Gifted

Part 79: Introvert

I remembered the first time Casper became our friend. He had hung out with other people before, but none of them stuck around for very long. One day, a girl came out of nowhere and without warning. Casper was hardly prepared. It happened on the first day of our freshmen year of high school.

Casper sat alone at lunch, as he had done for years. I sat with my friends at a big table in the center of the room. I watched as Jordan watched Casper with interest and then decided to go over, introduce herself, and invite him to sit with us.

At first, he was very quiet and I could see why no one hung out with him. But, after a while, he opened up to us. He was funny, kind, and very cool. He shared a lot of the same interests as the rest of our group, even watched the same shows.

He talked to Jordan the most. I think it's because she was the one who had taken initiative and approached him first. I had never knew how much we had been missing out on before I met Casper, and I felt bad for not meeting him sooner. I had seen him around, but he was a loner, so no one talked to him. Jordan was the brave one. She didn't care what others thought of Casper. We got to know him better than anyone.

Sophomore year came and went, and Casper stuck with our group, or rather, we stuck with him. Somehow, I knew that he would be our friend for a very long time. It was going to be some very difficult years, and we were hardly prepared for them. Still I believed that Casper would be with us the whole way through.

Chapter 80: The Last Hunter

Mr. Matthews landed on his feet at the bus stop, still carrying me in his arms. My eyes were still closed. I was overcome by grief.

"The portal's disappearing." Mr. Matthews said. I knew what that meant. Jordan was gone, and so was Casper.

"Casper." I whispered. A tear fell down my cheek, but still I remained motionless. Mr. Matthews carried me home. I don't know how he managed to get passed my parents without being noticed. I had passed out completely.