Life Reassembled
Chapter 1 *Robecca*
She had A LOT of catching up to do. She had been "out-of-order" for who knows how long. Last thing she remembered was roller-skating against the gargoyles, two gargoyles came at her and...lights out. Nothing. A couple of friendly monsters had found her and reassembled her. She was forever grateful, because if they hadn't come, well, she would probably still be up in that Old Clock for a long, long time...
She wanted to repay them, but all they wanted was to be friends. Nothing more, nothing less. She was more than happy to become friends, but was still bewildered as to why they didn't want anything in return. Those same monsters introduced her to Monster High, a voltage high school for any type of monster. She loved it from the start. But there was this mean ghoul who was always out to get her from the moment she stepped onto the threshold.
Torlie and her Kitty Krew.
Ugh. They were a real bothersome, those three, but her new friends were always looking out for her. Though she was happy to have friends, she missed her old ones.
Especially William. He had been a 17-year-old vampire in normie years. He had brown eyes and jet black hair, just like her. He had a steampunk style to his outfits, given they were both from Britain, so she did, too. To put in short words, he is the best thing that ever happened to her. Or WAS, to be exact. She was sure he had long-forgotten her. She was nothing more than a faint memory that took up space.
She knew she had to move on, but it was harder than she thought. That afternoon, she had gone to back to the Old Clock, which had become her second home, and she looked around for some of her old belongings. Wow, she was starting to use the word "old" a lot.
Anyways, she had found a few extra clothes, some spare parts, couple of hungry rats, and one old photo. William. She tore up the picture, the paper already yellowed from being locked away in a trunk all these years. She didn't need any reminders of her past.
All of a sudden she heard wheels. Four sets of them. She leaned out over the side of the Old Clock. See, that was the good thing about her "home". It was right above the Skulltimate Rollermaze Arena!
She heard them before she saw whoever it was. Coming around the corner was Frankie. Ever since the ghouls had helped the boys win the Skulltimate Rollermaze Tournaments, Frankie's been bent on trying to learn how to skate. She comes to practice skating every Tuesday, which was the only day she didn't have Fearleading practice. Robecca respected Frankie for being so determined, and it has been paying off. Frankie's progress was obvious. She had gotten faster and more agile.
Frankie evidently wanted to put in more practice time. It was only Sunday.
Robecca went back to searching for other possessions. She only found a necklace made of thin, delicate silver. There was a deep, dark scarlet ruby hanging from the shining chain. It seemed familiar, yet totally alien. She turned it over to find her name engraved on the bezel that held the gem. Well, to be exact, it had her nickname, "Ruby".
'Oh, there's only one person that called me that,' she thought.
She stood up, hesitated, then put the necklace in her pocket. All these reminders of her past were making her hungry, and she could do with the distraction.
Chapter 2 *Kicked Out*
In the Creepateria, she bought her regular lunch and sat at her usual table. It was Sunday, so there was no other students. Robecca had full-time privilege to come to the Creepateria and eat, since she practically lived here.
In fact, she did live here.
She had a bedroom on the 3rd floor of the school, which was abandoned. She didn't have a father or mother, at least not that she knew of. When she had been reassembled, Headless Mistress Bloodgood had welcomed her with open arms when she had learned Robecca had no place to stay.
She finished her lunch quickly and hurried to her bedroom, then into her very own personal bathroom. Sometimes, it was good to have no brothers or sisters. She took a quick shower.
When she was replenished, it was only 1:20pm. She had been planning on going over to Catrine's, but over the loudspeaker came Headless Mistress Bloodgood's voice.
"Robecca Steam, please report to my office." said Mrs. Bloodgood sternly.
"Oh, great. What'd I do now?" she muttered.
On her way down, millions of thoughts flooded her mind.
'What am I in trouble for?' she thought frantically, 'I haven't done anything bad since...since...last night.' Oops.
Robecca had been playing with some potions, blah, blah, blah, accidentally poured a mis-matched spell into Headless Mistress Bloodgood's coffee, blah, blah, blah.
She didn't know what the results would be since it was a potion mixed with other substances. The coffee could've turned Mrs. Bloodgood into a troll, given her a rainbow tongue, or six arms. Robecca had no idea, but she was about to find out.
As soon as she stepped in she screamed, "I didn't mean to, I was practicing - mix up - coffee - rainbow tongue - you - uh - sorry!"
She covered her face with her hands, afraid to see what had become of her dear principal.
Headless Mistress Bloodgood cleared her throat and said in a firm tone, "I don't know what this spell-in-my-coffee fit is about, but we will talk about it later. Right now, we have more important matters at hand." Then she said in a kinder note, "Robecca, as much as it pains me to say this...you-you have been claimed."
"Wait-what?" Robecca stammered, flabbergasted.
Mrs. Bloodgood looked at her sympathetically, then said excitedly, "Dear, we found you Father!"
Her head whirled, going 10 miles-per-hour. Who, what, when, where, why, how? Headless Mistress Bloodgood seemed to be reading her thoughts, "We found him, or should I say HE found US, at 5:00pm yesterday. He lives in a mansion in town, and works as a scientist, but he isn't your typical scientist. I think you'll figure that out when you meet him-"
"When I MEET him?" Robecca exclaimed.
Mrs. Bloodgood held up her hand to silence her.
"As I was saying, we, or he, found us when he checked out our website. We had set up a notice sign for you."
"What? How old is he?" she interrogated, "Haven't I been gone for, like, 40 years?"
"Yes, it turns out he's EXTREMELY intelligent. He "built" you when he was 3-years-old.
Her mind went blank. A 3-year-old had "BUILT" her?
"Built me?"
"Yes. Now pack, you leave tomorrow."
"Wait! I have to live with him?"
"My, my. Aren't we full of questions today." Then upon seeing her desperate expression, she looked at Robecca solemnly. "Please, this is not easy for me either. You're like a daughter to me." Then a tear pricked at the side of her eye, and Robecca realized she meant it.
"Ok. I'll go pack." Robecca left reluctantly.
