-Chapter 9-
My head ached greatly.
Three days have passed since I had seen Drew jump of a tall building. No matter how much I had tried I still could not bring myself to believe that it had been possible for him to survive. I was certain it was impossible for it to have been but a trick and I knew for a fact that there was not a scientific explanation that I had been aware of which explained whatever he had done. I did not know whatever people would think of me if I had even dared to ask about anything similar to Drew's situation. I simply felt empty; I knew nothing but wished to know everything. A thousand questions remained lurking in my mind; a thousand questions that remained unanswered.
Who, really, was Drew? Was he the same boy who I talked to years ago? The boy who jumped off a tree? Why had Drew been called Zach when in fact, it had not been his name... Or was it? Whatever was Drew? Was he ever really normal? Why had it been possible for him to do extraordinary things yet act so... human?
Much more questions kept me awake for the longest of times; I had not slept for but a few hours. I could not bring myself to simply forget either. I have tried to create conclusions to these questions I have continued to ask myself, yet my actions resulted in vain. I had tried to research about it, as well as think logically about it yet all I had been giving myself was nothing but extremely painful headaches for the past days.
But I could not care less.
I felt lost. I no longer knew what to believe. Everything I've come to believe as logic and facts no longer existed as truths to my mind. Which of the things I had enough knowledge about were truths? And which were mere lies? Was it no longer right to simply believe facts as they were? Should I question any more than I have already?
I sighed in great frustration, as I climbed out of bed and changed. I was already running far too late for school, and I would have been lucky if I had still been able to make it to, at the very least, the end of first period. "Mom, why didn't you just wake me?" I asked with a hint of annoyance as I entered the kitchen.
My mother looked not in the very least taken aback at my question; she simply shrugged. "You were not feeling well through the weekend and I thought it would've been best to leave you to rest today."
I groaned, before grabbing an uneaten----and I assumed not quite ripe-----banana from the counter, before I pushed past her towards the door. If I was indeed going to be late today, I had better create a good enough reason.
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"Ms. Denvar, why is it you've bothered to show up only at the end of my class? Would you care to explain yourself as to why you are extremely tardy?" Mrs. Devilonne demanded with great anger, her face red with frustration. Her name suited her well, if I could say so myself. That devil of a Physics teacher.
I shrugged, making my way towards an empty seat. "Fever," I replied, my voice hinting apparent boredom. I had come up with an explanation within minutes, and had done the preparations needed to prove whatever the excuse I had come up with.
"Oh?"
"Yes, I did have fever. Would you like an excuse letter?"
She nodded, her arms folded across her chest as she continued to eye me with rage. She tapped her foot with impatience as I headed towards her. There was great challenge in her posture, and it was a challenge I had been more than willing to face.
I despised the Physics teacher, and I would gladly show her that she was no better than the rest of her students. "Very well then." I handed her my very much forged excuse letter, thanking goodness that I had the skill of forging signatures. "There you go," I said, as I walked towards my seat with a triumphant smirk plastered onto my face.
Mrs. Devilonne huffed, before returning to her boring lecture which I refused to pay any attention towards.
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"Alice!" Bianca hissed, as she walked alongside me and Stefani. "You look like the living dead, what's wrong?" she asked with voice filled with concern and... irk?
I glanced down upon my ensemble quickly, scanning for anything that may have seemed out of place. I fixed my gaze upon my black jeans, dandelion-colored sleeveless shirt-------
"I wasn't talking about your outfit," Bianca said, rolling her eyes with exaggeration. "You have huge bags under your eyes! What've you been doing in the weekend?" she demanded, as she continued to eye me with disapproval.
I responded with a nervous laugh, before shrugging with what hopefully looked as indifference. "Nothing much. I had just slept late I guess."
"Sure, Al," Stefani said, her voice filled with nothing but sarcasm. Stefani had returned to her normal self, to my great relief. She had talked enthusiastically as she had normally, and she'd not once worn an emotionless mask. "We totally believe you."
"Yes, thank you Stef," I said with just as much sarcasm. "I'm glad you believe me."
"So, not looking for Dr-I mean, your Dalmatian gone missing, Alice?" Bianca saved quickly before anything else slipped. She gave me an uneasy glance in great haste, wishing that I had caught what she had meant.
"I have a dal-oh! No, I don't look for him anymore. He's lost," I shrugged, hoping dearly that I had sounded convincing though I had greatly doubted it.
Stefani looked as though she had not noticed Bianca's near slip, laughing even as I responded to Bianca's question. "You've been looking for a lost dog?" she asked, her voice light and showing no signs of suspicion whatsoever. "I'm sorry, Alice. I should probably give you like pity or something but I just-----I'm not animal friendly."
I grinned. "Yes, I have not seen him since... ever." That had been but the truth.
Bianca smirked, and went on to talk about the dog I had supposedly owned yet never existed. I had to admit, Bianca had been a professional at deceiving. For a moment there, I had almost believed I actually did own a Dalmatian dog.
