Thoughtless

by Jacqueline Gardner

  I could hear myself swallow. Get out of here, Bridget! Don't stick around! The thoughts in my head were really loud, and it added to my headache. There was another small creak, this time from the staircase. I covered my mouth. My breathing was out of control, the neighbors could've heard it. I backed away from the counter and listened. If someone was sneaking around upstairs, trying not to be seen, they'd have a thought eventually. A low voice was pushed into my head. She's here. Must take her.

  I had to get out. I turned around. The back door was my one chance. I burst through it into the chilly breeze. Leaves crunched under my feet as I ran to the side gate. My palms were sweaty and my fingers slipped all over the latch. "Come on. Come on."

  The gate opened and I ran. My stomach burned and I could hear the bones in my back popping. The cool air filled my lungs and I coughed as I sprinted down the street. A few houses down was a giant, leafy bush. I dove behind it and slid across the lawn. My jeans were damp from the grass stains. I clutched my chest. My entire body was shaking now. If I didn't calm down, I was sure that I'd have a heart attack.

  There was no movement down the street. The intruder was still in my house. My chest sunk. What was I going to do? Where was I supposed to go? My muscles spasmed as I heard the sound of a loud engine from down the street. Rory's truck came into view. I let out a huge sigh of relief. Then I panicked. I couldn't let Rory pull into my driveway.

  I leapt out of the bushes and Rory slammed on the brakes. The truck screeched and made skid marks on the street. I jumped in the passenger's seat, and practically grabbed the steering wheel.

  "Turn around! Turn around!" I yelled until Rory put the car in reverse, backed into the neighbor's driveway and took off in the opposite direction. "Park around the corner. Right here! Right here!" When the truck finally stopped, I was out of breath. Rory was silent. He stared at tree, concentrating on each leaf. He was still confused by our last conversation.

  "So," I said catching my breath. "You just going to ignore me?"

  "Well, it's not like I have to say anything anyways." He suppressed his feelings the best he could and turned his thoughts back to orange and yellow leaves.

  "Don't be like this," I muttered. "Why did I tell you? I shouldn't have done that."

  "No," Rory disagreed. "You should've told me sooner. At least then I could've protected my privacy." I sighed again and watched the street corner.

  "Trust me. You have nothing to be ashamed about. I've heard some pretty nasty things at school, believe me." I watched as Rory loosened up a little. But it wasn't because of my previous comment. He wanted to know what was going on. "I'm sorry." My apology came out almost as a whisper. The truck was silent.

  "So," Rory replied. "What sort of trouble are you in now?" I nervously scanned the neighborhood again.

  "Ok." My voice sounded shaky. "Emma dropped me off and when I went to open the front door, it was already open."

  "And you still went in the house?" Rory interrupted. "Were you and I in the same conversation with Agent Squires earlier? You've been targeted, Bridget. I'm surprised you even went inside."

  "Sorry," I retorted. "I wasn't thinking straight, alright. Can I finish my story before we're out of time?" Rory nodded. "I went up to my room and it was a disaster. I figured whoever broke in had gone, but when I went downstairs, I heard noises. That's when I called you. I didn't know what else to do." Rory took a minute to process the information.

  "The bracelet," Rory replied. "They knew you had the bracelet." I gulped.

  "There's more. I heard him. I mean, I heard his thoughts." The new look on Rory's face made me scared to continue talking.

  "And?" Rory gasped. "What was he thinking?" I looked down, imagining what could've happened to me. I was seconds away from being dragged to my doom.

  "He knew I was home, and . . . He wanted to . . . um . . . He was planning on kidnapping me." My last sentence made Rory almost choked on his spit. "And before you ask, no. I didn't recognize the voice. Except it sounded kind of robotic. You know like how Bryce sounded when he tried to kill you?"

  "I wouldn't know." Rory eagerly watched the street as well. He was caught up and he knew what my plan was. "So you think this person will lead us to the real killer?"

  "Maybe," I sighed. "It's worth a shot." And you didn't call Agent Squires because, Rory thought. He was starting to find it humorous that he didn't have to open his mouth to communicate with me. "Ha ha very funny."

