Chapter#4
I was glad I didn't have any dreams when I went to sleep that day.
I woke up for school the next night and headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth.
I felt a lot better than yesterday.
I made my way to the kitchen after getting dressed.
I put on the necklace that daddy gave me. After the movie mommy gave me her present. A silver bracelet. It put it on. It was pretty.
Daddy was dressed in his black and white uniform. Mommy was still in her PJ's.
"Mommy are you OK? Don't you have to work?"
She shook her head. "No, daddy is taking over for mommy today."
Mommy was pale.
"Did I make you sick?"
She shook her head again.
"No sweetheart, it's not your fault."
I knew better. I made her sick. It was my fault.
I cried. I was making bad things happen.
Daddy whooshed over to me and put me in his lap.
"None of that sweet love."
He fingered my necklace and then moved his hand to my hair.
"Darling, bad things happen sometimes." He said. "But you didn't do anything wrong."
Mommy sat next to me and rested her head on daddy's shoulder.
Daddy kissed her head and then she wrapped her arms around him.
She peeked a side glance over to me.
"Baby doll, it's ok. Mommy will feel better soon."
"How do you feel?" She said, running her hand on my forehead. "You still look pale. Do you feel ok to go to school?"
I nodded. I didn't want to go to school, but I wanted mommy to get some rest.
If I was home she wouldn't be able to sleep.
"OK sweetie. Well I'll tell the school to call if you get sick again. I will come get you. OK?"
I nodded and she kissed my head.
"Good girl. Now eat." She said motioning to my breakfast. "I'll get your lunch ready."
"Do you want me to?" Daddy said.
She shook her head when she made it over to the kitchen.
"No hun, thanks. It's ok. I'll be fine."
They looked at each other for a moment, but then daddy nodded and I watched as she made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
I was glad. Daddy always put too much peanut butter on. It made my mouth sticky.
Mommy always gave me just the right amount.
After daddy gave mommy a hug and a kiss goodbye we walked out into the hallway.
Then we made our way outside and walked along the flowers.
It was so pretty.
Daddy looked at his watch and then at me.
"We are a little early." He walked over to a bench and motioned me to sit.
"I want to talk about yesterday. You were trying to tell me something."
I bit my lip and walked over to sit with daddy.
"What were you trying to tell me beautiful?"
"I did something bad."
The hair above his eye shot up and he stared at me.
"Oh, is that so?" He laughed. "Tell me, what is this bad thing that you've done?"
"I was supposed to tell you something, but I told aunt Jenessa instead. Now the bad thing is going to happen."
I clinked my shoes together. I liked them. They were pink and sparkled when I walked.
"I see." He said. "Is this about the dark place and the white shadows?"
I shot my head up. "She told you?"
He nodded. "A few things, but not everything. I'd like to hear it from you. If you're ready to talk about it."
I nodded and curled my hair behind my ear.
"Well I talked to the man. He was nice. When he brought me to the room he turned on the light for me. The ones that want to talk to me always bring me in a room."
He smiled, but didn't say anything else.
"The second one. The one from when I got sick wasn't too nice. At first, she had the light off. When the light is off I know it's a bad one."
His smile went away, but he kept his eyes on me.
Suddenly I was scared. I didn't want him to be mad.
"Honey." He said as if knew how I felt. He pressed his hand on my knee and squeezed. "Just take your time. I promise you can tell me anything."
"And that goes for your mother as well." He continued. "We want you to feel like you can talk to both of us. You don't have to keep secrets because you're afraid."
I took a deep breath and nodded.
"Well the first one. The good one. He said that you were a friend of his."
He rose his eyebrow and moved to face me. "Are you saying that he died? The shadow people, are they ghosts?"
I nodded.
"He said that you felt bad about how he died, but he said you didn't do anything wrong. He said not to feel bad. That the bad people got him. His name was Ivan."
Daddy's eyes got shiny.
Oh no. He was going to cry.
Seeing me stop he spoke.
"Honey, it's ok." He wiped at his eye. "Keep talking."
"He said that you both came from the same place. The faraway place."
"That's right angel." He said, pulling me towards him. "Ivan was someone that I was supposed to look out for. He was my friend when I was younger, and yes, the bad people did get him."
"I was afraid you wouldn't believe me." I said curling into his chest. "I was afraid you would think I was lying."
His chest rumbled and he pulled away to look at me.
