I took my time getting ready for school. Staying home was likely the safe option, but I needed to talk to someone about the face I’d seen behind the symbols in the paper. I needed to talk to someone about the dream I’d just had, and the fact I’d been out-for-the-count for a day and a half.
I needed to meet up with Alex.
Chapter Eleven
The closer I walked to Calm Waters High, the less I actually wanted to arrive at my destination.
This is a terrible idea.
My head felt clouded and achy, and the thought of having to endure the stares of the teachers and other students again almost made me turn around and go back home.
I sucked it up. Sitting in my room wasn’t going to magically make everything better. I willed myself to stand a little straighter and keep on walking.
The sky was clear, and the air outside was crisp enough to need a light jacket. I could barely see my breath as I exhaled. My house was only a couple of miles from the school, so I usually walked on days when the weather was good. I noticed an unnatural silence as I passed through the various residential areas leading to the school. No one walked their dog, and even the birds and other animals were quiet. In fact, the only movement was the stirring of the trees, and random bits of trash tumbling down the street carried by the wind. I imagined the apocalypse would be a lot like this.
The whole scene started to creep me out.
I put my head down and picked up my pace. Without warning the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, followed by the sensation something watched me. It wasn’t like when someone stares at me during class, or a stranger in the supermarket. This had an intense feeling—like hunger—behind it. Or hate.
I’ve heard of people who have acute fears of heights or water or whatever. That level of fear never really made sense to me before now. I realized I had come to a complete stop, and I had my arms wrapped around me as if I were freezing in the middle of a snow-storm.
I glanced to the right and didn’t see anything. Same to the left. Ahead, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
That only left behind.
The urge to spin around as quickly as possible overwhelmed me, but I couldn’t. My body wouldn’t respond like I wanted—needed—it to. Instead, I made a slow turn and saw…
Nothing.
I let out a slow breath and laughed. It was a nervous laugh, a mix of relief and fear. I hung out with a kid named Dave every now and then, and once he showed me a video he had taken while on vacation in Hawaii. He went on one of those shark encounter trips where they toss a cage out into the water and the sharks circle all the divers inside. Dave talked about how awesome the trip had been, and he showed us a video of him on the boat waiting his turn to get in the water. One of the crew members pulled out a long strip of dead fish and began slapping the water with it. Next thing you know a shark has its ugly head all the way out of the water chomping on this piece of fish. The crew member starts playing tug-o-war with the shark, and the predator has part of itself up on the back of the boat trying to get all of the food.
What I remember most was Dave’s laughing. Nervous. A touch maniacal. It was the laughter of a kid facing something truly terrifying, and realizing he was about to step into a cage surrounded by dozens of the monsters.
Laugh or go crazy, pissing yourself.
We all gave him a hard time about the laughter, but right then on the street I understood the emotion.
I turned back around, towards school, and only just managed to choke off the scream that tried to escape my throat.
Three houses up the road the world “HELP” was scrawled across the garage door.
My right hand came up to cover my mouth…to keep my terror inside. I looked frantically from side to side, then spun around in a quick circle. Was this some kind of sick joke? The words remained on the house, as if they were calling specifically to me. The letters were shaky and uneven. I couldn’t just see the letters, I could also feel them. It was as if someone had let out their most frightened, terrified scream, but did so in writing.
And then I realized the letters were the same purplish color as the tracks, and the figure from my dream. The same color as my dad’s tracks from the woods and the strange symbols from the papers I was carrying in my backpack.
The residue.
A residue from what I didn’t know, but it was the only description that made sense to me. I knew that house. A girl from school lived there. Crap, what was her name? Erin? Annie? No. Abby. That was it. Abby. Her last name was something generic. Smith or something. I dug into my pocket and yanked out my phone. My shaking fingers began dialing, and I looked down to make sure I had hit the right buttons. Crap. 811. I deleted the numbers and punched them in again. How was I going to explain this to the police? My thumb hovered over the “SEND” button. I saw something suspicious? Someone spooky sneaking around the house?
‘Spooky’? Who even used that word anymore? I shook my head and glanced up to see if anything would give me an idea.
The word was gone.
“You have got to be kidding me.” I wanted to hurl my phone at the garage door.
“Son? You all right?”
A scream got free that time as I spun to my left. And old guy in a robe stood on his porch holding his morning newspaper.
“Didn’t mean to spook you,” he said with a chuckle. I guess some people did still use the word, or at least a variation of it. “You look a little pale. You OK?”
“Great,” I forced out. I peeked back at the house a few yards up the road. The word was still gone, like it had never been there at all. “Just headed to school is all.”
“OK,” he said with a smile. I didn’t need Alex’s mind-reading ability to tell the guy probably thought I was strung out on something. “Better get going then.”
I pointed to the house, “That’s the Smith place right?”
“Yeah. What of it, son?”
“Nothing,” I said as casually as possible. It sounded fake even to my own ears. “Was just thinking of, uh, asking Abby out…or something. Wanted to…you know…” I sucked at making crap up.