  "Well? You heard me didn't you?" Rory adjusted his glasses.

  "Yes." My voice was firm. I rolled my eyes. "I don't know. I just called the first person I could think of. Plus, if a bunch of police cars came screaming down the street it would be obvious that we blabbed to the police."

  "Uh, FBI."

  "Whatever, same thing."

  "Actually, no it isn't," Rory replied. I ignored him and kept my eyes glued to the street.

  "Do you want to solve this thing or not?"

  "Well, seeing as the both of us almost got killed . . ."

  "You're impossible," I interrupted. Rory opened his mouth, but I covered his lips with my hand. "Shush!" A car was speeding down my street. I could see the headlights getting brighter against the pavement. Any minute now, we'd see the killer's new minion.

  A white two door Honda came into view. Rory leaned closer to the window. The driver looked forward like he was in a trance. He yanked the wheel and sped past us without even blinking.

  "That looks like Mark Freeman!" Rory was astonished. "I sit next to him in chemistry." Rory couldn't believe that his own classmate had been targeted and used as a puppet.

  "Well?" I moved the truck into drive while Rory gawked out his window. "Follow him. Let's go!" Rory did what I said, even though he thought it was a bad idea.

  "Maybe we should call Agent Squires?"

  "By the time he gets here, we'll have lost our lead," I argued.

  "It's the smart thing to do," he protested.

  "Fine. You follow Mark and I'll call Agent Squires. His number is in my pocket. Deal?"

  "Deal." Rory pressed his foot on the gas. We jerked forward and flew down the street.

  Chapter Ten

  Answers

  "Just stay there! Bridget, are you listening to me? Stay in the car and don't move!" The line disconnected. I was antsy. Streetlights were glowing and leaves were drifting through the steady breeze. The school parking lot was empty except for a few cars. Rory and I had followed the intruder, Mark, back to school. Mark parked his white Honda and mechanically walked through the gym doors. His thoughts were on auto pilot. He had a burning desire to obey and complete the assignment he'd been given.

  "Why would he come here?" I wondered. Rory and I sat in his truck. The lights were off and Rory's finger was twitching. He wanted to go inside just as badly as me. The only difference was, he wasn't a rule-breaker. I, on the other hand, had lots of experience breaking the rules. But Agent Squires had given us clear instructions – stay in the car.

  "It's a good location I guess," Rory whispered. "We can't see inside. There are plenty of places to hide."

  "You think he has the bracelet?"

  "If he didn't have the bracelet, he wouldn't be here." Rory was right. I put my head in my hands. The killer had to be inside. I bit my lip, hoping the killer would finally be caught.

  "You think this is it? You think the . . . killer's in there?" I stared at the school doors. Rory sighed.

  "That would be nice." But Rory's thoughts said otherwise. He was worried that the FBI's involvement would make things more dangerous. The killer had made a mistake. Stacy was killed instead of me. And probably for a stupid reason too. The killer would be more aggressive this time. Maybe Rory would be next.

  "Yeah, I was afraid of that," I said in response to Rory's reasoning. He grinned. A black car pulled into the parking lot. Agent Squires got out along with three other agents, all with weird looking guns - the ones with knock out darts. They jumped out of the car, weapons ready and facing the s
chool. I opened my door but Agent Squires waved at me to stay where I was. The four of them disappeared inside. That's when Rory and I really started to sweat. We sat nervously waiting for what felt like hours, hoping that we'd made the right move.

  "That night," I said in a low voice.

  "You mean the night you found Stacy?" Rory said, finishing my sentence. I nodded.

  "I never asked. Why were you there? In the hallway, I mean." I studied Rory as he looked at the floor. He tried not to think back to Friday but it was too late. He'd already given me a glimpse at his answer.

  "Actually, I was already inside. I didn't go to the game. Well, I wasn't planning on it." His thoughts went to the science lab. It was his quiet place where he could think. He felt comfortable there, much like how I felt about my bedroom.

  "You promised your mom you would go," I commented. Rory was afraid that I'd laugh, but I didn't. I spoke softly, letting the calm silence surround us whenever possible.