He shook his head. "No sweetheart. I believe you. There's no way you could have known all of that unless you talked to him. I just feel bad for you. You must have been so afraid."
"A little." I said honestly. "But he was nice to me. Not like the other one. The girl."
"What about the girl? Did you dream about her the other night?"
"She looked like a bad one." I said. "She had red eyes and she was pale."
"What did she say?"
I motioned to my chest. "She had a silver thing poking out of her. She said you did it to her."
"And that's why you asked if I ever killed anyone?"
I nodded.
"She said that you killed her. She was really angry." I touched my neck before continuing. "She had big teeth and she bit me just before I woke up. That's why I was all sweaty. It hurt a little when I woke up."
He moved my hair out of the way and looked at both sides of my neck. "I don't see anything." He said.
"Daddy do you believe me?"
He turned his eyes away from me and nodded. "Of course, I do sweetheart."
"I'm just sorry she hurt you. What was her name? Did she say?"
I nodded. "Yes, she said her name was Natalie. She said to tell you hi."
He closed his eyes and then opened them again.
"Darling, she's not wrong. I did kill her, but do you understand why I did?"
I nodded, but there was something that made me think that he didn't believe me. So, I kept talking.
"Because she was a bad one. A stri.."
I couldn't quite say the word yet.
"Strigoi." He finished. "And yes, that's right darling. She was, and she tried to hurt mommy. I couldn't let that happen."
"Because you love her?"
"Yes, because I love both of you so much. I'd do anything to protect you."
He kissed my head just as the other students started walking up to the school.
Daddy told me that the school wasn't always here. That Aunt Lissa had it put up for the children who lived at court.
She wanted parents who lived here to be able to see their kids every day.
I guess there were other schools for people like us that were far away.
He said that she was a great queen, and that she brought a lot of good to our world.
"I love you Atticus." Daddy said as he handed me my lunch bag.
"Mommy and I will see you tonight, and we will talk more about this."
"OK. I love you too."
I wasn't really looking forward to talking about the shadows again, but I expected that they would have a lot of questions. I couldn't blame them.
He kissed my head and then let me go to walk inside.
I looked back. He watched me just before I got inside.
He then turned around and walked back where we came.
After putting away my lunch bag in my cubby I sat down in my usual seat.
Miracle bounced over and put her lunch away.
She was younger than me, but she was smart. That's why she could go to school with me.
I was glad. At least I had a friend.
Everyone else thought I was a freak.
"Hi Atticus." She said as she put a bit of her sun tinged hair behind her ear.
"Hi Miracle." With a smile, she sat next to me.
"I'm sorry we missed your birthday yesterday." She said to me. "Mommy said that you were sick."
I nodded. "Yea, I threw up."
Her face wrinkled.
"But it's ok." I continued. "We watched movies all day yesterday in our pajama's."
"Are you feeling better?"
I nodded. "But Mommy is sick now."
Her face went back to normal.
"Yea, I heard your mom talking to my mom on the phone."
"What did they say?"
She opened her mouth to talk, but the other students walked in.
"Ok class, settle down now."
We all turned to Miss Rinaldi.
Her and mommy were friends. She graduated from the big school at the same time as Aunt Lissa. Now she was our teacher.
She smiled when we stopped talking and turned to the board.
We went on with our lesson. It was math. I didn't listen though, because I didn't like it. It was boring.
At recess, Miracle and I sat by the jungle gym. It was our normal meeting place.
There were a lot of people standing around us. They had white and black outfits on like daddy.
They protected us from the bad people.
Jamie Zelkos walked over. I didn't like him. He wasn't nice to Miracle. Or to me.
He pushed her down before I had a chance to stop him.
He laughed while she cried.
The people in the corners came closer.
"Leave her alone Jamie." I cried.
He reached around and pushed me.
I fell to the ground. Falling on my hands.
"Shut up freak. You have pale skin. Like the bad people."
It burned, and when I looked blood scraped on my hand.
"That's enough." One of them said.
I recognized his voice. He was like daddy. He was his other friend. His name was Henry. I like him. He's nice.
"You're not the boss of me." He said. "You're just the help."
He walked away.
Henry walked over and helped me up.
"Are you all right Miss Atticus?"
I nodded, and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.
He turned my hands over. He smeared the blood that was there.
"Why don't you go to the nurse?" He said. "I'll walk with you."
