Thoughtless

by Jacqueline Gardner

  Terrence saw me as a toy – his favorite play thing. He liked me the most compared to all his other toys and he was a bit saddened by the fact that he would have to throw that toy away. He'd get a new toy though. He'd get over it fast because the reward was well worth it. He had tried to lead me astray every night we were together but I kept changing plans. It intrigued him.

  Terrence was trying to lead me to the ritual room the first night we met. The homecoming dance would've been perfect, especially since he was never able to talk to me at the football game. I even caught him off guard when I had to rush home on our ice cream outing. I made it a chase for him. That's why he kissed me. He was thrilled by the thought of seducing his prey. What a creep.

  "Terrence," I gasped. "You have some pretty messed up ideas." Terrence grabbed his forehead.

  "Stay out of my head!"

  "You mean the same way you stayed out of mine?" I'd triggered something in Terrence. He ran forward and knocked me to the ground with a single punch. I had no time to fight back. He'd obviously been trained. The familiar pain entered my body. Terrence meant to inflict pain. He wanted me to suffer. He wanted me to die.

  "Bridget!" Rory yelled. "Are you ok?" I was on the ground coughing when Terrence kicked my stomach. Rory shouted something and jumped on Terrence's back. He was too strong. Terrence ran backwards, slamming Rory against the wall. Emma was curled up in the corner again. Terrence blocked the door looking pleased. He ran over giving Rory a kick to the gut as well.

  The pain burned in my torso. All I could think about was getting out of the classroom. I never wanted to set foot in this school again. Terrence was advancing for his grand finale. I was scared. I wasn't confident enough to fight him. Rory couldn't move and Emma was horrified out her mind. Her eyes were closed because she couldn't handle any more violence.

  "Bridget," Rory wheezed. He could barely talk. "You can finish him."

  "I can't," I yelled. Terrence smirked.

  "Yes you can," Rory insisted. "Do what you did last time." Rory thought back to my mom. I'd anticipated her moves and counteracted them so no one would get hurt. From Rory's point of view, what I'd done to defend myself had looked magnificent. I'd looked like a professionally trained fighter. But this situation was different. Terrence was taller and stronger than my mom. His moves were swift rather than sluggish.

  I was on the floor in a lot of pain. I knew what Terrence wanted to do next. He wanted to kick my ribs until I coughed up blood. Then he'd grab his blade, the one he'd thrown aside, and finish me. I'd almost forgotten about his knife. I searched the room for it. It was near the exit. The blade gleamed in the light. Terrence looked at me one last time and swung his foot. I stuck my hands out, caught his boot, and pulled. It was the same move that had sent my mom to the hospital. He stumbled backwards, giving me time to stand up.

  "Lucky move," Terrence muttered looking startled.

  "I might have a few more," I replied. Terrence was going to throw few punches next, all aimed at my face. His fists came fast. My arms were ready. I was able to block his first, his second, his third punch . . . After the third my arms started bleeding. The dark blood oozing onto the floor distracted me. Terrence got another hit in, this time in the face.

  I held on to my cheek. It was warm and sticky. My head buzzed and a sharp pain was pulsing behind my eyes. I tried to suppress my feelings of defeat. Whether I lived or died, my defense needed to happen fast before I had too much time to think about the throbbing pain I was in. I remembered Dru and crazy things she was able to do. Could I do the same? I looked into Terrence's eyes and tried to push thoughts into his head. He looked surprised but just laughed.

  "Those games won't work with me, Bridget. You may have power but you're unworthy of it. You'll never learn how to use it!" He lunged at me. I ducked and stood up as soon as I felt his body across my back. He was heavy, but I shot up with all the strength in my quads. Terrence fell flat on his back behind me. I ran towards the doorway. There were tons of footsteps in the hall – Agent Squires and his men. Terrence's blade was at my feet. I hurriedly picked it up. Rory was trying to stand. He glanced over my shoulder and started waving a hand.

  "Bridget! Look out!"