As she walked down the corridor, she couldn't help but imagine what life would be like without Mrs. Bloodgood. Finally, she decided to stop thinking about it.
"I've got to stop torturing myself with these thoughts," she concluded. She walked into her room and plopped down on her bed. She took a long look around. She was going to miss her room. It's metallic walls, wooden flooring, purple and copper bed with little gear designs, her black dresser that was loaded with pictures of her and her friends; she even had a photo of William. She had seven photos all together that she found, not including the one torn up. Her eyes wandered over to her walls, which were covered with posters of her favorite bands, Rollermaze Tournament Champions, and her professional drawings of blueprints and ideas that she hoped one day would be a reality. She began to take everything down.
Of course this wouldn't be the last time she came to Monster High. She still had to go to school, duh. But living here had changed her point of view of everything. She just couldn't bare not to be here 24/7. It just didn't feel right.
Within the next five hours, Robecca had packed everything except her bed. She lay down, completely exhausted. Mentally and physically. She fell asleep immediately after she closed her eyes.
She dreamed of an evil scientist mixing and matching potions into Headless Mistress Bloodgood's coffee, turning her into a troll with six arms and a rainbow tongue.
Chapter 3 *Mad Scientist*
The ride to the mansion was slow and miserable. Robecca wasn't sure she wanted to meet her...Father. She would never get used to saying that. Father. She shivered.
It was a cold, October morning. Two weeks till Halloween. Robecca couldn't wait, because that was when the school Halloween Party was. Everybody was going to dress fancy for the party, since, well, you know. It would be ironic to dress up in costumes for Halloween.
Before she knew it, they were pulling onto a side road and up to a wrought iron gate that was nearly rusted shut. The house, more like castle, that lay beyond the gate was adorned with copper and all kinds of metal wherever it would hold. Her chauffeur got out of the car and pressed the gold rimmed button that gave access to the inside. Over the intercom came a smooth, velvety voice of a man, who sounded distracted at the moment.
Robecca's chauffeur said,"Mr. Steam, your daughter is here for you."
Robecca wasn't sure she liked the sound of "your daughter" quite yet either.
"Oh! Yes, yes. Please come in," said the strangely calm voice.
The driver nodded his head, even though he was talking through a speaker, and got back in the car. He drove the car up the long, gravelly driveway. As he pulled the car to a stop, Robecca dreaded meeting the scientist. But as she pulled her trunk out of the back and dragged it up the concrete steps, the scientist opened the door with a wide smile.
Robecca realized what Mrs. Bloodgood had meant. He wasn't your usual scientist. His raven black hair stood on end, turning a dark gray at the tips of his hair. He had angular features, and Robecca soon figured she got her looks from him, even if he had "built" her.
She looked over his shoulder, past into the dark hallway. She saw objects placed at haphazard positions.
He looked to where she was staring.
"Oh, yes. My homely abode is quite a muddle," he said sheepishly.
'Hmm. He has wholly a vocabulary,' she silently noted respectably.
"Homely? This dwelling is anything but!" she exclaimed, her light British accent accentuating every word she spoke.
He smiled once again.
"Why, thank you. I appreciate your extolment." He bowed his head slightly in gratitude.
He stepped back and swung his arm in a semi circle, gesturing for her to come in. She stepped falteringly into the eccentric residence.
As she walked through the doorway, she saw that none if the objects had a rightful place. The house looked old, but not quite rundown, yet not quite new. Just the way she liked it. She was guessing she got her personality from him, too, since they seemed to like the same things. Her...Father... didn't seem too bad. Yet.
The driver hadn't come in with them, so it was just her and her...Father. She walked farther down the hallway then heard the click of a door being shut. Then she heard footsteps coming down the hall in her direction. When he finally stood beside her, she was looking at a photo of herself at a Rollermaze Tournament, the one where she had been defeated by the Gargoyles.
"I've been looking for you for years…" he said, almost whispering."I remember the day I lost you, when you saw the Rollermaze Tournaments on TV and you wanted to do it. When I told you that you couldn't, you ran away and joined anyway. After that I had to track you down, and now I finally found you."
"But I don't remember any of that..." Robecca said confused.
"Of course you don't. When those Gargoyles took you out, you probably damaged your memory chip. I could probably repair it, if you like, but it would take time."
Robecca thought on this, but still didn't feel secure around him.
"I'll think about it," she answered.
He didn't say anything in reply.
"How about I show you to your accommodations," he said abruptly.
He led her up a spindly staircase the creaked with each movement. It's red velvet carpet was worn and a bit dusty, but was still beautiful when you looked at the gold embroidery. When they got to the top, endless candelabras lighted their way down the shadowed corridor. They passed countless rooms, all with their doors shut, hiding the mysteries beyond them. They came up to a complex mahogany door that was very wide-set and thick.
He took out a brass key and put it into the keyhole that was shaped like a gear. When he turned the key, she heard a series of 'clicks' and 'clacks' and the door swung open.
Inside was a beautiful room with a crystal chandelier, a white and gold vanity that was taller than Robecca, pure white walls and a shiny black-and-white tiled floor. There was a white, fuzzy rug directly in the center. The bed was also white, but the sheets were designed with swirls and squiggles.
Only then did she realize she had been holding her breath, and she let it out slowly.
"This...is MY room?" she said disbelieving.
"Yes. Why are you so surprised?"
She didn't answer.
"Is every room like this?" she wanted to know incredulously.
"No, this is the only one if its kind. Every room in this house is diverse. And that brings us to the rules, Rule Number One: No going inside any other room, other than yours, or if I allow you to."
"Why?"
"Let's just say, what's within certain rooms, is better left alone." he said all the while looking at her sternly. She didn't see any hint or trace of that smiling, jubilant man she had seen on the porch. Suddenly, he perked up.
"Now with that said, I give you permission to do whatever you would like until supper. I will tell you the rest of the rules then. Farewell." He bowed slightly, then turned to leave, but first shut the door. She heard the creaking of the stairs as he went down to his Study. At least that's where she thought he was going.