I turned over to Miracle. Other people were helping her up. She had a skid on her knee.
"She should come too." I said pointing over to her.
He nodded and walked with us to the nurse.
We went to the nurse and got band aids, and she gave us each a lollypop.
I like the nurse. She's nice.
I was so mad at Jamie. I didn't like that he hurt Miracle.
After that we were brought back into class.
Miss Rinaldi was standing at the front.
Henry talked to her. He turned to us sometimes, but mostly just talked to her.
They were good friends. They always smiled around each other. Sometimes when I saw them look at each other their cheeks would get pink.
She walked over when he left and sat in between us.
"Are you too ok?" She said.
I looked at Miracle, and when she nodded I did too.
If she was ok then I was to.
"I heard that Jamie wasn't very nice to you."
"No, he's a real doo doo head." I said pouting my lip.
She laughed a little and shook her head. Then pulled us close.
"You know, I wasn't always nice either. I was mean to your mommy's."
She sighed.
"I feel bad about it now. I said sorry and we are all friends now."
"Just give it time." She said with a smile. "Maybe you will all be friends one day."
Yea, maybe when we are old. Like twenty.
She rose to her feet. "In the meantime." She said. "Stay in here until recess is over."
She walked back over to her desk and looked through some papers.
"Oh no." She said. "I forgot my afternoon lesson plan."
"Must have left it in the break room." She said softly.
She turned to us and smiled. "Can I trust you girls to be alone for a minute while I grab something?"
We nodded. I would keep her safe if Jamie came back.
She left me alone to sit with Miracle.
"What did my mommy say to your mommy this morning?" I didn't want to talk about Jamie. It was making her sad. I wanted her to be happy.
"She said something about going over to see your mommy today. She asked her if she was late."
"Late for what?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno. Grown up things."
What would mommy be late for? Mommy wasn't ever late to anything.
Adults are weird.
I turned when the door opened again. Expecting to see Miss Rinaldi, but instead it was Jamie.
He smiled at us, but it was mean. He was letting his fangs out.
"What are you doing here Jamie?" I pushed my arms out, placing them in front of my chest.
I stood in front of Miracle to keep him away from her.
"I came inside to get my water." He shrugged his shoulders.
He walked over to his cubby and got his lunchbox.
He opened it and took a drink from his water bottle.
After he was done he looked out into the hall.
No one else was around. It was just the three of us. Except for someone standing in the hall.
It was one of the people with the white and black shirts, but he was busy talking to someone.
"Ok, you got your water." I snapped my teeth shut. "Now go back outside."
He laughed and came closer.
"What are you gonna do if I don't?"
"Freak." He finished, showing his fangs.
I was getting mad again.
Before I could do anything, a sharp pain hit my head and moved to my eyes.
I cried out and fell to my knees.
"Atticus." Miracle cried.
Beyond the stings I could hear something fall. Like a desk or a chair.
Once the pain stopped I looked up.
Jamie was laughing at Miracle. She had her arms up and tears were draining from her brown eyes.
She was on the ground. Her chair was knocked over. He must have pushed her again.
I growled and stood up.
Something else took over. The mean part of me. I jumped and landed on top of him.
I screamed and wailed on him. Reaching any part of him that I could with my hands.
"She's got strigoi eyes." He yelled. His blue eyes were leaking with tears.
I reached for his arm and bit down.
He cried.
His blood rushed into my mouth. I drew against the flow. Forcing more blood out of him.
It tasted good. Like sweet candy and mommy's cookies.
Soon it tasted tangy and nasty.
I got off him and threw it up.
Jamie screamed and crawled backwards away from us.
"She's a freak." He said pointing to me when adults came into the room. "She bit me."
"She has red eyes."
The other adults put themselves in front of Miracle and Jamie.
Henry squatted in front of me and looked at me closely. He held on to a silver object. Like the one from my dream with Natalie.
"Well, she seems fine now." He said, turning my face with his hand. He put it back in his pocket and turned to Jamie.
"Are you sure you didn't just imagine she had red eyes?"
"No. No. She had red eyes. I'm not lying." He replied.
Miss Rinaldi shrugged. "It's quite possible. "I did just have a strigoi lesson on Friday."
He nodded at her and then turned back to me.
"Either way." He said. "You bit another student. You need to be punished Atticus."
He stood up and helped me to my feet. "We are going to have to call your parents."