Part 24 (2/2)

”If you do this again, you're just going to have to miss school. I have a job. I can't afford to be late!”

”I know,” I said. ”I'm sorry.”

Jack kept silent and concentrated on the road. It was raining so hard that I hardly recognized what street we were on. The rain drenched the windows. Jack turned the winds.h.i.+eld wipers up full-speed.

”I earned first place in our Writing Club's writing compet.i.tion last week,” I said. ”I get to advance to our State's writing compet.i.tion. They even pinned up my poem to the Honors Wall at school. That's good. Right, Dad? I mean...um... my counselor said that it's good for me, since I want to be a writer. I'll get to put on my college application that my poem went to our State's writing compet.i.tion, even if I don't win. What do you think, Dad?”

I was speaking to him, but he wasn't there. Therefore, he didn't answer me. Jack concentrated on the road. I could tell that he was frustrated and shutting me out. He was determined to keep me away from my daddy. That monster wanted to kill him completely and take him away from me. On that day the monster ripped Dad completely from my heart. Jack pulled up to the driveway that led to my school, and he stopped. The rain seemed to pour down heavier.

”I don't think you can stop right here,” I told him. ”Can you drive me to the front of the school, since it's raining really hard?”

”It's not a long walk. Just get out and walk the rest of the way so that I don't have to go past the security at your school. I can just go straight to work from here.”

”But Dad,” I called out to him. ”There's lightning out there. Please? Will you drive me up to the door?” I pleaded. ”I'm scared.”

He sat still, holding onto the steering wheel. He gripped the wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Jack kept his jaws clenched tight. I sat there beside him and didn't move. I waited.

He looked at me and pierced me with his eyes. I looked to see if my Dad was in there somewhere, but I saw nothing but pure evil. That monster was a demon. Through that demon's eyes, I didn't see my daddy, or even a soul. His eyes looked black and hollow.

It seemed too late to escape. My heart felt like it nearly jumped out of my chest. I knew that I had to try to get away from the monster. I reached for the door handle, but I was not quick enough. The demon grabbed the back of my neck and yanked me over to him. When he raised his fist into the air, I knew that I should not have been afraid of the harmless storm. I should have been afraid of the demon. He brought his fist down, and it went to my chest. I grabbed my chest in shock and in pain. He didn't stop. He punched me more and more, harder and harder. The blows came at me faster and faster. He grunted. He snarled and growled like something not human.

It took a minute for the shock to pa.s.s and for me to realize that this demon was beating me. I was on my back in the truck, helpless and trapped. I reached my hands into the air, trying to block his blows. The pain was excruciating. I tried to block him out. I tried to see my daddy's face again. He was gone. He wasn't coming back.

I cried out, ”Daddy! No! Daddy! Help! Help me, Daddy!” My dad wasn't coming to rescue me. He wasn't going to come back ever again.

When I screamed out, the demon stopped pummeling me. I grabbed my book bag and dashed out of the truck, causing myself to fall onto the pavement and sc.r.a.pe my hands. I scrambled up and ran as fast as I could without looking back.

I ran down the school driveway and let the rain take me. The lightning crashed through the sky as fast as it went through my heart. The thunder roared, and it didn't make me shudder because I had just gone through the scariest thing that I could ever imagine at that time. I ran past security. I went inside of the building as the security guards called out to me. I ignored them and ran past the school office, where I knew I was supposed to check in and get a pa.s.s because I was late. I didn't care. I ran to my savior. I ran to the bathroom, into the stall, and locked the door. Opening my book bag made me so desperate and anxious that I was drooling, grunting, crying, and screaming loudly.

”Mr. Sharp! Mr. Sharp!” I cried out to him.

”Here I am,” he answered.

I pulled the knife out quickly and let his smiles make me feel better.

Janine and I fell asleep. Her head was in my lap and her arms stayed wrapped around my waist. Janine had her warm, pink blanket over her legs. I was in a sitting position with my back against the headboard. If Ms. Mosley had come in to do night checks, we would have been in trouble for falling asleep that way.