'What a strange man, and to think he's my father!' she thought. She set to unpack her belongings.
'Tonight, I will ask never ending questions' she thought 'I have so many questions, and I'm sure he has the answers.'
Chapter 4 *911*
As Robecca was driven to school, she mulled over the answers she had gotten out of her Father last night. She had asked various questions, but sadly he had not answered all of them. And the ones that he did answer, he answered in riddles. So now she had to figure out what they all meant. She'd asked about his other inventions and what they all did or if they all worked, and he had stated simply, "You seem to be working just fine." And they had dropped the subject. Then she asked if he was or had been married and he hesitated, looking uncomfortable, then said, "Well, don't you just have so many questions."
Funny, that's what Mrs. Bloodgood had said to her. Now it was his turn to ask the questions. He asked her if she had any friends, how well she was doing in school, what the conditions had been when she lived with Headless Mistress Bloodgood and what all her favorites were. She had answered them all truthfully, but still felt like he was hiding something behind that smile. Finally, she felt like her brain was going into overload, so she took a break from trying to figure him out.
As they pulled into the school's parking lot, she saw Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, and Lagoona. She clambered out of the backseat and walked over to them. They all looked taken aback, probably wondering why she had come by car. Of course. They didn't know she had a Father.
"Wait-What..." mumbled Lagoona.
"...They found my father...I live with him now."
A smile slowly crept across Draculaura's face, then she let out a shrill squeal.
"EEEEEEEEEEE! You have a Father now!"
Robecca had to smile at this outburst. She was glad somebody actually cared what went on in her life. She wished more monsters were like Draculaura sometimes. Always happy, always optimistic, willing to do anything for her friends.
"Good on ya, mate! I'm so happy for you!" exclaimed Lagoona.
Yeah, that's voltage! What's he like? Is he nice?" questioned Frankie.
"He's sort of...like...," she thought about it. "Like a mad scientist."
She smiled some more. She liked the sound of that.
"Wow, you and Frankie seem to have something in common. Frankie's dad is a 'mad scientist', too," said Clawdeen.
Robecca thought about it, and saw that she and Frankie have a lot to talk about later, but not right now.
The class bell rang and all of the high-schoolers filed into the school.
The whole day was a long blur, most of it just a jumble of words. The classes were extremely long today it seemed, and none of the teachers acted like they were too happy.
The only good time throughout the school hours was lunch, when she could talk to her ghouls. But heading home right now was kind of relaxing. She was getting wonted to her new home, but it was taking a little time to get used to her father. He had mood-swings at random points of the day, was always working on some form or type of experiment, and didn't tend to eat much throughout the day.
'Maybe that's what the pressure of being a mad scientist does to you,' she thought.
She didn't know for sure. When they drove down her driveway, they heard a huge explosion that must have been pretty big for them to hear it all the way at the gates. When they got to the porch she jumped out of the car and raced up the steps. She flung the door open and ran around the house trying to find the source of the blast.
She got to a locked door. She could hear someone moving things around inside, and then it went silent. She used her expertise skills to unlock the doors with a single fingernail. When she opened the door, what she saw was a catastrophe. Everything was strewn around or broken. She searched and soon found what she was looking for, more like who. Wedged underneath a bookcase, was her father.
She gasped and set to work instantly. She pushed and pulled, yanked and pressed against the heavy bookcase. It wouldn't budge. She wasn't strong enough to move it, but she could use something in the lab. She looked around frantically, desperate for anything that could help. She finally found a hammer buried under some rubble. She ran over to her father and examined the wood. She saw a crack in the rotten wood, so she began to pound at the fissure. It gave away and the case split in half. She dragged him out from beneath and checked to see if he was hurt. She let out a raspy breath. He WAS hurt. Pretty badly, at that. She bolted to the phone. While dialing 911, she tried to control her breathing.
"Hello, what is your emergency?" said the monotonous tone of a woman.
"There's-there's been an explosion! I...I don't know what from-or-or how, but-please, help!" she stumbled, still in shock.
"Ok, what's your location?"
"Grave Road, Mr. Steam's house."
The lady at the other end seemed to ameliorate at the sound of her Father's name.
"Indeed! We'll be right there."
It took 15 minutes for them to reach her house, and 10 more minutes to get her father into the ambulance. As they rode down the street to the hospital, Robecca stayed back to watch the police work on the investigation. The investigation of the explosion.
After four hours, they found what had caused the blast. In one of the cylinders was some strange liquid. But the police got some researchers to come and they had discovered that the explosion had been the result of a highly dangerous chemical reaction. She couldn't take anymore of this, and she left for the hospital.
Her father was a mess. He had a cut across his forehead, a broken arm, and a fractured ankle. But in any other case, he was alive. She ran over to him and hugged him tightly. He groaned from the pain, but hugged her back.
"Thank gosh you're alive! What happened?"
"I-I don't know...I was just trying some experiments, then I heard someone or something run up the stairs and slam the door. I went to go check what it was, but before I could make it to the stairs-BOOM-then nothing...I don't know what happened."
She had a new sense of dread. But she was also feeling something else. Fear. Whoever-or whatever- was trying to harm her Father. She was NOT ok with that. When she came back from her thoughts, she saw her father had fallen asleep. She pulled a chair up beside his bed and laid her head down on the side of the sheets, her hand in his.
Chapter 5 *Torlie*
She woke up half an hour late for school. It took her a little time to remember her surroundings and realize what was going on. She looked at her sleeping Father, then left reluctantly.
When she got to school, nobody was waiting for her that time. They were all at class. As she ran into the hallway, the bell rang for second period. All of the ghouls and guys came streaming out of the classrooms. Last to come out, was Torlie. Sauntering past Robecca, she said, "Oh, look at the rusty bucket of bolts, late for class." She and her sidekicks snickered as they ambled on by. Robecca looked down, not wanting to look at anyone, for fear that someone had heard what Torlie had said. She walked even faster down to her class, but on the way she saw Draculaura and Frankie. She didn't even stop to say hi, she kept walking, not wanting to be bothered.
