Salmon & Fries

Chapter 2

I remember everything about that day when it happened, before it happened. The bus driver rammed the brakes. Rammed them as hard as he could. So hard, that the bus froze into place. All the kids and teachers flew off their seats. Some kids banged their heads on the metal rod of the seats in front of them. Both of us almost flew over our seat but the saddest part was seeing the lunchbox lay upside down on the bus floor. All of the delicious nerve tingling creation, wasted. It was the saddest thing until I saw Salmon's forehead bleeding, and blood all wiped at the window. I saw him frown with pain and agony. All I could hear was his groaning cusses. I tried to help but both of my hands were dirty from the food, oh I wish I knew how to eat chicken with one hand. The image of him bleeding and his groans kept looping in my mind. All I could see and hear was an injured boy cussing the driver. Everything else had stopped. My heartbeat had risen and my stomach had sunk. I started feeling my ears go warm but not before I saw a truck grow large behind Salmon. Larger and larger, with every second. I blacked out. I don't remember what happened next. I don't remember. I had blacked out. I remember nothing but just a faint vision that left me scarred. I had somehow opened my eyes just to see the whole bus floor covered in blood and an arm squished in between the window railing. I'm sure I fainted again at that moment. I don't remember anything, just this gruesome scene. I wish I hadn't gained consciousness for those few seconds. Why the fuck. A fucking hand torn off a fucking body stuck in a fucking window grill. The blood. The smell, I don't know what happened next.

I gained consciousness with a startle. I slowly began to feel my eyes under my eyelids and my shoulders and my legs and then my head. I thought I was still stuck in the bus turned slaughterhouse, but to my surprise, I woke up on my own bed. In my own room. The floors clean and no blood. I could not believe it. Everything was just a fucking dream. I could not believe it. I was too tired to even think, my body hurt and it felt like being tied to weights. I gathered all of my might and somehow got out of my bed. It was all blurry. I tried focusing on the clock and after a lot of squinting, the time read 3:43 pm. I rushed out of my room to find Salmon and saw him sitting on the sofa in the living room. "What are you doing here?", I asked in sleepy nasal whisper as I walked sloppily towards him. He giggled. Because that's what he did. To every question, no matter how lame or serious, his first response would be a chuckle or a giggle. I asked him again and he said that he was here to see me. See me? Like that was a valid reason for Mom to let him in. But she had. Because he was sitting there. Looking at me, smiling, his eyes all squinted again. Salmon was that white skinned boy who'd go red after standing in the sun during the morning assembly. Whose hair turned brown under the sun. The guy, whose smile was just absurdly satisfying. He was like milk chocolate, although I never dared to say to him because I didn't want to create disturbances between our friendship. Seeing him felt different today, something about him was different. Before I could think any further, he got up and asked me, "Shall we?"
"Where?"
"Outside"
"I'm not a one word question, dumbass. Tell me where."