A Girl Between (21 page)

Will put his arm around me and steered me quickly out of the
school.  Sam and Doug were right behind us.

“Holy crap, Tess!  What’d you do to him?”  Sam asked in
astonishment.

“Yeah, that was unbelievable.  It looked like he was burned
or something,” Doug added excitedly.  “I have to say, I don’t know where those
kids came from but they’re freaks.  They just showed up outta nowhere early
last week.  People started calling them ‘the Hoodie Rats’ cause one of them is
actually called Rat.  Two of their gang got suspended yesterday for starting
fights with football jocks.  Everyone else is totally afraid of them so they
just back off.”

Sam added, oblivious to Will’s stern look, “I saw one of
them, they call him Gunnar, shove poor Arnold Rakin’s head into the toilet.  I
think Arnold made the mistake of not getting out of their way in the bathroom. 
You know how Arnold’s always in his own little world.”

As I listened to Sam and Doug, I found myself shivering.  It
had nothing to do with being frightened.  After these episodes my body always
reacts this way.  Will felt it too so he tightened his arm around me.  When we
reached his car, he settled me in the front seat and covered me with a blanket.

“Are you alright, Tess?”  Will asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just feel a little shaky.  I haven’t eaten
much today, plus I think I’m coming down with a cold,” I responded with a tired
voice.

Before he started the car, Will turned and faced me.  “Tess,
was that an electrical burn on his arm?”  Sam and Doug quickly sat up to hear
my response.

I sighed.  “I believe that’s the case.”

Doug asked, “How’d you pull that off?”

I turned around to Doug. “I’ll try to explain.  Did you guys
hear what happened to Tonya, Red and James Miller?”  I quietly asked.

“Yeah, I heard something about them.  Didn’t they get burned
with a lightning strike right in front of James’s house?  I heard Tonya lost
most of her hair.  Wish I could see that!”  Sam remarked with a wide grin.

In a tired voice I admitted, “That was because of me.  They
were about to attack me in front of the Miller house.  I was able to draw the
lightning right to where they were standing.  I’m wondering if I have some
residual electricity in my body that I was able to use against Mr. Ugly today.”

Will looked over at me, brows creased, “That was because of
YOU?” 

I sighed. “Yes, it was.”

Doug’s eyes gleamed intently as he asked, “YOU directed
lightning in their direction. How’d you do that?”

I shrugged before answering, “I don’t know.  My instincts
just take over when I get really angry.  That’s what happened to me today,
too.”

Will put his hand on my arm and said sympathetically, “Tess,
I have a good sense of what’s going on.  There’s been an influx of strange
people in the school and the community.  Even the weather is really strange. 
I’ve had some crazy dreams about some of these people, as if I have a
connection to them.  It’s obvious to me that something’s coming our way, and it
won’t be good.  For some reason, you’re right in the middle of it.  You have to
tell us whatever you know so we can help you,” Will leaned in closer to me and
added, “and we CAN help you Tess.”

Sam affirmed, “Believe me, there are things we can do.”

I paused for a minute while studying their grave faces. 
“I’ve been learning about what’s happening around here from Mercy and Miss
Cassie.  It’s a long story so it’ll have to wait until after the Robotics
meet.”

Will turned his head slightly, “Who is Miss Cassie?”

Doug answered, “Don’t you remember her?  She’s the old lady
who came to the high school a couple years ago and helped the botany club plant
an herb garden.  She gave a talk about how different herbs can be used as
medicines.”

“I think I remember hearing about that,” answered Will as he
glanced at his watch.  “As interesting as all of this is, Tess is right.  We
have to get over to the meet.  Let’s go to Wimpy’s Burgers afterward and we can
talk there.”

“Yeah, we should go.  I told Mr. Kenney I’d help him out
with the crank mechanism,” Sam imparted.

Will backed up the car and headed toward Rockledge High
School.  On the drive over, Sam mentioned that the Robotics meet was almost
cancelled due to high winds and a concern over possible black outs.  When we
arrived, it was still raining so we had to dash into the back entrance.  I also
noticed that it was getting colder.

