The Forgotten Library

Chapter 1 - Field Trip

Hey everyone! Thank you for stopping by. I'm really excited to share this story with you all. If you have extra time and have any comments or critiques please leave them down below!

What would you do if you were tasked with saving the entire universe alongside four total strangers? It's a loaded question, so I'll give you time to think about it.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Carson James. I am fifteen years old, and I just started my sophomore year of high school. My hair is bright red and curly beyond belief. I have dark brown eyes with little flecks of light around my pupils.

Unfortunately for me, I stick out like a sore thumb in the small Nevada town called Eseroh. Official population: 3,653. At least, that's what it was before my family moved to town. Both of my parents found jobs working for the school district. My dad works in IT and my mom is a math teacher at the elementary school. Gerald, my little brother, is in seventh grade. He's a huge brat so I avoid talking about him.

Have you come up with an answer yet? If not, it's okay. I'm going to tell you what I did and how I made some of the best friends (and worst enemies) anybody could ask for.

The first day of shenanigans started off normally. My mom woke Gerald and I up super early for school, fed us waffles from the toaster, and made sure we had our homework before shuffling us out the door. We're usually the first students there. My mom likes getting her lessons ready for the day before her students arrive.

I decided to head over to the high school rather than stay in my mom's classroom like I usually did. My AP biology class was going on a tour of a cavern in a nearby town. This was the first field trip of the year, and I was ecstatic. My old school never had field trips of any kind, especially not during the second week of class.

When I got there, the bus was already parked outside of the school. It was one of the yellow busses with the school's name printed in big, black letters over the side. My biology teacher, Mrs. Cameron, stood on the sidewalk talking to the bus driver. She was one of the youngest teachers at our school and definitely the prettiest. She had shoulder length blonde hair that always looked shiny and smooth. Today she was wearing blue jeans and a green polo with our school's name embroidered on it.

I looked down at my own outfit: a black graphic tee with my favorite Marvel superheroes on it, khaki cargo pants, and a pair of black hiking boots. My mom bought them specifically for this occasion. I hadn't worn them in yet, which I knew would make my feet ache by the end of the day.

"Good morning, Carson." Mrs. Cameron said. Her voice was chipper and shrill.

"Morning." I gave her a half-assed smile.

Her bubbly attitude waned. "We won't be leaving for another thirty minutes, but you can go ahead and get on the bus if you'd like."

I nodded in response then headed up the stairs. The first thing I noticed about the bus was the faint scent of must, faux leather, and cleaning solution. I hoped that we could have at least ridden on a nice charter bus. Oh well.

I chose a seat near the front as my first line of defense against anyone sitting next to me. In my experience, kids preferred to sit at the back of the bus. It was far enough away from the teachers so they could get away with doing things they weren't supposed to.

As my second line of defense, I pulled my headphones from my pocket. What kind of music does someone like me listen to, you may wonder? Well, this may come as a shock, but my favorite genre is alternative rock. Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The White Stripes, Foo Fighters, Muse, Linkin Park, the list goes on and on. The first song that came on my shuffle was Numb. Rather than skip past it for something more upbeat, I left it. I could go with broody today. I settled into my chair and waited.