughts all… bad.
Was...was this what they called a conscience? She kept hearing about it but never believed it existed... until now!
"I MADE IS WRONG!" The kid in question ran off, crying past the crowd… she should probably leave him alone after this…
========================================================================
Steven ran, and ran, and ran… all the way out of the school. He ran past the courtyard,past the fence, running and running away from everyone. This… this wasn't how it was supposed to go.. .he was supposed to get better here! He was supposed to get over the monsters and finally stop… stop being him.
But the people hated him and the monsters came back, they always came back! Because he was a broken freak! That's all Steven was, a freak! A freak who just ruined everything for everyone! They all cried because of him! Everyone was crying because of him.
Steven ran into the woods, jumping behind a tree and taking deep breaths. He was a mess. He hurt everyone. He ruined everyone's day.
"This... this suppose be different." He spoke in his broken English… gah... why didn't he already know this language!? It was supposed to be easier than Korean! Why did he have to move anyway!? Korea was nice. He was familiar with the area and the people were friendly!
All he did was try to say hi... and now everyone hated him. That girl got angry and made everyone hate him… and he couldn't blame them… he was the worst.
He messed it up he messed it up he messed it up again. His breath was starting to get heavier and heavier. He could feel nothing but tears and misery and anguish-
"P-paper bag?" Steven jumped and blinked through the tears, turning to see a girl in a green sweater standing next to his tree. "Y-you know, to help calm your breathing."
He was hesitant at first, before taking the bag. He shook it around just in case, seeing no problem, before he began breathing into it. "You…you not mean?" He asked in-between breaths.
"Oh no... my mom told me I was born without a mean bone in my body… sadly that also means I don't have a backbone…" The tall girl in the green sweater muttered. "I've made the mistake of calling Andrea AN-drea before… and I've been a loner ever since, forever stuck in the shell of isolation..." The girl spoke with a tone that sounded almost poetic.
"You sound pretty." Steven complimented, hoping to the stars above this wasn't some cruel trick by that blue headed girl.
He might have said the wrong thing, because her face was getting pretty red. "Oh I'm-I'm not that pretty, I'm j-just average, everyday Libby." They brushed it off. "You're… Steven, right? Or do I go with last name first?"
"Steven fine. Me America. Just lived Korea." He tried to explain as best he could. "Still getting hang of English."
"Yeah..yeah, I know the feeling. Sometimes when I'm nervous, I slip into Hebrew." The girl, Libby, nodded. "And then I just become the weird tall girl who speaks the language no one understands... I tend to stand out in the worst ways."
"…Same." Steven nodded. "…Me freak." He muttered.
"Got that right boyo." Spoke the thing that wasn't there, eating a hot dog. "Complete outcast."
Steven curled up in his cloak. The monster was always going to be there… it was always going to mock him… it was always going to scare him and make him lose everything... "Turtle buddies!"
"..." Steven turned to Libby. "What?"
"What the weirdo said." The monster agreed.
"You know… turtle buddies… because…" She pulled her sweater up. "We hide our heads… in clothes… I'll stop now." She muttered.
Steven looked at the girl for a second, before letting out a light smile. "...Seriously, that's what makes you smile?"
"Heheh, that fun." Steven chuckled, still keeping his head in his cloak. "You... not mind being stuck with outcast?"
"Andrea already made me an outcast." Libby pointed out with a light nervous smile. "And as the old adage goes, misery loves company."
"Me... am Miserable company." Steven pointed at himself. "...So… me… like... turtle buddies."
"Turtle buddies." She nodded, slumping against the tree. "...Can you read English?"
"Speak not so good. Read is better." He admitted. Pearl and Dad taught him both, but Korean was easier to stick with given where he liv-where he used to live."
"...My ah… My mom owns a book shop." Libby sputtered out. "If... you aren't too busy later… maybe... we can… read something together... possibly?
"...Sound… sound nice-"
"Super boring too. I think the thing on your head's more fun." Wait, what thing on his-and a bird next fell on his head… followed by an angry mama bird.
"Ah… nice... bird…?" He stammered, expecting to be pecked mercilessly.
The bird… just kept glaring as it picked the baby bird back up. "Seriously, I was expecting pain here!" The blob that wasn't there shouted… as the bird turned to the blob, and began pecking it."Ow, ow, ow! What have I ever done to you?!"
Was…was his brain doing this? Was his brain… hurting the blob? Did... did he… not have to be afraid?