“Ah.” The old man smiled again, this time genuinely. He motioned me closer, and I reluctantly obeyed. An older dude in a bathrobe has ‘sicko’ written all over it. “I see what’s going on here. She does indeed live there. I keep an eye on my neighbors, you see. Purely for safety reasons,” he added quickly before continuing. “Anyway, the girl gets home from school early. Her dad picks her up since she seems to not have a 6th period at the High School. At least that’s what I think seems to be going on.”
What. The. Heck.
I was positive I’d just uncovered a stalker of some kind. Geez. Could this day get any more insane? “Uh, thanks,” I said backing away. I felt a little gross being close to him. His dirty, loose bathrobe made me feel a little ill for some reason. “Thanks for your, uh, help. See you around.”
I didn’t quite run, but I probably set a new record for speed walking.
As I passed Abby’s house on the left, I glanced at it again. The words were nowhere to be seen.
For some reason that made me feel even worse.
#
My first period class—English—was already half-over when I walked in. There was no real easy way to make it to my desk on the opposite side of the room from the door. Apparently they were taking a pop quiz. Every head swiveled to stare at me as I walked in, including Alex. Her eyes narrowed, and she shook her head slightly.
What was that about?
“Mr. Bishop, please come here,” Mrs. Terrier said. I normally enjoyed English, but I couldn’t stand Mrs. Terrier. Her entire purpose as a teacher was not to make her students better. Instead she always spent the first half of class berating us for how poor our work was, following up in the second half of the class telling us how little she looked forward to grading our next assignments. And she wondered why her class had the highest absence rate at Calm Waters High?
I approached her
desk and said in a low voice, “Yes, Mrs. Terrier?”
“What time does my class start?”
“8am.”
“What time is it now?”
I looked at the clock before answering. “8:36am.”
“So what you are saying is you are late?”
“Yes ma’am,” I answered. Geez. What was her deal? “I had a migraine all night—”
“You act as if I care about your excuses, Mr. Bishop,” she interrupted. “Let me clarify for you. I don’t care. What I do care about is that you have interrupted class in the middle of a pop quiz.”
“I’m sorry,” I said hesitantly. “Things have been a little rough since my dad—”
“Ah yes,” she interrupted again. “Your father. He seems to have caused quite a few problems for a lot of people recently.”
What was that supposed to mean? Her tone pissed me off. It was one thing to be upset about a student, but this was downright hostile. “Look,” I said as calmly as possible. “I’ve already apologized. I’d like to sit down now and take the quiz if that’s all right? I can probably get through a good bit of it and get at least partial credit.”
“No,” she said shaking her head. “I don’t think so. You can sit down and quietly wait for class to end. I’m giving you zero credit on the quiz for being late. No make-ups.”
“But—”
“I’m sorry, but did I not make myself clear? Sit down or you’ll be attending detention after school for the rest of the week.”
Unbelievable. I shook my head and walked to my desk. Some kids were giving me glares as if I had personally ruined their day just by walking in. Alex caught my eye and gave me a look that said leave it be.
Whatever.
The last twenty minutes of class passed in agonizing slowness. The whole situation was absurd. Honestly I didn’t even need to be here today. I was sure I could have taken a few extra days off from school to “deal” with everything, but no, I was here dealing with Mrs. Terrier’s unexplained personal vendetta against me. But I couldn’t risk detention from her. I needed every free minute after school.
A buzz rang over the schools PA system announcing the end of class. I was out the door before anyone had even got out of their chairs. Alex was only a few steps behind me.
“Jack, we need to talk.”
“Can you believe her?” I asked, pointing at the classroom. “Where does she get off treating me like that?”
“Jack, shut-up and walk with me.” The sharp edge in her voice killed the angry words in my throat.
We walked around behind the classrooms where the other kids typically went to get high between classes. I could smell the weed in the air. Alex pulled out her phone and tapped the screen a few times before handing the phone to me.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“This is what you missed while you were unconscious for the past day and a half.”
“Wait a minute, how did you—”
“Your Aunt Martha,” she said before I could finish. “I called when you weren’t answering my texts or calls.”
“So you actually talked—”
“Yeah,” she said before I could finish. This mindreading thing was getting on my nerves right now. “We had a nice long conversation about you. Now shut-up and look at the screen of my phone.”
On the tiny screen was a streaming video of the local news feed. The same news anchor that had presented the story on the disaster the other night was talking now.
Alisha Morena here with Breaking News, she said. Late Saturday evening the Clam Waters, California location of Helix Corporation was struck by a tragic equipment malfunction that cost several employees their lives.
It has come to our attention through a credible source within Helix that the company has begun serious talks of shutting down their Calm Waters location, beginning with layoffs. An estimated twenty percent of their entire staff at this location lost their jobs just yesterday afternoon, and more layoffs are rumored to be coming as the company liquidates all its assets in Calm Waters.
Rumors and speculation are running rampant though the community, and one can’t help but wonder how the town of Calm Waters will even be able to exist without Helix.
Additionally, further information has come to light about the tragic accident that occurred at Helix. An official report from Helix Corporation states the malfunction was caused due to sabotage. It is being reported that the head of security for Helix Corporation’s Calm Waters location, Daniel Bishop, left the building and equipment unsupervised the night of the accident which allowed someone who yet remains unidentified to gain access to the equipment and cause the malfunction.
