Aaron Bradbury's Story

Rain
"I'm walkin' on sunshine, oooh," a bright, cheery voice sang. "I'm walkin' on sunshine, and don't it feel good!" Rain was skipping along, singing at the top of her lungs. Where had she heard this song before? She kept singing, the question bouncing around in her head as she turned a corner and bumped into someone. She abruptly stopped singing, staring down at whatever creature had blocked her path. It was a small dog-like creature, but it's fur was bright blue. She smiled a bit. More creatures had inhabited her realm after her Dreamer had called it empty. Her smile dropped, now glaring at the creature in front of her. She remembered where the song had come from now. Her dreamer's world.

"River," she hissed the name, not in anger but as if saying it actually hurt her. Ever since the girl had stopped talking to her, nothing was right. Sending the dog a glare, she picked it up by the scruff of its neck and carried it to the edge of the hovering land. Her world had once seemed whole, but now was cracking and broken. Cliffs were everywhere, dropping off into nothingness. She didn't even know what was at the end of the nothing, if there was an end. The dog whimpered in her grip. Rain blinked, looking at the poor creature and the cliff, for a moment feeling horrified at her previous action. She had been about to toss the thing off. Why?

Startled, she took a step back, before remembering that the creature only existed because of River. And River was gone. How dare it stay when the reason for its existence had abandoned it? In a split second, the cold deadliness in Rain's eyes was back as she swung her arm and tossed the thing off into the abyss.

"Sayonara!" she yelled, her voice happy as every despite the coldness in her eyes. Feeling pleased, Rain wiped her hands off on her pants and went back to strolling through her land. She was bored now. Boredom wasn't right. Frowning, she tilted her head, looking around. Oh, I know! she thought, eyes widening. I can sing a song! That's always fun.
Without a second thought, Rain began to sing again, completely forgetting her actions in the past few minutes. "I'm walkin' on sunshine, oooh!"

~~~~~~
Nathan
Being at school on time wasn't really something he did anymore. So now, standing in the hallway, he wasn't sure what to do. Locker. That's where people usually go. He started to walk to where his locker was, before realizing he didn't remember what number it was. Even if he could just spot it by memory, he had no idea what the combination was. He hadn't used his locker all year.

"Wonderful..." he muttered, standing off to the side and out of the way of the mass of students roaming the halls. He still felt awkward. He considered just walking back out the way he came, but what good would that do? Sighing, he wandered off, trying to find something to occupy his time. When did classes start? There were a lot of students now, so it had to be soon. Hugging the wall, Nathan made his way to the school library. As expected, no one was there. Nathan actually sighed in relief after settling in a chair in the corner of the library, hiding away from the world. The librarian was no where in sight, and he'd rather keep it that way. While he was sure as hell used to being scolded, he liked to avoid it when possible.

Nathan leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. He wasn't even sure what he was doing anymore. He felt constantly numb and bored, yet did nothing to change it. It was like having a war inside him, one side demanding he do something and the other stopping him from even trying. Why was he even doing this anymore?

His thoughts drifted to his old group of friends, and how much they'd changed. He kind of missed them. No, he really missed them. But for some reason he couldn't bring himself to talk to them. Things felt different now than when he was younger. Nathan knew why, but he didn't want to think about it. Instead he wondered where the others were, what they might be doing. Sabrina was probably surrounded by people who adored her. Helena and River probably kept to themselves, like he did. He felt kind of bad for them though. While for the most part he had inflicted his solitude on himself, he was pretty sure that wasn't the case for them. Then there was Aaron, who seemed to be as goofy and bold as he used to be. Though Nathan did notice something was off with him whenever he saw him.

Frowning, Nathan realized he'd been paying a lot more attention to his old friends than he realized. He thought he'd ignored them completely, cutting them out of his life. But some part of him must still be attached, because he seemed to remember little things about them that he noticed without even realizing it.

Suddenly the bell rang, causing Nathan to look up from his slouched position and get up. For once, he was going to go to class on time.

River noticed Helena's excited wave, and a small barely visible smile touched her lips. Her hand rose up but then she stopped herself. She wasn't allowed to speak to Helena. She had to put away all things childish. River's hand dropped and she turned away as the bell rang.

CRASH!
Schizoid." laughed a group of kids, after they knocked River's books from her hands as she was making her way towards class. The tiny girl only reached down gathering her books in a neat pile as they teased her some more. "I heard she went nuts and killed a bunch of people, but couldn't remember any of it that's why they let her go." said a blonde girl with too much make up. "I heard she was kidnapped and killed the guy that did it." said boy with enough product in his hair to fill a hole in a dam.

River tried to ignore them as she gathered her books, clutching them closely to her chest. With her head down she tried to walk by them but they blocked her path.
"Hey, are you bulimic? You are skinny." said another girl, pinching River's arm.
River winced. "Please stop." She said quietly as she tried to maneuver out of the way.
"What's that, Psycho?" said the boy, pushing her back against her locker.
"Is that what the mental hospital gave you to wear?" said the blonde girl. "Because you must be crazy to wear something like that?" They all laughed.
River was dressed in a cream knit dress, that hung just below her knees, a long pink tank top underneath and her favorite brown riding boots. River was really skinny but not due to lack of eating, she just was. "Excuse me, I have to get to class." she whispered as another girl grabbed her hair. "Ew, Why is your hair all stringy, two words, Shampoo and Conditioner." They all laughed again. River pulled her head away, getting fidgety. An anxiety attack was well on it's way. She reached in to the messenger bag she wore and fumbled for her medication. "Oh, Psycho needs her meds!" Said another boy, bleach blonde. He snatched her bag from her and dug inside, finding the medication bottle. "Whoa, I can't even pronounced this." He laughed, the blonde girl grabbed the bottle from her. River started to panic. "I need those, please give them back!" she cried, tears and sweat brimming her eyes and moistening her cheeks. "If you can catch them!" The blonde girl shouted, and the began playing 'hot potato' with her medication. River whimpered, trying to catch the bottle, but to no avail. She didn't have time for this, this would throw her schedule off severely.