Not a Monster Anymore (Double Crossed Book 2)

Chapter 12

Sean is sitting at the corner table when I walk in, but he doesn't notice me until I sit down next to him, placing my tray of food in front of me. The kids in the few surrounding tables retreat to the farther seats in the room. Sean, however, stays put.

"I heard people talking about you," he says, seemingly not concerned that I could hurt him at any moment. "Did you really rip his arm open?"

Flinching, I nod. "Yeah. I don't know what happened. I... well, again... I was just sitting one second... then the next I was on top of him." Just like with Keef.

"That sounds a little bit like Schizophrenia," Sean says, biting into a pile of potatoes. "You know, not knowing why you did it? It could be another personality you didn't know you had."

I nod, but don't agree. I doubt that it's schizophrenia. Humans just paste labels on to someone to make them understandable.

"I heard you pulled out his nerves," Sean continues, poking at some ketchup with a fry. I wonder if he notices that he's eating what looks like blood while asking me this.

"Uh-huh," I answer, lifting my hand again, where some of the blood I couldn't get off has turned crusty and brown. There's still a few worm-like clumps stuck to my fingers. Sean grabs at one, pulling it off of me and holding it in his palm, staring at it in awe.

"That's kinda cool," he says, tilting his head, still looking at the severed nerve with wide eyes.

"You're weird," I say without thinking, then, surprised at my own words, look over apologetically. "Uh, I didn't mean it-"

I didn't mean to.

The words fly through my head before I can register what's happening. Tears spring to my eyes, and I hear the sickening crunch again, screaming, seeing blood, watching Dib and Keef flying across the room, the bone revealed under the boy's gore-

"Hey, hey," I hear, and I open my eyes to find Sean staring at me with concern. "Are you okay? You..." he hesitates before pointing to my cheek. "You're crying."

I lift a tentative hand to my face and wipe at my cheek, feeling tears come away on my fingers. "I'm..." I shiver again at the thought of everything happened. "I'm fine." The words even sound like a lie. I can tell Sean doesn't believe me, but he doesn't say anything about it and gets back to his food.

"So, you're in solitary, huh?" he asks instead. "That must be kinda boring."

"Yeah, the room is even more bare," I say. "And dark. The walls aren't bars. Just cement. Makes the cells look heavenly," I joke, trying to cheer myself up. Forget. Forget what happened. It's in the past. You can fix it. I nod at myself, not caring if the others look at me weird. I can fix this. I can fix me.

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(Dib's P.O.V)