Taken: Before Her Very Eyes

by Wade Faubert

  “Don’t worry your pretty little head about that. I’m working on it.”

  As they approached their lockers, Jessica suddenly stopped dead in her tracks so Lori almost stumbled into her. “Why is he always there?” Jessica complained, gesturing toward Douglas, who had the locker to the left of Jessica’s. “You have to trade me lockers, Lori. I can’t take it any longer. Every time I get something from my locker, that dork, Douglas is there. How come I had to get stuck beside him?”

  “Look at the bright spot.” Lori smirked. “At least you’ve got me on the other side to balance things out.”

  “If you trade with me, I’ll do all your homework for the rest of the year.”

  Lori rolled her eyes, nudging Jessica along. “Nice try Jessica, but I do want to pass.”

  “Anything,” Jessica begged dramatically. “Just name it.”

  “All right I’ll trade, but only if you agree to go on a date with Doug.”

  “Bitch!” Jessica whispered. “Fine, let’s get it over with.”

  “You know why he spends so much time at his locker?”

  “Because he’s a moron?”

  “No, because he likes you. That’s why he pretends to get stuff from his locker, just so he can wait for you to show up.”

  “That’s just gross! The thought of that little dweeb thinking he could score with me.” Jessica shook off the thought. “He’s never even been with a girl before. For all I know, he might be gay. You know, I read once that all gay guys are obsessed with neatness. Take one look at his locker and you have to agree he’s a candidate for a Butt-surfer award.”

  Lori shook her head. “Don’t even start with that. You never read anything.”

  “That’s not true. I read it in one of the smut magazines at Kirk’s house.”

  “You reading smutty articles? No way.”

  “Hi Jessica,” Doug said, his face turning a brilliant shade of red.

  Jessica ignored his salutation and moved past to her locker. She glanced repeatedly from the corner of her eye, waiting for him to leave. Then after fifteen seconds and no success, she pasted a big smile on her face and poked her head into his locker. “Hey Doug, you got any tampons in here? If not, how bout a pad? Mine’s all bloody. You know how it gets on the heavy days.”

  The colour drained from Doug’s face and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. “Um… No. Um… I don’t… Why would I?”

  “It was a long shot, but I think mine’s full. You know, I think my panties are getting full of blood too.” Jessica reached inside and fumbled through his gym sack. She pulled out a sock first then finally found what she was searching for. “Can I borrow your spare undies, just in case I leak?”

  Doug couldn’t take any more. After ripping his underwear from her hands, he tucked them back into his sack, slammed the locker door and turned toward the classroom.

  “But Doug, I promise not to wash them!” Jessica yelled as he ducked into the classroom to avoid all the stares. “You can wear them after I’m done!”

  “You’re so mean Jessica,” Lori said, unable to hold back the smile. “I still think you guys would be great together.”

  “If he’s so nice, then why don’t you date him?”

  Lori opened her locker, stuffed her bag inside then grabbed a binder. “Cause he clearly likes you. He couldn’t take his eyes off you the whole time.”

  Jessica shoved Lori toward the classroom door. “I never thought I’d say this, but let’s get to class so you’ll shut the hell up.”

  The rest of the day went by like clockwork. Lori attended her classes but found it hard to concentrate. Her mind kept drifting back to the images of the wolf attack and to the question of why it had resurfaced now, after weeks of being haunted by the other nightmares. She prayed they weren’t connected, but deep down inside she suspected what was happening and it scared her—scared her to hell.

  After school, Lori hurried down the hallway, anxious to escape. She nearly made the door before Crystal, Monica, and the latest addition to their group, Tanya, noticed her passing. Lori could feel their eyes following her every step and braced for the insults, which were bound to come.

  “Wolfie. Come here, Wolfie,” Tanya called. For being new in town, she seemed to adapt to her position as bully pretty quick. The fact that she towered over most the girls—and some of the boys, combined with the fact that her father was the latest recruit on the police force, made her pretty much invincible. She took advantage of her position beside Crystal, and Monica—the English teacher’s daughter—to dish out an extra dose of punishment.

