Chapter 13: Days and Days
Mom was arguing with Dad over what to throw away in the basement to make room for a new invention Dad wanted to built. He was calling it the Specter Speeder. It was a pretty name, I decided. I hadn't made it to class I was so exhausted, and Jazz had been thinking of calling the doctor. My excuse was that I had stayed up for a long time studying, and I would miss my test if I didn't make it to school. She forced me to stay home and in bed anyway, especially when I fell asleep in my bowl of cereal. I crashed again upstairs, and slept for a long time. The blur within and the blur without continued, and I dreamed of the portal, and of the cold steel, the brief moment of darkness unaccounted for, and managed to sleep anyway. I was glad for the sleep, and didn't waken until around ten o'clock at night.
I found myself pacing, wondering if I could put some of my project together. I decided I could. I slowly walked to the kitchen, the shaky, weak sensation of not-enough-food filling my body. I sat at the table and consumed nearly an entire half-quart of yogurt, and snacked on old hotdogs. I finally made my way down to the lab, and began to fix the metal I'd hidden. I leaned forward in anticipation, and began to fiddle with wires, working on into the early hours, when I put the machine parts up, and moved to the kitchen, where I began to make everyone some breakfast.
I called Sam and Tucker, who had left messages, and whom I figured would be awake at this point. I was right about Tucker, but Sam? Not so much. I wondered why she always sounded like a zombie in the morning, but rolled my eyes and answered Tuck's questions about how I felt and so on. I tapped my foot against the floor, waiting for the bus to come because Jazz had insisted that I do so. I stood there for what seemed a long time, and finally boarded the bus. My foot continued to tap the floor. I shuddered at the close proximity of classmates, hormonal teenagers who couldn't control the levels their emotions projected at, and just wanted to drive the bus off the closest cliff. They frikk'n hurt. I really wasn't 'into' socializing, so the girls who laughed at me didn't really matter. Nor did the boys who shoved me.
I was quite glad to leave the bus, and even happier to see my favorite friends waiting at the bus's drop-off point. I nodded, glad for the company as I ventured into the building, wishing someone would shut the highschoolers around me up. I kept walking steadily, and arrived at my first class, preparing for anything that might happen.
It had to be Mr. Lancer who noticed the amount of times I fell and took me to the nurse's office to make sure I didn't have a concussion. I didn't, but I stayed there for all of the rest of the day, the nurse checking from time to time as I kept falling. I abruptly felt a cold sensation in my core, and, like that, I shot through the roof. I accelerated, feeling like a balloon. I did not like the idea of being stuck like this, but I kept going, at some point transforming. I suddenly felt in control, just for a little bit, and began to slow down. Sadly, it was not meant to be. I abruptly lost altitude, and began a type of rapid decent commonly called falling. I shrieked at the top of my lungs, and landed, for the second time that week, in a lake. Well, the Amity Park Sharktank. Literally. It was Lake Eerie, but legend said that it contained monsters, so Sharktank it was. I was drenched in water, and slime, and who knew what else. I hoped I wouldn't smell as bad as the sewer incident had left my smelling. I finally made it out, and walked most of the way home, but finally gathered enough energy to fly. I landed hard inside my room, and passed out. I had survived a 26 hour day. It was midnight. I really hated flight.
Jazz saw me come down the stairs that morning, and asked me where I had been. My response was somewhat short.
"The Lake."
"Honestly?" She shook her head and walked past. Her shoulders were shaking slightly. I started to move forward, but she glared at me and I stopped in mid step. She ran away, faster than I had known she could go.
School was over fast that day, myself reflecting on the way I had been treating Jazz, and I remembered tears on her face. Danny would have been able to make her feel better. We were practically each other's parents. How had I deceived myself into thinking she would believe my lies? Danny wasn't such a hateful person, and he never lied to his sister. I shivered. I got less like Danny daily. I hoped I was forgivable. I had to make things right. If I gave her back her little brother, not just his shell, she would be so much happier. I wanted to curl in on myself, yell at myself for hurting her, hurting my friends. I was failing them. I wasn't working fast enough. I didn't need school; I could survive without it. But here I was, not helping anyone, not my friends, not Jazz, not even Mom and Dad. I was a failure. The most schoolwork would do was slow me down.
I felt pain in my hands. I looked at them. Blood was seeping out of my palms from scratches made by my fingernails. I smiled wryly. If Jazz caught me, I would be more dead that I was already. The blood was disturbing. It was a sort of silvery-red shade, but almost beautiful, in some strange way. I realized I had been standing still for a long time, and forced myself to move on. They needn't know a thing. They might as well think I was fine. I washed my hands in the fountain at the park I'd entered, the same one as I had visited three days ago. I smiled at myself, noting my pale reflection, several shades lighter than anyone else's. I had always been pale, but it was worse since the Portal. I shook my head, and wandered home.
So, I haven't updated in a while for this story. I am working on updating more often. If any of you are reading Blank Slate, I decided to add to that, but probably not much. So, the first chapter will be replaced, and the part that you read will be turned into chapter two. Review!
-Miaulin