  I turned around and in front of me was Terrence. He didn't hesitate as he smacked my face and grabbed his knife all in one movement. He shoved me against the door. I was cornered and terrified. I'd tried my very best but it wasn't enough. Terrence had a mischievous smirk. He held the knife up over his head, and then sent it soaring towards my chest. He wanted the blade to slice through my skin and pierce an organ. I imagined it would be incredibly painful, as bad as having the Soul Stone around my neck.

  I saw Rory's face – the eagerness in his eyes. He was determined to end Terrence's reign. Rory reached for Terrence's wrist and pulled his arm back just in time. The blade only skimmed across my skin, leaving a small cut. Rory pulled Terrence's arm using all his body weight. Terrence struggled. The rest was perfect timing – for once. The classroom door was kicked open. Agent Squires and his men crowded the entrance. Agent Squires shot his dart gun, aiming for Terrence's neck.

  The dart pierced through Terrence's skin. His hand reached for it and pulled it out, but his eyes got heavy. He looked groggy but he fought his urge to close his eyes. He fell to the floor, this time unconscious. There was no chance of him getting back up. It was over.

  I took a few breaths. The pain from my injuries took over. I groaned and rubbed my face. It was bleeding and I was sure that it would be all purple by tomorrow.

  "Bridget," Agent Squires said as he let his men inside. An agent checked Dru's pulse. Another dragged Terrence out the door. "Are you ok?"

  "Yeah," I gasped. "I think so." Rory forced a grin while he clutched his stomach. He shot a disappointed look at Agent Squires.

  "I told you they'd be here," Rory said proudly. Agent Squires ignored him. He scanned the room and eyed Dru's lifeless body. He saw the stone around her neck and started putting together the pieces. Each of the victims had what looked like a burn mark on their chest. Autopsy reports hadn't been able to explain the mark or the cause of death.

  "Did you do all this?" Agent Squires looked at me, and then looked to Emma and Rory who were still breathing.

  "Rory helped." I looked down at the scar on my chest. A permanent reminder of this awful night. It was the place where life was almost ripped from me.

  "You and I should have a chat," Agent Squires responded. He finally put his gun down. A body bag was brought in. I had trouble watching as Dru's body was zipped up and tossed aside. Emma was in shock. She was immediately taken outside to the ambulance along with Rory. "You did a brave thing today." The room had been cleared. Agent Squires and I stood alone in the classroom.

  "That doesn't change what happened," I replied.

  "What happened?" I had Agent Squires' full attention. I looked down at the red marks where my ropes used to be. The ropes had been cut but the marks were still there, just like the scar on my chest. I felt different. I knew things wouldn't be the same come tomorrow. I wasn't sure if I was ready for that.

  "What didn't happen?" I touched my chest and leaned against a desk. "I could feel my soul. It clung to me like it was desperate to stay attached. I could see everything – all my fears, all my doubts, all my desires. And they were being stripped from me."

  "But obviously, the spell didn't work."

  "Oh, it worked," I replied looking down at the floor. "It just didn't work on the right person."

  "You mean . . . you took her powers?" Agent Squires was astonished. "Bridget, you have some thinking to do. Be careful not to cross the line – get greedy – like Terrence. Now is the time to watch your back more than ever. I expect it's only a matter of time before a member of the Coven contacts you."

  "Contacts me? What for?" But Agent Squires didn't need to explain. It was obvious. I now possessed powers that only members of the House of Doom, the Coven's upper circle, were privileged to. I had what Dru had been worki
ng for.

  "They'll be interested. Whether they'll want your allegiance or your head, I'm not sure."

  "That's comforting. I guess I'm just supposed to sit around and wait, huh? I mean, how many creeps like Terrence are out there anyways?" I shuddered, hoping that this whole Coven thing was just a myth. I wasn't ready to meet anyone else as crazy as Terrence . . . ever.

  "That's been the number one question for years," Agent Squires said shaking his head. "We don't know much about them - where they are or how many." His mind was racing. He had something else to say, but I wasn't yet ready.

  "But someone else does, don't they?" I stared at his forehead, trying to dig farther into Agent Squires' brain. If there was someone out there who could help me, I desperately wanted to meet that person. I was on the verge of freaking out, but telling myself that I'd been through the worst already prevented that. Was that true? Probably not, but I told myself it was.

