As Jessie pulled into the school parking lot he could see the plaza with the memorial to the Johnson boy. He saw a little girl who looked too young to be in a high school leaving flowers on the bench. There was a boy next to her, but his face was obscured by a tree blocking Jessie's view.

I forgot they finished renovating that place while I was gone. That's nice that they showed up to leave flowers, they must have known that kid.

As he unlatched his helmet and started to guide his bike towards the bike rack he caught his tire on the edge of the sidewalk. He fell over on top of his bike, causing a loud crash. He raised his head and winced as he looked down at his hands, seeing a large cut on the back of his right hand. He picked himself and his bike up, carefully so as not to touch the back of his hand against anything. 

"Nice landing pyro." Said a passerby as he walked past Jessie leaving him in front of giggling strangers. Embarrassed he locked up his bike and made his into the school.

The hallway entrance was covered in school trophy cases filled with school accolades. Upon further inspection, he could read his brother's name on several trophies for academic prowess.

Reading these trophies filled him with pride and grief at the same time. He missed his brother and always lived in his shadow but he would rather live there than without him. As he was focused on the trophies he didn't notice a very short young man approaching him from behind.

"Jesus you're tall." Travis said in awe.

Startled Jesse jumped and bumped into the display case rattling a few trophies.
Rubbing his head he turned around.

Travis was wearing his usual baggy clothes accompanied by his wide grin.

"You say that every time you see me, man." Jessie said.

Travis hit him in the arm with surprisingly more force than it appeared his little frame contained.

"It's great to see you again man."

They very awkwardly embraced. They parted and Travis smiled at him.

"You came just in time, I just got a text from Rose saying she is in the library with her mom." Travis said as he headed down

"Why is she already in the library?" Jessie asked catching up to Travis in a few steps.

"Her mom asked her to help unload some new books from her van."

As they spoke they walked inside the library, it was a massive room with wall-to-wall shelves with hundreds of books.

"While you were in the hospital, her mom made a special place just for her. Considering this is her favorite place in the world. A little alcove hidden away because Rose is rather shy, you know when she isn't hitting us." Travis said as he stared at a shelf as they walked towards the front desk.

"Wow, her mom did all that for her. What else did I miss while I was away."

"Not much. Oh, I forgot to mention the best part the school doesn't know about it so we can't tell anyone it exists which is super handy to ditch class."

As they continued their discussion they made their way to the front desk. Behind the desk was a rather tired-looking woman with faded red hair.

"Mrs. Donovan! How good to see you." Travis exclaimed.

"Travis how many times do I have to tell you to be quiet in the library. Please act your age, it's strange to think your seventeen." Mrs. Donovan said as she rubbed her forehead.

"Oh sorry, mam. Look it's Jessie." Travis said as he presented him theatrically.

"Yes, I can see it's Jessie. It's good to see you, honey. How are you feeling because from the looks of you, you seem fine?" She asked as she looked at him closely.

"Better Mrs. Donovan Thank you for asking." Jessie replied rubbing the back of his head.

"Please, call me Janice." Mrs. Donovan said with a smile.

"Can I call you Janice?" Travis asked.

"No."

"That's fair. Is Rose in her bat cave?" Travis asked.

"She's in the supply room yes."

"Come on Jessie, I bet Rose is just dying to see you again." Travis said as he walked away. "Bye Janice!"

Mrs. Donovan sighed and looked at Jessie.

"It's a good thing my daughter has you so she doesn't have to spend all her time with that kid. Even though she does anyway. I need a drink."

"Aren't you working?" Jessie said.

"So." She replied taking a suspicious drink from a flask she produced from her jacket pocket.

"Jessie come on!" Travis cried out.

Jessie quickly followed leaving Mrs. Donovan staring out a window.

————

"What happened to her?" Jessie asked as he caught up with Travis.

"You're gone for a month and you forget everything" Travis said. "She's still going through a divorce Jessie."

Feeling ashamed Jessie decided to stay quiet.

"Well, here we are!" Travis said as they rounded a corner and into a dead end.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?" Jessie said as he stared at the bookshelf in front of him. It was littered with fantasy books.