  "She thought it might be a good way to make friends." He chuckled playfully, trying to make a joke of it. The truck got even quieter.

  "And?" I asked. Rory chuckled again.

  "And when I finally decided to check out the football game, you know show some school spirit, I heard weird noises near the locker rooms."

  "You could've told you know. It would've saved you a lot of trouble." I sighed, thinking of all the problems I'd caused. Rory grinned again. He ran his fingers through his dark hair.

  "I know," he replied. I returned his grin with a smile. But that calm silence didn't last, though I'd hoped it would. Gunshots broke it. My face cringed when I heard the piercing sound and Rory's hands covered his ears. The two of us ducked down.

  "I hope those shots were a good thing," I whispered. I heard Rory gulp. The school doors burst open and I was relieved when I saw Agent Squires dragging an unconscious body across the concrete. I opened my door.

  "Bridget, what are doing?" Rory grabbed my hand, but I pulled away. I had to know what was going on.

  "Not now Bridget!" Agent Squires shouted while pushing buttons on his phone.

  "What happened? Did you find anything?" I was desperate to know if they'd caught Stacy's killer. Agent Squires was busy dragging bodies from the building – a few more students, a couple teachers. All of them wore normal clothing and stared straight up at the night sky. I couldn't look away. These were all people that walked past me every day at school, even sat near me in class. And Mr. Wellborne? I gasped as I watched the body of my teacher being dragged, complete with a dart in the neck. Who was I supposed to trust? "Agent Squires, please."

  He ran to help his team, but he turned and looked at me. Agent Squires pointed to his forehead. Immediately a lock was opened in his brain, and I saw everything that'd just happened. I jumped back in the car.

  "Is that?" Watching motionless bodies being dragged out of the building was making Rory queasy.

  "My biology teacher?" I replied. "Yeah." Rory rubbed his cheeks. His face was getting hot and he was starting to hyperventilate. I put a hand on his back. His shirt was damp from beads of sweat. "Rory, take deep breaths ok. They're not dead. They're all just unconscious."

  "Why are they doing that? What's wrong with them?" Rory was in the middle of a nervous breakdown. Understandable. I mean, everything was happening all at once. One of us had the right to freak out. When it was my turn, I only hoped that Rory would do his best to calm me down.

  "Relax," I kept repeating. "They're all going to be questioned and taken to the hospital." Just as I said those words, sirens came blazing down the street. "See."

  Agent Squires dragged the last unconscious body out of the school. That made a total of ten – ten crazy, mind controlled civilians, all programmed to destroy my life.

  "Holy crap," I murmured. "I can't believe things were this bad." Rory took off his glasses and ran his hands through his hair until it was messy.

  "I'm ok. I'm fine." He looked away and tried to think of other things - things that would take his mind off unconscious bodies being dragged out of the killer's doomsday den. Rory's random thoughts entered my head as well. AP Chemistry, my new Mac, fishing on Sundays, Mom's mac and cheese . . . I laughed.

  "Mac and cheese?"

  "Hey it's good stuff," Rory replied, looking annoyed. He was almost back to his old self. "Stick to your own thoughts, alright." He tried holding a serious face, though I knew he wasn't offended.

  "Whatever," I responded. Paramedics were strapping each victim to their own stretcher. Another ambulance showed up followed by another. It was a chaotic scene to watch each victim being strapped, waiting their turn to be evaluated. One of these people could be Stacy's murderer. I shuddered just as a chill ran through my body.

  "How can you be so calm?" Rory had his breathing under control, even though inside was a jumbled, panicky mess.

  "I guess the fear was scared out of me earlier," I said shrugging my shoulders. I hadn't given it much thought but it was true. Being attacked had gotten less and less scary the more it happened. I just hoped I wouldn't have more opportunities to further test that theory.

  "Sure." Rory's face was a lot friendlier without glasses. I could actually see the glow in his green eyes. It reminded me that I owed him a 'thank you'. In a way, I guess you could say he came to my rescue. And I didn't ask him to. "Ok, I'm ready now." Rory cleared his throat and closed his eyes. "You can tell me what happened now."