  "Already trying to break through my wall?" he chuckled. "Pretty soon, you'll be no match for me."

  "You're really good at resisting."

  "I've had a lot of practice." He made his way to the open door. "Come on, let's get your face cleaned up. We can continue this discussion somewhere more appropriate." I followed him into the dark hallway. My muscles ached and each step I took made something hurt. My face did feel crusty, probably my own blood drying up. I was afraid to look in the mirror.

  I could hear the sirens. An ambulance had already taken Emma and Rory to the hospital. The street lamps were on and I felt a chill as we stepped outside. Terrence was still unconscious. He'd been handcuffed and thrown off to the side. It made me sick to look at his face. He was a traitor - a horrible, selfish, conniving person. I couldn't believe I'd ever let myself kiss him and fantasize about the two of us. It was sick to think about.

  I started to feel numb. I'd experienced more than I could handle tonight. The aftermath was sure to be messy. At least I had Rory, because I wasn't sure what Emma would think of me once she got over being kidnapped.

  "Who was it?" I asked Agent Squires before he started surveying the mess he had to clean up. "Who helped you practice?"

  "I knew someone like you once," Agent Squires said softly. He had great love and respect for the person he spoke of.

  "Who? A girlfriend? An aunt?"

  "My sister," he replied. All information about his family had been stored away. I could see a spot in his head so deeply buried that even I didn't want to attempt to search. He had put those barriers up a long time ago.

  "What happened to her?"

  "She was killed," he sighed. "I was young."

  "Was it them – the Coven?"

  "They have been around a long time Bridget," Agent Squires sighed. "You're one of the lucky ones." The question he wanted to ask me was pulsing in his head. He pushed it back on his mental checklist of things to do.

  "You that I know, right? I mean about the thing you want to talk to me about." I dug deep but I still couldn't figure out what the question was. It came with complications. It involved other people and possibly leaving town for a long time.

  "Soon," he responded with a smile. "I'll tell you soon, but first there's someone we need to talk to."

  "The police? I suppose I'll be at the station all night giving statements."

  "No." Agent Squires shook his head. "Your mother."

  Chapter Twenty

  A Deeper Secret

  The hospital smelled like rubbing alcohol and bleach. The hallways were dull and boring, completely white. White must have been the cheapest paint color. I touched my eye. It was a little swollen. It had taken an hour for a nurse to clean up my face. I needed a few stitches and the doctor demanded that I get an x-ray. My torso was all bruised up but luckily, nothing was broken.

  Although my face must have looked frightening, I still made it a point to make sure everyone was ok. My first stop was to check on Emma. The way she'd looked at me had been driving me crazy all night. What did she think of me? I had to know no matter how much it might hurt. I gulped before entering her hospital room. I pushed open the door and was relieved when I saw her smiling next to Rory. He was in the middle of a joke.

  "So the other guy says . . . Bridget." Rory's face was beaming. He eyed the stitches near my mouth and made a face. "Your face has seen better days."

  "And yours," I added. Rory grinned. He wanted to stay – to talk to me for hours; but he glanced at Emma and stood up.

  "I'm going to go grab a soda," he announced. "Anyone want one? No. Ok." He left Emma and me alone. Emma was sitting up in her hospital bed. Her nurse had brought her some food and a few magazines.

  "How are you?" I asked.

  "I'm ok. Nothing serious." Her voice was quiet. She didn't know what to say or think. She was confused like Rory had been.

  "Just relax," I commented. "I'm not going to go looking for your deepest darkest secrets."

  "So it is true." Emma sighed and thought about the night's events. Her mind took her back to Terrence's phone call, and him asking her to come outside. He said they needed to talk. She'd been excited, thinking that he wanted to know more about her best friend Bridget – the girl he wanted to impress. She was wrong.

  "Yeah, unfortunately it is," I sighed. Emma nodded.

  "I guess in a way, I've always known. I mean you've always known things about me that no one else could know. I just figured it was because we were such close friends."

