The night that proceeded my first annoying day with the new kid was mostly uneventful this time. It turns out Cynthia had to go into town for awhile, and thus I was not punished for being rude in the morning.
The week didn't go by as well as I had hoped. There were a few things why that was.
First, I was starting to have really strange and frightening dreams. I would always end up waking up early in the mornings –always around five or six. The only good thing that came out of that was that I didn't have to rush to school in the mornings. But I would have rather rushed than have those dreams.
I really didn't know how to describe them. I was in some alley way somewhere –and there was someone with me. He was always shrouded, so I couldn't quite make out who it was.
There was always a sense of danger, and I felt on edge. But more than that, I was terrified of something that I was facing out in the darkness. And then glowing, horrifying eyes appeared in the unlit part of the alley. And I let out a snarl.
That was always what I figured ripped out low from my throat. And it scared me to death, though I wouldn't admit that to myself. I really didn't know what to make of the nightmares.
I'd never had them before, even when... I didn't want to think of it. I didn't want to add misery on top of the terror I was dealing with.
And then there was the fact that the new kid –Damian- seemed to be all together ignoring Janet. This was not a good thing for my situation. Janet's anger was bound to be boiling up over the week as he continued to stare at me, and barely paid any attention to Janet. And even though I kept encouraging her o distract him, which he reacted to rarely, she was confused about my actions but still murderously angry at the same time that I was getting more attention from him than she was. I expected she would act today, or sometime soon, to hurt me in one way or another. Be it physically or mentally, I was expecting it.
So after I had woken up early, lunging straight up out of bed gasping, I started to get ready and was preparing and thinking of ways that Janet might try to torture me today.
Cynthia was gone again this morning, so I had nothing to worry about as I fled from the house. Since I had plenty of time to go to school, I thought I might take a walk through the forest to my favourite spot –an ancient, twisted oak tree. It was perfectly climbable, and there were a lot of little nooks in the tree that I could grab on to if it turned out fate were that I was to fall.
I maneuver through the trees swiftly and expertly, having been here many times before.
And soon I was at my crooked and aged, yet still beautiful tree. The canopy of leaves was full, green, and lively as a slight breeze blew through them.
I drew in a deep breath and was immediately refreshed. This place did wonders to my mood and state of mind.
I ran the rest of the way up to the grand tree and climbed my way up it easily enough. As soon as I was up high enough, I eased myself into a crevice and relaxed.
I felt really tired from lack of sleep. The most likely thing I knew that would probably happen today was that I would fall asleep in class. If that happened, I really didn't know if I would get in trouble or not. It depended what class it happened in.
My head lolled to the side and rested against the trunk. I was so tired I really care about how rough and hard it was. I just drifted...
It was pitch black everywhere, all but where I was standing under a flickering lamp in the middle of an alleyway. There was somebody in front of me, someone who seemed vaguely familiar.
The air was tense with some kind of anticipation. The man in front of me was tensed as I was... readying for something. Then we heard movement in the shadows.
He restrained a growl –I could hear because I was close, tight to his back as I looked into the black. But I barely noticed- I was waiting for something to happen, something to appear out of no where.
And then we saw the eyes. The glowing, orange-like amber eyes, piercing and menacing, locked on our figures. I let out a snarl, challenging the beasts to come out of the darkness and fight.
"No," The man murmured in an irresistible, familiar, and soft voice. Although I was compelled to listen to that voice, to that person who spoke, my instincts took over and I shot out from behind him as a monster slithered out from the darkness.
It had coal-black fur, was on all fours, and baring dagger-like teeth almost the size of kitchen knives. Its ears were pulled back flat against its head and it was in a crouch, ready to attack. It appeared to be a giant wolf.
It growled, its eyes only focused on me now. I slipped down into a stooped down also, ready to spring.
"Marie, no!" That harmonic voice called behind me, now in a frustrated, worried way. I felt the man grab a hold on my arm, but I quickly and agilely shook it off.