  "You mean inside?" I asked.

  "Don't play dumb, Bridget. I saw what Agent Squires did when you yelled at him."

  "Ok," I agreed. "But are you sure you can handle the details?"

  "After what I just saw? Um, let me think. YES." All the ambulances were loaded. Each one left the parking lot following the others in single file. The loud sirens screamed down the street. I saw Agent Squires heave a huge sigh as he walked over to my window. I eagerly rolled it down

  "Normally I wouldn't include you in this," he said approaching the truck.

  "We want to come. This affects us, me most of all, and you know it." I stared with a worried expression, hoping he'd let us join the investigation. Agent Squires made it clear that he wasn't comfortable with how much we knew. But he also knew that his previous methods had gotten six students killed in the last year. Wait a second, I thought. Six people have died on this guy's watch? He didn't have much of a choice but to keep us updated . . . and alive for as long as possible.

  "Don't you two have parents?" he answered. I held up Rory's cell phone.

  "We've taken care of that." I ignored Rory's silent question. Taken care of what, he thought?

  "Fine." Agent Squires nodded and ran back to his car.

  "Cut that out," I barked when Agent Squires was out of earshot. "I get confused when people do that." Rory's thoughts entered my head. Oh, you mean this? Rory laughed. He was definitely back to his old self.

  "You know, you can't expect me to read minds too."

  "We're meeting Agent Squires at the hospital. Bryce is awake."

  "And your mom is ok with this?" Rory commented.

  "She will be," I said. "I'm going to call her and tell her we're out studying. . . And to stay at work as long as possible."

  "But that would be a lie."

  "Yeah," I said tossing him his cell phone. "And you're going to do the same."

  "Uh, I'm not doing anything until you finish your story." He grinned again, meaning to annoy me.

  "Right," I sighed. "Well, it's simple really. Agent Squires thinks he found the nest."

  "The what?"

  "You know, the killer's home base - the place where he comes up with his evil schemes?"

  "And was the killer in there?" Rory's chest pounded. He was beginning to sweat again.

  "They don't know," I replied disappointed. "They were all in a classroom waiting for something. Agent Squires' team shot them all with those weird dart things, and each of them will be investigated."

  "That's it?"

  "Oh, and they found some weird
book thing," I added.

  "Fantastic," Rory said sarcastically. He turned the key until his engine made a loud noise. "Hospital it is then."

  * * *

  Looking into the face of someone who once tried to kill you is weird. And I don't mean a cool weird like when you have déjà vu. It's a creepy weird. An uncomfortable weird. A weird that makes you want to run away and never come back. The red fire was gone from Bryce's eyes but I still had balled up fists when we stood next to his hospital bed.

  "So," Rory whispered into my ear. "What's that creep thinking about now?" Agent Squires hovered over Bryce. He was still a little shocked to be lying in a hospital bed. He thought everything that had happened was just a dream.

  "He's wondering what we all are doing here," I muttered. Rory folded his arms and cupped his chin in his hand. He kept nodding and intensely stared at Bryce's face. "What are you doing?"

  "I'm taking mental notes," Rory replied.

  "Bryce," Agent Squires began. "Just tell me what you remember, ok. Think back to this morning." Bryce's brain went fuzzy. Even I couldn't access those memories. Agent Squires looked at me. I shook my head. "Ok, what about Monday morning? Do you remember Monday morning?"

  Things were getting clearer. Bryce was starting to remember things – waking up in his room, eating cereal for breakfast, being late to first period.

  "Yeah, I sort of remember Monday." Bryce looked around the room. When he came to Rory he scowled.

  "What's his problem?" Rory whispered.

  "He remembers you hitting him with that bench press bar," I whispered back. Rory chuckled.

  "Focus, son." Agent Squires had out his notepad. He scribbled down a few notes. "Who is the last person you remember seeing?" Bryce's memories were cloudy but he still had them. He concentrated real hard. He'd been late to his first class, Mr. Wellborne's class. He spoke to the teacher alone in the hallway because he'd been tardy too many times. Agent Squires looked at me again.