Phantom Spider

Chapter I: A Cruel World

The sun's rays broke through the curtains, I opened my eyes and sat up, it was just another day of school. I checked my phone to look at the time and then got out of bed and headed downstairs.

"Good morning, Josh," My mom greeted. She was drinking a cup of coffee while watching the news on the couch.

I went straight to the kitchen and encountered my sister, Yui.

"Big brother, good morning!!" She smiled. My little sister was 2 years younger than me, she was energetic, confident, and is a little brat. She was the polar opposite of me. Unlike her, I barely have any friends, I have a bad reputation at school which meant people could spread rumors about me and they would easily believe it. But I didn't care, I convinced myself that I didn't need friends and that I was fine being alone.

"Morning," I greeted my sister back, grabbing a sandwich and then a cup of coffee to start the day. After devouring the food and drank the black liquid, I took a bath, letting the cold water run against my skin. When I finished, I dried my hair and put on our uniform; a comfortable white polo overlaid by our school jacket, black slacks, and then I wore my pair of blue converse sneakers that went along with the blue and white color scheme of the outfit. I didn't bother to fix my hair, I just let it fall, covering my forehead. Before going downstairs, I grabbed my backpack and slid it across my shoulder, causing the other half to hang behind me then went downstairs and waited for my sister who always took forever. It was a miracle on how we always make it in time for school.

She finally went downstairs after a couple of minutes. Her uniform was different from mine since she was in middle school and I was a first-year at Waterfalls High. Instead of our dark blue and white outlines, theirs were white with light blue outlines.

"We're off," I said to mom before going to school.

"Take care!!" She responded, I let Yui out first before I shut the door and left home.

We went to the train station, it took about fifteen minutes to get there if we took the train, and about thirty minutes if we went there on foot. Our school is either seven hundred or eight hundred meters away from our house.

My sister and I stood on the platform in silence, I was never the one who starts conversations, I liked being silent. It helps me be calm and focused, but at the same time, I felt isolated inside my own head. Without anyone to talk to, I felt a little sad and lonely. I understood why people didn't want to talk to me nor get near me, my eyes were ice cold, I had an intimidating face, and my expressions were always far from what I wanted to feel. My reputation at school doesn't help my case.

"Hey, Big Brother," Yui said, stopping me from thinking anymore negative thoughts.

"Yeah?" I asked, curious on what she had to say.

"Do you have any plans this weekend?"

"No, why would I?"

"Hah, loser."

"You little-" the both of us clashed like cats and dogs. I thought that my little piece-of-shit sister could finally be kind for once and invite me to hang out but of course she had to throw it in my face. The people at the station were looking at us with a weird look because the both of us caused a scene without even realizing it.

"Uhh . . . " Ekaagra stood awkwardly after witnessing us fight.

"Oh, hey, Ekaagra." I said.

Ekaagra was my one and only friend ever since I started elementary school. Turns out, we have a lot in common. He was the first to approach me, even with my bad reputation, he didn't hesitate to be kind. From there, Ekaagra sat with me during lunch, we hung out and played games online, dominating each lobby that we played on. It was fun, who would have ever thought that someone like me would have a friend? Well, at least I didn't. He was the one and only friend that I need. Even if the world turned its back on me, as long as he was there to support me, I'll keep going.