"Watch this." Travis said as he pulled a book from its position. Travis' smile vanished as he stared at the book in his hand.

"So you gonna read that or?" Jessie asked putting his hands in his pockets.

"I pulled the wrong one. Wait a second." Travis said as he pulled another book out. The bookshelf clicked and swung open revealing a door behind it.

"Oh, that's so cool." Jessie said staring in awe at the bookshelf.

"What's even cooler is that when you enter the room the bookshelf closes behind you." Travis said as he opened the door.

"How did Rose's mom do this?" Jessie said as he walked through the doorway.

"No idea, she's cool as hell for doing it though." Travis said as he closed the door behind him.

Jessie looked around the room to see old couches and bean bag chairs littering the floor. Lights were strung up above them and illuminated the room.

"Look." Travis said pointing in front of him.

Rose was asleep in one of the bean bag chairs. Seeing her in the bean bag chair, Jessie got a devious idea. Jessie approached her slowly while Travis took out his phone to record him. As he prepared himself to pounce, Rose yawned.

"What...whos there?" Rose said drowsily.

Just as she asked her question Jessie jumped into the chair and sent her flying into another one. Travis bursts out laughing and soon enough Rose joined him eventually they all stood laughing together. After recovering from her little flight Rose stood up and ran up to embrace Jesse.

She had bright red hair that complimented her pale skin. She was thin and was two inches taller than Travis which she never let him forget.

"I was so worried about you; I was so mad when they wouldn't let us visit you in the hospital. Did you get taller? She exclaimed in an excited voice. She pushed up her round glasses further up her nose and smiled up at Jessie.

Felling his cheeks blush he replied, "I'm okay Rose I just take some medication for my lungs."

"Woah they got you on opioids dude are you hopelessly addicted yet?" Travis says with a smirk.

"You keep talking and I just might have to become addicted to deal with you."

As they both laugh Rose ran towards her bag by the launchpad of a chair and pulls out a small package. It had a red ribbon and blue wrapping. She was known to give a lot of presents especially if either of them were sad.

"Open this I made it especially for you, to give you in case you didn't die." She said as she presented him the package.

In case?

He took it excitedly and started to open it. Inside was what appeared to be a black and blue friendship bracelet. He held it in his hands appreciating the small token and was glad he was friends with her.

"Travis chose the colors and I made it since he's lazy and never helps." She said.

"Hey I do things, you're just never there to see it." he said in a gruff tone.

As he put it on his wrist they all sat down on bean bags.

"So how are you feeling big guy." Rose said excitedly.

"There's something I wanted to talk to you guys about" Jessie said coyly.

"Oh my God Rose he's finally realized it, he can't speak Spanish." Travis said placing his hand in front of his mouth in a mock gasp.

"No not that, and I can by the way I just choose not to." Jessie said crossing his arms.

"Sure Cruz. So tell us what's up." Travis said with a grin on his face.

"Ok but try not to get weirded out." Jessie said nervously.

"This isn't the part where you tell us you have some weird fetish now, right?" Travis said as he sat back with a disgusted look on his face.

"Travis shut up and let the guy talk." Rose said as she shot him a look.

"Thank you, Rose." 

"No, but seriously you aren't gonna do that right Because we're close but not that close." Rose said as she also sat back in her seat with a disgusted look on her face.

"What? No! Be serious guys!" Jessie exclaimed feeling his face flush.

"Ok but if I hear you start talking about bug bites I'm calling the cops." Travis said as he extended his palm out towards Rose. She returned his high five with a smug look on her face.

"I'm gonna ignore what you just said and start explaining what I actually wanted to talk about." Jessie said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I had a dream a while ago..."

He told them every detail hoping they'd help him understand what it meant. As he told them about the corpse and what he said he saw fear in Travis' eyes.

Travis was the first to speak stating the obvious.

"But you're not dead, so it doesn't mean anything."

See?

Rose spoke next contemplating what Jessie just said.

"Maybe it means you are gonna die?"