Everlasting #Wattys2018

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The wind thrashed in the air, blowing my hair with it. I stepped into school, shivering from the rain. I was soaking from head to toe, water dripping from my clothes and into puddles on the floor. Andi didn't look much different. The teacher smiled at us and dragged us to the room, giving us some spares (which were given by parents at the beginning of the year incase of accidents)

I rushed to class at the nick of time, the bell ringing. We had P.E with upper graders since the elementary Gym room is usually crowded. I looked around. Fourth graders were on the other side of the room, grouped with the second graders.

"Hey," Jaime said, looking up at me as I sat down next to him. I recoiled, his jaw was bruised and he had a large gash on his arm.

"What happened?" I asked.

"After sneaking around yesterday I went back home," he muttered.

I looked away. "What did you tell the teachers?"

"A bunch of lies,"

"Hey! You're with me," Dariel said, sitting down next to me, his eyes roamed Jaime. "Are you sure you don't need me to bandage it up-"

"I told you," Jaime said cooly. "Janet nursed enough,"

"I can fix you some cream?" Dariel suggested, sounding concerned.

"You know about medicine?" I asked curiously.

"Mmhmm," Dariel mumbled, looking a little sad. "My mum was a herbalist,"

"Was?" I questioned. Was she fired?

"Yeah," Dariel muttered quietly, looking at the ground and avoiding eye contact. "She died just before this school year in a car accident, I didn't get really hurt but she got a large glass shard straight through her heart-"

I felt sick, Dariel looked like he was trying to hold back tears, the trauma in his eyes evident. "I still had my sister... I still had my sister,"

He roughly wiped away at his eyes, gritting his teeth. "... I still had her!"

Our Gym teacher came over, she seemed to already guess what's wrong and she crouched so she could meet with Dariel's height.

"... and now she's gone," Dariel whispered hoarsely.

"Honey..." the teacher whispered, looking upset.

Dariel looked up at the teacher, staring her in the eyes. A tear dropped down his chin. He gave a chilling smile. "It's not like my dad cares, he didn't even notice that she was dead! He didn't even care when I begged him to do something when she fell sick! My neighbour called me when I was at Ani's house and told me she'd gone to the moon, as if I'd believe that, I know she's dead, I know she's gone!"

"Darling, do you want to go to Ms. Ren?" The teacher asked quietly.

Dariel forcefully shook his head and stood up. "I'm going to wash my face," He mumbled, walking off and rubbing at his red eyes.

He came back after we'd all lined up, smiling insecurely. He stood next to me as the teacher started with the warm ups. Jaime kept glancing over at us, looking concerned, although it was weird. The only way anybody could tell he was concerned was through his eyes. Sirius, who was one of the popular kids, was in line next to his friends. He waved over at me when I looked over at them and I looked back at the teacher.

"Jack, squat!"

"I don't want to! I just woke up and I'm sleepy!"

"Jack!" The teacher demanded. "Time out! You can go sit in the corner,"

Jack looked confused for a millisecond, and I knew why. He didn't want yo exercise in the first place, telling him to sit down was basically giving him an excuse not to. But he decided to act like he really wanted to before the teacher realised her mistake. "But Miss-"

"No buts!"

"All humans have butts, you can't just ban them,"

He'd get on really well with Sirius, I thought as the class burst into laughter.

"This is no fun and games!" The teacher looked like she was about to cry and lose her mind at the same time, it must be hard dealing with children as a job. "We need to start!"

"Oh, so this isn't pun and games?"

"Jack, if you don't go sit down right now I'll give you an F in gym," The Gym teacher threatened.

"Fantastic!" Jack said, then skipped down to sit down with the wheelchair kid and make more puns with him. After warm ups, the teacher decorated we were playing it. The second she said three, I ran off in another direction, we were playing with the other class so I decided to find a place to hide.

"Hey,"

The amount of casualty was enough to make me let out a scream. Jaime wasn't it, Dariel was. The teacher picked him to attempt to lighten up his mood, it sure wasn't working, he looked like he just couldn't stand anyone and ran in a limp.

Evelyn's POV

My mind raced and I groaned, rubbing my sweaty palms. Mars stayed silent, looking at me. Ani should have a plan. I was picked to continue the tradition too, but I was to childish to think up something. I don't know what that nursery did to her but she sure is more mature for such a young age. My body ached, my stomach growled, tears stung my face. I wasn't sure what was going on outside and I felt horrid.

It was unusual for my parents to keep their prey for so long, but then again, it's me. I was more confused about Mars, and I was so sure I'd be the first one to be eaten. I didn't understand a thing. "Not. A. Single. Thing," I said aloud.

Mars gave me a weak smile. "I'm getting you out of here, you and the twins,"

"Dreams dreams dreams," I sighed. "Who appointed you my knight in shining armour? First, you take us off the streets. Then you do everything in you're power to protect me and the twins. Third, you don't kick us out after you realise it's dangerous. Finally, you still want to get us out,"

Mars eyes seemed to flicker with something that looked like pure heartache. "I'll tell you why," he said.

"I didn't ask-"

"I was kidnapped as a kid," he said quietly. "I had a real family before this,"

"So that family reminds you of us and that's why you magically decided that we're worth you're life? That's just cliché,"

"No," Mars said seriously. "I just wanted an escape, I have a fake mother who's only a few years older than me and a fake father who's in business- and the first few days where were hell. Not any physical abuse, but mental abuse, so much that a small kid couldn't handle. My family issued a missing person file and when the police found me... my fake father payed them off,"

I stayed silent,

"I was so belittled for the first years of my life, I was depressed and angry with life. It wasn't fair, I thought selfishly. It just isn't fair that this happened to me. I know it's selfish, but anything can happen to anyone. I was just another victim. In high school I remember seeing you pull a smile so utterly fake that I realised I wasn't the only one who had  something wrong. You don't know if that popular girl goes home to abuse, or if that cashier's went through something horrid,"

"You're making me uncomfortable with all this deep stuff," I said shiftily.

"If I couldn't help myself then I'd help someone else," he smiled.

"But why me?" I questioned.

"Because you're the only one I knew was struggling," Mars said with a grin. "maybe it's because of the minor fact that you where the reason I didn't want to die anymore. Respect your life, and if you are struggling then what better way then to help someone who's collapsing too?"

I heard footsteps and looked up to see Ani uncomfortably walking with a tray, mother was behind her with a grin on her face. Ani was wearing a short skirt and pale pink shirt. Her hair was brushed and her face was washed. She walked in with the tray and set it down. Mother always made her bring us in food because we wouldn't attack her.

Just before she left she let out a hardly audible whisper. "I'll going to help someone too, you'll see,"