(Ronan's POV)
I sat in the bus staring aimlessly outside the window while listening to my music.
For quite some time now I've been feeling a bit weird, I can't quite put my finger on it but I've been feeling rushed.
"Stop stressing Ronan, you're only 14."
I said while trying to lighten the mood by changing the music.
My headphones suddenly died.
I let out an annoyed groan, attracting some stares.
"Any problem?"
I looked over at Karl and shook my head.
"No," I sighed, "my headphones just died."
"Okay then," he said, turning back to his phone screen.
"He's probably talking to his girl or something, not that I'm jealous or anything," I thought to myself while scrolling through my chats that looked like an ancient mailbox forgotten for centuries.
"No messages. How nice," I muttered under my breath as I kept scrolling through my phone.
"Oh, this one left me on read."
I chuckled slightly at the fact that I was being ignored.
I closed the app and decided to play some games.
---
As we sat quietly minding our own business in the bus, I couldn't help but wonder how I would do in the upcoming trials the following week.
We already awakened all our powers by the age of five, but had been restricted to only being able to meditate and sense certain signatures of energy around us due to our bodies not being strong enough.
Now we were old enough to unlock our grants, and I truly hoped I'd get something worthwhile.
I glanced over at Karl.
There was a hint of jealousy in my heart.
He got all the girls.
He was smart.
His family was comfortable.
Everything about him was so awe-inspiring.
And then you had me.
I didn't get any girls, which was surprising enough 'cause I was considered attractive — to the extent of people considering me more attractive than Karl — but that was all I had.
A pretty face and a born athlete.
That was all I had to show.
Karl had that too... and so much more.
"What a nice life you're living, Ronan," I muttered to myself again.
I prayed that I at least passed the trials.
My parents were loving people, but I could see the stress of taking care of me and my sister becoming more evident on them.
We were comfortable, but with the sudden spike in inflation, a lot of things have caused challenges for the family.
---
I looked outside again.
"That's strange," I thought, narrowing my eyes like it would give me a clearer view of what I was looking at.
Everything looked normal... but was out of place.
The buildings were there, but the sky wasn't blue — it was grey.
I looked up — and the birds were static.
Almost as if time had stopped.
I looked back at everyone in the bus — they were all normal.
I heaved a sigh of relief.
"I thought I was running mad for a second there," I thought to myself.
I looked outside the window.
This time, everything was normal.
But I wasn't.
I sat there, frozen in terror.
Outside my window, a rotting head hung upside down.
---
Alive.
And smiling.
It wasn't a smile I would like to ever remember.
It wasn't a kind smile.
It was a smile that knew too much.
I couldn't scream.
I couldn't fight.
I just sat there — frozen, mute, weak...
---
I was jolted out of my trance by Karl.
"This is our stop Ronan, let's go."
"Ok," I replied while getting up in a haste.
Before leaving the bus, I took one last good look at the window.
It was as if nothing was there.
"Yo Karl, did you see anything weird outside the window?"
Karl gave me a confused look.
"No, why?"
"Nevermind," I replied while taking in the beautiful scenery of the countryside.
We walked for what felt like five minutes or so.
"It's probably all the chicken you've been eating, you still ate some on the bus, maybe that's why you're seeing things."
I looked at Karl with a jokingly offended face while he laughed hysterically at his joke.
He laughed so much he started tearing up.
I started laughing too.
"What's wrong with you, Ronan, he's your best friend, no need to be jealous," I thought to myself while we kept walking.