*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*
A hand reaches for a phone across the night desk, tapping and swiping on the screen.
The sound fades out as he stares at his ceiling.
A sigh escapes his mouth as he uses a surprising amount of effort to lift his back from comfort.
He sits up and stares into the darkness around him. The sun still hasn't risen.
"Shit." He curses under his breath while pushing himself out of bed.
*Knock* *Knock*
"Antochi! Antochi! Wake up its 4.30am your school van is gonna be here soon."
The voice of his sister fully wakes him up, he walks towards his room light turning it on.
"I'm awake, I'm awake." He responds, his voice hoarse from the night rest.
"I don't wanna go but I have to." Antochi thinks to himself, reaching for his towel to cover himself as he didn't want to go out with only boxers.
"Why does a 15 year old have to wake up this early to go to school? Fuck this!" He questioned silently as he unlocked his room and headed to the shower.
After showering, he quickly changed and runs downstairs, greeting his sister while grabbing the egg sandwich made for him.
"Im so tired why does he have to come this early?" He ponders out loud.
"You just have to bear through, it won't be long till you're done with school. "His sister tells him with a smile on her face.
"Its okay sis, I'll definitely bear through this only two more years left." He smiles back with an obviously sarcastic response.
They both laugh together as he eats his food.
*Honk* *Honk*
Antochi's sister glances up from her phone. "Looks like he's already here, have a nice day at school today"
Antochi grabs his backpack with his packed lunch inside and responds, "Bye sis, tell mom and dad I said bye." He says with a smile as he leaves.
He gets in the van and lays his head on the back of one of the stiff leather seats in front of him.
"Just have to get through today again." He silently thinks and he falls asleep waiting to get to school.
*Sniff* *Sniff*
Mucus slightly drips from Antochi's nose as tears slowly fall from his eyes covering his cheeks.
It's dark around him, he's in his closet again. Hiding away from the world. His only safe space.
"There's something wrong with me, I can't do anything with my life, I just sit in my room drowning myself in my sorrows. I have no good friends, I pretend im happy everyday. Games, shows, drugs? All of them are just a way for me to hide away from my problems. I HATE MYSELF WHY CAN'T I JUST BE NORMAL!""
Antochi a 15 year old boy sits in his closet, head in his knees, crying himself to comfort, afraid to reach out for help from anyone. It's just a normal night for him. He's afraid. He's so.. so afraid.
"What am I going to do? Somebody help me." He mumbles his words gurgled.
A knock on his door brings him back to his senses.
"Antochi? Antochi? Open the door. Its me." His sister calls for him.
He jumps out of the closet wiping his tears and faking a smile as he opens the door.
"Are you okay?" His sister asks him with a concerned look on her face.
"Yeah I'm okay, I was about to sleep." He says, forcing a smile on his face.
"Have you been crying?"
His heart drops, "Shit.."
"No! No I wasn't Im just tired sis don't worry abou-"
He's cut off as his sister hugs him.
"It's okay lil bro, its okay.."
Antochi breaks down into tears. His sister's hair smells so comforting he can fall asleep right there.
"Thanks sis."
His sister looks up at him and smiles. "You can tell me all about it after school tomorrow. Right now sleep. I know you're tired. I'll stay with you until you sleep."
He doesn't say anything he just smiles back and slowly gets into bed and his sister sits by his side as he slowly falls asleep.
Suddenly the surroundings change as he notices the school environment outside the van window.
"It was dream, just a dream."
"You finally woke up dude, we didn't wanna wake you."
He looks up to see his two friends, Ikano and Enthou.
Antochi sighs and smiles.
"Whats up guys! I'd love to talk but the van driver looks like he's gonna snap at us.." he says jokingly while laughing with his friends.
He grabs his bag and moves past them leaving the van.
They talk about games and anime while they walk into the school heading to their separate classes.
Antochi sleeps on his desk during breaks not conversing or moving around much. He's tired and just wants to go home.
The bells rings, the last lesson is over. He packs his bag and waves goodbye to some of his school friends.
His short black hair flows and whips around as he stands at the school gate waiting for Ikano and Enthou.
"YOOOO! ANTOCHI!"
Antochi looks up and sees Enthou, grinning from ear to ear. Ikano walks by his side, slightly embarrassed of the loud brute next to him. Ikano's glasses shine as he looks up at Antochi.
"Hi Antochi, we haven't seen you around the entire day." Ikano says walking up to Antochi and reaching out his fist.