  "I'm really hoping we can still be friends," I added anxiously.

  "If Rory can do it," she replied, "I can do it." I was relieved that she didn't shout at me or call me a freak.

  "Rory talked to you?" I was curious. What had he said to make things go smoother? Emma nodded.

  "He told me that there were ways to keep my privacy. I just have to learn."

  "He's right," I agreed. "I mean I don't go digging through people's brains on purpose. The thoughts just get shoved into my head."

  "And I thought you were just a loner," Emma quietly laughed. I sat on her bed, feeling a little bit better.

  "What else did he say?" I asked. Emma smiled. She liked that I was intrigued. And she liked that I had soft spot for Rory, even though I made fun of him. I rolled my eyes. "Don't even go there, Em."

  "Well, he is funny," she protested.

  "This isn't a conversation about Rory," I responded. "This is about you and me." Emma's smiled faded a little. She had seen horrible things tonight – things she hoped she'd never see again.

  "So it was Terrence," she said looking baffled. "Girls have been falling all over him since he got here, and the whole time he was a killer. It's weird. Did you know?"

  "If I'd have known, I would've told someone. Honest." I was embarrassed about how far I'd let everything go. I should've been smart enough to see what he was from the beginning. I should've been suspicious about his lack of thoughts, not excited. An alarm should've gone off in my head the night we met. Instead, I developed a silly high school crush that almost killed me.

  "Well, it happens," Emma said trying to reassure me. "Some boys are really good at hiding their true selves. Take Brian for example. I thought he was interested in being a couple, but he was just trying to get to next base. Jerk." I thought about the football game. I was glad that Emma figured things out herself. Brian was just like all the other brainless pigs at school.

  "Yeah," I admitted. "I could've told you that sooner." Her eyes went wide and she giggled.

  "No wonder you didn't like him," she muttered.

  "Well, now I can share stuff like that." Sharing my secret with Emma wasn't going the way I'd thought it would. It was going really well. Emma still had questions and hesitated sometimes, but she would get used to the idea.

  "Your secret's safe with me," she said quietly. She meant what she said. I wanted to cry.

  "Thanks. That means a lot." I stood up. Now that things were good with Emma and I, it was time to visit someone else that needed a few answers. My mom was awake, though heavily drugged.
My heart raced when her doctor told me the news.

  "Tell your mom I said hi," Emma said. She was just as worried about her as I was. I nodded in agreement. "Oh and by the way, Rory said we'd all laugh about this night in a few years." I laughed quietly before leaving Emma's room.

  "Well, he's always right."

  * * *

  My mom's eyes were barely open but they opened wider when I entered the room. Her head was bandaged and she had an IV in her arm for the pain. Her breathing and heart rate were being monitored. She breathed slowly. She reached a cold hand out and I held it as I waited for her to speak.

  "I'm glad you're ok," she said.

  "I'm sorry mom. I'm sorry about everything – the lies, staying out late, disobeying." She squeezed my hand.

  "You're still alive and that's all that matters," she replied. "I should be apologizing to you."

  "What? Is that you or the drugs talking?" I found a comfy spot on her bed. She laughed, although not very loud, and blinked. Her eyes were watery.

  "I tried to fight it," she continued. "When my mind was breached I knew what they were trying to do. I tried to stop it." I was confused.

  "Mom, you weren't the only one who fell victim to that mind control stuff. You shouldn't feel guilty about it."

  "But I should've known better," she replied. "I should've seen it coming." Her eyes were almost fully open. A tear ran down her cheek and she kept squeezing my hand.

  The door opened and I was overwhelmed by the smell in the hallway. It reminded me of needles and shots. Agent Squires stepped in. He smiled when he saw me. My mom tried to sit up but it wasn't easy for her to move.

  "I'm glad you're here," he said to me.

  "Jonathon," my mom muttered. She didn't look too happy to see him. What was that about?

  "Sharlene," Agent Squires replied.

  "Is there something going on here I don't know about?" I couldn't figure out Agent Squires' agenda, and why my mom associated his presence with bad news.