The wolf sprang.
I awoke with a start, screaming and gasping. Momentarily forgetting where I was, I lost my hold on the tree and therefore, my balance.
I fell out of the tree, probably looking like I was trying to fly with my arms and hands waving up and down at my sides.
My body hit the ground pretty hard all at the same time. And I couldn't move for a minute until I gathered my thoughts together.
Well, apparently I had fallen asleep while I was in the tree. And I had had the nightmare again, except this time there was more to it. And that was why I had woken up and fallen out of the tree. Now everything made sense.
Slowly, not rushing anything, I tested to see what I could move. I flexed my fingers in and out, moved my arms, my toes, and then finally my legs...
Suddenly I heard laughing quietly from someone in the trees. It startled me so much that I shot up off the ground without continuing to check that everything was fine. Apparently it was because I was up, and only a little sore. Probably the only thing that fall had done to me was make more bruises and irritate the ones I already had.
I did a three sixty, whirling around in a circle to see which tree and or bush the noise had come from. But I saw no one.
"Who's there?" I demanded, scanning the brush for any source of life.
The only sounds I heard was the whisper of the wind blowing through the trees and someone 'shushing' someone else's uncontrolled snickering. Apparently there were two people watching me. My eyes widened. And that's when I decided to run.
I sprinted out of the forest, running at pretty much my top speed.
Who would be out in the forest, watching me sleep in a tree? Had they been there before I came? Had I not noticed them when I first entered, and had they been watching me since then? Had there been more than two?
All these questions swirled around in my head making me almost dizzy with anxiety as I finally got to the house. I decided even if it was too early to go to school, I would go anyway. The need to be out of this vicinity was too great to care about much more.
Before I darted out the door with my bag, I glanced at the clock and stopped dead when I saw the time. It was almost lunch period at school.
I stared at the clock, stunned for only a few seconds longer before I couldn't care less and ran outside. Oh well. At least I probably wouldn't fall asleep in class today.
Within the next few seconds, I was in my car and pushing the car as fast as it would go down the highway towards school.
I think I might have been in a state of shock. My mind felt a little numb and I couldn't bring myself to ask who or what had been watching me. All I concentrated on was getting to school before the lunch period was over and not running into a ditch.
I made it there, and the period was barely half over. Sighing in relief, I entered the building and rushed to the cafeteria. I really didn't know why this was the first place I wanted to go –I could've just as easily hung out at the picnic tables outside till classes started again. But I just felt... compelled to go to the cafeteria for some reason. Even if it would probably get me into trouble; Janet was most likely awaiting my company.
As soon as I entered I noticed something different. And it was that Janet was sitting without Damian by her side, and she was absolutely fuming.
Frowning, I scanned the room for him. But he was no where to be seen. I gave up quickly, secretly pleased that he was not here to stare at me, and yet disappointed because without him here there was no one to distract Janet. And I was bound to face her wrath very soon, I could just foresee it.
I crossed the room to my regular table, not bothering to buy food today. Which was probably a good thing, because I saw Janet getting up from her table to meet me at mine.
I stopped as we made it to my table at the same time. She glared coldly at me while I just looked at her blankly. She didn't speak for a few minutes, and it seemed like the whole cafeteria had gone silent to hear what Janet had to say.
"Where's Damian?"
I looked at her incredulously.
"How should I know?" I snapped back.
"Don't mess with me. There is something going on between you and him; it's so obvious."
"I wouldn't dream of messing with you, Janet." My voice was too sugary sweet to be genuine. Janet's glower seemed to intensify.
It looked like she was just about ready to hit me; her muscles tensed and they started to shake. But luckily I was saved; not by the bell, but by the entrance of Damian which was good enough.
He walked quickly in through the school yard entrance, looking around seemingly frantically. Everyone was staring at him, and he didn't seem to notice. As soon as he had laid his eyes on me it looked like he relaxed. But Janet didn't. She let out an angry half-scream under her breath and backed away from me, looking in between me and Damian.
