The Bringers of Chaos

Chapter 5 - Another problem

Beep, beep, beep.

Amelia groggily stopped her alarm, almost breaking her lamp in the process.

"8 am already?" Amelia groaned. Couldn't school start at like ten or eleven or something? She rubbed her throbbing eyes. Sleep hadn't come easy to her. It took at least five or so hours to even close her eyes for a second, and that had been ruined by her nightly bathroom trip. Couldn't her body just wait for a bit?

Reluctantly, she forced herself out of bed. Today was an important day. A horribly important day. The long awaited and detested science exam was today, and she had barely studied. Or slept. Or focused during class.

She was going to fail, wasn't she? Yep, she was definitely going to fail.

Amelia stepped into the painfully bright bathroom. Last night had been... eventful, to say the least. Being punched in the stomach wasn't on her to-do list, neither was missing school. Yesterday had been an 'emergency'. Her mother insisted she stay for her 'health' and 'mental well-being'. Since when did that matter?

I mean, I did faint. She thought to herself. Maybe that's why her mother was so worried about her...

Amelia grabbed her toothbrush and piled a huge blob of toothpaste on it. She brushed, finished and washed her face, trying to wake herself up. It failed. Now, her face was wet and freezing.

Spectacular.

She exited the bathroom and quickly put on a change of clothes along with a new pair of socks. Then, she grabbed her bag and marched downstairs, leaving the house as soon as she found her jacket and put on some shoes. She left immediately and closed the door before her mother could ask her if she wanted breakfast. The answer was a simple no.

She pulled out her phone and headphones, blasting mind-numbingly loud music while she thought. Somehow, she felt weird. Out of place. Wrong.

At first, it was just a tiny whisper, a tiny feeling like she somehow didn't belong.

It then started to get louder and louder, shouting at her, bellowing that she wasn't welcome here, that she wasn't meant to be here. She'd ignored it for a while, but the nagging feeling didn't stop. No. It just kept getting bigger and bigger.

The only thing she could do now was drown it out.

And so, she did. Listening to music was one of the things she did to help.

She reached the bus stop the second the bus arrived. The door shuddered open, and she stepped inside.

A panting Jessica and Robby arrived not long after. Amelia ignored them and made her way to the very back of the bus and sat down on the left-hand side.

She stared out the window, willing her mind to ignore the voice in her head.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder and jolted her out of her thoughts. She stopped the music and pulled off her headphones, hanging them loosely around her neck.

"Hey." It was Jessica. She gave a tiny wave before sitting down next to her. "How did you get here so quick?" She laughed a bit and smiled.

Amelia looked at her attentively. "I just got ready and left." Before Jessica could say anything, she plopped her headphones back on her head and started her song back up again, the voice still nagging at her conscious.

They reached school in about thirty minutes, dozens of kids now pooling out of the bus. She was the last one to leave, not wanting to be pushed and prodded around. The air was nice and cool and fresh, just how she liked it.

She started to make her way to the front of the school before being grabbed by one of her other acquaintances.

"Why do you always look so depressed?" Olivia asked. Well, her name wasn't really Olivia but that's what everyone, including Amelia, called her.