The bell rang for the beginning of second period. She ran down the hall, books in hand. She got to the classroom door and slowly, quietly, opened the door, not wanting to be noticed.
Walking in, she saw all eyes on her. She felt so embarrassed, that if she could blush, she'd be doing it right now. As she looked at the teacher, she saw someone who wasn't normally in her class. He had blonde, short, and spiky hair. His eyes were electric blue and he was sitting right next to her assigned seat for Mad Science. She kept her head down and quickly walked to her seat next to the new kid. She pulled out her notes and started writing down what was written on the board, hoping everyone would go back to what they had been doing moments before. She glanced up, and to her luck, the class seem to have forgotten about her, except for the strange boy beside her. He was staring at her, up until the point that she whispered, "What?"
That seemed to jolt him out of his trance. He straightened up and said, "Nothing. It's just...never mind." He returned to writing notes.
"What's your name?" Robecca asked.
"Damien. You?"
"Robecca Steam. Nice to meet you." She looked at him sideways, wondering if he was going to say more. He turned his head away from her, obviously not wanting to talk. They went on in silence for the rest of class.
Chapter 6 *A Walk to Remember*
As class let out, she gathered her things and headed for the door, glad that the day was over. Walking out of the school, she finally felt free. But then remembered her Father was in the hospital. She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath.
'Wow,' she thought 'the weight of the world feels like it's on my shoulders'
She combed a hand through her hair and went down the front steps. When she reached the bottom, she heard footsteps hurrying after her. She turned her head and saw Damien standing beside her, out of breath.
"Damien?"
"Robecca, do you-do you mind if I...walk with you?"
She hesitated, wondering why he would want to walk with her.
"Sure. I don't mind."
They walked down the street, the silence so thin, you could cut it with a knife. Finally, Damien spoke up.
"So...where do you live?"
"Just up the road here. It's the mansion."
"Mansion?" She nodded her head.
Soon after, Damien started a conversation and they then were telling each other facts about themselves. Robecca decided he was pretty funny and not that bad. He knew a lot about Mad Science and logic, and she thought that it would be great if Damien met her Father. They neared her house and parted.
As she walked up the driveway, she still wondered why he had wanted to walk with her. He seemed nervous, constantly on guard. She decided she'd ask him tomorrow.
As she walked into the house, she stopped and took a solemn look around the front hall. Sighing, she shuffled over to the dining hall, into the kitchen, where she made her favorite, ginger tea. She usually drank this when she was stressed or depressed, so she wouldn't get tired of the taste. But lately, she's been drinking a lot of it.
She went to the wall phone and called Draculaura, in need of a little up-lifting.
"Hello?" came Ula D's voice.
"Hey, it's just Robecca."
"Oh! Hey! What's been going on? I didn't see you at school today."
"Ugh, don't remind me. Let's just say, I was very busy," she said with distaste.
"Um, ok. What is it you needed to talk about?"
And for 15 more minutes, Robecca told her every detail about the past three days.
As she headed out if the kitchen, phone still in hand, she grabbed her pencil and textbook. She went for the stairs, but dropped her pencil and it rolled under the cabinet next to the basement stairs.
She got down on all fours and groped around under the cabinet, until she felt some sort of paper material. She pulled it out from underneath and when she saw what it was, she almost dropped the phone. Written on the envelope was a curly form of writing. Written in the spidery penmanship was the name Torlie.
Only then did her senses come back to her, as she heard Draculaura on the other end of the line.
"Hello? Robecca? Heeelllooo?"
"Uh, I'll have to call you back," Robecca said distractedly. Not even waiting for a response, she cut the connection.
She forgot about her pencil and ran up the stairs without the textbook, too excited from her new find. She flung open her door and threw herself onto her bed. Looking up at the envelope, she was first thrilled, knowing that this might be her to key to the answer. But then her excitement turned into a deep foreboding, fear of who had started this catastrophe. The more she thought about it the more she realized that she wasn't close enough to anyone to actually be hurt. There was Headless Mistress Bloodgood, Father, and her four friends. And she was absolutely sure it wasn't any of them. So who was it? Did she really want to know? All these questions swam through her head at once.
She sat up and glared at the note. Finally, she ignored all of her thoughts and carefully opened the letter.
The letter said:
Torlie,
The deed was done. Just as you said. I expect my pay by the end of the week, or else. Meet me by locker 423. Be there.
That was all it said. She hadn't expected this. She thought Torlie had done this crime alone, but now it seems she had help. The thought disgusted her. Who would help someone like Torlie do such a thing out of their own free will? Ugh. The solution of giving up and handing over the evidence to the police crossed her mind, but she soon realized that if she did that, any hope of actually getting revenge on the villain would be lost. Instead, she buried the letter in her drawer, under her drawings and pens. Now, all that was left was The Plan.
Chapter 7 *Visit*
When she got to the hospital, a wave of worry washed over her. A worry that her Father might be in worse condition. Or...she didn't want to think about that. As she walked through the door, expecting the worst, she was surprised to find her Father walking around the room with a pencil tucked behind his ear, a notepad that was sitting upon his arm sling and was scribbled with tiny handwriting, and an ankle brace on.
"Father?"
"Robecca! What a surprise!"
"What are you doing up?"
"Oh, a scientist can never stay down without a daily experiment! Yes, I know I should be resting, but I have so many ideas!"
He started mumbling senselessly about his 'ideas' and pacing back and forth. She went over and sat on his hospital bed, fidgeting with the covers, watching him make his ideas come to life on a piece of paper.
Chapter 8 *The Plan*
As Friday came, Robecca had finished the plan a day early. As she hid behind a trash can, she reviewed the plan in her head.
First, she would hide behind the trash can until the suspect comes. Then, she would take a picture of the criminal and interrogate them when they leave. If she was caught or taken by surprise, she would scream for help. And if she successfully makes it away, the picture goes to the police immediately. Not one of her best works, but it'll have to do.
As she heard footsteps coming down the hallway, she readied her camera and peeked out from behind the can. Torlie.
Torlie stood there, looking anxious, until some more footsteps came. She sighed with relief and went back to her usual sly aura.
