Hi, I'm kerstin (owl_princess) and I had the honor to write the first chapter of our groupFF. I hope you like it. It will definitely be a great story. Have fun while reading.

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Prolog:
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I closed the door behind me and even downstairs I heard my parents screaming. For some time now I haven't paid any attention to it. It had already become everyday life. They argued about every little thing if they weren't complaining loudly about themselves and me. Since the time the argument started, I've fallen into a deep emotional hole and it hasn't gotten any better. I have already lost most of my friends because my mood has put them down. But some of them stayed and I was immensely grateful to them. Like me, they didn't have a rosy background.
The environment here was bleak, like my life. It was winter and not particularly beautiful. It slowly began to thaw and you almost always kicked in mud. We moved here because of the jobs my parents lost. But school was closer now too. And that was a good thing because I had to go on foot.
From a distance I saw Megumi. Megumi Yamada. She was one of the girls who didn't turn her back on me. We were almost like sisters. I guess it was because we were so different. She was loud and confident. Not me. But she really was the best friend anyone could ever ask for.
I greeted her as happy as you could be if you couldn't sleep all night.
Meg hadn't had it easy either. She used to be rich, but since the death of her mother, with the birth of a child who did not survive, her father had drunk himself with drugs and everything that goes with them. So all money was gone. After her father became more and more aggriever and started beating her, he had died too. I had never heard Meg complain about this loss, but I am so friends with her that I know that she cannot sleep at night either. Your neighbor sometimes takes care of you when we are not doing this.
Together we walked towards school. Sometimes I didn't see Meg there. I, on the other hand, struggled to undress as soon as possible. I didn't understand how something of my optimism could still live.
Not far from the huge school building we could make out the rest of our 'group'. Hikari Yuki and Akira. Saruki Kimura was nowhere to be seen.
Hikari was more like me. She was just as reserved and selfless as I was. Her life had hardly seen any good times either. She had always been an orphan. And never knew what it was like to have parents. But we weren't exactly alike either.While I absorbed the strange energy into myself with every thunderstorm, she wanted this weather to be over as quickly as possible.
Akira was probably the one who was most affected by her past. Her mother had lost her early and her father had followed her soon after. She had come home one terrible day and saw her father lying dead on the floor. Nobody had told her what he had died of.
Kira was pretty cold to most people, and she was stubborn too. Once she had an idea in her head, no forces in the world could stop her. It was only softer in our presence. More compassionate.
But sometimes it was very entertaining to see her and Meg 'discuss'. They mostly talked past each other and that was one of the few moments when I was happy again.
We greeted each other. Each in his own way. Me with a fake smile. Meg confident and louder than our shy Kari. Akira's voice had a cold undertone that she tried to hide.
When I just stared into the area for a moment, I saw Saruki walking towards us. Lost in thought, I just kept staring. Meg and Kira and Meg `discussed´ again something that - in my opinion - was not worth talking about.
"Hey, Yuu, what are you looking at so closely?" Saru asked. Yes, she was always so direct. I just smiled at her apologetically. I - and the others - forgave her for this direct, honest and sometimes hurtful manner. She was our friend. In character she was more like Meg. But she too had a very individual past. Her parents had planned their lives before they were born and wanted three perfect children. Saruki did not comply with these exaggerated wishes of her parents and was then only terrorized by them. Werder her 3 year older brother nor her 2 year older sister wanted to help her or at least stand by her. Saruki had just gotten into the little argument between Meg and Akira. She couldn't resist good 'discussions' either. But mostly she won this one.
While we slowly walked towards our classrooms in the school corridors, the three 'loudest' of us were still in the middle of the conversation. Me and Hikari rarely threw anything around. I looked at my quiet "fellow sufferer" - we had to listen to the talk about Akira's stubbornness. And she returned my slightly annoyed but amused look.
Now we had English. How I hated this subject. And I wasn't the only one.
A few minutes late, the five of us entered the classroom. Undeterred, we accepted our teacher's complaint. We didn't care what she thought of it. We were here so she didn't have to be so upset. Sometimes some of us didn't show up at all.
