I had to have a moment away from him. The thought of him not wanting to be with me had shaken me and I didn’t want to alert him that something was wrong. I wouldn’t be able to explain to him what it was and he would probably end up thinking that I was hiding something from him, but the truth is… I am. I don’t want to hide things. Being honest is very important to me. How can I expect him to believe me even if I do tell him? There is no way that he would want to be around me if he knew the truth. Who would? I’m nothing more than a freak.
As I came around the corner of the hallway that leads to the restrooms, I ran into my friend Jasmine. She was walking down the hall and I could tell that she was in a rather good mood. Jasmine is always in a good mood. Always smiling and happy. Her emerald green eyes shined brightly as she talked. Her pouty lips spread to reveal perfectly lined, unbelievably white teeth. Nothing ever seemed to bother her. If only I could be like her, I thought to myself.
She was excited about graduating and had received her acceptance letter to the college she had been so desperately hoping to get into. She hugged me and headed to her next class. I watched her ebony hair bounce with every step that she took. I found myself wondering if she would end up on the cover of some sort of beauty magazine as she walked down the hall.
She has always been exceptionally smart. Her grades were the highest in the class for as far as I could remember. Not to mention, she has the looks to go with it. Brains and beauty. She is the total package.
The restroom was empty when I entered. It was astonishing that it was so quiet. Usually it was filled with the giggling and chattering of at least five girls or more. They always seemed to be crowded around the mirrors straightening the already perfect makeup on their faces. Not to mention, the handful of girls that would be in the two last stalls smoking. I was thankful they weren’t in there. I never have been able to stand the smell of it.
I carefully washed my face, trying to not disturb what little makeup that lined my eyes. I was sure that those smudges would be unattractive. That would be something else the jealous, prying eyes would have to gossip about. Being on the “most talked about” list wasn’t something I was proud of at all, but it seemed there wasn’t much I was going to be able to do about it now. The damage has already been done.
When I returned to class, a girl was standing next to Eric’s desk. She was obviously flirting with him. Even a blind man could see that. I stood there in the doorway watching her flip her hair and smile as he talked. I walked up to them quietly.
“I have a girlfriend. Eric was saying as stood behind the girl. It was apparent that she had no idea that I was anywhere around.
“I don’t mind.” She twirled a thick strand of hair around her finger. Right then I was glad I couldn’t see her face. As I looked at Eric I questioned my next move. Should I stand here and listen, or should I put an end to this altogether?
“I’m not sure what you mean by that.” Eric said. He was clearly wanting me to intervene. He looked at me with those “come help me” eyes. I could hardly control myself. Almost choking on a laugh, I smiled and shook my head at him.
More hair twirling and flipping. All I wanted to do was reach up and pull her hair out, but I contained myself. Although, I have to admit I was starting to have a problem doing it.
“What I mean is…” she paused and I could feel my anger growing. She better not say what I think she’s going to say. Don’t do it. “She doesn’t have to know if you don’t want her to. I won’t tell.” Her giggle infuriated me. That was all I could stand. Without another thought, I brushed by her, bumping into her slightly. “Hey baby.” I said sweetly as I stood on tiptoe to reach Eric’s lips. After a quick kiss I landed back flat on my feet, turning to face the slutty intruder.
“This is my girlfriend.” Eric boasted, trying not to laugh.
With another lesson from my mother in mind, I smiled and held out my hand. “Hi. My name is Bailey.”
The girl was clearly disappointed. “Hi.” She mumbled back. It was easy to see that she was no longer interested in the conversation.
Leave it to Eric to end up being the rude one, but he done it with such tact that it was hard to tell. “I’m sorry. I didn’t catch your name.” He threw his arm around my shoulders. His hand came to rest on my collar bone.
“It doesn’t matter.” She snarled and immediately walked away.
She had a look on her face that reminded me of someone that had just been stung by a bee. I swallowed my laughter until she was far enough away that she wouldn’t hear my outburst. I actually felt bad for her. Rejection is a bitch.
Eric and I took our seats. We sat beside each other in every class. That made it easier to talk to him. All either one of us had to do was fidget a little and we had the other one’s attention.
We talked about the girl asking him to the party. I made it a point to not say anything negative about her. I didn’t want to be that way. It was bad enough that she was rejected and for me to mouth off about her behind her back would make everything worse.
I never really liked to talk about people unless it was something positive. Sharing other people’s secrets wasn’t high on my list of things to do. I tried to treat everyone the way that I wanted to be treated in return. That was the golden rule, right?
The teacher called on Eric to help him go through some leftover test papers. I sat at my desk and looked around the room. Suddenly, I noticed I could hear the voices of people other than the students that were talking. I was confused because the voices sounded so familiar.
I looked around the room at everyone. It reminded me of the day that I heard Eric in my mind. I could read minds. Not just Eric’s, but everyone’s.
I concentrated hard to separate each individual person’s mind from the others. I started with the row next to the windows. After a while of listening to them, I moved on to the next row. Everyone was pretty well thinking the same things. They thought about food, graduation, and the parties afterward. And a few of the guy’s minds were a little x rated, so I didn’t linger.
