Forever the Forgotten Name

Chapter 1 - Uranium

Penny Lamb isn't exactly the most normal kid in Uranium City. In fact, no one is. Adopted gangsters who join innocent clubs, straight-A students who are self righteous, yet Penny is still excluded from other groups for apparently being a lesbian. Despite all this, everyone in town, including Penny, knows that there's one thing for certain.

Uranium will never be the same, especially after September 14th. Six kids died in a freak accident while riding the Cyclone rollercoaster. Only one was unidentified, a Jane Doe. They knew she was in the St. Cassian Chamber Choir — the choir from the same school Penny attends — along with the other kids. No parents came, and Father Marcus, the choir director, died shortly after the incident.

They put up posters everywhere in town, Our Six Saints, with every single one of the kids' names on there: Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg, Noel Gruber, Mischa Bachinski, Ricky Potts, Constance Blackwood, and simply Jane Doe. It's been 19 years since the incident, yet the posters are still there, and there's even an annual memorial for the kids.

Penny entered the Fat Man Cafe, slouching. There was nothing except for a few mumbles here and there almost drowned out by the quiet music playing. About the entire cafe felt dark and gloomy, but the sunlight dominated most of it.

"Penny Lamb!" exclaimed Mich, the cafe worker. "I haven't seen you in a while, what's happening?"

"It's only some tutoring stuff," Penny replied. "I'm starting to struggle with math a lot."

"I see." Mich then asked, "So, whaddya want?"

"I'll take the usual; a simple espresso."

Mich nodded before vacating the counter.

"Penny! Penny!" called out a voice. It was Hank, Penny's friend. He's the smartest person in school, but he is also a little wild. Penny watched him as he bursted through the door along with Astrid, his girlfriend, who is somewhat of a delinquent.

"What happened this time?" Penny asked.

"Penny— you won't believe this," Hank said, panting. "There's another rumor in school!"

"About who? Corey?" Penny quizzed sarcastically.

"No, no." Astrid added, "The rumors are about you."

"What?" Penny was taken aback. She knew she wasn't liked at school, and that there were already rumors of her supposedly being a lesbian despite not feeling any attraction towards anyone. Except this time, it felt off.

"Yeah," Hank began. "They're saying you had something to do with the Cyclone Coaster Freak Accident!"

"What!?" Penny turned around, noticing it was Mich who said that. He shakily set down the espresso on the counter. "That's blatant disrespect to those kids!"

"They say Penny was mastermind of accident," Astrid said.

"Mastermind?" Penny was confused. "I wasn't even alive back then."

"They probably said that because you're in choir," Mich muttered.

"That's still insane!" Hank exclaimed. "You shouldn't be saying that kind of stuff. What if one of them could hear us? Or they were actually reincarnated, and they remembered what happened? They would get upset."

"Reincarnation is too far," said the delinquent. "I know you mean, but they aren't reincarnating here."

"Right," Penny agreed warily. "They can't just reincarnate into me."

"No more reincarnating," Mich interrupted. "Anyways, you should get going. There's probably going to be rumors about both Astrid and Corey if someone passes by and hears."

"Okay!" Hank grabbed both Astrid and Penny's hands. "Bye Mich!" With that, he ran out of the cafe, dragging the girls along with him.

As they got outside, Penny looked up. The sun was shining, but the weather wasn't hot, neither was the sky blue. It was like a light gray, but it wasn't cloudy.

"What would they say if they caught us? Say we help Penny cover up?" Astrid scoffed.

"Yeah, that stuff's stupid," Penny added. "That doesn't even have anything to do with me."

"I don't know how they managed to come up with that," Hank commented.

Penny looked to her left, noticing the library. Quickly, she opened the door, heading inside.

"Where are you going?" questioned Astrid.

"I just remembered I have to go to the library for Ezra," Penny responded. "He told me of a book he really wanted."

"Alright," Hank said. "We'll be at Corey's if you need anything."

Penny nodded, closing the door. Again, the library was half empty, and only the front of the library was lit up by the sunlight; the lights inside were very dim.

Is there even such thing as reincarnation? Penny asked herself. She knew people believe in it, but she herself never thought to study it.

Penny wandered the aisles, searching for any books that mention the idea of reincarnation. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Penny found it: The Concept of Reincarnation. The name looked very boring, but the topic drawn Penny to it.

She took the book, heading to one of the computers as fast as she could. Penny then began to search for photos of the St. Cassian Chamber Choir altogether. As she was browsing through the photos, Penny noticed there was a sixth member; she had two chocolate brown braids, but her face was covered by a pink dolphin balloon.

Penny then looked at the uniform. It consisted of a blouse rather than a normal shirt. Suddenly, Penny realized who wore that exact uniform. Jane Doe did.