I tried to learn a little something even if I didn't like English at all.Meg was sitting on my left reading a Mange. Naruto. If there was one thing we all had in common, it was that we read it. Saruki heard music to my right, which came softly from her headphones to my ear. Akira drew. And Hikari looked lost in thought out the window. Everything was the same as always.
The school bell finally released us and let us have a free afternoon.
"Let's go for a walk around the forest. I don't want to go straight back ... Home.", I knew why Kari hesitated to call the building in which she lived home. Because how can you call something home if you don't feel at home there?
I was no different and we all agreed to her proposal. So we took a little bus ride and got off before our destination. We all felt good in the forest. Not that told us what to do and what not to do. Or quarreled. Or left us alone.
For a short time it was quiet between us, but soon we were talking about a wide variety of things and I and Hikari actually had a say.
For some reason unknown to me, we stopped our gossip and looked as if spellbound at a cave that was building up in front of us in a huge rock. We had been here so many times but I had never noticed this cave.
The others didn't seem to be any different. Meg: "Have you ever seen this cave monster here?"
We all shook our heads. No. And slowly a question crept into my head. Had it even existed until now? Immediately I felt an infinite curiosity rise in me. I wanted to run right into it.
But even though my friends weren't that inclined, I could feel their excited aura on my skin.
Akira was the first to speak: "Which of us goes in first?"
"Are you scared, Kirachen? Of course we all go in together.", Provoked my BF. She really couldn't help it, could she? And Akira responded and denied everything with the best of arguments.
Time to intervene before Saru got into a quarrel: "Girls calm down again before you forget what we're up to with all the discussions.", I knew I'd better shut up now, but it was really difficult, "Or you just want to distract from the topic. "
They all shook their heads, which they reinforced with a loud no.
We walked a little unsafe towards the eerie entrance and when we snuck under it, I had a queasy feeling. I felt the least connected to the outside world at the moment. It hardly seemed to exist to me anymore.
The atmosphere here was getting creepier and I wasn't really scared. But now curiosity just got the upper hand.
I felt something grabbed my hand and briefly fevered softly and up. "Calm down. It's just me," said Meg and squeezed my hand tighter.So she was not entirely comfortable with it either.
I'm sure I looked scared right now, but strangely enough Saruki didn't say anything about it. Something was very wrong here.
I felt something approaching. Closer very quickly. Suddenly something flew overhead with a loud scream. I had never heard of anything like this, let alone experienced it. We all ran off screeching loudly. I definitely didn't want to let go of Meg's hand. I ran and ran. I never wanted to stop. I was so scared. What was that? My lungs were slowly draining, but I forced them to keep working. Do not stop. Only this one thought filled my mind.
Beside me Meg was not breathing as regularly anymore but neither of us stopped. We didn't turn around. Not even to see if 'it' was still chasing us, we slowed down. On the contrary. We got faster and faster. Further and further. I didn't think I had the others here anymore. But that was stupidly impossible.
But the biggest problem was the darkness. I couldn't see anything. Nothing. Only my right hand, which brushed the rough stone wall, was a clue for me in case we ran into something. But this cave was like a tunnel. There was nothing against what could have run here. The skin of my skin said goodbye more and more as it got stuck on the roughest parts of the wall. It hurt but the fear was too great. Too big to draw in air sharply. Too big to stop and complain about it.
But slowly the adrenaline that shot through my body could no longer propel me. I slowed down and the slight pull on my arm that Meg was pulling with her got weaker. She couldn't go on either. Soon we were still stumbling down the corridor.
We saw light ahead of us and rushed towards it. When we finally reached the exit, the first shock awaited us: It was ... summer? Everything was green, but it was just winter in the forest. When I wanted to turn to the others to ask them if it was a bad joke, I was gripped by horror. Megumi was the only one standing behind me. She also noticed that we were alone and as if on command we ran back into the cave.
We didn't get far, because soon we hit a massive