  “Wolfie want a—” Tanya stopped when a classroom door opened and Mr. Schafer stepped out. He glared at Tanya and point down the hall, toward the principal’s office. Without a word, Tanya shrugged her massive shoulders and shook her head before plowing through the crowd toward the office.

  Lori turned, giving Crystal and Monica a big smirk before stepping through the door. It felt great seeing the stupid look on Tanya’s face at being caught red-handed, but Lori knew it would only infuriate Tanya and the next time she’d be more careful and more relentless.

  Once outside, Lori scanned the crowd and found Jessica and Kirk propped against the wall, making tongue babies. Normally she’d wait until they tired and broke apart, but today she found herself impatient.

  “You coming?” Lori said, stepping behind Jessica. “Or are you gonna try to get your gum back?”

  “Yeah, I’m coming.” Jessica broke free of Kirk’s groping hands. “It’s not like another few minutes would’ve killed you.”

  “No, but if the principal releases Tanya, then she just might try.”

  A big grin filled Jessica’s face. She hated Tanya more than anybody else in the school. Not just because she was bigger and stronger than she was, it was the fact that her father, the cop, had been spending too much time around her mother’s coffee shop, getting too close to her personal life.

  “Why what happened?”

  Lori recounted Tanya’s run in with Mr. Schafer, and described the look on Tanya’s face when he’d stepped out into the hall. The news seemed to make Jessica’s day, bringing her to full-blown laughter. It wasn’t until they turned the corner and were clearly out of sight of anyone at school that Lori tagged Jessica then sprinted down the sidewalk. Jessica would give chase—she always did.

  Lori couldn’t believe how easy it was to out run Jessica today. Normally they were neck and neck, but today her feet seemed to glide over the sidewalk, hardly landing before pushing off again. She thought it might be the rush of hormones inherited from her first menstrual cycle. The extra little push she’d been missing for the last years. Other normal girls had suffered and complained for years about the pain and mess, but Lori had been immune from the whole deal, that was, until last month when it finally came. She’d been half relieved, half scared to death of it. Her mother said she was lucky not to have dealt with it at a young age, but Lori could tell its absence had worried her mother a great deal, too.

  Reaching her driveway, Lori glanced back, spotting Jessica a block behind, holding her stomach and gasping for breath.

  “Come on, Jessica! Let’s get you in the house so you can rest.” Lori jogged back, bouncing on her toes and grabbed Jessica’s arm. “You want me to help you the rest of the way, Grandma?”

  “Ha, ha, you’re so funny.” Jessica shrugged off the offered hand.

  Lori’s mother was standing just inside the front door when they entered. Her face relaxed the moment Lori stepped across the threshold and Lori wondered if her mother had moved from that spot at all during the day, or if she’d stayed there waiting, unable to proceed with her life until she knew her baby was safe at home.

  “Hi, Mrs. Foster,” Jessica said, trying to hide the fact that she was tired and out of breath.

  “Hello, Jessica.” She smiled and turned to Lori. “And how was school today?”

  “Oh, the same as always,” Lori dropped her school bag onto the hall table, �
�boring.”

  Jessica jabbed Lori in the ribs. “Hey, what about Sex Ed class?”

  Lori felt her heart race. Jessica had a way of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. She shook her head, praying that Jessica would hold her tongue, but knew her prayer would go unanswered.

  “They showed slides of diseased penises.” Jessica smirked at Lori. “Now you can’t tell me you were bored looking at penises?”

  Lori’s mother nervously moved the school bag then arranged the magazines on the table. “That’s enough, Jessica.” She shook her head. “You must drive your mother crazy.”

  “I try.” She grinned. “I think it’s my duty as a teenager to make her ponder her decision to reproduce.”

  “Oh, I’m sure she ponders often.” Lori’s mother turned and headed to the den. “Supper will be ready shortly. Don’t spoil your appetites with junk food.”