She cursed in her mind. The second criminal was wearing a mask. No picture would help now. Her only choice was to catch the suspect off guard when they left and to yank the mask off. She saw no other way.
"Did you bring it?" asked the second criminal. He was obviously a guy by the sound of his voice.
"Of course. Did you think I would cheat you out of our deal?" Torlie answered, acting offended.
"Of course I thought you would cheat me out of the deal."
"Smart choice. But I DID bring it. It's right here."
She reached into her pocket and pulled out an envelope that was stamped with a peculiar seal. It was a black widow with chains forming an oval around it. She took a picture of it.
The guy took the envelope from her quickly and ripped it open.
"This is only $200. You said $500," he accused.
Torlie pretended to look apologetic. "Oops" she said mockingly sweetly, "I guess I made a mistake. You only get $200." She smiled.
"This was not what we agreed on! I did your dirty work, I risked getting caught by the police, and I didn't want to hurt anybody! Give me my $500!"
Torlie turned deadly serious and said in a threateningly low voice, "You get what I give you. First of all, you could have said no to my preposition, second of all, it's not my fault you made it so obvious when you took the mad scientist out. It was like sending up a flare gun when you created that explosion! And third, and most importantly, you didn't get who I WANTED you to! I told you Robecca! Not her sorry excuse for a Father! Now if you want your full pay, I suggest you do what I told you to do in the first place!
With that, Torlie stalked away, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened only moments ago.
Robecca turned her attention back to the man. He stood there, glaring after Torlie. He crushed the money between his hands and uttered a curse. He turned swiftly and ran down the hallway. Robecca jumped up and sped off down the hall. She came near him at the end of the stairs they were descending and, on the last three steps, she jumped on the escapee. He toppled to the ground with a groan. She tried to grab the mask, but he grabbed her wrists and pushed her against the wall. She struggled and kicked, but to no avail. She opened her mouth to scream, but he clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Don't-scream. I'll let you go if you stop fighting," he whispered.
She nodded her head slowly. He gave her one more look, obviously trying to assure himself that she won't scream. He took his hand off of her mouth slowly.
She made a break for it. She ran past him and back up the stairs, past the lockers and out the door. She didn't stop until she reached the the school's gate.
Panting, she looked back over her shoulder, worried he had followed. He hadn't. She breathed a sigh of relief, but wasn't going to take any chances, so she ran all the way home. Once she got there she swung open the door and locked it, still exhilarated from today's chase. She leaned her head against the door and let everything process through her mind. They were after her now. Torlie was such a two-timing scheming little weasel! What Torlie wanted to hurt her for was beyond Robecca. She had never even talked to her.
Too worried to sleep, Robecca brought a pint of ice cream up to her room and watched a horror movie.
Chapter 9 *Strike One*
When she came to school tired, it was all she could do to keep from flinching at every little noise, for fear her criminal was nearby. But as school dragged on she relaxed bit by bit, letting her guard down.
She learned that was a HUGE mistake when the 'incident' happened.
Walking down the school's stairs, happy from a compliment from Damien, she daydreamed. She noticed that Damien had been acting nicer to her starting this morning with him picking up her book for her when some jerk had run into her. When she reached the fourth step down, something from behind pushed with such force that she didn't even have enough time to scream.
Luckily, a student had been late for class and was passing by and caught her as she fell from the top of the steps. The student was just as surprised as her. She thanked him and gathered her things, eager to get away from the steps. She was on the verge of tears, aware now that whoever was getting paid to do this, was not going to just hurt her. They would go beyond that. Shaking from what had just happened, she ran from the scene.
Chapter 10 *Strike Two*
Walking, almost jogging, she headed home. She wanted to get to safety as fast as she could. As she walked up to the wrought iron gate that led the entrance into her home, she remembered that her father had called yesterday and said he would be coming home, despite the doctor's protests. Typical him. Couldn't keep him down for more than a day. She was thrilled that he was coming home, because she missed him greatly and was concerned and because she didn't want to be alone any longer than she had to. The bad news was that he wouldn't be home till 10:00pm tonight. It was only 3:40pm. Almost seven hours till he came home. Not good.
She got to the door and shut it quickly, locked it, then backed up slowly from the door. As she took her third step from the door, the doorbell went off. She nearly passed out from shock. She was frozen in place for fear of what was behind the deep mahogany door. She took one tentative step at a time. She slowly wrapped her hand around the doorknob, pulled it open a crack...she sighed with great relief. It was just Damien, stopping by to give back her notebook that she had forgotten on the steps when she had fallen.
"Here, I hope you're not hurt."
"I'm not. Thanks" she said with a smile.
"No problem." he said, also with a smile.
He turned around to leave.
"Wait!"
He looked at her over his shoulder.
"How...How did you know I fell today?"
He looked uneasy now. He turned his head away from her, with his hands jammed in his pockets, and said, "I...I just...I gotta go." And he walked away quickly, not even looking back once.
Weird. She watched him leave until he was out if sight.
Turning her back to the outside world, she went to the kitchen, wanting to make her ginger tea.
As she got out a cup, an earsplitting crash came from the back door. She stood completely still, so still you could mistake her for a statue. Breaking out of her trance, she walked forward quietly, setting down the cup and in place grabbing a knife out of the drawer.
As she reached the back hallway, she snuck around the corner, and to her dismay, found the back door wide open.
Panic swept through as she glanced around the room wildly. The crash had come from her Father's silver knight statue, like the ones you would find in a medieval castle.
She still wondered where her Father found this stuff, and why he even wanted it.
The statue's arm had been wrenched off and the sword it had once grasped was gone.
She made a run for the phone, wanting to call anyone, anything to make sure nothing happened. But when she got to the phone, the line had been severed.
'Of course, classic horror movie material,' she thought with annoyance. But her annoyance was soon replaced with a blinding fear when she heard footsteps coming from the kitchen. She had nowhere to go, the back door was all the way down the hall and to the left, the living room was a dead end, and the front door was locked by three sets of complex systems, which would need time to be unscrambled. Only way was up. The stairs were right next to her and the only room that was unlocked was her room. She would have to find it, and fast. She ran up the stairs, taking two at a time. As she reached the top step she heard whoever it was come running to the sound of creaking steps.
