Forever Raven

Angi is the new girl at school, in a town that seems to be anything but weird. On the way to a field trip however, the school bus mysteriously stops in the middle of nowhere.

1/Bus Stop

     Quietly, Angi looked down at her paper. Why was getting to know your schedule so hard? She folded the piece of paper up and shoved it in her pocket. Only the second week of school and she was already stressed out and on some lame fieldtrip to an Orchestra.
     Angi turned to the girl next to her, who was staring out the window. She had a frown on her face, probably thinking why she had to sit next to the loser new girl. Angi leaned her head against the seat. She felt so uncomfortable in a long white “sweetheart” ball gown and three-inch heels. Her medium length red hair took hours to curl and her lips were smeared with her mothers new carnation pink lipstick.
      The bus stopped and she groaned loudly. They were in the middle of nowhere. In the middle of—she leaned towards the window—For Ra rd. She couldn't see the rest because of the snow stuck to the sign. The girl next to her stared at Angi.
“Why’d he stop the bus?” the girl asked.
     Angi shrugged and looked at the bus driver. As far as she was concerned, there were no Orchestras around here.
“The bus stopped…”
Everyone turned to the bus driver.
“It stopped.”
     Louder and louder the people got. They were all panicking. Almost simultaneously, everyone took out their cell phones. But none seemed to be working. Angi reached into her silver clutch and pulled out her phone. It was known to be crappy so she didn’t even bother to see if she had a signal.
      Angi scanned the surroundings again. Trees and grass and in between was a road, which they were on. She shifted her gaze to the girl next to her. The girl was eating bread. Angi looked at everyone else was beginning to panic even more. Angi arose from her seat. She sniffed the air then turned back to the girl.
“Do you smell that?”
The girl sniffed the air too.
“Yeah. Smells like-”
“Gasoline.”
The girl shoved her bread in a plastic bag, which she shoved in her jacket pocket.
“Okay!” she said. “…What does that mean?”
     Angi sighed and clapped her hands loudly. Despite the noise, everyone heard and looked at her. They stopped talking.
“Do you all smell the gas? If the bus driver had nothing to do with the bus stopping, then it might have to do with the motor. This bus is leaking and in an estimated two minutes it might explode!”
      With that, everyone was moving out and screaming. Not one by one like in the drills. But in a rushed motion, people shoving each other. The bus driver was the first one out. Angi hurried along with the crowd. She hadn’t noticed before, but the girl was gone too.
      Eventually, everyone was out and had run out to the edge of the forest. Majority was wearing dresses, skirts, heels and uncomfortable clothing so it was hard to move around so freely. Angi for one felt her legs were caught in a cage. She was looking back at the bus, while almost tripping over everything. Would it really explode? She really wasn’t all so sure, but it was better safe than sorry.
      They were all out on the grass, some screaming, some groaning, and some whining. As Angi looked at these helpless people, she felt like she had to do something. But why? She hadn’t gotten them stuck in the middle of nowhere and she was a victim. If anything, she should be complaining with the rest of them. She should at least be down there with them. Angi picked up here pace and eventually reached the others. She sighed in relief and fell flat on the ground. The grass was surprisingly soft, like a field of tissue paper. She rolled around in it for a while, forgetting all worries.
“Hey girl, are you ok?”
Angi froze and stared up at the person in front of her. It was the girl who sat next to her on the bus.
“Angi.”
The bus girl scratched her head. “What?”
“My name is Angi and I’m ok.”
“Oh. I’m Iris.”
     Iris seemed so clam about the situation. She carried a bright, peachy smile on her face. Angi just stared at the girl and wondered how she could manage to have no worries. Or maybe she did have worries, but just didn’t wear her heart on her sleeve.
“So, what a bummer! I really wanted to go to that symphony. You know? Like all dressed up and no where to go.”
Angi grinned. “Oh yeah. I couldn’t wait to endure five hours of boredom!”
“Boredom? Have you no interest in music?”
“What?”
     Angi turned around to face a tall guy. He looked at her for a split second, then looked over at Iris. Iris smiled and ran over to the guy. She embraced him for a warm bear hug. Suddenly, Angi felt awkward.
“Are you two--”
“Dating?” the guy finished.
“I was going to say friends.”
Iris giggled. “Well, no were not dating and yes we are friends. But don’t worry! He’s all yours.”
Angi let out an exaggerated laugh and smiled at the guy. She took a hold of his hand and shook it.
“Hi, I’m Angi --”
“Beltmon. New girl. From Fresh Lake High School. I know you. I used to go there but because I sort of had no friends, my mom wanted me to have a fresh start at Ochenten High School. You were in my French class I believe.”
“Oh yeah! Everyone used to call you Le garçon solitaire. Which is --”
“The lonely boy. Yeah, I know.”
“You really like --.”
“Interrupting people. No, I just always know what people are going to say.”
Angi sighed. “What’s your name anyway?”
“My name…uh… Naden.”
“Nice to meet you Naden.” Angi took hold of his hand and shook it. Naden’s once serious expression soon took on a funky grin.
“What?” Angi asked, staring him in the eye.
His grin returned to normal and Naden sighed.
“Oh, it’s just that hand shakes are so cliché. You know? Why don’t people pinch each other or something when they first meet? A hand shake is just cheesy.”
Angi let go of his hand. “Oh, hand shakes are too cliché? Well that’s fine.”
She slowly brought her fingers towards his arm. Naden stepped back.
“Hey, don’t pinch me!”
     Angi giggled and put her arms back next to her sides. She suddenly switched her attention back to Iris who was peeked her head between two trees that surrounded the entrance to the forest. Beyond the tree was just more trees, grass and darkness. Angi and Naden exchanged looks then strolled over to Iris. Their presence didn’t seem to break her focus. She still gazed beyond the trees and had a puzzled looked paced on her face. Finally, she turned around to face Angi and Naden.
“Look guys! You see? Isn’t it cool?”
Naden scratched his head. “I don’t know about you, Iris, but I can see plants and trees at home in my backyard. What the hell is so amazing about this?”
     Iris rolled her eyes and grabbed Naden’s hand. She shoved him in front of the two trees and straightened his head so he could focus on what she was seeing.
“It’s pitch black in the distance. Isn’t that scary?” she asked.
     Naden removed his head from between the trees, then ran his fingers through his long dark brown locks. He glanced at Angi for a second, then looked back at Iris. Instead of his usual sarcastic expression, he didn’t have any expression on his face.
“Uh, sure. Yeah, it’s pretty cool Iris.”
     Angi raised an eyebrow. What was wrong with Naden? There was no sign of a grin on his face. If she wasn’t mistaken, Angi thought that she might’ve even seen him shaking a little.
“Naden,” Angi started. Naden turned to her, one eyebrow raised. “Are you ok?”
He looked at Angi with a blank expression.
“Me?, Uh, yeah.”
      Angi stared at the blackness through the trees. It almost gave her goose bumps thinking about what kind of creatures could be in those shadows. What was beyond there and was it even visible? For all they knew, it could be city filled with friendly fellows who were willing to get them back home. But it seemed like no one lived around within miles. No cars drove by and besides the students, it was dead quiet. 

