I Won't Call This Hell

"Did you see that one kid, the one who was trying to surf for like all of Girls?" Jared asked, walking in time beside me.

"Oh yeah," I said, nodding, but didn't say much else about it. Right now, I was just craving another bottle of water, a fresh shirt, and the bus's AC (at least for a few seconds.)

I could see the bus now, in the line-up beside others. I heard a scream behind us. Jared and I both turned, hearing more screaming. Aaron and Pat dashed past us, running as fast as they could, toward the bus.

A few seconds later, Aaron started screaming as Pat started dancing.

"That wasn't fair, and you know it," Aaron said, breathing hard. He leaned back against the rear of the bus.

"I beat you!" Pat said, again, laughing, before walking to the doors.

"Oh," he mumbled, before calling back to me. "Hey, John. You got a little present."

I didn't speed up. Gifts from fans were nothing new, although I did look forward to seeing something different. Maybe this was one of those things.

Then Pat made a face, looking toward me. "Oh. OH. Come here, hurry up. Get over here, John.

"What?" I asked, finally standing next to him. A drawing was taped up, about to the height of my nose. My eyes grew widened, my mouth fell open. I looked to the bottom left corner, saw her name.

I looked around, fast, searching. I ran out between the buses, between the buses. I even called her name. I ran back to the bus, looked at the picture again, at it's height, right above my nose, the tallest height she could reach. I pulled the picture from the door, swinging the door open, hopping the steps inside.

I peeled through the bus, front, bunks, back. I walked back to the front, sitting down at the table, leaving my own face to stare back up at me.

"Fuck."