Part 3 (1/2)
”Phyllis,” she replied. It was but a moment. As she locked eyes with Lucius, her shoulders slumped, her chin lowered, her expression went blank.
It was as if a dark spell permeated the cla.s.s. Kaila began to panic. Every student was coming under the spell as Echidna and Lucius went to each student and stared. Kaila held her breath as her heart lobbed on her ribs like a pogo stick.
Mrs. Bourg had come to stand in front of Kaila's desk. ”Don't be afraid, Kaila,” she said softly. Kaila saw the small white b.u.t.tons on her blouse, the roundness of her belly in the black skirt. Kaila's heart thudded, flooding blood to her brain making her dizzy. She didn't want to look. Somehow she knew that to look into their eyes gave them power over her.
”Kaila,” Jordyn said to her side.
Kaila glanced at his huge, golden eyes.
”Trust us,” he said. He leaned closer, staring. She felt like her bones softened like warm clay as her mind submerged into the darkness of another world.
Chapter 3.
We would like to get to know everyone in the cla.s.s,” Mrs. Bourg said. ”Phyllis Joiner, you're first. Please come to the front of the room.”
Phyllis was the one with stringy, dirty blonde hair, but she was no longer nervous. Like a mannequin, she stood dutifully in front of the cla.s.s. She wore old jeans ripped at the knees and a yellowed t-s.h.i.+rt with a Pennzoil motor oil logo. Her hair was oily and uncombed, and she emitted an acrid body odor. But most unfortunate was that she had blue eyes that bulged out of her sockets, as if they were being pushed out of her skull. She wore an expression of eternal surprised fear.
”Tell us the truth about yourself,” Mrs. Bourg instructed.
Under the hypnotic spell, Phyllis complied. ”Well, um, I usually don't talk much. Um, everyone makes fun of me.” She looked at the floor. ”But the reason my eyes bulge out,” she said quietly, ”is because I have a thyroid problem. I have Grave's disease. It's an auto-immune disorder. There's really no cure, and my mother doesn't have health insurance or much money. I have to tape my eyes shut at night because my lids won't reach closed anymore. That's why my eyes are dry. I hate being called bug-eyed and all those names because I can't help it.”
Kaila, in a suspended dream state, noted that Phyllis's bulging blue eyes were bloodshot. She felt like she floated under water and her conscious thought or will was above the water but she hadn't the strength to swim up and find it. This was not real. It had to be a dream.
”Of course you hate being called names. No one likes being called names,” Mrs. Bourg said. ”Some of us do not understand why others in high school are cruel to their cla.s.smates.”
”Tell us about your family,” Lucius shouted behind Kaila.
Phyllis hesitated, but then answered obediently, speaking from her altered state. ”My dad left when I was four, and my mom is miserable and um, drinks all the time and um, calls me all these names till she pa.s.ses out. I hate to go home.”
”Can you picture the worst of these times?” Lucius prodded.
”Lucius,” Mrs. Bourg frowned. ”Please let me lead the cla.s.s.”
Still under Lucius's hypnotic suggestion, Phyllis lowered her head, her lips pressed together. Her shoulders quivered.
Lucius and Echidna walked up to Phyllis. They leaned over her, as if inspecting a lab rat. A tear fell from Phyllis's bulging eye.
”One time she beat me,” Phyllis said, ”and told me she was sorry I was ever born. That I was ugly and a curse.”
She sobbed, reliving the scene. Lucius and Echidna inhaled, as if breathing in the perfume of her anguished emotion. ”I hate my life,” Phyllis wept. ”I even stole my mother's gun. I've thought about killing myself so many times. I'm just too scared to pull the trigger.”
Lucius leaned closer to Phyllis. ”Such despair,” he sighed.
Echidna inhaled and rolled her eyes ecstatically. ”It is delicious,” she said. She leaned closer to Phyllis and breathed again as the girl wept.
”Lucius. Echidna. Please sit,” Mrs. Bourg said. ”You should have mingled at lunch to feed off the high school emotions. That you didn't is your problem. When you're hungry you will feed, but not on cla.s.s time. Now, we have work to do.”
Echidna, who had been staring at Phyllis with her arachnid eyes, thoroughly entranced and absorbing her, ignored Mrs. Bourg. She placed her long fingers on Phyllis's forehead.
”I am seeing more. So. Tell us,” Echidna said. ”About this boy you like?”
”I really like Derek Mendoza,” Phyllis erupted, her deep secret expelled. ”He's just so hot, and I know he'd never like me, but I can't help it.”
Kaila recalled that Brandy Powell had dated Derek Mendoza-the jock who had thrown the paper football at her in English. Yet, Brandy sat still, her head lowered, staring blankly up at Phyllis. Dimly, Kaila realized that she, too, was slumped, staring vacantly. She tried to wake, to swim up to consciousness, but could not.
Echidna said to Lucius, ”Is Derek Mendoza the human who threw that one,” she nodded to Douglas Lafarge, ”into the trash box at lunch time?”
”Yes,” Lucius confirmed.
”Why would she be attracted to such a simplistic, cruel one?” Echidna wondered.
”He kind of reminds me of my father,” Phyllis stated.
Lucius shook his head. ”These humans are ridiculous.”
Mrs. Bourg said, ”You have much to learn about humans. Now I insist. Sit down!” She peered around, surveying each student in the cla.s.sroom. ”Phyllis, thank you. Please take your seat. Now, the one we need to explore next is Kaila Guidry. Kaila, please step to the front of the cla.s.s.”
Kaila stepped dutifully to the front of the cla.s.s, vaguely aware that something was terribly wrong, but she didn't have the energy to fight. This was a strange dream from which she would soon awaken. She couldn't be standing in front of the cla.s.sroom like this for real.
”First,” Mrs. Bourg said. ”Take off that artificial hair.”
Under control, there was no possible way to resist suggestion. She should have cared and been embarra.s.sed but she wasn't. Kaila pulled off her wig.
”And what is this?” Mrs. Bourg said, touching the black plastic wrapped around Kaila's skull.
”I wear it to protect me,” Kaila said.
”Take it off.”
Obediently, Kaila unwound the plastic from her head. Her damp blond hair spilled down her back. Any other time she would have died of humiliation standing in front of the cla.s.s like this. But now, she didn't care. The students, except for the aliens, wore a zombie-like expression on their faces.
”Feels better, yes?” Mrs. Bourg said. ”More natural.”
”Yes,” Kaila stated.
”Now tell us about your father, Kaila.”
”I never knew my father.”
”Then tell us what you need protection from.”
”I don't know. My mother says we need protection.”
”Echidna,” said Mrs. Bourg, snapping her fingers. ”Scan her.”
Echidna went to Kaila, thrusting her beautiful moon face a few inches from hers. ”Look at me,” she commanded. Kaila dropped into Echidna's tarantula eyes.