I woke up when I heard the door rush open. I thought we had been caught. The lamp on Janine's table was still on. When I saw who it was, I knew something was wrong. The clock on the wall read 2:27 a.m. What was Tai doing in our room? She was shaking badly and she was talking in jumbles.

”What's wrong, Tai?” I asked her, jumping up quickly and accidentally pus.h.i.+ng Janine off me.

Poor Janine sat up, startled out of her sleep.

Tai didn't make any sense. She was speaking excessively fast for her words to be coherent. Janine was so drowsy that she could hardly sit up straight. She looked around, confused, and with red puffy eyes.

”What's wrong with Tai?” she asked.

”Come on, Janine!” Tai said to her. ”Come on, Kristen!”

”What?” I asked her again. Her excitement was making me nervous.

”He's going crazy!” she exclaimed. Without another word, she grabbed Janine's hand and pulled her out of the bed. Janine grabbed my hand, and we rushed out of the room.

As Tai led us down the hallway to exit the Girls' Unit, she tried explaining again. ”I was at the water fountain just a few minutes ago when I heard a boy screaming. I don't know what Ms. Mosley saw, but she jumped over the counselor's desk and she ran so fast. I walked out of the door, and I saw Daniel in the hallway in his shorts, and he was going crazy. He was just screaming like he was losing his mind.”

”Is he all right?” I asked.

”I don't know,” Tai said. ”Let's go see.”

As we walked up closer to the door that led to the main unit, I heard someone crying and screaming. A crowd was growing because more girls were coming out of their rooms to see what all the commotion was about. The new girl pushed past us, and she was the first one out of the doors. We followed behind her.

When we walked out onto the main unit, Geoffrey ran past us, jumped over the counter, and picked up the telephone. Instead of yelling at us, he screamed profanity at whoever was on the other end of that phone. The doors to the Boys' Unit were wide open. I saw Daniel sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth, crying and screaming. I could only see part of Ms. Mosley. She was bending over something, hovering. I couldn't see what it was. I knew that Daniel wasn't the problem, since no one was consoling him.

Ms. Mosley looked up and turned towards us. She yelled, ”Tell them to hurry, Geoffrey! Get the ambulance!”

Geoffrey screamed louder into the phone, ”You need to get them here now! I don't know! Just hurry!”

Daniel scrambled up off the floor as Ms. Mosley tried to soothe him. When she moved towards Daniel, we saw what it was that was causing the trouble. Daniel cried louder. Ms. Mosley tried to put her arms around him, but he pushed her away and turned away from her.

Tai said, ”Oh, my G.o.d! Look!”

She pointed to Rocky. He was on the floor with a bed sheet tied around his neck. Rocky's face and arms were the same shade of purplish blue as the late evening sky. His tongue was hanging out of his mouth, and his eyes were rolled back and almost bulging out of his head. He was not moving at all.

Janine let out a blood-curdling and horrifying scream. That's when Ms. Mosley and Geoffrey noticed that we were standing here. Ms. Mosley called out to Geoffrey as she tried to block us from seeing what we had already seen.

Geoffrey quickly hung up the phone and ran from behind the counter over to us.

”Get back on the Girls' Unit, now!” He yelled as he shooed us off.

The girls scuttled back through the doors. Janine fell to the floor before we could get moving. Tai and I grabbed her arms and tried to carry her back with us. Geoffrey told us to take her to our room. She was crying and shaking badly.

We could only carry Janine so far. She was too heavy to carry all the way, so we tried to make her stand up and walk. She just fell to the floor, crying. Tai bent down beside her.

She said, ”Come on, Janine. You have to get down the hallway. He's all right. Rocky will be okay.”

”No, he's not,” the new girl said. ”He's dead.”

”Shut the h.e.l.l up, Mena! n.o.body asked you!” Tai yelled.

Mena shook her head.

She looked down at Janine and said to her, ”Did you see his neck? I bet it's broken. He probably crushed his windpipe too. He can't breathe.”

”No! No!” Janine cried as she started to pull her hair. I grabbed her hands to make her stop.

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