Antochi reciprocates. "I've just been a bit tired in school, I've been asleep most of the day to be honest."
"You lazy bum!" Enthou shouts out while giggling.
"Oh come on Enthou, thats not nice." Ikano says shaking his finger at enthou.
Antochi sighs, slightly smirking.
"Come on guys the van's gonna leave us!" Antochi urgently says.
"Oh shit!!" Enthou gasps. beginning a sprint.
Antochi and Ikano follow, laughing.
They reached the van just on time.
The ride was as usual, Enthou's jokes, Ikano talking about anime and Antochi being Antochi.
*WEE-OOO* *WEE-OOO* *WEE-OOO*
"Damn that's the tenth ambulance that passed us." Enthou loudly exclaims over the loud sirens as the siren lights envelop the right side of his face.
"Actually it's the eleventh one." Ikano jokingly exclaims, his brown hair covering his glasses as he puts up his finger.
"Shut up you nerd!" Enthou loudly shouts, laughing in the process reaching out for Ikano to jokingly tease him.
Suddenly he's thrown into the seat infront of him, same as everyone else.
"Damn Jose, you're gonna kill us back here!" Enthou loudly exclaims to the van driver.
No response.
"Jose?" Enthou calls, a bit worried now.
No response.
"Giving us the silent treatment now." Enthou nervously laughs while heading to the front to check on him.
"Probably just him fucking with us again." Antochi scoffs.
"Yeah yeah probably, Jos-" Enthou suddenly falls back.
Enthou looks back at Antochi and Ikano, His blonde hair now rough and messed.
His eyes are wide open, his mouth open in terror, slight sweat falls down his forehead.
Suddenly a heavy breeze landed on both of Ikano and Antochi's faces.
"How? How?" Ikano said his voice clearly shaking.
Half of the van was gone. Enthou.. was gone.
"What the fuck! WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?" Antochi exclams, his voice also visibly shaking.
They both leave through the open gap, Antochi's heart almost beats out of his chest at the sight outside.
It was complete chaos.
Multiple vehicles were stopped, most wrecked or crashed into the back of each other, a sea of red enveloped the once black tarmac roads, some vehicles on fire, some on the brink of flames. Bodies.. multiple mangled bodies covered the ground, could they even be called humans anymore..
A heavy feeling of dread enveloped both of them.
Suddenly Ikano fell on the ground holding his mouth and gagging.
"Antochi.. look" Ikano says his voice visibly shaking, tears falling from his eyes as he begins to vomit.
Antochi turns his head to where Ikano pointed and falls back.
"Enthou?"
He called out to Enthou, or whatever was left of him. He was on the ground, some distance away the mangled remains of half the van.
Antochi ran towards "Enthou" who was laying on the hot tarmac.
Shards of glass and pieces of metal were jammed into his body, blood oozed from everywhere on his body staining the white school t-shirt and the school tie, once a crisp blue, now hung heavily with dark blotches of blood, the red seeping through the fibers the worst part was.. his legs.. his legs were gone. The lower half of his legs were nowhere to be seen. As the ripped ends of his school trousers sway with the wind, Antochi slowly turns his head towards Ikano while holding Enthou, tears falling from his eyes, he tries to speak but his voice trembled.
"Ikano, he's.. he's dead.."
He gets on his knees and holds Enthou's head, his blonde hair staining Antochi's shirt with blood. Suddenly a gurgled cough gets Antochi's attention. He looks down and see's Enthou slightly blinking.
Enthou strains two words come out of his mouth.
"G...Ge..Get awa..y"
"What are you talking about Enthou? We need to get you to a hospital!" Antochi exclaims slightly shocked at how Enthou was still alive.
"Ru...n"
Enthou mumbles as his head falls, the end of his story.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!" Antochi shouts still not understanding the situation.
Suddenly a sharp pain enveloped his left arm. He turned his head to check, his eyes open wide as his pupils dilate. A quiet utterance of fear swiftly became a piercing scream, the intensity of his distress growing rapidly, as if all his pent-up terror had finally been unleashed. His left arm.. it was gone. He fell back hitting his back on something.
He turned his head back scanning from the ground to up. An unnaturally tall jet-black creature stood motionless looming over him, Antochi felt as if he was staring into nothingness. Its long bony fingers carried long sharp nails at the end of them. It had no eyes, no mouth, no ears but he could still see the expression on its face... It was smiling.