WARNING: THIS STORY HAS D3ATH, MENTIONS OF MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS, AND JUST DOWNRIGHT CREEPY STUFF suggested age range: 13+ (see that it says SUGGESTED, SUGGESTED) so dont report me you’ve been warned Chapter Two: Newcomer August 17th, 1997 “Lily, you’re gonna be late,” Flint said, pulling on his shoes. “Second grade is important; you said it yourself.” “I’m coming, I’m coming!” She called, running down the hallway. She was short, maybe four feet and two inches. “Jeez, Flint, chill out.” “…Sorry…?” “It’s okay, I forgive you!” “….Thanks, Lily..” Lily pulled on her pink sneakers, strapping up the velcro on them before hoisting her little backpack onto her shoulders. Flint stuck his head in the kitchen, seeing his foster parents sitting at the table. “See you after school, Mr. and Mrs. Donaldson. I can pick up groceries when I get home.” “That’d be great, thank you Flint.” His foster dad said, smiling. “Please call us Jay and Connie.” Flint nodded, before heading out the front door, Lily’s small hand in his own. She smiled for a little bit as they walked down the street, but then her smiles faded, her young face turning worried. “What’s wrong?” Flint asked. Lily was silent for a moment. “…What if I don’t make any friends?” She said quietly. Flint’s eyes softened. “You’ll make friends, don’t worry. It’s the first day of school, even if you don’t today, there’s always tomorrow.” “I guess…” Silence for a long while. Then, Lily spoke. “I think the neighbors have kids our age’s…” “Really? Been spying on the neighbors?” “No!” She looked up at him with an expression of mortification. “I just saw them outside the other day.” “Well, go be friends.” “Maybe I will!” “Good.” Flint’s hand had a little yellow sunflower Lily had drawn on it yesterday. She patted it with her other hand. “When am I gonna be in high school like you?” “I just started, Lily. But you have a while to go.” She sighed loudly. “Ughhh…” They’d approached the schools. All three of them— the elementary school, middle school, and high school— were all next to each other. “Ok, Lily. Have fun and be safe.” Flint said as she hugged him. “Ok!” She said, walking towards the elementary school’s doors. She was immediately greeted by two girls her age, and Flint vaguely heard them say a compliment about her curly hair, and all three of them walked into the school. Flint smiled. At least she’d made friends already. He turned around, his smile dropping into his usual dead expression. He wished he hadn’t had to move here. A lot of the time, his mind just… went blank. One moment he was outside the school, the next he was blinking in his first-period classroom, the teacher’s voice already droning in the background. It was like everything just suddenly changed, and he couldn’t remember how he got where he was. Like everything was dark and then bright. He tapped his index finger silently against his knee, over and over. ‘One, Two, Three, Four, Five-‘. Over and over. He listened to what the teacher was saying as best as he could, though it was so boring and meaningless that he didn’t try very hard. He saw the edges of his vision blurring then blacking out. ‘Uh oh..’ He thought. And the next thing he knew, he and Lily were walking back home. “…and then I painted a picture of a butterfly on a sunflower during free time and Ms. Jaron put it up on the wall!” She looked up at Flint. “What did you do?” She asked, smiling. Flint blinked slowly. “Uh-..boring stuff.. The teachers mostly talked.” He wasn’t entirely sure if that was true, but he guessed it was. Either way, if they’d done some sort of work he must’ve done it, because he had a binder in one of his hands, already filling with papers. Lily frowned. “Ew, that sounds bad.” “Still wanna go to high school?” “Nope!” Flint felt his hands shaking slightly. Lily, thankfully, didn’t notice, and continued with her story. They arrived home shortly after, Lily running into the house, dropping her backpack in her room, then running back outside to play with the neighbors she’d been talking about earlier. He guessed she’d talked to them at school already. Flint saw Jay, his foster dad, sitting at his desk. “Uh- I’ll go get you guys groceries in a few minutes.” Flint said. Jay nodded. “Thanks a bunch, Flint. The money’s on the counter.”
Flint dropped his own bag in his room. He stood still for a moment, before opening a zipper in his bag, pulling out a small, orange-tinted bottle. He shook out two of the small, white tablets inside and downed them without any water. It was uncomfortable, but he’d done it a bunch of times. For his stupid brain to slow down for a few hours. That's the only reason. Though he’d get these from over-the-counter pharmacies that sold to anyone with enough money. He went back downstairs, taking the money off the counter and heading to the grocery store. Yet again his memory just…vanished. The pills didn’t help with that. They just slowed down his thoughts so that his usual, constant headache would be lesser. He had a bag in his arms, full of the food on the list Jay had given him. Inside the bag he’d put the extra money he hadn’t used. Jay had told him to get something for himself earlier, but he didn’t. He still felt like a stranger, and strangers didn’t use other strangers' money. He found himself standing still down, on the edge of the road, staring at a dead bird in front of him. It looked like a crow. That was weird, they usually never got hit. It must’ve ran into a car windshield while it was flying, and broken its neck. He didn’t know how long he stared at the crow. A minute? Two? Three? Someone tapped his shoulder. His head snapped up. A guy his age stood next to him, maybe two inches shorter than Flint. “Heh, sorry..” The guy grinned. “You just-.. you were starin’ at that bird for a while and I didn’t know if you’d gone into shock or..” “Oh- sorry,” Flint said, mustering up a smile. “I mean, it’s not like it affected me, I just wanted to know if you were ok. Oh sorry, I should say who I am so I’m not just some- random weirdo.” He smiled. “I’m Kasey.” “Flint. Nice to meet you.” Flint said, returning the smile. “I know you actually! Well, I don't know you but I saw you at school today and yesterday, we have a few classes together.” “Oh, really? I uh- didn’t really pay much attention in the classes today…” “Me either, hah! I just kinda sat there like a loser because I don’t know anyone.” “Seriously?” “I just moved here in July.” “You’ve been here longer than me,” Flint laughed. “Me and my sister have been here for like- three or four weeks.” Kasey grinned. “Well then, we’re both the new kids. Guess that makes us officially not-locals together.” “Yeah, though I think my sister’s settling in fine, she already made friends with a kid next door to our house.” “Oh no way, so did my brother!….What house do you live in?” Flint pointed across the street at his foster parents house. “That one.” Kasey pointed to the one directly next to it. Lily was playing with a boy her age outside of it. “That one’s mine.” So they were neighbors, and neither of them had noticed. They both laughed a bit. “Well that's cool.” Kasey said. Flint nodded. He didn’t expect this to last. Why would it? They’d make small talk, and go into their houses and never speak again. Flint was too… scatterbrained to approach someone for the second time, knowing if they didn’t want to talk it’d be awkward for everyone. It was nice, even for a moment, not to feel so alone. Kasey smiled at him. “I prolly’ need to go now, but I’ll see you tomorrow at school? So we’re both not so loser-y?” Flint paused. This was new. Really new. “…Yeah,” he answered, nodding. Kasey smiled again, waved and said “See you tomorrow!” Before heading inside his house. Flint stood in front of his own, the groceries still in his arms. ‘I guess I have a friend now.’ He thought. He smiled to himself. For once, he didn’t even have a headache. writing: pandasans765 story: pandasans765 characters: pandasans765 og idea: pandasans765 art: pandasans766 song: earrings by malcolm todd all chaps: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/52081754 y’all are lucky i even made a chapter cover
