Vanishing Into The Elements
Chapter 1

I woke with a startle, body shivering from the lack of blanket on me. Across the room slept my brother, and like per usual, was still asleep and not bothered by the alarm from the clock. Smacking it off, I groaned. I didn’t like school, but my parents insisted on making me go. Slowly, I leaned upwards, and grabbed my glasses. Slipping out of bed, I made my way to my dresser, grabbed my clothes, and opened the bedroom door.

The floorboards groaned and squeaked with each step, and I opened the door to the bathroom. I slowly closed the door and sighed. The clock on the wall read 5:36. Opening the shower door, I started the water, since the water took too long to heat up. The closet next to the rusty, old shower held the towels. Grabbing one, I set it on the hanger next to the shower door. I checked the water and it was warmer than it was.

Undressing, I threw my clothes in the the hopper and took a step in the shower. By then, it was clearly warm. I did my usual, shampoo and conditioner, wash my body, and use my acne cleanser. Soon, I was grabbing my towel and drying myself. I wrapped the towel around my body after squeezing out my hair. Tiptoeing, I looked into the mirror, and breathed heavily.

Changing into my clothes, which were a plain green shirt and regular blue jeans, I towel-wrapped my hair. Opening the door, I breathed out a breath of relief. Breakfast was being made and it was nearly 6am. Soon, I was walking down to the kitchen and sat down at my bar stool, eating my waffle.

“Mom. Have you seen Amanda around? You know, the half-emo one?” I asked with food in my mouth.

“Who, sweetie?” She responded and looked towards me and took my plate.

“Amanda Day.”

My mom pondered and spoke softly, “She was here when you were taking a shower, so I let her in, so my guess would be is that she’s with your brother.”

I sighed, “Thanks. I suppose that’s a good of a guess I will get.”

I almost spoke for dad, but then stopped. He wasn’t home. He never was. Always up early and home late, and it almost seemed as if he had a double job. Mom claimed he didn’t, but she was hiding something for me, or she genuinely didn’t know. Slowly, I got up and walked down the hallway and took a right into my bedroom, where sure enough, Amanda was there.

“Hi Jace and Amanda. Jace go get ready, and are you ready Manda?” I spoke when I entered.

“Yeah, go on Jace. You don’t want an angry Heather!” Amanda roared playfully.

Although she was half emo, she never showed her non-emo side often. And when she did, it was here or at home alone. Smiling, Jace walked past me. He was tall for a 6 year old, but dad and mom are tall, so of course he would be. Amanda stood up, grabbed her bags, and came running at me. I started to run and I made it to the door until we stopped.

“How is your old man doing these days?” Amanda asked as I put on the boots with the fur on the inside.

“You know the answer already. Who are we walking with today, since it’s a Monday.” I responded, smiling as I put on the last boot.

“Looks like Janus Woods. You know you you’ve always wanted to walk with him, since he’s the new guy from Miami.”

“Why would he move up to here, all the way from Florida to Montana?”

“I don’t know, but there’s gotta be a reason. Maybe he doesn’t like all the grandparents down there.”

Grabbing my coat, I nodded. My mother watched my every step and I waved goodbye to her. Amanda opened the door and welcomed the cold as if it was a blessing. How could she love the winter? I personally loved spring, but maybe she likes to build a snowman with her brother, who is going off to college soon, or so I’ve heard.

“Where does he live anyways? His last name sounds like he would live in one of the backroad wooded areas.” Amanda asked as we walked further from the warm comfort of the house.

“I don’t know, but you know when you live in the sub-sub-suburbs, there’s not many people. And that they don’t provide buses out here anymore, ever since that one dude in his rusty truck hit a bus, killing half of the kids on it.”

“Wait, it killed half of the kids. I thought it was a quarter.”

“Was it a quarter? I don’t even know. Wait, do you see that guy down there?” Amanda questioned, pointing down the way.

“Yeah. Is that the new kid?”