We followed the stream of people into the gym where all of
the robotics displays were being set up.  The heat must have been turned up
making the gym warmer, or maybe it was all the people and activity.  I started
feeling better.

“There they are.” Doug pointed across the gym to our group. 
“Those guys look like they need some help.  Let’s see how much they messed it
up.”  When we got there, Mr. Kenney and Nathan along with some other guys were
working on the pulley.

Mr. Kenney grinned at Tess. “So, Tess, does it meet with
your approval?”

“It looks great, Mr. Kenney.  I think we have a chance to
place.”

Will retorted, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Hey, let’s go check out the other schools, especially
Andover.  They beat us last year, but their display looks like crap from here,”
Sam contended.

We started wondering around the gym, checking out some crazy
contraptions.  I know our entry functioned well, but it wasn’t as original as
some of the other ones.  I don’t think we will be getting the prize for
creativity.  What are some of these mechanisms are supposed to do anyway?  Were
they really useful, or just a waste of space?

As we walked around, I made a point to observe everyone
around me.  At Woodley High there were more and more wackos showing up every
day, sending out bad vibes and giving me the evil eye.  It’s become second
nature for me to have to be watchful of my surroundings.  Hopefully, things
will be better for me here, after all, except for the robotics team, no one
knows who I am.  I just want to blend into the crowd.  Unfortunately, my sense
of unease began to grow.  I heard the sounds of the storm over the chaos in the
gym.  I started to perceive things out of the periphery of my eye, unexplained
flashes of light that would quickly dissipate.  I noticed that people were
looking at me just a bit too long.  When I returned their stare, they held mine
before looking away.  Was I just being paranoid?

“There sure are a lot more kids here than last year.  Have
you guys noticed that?” Doug asked.

Sam replied, “Yeah, I guess.”

Will remarked, “Actually, it does seem a little weird.  A
lot of these kids don’t look like the robotics type, if you know what I mean.”

“And what’s the deal with the Halloween costumes?  Who said
anything about dressing up?  This is a robotics meet, not a Halloween party.”
Doug questioned.

“Maybe they came from some activity at one of the schools,
Halloween is just around the corner,” I speculated.

“Yeah, maybe.  I still don’t recognize any of them, though. 
You get to know most of the robotics kids in the other schools,” Will
contended.

“Maybe they’re freshman. You wouldn’t know them as well,” I
offered.

Suddenly, the lights flashed off for a second, then came
back on.  My heart skipped a beat.  I’m getting way too jumpy.  Two boys walked
by in zombie costumes.  Their dead hanging skin obscured part of their faces
but I could still see their eyes.  They were staring at me.  They looked
hostile, but what do you expect with the dead person getup?  Is that their
aura?  It resembled the color of the gym wall of beige/ brown.  They were
stupid, follower, no-minds.

We noticed the judges making their way over to our entry so
we ran over there.  On the way over, I heard a weird sound coming from
somewhere, sort of like a muffled scream.

“Will, did you hear that?” I asked him.

He
looked at me, puzzled, “Hear what?”

“I
thought I heard a scream from over there,” I explained, and pointed in that
direction.

He
shrugged, “I didn’t hear anything. I think the girl’s locker room is in that
direction.”

“Guess
I was just imagining it.” I frowned.  Maybe it’s the wind.

The lights went off again
.
  It got real quiet for a
minute and then everyone started talking.  Will moved next to me and held onto
my hand.  “Don’t worry,” he whispered in my ear. “I think this is just
temporary.”  I knew I should take my hand away, but it made me feel better.

Next, we heard over a loud speaker:  “Folks, don’t worry. 
We have someone checking out this situation.  I’m sure the lights will be up
and running in a couple of minutes.  Everyone just be patient.”

Sure enough, the lights soon came back on.  I blinked.  It
was so bright.  I noticed a pack of zombies close to us.  Were they there
before?  I wasn’t sure.  Why was I so anxious?  I didn’t have any reason to
be.  I could hear the storm raging outside and I saw flashes of lightning, but
so what?  It was just bad weather.  It’s very peaceful in here and I’m
surrounded by my friends.  I took a deep breath.  I must calm down.  I don’t
see those zombies looking over here.  They’re not even noticing me.

