Washington Memorial High was a large school, even for inter-city high schools. Nearly 6,000 students among all four grades at the school, with the senior year being the smallest at 1,400 students. With such a large student population, it was a miracle that the classrooms could hold them all. Not to mention the shortage of educators. It wasn't an odd sight to see a class of 50 students.
A class of only 35 students should be unheard of at Washington Memorial. Yet, because of the requirements demanded of the school to have a course that dedicated itself to the few students that had reached the point of attending college level lectures, this small class was formed. The 35 best students of the school, shoved into the smallest room the school could spare, taught by a single teacher that was more expensive than the rest.
It was no wonder the school cafeteria always served shit food.
Despite all this, Washington Memorial was a school that many students wanted to attend. It wasn't some expensive private institution that sucked the life out of living, but it still boasted a high amount of students that made it to the better Universities of the country, and was often competing with those very same prissy institution in sports and competitive academics.
Still, as high school students, the school only allows its students to attend college lectures a few days out of the week. If nothing else, the trip to and from the local college was just too expensive for the school to maintain on a daily basis.
Friday was one of those days that the school decided to splurge on its students.
Moving from the crowded classroom to the slightly less crowded bus, the 35 students loaded themselves onto the yellow bus that lacked all forms of safety measures.
At the back of the bus, finding himself sitting in the single use seat by the rear door, was Lucas Mann.
He had found himself at this spot much like he had found himself at this spot every other time they loaded the students onto the bus.
It wasn't like he had always sat alone, but circumstances maketh man. As they say.
Lucas was a fairly skinny individual to the eyes of most, yet those who had known him would say that he was more lean than skinny. His physique had been developed through several years of running track and field.
Yet, when looked at by those whose eyes had been clouded by jealousy or pure teenage angst, Lucas was just another skinny nerd. No meat on his arms and legs, just bones and brains.
To the more unfavorable crowd, he was the prime material for physical abuse and extortion. Simply put, a good target for bullying.
After days of building up the abuse, the bullies finally thought the time had come to bring the hammer down. Cornering Lucas in a dark alley after school, it didn't take long before the bullies ended up on the ground, having targeted the wrong individual.
However, there is always a bigger fish.
One of the bullies who had targeted Lucas went to cry wolf to his big brother, a senior at the school. A year older than Lucas.
It wasn't more than a week after Lucas had defended himself that he came home to find his grandfather collapsed in a pool of blood. Covered in bruises and scrapes.
The doctors had said that the beating wasn't the worst of what had happened, but had instead been a trigger for a stroke.
He would live, yes, but he may not wake up.
Lucas had never been one to back down from a challenge. That was how he had gotten so good at track, and how he had maintained high grades while doing so.
Still, to Lucas, involving his family was something that was unforgivable. An action that would cause Lucas to sacrifice everything he had to correct.
It only took the two days after his grandfather's attack that Lucas found everyone that had been involved.
The two brothers that had been involved made their father's club their little hideaway.
After finding out where he could find them, Lucas had shown up to the club dressed in black with a mask and hat. It only took 5 minutes for Lucas to walk in and out of the club.
It didn't take long for the police and several ambulances to arrive at the club, but Lucas had already made his way home by then.
Of course, in the process of investigation, the police did talk to Lucas. After all, it wasn't hard to find out what happened to his grandfather. Yet, there was no conclusive evidence that pointed to his involvement.
If that was the end of it, however, Lucas wouldn't find himself ostracized by his classmates.
At some point, some student with a parent involved in the police must've seen the file that contained the photos of the scene as well as the documents that detailed Lucas' involvement in the investigation.
Once word got out that the students that had tried to pick Lucas as a target had ended up in the hospital with their arms and legs half-crippled, and that Lucas was involved with the process of investigation, the students around him began to distance themselves.
Lucas has been sitting in the back of the bus ever since.
Today's bus was supposed to take them to the science department at the local college.
The drive there was 15 minutes. Most of it spent sitting idle at red lights.
The bus squealed to a halt at another red light about a block away from the campus. It seemed that there had been an accident or crime or something far to their right, so the light lasted longer than usual.
On the left of the stopped bus, in the next lane, was a large truck similar in size to the bus.
Lucas looked out the window at the truck, and while he couldn't make the license plate to see where they were from, posted on the side of the back trailer was a notice of hazardous material that were being transported to the College.
He would be able to see where they were coming from once both trucks made it to the Science department of the campus.
The last emergency vehicle passed through the light and another 5 seconds ticked by as the lights transitioned.
Flickering to green, the bus released it's brakes and began to move forward.
The similar sound of loosening brakes sounded on the left, coming from the large truck.
Both engines began to rev awake, gas pedals being pushed down.
A large explosion erupts.
The bus was the first to be hit, yet with the size of the explosion, who was hit first didn't really matter.
After the clouds of dust were wisped away, half a block was lacking any and all signs of life.