There was no time to lose, she yanked on every door handle, cursing every time it didn't open. The footsteps were coming down the hall now. She looked back, trying to get a glimpse of what the criminal looked like. He wore the same mask as from when she spied, but she couldn't see very clearly, because the candles weren't lit. That's when she realized he hadn't seen her yet, he was searching for her. Relief swept through her, knowing she still had a few seconds to escape. Still pulling on doorknobs, but quietly now, she tried to figure out what she would do once she got inside her room. Hide? No, he'd eventually find her. Set a trap? No, he'd get angry. Go out the window? She sighed. It was the only way. She'd climb on the tree branch outside her window and somehow, she'd climb down.
The footsteps were coming in her direction now.
'Crap.' She closed her eyes. 'I sighed too loud.' She stood still, hoping he would change direction. He didn't.
She waited a few seconds.
She turned around and pushed all her weight onto the door across the hall, trying to break the lock.
Turns out, it was her room and she fell through. The criminal walked in slowly, taking his time. She had dropped her knife when she'd fallen, and it was now under her dresser. The criminal had the long, sharp sword in his hand, ready to use it. She propped herself up on her elbows, and tried to scoot back. Soon enough, though, she was cornered against the wall. The criminal walked over and raised the sword. At last second, she rolled out of the way and the criminal stabbed the floor with the deadly blade. While he tried to yank the sword out of the floor, Robecca grabbed the knife out from under the dresser and held it up with shaking hands.
He gave the hilt one last pull and it came loose. He turned around and slashed it at her with such speed, she barely had enough time to react. She brought up the knife to block the blow, thankful that it was long enough to fight with. He wrapped the sword around the knife and with a simple flick of the hand, it was thrown aside and stuck into the wall. He then turned back to her and pointed the tip at her neck.
They both heard a car door slam shut, then a door creak open. The criminal turned his head, and listened to the approaching footsteps. Looking at her, he took the sword back and stabbed it into the floor. With great agility and grace, he jumped onto the window sill and looked back at her one last time, then swiftly leaped out the window onto the tree branch and swung down into a bush, and was gone.
She let out a deep breath and collapsed on the floor. Her hair fell into a curtain around her face and she put her hands over her eyes.
She heard the squeaking of the steps and gathered herself quickly. She stood up, brushed her hair, put on a different shirt and took the sword out of the floor, all before her father reached her room.
He opened the door and looked in. He smiled and walked in completely, holding out his hands. She ran to him and embraced him in a hug.
"I missed you..." she said.
"I missed you, too."
When they were done, her Father took a look around the room.
"Wow. You really customized this place! I don't even recognize it!"
What used to be pure white walls was now plastered with her Skulltimate Rollermaze posters, her blue prints and ideas, just some random drawings, and she actually painted on her walls.
Her father frowned and pointed at the wall.
"What happened?"
Ugh. She'd forgotten to take the knife out of the wall.
"And this?"
He pointed at the holes in the floor from the sword.
She shrugged her shoulders and said, "Experiments?"
"What experiment? Cooking?"
She just smiled uncertainly and shrugged her shoulders again.
He raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. He headed for the door, but before he left, he said, "Supper will be ready within the hour." Then closed the door without a sound.
Chapter 11 *Strike Three*
She was too scared to sleep that night, so she watched a movie. But by the time it came to getting up for school, she could barely open her eyes.
Her father opened the door just wide enough for him to poke his head through and said, "Robecca, time to get up." But when he took a another look at her, he looked concern. "Sweety, whats wrong? You don't look too good." Then he came in and sat on the edge of her bed.
"You feeling ok?"
"I-I just didn't get enough sleep, I guess..."
He looked at her once more, then stood up and said, "Well, if you need anything just tell me." Then he left.
She rolled over and buried her face in her pillow, cried a little because she was still feeling emotional from all that has been happening, then got up and dressed. When she was finished, she ran down the stairs and out the door, hurrying to meet Frankie and the others.
"Hey!" shouted Draculaura.
Robecca waved her hand in their direction and walked over to them.
"Why haven't you been answering my calls? I called, like, eight times!"
"Uh, our connection kind of got...cut." she said with a little sarcasm. Everybody looked at her with puzzled expressions.
Remembering that they didn't have a clue what happened, she said, "Never mind. Let's get to class." And they all headed to first period.
She fell asleep during first, third, and eighth period, all in which she got detention for. Then she got called to Headless Mistress Bloodgood's office because she snapped at a teacher. The only highlight of her day was being with Damien. They talked all during Mad Science class because the teacher fell asleep at the board. And he had invited her to go to the dance with him that was coming up in two days. She agreed, but at the same moment wondered if she would even be ALIVE still. She hoped the murder had given up after last night.
Detention wasn't that bad. It beat being at home alone with a crazed serial killer. At least here she had a teacher to accompany her. So when the teacher left for snack break, she thought nothing of it. She found this time the perfect opportunity to catch up on sleeping. The last thing she saw was a dark figure standing in the doorway.
She dreamed she was at the dance with Damien and everyone was having a great time. She had on a beautiful deep blue dress with the perfect pair of shoes and accessories. Draculaura, Frankie, Clawdeen, and all the others were having an awesome time by the looks of it. Robecca's favorite song was playing and Damien asked her to dance. She accepted and he swept her on to the dance floor. Everything was going great until...a dark figure hovered over by the doorway, then with one gesture of the hand, the lights went out. Everybody panicked and scattered. Damien, who had just been holding her hand, also fled, leaving her alone on the dance floor. She screamed his name, over and over. She felt a hand touch her shoulder and she sighed with relief, but when she turned around, it wasn't Damien. She was paralyzed with fear, while the masked criminal took his hand from her shoulder, then started to pull his mask off. She couldn't believe it, it was...
