CHAPTER 18
The day of the Prom was hell. The entire day I was dying of sleep deprivation because the night before I kept having nightmares of Sarah. She was writhing in pain among the flames of hell. I saw her mouth shaping out the words 'help me please.' But I couldn't hear her voice. Not even her screams of pain, and anguish. I tried to help her, but it was like my body spoke a whole another language. No matter I hard I tried to rescue her, all I could do was stand there and watch her being strangled by the flames of hell. I awoke screaming with tears staining my cheeks and pillow. Kori sat straight up trying to comfort me. In the morning, I acted as if nothing happened. I was trying to forget about it. But to no prevail, the dream kept eating me away. I had to held Sarah. She didn't deserve to be in hell. I knew that what my father had said about her being there because she was doomed to hell the day she drew in her first breath was true.
"You've been exceedingly quiet. You going to be okay for the Prom tonight?" Kori asked me as we packed our backpacks. The school day had been long and I was not in any shape to even be thinking about the Prom.
"I'm fine…" I mumbled. We walked out of the school's main building and joined Richard in the parking lot.
Richard saw my solemn expression and decided it'd be best if he left me alone. Smart guy.
The entire way home, I just stared out the window and the blurring scenery.
As soon as we got home, I collapsed on my bed. My head was spinning. How do I save Sarah? I replayed my nightmare. Her soft face distorted by creases of torment.
"Rachelle?" Kori slipped through he door.
"Uh?" I moaned into the pillow.
"I know that you're haunted with a past and present that I could never understand, but please, for one night, just forget about it and have fun." She lay down beside me.
"Thanks for the inspiration, but I can't have fun when my sister is in hell, my father wants to capture, my mother wanted my sister and me dead, and my ex-boyfriend is trying to kill after he killed my sister."
"I know this sounds cheesy and all, but don't you think that your sister would have wanted you to go to Prom and fun for one night?" Kori asked.
"Yeah…" I whispered.
I didn't really like the personal touchy, touchy business, but I let Kori give me a friendly, heart felt hug.
The following hours were filled with agony. Kori forced me into the bathroom where she did my make up and hair. Even though my hair was usually short, it had grown in the past month and a half. It was long enough to put up in a bun like hair-do. My angular cut hair was pinned to my head like a bun. Kori even put some black gem pins in my hair in a random manner. I had black eyeliner on and purple eye shadow and some blush on as my make up. But the purple eye shadow was a nice shade of purple, not a bruise colored purple.
Then she rushed me out of the bathroom so she could get ready. I slipped into my dress. Though I would die before admitting this, I thought I didn't look too bad in the dress. But the worst wasn't over. It was a long battle when Kori attempted to spray some perfume on me. I almost ruined her hard work on my hair trying to fight her off. But it ended up well, I didn't mess up my hair and I managed to get away with no perfume on.
"Will you help me zip this up?" Kori asked turning around so I could zip up her dress. She was wearing a deep red empire dress. The skirt of the dress was layered and it was strapless. She had left her hair down, but had curled it and put a tiara kind of headband on.
"Sure." I said zipping up the back of the dress.
She admired herself in the mirror for a minute or so and then, content with what she saw, finally walked out of the bedroom. Then it hit me. I started feeling all self-conscious. I had never worn a gown like this and down my hair. What would Richard think? Would he laugh? I procrastinated by picking at my hair with a pretend problem and straightening my dress. I even thought about putting on nail polish to waist time. But that was too far. I opened the door to find Richard. His hand was outstretched like he was just going to knock on the door before I opened it.
"Hey." O mumbled trying not to look in his eyes. I felt the wave of self-consciousness over power me. My cheeks flushed red.
"Hey, Rae. Nice dress." He smiled. He had notice my being uncomfortable with being dolled up and was not being sympathetic. "Wow, you look nice. That dress really brings out the outer beauty in you." I knew he was teasing me.
"Shut up." I growled finally gathering enough courage to look him in the eye.
"Well, this is for you…" he said taking my hand in his and slipping a cortège around my wrist. It had the usual rose and little white flowers put together to form an arrangement.
"Thanks, just what I needed. More girly crap." I teased in a sarcastic tone.
The doorbell rang.
"I'll get it!" Kori yelled running for the door. She flung it open. In the door way was a short looking guy with blonde hair that fell just in front of his eyes. He had on the normal male prom wear, a black tux and a tie. He held out a bouquet of flowers and a cortege. Kori took them blushing.
"H-hey Kori." Stammered Garfield.
"Hey Garfield. You ready?" She asked still blushing.
I couldn't take the pitiful scene of the two blushing idiots. I walked up to Kori.
"So this is your date?" I asked looking him up and down.
"You must be Kori's friend…" He waited for me to say my name.
"Rachelle." I answered looking at Kori and then back to Garfield.
"Hey Gar! What's up?" Richard asked giving his old buddy a pound on the fists.
While the two boys chatted, Kori and I put the flowers that she had received from Garfield in a vase.
"He's so cute!" Kori squealed in delight.
"Sure." I sighed.
