Darker

Four Friends

"Ms. Withers, this is the fifth time you have been late for class, I will take no more of this." I was screamed at by Mrs. Jude as I stormed into the classroom, rushing to class, just barely missing the bell.

I walk over to my usual seat, which was taken by Jason, the new guy who thinks he's all that.

"Jay, you're in my seat," I explain to him in an annoyed manner. "Please, move."

"Don't see your name on it." He replies cockily.

I push his bag over slightly, revealing a crappy carving "Check again, douchebag." I reply, knowing my name was carved into it.

"Too bad, I was here first, sweet cheeks"

"The name's Julie." I reply angrily and take Richie's seat.

Ricardo Montiar was a very quiet person. He was almost always out sick with some sort of mental illness, weather it be memory loss, depression, or small shit like anxiety, he was always "sick". Whenever he was in school (what few days that was), he sat in the back of the room, quiet. I felt bad for Richie over the years, and it seemed that the biggest mental issue of his, the memory loss, was becoming worse. He began forgetting his best friend. The same best friend who he has loved dearly. The same best friend who he has had a "crush", not sure if that's what you can even call it, on for the longest of times. But that was the problem, his best friend, liked him back.

"Juliana! What's the square root of four-thousand-fifty-six?", I heard Mrs. Jude scream from the other side of the room.

"Sixty-five." I speak. "The same as your age.", I mumble.

"Sixty-five point two three." She argues.

Mrs. Jude was the calculus teacher. The teacher of the only course i didn't sign up for. My mother made me take cal, however I chose to take the "Advanced Algebra for Student Teachers", or AAST, course that the college building offered for seniors. The teachers at this school never really had any sort of liking towards me, although, Mr. Jen, the AAST course director, hadn't completely hated me, yet.

The bell finally rang after a gruesome hour of being asked the most retarded of mathematical equations. In the hall, walking towards my next class, which always seemed worse than mathematics with Mrs. "Rude", I noticed that Emily, the head of the school press, was issuing out the last paper of the month.

Emily was a nice person. She spoke softly, was extremely gorgeous, and was the girl everyone liked, including me.

"Hey Em! How was last night?" I asked, knowing she had spent the night at Elizabeth's house.

"Absolutely amazing." She replied.

"I bet. You look sleep deprived." I chuckle back, noticing how her hair wasn't quite as perfect as normal, and that she seemed tired.

"Oh, well fuck you!" She jokingly speaks.

"I don't think Liz would be happy if you did." I smile and take a paper from her.

"She'd probably join in, knowing how wild it got last night."

Emily and Elizabeth always had a thing for each other. It never seemed like it would go anywhere until Liz, Emily's now girlfriend, spoke up. Me and Richie made a bet on who would tell who first. It was surprising to both that it was Liz, however, because Liz never really seemed to like talking about crushes or at all really. She was always shyer than me, which is practically impossible. Or, at least she seemed that way.

I got to Ms. Erikson's classroom, only to see it was empty. "H-hello?" I call out. No reply. At least, that was until Mr. Kothe, the school principal entered the room.

"Mrs. Withers!" He spoke as if he was scared of me.

"Y-yes?" I replied.

"Congratulations! You and your friends have graduated."

"Sir, we still have over half a year left."

"Yes, but due to recent events, you four have officially graduated!"

"Recent events? Mr. Kothe, I have no clue what you're talking about." I reply nervously.

"Look, I wasn't supposed to tell you this, but you, Emily, Elizabeth, and Richardo are thought to be a danger to the school."

"A danger to the school? What do you mean?"

"Just... The school board is scared you may..."

"May what?" I say scared.

"You may discover something, something you may be inclined to act upon."

"What do you mean? What's going on?" I reply, even more scared and nervous than before.

"Look, this may be difficult for you to understand, or cope with even... But... You need to."

"Understand? Understand what?" I reply, scared out of my head.

"You're not normal. You.. you have special abilities. Abilities that no one else can understand."

"What do you mean?!"

"You, along with Ms. Roaher, Mr. Montiar, and Ms. Rhilley, are special. You four have inhuman abilities."

"This is a joke isn't it? HaHa! James? You can come out now! You got me."

"Julie, you're half NamidaNoHami, half witch."

"Half what?" I ask, knowing what he meant. "You're telling me that NamidaNoKami exist?!"

"And you are half one, yes."

NamidaNoKami is part of some Japanese lore. A NamidaNoKami directly translates to a "God of Tears". They are believed to have a life of depression and hatred. They live in small groups of two to four other gods, mostly Shinigami and other Namida. However, no one has ever seen a "half" Namida.

It wasn't the fact that the Japanese were right that makes me question, but the fact that I was part of it. Since half "gods" were very uncommon, it's extremely surprising that I would be one. Especially when I'm only twenty-five percent human. Everything was overwhelming, and to think that Richie could be a half Namida. Richie already has chronic depression, how could he possibly deal with that news? That was when I was told. When I was told that Richie... That Richie was a ghoul.