Suspending Reality (8 page)

“I’d be glad to,” Rachel said.

“Not you. I want the garden girl, the nerd with the green thumb.”

I smiled, refusing to be ashamed of my passion. “You mean garden girl extraordinaire,” I said, correcting her.

“We all know why you wanna fight Sky,” Rachel said, glaring at our uninvited guest.

Carla stared at me but didn’t say anything.

Both Rachel and I knew that she really just wanted revenge. She was still furious that her boyfriend had dumped her for me when we were fourteen. I only went on two dates with the guy, and it never amounted to anything. In fact, I started dating Brett shortly thereafter, but she still hadn’t gotten over it. As petty as it was, she continued to carry a grudge, and she was always trying to get back at me in one way or another—even in after-school sparring sessions.

Rachel rolled her eyes. “Are you ever gonna get over it? Gosh, Carla. It’s been years since your puppy-love crush dumped you…and I can’t say I blame him.”

“I just think Sky is pretty slimy, just like the worms that crawl in the dirt she plays in.”

“Them’s fightin’ words,” I said, grinning. “Care for a little hand-to-hand combat?”

“Why? You scared to fight with a spear?” she said in a mocking voice. “Did I mess you up too bad last time?”

The last time I’d fought her, she’d smashed my knuckles and bruised my shoulder. Carla towered over me and was all muscle. She worked out every day, and she really was a force to be reckoned with. Almost everyone feared her, but I didn’t—even if she did kick my butt in sparring. “Spears it is then,” I said. “Now mask up and bring it on.”

Rachel shot me a look. “Let’s just leave.”

“Why? I never turn down a good fight.”

Without another word, Carla came at me, but I used basic blocking maneuvers to defend myself. My footwork was spot on. I threw my whole body into every jab, because I knew if I just used my arms, I’d only tire myself out. I also was careful not to give in to the temptation to lean forward to get that extra range when thrusting; I knew that would just throw me off balance and put my face right within range of Carla’s spear.

I left an inch or two of pole sticking out behind my hand, in case Carla tried to pull it from my grip, a move she was infamous for. One advantage I had over her was that she was very predictable. I protected my whole body and pointed at her shoulder in a threatening manner. I thrust toward her, then returned to my sideways crouch, positioning my spear in perfect position. I kept my knees bent and kept my weight on the balls of my feet, just as we’d been taught to do.

She was tough, so I knew she’d win the first few onslaughts, but I also knew she’d tire easily. I, on the other hand, was smaller and more agile, and I had lots of endurance. My movements were quick and sharp as I blocked and then immediately attacked. I tried every little trick I knew to force her to move around more than I was, trying to wear her out. Then, when she was out of breath and her muscles were aching, I’d have my chance to strike.

Suddenly, she clumsily and foolishly leaned forward. She deserved to get a spear in her face, but instead, I grabbed her and pulled her off her feet. She counterattacked and came at me, but with lightning speed, I moved my spear parallel, into the path of the attacking spear.

“You suck!” she shouted.

“Why? Because I blocked you?”

“Sky will outthink you anytime!” Rachel shouted from the sidelines.

“Shut up! What are you, her cheerleader? Where are your freaking pom-poms?” Carla said.

I decided to rush her while her attention was diverted. She launched the spear with an underhand throw toward my head, a move that might have killed me if we weren’t just practicing. The spear caught me on the side of the head and drove the helmet into my face.

“Sky!” Rachel shouted.

I was thankful for good, full-face protection. The helmet was equipped with a heavy foam and made of leather, and the hard, plastic face mask had a rubberized surface. I pulled off the helmet and felt a warm trickle down my face, and I was furious that I’d let my guard down and reacted so poorly rather than thinking things out. Carla could use her freakishly large body to fight, but I always tried to rely on my brains. This time, that had failed me.

“You’re bleeding,” Rachel said, handing me a towel. “Did the spear get you?”

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the damage had been done from the meshing driven into my cheek rather than from the tip of the spear itself. “I’m fine,” I said.

“Well, I think we’re done here,” Carla said, stripping off her helmet.

“I’m not!” I yelled at her. “Get back over here, and let’s finish this.”

She winked. “See you at dinner, loser.”

“No!” I said, wiping sweat off my head. “The fight’s not over.”

“A fight? Felt more like a dance in the park to me. You’re nothing but a garden nerd. What does Brett see in you anyway, with all that dirt beneath your fingernails? Besides, why do you wanna fight? Shouldn’t you be out weeding or hoeing or something?” she said, smirking at her own double-entendre.

“At least what I do is useful to everyone, and people on the surface will depend on it—including you. We can’t eat without planting…and from the looks of it, you eat more than most, you freaking Amazon.”

“You’ve got no skills, Sky. Just admit that to yourself.”

She then turned and walked away.

Angry, I started to charge at her, but Rachel pulled me back.

“Let me go!” I shouted.

“No. We’ll get her back later, when she’s least expecting it.”

“I can’t stand that girl!” I fumed, throwing down my spear.

“Don’t let her get to you.”

“How do I ignore it? She knows just what buttons to push and…ugh, I can’t stand her.”

“Yes, and she loves pushing your buttons. The best way to get under her skin is to just ignore her.”

I looked down at my mask. “She gave me another deep dent.”

“Yeah, just like the one between your eyes and on the cheek. Man, that mask is taking a beating.”

“Better that, than my face. Besides, battle scars on my mask just add…character, right?”

“Right. You look like a badass with that dented up mask.”

