Internet archiving is a wonderful thing. I managed to dig this RP up from Dreamview's old Adventurer's Hall. Me and Amethyst barely started this RP before Adventuer's Hall was taken down. I'm posting it here so it doesn't get lost. This was written over two years ago, so my writing may suck a little.

~

Alexander

Alex looked out of the school bus window as more lights from along the highway flashed by. Besides the occasional lit overpass and passing car, the road was dark but for the bus headlights, and the stars. Alex had never seen stars so bright. Even though it was true that they had finally left the bright skyline of Chicago, which contrasted sharply with the shadows of the suburbs.

He sighed. It was his 18th birthday, and he had been forced to waste it on a useless field trip, though he had tried hard to convince his art teacher to let him skip. A tour of the Metropolitan Art Museum just wasn’t the way he wanted to spend one of the most important birthdays in his life. To make it worse, the entire class had to walk around the entire time, visiting all the exhibits available. Alex was pretty worn out. The only reason that he paid any attention at all during the tour was because Mrs. Hennings told them what they learned from the guide will be a major part of their exam.

Of course he really hadn’t wanted to skip completely. A part of him wanted to come anyways, because Amy Temple, one of the girls in his grade he sort of liked, maybe, was also in his art class. He looked from the window to look a few seats in front of him. He could hear her talking to one of her girlfriends, he strained to hear the words but all he could catch were fragments of the conversation. He sank back into his seat. Whatever.

The surface of his seat was cool, and Alex relaxed. He still haven’t had the nerve to ask her out yet (Of course, he was working on that one) even though they had worked together on art projects a few times.

Alex leaned back further until he was lying down completely in his leathery seat, stretching his legs out into the aisle a little. He listened as the other students attempted to talk to each other over the constant drone of the bus engine.

It was a soothing moment actually. He was tired from the day of walking around and now allowed his mind to wander a little, thinking of what he was going to do over the weekend. His eyes settled on the EMERGENCY hatch on the roof of the bus. Alex closed his eyes; the image of the red lettering burned into his mind. He wondered what it would be like to have to use that exit.

~

Alex opened his eyes to darkness. Well not total darkness, since somewhere there was the flash, flash, flash of a red emergency light. He sat up, realizing with a start that it was silent on the bus. There was no talking students, no rumble of the engine.

“Shit! Did I get left behind at the school?” Alex thought as he jumped up from his seat, angry that no one had bothered to wake him up when the bus arrived back at the high school. Wait a second; Alex paused as he noticed that he wasn’t alone on the bus. The entire class was here, and they were all sprawled on their own seats, seemingly asleep. He saw Amy, in the same seat as before, two rows up, leaning against the shoulder of her friend.

What’s going on here? Alex thought. He began to be panic. Had there been an accident? Are they dead?

Then he saw something that disturbed him. He had thought it was pitch dark outside before, but it wasn’t because it was night, but because something covered up the outside windows. A small trickle of it slid down through a small crack and made a pile at his feet.

It was sand.

What the heck? What’s the bus doing buried in sand???

Alex pushed himself through several rows until he came to the front of the bus. The driver was slumped on the wheel.

Okay this is weird.

“Argh, what’s going on?”

Alex jumped, turning to see one of his classmates, who had awoken and was now rubbing his eyes. He swiped at his window in a disoriented fashion as he adjusted to the flash of the emergency light.

Alex scratched his head. “Uh, no idea actually.”

"What the..." The guy said as he saw the rest of the sleeping class.

Fortunately the silence didn’t last any longer (For Alex was embarrassed since he couldn’t remember the guy's name) because the rest of the bus’s occupants began to stir as well.

Confusion was apparent in everyone’s expression as they adjusted themselves. Some of them caught in awkward positions. It took a while before a baffled Mrs. Hennings finally spoke.

“Um does anyone know what happened?”

Everyone shook their heads, and a few murmured negatives. Suddenly a shrill squeak rang out and almost gave everyone a heart attack as a girl who had opened a window had five gallons of sand dumped onto her.

“This is certainly strange.” Mrs. Hennings continued after everyone had calmed down again.

“It most certainly is.” A cracked voice called out from the front of the bus. It was the driver; an old man who seemed that he should have been halfway through his retirement instead of driving a bus. “I believe we’ve been beamed to another world.”

“What?” Asked a confused Mrs. Hennings, along with many similarly bewildered students. A few nervous laughs rang out at the absurdity of the old man’s claim.

The driver shook his head. "It’s true I tell all of you. Cars have been disappearing around the highway we were on for decades now. Mysteriously vanished. Gone forever. I know because my stepfather was a victim. He too was sent to another world, but he managed to make it back.”

Mrs. Hennings shook her head in a bemused fashion. “You said the highway we were on? Where do you mean we are now? Oh never mind, students, we have to find a way to get out of here. Your parents will sue me if I don’t get you home tonight. What time is it anyways?”

Alex checked his glowing watch, then tapped it to make sure it was still running. “Uh It’s 11:30.”

“Eleven thirty? Oh it’s really late already! I can’t believe that we were all out for four hours? Oh Christ… how did this happen?”

There was a squeaking sound like nail on chalkboard that caused Alex to flinch along with several others. One of the guys had managed to open the EMERGENCY roof hatch.

“Mrs. Hennings!” He called out. The sand only comes up to the roof! We can get out from here!”

Mrs. Hennings still seemed a little dazed. “Oh well carry on Shawn. Get everyone out of here first I guess?”

~

It took a while for the entire proceeding but after about thirty minutes all twenty-four kids and two adults were able to scramble up out through the hatch. Several had brought their book bags.

Alex shielded his eyes from the wind and looked around.

Well that explains the sand. They were in the middle of an immense desert that stretched beyond into all the distances as far as anyone can see. The sun was rising on the horizon behind them.

Matt, one of the guys Alex ate lunch with at the museum, spoke up in a voice of incredulity.

“Well we definitely aren’t in the same time zone anymore.”