"You owe me a dog," I muttered to Bianca, as I headed towards class.
"I know, I know. Almost mentioned him didn't I? Can't believe that guy is still seriously on vacation! Lucky guy."
I nodded, giggling slightly as I headed towards my next class. "Dogs, really? That's all you could come up with!"
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More days had passed.
No Drew, no answer. I had not the slightest idea as to why I could not quite take my mind away from thoughts about the incident. I could not understand why it remained in my thoughts after all the time that has passed. It had been days since I had slept a full eight hours. It had been days since I had last talked to anyone of my family.
And it had been days since I last talked to Amy. "Baby, are you in there?" I asked, as I knocked onto Amy's bedroom door.
"Alice?" I heard her coming towards the door. "I'm in here."
"Let me in?" I asked, although I had been certain the door had not been locked.
"Okay." As soon as the door had been open, Amy had clung to my leg like a magnet. She began to pull me towards what seemed like a huge pile of stuffed animals, surrounding an empty circle. Her room was as it had been the last I had come in here; the only difference was the great pile of toys which stood before me.
"What is that?" I asked, motioning towards the place she had created.
She smiled, as she pushed her way towards the center of the animals. She had tried to pull me in as well, but I could not quite fit into the tiny circle she had sat upon. "It's my animal castle! I'm Cinderella and this is my castle. Come play with me, play with me!" She exclaimed, as she twirled herself around and around in the tiny space she had now stood upon.
I nodded, as I pushed my way towards the miniature space she created. I had a great feeling I would remain in Amy's bedroom for a long while and for that, I was grateful.
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I had lain awake in bed later that night, fully awake and unable to bring myself to slumber. Unanswerable questions had repeated themselves as if it were simply an unbreakable cycle. I had tried to answer them yet my answers seemed greatly unreasonable, insensible, and insufficient.
But were they really? I had no longer even been certain of what the meaning of logic was.
Several bits and pieces of conversation continuously played as though they could not have been stopped. They played as though they were endless. I could not seize them from replaying from within my thoughts despite how hard and for how long I had tried to do so. They simply played as if they had been in control of my mind.
"So, who's this?"
"It is better if you did not know."
"Get used to that, Hun."
"Hello Alice."
"No, I believe the question should have been, whatever are you doing here, Alice?"
"I am not a fan of attention myself."
"Sit with me, Alice."
"You are impossibly stubborn, you know that Alice?"
"Stupid rough tree trunk."
"Escaping attention."
"What----or should I say, who-----are you looking for Alice?"
"Whatever. Anyways, Drew's not a mayor but his dad is; he was elected last year, so now they're filthy rich. Anything else you wanna know about Mr. Hottie dude?"
"Okay, okay. Yeah, it's great that he's so hot and perfect and all but when someone ditches more than you do and get in less trouble for it, it can't be helped."
I placed my hands tightly against my ears, though I knew it would do no good. My head spun with dizziness and my stomach ached, demanding for more Morphine. I wished to drink Morphine, as though it would have solved everything yet I knew it would not. I desired to simply swallow and forget whatever had been bothering me.
But I was certain I could not.
I felt my eyes begin to water for I could not take the pressure I felt longer than I already had. I felt more confused than ever, and I'd been for days. I was not capable of putting the bits and bits of pieces that refused to seize replaying in my mind together, let alone think clearly. Thick, hot tears continued to flow down my cheeks and I had not bothered to attempt seizing them from doing so; I placed a pillow over my trembling lips to suppress the sobs that had dared to escape.
I had not the slightest idea what to do. It had been long past midnight and I remained awake and weary. It was as though my eyes were not capable of shutting no matter how much I had desired for them to have done so. I allowed myself to hush down, before removing the pillow from my mouth. I continued to stare unseeingly at the ceiling of my bedroom, and it seemed like hours before I could not take it any longer. I threw the covers aside and climbed out of bed in great haste. No longer was I to submit to restlessness. I was going to act upon it to have it seized. I would do all in my power to recover. I could not----would not-----give in.
I hurriedly went towards my bathroom to splash cold water onto my face. I stared at my reflection for a moment; my hair had been a great mess and my eyes seemed unfocused. I held on to the sink for a long while, attempting to regain control over my body as well as my emotions. Finally, I exhaled a long and slightly shaking breath before heading out in silence.
I would not lie in my room and do nothing while I could not sleep.
I was going to search for Drew.
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Hey! Yeah, wrote this in two hours so typos might be present. Anyways, I wanted to make this chapter as quick as possible because the following chapters are very... interesting ;) Can't promise any dates for the next update because as I said, I'm working on NaNo and I'm busy with Literary Musical. Hope you enjoyed!
P.S If you;re confused: The conversation that started with "So, who is this?" weren't really conversations but bits of events from the past chapters running in Alice's mind.
Xo Sandra