“A badass who knows how to grow pansies. Hmm. Who would have ever thought?”

We both burst out in laughter.

***

A month passed, and flowers seemed to show up when I least expected them. I always wondered why no one bothered to give them to me in person. Brett tried to be understanding, but he was obviously growing quite frustrated with it.

My five-year-old niece admired my long French braid. “How do you braid it so close to your head?” she asked.

“Lots of practice. If you can master the French braid, you can do any hairstyle—any kind of braid or twist.”

“Teach me!”

“Okay,” I said. “How about after my classes?”

She smiled. “Yay!”

I grinned back at her.

After I ate breakfast, I said goodbye to my cousins and my aunt, then headed out to the library to go to my class. As I stepped out of our suite and about tripped over a pot of geraniums. I bent down and picked up the note that was leaning against the pot. I read it aloud, in a mumble: “For Sky. From: Your Secret Admirer.” I looked for a signature or any telling sign of who might have left the flowers there, but there wasn’t a clue.

Rachel came up the hall. “Ready?”

I handed her the card. “Just what I need, more flowers.”

“Ah. Your secret admirer strikes again, huh?”

“Who do you think it is?” I asked.

“I have no idea, but are you gonna tell Brett?”

“I have to. We don’t hide anything from each other.”

“I’m not sure that’s a great idea. It’s just gonna cause a fight. Men don’t like competition.”

“Brett’s not insecure like that.”

Her gaze narrowed. “Maybe not, but it’s obvious that he’s getting ticked off at all these bouquets and plants from some mystery man.” She blew out a breath. “You know, you could send Mr. Mysterious my way. You already have a boyfriend. I don’t.”

We both chuckled.

When we turned the bend, we saw a girl sprawled out on the floor, as if she’d fainted.

“Oh my gosh!” I said and ran over to her. “Annie!” I said. “Are you okay?”

Her eyes were closed, like she was sleeping, and her complexion was bluish and dusky. There were visible black and blue marks on her neck, and she didn’t answer.

Gasping, I felt for a pulse and leaned down to see if she was breathing. I looked up at Rachel and shook my head as tears began to form in my eyes. “She’s…Annie’s gone,” I stuttered. 

Rachel screamed and threw her hands over her mouth.   

When Lisa and Beth approached and saw Annie’s body lying on the floor, they also gasped and began to weep.  

“Annie? We have to help her!” Lisa said. “How can you just sit there and do nothing?”

When she tried to run over to Annie, I hurried to my feet and held her back. ”There’s nothing we can do,” I said softly. “She’s…dead.” I then turned to Beth. “Can you go get help?”

She nodded, wide-eyed, and ran off.

“What happened to h-her?” Lisa asked, sobbing as we all held each other in a consoling group hug. “Was she m-murdered, like Sid a few months ago? Who would do something this awful? Who!?”

“She has the same marks on her neck,” Rachel said, weeping. “I think she was strangled too.”

Sid had gone for a jog around the indoor track and had never returned. Her sister had gone out to look for her, only to find her strangled, lifeless body.

My heart thundered as I thought about the seriousness of our situation. Annie was only sixteen, like me, and while she wasn’t exactly a close friend, she was definitely a sweet girl. She pretty much kept to herself and loved working out in the mornings. We’d all written Sid’s murder off as some sort of horrible fluke, assuming someone had just snapped and killed her in a fit of rage. Everyone had assumed the killer was her boyfriend, driven to the dirty deed in a moment of passion, but he had adamantly denied it. Now, whoever the killer was, he or she was back to work.

“You know what this means?” I said.

“What?” Beth asked. 

“We have a serial killer on our hands.”

She let out a long sob. I pulled her into another group hug with Rachel, and emotion flooded through the three of us as we tried to make sense of it. Two innocent girls had been brutally murdered, their lives snuffed out by some kind of sicko.

Lisa managed to find help, so workers from the surface were immediately dispatched and came to collect Annie.

Her mother cried and fell to her knees. “Please! Please don’t take my baby away,” she called out, her voice trembling.

“It’s protocol, ma’am,” one of the workers stated in a cold, robotic voice. “It is a health hazard, and the body has to be removed.”

“The body? That’s m-my little girl you’re talking about, mister! Don’t call her ‘the body’!” the mother screamed, and her cries made more tears well up in my eyes.

After they took Annie away, we tried to console and comfort her mother, but there was no use. School was canceled, giving us all time to grieve the loss. 

As upset as we were, our government refused to do anything; it was as if they had more important matters to deal with. It made no sense to me that they had so little concern for the citizens of Asha. If we are such a burden to them, I wondered, then why don’t they just let us go to the surface and fend for ourselves? At least up there, we wouldn’t be trapped like freaking fish in a barrel for some maniac to take down one by one.

But instead, we were trapped in a bubble with a killer who was running amok, preying on young girls. No one from the surface seemed to care, and no formal investigation was launched. We had no contact with the topside world, and we continued to be held in that underwater cage like prisoners. Poor Annie’s mother couldn’t even give her a proper memorial, because they wouldn’t give her body back. When Annie’s mother made a stink about it and started to publically question their unethical behavior, she mysteriously disappeared a few days later. I didn’t trust our government at all, and I knew Dante and his goons were responsible for the disappearances of anyone who dared to speak his or her mind about the way we were being treated. They wanted to keep us in line and in check, under their control at all times. Something wasn’t right, and I swore I would get to the bottom of it, one way or another.         

To be continued…