The Four Points

CHAPTER 8

REALLY, BACK TO SCHOOL

Alyssa drove us to school. I stared at the streaks of rain that flowed down my window. I gazed at the blurred scenery as my sister sped down the road. As we drove, I couldn't help but think of Liam Malloy. I hadn't heard from him in days. Where was he? I tried to tell myself that his disappearance was for the best, and that everything he was trying to convince me of wasn't real. But a part of me wished he were normal, that I was normal, and that we could be together. Camera crews flooded the parking lot as we drove in. I wished my sister's Toyota Corolla had tinted windows.

One reporter got a glimpse of me and shouted, "It's her, it's Erika Martin!"

When we parked we were immediately swarmed.

Great, not again. I'd hoped I had been forgotten. I did enough interviews, wasn't the world tired of me? I was.

I put my hood up and looked at Alyssa.

"Pllleeeassse Alyssa, let's just go home."

At that moment, there was a knock on my window. Mrs. Wong stood there holding a large black umbrella. She and a group of police officers were pushing the reporters back. Alyssa got out of the car, came around to my side, and opened the car door.

"Come on E, you can do this."

"Erika, we will escort you in, you'll be okay," Mrs. Wong waved her fingers towards herself like one would gesture at a baby who was learning to walk to come to them.

When I placed my right foot out of the car, the clicking and flashing of cameras exploded. As I stood up, the noise grew louder and louder. All the shouts, all the questions... it was deafening. My sister scooped her arm through mine.

"Come on sis, we got this!"

We walked under the umbrella with Mrs. Wong, me in the middle. My sister and Mrs. Wong were getting wet as we all struggled to stay under the shelter of the umbrella. Four police officers escorted us—one in front, one in back, and one to each side of us. I thought it was strange that the police officers made a diamond shape around us as we walked in the direction of the school.

I thought back to the book. If the diamond thing is real, why can't the diamond shape the officers made stop the reporters from asking stupid questions?

The stupidest one penetrated their barrier, "Erika, how does it feel to be back at Riverton High?"

I kept my head down. I wanted to say, "How do you think it fucking feels, you freaking idiot?"

I wanted to scream, I was so angry my blood boiled. Why, why would they make us come back? I hate this place, I hate it!

I was going to hyperventilate.

"Erika, are you okay?" Alyssa asked as we walked through the gates guarded by police. The gates were the invisible line, the no-reporter zone.

As we walked into the school, my heart accelerated, my head hurt, and I became dizzy. I couldn't make the voices stop. I heard so many voices: "It's her. Do you think she did it?"; "How sad, why won't people leave her alone?"; and "I wonder if she'll be my friend."

So many thoughts, so much noise.

"I can't, I can't do this, I can't breathe." I sat down on the cold concrete floor.

My sister and Mrs. Wong started to panic as they struggled to lift me up; it was chaos. Reporters piled into the school. They were trying to take pictures. The police officers tried to restore order by pushing all the reporters back and locking the gates.