I noticed my mind was being pulled in a certain direction, but I couldn’t seem to locate where I needed to listen. It was beginning to become confusing in a bad way. I laid my head down on the desk and concentrated harder. I was almost to the other person’s mind when the teacher walked up to my desk.
“Bailey?” He said.
“Yes.” I opened my eyes and answered him.
“Were you sleeping?” He asked.
“No Sir. I have a bit of a headache. I thought maybe if I laid my head down for a little while it might go away.” I lied. I hated lying. It makes me feel terrible.
“Alright, if you need to go to the nurse for something for it just let me know.” he said.
“Thank you.” I replied. “I think I’ll be okay.
I laid my head back down on the desk and tried to concentrate on finding the person’s mind that had been pulling me to it before. The closer I came to finding the source, the more I sensed fear and disgust.
I followed the fear until I was in the mind from where it came from. Her thoughts rambled out of control. I could only catch tiny bits and pieces of thoughts. I used my power to calm her mind so I could find out what was wrong with her.
She was frightened to go home. Pictures of a man surfaced in her mind. As the thoughts and images came together in my mind I realized the man she was afraid of was her uncle. The girl had considered calling the police and telling them what he was doing to her, but she was terrified that he would get out of it and hurt her.
I backed out of her mind slowly, hoping not to disturb her thought pattern. I searched the room for the girl I had seen in my mind. For some reason I couldn’t find her. Desperately needing to establish who the mind belonged to, I used my power once again.
Lead me to the girl so I can help her, I said with my thoughts.
In an instant, I had found her. She had been sitting in the row next to the dry erase board. It was Katrina. I was shocked. Nev
er in my life would I have thought that the thing that was causing her to act so differently was this. No! Not this! My mind screamed.
She started acting strange a few weeks ago. Everyone had noticed. It was hard not to. Katrina had stopped talking to me. I had seen that she would avoid everyone, but I never dreamed this could possibly be the reason. She began to sit alone in the cafeteria every day. This was completely out of the ordinary. Usually, Katrina was an outgoing, sweet, well liked girl.
I had tried to find out what was going on with her, but she would push me away as soon as I tried to. Katrina became more and more distant with every day that passed.
My fear for her became uncontainable. Not being sure of what else I could do, I got up from my desk and walked in the direction of Katrina s desk.
Mr. Greene asked if I was feeling better and I told him yes and thanked him for allowing me to rest my head on my desk. Swiftly, but calmly I made my way through the class.
Finally, I reached her desk. It seemed to take forever and I could feel Eric’s eyes on me.
“Hi Katrina.” I said as I sat down in the empty desk in front of her.
“Oh. Hey, Bailey.” She replied in a low tone of voice.
She didn’t act like she was much for talking so I did most of it. It was hard to get her to engage in any type of conversation. She was so withdrawn that I was surprised that I even got a hello from her. But she was trying hard, too hard in fact. That made my apprehension grow.
“Are you cold?” I asked. Her arms were wrapped around herself in a tight hug. Her hands were shivering.
“A little. He always keeps the air on too low.” she said. That was true. Mr. Greene had always kept the class a little cooler than we liked it to be.
“Well class is almost over for the day, so you can get outside and warm up before long.” I told her hoping to ease her mood, but it didn’t work.
“Yeah I guess it is pretty warm out today.” she replied as she looked out the window.
She grew more quiet the closer it came to time for school to be dismissed. “Do you want to come to my house for a while after school?” I asked hoping she would say yes.
“You haven’t been over in so long.”
Katrina accepted the invitation without any sign of hesitation. That worried me even more. It was like she was looking for a reason to not go home.
“Meet me on the front steps when the bell rings. I have to wait on Eric. He has to get some papers from the office on our way out.” I explained.
“Ok.” she said as I went back to my desk and gathered my things.
Eric came back to his desk a few minutes later. He looked at me funny and it kind of made me nervous.
“Are you alright?” He asked genuinely concerned.
“I’m fine.” I explained to him that Katrina was going to walk home with us today.
“The more the merrier.” he laughed as the bell rang.
“Go ahead and get your stuff from the office and I'll meet you out front.” I said as I gathered my things and walked to the door.
I looked around the room for Katrina, but she had already left. I went straight to the front steps of the school. She was standing there waiting for us. “Where’s Eric?” she asked. It was impossible for me to ignore her voice quivering.
“Oh, he'll be out in a minute. Will your parents mind if you come over or should you call them and let them know?” I asked.
As she replied I saw that she was staring at the ground. “My parents are out of town until Friday. My uncle is staying there while they’re gone.” She looked away at something off in the distance, but quickly turned back. “Just to watch over the house and things. I can’t wait until they get back.” she said.
I felt the overwhelming need to rescue her. I just couldn’t let her know that I already had a slight idea that she was in some kind of trouble.
Eric came out and we all walked to my house. We talked and Eric picked up on how Katrina was acting. He told some of the most idiotic jokes I had ever heard. I mean, they were horrible. We couldn’t help but laugh at him. They weren’t funny at all, but the way he was telling them made listening worthwhile.
