Absolutely Nothing/I

DONG.

DONG.

DONG.

That was the bell. I slowly rose out of bed, rubbing my eyes. Morning already? It seemed like only a few minutes since I'd gone to bed. Of course, I knew better than that, I was in deep sleep for most of the night. It happened more and more often in that past month, and I have no idea why.

I lazily ran a brush through my hair, which wasn't necessary, as my hair was usually well-kept, but it was simply a ritual. After brushing my hair, I tried to put my cap on, but for some reason it kept sliding off again. It took me several times to realize that I was trying to wear a washcloth.

A washcloth? I blinked rapidly. I was more tired than I thought. It might have not been deep sleep after all. I shrugged and found my actual cap, which fit on my head fine. All that was left to do was find my keys.

I opened my dresser drawer and found nothing but a few old hats. I could have sworn I had my keys in there, but I guess I was mistaken. I knew it was in a drawer, though. I checked every drawer in my room, and found nothing. After checking everything again, I realized that my keys were on top of my dresser. On top of.

I looked at the clock. Five minutes late? I'm usually never this late! Quickly, I grabbed the keys and attempted to shove them into the lock on my door one by one. I'd gotten so rushed that I forgot which one was which. After trying each of them three times, I had finally figured out the right one and how to put it in.

After two minutes of waiting, the elevator came down, and I quickly got inside it. I had no need to tap any buttons, since there are only two floors here anyway. It was only a thirty second wait, yet it seemed like forever. Somehow, time passes slower when you're anxious about something. I, personally, dislike that.

When I finally got to the ground floor again, I realized the halls were empty. Class had already began. I dejectedly floated into Room 2 and took a seat in one of the chairs.

Now, so far, you may be wondering what all this is about. I'll take a pause to explain this to you. I am a ghost. I live in another dimension, where it's much different from yours. You could call it a superdimension of sorts. In it, various dimension "bubbles" float about on what is essentially a large-scale timeline. Going forward would put you forward in time, backward would put you back in time, if you understand what I'm saying.

These "bubbles" are dimensions, you see. They are created by a large collision of energy in this superdimension. New bubble? New dimension. It's rather simple. Of course, there is some energy left over when a collision is made, which is how us ghosts are born. We're simply leftover energy.

Unfortunately, there's oftentimes not enough energy to create an entire living being. Most of the time, we're only partially constructed, and then the rest of the energy becomes an aura. The aura tints us permanently with one color, and everything we own is changed to our aura color. It's handy, but not necessary.

You may also be wondering what ghosts look like. There are many variants, but I will describe the most common, as this variant is the only one currently present at my school anyway. Let me take a close equilivant from your dimension, the video game character known as "Boo". We look similar to that, however, our eyes are typically larger, our mouths do not usually have fangs or tongue of that large size, and we lack arms. Instead, detached sleeves form the role of arms. Most of us also have hair, like a human would, and we are also entirely tangible in this superdimension. This is only a very general description that fits the entire variant, as there are many unique looks to ghosts, and it would be fruitless documenting them all here.

Now, back to the topic of bubbles. Ghost-made bubbles have popped up in recent years, known as domes. They are not entire dimensions, rather, large chunks of land with a dome-shaped force field covering them, engineered specifically by ghosts after countless years of research. Buildings are typically build in domes, such as my very own school.

Speaking of school, I go to Palette High. Several years ago, Palette High ran out of funding. It was agreed that it would not be shut down until everyone had graduated, and most of us did. Unfortunately, some of us have been held back year after year, and slowly the schools have lost support for us. There are only five students and two teachers left now, and it seems we'll be here forever.

"Hey!" a familiar voice called, pounding on my desk and breaking my concentraction. "You're out of it today..." I looked up to address the one who was yelling at me. "S-sorry. I don't think I got enough sleep last night." "Well, get your act together! I've got a plan!" she replied.

That girl's Showster. Showster isn't her real name, but someone a while back called her that as an insult, but now she's taken it up as a "stage name". Normally, nicknames like this are misguided and the one being insulted is a genuinely good person, but this isn't the case here. Her nickname basically says it all. Showster is horribly concieted, with dreams of grandeur and showbuisness, and won't give up her plans on being famous someday, despite how unlikely that may be. She also has massive amounts of schemes to get out of this school (besides, you know, actually graduating), which vary in complexity but never work.

I felt a slap on my cheek. "Seriously, can't you keep your head out of the clouds?" Showster asked. "Sorry, sorry..." I hastily replied. "Well, listen up! Everyone else already knows about the plan, and I only have you left to tell! You've got an important job here!" I nodded and leaned in close to listen to the plan. When Showster says you have an important job, it's not wise to ignore her.

"All right, here's the deal. Near the end of the day, everyone in this class goes into the teacher's lounge. Then, I get a match, you steal a knife, and Aqua takes the fridge. We all meet up on the lawn east of school. Got it?"

I nodded silently. I had no idea what any of this was for, but I suppose I had to do it. After all, I've passed on one of Showster's plans before, and most of us already know how that turned out.

Miss Hart didn't do any teaching in class. Showster probably already convinced her not to. The thing is, Miss Hart is extremely easy to convince. She thinks that she needs to please the students at all costs, so if you tell her to do something, she'll do it, so long as it isn't illegal. Naturally, Showster just tells her not to teach any classes all day. Anything for more free time.

I slowly floated out of my desk, making sure Showster wouldn't notice I was gone. I went over to another desk and settled down, one next to Aqua. Aqua is probably the complete opposite of Showster. Showster has a red aura, Aqua has a blue aura. Showster is neat, Aqua is messy. Showster is determined, Aqua gives up easily. See a pattern? Probably the most defining feature of Aqua, though, is how quickly it is possible to turn her into a blubbering mess. She's definately the biggest crybaby I've ever met, but she's my only friend. I can tell there's some great intelligence in her mind. It just hasn't shown itself.

