Bad Things can Happen

Nothing could have prepared Erik for what he saw when he rounded the last block from school to his house. Nothing, except for perhaps if his younger brother Timmy stopped whining for once, but even that couldn’t really have compared. It was something out of the apocalyptic TV shows he sometimes lazed out in front of when he was bored. Something Sci-fi, but certainly not something that would happen to him, not real, not true life, only it was.

He stopped abruptly and stood stalk still, his face turning from a flushed pink to a cold white within seconds, his mouth dropped open a little and then closed and opened again as if he were trying to get something out. He took a small, awkward step forward, off the sidewalk and onto the street, the cracked and ruined street, gawking at his block. Somewhere a car alarm blared aimlessly. The noise jolted back Erik’s voice, he gulped and let out a scream and then another. Screams of fear, worry and just complete surprise. Erik screamed again and then started stumbling forward, slowly picking up speed, towards his house was or at least where it’s blackened ruins lay…

Erik was awoken unpleasantly by his mom. He always was and it was always the same story, the school bus is leaving in 15 minutes if you don’t get up you’ll be late for school. The fact was he didn’t really care whether he was late for school or not, Erik would have much rather slept in, catch up on some badly needed rest. The stack of homework was piling up so high these days that he hardly ever got to sleep before midnight. But he loved his mom and didn’t want her to have to do extra work because of him, so he got up. It was just she had woken him in the middle of such a nice dream, a fantasy world for him, something he could only experience at night and even then it never seemed like he ever got to finish the dreams. They were all partial and incomplete in his mind.

In this particular one Erik had somehow brought up enough nerve to ask his crush out. Amazingly she had said yes and they had met after school for a movie and dinner. They had been sitting on the beach, holding hands and watching the sun set when Erik was torn back to reality.
Sighing Erik pulled back the tousled covers and proceeded to ready himself for the new day. And the day didn’t actually appear to be half bad. Outside a bright and happy sun had almost made its way over the horizon and it bathed Erik’s room in a warm glow as he drew up the shutters. This cheered him up a little, he had always loved the sun and to see it now gave him a little more courage. Unknown to him this day was going to try his courage to the limits and possibly beyond.

When Erik was dressed and about ready to head downstairs he was met with the mouth-watering fumes of his mom’s pancakes, eggs and bacon. May be today wasn’t going to be as horrible as he assumed, he thought.
"There you are sleepy head," Erik’s mom greeted him. "I was wondering when you’d finally get up, any longer and you wouldn’t have time to eat breakfast before the bus came. I’m assuming it was another long night?"
"Yeah," Erik mumbled, turning his attention to the plate of food in front of him. "Thanks for breakfast mom."

Ten minutes later he was waiting outside his house for the school bus finding himself childishly wishing it wouldn’t come. It wasn’t really school that he disliked, he enjoyed learning, it was the people at the school that got to him. And it wasn’t that he got teased or bullied a lot, Erik just didn’t have any friends. Everyone at Stanton High was so into the popularity thing and he could barely stand it, all his friends from elementary school had been pulled in during middle school and hadn’t come back out, so now in 9th grade Erik didn’t really want to hang out anymore with anyone he knew and he hadn’t had time to meet anybody else.

His life had really only started to turn upside down when his Dad had been enrolled in the military and shipped away over seas to fight in the terrible Middle East Wars. He had left almost two years ago and all Erik had heard from him since were the post cards and letters that came every other month or so. He wished there was something he could do to help end the wars, so no more people had to get hurt or killed and so he could see his dad again.

Erik suddenly started backwards in surprise. The school bus loomed, yellow and ominous in front of him, he’d dazed off. He quickly scooping up his backpack and climbed into the bus, hoping it hadn’t been waiting there for too long. He made his way back to his regular seat and pulled out a book of the fantasy genre and occupied himself with it until the bus reached the school.

The school day went by like any other. Erik grueled through English, turned in his algebra and science homework and ate a rather boring lunch. By the time it was 2:30 he was absolutely ready for the day to be over. He had three essays to write and a fair bit of challenging story problems to solve, it would probably be another late night.
Storm clouds had rolled in over the day and it was just starting to drizzle lightly. Outside Erik pulled up his hood, hunched his shoulders and started home. Since he was at the end of the buses route there was no real point in riding it because he could get home faster walking than he could on the bus. As he neared his block the rain slowly progressed into a harder more steady shower. His coat was starting to soak through and the air temperature was dropping to a cooler degrees. It was amazing how fast a perfect beautiful day could change into something like this, Erik thought as he shivered underneath his two measly layers.