After much impatience and waiting, we departed the house, Kori with Garfield in his car, and Richard and me in his car.
"Rae? I know how you've been having a tough time lately…" Richard began.
I sighed a long loud sigh. I didn't want to talk about my problems. "Well, I know that my life will never measure up to yours, but just so you know, I had problems when I was a kid, too." He never looked at me when he spoke; he kept his eyes on the rode.
"You don't have to tell me anything." I whispered.
"I feel like I have to tell you my past because you've trusted me with yours. When I was really little, my parents worked at a circus. When I was old enough, they started to teach me how to flip and swing on the trapeze and what not. But they only performed once in a while. Otherwise, they worked as janitors. But the day they died, was when the entire circus building, and all in it, where held hostage. They man behind the terrorist attack, I'll never know. But I do remember that he had this mad look in his eye that scared me. I saw them die. I saw my parents bleed to death right in front of me. The psycho had slit their throats because they where helping the innocent people go out the trap door that was used in the magic show. It was the most horrific thing that had ever happened to me…" His voice stopped. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't sure he wanted me to say something or just let him be.
"I'm sorry." I started to feel guilty that I had made him feel obligated to telling me this. "Let's not ruin tonight with our pasts."
He took a brief moment to look at me with a smile. We pulled into the school's parking lot. We got out of Richard's car and made out way to the familiar school grounds. The Prom was being held in the gym and cafeteria, which was conveniently connected to the gym.
As we walked to the gym, I observed the decorations that hung from the school's halls and walls.
"Wow, the school looks different." Richard commented.
I nodded in agreement. When we entered the cafeteria we saw Kori and her date. We joined up with them and entered the gym. The entire room was dimly lit, and had balloons and flowers everywhere. There was a huge banner that read 'Prom Night!' in big bold letters. In the front, where they took your photograph, there was a white arch that had grape vines intertwined in its structure with a backdrop of a vineyard behind it.
"Do we have to get our picture taken?" I asked.
"Yep." Richard pulled me towards the backdrop and arch. I impatiently listened to the photographer's directions and then the camera flashed and we looked at our picture on the screen of the digital camera. I was forcing a smile.
I wanted to put off the dancing for as long as I could, so I took Richard over to where the refreshments were.
"Hey you guys!" Kori called from the dance floor. She was spinning and twirling to the music with Garfield.
"Com'n Richard, dance with us." Garfield exclaimed with a wide smile. He looked really idiotic with his grin and blushed cheeks as he dance around with Kori who was just as pathetic as he.
Richard stepped in front of me and held out his hand. I looked at it then at him.
"You honestly think that I can dance?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.
He didn't answer. He only smiled and bent down and took my hand in his. At that moment, I was thinking about how this scene would make it on the cheesiest of cheesy movies. Richard pulled me towards where Kori and Garfield were dancing. He placed one of his hands on my waist and the other was holding my hand and rose. I reluctantly put my hand on his shoulder. At that moment, it really accrued that I didn't know how to dance. I almost fell backwards when Richard took a step forward, forcing me to go backwards. He caught me with both hands. I blushed and looked away, not wanting him to see me with that emotion. I blushed even harder when he said, "So you're blushing? That means you like it when I save you." He smiled a really dorky smile. A little embarrassed and angry, I tried to struggle out of his grip, but he pulled me closer.
"I was only kidding, Rae." He laughed. He was obviously satisfied with getting me mad. I glared at him. He took my hand back up and got ready to dance. This time I was ready for it. When he stepped backwards, I stepped with him. Then he stepped to the side. I followed him. I grew less tense as I got used to stepping to the music with Richard.
"See, it's not so bad." Richard teased. He then spun me into him. He grinned and then spun me back out. As I spun I let one hand go out. I stopped spinning with one arm outstretched. Then I got a little confused when someone grabbed it rather hard and yanked me out of Richard's hand. I hit something hard. I looked up to see if some retard was trying to make a smooth move on me, but soon found out other wise.
"Don't you look nice tonight?" George commented looked me up and down. I frowned.
"How did you find me?" I asked.
"It's not that hard. Jump High is the only high school in this city and I figured you'd be here and then I found out that there was a Prom and decided to come and see if you were going. As it turns out, you did and now here we are." He explained with a smug look in his eye.
"Well, I underestimated you. I would have never thought that someone like you would ever be that smart." I was only trying to piss him off. Bad idea. I saw the heat rising in him. He was so ready to kill me right there in front of everyone.
"Don't make a scene." I growled through gritted teeth. I was afraid that he would try to hurt me here so then I'd have to use my dark powers to protect Richard and me.
"Then will you come quietly?" He asked still holding me in his grasp.
"Get away from her!" Richard warned grabbing me back, but George was quicker and pulled me away from Richard.
"Ok! Let's go outside and talk about it." I tried desperately to get away from the room full of innocent people.
"Fine." George said looking at Richard up and down.
George shoved me through the gym's side doors. Richard followed. As soon as the door shut behind us I felt a firm push to my back. I fell forward and hit the ground with a thud. I didn't expect for George to hurt me right of the bat. I rolled over on my back.