      Being officially creeped out, she pulled back and gave the others a worried look. There was something very strange about how they got here and she knew something was even stranger beyond those trees.

    Angi cleared her throat. "Hey guys, I know it may sound reckless and crazy and stupid but--"

"We should go into those woods? No way. You two go ahead, but not me," Naden said.

    Isis turned to Angi and frowned. "You want to, Angi? I mean, I'll go if you go..."

    Angi scowled at the two cowards and cowards. She thought they'd be excited. Sure a little scared, but mostly excited! This was their chance to make this whole trip a little interesting. She was so used to having a boring, dull life and this was the opprotunity to just follow the path.

     Being officially creeped out, she pulled back and gave the others a worried look. There was something very strange about how they got here and she knew something was even stranger beyond those trees.
Angi cleared her throat. "Hey guys, I know it may sound reckless and crazy and stupid but--"
"We should go into those woods? No way. You two go ahead, but not me," Naden said.
Iris turned to Angi and frowned. "You want to, Angi? I mean, I'll go if you go..."
     Angi scowled at the two cowards and cowards. She thought they'd be excited. Sure a little scared, but mostly excited! This was their chance to make this whole trip a little interesting. She was so used to having a boring, dull life and this was the opportunity to just follow the path.
     Roughly, she took a hold of Isis and Naden’s wrist. They tried pulling away from her, but it was no use. She had a good grip on their skin.
“Damn! Uh, Angi do you want to let go of me?” Naden exclaimed.
“No, I don’t. Come on guys! I promise this will be fun.”
    With one swift powerful force, Angi kicked down the skinny trees pulled Naden and Iris along the hidden path. Behind her, they walked slowly and continuously groaned. They stepped on decayed leaves and tree branches. Because of all the trees, there wasn’t much snow falling down. The further they went the more confusing everything got. There were so many different pathways. Angi had no intention of going this far and she really didn’t know how far they had actually gone. There had been silence between the three until Iris smacked her head on a tree branch.
“Ouch!” she yelled, slipping backwards into Naden.
     He tried to catch her but fell back onto the ground, hitting his head on a rock. Angi looked back at her clumsy companions and quickly ran over to help them up. She took their cold hands and pulled them to their feet.
“Hey guys, are you okay?” she asked, in a concerned tone.
“No! Where are we, Angi? You promised this would be fun but I’m not having fun. I’m tired and hungry,” Naden complained.
Iris nodded. “Yeah, I mean, what time is it? I haven’t had food in forever!”
 

Author's Note

I started this story a while ago and plan on continuing.

Reviews

[nostal]

I liked it.