The sounds of sirens slowly faded into the distance. On their way to whatever emergency had happened on the other side of the city.
***
The last thing Lucas had seen before shutting his eyes was a bright flash of orange-red light.
The last thing he felt, if only for a brief, fraction of a second, was the searing of his flesh against the flames.
'Did the truck next to us explode? Or was there a bomb on the street? Whatever it was, that is some dogshit luck. Though, why the hell can I think? Is this what death is like? Darkness and thoughts? That would get boring, fast. I think I can feel my arms, too. Shouldn't they have been burnt? Where is the pain or am I in some medically induced coma of sorts? What the FUCK is going on?'
A million questions went through his head as Lucas tried to analyze the situation he had found himself in. The largest worry he had, however, was not the fact that he should be dead, or that he could feel what he shouldn't be able to feel and not feel the pain that should be there.
'What's going to happen to my gramps? Their not gonna kill him off now that I can't stop it, will they? Or if this really is what death is like, would the insurance money be enough to keep him going until he wakes up?'
To Lucas, family was always first. It didn't matter if he was in a coma, or if he was dead. The thought of what would or was happening to his grandfather was what would plague him.
It took several minutes of the same thoughts spiraling through his mind before Lucas began to think about his own position.
'If I can think, maybe I can wake up.'
It was a simple thought, but it was enough to motivate him into trying to grasp his situation.
The first action that Lucas took was to open his eyes. He knew his eyes were closed, yet there was no light coming through.
Several minutes passed by as Lucas tried to force his eyes open. If he were to picture his face at the moment, he would imagine look of intense concentration and a tight straining of muscles near his eyes. Much like if he were constipated and trying to force out a shit.
As the third minute past, a gross crunch sounded and the first of his eyes opened, followed by another crunch and the second eye.
What greeted him, was a familiar darkness, yet it was slightly different from the first.
'Is that soil?'
Closing his eyes immediately after making his guess, Lucas wanted to avoid any dirt falling into his eyes.
'Also, what was that crunch? I really hope that wasn't that disgusting eye crust. If it was, how long would I have been asleep for that much to build up?'
More needless thoughts began to run through his mind. Still, Lucas was able to rein them in quicker, returning to the task at hand once more.
He had already regained his eye sight. At least, he knows that he can open his eyes, even if there isn't anything to see.
The next step was to move his arms. He knew they were there, and he could feel that they hadn't been burnt. At this point, he could tell that it wasn't due to an abundance of pain meds that he couldn't feel the pain. The only thing that made sense to him was that his arms were burnt.
'I know why I can't move my arms too well, now. I must be buried under at least a couple feet of dirt. Still, it must be loose enough, I can breathe just fin--.
I'm not breathing right now. Why am I not breathing? How can I think without breathing? What's happening?'
It was only after he realized that he had been buried under dirt that the realization that he needed to breathe came. The dirt should have been heavy enough to suffocate him. Yet here he was. Conscious.
Lucas very well could have had a panic attack right then and there, yet, somehow, the lack of his breathe actually calmed him down.
After the initial panic, Lucas put more effort into moving his limbs. The dirt should be loose enough to move his limbs. Once he gets his limbs moving, it would just be a matter of time before he can leave the ground.
***
It took less than 5 minutes before Lucas found himself in a position to move around under the soil.
Twisting and turning, the ground around him began to loosen more and more and it was only seconds before Lucas' first hand pierced through the ground above him. It wasn't the coolness of the air or a gust of wind that had signaled his breach of the ground, but the lack of pressure surrounding his hand.
Seconds later, the second hand joined the first above ground as the two limbs flattened themselves against the ground, preparing to lift Lucas to the surface.
It didn't take long before Lucas lifted the upper half of his body above ground, and not much longer after that did his lower half surface.
Finally, completely out of the ground, Lucas collapsed. It wasn't out of exhaustion or lack of breathe, but confusion and relief.
Lucas laid there, staring at the ceiling of what appeared to be a cave as he began to motivate himself to start moving.
Sitting up, Lucas paused.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations! You are the first to complete the entrance tutorial and lay eyes on the world of Heike.]
[Your reward will be given after completion of the awakening ceremony, or your 3rd evolution]
[The Truth will be revealed to you as you grow, for now, enjoy your time on Heike and live your second life to the fullest.]
[For further information regarding your current status and position, use key word 'Status']
Staring at the words that had appeared in his mind, Lucas was awestruck.
He was talented in sports, proficient in his studies, but what he loved was art. And to him, web novels and comics and anime still belonged to such a category. Maybe he just loved to consume dumb entertainment.
Nevertheless, he knew what this was. Even if it appeared different. Even if there was no blue screen in front of him. In fact, from what he understood, this form of information was even more convenient. There was no obstructing system blocking his view, nothing for his eyes to get stuck on. Just pure information.
There was one more thing he understood from this new information. He did die.
There is no more going home.