  Lori led the way into the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboard for a snack. After plucking a bag of cookies from the shelf, she turned to Jessica. “Nobody’s gonna ask me to the dance. They’re all scared of me. They think I’m some kind of freak and this scar proves it.”

  “Scar? You can hardly see it.” Jessica ripped the bag from Lori’s hand and set it on the counter. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “I can see a young man who’s interested in your body. Nice looking boy, dark hair, full lips, tight butt. Oh… Oh… but wait—Wait a minute. I see it! Yes, I can see it! Oh…” Jessica opened her eyes and shook her head. “Too bad, he has a small cock. But hey, you’re still a virgin, so you won’t know the difference.”

  Lori glanced around, making sure her mother wasn’t near. “I’m proud to be a virgin.”

  “Spoken like someone who’s never had sex.”

  Lori exhaled heavily. “Who is he? And how do you know he likes me? And why didn’t you tell me before?”

  “Slow down.” Jessica closed her eyes and reached for her temples only to have Lori restrain her arms.

  “Just tell me without all the crap!”

  “It’s Josh Hughes.”

  “From English class?”

  Jessica pulled her arms free of Lori’s tightening grip. “Yes, Josh. He’s always staring at your ass when you go to the blackboard.”

  Lori glanced out the doorway. “He’s nice, right?”

  “He’ll do.” Jessica grabbed the cookies from the counter and popped one in her mouth. “Too quiet for me. But Kirk kinda knows him and he mentioned you’re looking for some action.”

  Lori shoved Jessica back. “He didn’t!”

  “Who knows what they talked about?” Jessica skirted around Lori and settled in at the table. “The important thing is, Josh is interested in taking you. Kirk’s gonna call tomorrow and find out for sure.”

  “And what exactly is he expecting?”

  “I don’t know. Probably what every boy’s looking for. But don’t worry, just tell him Aunt Flow’s in town. That turns them off fast.”

  “It might not be a lie. It’s been three weeks since my first period so it could start any time.” Lori grabbed two pops from the fridge and sat down at the table, then took a cookie from the bag. “Hell, if I was three years late, it might not come back for another six months.”

  After dinner, the rest of the night slid by with the usual routine of television and gossip. When eleven o’clock rolled by, Jessica headed home before her mother started calling.

  With Jessica gone, the house seemed too quiet. Lori peered into the den and saw her mother sound asleep on the couch, the book she was reading still clutched in her hands.

  Lori fought away a yawn as she made her way up the stairs. She was almost to her bedroom door when she paused to gaze at the old family photo hanging in the hallway. There she was, four years old, hoisted on her mother and father’s shoulders as they posed before the colourful backdrop of the carnival. She found herself drawn to the picture like a magnet, probably because they all seemed so happy that day, something they’d been missing for many years now.

  Breaking free from the picture, she continued on to her bedroom. There she changed into her nightshirt then crossed the room to the window. The sky was clear with only the brightest stars shining through the glow of the streetlights. Lori scanned the darkness, examining every hiding place, but there was no wolf lurking in the shadows waiting for her to leave the safety of her home.

  She bent down, opened the lid of the window seat then lifted her sweaters and dug deeper until she found what she was looking for. Her diary.

  After opening the diary to the last entry and reading it, she stared out into the night, thinking. Then finally…

  Dear Diary — Friday

  Mother’s finally letting me go on a date. I know how hard it is for her to let go and watch me grow up. I can still see the fear in her eyes whenever I leave the house.

  Jessica’s getting Kirk to set up a double date for the dance. She told me that Josh had been asking about me a lot. Who would have thought that Josh liked me? Sure, we share a few classes and I have caught him looking at me. But here I just thought he was looking at me and thinking ‘There’s one messed up girl’ but he wasn’t. He actually likes me and by the way, he is cute and he does have a nice butt, just like Jessica said.

  I was starting to wonder if I’d ever have a boyfriend. They all seem so scared of me. It doesn’t help that Crystal and her new recruit Tanya spread all those stories about me.