I heard the muffled scream again so I insisted to Will, “You
must have heard it that time.”

He looked over at me frowning. “No, Tess, I really didn’t
hear anything.  You want me to go and check?”

I sighed, “No, I don’t know what I’m thinking.  This storm
is making so much noise outside.  That must be it.”

The judges finally arrived to view our entry.  Nathan was
setting up the pulley to demonstrate how it worked.  Will and Doug’s role was
to explain each step as it moved along.  I found myself getting so nervous
about our project that I had to leave.  I’m such a coward.  I was afraid of a
dumb screw-up.  In situations like this, I’m always the pessimist.  I think
it’s time to find a distraction before I drive myself crazy.

There’s one display I was meaning to get to all night.  It
was the entry that was assembled by an all-girls robotics club.  As I strode
across the gym to check out their display, I could see a gleam of shiny pink
through the crowd.  When I got close, I observed a vehicle of some kind that
was built of giant pink and purple plastic building blocks.  It was driving
around in circles.  Was that a dog driving it?  Very clever!

There it goes again, that funny scream.  It was closer to me
here then when I heard it before so I decided to check it out.  I left the gym
and went around the corner into a short hallway.  At the end of the hall was
the door into the girl’s locker room.  I tried to open it but it was locked. 
That’s when I noticed a sign on the wall with an arrow:  Girl’s bathroom
downstairs.  I followed the arrow which took me down another hall to a
stairwell.  I thought I heard a faint scream again but I wasn’t sure.  I
continued down the stairs and around the corner.

I stopped and looked around.  I was in an old hallway that
looked like it hadn’t been used since my grandma went to high school.  There
were cracked linoleum floors and dirty, marked-up walls.  Exposed light bulbs
and grimy old pipes hung from the ceiling.  Across the hallway was a door with
that funny old fashioned mottled glass that you couldn’t see through.  There was
a number on the door so I figured that it must be an old classroom.

I walked further down the hall to the girl’s bathroom and
opened the door.  The dim light lent an odd cast to the sinks and the toilet
stalls.  The faucets looked all rusty.  I doubt they even worked.  I walked
further in to check out a toilet.  It was sooo gross.  It was all black inside
and completely dry.  Two of the stall doors were missing.  I flushed a toilet
and a loud shriek came out.  That sound; that was it!  That was the muffled
scream I had heard.  Someone was down here flushing these toilets?  I shrugged
and turned around to leave.  A sudden sense of dread came over me.  I felt a
need to RUN, not walk out of this place.  As I reached for the door, I heard a
loud crack of thunder that sounded like it was directly above the school. 
Then, complete and utter darkness.

Oh, my, God!  I can’t even see my hand.  It’s pitch black in
here!  Why am I such an idiot?  Why do I always do these things?  I tentatively
felt around for the door and turned the handle.  I couldn’t get it to open.  I
kept on twisting and turning, but it still wouldn’t move.  What do I do now? 
I’ve got to get outta here before I go nuts.  I remember seeing a window near
the last sink.  I crept over there by grabbing each sink until getting to the
last one, then I groped around for the window.  I grasped the handles and
gradually pulled it up an inch at a time until it came to an abrupt stop.  I
couldn’t budge the window after that.  There was no way I could fit through
that opening.

Suddenly, there was a bright FLASH!!!  It was lightning,
immediately followed by a loud CRASH of thunder.  The storm was directly over
us.  I backed up against the sink and put my face in my hands.  What can I do
now?  I can’t get out of here.  Will, Doug and Sam should eventually start
looking around for me.  It could take them all night to find me in here!  I
breathed in and out, in and out, trying to keep my panic at bay.  I have to
calm myself down.  When Will does find me I don’t want him to see a raving
lunatic.  I sat down on the floor to wait it out with only the sporadic
lightening to illuminate my dark cold confines.