Karnak's Reality of Death

3. Constance

Penny didn't come to class, today. It kinda sucked. Ocean spent the whole night spamming me about how it was all her fault and how bad of a friend she was. I tried to comfort her, but she didn't calm down easily. Now, I couldn't say anything to make her feel better. She was really anxious. I knew, because when something really pressured her, she ate her pencils. Not chewed, ate. She always had a sacrificial pencil in her pencil case. I've never seen her eat it in another context than before a big test.

"Ocean, do we have a test soon ?" I asked. "You're eating Jerry again"

"Yes Constance, our friend died and we forgot about her and now she doesn't come to class now but I am worried about a test, of course" she fumed between her tooth. "But yes, we have a math test, in the next class"

Oh crap.

"Mischa and Noel are screwed... They don't understand the concept of unanimousity. You said it, that's why they suck at maths !"

"You think it's the moment to joke, Constance ??"

"Shush, you two !" yelped Mrs. Dorth, deseperately trying to teach a still half asleep class about light reflection in different spaces.

"What I mean, Ocean, is that there were more to this ride than 'we died'. Yeah, it sucked, but we came back. We laughed a lot, and bonded ! And if we learnt something during this time, it's that we can't ignore the good time we have, and our experiences."

"Thank you very much Constance for the lecture, but I'm trying to listen to the one about physics"

Yuck. I was trying to help, and this is what I got in return. I tried to calm down. I knew Ocean had her pride. She wouldn't admit it, but I knew she listened to me. I noticed that she wasn't even listening to the lesson anymore. A normal person would have said that they saw it in her eyes but... I saw it in how she was eating Jerry the Pencil. Ocean got real good to hide what she was thinking or doing with her body language. But I know that you can't hide all your body language, so I had to learn her inconcious movements.

Surprisingly, I took the Cyclone accident pretty well. I mean, what is tragic about death, is that it's definitive. Ours wasn't, so did we really die ? I'll ask Mr. Philosophy later. And with Karnak, we had a pretty good time. I mean, Noel and Mischa kissed ! Since the time we were all waiting for it ! I mean, it was obvious that Noel had a crush on Mischa since he saw him. The only person stupid enough to not notice it is Mischa. And maybe Noel too. But I heard Karnak : "don't bore us, get to the chorus. But I assure you : your will is your own". HE SPOKE FACTS ! Now, I wait for them to connect the dots. It's funny, in death, I spent most of my time thinking about my life, and now, in life, I was spending most of my time thinking of my death.

When I came home, the day before, I wanted to jump into my parents' arms, beacause I was so sad of leaving them. But I simply couldn't, it would have been too weird (even from me). So I satisfied myself with listening to them (for once). It felt awful, like a false start, like making a sweet cake that you crave, but you run out of sugar, and your cake just ends up bitter and disappointing. I almost cried of frustration. I really wanted to show them I loved them.

"psst, Ricky !"

Mischa's voice woke me out of my sad thoughts. Mrs Dorth looked at Misch with a hostile air, but sighed and gave up on him. Most teachers have. I turned to Mischa. He wasn't talking to me, but I'm always up for tea. Mischa had a book on his laps. He moved his hands to Ricky and made a bunch of weird signs. Ricky seemed to be in complete shock, and signed back. Mischa turned pages, mumbling something, and finally signed again. All the class was confused about it. And then it hit me.

"Oh my God, Mischa, you learned ASL ?" gasped Noel.

Dammit, Noel, I was gonna say that.

"And you thought it was the appropriate moment make your little show, Mr. Bachinsky ?" barked Mrs. Dorth.