  Lori felt her blood pressure rise just thinking about that latest rumour. The previous one was bad enough, but to spread a rumour that she was the one who’d killed her best friends, then turned the knife on herself in a botched attempt at suicide. That crossed the line from being bitches to slandering bitches.

  Lori sighed.

  Maybe Josh is different. Maybe he won’t care what Crystal says about him dating me. Besides, this could be the turning point in my life, going from such a screwed up childhood, to some kind of normal life.

  It could be the beginning of a real relationship. Something that I thought this scar on my neck would prevent from happening. But now I’m getting carried away. We might not have anything in common, or he might change his mind and cancel before Friday. Oh well, no sense in worrying about it, I’ll find out soon enough.

  Gotta go

  Lori closed the diary then placed it back inside the window seat. With her sweaters hiding her thoughts, she turned off the lights and climbed under the covers. The thought of Josh taking her to the dance caused her body to tingle with excitement. It was a welcome change to the dread that she normally felt, worrying about the nightmares and memories that would inhabit her sleep.

  Chapter 2

  The sun was high overhead as Lori walked the two blocks to Jessica’s house. Her mind was reeling from the memory of the dream she’d had last night. But at least it’d only been one of her usual dreams. She dreaded reliving that memory of the wolf attack at the schoolyard. The mere thought of seeing her friends being killed all over again sent her stomach churning. She hoped she would never see that image ever again for the rest of her life.

  Just as she stepped onto the sidewalk, heading up to Jessica’s house, the front door opened and out ran Jessica. She grabbed Lori’s hand and pulled her quickly down the road.

  “What’s the matter?” Lori asked. “Your mother hounding you to work at the coffee shop today?”

  “No, it’s her new boyfriend!” Jessica’s jaw muscles were bulging. “She finally let it slip who he is.”

  Lori wanted to ask, but waited until Jessica finally spilled it.

  “Ken Parry! I should’ve guessed. He’s new to town and—”

  “Ken Parry—As in Officer Ken Parry. The same man who fathered Tanya, the Sasquatch?”

  Jessica nodded. Her face looked long and pale. “I should’ve known it was him. They’ve only been here for less than a month and I should’ve known it was someone new by the way she was acting. But, how could she find him the least bit suitable? Just look at his offspri
ng. It looks like he mated with a fucking Bigfoot. What’s going to happen if they get along? What if they get married?”

  “Then the fucking Bigfoot will be sharing a room with you.”

  Jessica slowed to a walk when they were a safe distance away. “As if. I’d rather move out and live on the street.”

  “Did Kirk call yet?” Lori asked, thinking she’d change the topic before Jessica got into full melodrama mode.

  “Call who?” Jessica shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Lori gave her a playful shove, sending her stumbling to the grass.

  After regaining her footing, Jessica gave Lori a long careful look. “Kirk said he’d call him sometime today.”

  Lori dropped her gaze to the sidewalk. She felt her hope fading fast. After all, it had all been too easy. To think Josh would actually want to be seen out in public with the girl who was rumoured to have murdered her childhood friends then blamed it all on a wolf attack, was preposterous.

  “Hey.” Jessica put her arm around Lori’s shoulder. “If Kirk doesn’t call by suppertime then I’ll make him call. You’ve gotta understand, it’s not easy for a guy to ask another guy something like that. They have all these macho hang-ups about being cool. And nagging another guy just ain’t cool.”

  “It’s just that I’m so excited. Last night I couldn’t stop thinking about Josh and the dance. But, what if he changes his mind and doesn’t want to go with me?”

  “Then I’ll go over there and kick his ass until he changes his mind.” Jessica gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you.”

  They continued down two more blocks then turned right at Len’s Corner Store. Once they rounded the curve in the road, shimmering water danced between the gaps in the trees. At the far end of the road, a pathway had been sliced through the thick grove of pines, carved with care to form a perfect walkway. The branches were pruned high above their heads, forming a peaked ceiling. No matter how many times they took this path, it always seemed like they were following a secret pathway to some strange and mysterious land far away.