She woke up. She blinked around lazily, forgetting where she was, but then remembered she was in detention. The teacher still hadn't come back, so Robecca figured she must not have been out for that long. Sitting up straight, she also guessed that the dark figure she had seen earlier must have been her imagination or just plain paranoia. But then she heard some sort of sound...was that...breathing?
She frowned, then turned her head, only to be met by the criminal himself. Just like in the dream, or nightmare, she was paralyzed from fear. The criminal held a knife in his hand, but it lay limp at his side. He looked at her for a long while, then walked toward her and lifted the knife. As he was about to bring it down, he hesitated. He looked like he couldn't decide whether he wanted to bring it down or throw it aside. Then he made up his mind and swung the knife down.
She sat for what seemed like forever. When she dared open her eyes, he was gone. She looked over her shoulder and saw the knife, jammed into the table side.
Confusion spread over her mixed with relief. She got up and ran out into the hallway, looking back and forth, making sure it was clear and turned to the left. When she got to the Teacher's Lounge, she raised her hand to knock, but thought better of it. She sat down in the dark hallway and wrapped her arms around her legs, put her head on her knees, and waited for detention to end.
Chapter 12 *Confession*
She had her dress, make up, and accessories on and ready. Damien would be picking her up in about ten minutes. She double checked herself in the dust-covered mirror. Seriously, it wouldn't kill her Father to dust just ONCE in a while.
Using her arm to clean a circle onto the glass, she saw only the reflection of her face. Her perfectly glossed lips, evenly applied mascara and eyeshadow, and lightly brushed on blush. Everything was perfect. Tonight would be her night.
She ran as fast as she could with heels on when she heard a car engine revving outside. She leaned over the edge of a window and looked out in the dark. There he was.
She hurried down the staircase and was about to run out the door when someone grabbed her by the wrist as she was about to grabbed the handle. When she turned around her Father pulled her into a hug. When he pulled her back at arm's length, she asked, "Are you crying?" disbelief hinting at her voice.
"No, I just..." he sighed, "I just can't believe you're going out with some boy already!" He smiled and laughed a little.
Robecca tilted her head,"Oh, come on Dad. You knew it was gonna happen." She flipped her hair to the side dramatically and batted her eyelashes for emphasis.
He rolled his eyes and laughed again. When they heard a car honk its horn, she gave her father a quick kiss goodbye and left.
Outside awaited Damien's black car. As she approached, Damien smiled, then when she came into clear light, he smiled even wider.
"You look...beautiful..." was all he could manage.
She smiled back, "Thank you."
She got in and they drove to the dance.
Everything was AMAZING. It was like living in a dream. Her friends were all having a great time, laughing and forgetting their cares and worries for the night. Robecca felt just the same way, forgetting everything that had troubled her.
Damien and Robecca were dancing to the song 'Everything I'm Not' by The Veronicas. Right after that came one of the first slow songs that night, 'Say Goodnight' by Josh Henderson.
Damien twirled her around once and pulled her in close again.
But, out of nowhere, Robecca remembered the question that she had wanted to ask Damien from the moment they met that first day.
"Damien?"
"Yes?"
"I forgot to ask, but, why did you want to walk with me that one day? We only knew each other's name by that time."
He looked uneasy now. "Uh, I-because..." he stammered.
She was curious now. Why wouldn't he just answer? Now she was suspicious. "And how did you know I fell down the stairs that day, too? How did you know-"
He cut her off, "I thought this was a dance, not an interrogation!" he snapped.
She stopped, a look of surprise on her face. He lowered his gaze and sighed.
"I'm sorry...It's just...," he looked at her uncertainly, "I can't hide this from you anymore."
He pulled her off into the school hallway, far away enough so that the music from the dance sounded like a faint dream.
"What is it?" she asked, now concerned.
"It's just...everything that has been happening to you. The stairs, the break in-"
"How do you know about that?"
He held up his hand to silence her. He was serious.
"It was...it-it was me."
She just stood there and stared at him.
He sighed again. "The explosion that happened that day...was meant for you. Not your Father, I walked with you that day to find out where you lived."
She gave a nervous laugh. "Damien, you can stop fooling around." She started to head back to the dance, but he grabbed her by the wrist and spun her to face him. He was dead serious.
"I'm not fooling around! I did it for the money, my mom is in the hospital and we can't pay her bills. I didn't want to hurt anyone, I swear! I could only get the money through Torlie, and what she made me do was horrible!"
Now realizing that he was serious, tears came to her eyes. "You...you tried to HURT me?"
"I did at first and I didn't want to! But now that I got to know you, I gave back the money and its over! Please, forgive me!"
Robecca's mind went back to the incident in detention. He had stopped himself, even when she was vulnerable. But that didn't make up for trying to KILL her.
"Please, Robecca..."
She looked back at him with renewed hate. "Tell it to the police." she retorted. She turned around and searched for a public phone.
"Robecca! Try to understand! I needed the money! My mom needs it..."
"Yeah, well haven't you thought about what that money means compared to somebody's LIFE? You could have asked for help, or-or...I don't know! Just...leave me alone," she cried, the tears finally falling. He reached for her hand, but she pulled back.
"Don't touch me! You've done enough." She backed away, then ran for the doors. Tears still streaming down her face, she asked Draculaura if she could borrow her cellphone.
"Sure. Robecca, what happened? Why are you crying?"
Robecca just shook her head. "Boys," was all she managed.
Calling her father, she begged him to come pick her up. He agreed without question. Thanking Draculaura for her phone, Robecca hurried into the hall, wanting to get away from Damien as soon as possible.
She sat down on the outside steps and covered her face with her hands, not wanting anyone to see her tears.
"Robecca!"
Damien.
She stood up and wiped her tears angrily. "What! Come back to tell me that you changed your mind and want the money now?"
"No, please, just try to understand! I was-"
"Just stop! I've tried to understand for long enough now! You don't just go around trying to kill people and then tell them that you 'didn't mean it" She let the tears come again, but this time it wasn't in frustration, these tears were from betrayal. "I trusted you. I let myself fall in love! And what do you do? You rip that away from me without regret! You used my trust and created false hope for me that at least SOMEONE cared for me. And for all I know, you could care less of what I'm saying to you. You almost killed my father, you murderer!"