“Maybe. Let’s go and see, but then again, maybe his is a killer.” Amanda made a face, causing me to laugh.

The snow on the ground began to pile, but that didn’t stop us from getting to the man down the street. Behind us, we left awkward footsteps and piles of snow from the last step. But what intrigued me was that the man turned and came walking up to us.

“Are you sure that’s him?” I asked, and Amanda nodded.

“Janus? Is that you?” Amanda yelled, and the man nodded firmly.

“Yeah. Who else would it be.” Dang, his accent was sharp.

“Well, Mr. Woods, would you like to walk with us to school. It’s kinda far, but heck, why not.” Amanda, who was blushing, asked.

“Sure, since I don’t know the route. Where are the buses? The cars filling the streets?” Janus questioned, and I looked at him.

“Buses, buses, buses. They stopped using them after ‘The Incident’. If you ask around town, you will get your answers, but differently formatted. For the traffic, I don’t know what that is. There is only about a thousand or less, give or take, people in this city.” I spoke while Amanda hid behind her books.

Janus smiled and spoke softly into Amanda’s ear, causing her to squeal. Smiling, I turned my head down the snow and slowly back up at them. They kept whispering to each other, and I have thought of many ship names for them. Ones like Jamanda, Janda, and Amanus.

“Are you done, lovebirds?” I asked after a little bit, the school coming into view.

They both stared at me and laughed. I started to blush, and turned my head away quickly, trying to hide myself blushing, When a car drove by, they were the ones near the road, and they had gotten hit by cold snow and mushy slush. I walked across the street and entered the school.

The warmth was inviting, but it seemed as if no one was alive. Sure, this city had less than a thousand people in it, but only a quarter of it was children. This small town I live in is nothing more than a small settlement that grew only a few times bigger. Janus and Amanda were looking into each other’s eyes, well, until I almost slipped on the wet floor.

“You okay?” Janus asked, holding my arm.

“Yeah. Hey, did you get your schedule?” I asked, letting him let go and wiping the coat for some odd reason.

“Oh, shoot. Your right. Amanda, see you later, and you too, Amanda’s friend.” He started to jog towards the office while we headed to the cafeteria.

“Shut it. Say a word about it and you’re dead.” Amanda warned, but finally gave in to a smile.

“I know you like him, but it’s a new guy every week. Also, why didn’t you tell him my name?”

“Kinda forgot about you. Sorry, girlfriend. Hey, look! There’s Cassie Goodrich and Edward Dike. Do you think they know us?”

“Dunno. I doubt it, since they are always crowded by most of the school. Besides, Janus is going to be a spotlight for a day or two, and then it will be back to normal.”

We walked across the cafeteria and into the 10th grade hallway, where I was taking honors classes with Amanda, who seemed smart, but never acted smart. Looking to the locker numbers, I read the number 216 and walked up to it. Turning the combination of 15, 24, 0, I unlocked it and dropped off my bookbag, coat, and grabbed my Trig book.

Amanda’s locker was right next to mine, and she grabbed everything. For a student like her, she takes a lot in and gets it all done in a considerable amount of time. The math assignments only take a period for her, but History takes a little longer. She looked up and saw me staring. She started a slight smile, but it soon turned into a laugh.

“Hey Amanda, hey Heather. Apparently my locker is near yours, so yeah.” Janus appeared from out of the blue.

“What locker number?” I asked, wondering if the school was beginning to fill up.

“220. Do I have to share or not?”

“Shouldn’t have to. Me and Amanda are the only ones at this locker set for the most part.”

He sighed and looked at the locker numbers. I followed his movements while talking to Amanda, who was asking for help carrying some book. Grabbing it, I looked her in the eyes and started to laugh over a joke that she had made yesterday.

“Why are you laughing?” She asked as we started walking down the hallway and to our first hour class.

“You know the joke you made yesterday about the squirrel who keeps picking up the leaves and putting them on the tree? I just saw it as we walked through the cafeteria.”

“Oh. Come on. I just want to get this Trig class over with.”