Finally Aqua noticed me. "What do you want?" she asked softly. "Oh...nothing...just getting away from Showster..." I awkwardly replied. She collapsed into a pile on her desk, not needing to say any more. After about half an hour, I finally did too. Learning nothing is entirely boring.

It was only a short time after that when we started dozing off. Showster was rambling to herself about her greatness and the future plans she had for herself after she escaped the torturous hellhole of a school. The usual. It gets old to hear it after so many repititions.

Only when the bell rang were we woken up. Two thirds of the entire day had passed in our sleep, and I was finally well-rested enough to discern a door from a window. Showster had already left class for recess, so we figured we should go outside too.

Aqua immidiately floated away to play on her own. She's a loner when it comes to these things. I admit I usually am too, but that is because I don't have many friends. I really want to have friends, but unfortunately none of the ghosts at this school are exactly ideal friends.

"Konnichiwa!" I heard from behind me, and I immidiately recognized who it was without turning around. Kasasagi is a girl who insists on only using Japanese to speak. It's easy to tell that it's not her first language, because she has a very limited understanding of grammar and sentences. I highly suspect that she thinks this behavior is "cute", but secretly, I hate her with a passion.

"Asobu?" she asked, clutching a rubber ball with her sleeves. "Asobu?" she repeated, however I continued to ignore her. "Asobu? Asobu? Asobu? Asobu? Asobu?" she continued rapidly, until I finally had the courage to respond. "I don't want to play right now. Find someone else to play with, if you have to play with someone." She hung her head and floated away, dropping the ball.

I glanced over at Lucille. Lucille is different from Kasasagi in that she seems to know no language at all. She doesn't say a word and keeps mostly to herself, and doesn't seem to understand when anyone talks to her. She doesn't understand her assignments, either, so it seems hopeless for her to graduate. I don't mind her much.

"MO-NO-CHROME!" Showster screeched from behind me, stopping me in my tracks. "Hey, remember that after recess, we need to get our plan into action!" she reminded, approaching me. At this point, I remembered to ask her something that I had been wondering all day. "Why haven't you been bullying Aqua at all today?" Showster reacted like I had five arms or something. "Well, duh! I want her in the best shape possible for when the plan goes into action-" The bell rang, cutting her off. "Which would be now! C'mon!" We all floated back into the school.

Immidiately after Miss Hart started to speak, Showster blurted; "Hey! Can we all be excused from class?" "Y-yes, sure...you're excused, kids." When I said Miss Hart is extremely easy to convince, I wasn't kidding. She's one of the most gullible ghosts in the entire superdimension.

Luckily, the teacher's lounge is only one room over from the classroom. Aqua dashed for the fridge, I went towards the counter, and Showster opened a drawer. When I picked up the knife, I noticed it had gotten a stain on it, and I foolishly decided to lick it off.

Big mistake. I wasn't holding the knife at the right angle, and I got a huge cut straight down the middle of my tongue. I quickly pulled out a first aid kit I keep under my hat at all times, and I bandaged the wound. It still hurt very badly and the bandages tasted like a combination of blood and paper. Better than nothing, I suppose.

When I got outside, I noticed only Showster was there. Aqua hadn't arrived yet. I assumed she would be there soon, but I was wrong. Many minutes passed, and she still hadn't arrived, much to Showster's complaints. I didn't understand why it was taking her so long to arrive, but as soon as she finally did, I understood completely.

Tears were streaming down Aqua's cheeks as she struggled to lift the fridge. When I heard the word "fridge", I assumed she would be getting a small mini-fridge, but she was carrying a large, full-size, refridgerator. She staggered across the lawn and finally set it down, gasping and panting. "I-is this what you w-wanted, Showster?" she squeaked between breaths. "Took you long enough." Showster replied nonchalantly. "Here's what we're gonna do..."

"See, out there, there's a dome with its force-field turned off right next to us! Now, if we can break our force-field, we'll be able to float over there without the risk of falling! I'll take this match and set the force-field on fire, then I'll use the fridge to cool it off! After that, it'll be really weakened, so then I can knife it until it breaks, and I'll escape! They'll make a big-budget film about me and how I escaped, and I'll make a thousand hundred million dollars! I'll be rich! Any questions?"

Aqua spoke up. "What about us?"

Showster scoffed at the idea of any other people stealing her spotlight. "Eh, you'll be extras. I guess I'll pay you guys a hundred dollars or so. Any other questions?"

At that point, I glanced at the clock, and saw something horrifying. I exclaimed, "Dah dayf amof ofa!" muffled by the bandage on my tongue. Showster merely glanced at me quizically, which made me repeat my statement. "Dah...dayf...amof...ofa." She still didn't seem to understand. "DaaAAAaah...daaaAay'ff...awwmoooffFF...oh-faaaah. She began to respond, but she was cut off by the bell ringing and the dome next to our school moving ahead.

Showster hung her mouth open in shock. Her face froze in that expression, even as she was floating into school. As the pentagonical elevator rose up, we all rushed into it in order to avoid being squeezed against a wall, but she was unusually the last one it. She didn't respond to anything we said, which made me slightly worried, but we all forgot about it as we floated sleepily into our rooms to get to bed.

I had settled into bed, ready for a good night's sleep, when I was jerked awake by a scream coming from another room. There was a quiet for what seemed like hours, that in reality lasted only several seconds. I was worried. Had something happened over there? Was someone hurt? Soon, a stream of expletives came from the same location, and I was able to discern the voice as Showster's. I was slightly relieved, and I buried my head in my pillow in order to drown out the noise. It didn't quite work, but she did end up quieting down in about ten minutes.

Just another average day.