He looked around frantically, put his finger to his lips. "Sssshhhh!" he hissed. He came closer, but she backed away once again. He looked like he couldn't take this anymore, like if she said one more word of his mistake, he would break.
"Robecca..." he said wearily. "I-" He saw her father's car coming.
He looked back at her. "I love you," he whispered quickly, then took off down the street in a sprint.
She looked down after him blankly. Her father pulled up beside and opened the door to get out.
"Robecca?" he said looking puzzled. But upon seeing her tears he said, "Oh, Robecca. What's wrong?" She ran to him and he took her into a hug. She cried onto his shoulder, not caring who saw.
'Tonight was my night'
...How foolish she was to have fallen in love.
Chapter 13 *BGF*
Robecca tossed and turned with nightmares for the fifth night in a row. But all the nightmares had one thing in common; Damien. She couldn't believe how she had fallen for him and then was used. Just for some money! He had been willing to kill her for money. Though of course she hadn't told her father about any of it, and when he asked, she just said she had had a bad night. He didn't any say more.
When she got to school for the first time in six days, her friends were waiting for her with huge smiles.
Draculaura practically shouted, "OMG, OMG, ROBECCA!"
Robecca gave her a weird look and said in a mocking voice, "OMG, OMG, what?" She laughed and smiled at her friend's happiness, oblivious to Robecca's teasing.
"I. Met. Justin. Biter! At the dance, it was AWESOME! He came to play at the school dance and-...Wait, you were there! Why am I explaining this? Anyway, I met him up close and he gave me his autograph! How about you?"
Robecca just shook her head slowly, a little bummed that she had left and had missed Justin Biter autographs. But then smiled, happy for her friend.
"What's wrong? Where have you been? Why'd you skip?" asked Frankie.
Robecca thought about the questions, then answered only one of them. "What makes you think something's wrong?" answered Robecca, trying to sound innocent.
"Come on, I can tell when someone's upset." Frankie smiled encouragingly.
Robecca just shook her head, not wanting to explain everything. It was all too much, and most likely they would suggest calling the police on Damien. She didn't know why, but she didn't want him going to jail. She guessed she was just too nice.
The first class bell rang, and they all scurried to go to... crap...MAD SCIENCE. Where she sat next to a fiend. A murderer. A criminal. It took all of her courage and strength to drag herself up the stairs to class. When they all got there, Robecca asked Frankie if she wanted to trade seats. Frankie gave her a puzzled look, but didn't question. She nodded her head and they went to separate seats. Robecca was now sitting next to Heath Burns, the class clown. Robecca was having second thoughts, but knew sitting here was better than sitting with an idiot. Or, in this case, a bigger idiot.
Class began, but all through the period, Damien constantly made notes, no doubt begging that she didn't call the police, and made fellow classmates hand it down to her. Each one she got, she tore up without even glancing at Damien. Anything he had to say, she didn't want to hear.
Class ended and she saw Damien hurrying to gather his books and loose paper. Annoyance washed through her as she wondered when he would get the message that they were done. Robecca tried to hurry, but she knew Damien would catch up with her eventually.
Then a thought came to her. Headless Mistress Bloodgood had forbidden that she use her rocket shoes in school, but this was an exception. A few minor injuries done to an innocent passerby or two, compared to a maniac ex-boyfriend murderer. Case closed. Rocket shoes it is.
Skating in-between the students wasn't that hard until it came to going up the stairs. That's when a student or two (to be exact, five) fell down, over, or into another student on the stairs.
"Sorry!" she screamed as number six flipped over the railing.
As she reached the top step she turned a corner, and guess who she ran into. Damien.
"I-" She stopped herself. Of course. He took the school elevator. She lowered her head, not wanting to make eye contact.
He held her wrists, but not roughly. He wanted to make sure she didn't run off again. "Robecca, please stop running," he pleaded.
She looked at the lockers, passing students, the floor, the ceiling; anything but him.
"Why? So you can kidnap me and-"
He cut her off, a hint if frustration in his voice. "Please stop saying things like that!"
She took a step back, surprised at how angry she had made him.
"I'm sorry..." he said, covering his face with his hand."I've been stressing over how I would explain things to you." And with that he looked back at her with pleading eyes. She could tell he really had been stressing, he looked like he had lost some sleep and hadn't eaten much. She gave in to her niceness, or so she convinced herself that it was.
"Five minutes," she said, never taking her glare off of him.
"Thank you!"
"Four..." she warned.
He nodded his head understandingly.
"Robecca..." And with that, everything was explained. He told her of his mother's disease and how he had to support them for a year and a half by working a full time job.
'So that's why I never saw him in class...' she thought.
He told her about getting fired for sleeping on the job one time after having to stay up to take care of his mother, who had grown worse. After the discriminating kick out, he had to find other means of work, which he there upon met Torlie. She didn't explain why she had wanted Damien to hurt Robecca, but Torlie was willing to pay him $500, for which he took the chance without even thinking. But as he learned more about Robecca, he started to accumulate feelings for her and that's when he called off the mission and was then cheated out of the deal by Torlie. Now he has no need for hurting Robecca and only wants to make her happy, which he had failed to do miserably. Now all of that leads up until now.
When they came back to reality, it was way past third period, and they were sitting side by side on the floor leaning against the lockers. They looked at each other, but the school bell for fourth period sounded, they both jumped and got up quickly. They definitely were going to hear it from the teachers for skipping. But Robecca didn't care. Because now, she could see a new side of Damien that she hadn't seen before. Determination.
"Now I'm not expecting you to forgive me but-"
She cut him off with a kiss.
When she pulled back, he stared at her, first with confusion, then with obvious happiness. He hugged her tightly, so happy to have finally won her trust.
The bell rang again, signaling the beginning of fourth period.
She smiled, "We better hurry." He nodded and they walked hand in hand to class.
•THE END•