We came to the street corner at mine and Eric’s houses. Eric gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and went home. Katrina and I went in my house and put our things on the counter. It was too nice of a day to stay inside, so I asked her if she would like to go out to the garden.
“Sounds good to me.” she said. I think she would have agreed to anything at this point in time.
“I’m real sorry about the way I have been acting lately.” Katrina said.
“That’s ok. Things happen I guess.”
The silence from her had begun again. This is my chance to get her to open up. That is the only way I am going to be able to help her.
“What's wrong Kat?”
“It’s just some stuff going on at home.”
“Are you and your parents fighting?”
She took a brief moment before answering. “No. Not at all. They’re great.”
“Is it something I can help out with?”
“I wish you could.” She sat there in silence and I was trying to think of something to say to her that would get her to talk to me more. But what could I say that was not going to give me away? Nothing, nothing at all.
“Kat, I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what’s wrong.” I said, knowing that it was all that I could get away with at the time. Every word that I spoke was carefully calculated. She remained silent.
CHAPTER 6
What Katrina said next will be something I will never forget. Not even if I lived to be one hundred years old.
“My uncle keeps making passes at me. I’m scared he is going to do something to me. I just wish Mom and Dad would hurry and come back home. ” She said as she started to cry.
I didn’t know what to say. What could I say? I instantly became sick to my stomach. How could anyone want to hurt her? Her uncle, her very own flesh and blood wanted to do such a despicable thing to her. Bile rose in my throat as my panic set in, but I had to think of something that could help her. I had to.
“Have you called your parents and told them?” I asked her swallowing hard.
“No. He said if I told anyone he would make me wish I hadn't.” she sobbed.
She explained that her grandmother was ill and her mother went to make sure she was ok. She didn’t think it was anything serious, but her mom decided it was worth checking out.
Katrina’s phone rang. It was her uncle. I heard him telling her she needed to come home right now. I tuned in to his voice. He sounded angry. She told him she was visiting a friend and would be home shortly.
“You will come home right now!” I heard the voice on the phone demand.
“I’m on my way.” she said through the tears. “I have to go home.” I gave her my cell phone and house numbers and told her to call me if she needed me.
“I will. I promise.” she said as we walked into the house. She got her things off of the counter and walked out the door. She didn’t look back or say a single word to me. Her sobs were all that I heard.
I had a sick feeling in my stomach telling me something terrible was going to happen to her. I tried to figure out a way I could help her, but the only two things I could come up with was calling the police or calling my parents and telling them what was going on. I couldn’t decide what to do.
If I called her parents that might not be the right thing to do. Katrina needed to be the one to tell them what was going on, not me. And if I called the police, well, that would surely make the situation worse for her. I was stuck. I didn’t know which way to turn and I couldn’t seem to find an answer.
A couple of hours passed and I hadn’t heard from Katrina. I hope everything is alright. The empty feeling in the pit of my stomach is telling me otherwise. I picked up my phone and decided to call her. What would it hurt?
The phone rang until her voicemail picked up. That made me even more trouble
d than before. I sent her a text asking if she made it home alright. I was afraid to ask her if she was okay in fear that her uncle would see the message. She definitely didn’t need any more trouble. Especially, not because of me.
I waited for what seemed like forever, but she never answered back.
My phone rang and I answered it before I looked at the caller id. It was Eric. “I’m sorry, but there’s something I have to do that can’t wait. I'll call you back in a few minutes.” I told him as I rudely hung up the phone.
I closed my eyes and thought of Katrina. Please let me see her. I need to know if she’s alright. If she's not I need to find a way to help her. Please help me see her.
My feet felt like they were no longer on the floor, but moving swiftly through the air. Images swirled before my eyes and made it hard for me to see where I was going. Soon, I was at her house. My mind was there, but my body seemed to still be firmly planted back at my room.
I saw Katrina just as I would if I were there in that room with her. She was backed up into a corner and crying hysterically. I heard her begging him to leave her alone. “I won’t say anything to anyone if you will just stop!” I heard her scream.
Her top was ripped to shreds and I could see blood coming from her lips. It wasn’t hard to see her entire body shaking. They were more like tremors than anything. Rapid jerks of horror is a more justifiable way to describe it. I don’t think I had ever witnessed anyone so frightened.
I turned my attention to her uncle. His thoughts were wild and going far too fast for me to understand. His mind slowed just enough for me to catch occasional thoughts. The excitement that he was feeling over hitting her was tremendous. The sight of her blood was giving him sensations so evil I was terrified for my own safety. Although, I’m only present in spirit. Not in physical form.
He thought vaguely of his sister, Katrina’s mother. He was sure he would be in trouble for what little he had already done to Katrina. The thought of him knowing that Katrina’s mom would, without a doubt, kill him over this made no positive impact on the decision he had made. He thought that since he was going to die he might as well have what he wanted. He had already gone this far. Why stop now?
Eternity (Circle of Light) Page 8