"Watch your back, Marie." I covered my mouth with my hand and widened my eyes mockingly. Her eyes narrowed before she retreated back to her minions.
Just before I sat down, she gestured Damian to come to her. He hesitated for a moment, still looking at me. I frowned as I saw peculiar emotions in his eyes... guilt? And relief?
He shrugged slightly, looking away from me to Janet and walked towards her. I sat at my table and watched them for the rest of the period.
I still couldn't wrap my mind around it. Why was he staring at me? That was the question that always haunted my mind. That and trying to figure out what my strange dreams meant.
As soon as the bell rang, I was out of the cafeteria faster than anyone could get out of their seat.
Except maybe for Damian; a minute or so after I was gone, he was right behind me. I didn't feel like exploding on anyone today, but mainly him, so I sped the pace up to outrun him.
But he kept up with me as if it were nothing. It didn't even look like it was an effort to him, even though I was power walking; almost close to a jog.
"Hello." He said quite clearly in a silky smooth voice. The sound of his voice almost stopped me dead. My steps faltered slightly, and he had to slow down again to keep up with me. I didn't look at his face for a reaction. My mind was too shocked and numb to think.
The sound of his voice was exactly like the man's voice in my dream.
The moment that registered in my mind, I almost started running.
"Hello." He tried again. We were still walking toward our next class –art. He always sat almost beside me every time, and I'd been getting used to it so much that I was starting to really not care all that much.
When I didn't answer him, he sighed and gave in. He knew I was not going to talk without provocation.
"Hello, my name is Damian Forrester," I rolled my eyes at the obvious knowledge. In the side view of his face, I saw that it confused him. His perfect, marble-like brow furrowed in confusion. But he continued nevertheless.
"And you must be Marie, right?" I almost stopped again at the shock of what he knew. But he must have heard my name in class before, when attendance was being taken or when I was rarely called on.
"What do you want, Damian?" I sighed. It was taking a lot out of me to act like none of this was bothering me. But he laughed.
"Do I have to have a reason to talk to you?" I gritted my teeth together, and tried to not start screaming at him. This was not going to help my situation with Janet at all. If she saw me talking to Damian right now, I'd most likely be tracked down after school and be beaten to death by her and her loyal servants.
"No, you don't need a reason. But I'd rather not be seen with you, so I won't be murdered tonight, all right?" He flinched for some reason unknown to me, and then looked puzzled. But it took him only seconds to realize what my words meant.
"Oh." He stated. The word was short and hard. His face smoothed out into a blank slate, showing no emotion. But his brilliant green eyes blazed with something... it looked like anger. Anger over what, though?
I couldn't help but adding this to the pile of things I was already thinking about as we headed, now in silence, to the art room. That seemed like the last of the conversation. Which was a good thing on my part, but I really didn't understand the feeling he gave off after our little chat was over. I wanted to ask him why, to understand the feeling in his eyes. I realized this with shock and immediate disgust with myself. What was I thinking...?
I entered the classroom before Damian could, and took my seat at the black desktop I'd been accustomed to for a few years now. He sat two desks away, at least one closer to me than usual. I tried to not let that bother me as the teacher began talking, telling us our next assignment.
Janet slipped in a few minutes later surprisingly late. She was never usually late.
The teacher gave Janet a warning, which Janet immediately disregarded as she made a beeline to Damian.
Since I was paying closer attention to Janet than normal, I noticed the snide look she gave me as she plopped down into her seat. There was something different in the look though; she always gave me those looks. But this one was different somehow... she seemed more smug than normal too...
Janet only gave Damian a quick 'hello' and nothing else. This only added to her weird behaviour. And though it was a normal thing for Damian to respond with a polite hello, he said nothing. He didn't even acknowledge her. The weirdest part of that was she didn't even seem to care. What was going on?