"Don't hurt her!" Richard yelled running at George. But George gave a hard round kick to his chest, sending Richard falling to the ground. I stood up rubbing my head.
"Ok, George, I'll go back with you. But don't hurt anybody else!" I said walking towards him. Richard looked up in alarm.
"No, Rachelle!" He attempted to get up but the blow to his chest probably bruised his ribs. He clutched his side.
Truth be told, I knew what I was doing. The only way that George wouldn't kill Richard or any of my friends is to give him what he wanted…me. He wanted me dead so that's why I needed to hand myself over.
I looked away from Richard. George grabbed my arm and bent over; when he straightened, his white wings where spread wide. He started to fly up but I pulled my arm away.
"I don't need you to lead me. I can fly by myself. I won't try to escape." He seemed to see the honesty in my eyes because he let go. I closed my eyes. I hadn't used my wings for a long time so I had to consecrate harder. I bent over in the same way George did. My gray wings stretched out into the sky. I looked back at Richard who was watching me intently. He probably didn't believe that I would actually leave him. But I had to. I jumped up and gave a flap of my wing and rose above the ground. Richard's face turned into anguish.
"Rachelle!" He yelled struggling to stand up. I had second thought about my plan, but soon disregarded them when I thought about what my father had said earlier about how everyone I knew was in danger because of me. I don't know why, but I stayed there looking down at Richard for a long time. "Rae, please don't do this. I know you think will help, but it's just like when I said that if you killed yourself then we would suffer from the loss more then we would suffer if you were here. Rachelle if you go…" He broke off looking away.
George saw that Richard was getting to me and I was thinking about not going so he reached out to grab my arm. I gasped as I saw George picking a shiny object out of his boot. It was a small dagger. The next few moments went by so fast that it was all a blur. I heard Richard screaming, I felt a stinging feeling in my gut and then I could hear air whistling past my ears as I fell towards the ground. While falling to earth, a blur of green flashed passed my eyes. Then I heard another yell. But I couldn't tell whom it came from or if it was the sound of my body smacking the ground. But I realized it had to be a scream because when I opened my eyes, Richard was holding me in his arms. I tried to move but a sharp pain hit me. I felt my stomach and when I pulled away my hand there was blood. I winced as Richard set me on the grass.
"Call 911!" Someone screamed. I knew it wasn't Richard, and sure as hell wasn't George, so then who had screamed it. As I listened closer to the shrieks for help I realized it was Kori.
"K-Kori?" I stuttered. It was getting harder to breath and talk.
"Is she ok?" Kori asked. I saw her shadow come over me.
"I'm f-fine…" I reached back down to my wound. "Don't b-bother calling the police or ambulance. I can t-take care of myself…l-literally."
"Is she going to die?" Asked an unrecognizable voice. It was a male, but that's all I knew.
"No, Gar. She'll be fine. I forgot that she could heal herself."
"Garfield?" I asked. Why was he there and why did Kori talk so freely about my powers in front of him.
"Shhh. Don't talk, we'll carry you to the car and we can go home." Richard suggested picking me back up.
I woke up in my bed the next morning. I felt better, but still a little uneasy. I knew that my body had healed itself by then. I walked out of the bedroom and into the living room. Kori, Richard, and Garfield were all talking on the couch.
"Hey guys." I said in my husky voice.
"You're better all ready?" Garfield asked in astonishment.
"Yeah. Can I talk to you Kori?" I asked. She stood and started to walk towards me, but then Garfield took her hand and pulled her back down.
"Actually, I need talk to you first." He said looking at me with big eyes. "I know you're wondering about a few things. See at the Prom last night, Kori and I saw that dude drag you and Richard outside so we followed. But instead following you guys out that side door, we went around the building climbed the latter leading to the roof and watched you from up there. When he was going to stab you I…well…" He trailed off. He was obviously struggling to find the right words.
"Garfield has an ability to morph into…animals. He special like you, Rae." Kori explained. I knew she meant that 'special' comment in a good way, not the special handicapped way.
"Oh. So you…" I couldn't remember seeing him, or any animal.
"I was a little late, but I morphed into a panther and leaped out and just barely caught the edge of the dude's wing. But it was enough to tear it and he fell to the ground. When I morphed back to my normal self, he was gone."
"So you were that green blob I saw?" I arched my brow.
"I don't know how or why, but whenever I morph, I'm green. I just started to have this ability a year ago after coming back from Africa." He explained.
"Oh." I said turning to head back towards the kitchen to make some tea.
"Rae?" Kori asked.
"What."
"I know I should have asked first, but I told Gar all that I know about you and your past." She looked a little guilty.
"That's ok. He saw me with wings, he would know something was up." I turned the stove on. Kori walked back to the group. I waited for my hot water then for the tea bag to release its flavor. As I stood there waiting, I thought about Sarah and my nightmares. I had to get her out of hell somehow. But for now, I had to work on a plan. I was going to save my little sister…even if it kills me.