It is not yet known if this accident is the root cause for the drastic reshuffling of Helix Corporation assets, but given that Daniel Bishop went missing immediately after the accident occurred, it is hard not to connect the two together. We now go ‘Live’ to Washington D.C. where an official Helix representative is said to be answering questions regarding this news.
The image cut to Mel Smart answering questions in front of Helix’s main building in Washington D.C.
I’m afraid I cannot comment to the rumors surrounding Mr. Bishop’s involvement in the tragedy at our Calm Water Branch. We can only hope he resurfaces at some point to clarify what has happened. Until then, his absence raises all sorts of undesirable questions.
Are the layoffs a result of the accident? Someone asked, overriding all the other questions dozens of reporters were trying to get answers for. Is it Daniel Bishop’s fault the company is shutting down that location?
Mel Smart raised his hands and made a placating gesture to the masses around him. There was a gleam in his eye, one that said he was relishing all of this attention.
Please, please. It doesn’t do anyone any good to speculate on these events, so I’ve been authorized to clarify the situation. Helix is shutting down its Calm Waters Branch. Not all at once, but slowly over the next year. It was determined after this breach of security—amongst other internal issues—that this branch was hurting the community rather than helping.
I shut off the phone and shoved it back into Alex’s hands. “I don’t believe this. They are pinning everything on my dad. No wonder everyone looks like they want to kill me right now. The way Helix and the news are spinning this, my dad is the cause for the layoffs of our whole freaking town.” My mind made the next horrifying jump in logic. “Alex,” I said, “please tell me Mrs. Terrier’s husband wasn’t working that night.”
“He was one of the casualties.”
“Why is she even here?”
“The same reason you are here,” she took a step closer and lowered her voice. “Everyone deals in different ways.”
“I’ve got to get over to Helix and have them fix this,” I said, panicked. Alex was already shaking her head. “What?”
“I called yesterday to tell you. Helix has revoked all your rights to work there. In fact there is a standing order to remove you—by force if needed—from the property should you even step a foot inside the building.”
Without a word I turned away from Alex and began walking to my next class. My dad taught me blowing up in anger rarely solved anything, and while I was pretty sure turning and walking away wasn’t a whole lot better, I needed to walk away before I said something I’d later regret.
I could feel Alex walking behind me towards our next class, U.S. History. A few feet from the classroom she put a hand on my arm, and with a sigh I stopped. “Look,” I said, without turning. “I’m sorry. This is all just a little too much to take in. I feel like—”
“You’re not going crazy, Jack,” she said. “But maybe they are all out to get you. This feels…off. Oddly personal.”
I stretched my neck from side to side and felt it pop. Nervous habit. “Do me a favor and stop interrupting me and finishing my thoughts.” I turned around and recognized genuine concern in her eyes. Everything was so serious. So bleak. I forced a smile. “Guys like me like to hear
themselves talk.”
Alex shook her head and sighed before forcing her own smile. “I know what you’re trying to do here.” She tapped the side of her head. “I know what’s going on up there.” Her eyes suddenly narrowed. “Son of a—”
“Hey Jack, is this the reason you’ve been too busy to give me a freaking call?”
Barry Peters—along with a few other guys I recognized—walked up from our right. It looked like he’d been waiting for me. “Hey Barry,” I said with a nod of my head. “Sorry I didn’t call. Things have been a tad stressful for me the last several days.”
He nodded his head in an exaggerated fashion. What was going on here? “Oh, I know. I watch the news. My mom came home from Helix yesterday without a job. Things have been a ‘tad stressful’ for me too. For everyone. Doesn’t mean you don’t call your friend. I’ve texted you a few dozen times, man. Friends call each other back.” The other guys behind him were nodding.
This just kept getting worse. I should have felt bad for Barry, but instead, I was angry. This was typical Barry. We’d fought over less. Who needs enemies when I’ve got a friend like Barry? “I’m sorry about your mom, Barry. I really am, but at least your parents aren’t missing. So cut me a little slack for not calling you up to gossip like a twelve year-old girl. I had more important things on my mind.”
“More important…” he trailed off, then nodded his head again. He took a few steps closer until he was right in my face, looking up at me. “I see how it is. You had more important things to do…like your new girlfriend over there. Was she good? I thought you had a thing for red-heads, but I guess everything is the same in the dark, right?
“You know, you’re right,” Barry continued. The guys behind him were smiling cruelly now. The same guys he always went back to when he and I were pissed at each other. Barry had already gone too far by insulting Alex. I could feel her edging closer. Stay back, I thought. Barry planted his palms against my chest and pushed me a step backwards. “I guess I am lucky my parents are both around. I’d hate to be in your spot, crying when we were kids about your mom taking off. Your dad gets a bunch of people killed, the rest of the town fired, and then he takes off too. You’re right. I’m lucky my parents stick around. But who could blame yours for taking off?” He shoved me again, and I lost my balance and fell flat on my back.
Residue Page 6