I pondered this over class, not caring enough to listen to the teacher or do anything she said at the time. I would draw whatever I wanted to later. Right now, all I wanted to do was think.
Class ended soon enough, with time flying by too quickly, and I was up and out of my seat, contemplating skipping my next class even though I'd missed most of the day.
But I decided not to –I didn't want to risk a phone call home if someone already hadn't phoned earlier. Luck was with me, because no one followed me, and I only had Janet with me next class. I knew that was typical, but I still felt fortunate that Damian wouldn't talk or stare at me for the rest of the day.
I felt even luckier when Janet didn't seem to bother me, or even notice my existence in biology.
And as soon as biology was over, I didn't want to ruin the moment; I hurried to my car, avoiding people as much as was possible.
"Hey, Marie! Wait up." A cruel, icy voice commanded. I pretended I didn't hear and sped up more.
I heard footsteps quickening behind me; and I knew I was too late. Someone grabbed my shoulder from behind, and spun me around. The movement was so quick it made me dizzy.
The first thing I saw when my vision wasn't doubled anymore was Janet's wild facial expressions. Her eyes were wide, and she smirked an evil grin at me. All of a sudden, we were surrounded. I didn't look to see who the people were; there was no need. I already knew who they were –Janet's accomplices.
"Let's go, Marie." Janet's voice was honey-smooth. She kept a hold of my shoulder tightly as she guided me around from the front of the school to the back. I guess she didn't want witnesses –even if it didn't matter. No one would come to my rescue even if someone did see it happening.
The crowd of people kept in a circle around me and Janet as we walked so I couldn't escape. They knew I was a fast runner, and they also knew that I was clumsy at the best of times. But they weren't taking any chances now. Janet must've wanted to deal with something she wanted to straighten out right away.
I didn't bother screaming or doing anything whatsoever to attract attention to myself. That also wouldn't do any good. The other students would be frightened at the very prospect of interfering with Janet's business. There was no hope for me. I wondered how hard she would be on me; how badly I would come out hurt –or what I had even done in the first place. She'd never done this type of thing before.
We were the farthest distance possible away from the parking lot at the back of the school before Janet stopped.
Janet pushed me roughly from beside her to in front of her, and turned me to face her. Now Janet and I were standing face to face, not a ruler's length away from each other in the middle of the circle. Her face was a serene mask of hatred, excitement, and fury. I kept my poker face on, not giving her anything.
"You know why you're here. No one goes after someone I'm going after. Right, everyone?" There was a chorus of approving murmurs from everyone who stood around us. I paid them no attention. My arms were crossed lightly across my chest, and I looked only at Janet's scowling face. They were not going to get a single shred of enjoyment out of this.
"This is just a punishment, and a last warning, about staying away from Damian. Whatever is going on between you two is going to end right here and now. If you try to resist, we will only make it harder for you. Trust me, Marie; if I want to I can make your life hell for a very long time."
I almost murmured under my breath, you already have made my life hell. But I'd already promised myself I wouldn't give her anything. I was going to suck it up, and take this without any emotion or feeling whatsoever. Just let yourself go...
I felt someone strong come up behind me and pin my arms behind my back. I took a deep breath and squeezed my eyes shut, letting my head droop slightly. You can take this...
The first punch fell upon my face. And as I promised myself, I didn't give in to the pain. Not one moan, not one cry of agony escaped me. I had my eyes closed most of the time, but from what I saw, not just Janet was beating me. People from around the circle came up and took turns.
Some of them really looked like they were enjoying themselves –Chantelle, for instance. She had a strong dislike of me just as Janet did; she basically loved anything Janet loved, and hated everyone and everything Janet hated. So she was having just as much fun as Janet was.
The last punch must have knocked me out cold, because by the time awareness came back to me, the moon was up and it was pitch black in the field I was in. Either that or I had been too bruised to move and had just laid on the muddy ground the whole time, thinking about nothing.
