Waiting for Amber Skyy

Chapter 39

I felt like I was going to throw up. The unsteady ride and close-knit quarters wasn't helping my claustrophobia, not to mention those kids talking about my brother and his family. Speck held my hand as we turned onto the main road, where the land was glorious and green. There were long spurts of trees and wide, open pastures with clusters of cows that mooed at each other. But the more I tried to admire it like Speck was, the more I wanted to collapse.

They were there, at the very same school.

How long were they there? How did they get there? How did they apply? Did they have help? Why did they go there? They were on the run, living on their own, why would they go to school? I thought of my parents and wondered if they were telling me the whole truth. Did they foster them before they took off? Or was it somebody else? Who would allow six winged kids to join their curriculum? I thought of what the kids said. What happened? How did they "ruin the school"? Did Erasers come? Did ITex find them? They escaped, but what about the others there? They knew about their wings... did they know the entire time? Or not until they fled? I glanced up at the back of the kid's head in front of me, realizing what it all meant. It had to be the school, or the teachers inside it, that ratted them out. My blood went cold, causing me to hold my arms to keep from shivering. It wasn't safe. The school wasn't safe. I couldn't walk through those doors.

"Whoa," I heard somebody say.

I blinked and looked up to see a line of cars stacked in front of us. The driver honked in disgust and ran a hand over his barely bald head. I heard him curse under his breath. I glanced down the aisle to see him pull out his phone to contact the school. Conversations finally changed to focus on the traffic we were in. I was confused. Was this not normal? I would think that even living in the suburbs there would be at least some traffic in the mornings. But apparently it wasn't.

Speck leaned over me to ask the girl across from us, "Hey, what's going on?"

The girl looked her up and down before shrugging, peering towards the front to watch the cars.

Speck gazed up at me, and I could tell that she was thinking the same thing.

Something was wrong.

Other kids in the bus started standing up and trying to stick their heads out the windows to see how long the backup was. The bus had slowed to a crawl, then to a stop, and added to the symphony of car horns around us. Kids pulled out their cell phones, calling up their parents and family about what was going on. Most hoped that they would miss the first day back, others were concerned about what was holding them up.

"Oh come on," I heard Brandon groan from outside his window up front. He was halfway out of it and trying to see the front of the line. He slid partly back into the bus, "It looks like it's a rollover accident. Big rig."

With that, the decibels doubled with disappointment in the bus. Kids threw their hands up in the air, shouting and trying to talk to their parents over the phone. Brandon went back to staring out the window, and Tess huffed and went back to her seat, trying to convince Brandon to get back inside before he fell out. The girl next to us was focused on texting, and Speck was staring out the window, her hand still in mine. She squeezed hard and again looked up at me. My heart was racing. I couldn't stay in this bus for too long. The over-anxious kids shouting, the cars honking, the cells ringing in different tones – I covered my ears and hunched over, my breathing rapid.

BOOM!

The whole bus shook and kids screamed as they tumbled and crashed onto the floor. I instinctively grabbed Speck as she bounced against the wall and into me. My back connected with the floor and my wings, pain shooting through the bones. With Speck in my arms and the screams quieting, I thought we were fine. I shakily freed Speck and she sat up and stood, staring around to see any damage. But as I got up, trying to not extend my sore wings, there didn't seem to be any. Kids were strewn about the bus, some crying from hitting their heads and a couple unconscious. Brandon was still halfway out the window with his arms dangling. The driver's head was against the wheel, also unconscious as Tess cautiously walked up to check his pulse. She let out a shaky sigh before somebody screamed and pointed towards the accident. I put the window down and poked my head outside.