Raven
Cold water is supposed to help get rid of dark circles under your eyes, or at least that's what a character in a book once said. It doesn't help though. The circles are still there after I splash my face over and over again. If anything, I look more tired and my skin is dry.
The nightmares are getting worse. Every time I fall asleep, he's there reshaping the world into hell. Before, when I had nightmares, no one noticed. Now the adults are paying extra attention to everyone because there are less of us and what happened was a huge trauma. They keep telling all of us that if we need to talk, they're here for us and most of the kids are going to weekly therapy. I've been told it will help with my nightmares too, but kind words and wishful thinking can't stop him. I've tried to do the spell again, but it doesn't work now that Mrs. Huntington is dead.
"Dude we're going to be late." Garfield opens the bathroom door a crack. I finishg wiping my face with a paper towel and meet him in the hallway. He frowns, but he knows better than to say anything by now.
"Do you know what your chore is today?" I ask. He shrugs and shakes his head.
"Hopefully not shoveling the walk way." It's been a little over a week since Mr. West arrived and since then, the circus of weirdos outside has diminished with each passing day. Everyone is allowed outside again, as long as there's at least two adults to watch them. "You can wait for us in your room if you want." I nod, because I will. Yesterday Mr. West had come up to the library after classes ended to "check out the collection" as he put it. He didn't stay long, but it was still weird. That day he also sat at the table next to ours during lunch. The Saturday after his first week he also came and poked around for the sake of "getting to know the other students" or so the boys overheard. Everyone likes him, so the other kids didn't mind, but there's something off about him.
When we get to the classroom, we're approximately five seconds from being late. Garfield gives me an "I told you so" look and I roll my eyes. We spend the afternoon doing a science lab making potato lightbulbs and then trying to repeat the experiment with other produce and random objects.
"Hey, did you just eat your project?" Mr. West is at Garfield's desk. Garfield has peeled a banana and is halfway through eating it.
"I figured I didn't need the whole thing," Garfield grins sheepishly. Mr. West just laughs.
"Go ahead and try with the other half and see what happens." He turns from Garfield's desk and makes eye contact with me. I look away.
When class is over for the day, I vacuum the living room as my chore and then wait for the boys in my room. After an hour when they don't come, I head to the library, but they're not there either. It's almost dinner time when Garfield shows up by himself.
"What took so long? Where's Richard?" He frowns and I sense he's worried.
"He told me to come by myself that he was busy, but I wanted to know why he couldn't come, so I kind of spied on him and it looks like he's packing a bag." Garfield paces back and forth. "He packed up his laptop and clothes." His laptop too? I walk over to the shelf where we hide things and grab the book with the secret compartment, I'd given him for Christmas. He's been storing candy in it from Christmas, but it's empty now. There's no way he ate everything yet, so he must have packed it with the stuff Garfield saw. Garfield comes over and digs around too.
"The cell phone and the walkie-talkies are gone too."
I'd given him back the phone after he came back from his outing with Mr. Wayne, I saw him put it back, but sometime between now and then he'd taken it again...
"What do you think he's going to do?" I already know, but I still can't believe it.
"Sometimes... He used to leave at night. I don't know if you knew or not." I shake my head. That's not something we've talked about. "He'd sneak out and go somewhere, but he never told me where. He got caught a few times."
"Did he ever pack a bag?" I ask. Garfield shakes his head. "So, this time, he might not come back?" Garfield looks away.
"If we ask him, he's going to get mad and he'll probably deny it." I nod because he's right. There are still a lot of things we don't talk about, even after the charity ball. Like what Richard does on his computer.
"So... Are we going to follow him?" I ask. He frowns.
"I can follow him." I cross my arms over my chest. There's no way he's leaving me here by myself.
"I'm coming." Besides. What if they need my help?
"Aren't people looking for you?" I look away and think about that. By now his followers probably already know I'm here. They could strike at any time. The Justice League also knows I'm here and Zatanna probably already told them she thinks there's something off about me. Mr. West is clearly watching us and we don't know why. It might be better to just leave... Mrs. Huntington is dead and Azar isn't going to come save me. She sent me here to die.
"They probably already know where I am. I might be better to leave." He doesn't answer for a minute, but then he nods.
"He'll probably leave tonight. Dress warm and wait for me. I'll come get you when he takes off." He starts putting the stuff back, but it's clumsy. If Richard comes to look, he'll know we were here for sure. I push him out of the way and tidy up neater.
"Do you promise you won't leave me here?" I ask. He puts a hand on my shoulder.
"I promise."
Authors note: Orieka here! Please remember to Review if you like this story. I'd love to hear your comments!