This was probably a good time to get my butt off the ground and sneak inside so I could avoid questions, and possibly another beating from Cynthia.
I was sprawled out on the ground like I been when I fell out of the tree. And, just as before, I moved each body part before attempting to stand. It seemed every inch of my body ached. It protested my movements with shooting, splintering pains. I couldn't help it; I moaned quietly, since I couldn't take deep breaths, to calm myself, without pain present.
But I eventually made it off the ground, only to hobble all the way to the parking lot where my car was still thankfully parked. I didn't know what I would do if it had gotten towed away. I wouldn't be able to walk home; I'd probably die half way there, or get eaten by a bear. Literally. The latter was more probable.
I drove home quickly, wanting to get there as soon as possible, which was not a norm for me. The one thing I really wanted to do right now was collapse on my bed and fall asleep for the entire weekend.
But I slowed as I got close to my driveway –I did not, without a doubt, want to wake Cynthia up. That would be a death sentence.
With a sigh, I thought it would probably be best if I parked my car on the side of the road beside my driveway. That wouldn't make as much noise. If I wasn't all sore from being gang beat I would have turned off the car and pushed it into the driveway myself. But if I hadn't been beaten up I wouldn't be in this predicament, would I? With another sigh, I pulled over and turned the car off. I rested my head on the steering wheel for a moment; mentally preparing myself. Now it was time to sneak into the house.
In no time at all, I was out of the car, up the driveway, and half-standing, half-crouching at the side of the house, trying to figure out the best entry point. I wasn't prepared for this because I'd never needed to get into the house without being seen like this before. The best possible way was probably to scramble in through my window. It would be a bit of a challenge to get in through my window without making some noise, though. The window was just a little too high up off the ground for me to be able to climb in with no difficulty.
First I grabbed the ledge of the window to hoist myself up. Then I balanced myself on one of the wooden siding boards to get up higher. Stretching like this was almost too painful. It felt like an electric current was traveling up and down my body over and over again. I grunted before extending my arm up more, and climbing higher. The most difficult part was getting the window open when I finally reached it. I had to balance myself on the skinny siding while trying to push my window open at the same time.
Ten good pushes and twenty almost-falls later I had the window open and was clambering through as quickly as was possible. I turned to close it when I heard quiet chuckling. I thought my heart stopped beating; I froze solid as the person began to speak.
"He he. Good job Marie; you were as silent as ever. I don't think I could've done a better job." Cynthia sarcastically congratulated me somewhere in the darkness. I thawed, and whirled around just in time to see Cynthia flick on the light switch in the hallway slash living room outside my room where she was standing. She gave me a triumphant smirk as I looked away from her.
"So where have you been? I got a call after school that your car was still parked in the school lot. And then the secretary just so happened to mention that you missed all of your classes this morning. What have you been doing?" In the last question, the words were pronounced carefully and separately in a demanding tone. Her tone made me snap finally. Well, sort of anyway. I was just not going to stand here and take her crap right now. I would any other time, though I don't like to, just not now.
"Mother, I do not have the patience to deal with this right now. We will talk about it later." Cynthia glared at me incredulously in the darkness of my room until she stepped in and switched on the light. She did a sort of half-gasp in surprise as she noted my bruises –well that's probably what took her by surprise anyway. I hadn't checked yet to see the damage that was done to me. I glared at her defiantly, but mostly impatiently. I wanted to go to bed, and the pain to stop with it.
"I said goodnight, mother." I pushed her roughly back out of the room and quickly locked the door. I didn't even hear Cynthia put up a fight; all I heard was her quiet, retreating footsteps.
I let out a sigh of a relief and closed my eyes. I was safe for tonight. And I didn't want to think about tomorrow.
Forgetting about turning off the light, I flopped down on the bed, not caring about the sudden, overwhelming pain that it caused me. It knocked me out, and I was soon off in a painless black void.