Chapter2: Fact or Fiction

The rustling was becoming louder and then we saw eyes. They were a surprisingly tone of yellow, and they were the only things we could see. I wanted to stop looking at them, but my body had the strangest urge to walk over to those pair of eyes. I glanced over at Karen; she was looking away, hands over face. I pulled my attention back to the bush. There was a slow uneasy feeling that crept up on me. Then I heard a car approach. It made a sudden stop about twelve feet away from us and then threw something into the bushes; it was all too fast I couldn't see what it was. And it was too dark to see who these people were in the car. They quickly drove off and disappeared into the distance. I looked at the bush, nothing. There were no eyes, no feeling to go over there, and no sound in the bush. I suddenly remembered Karen was with me, I turned to look at her she was just as puzzled as I was.

"Karen, did you see those eyes?" I gasped.

"No…What are you talking about?" Her puzzled face looked even more puzzled.

"There were eyes in those bushes, over there." I stuck out my finger pointing to where I saw the eyes.

"No. All I saw was those bushes moving, and then that car threw something into those bushes, and then that car drove away."

"You didn't see yellow eyes?" Now I was really confused.

"I think we better get you home before you start seeing 'eyes' again." She tugged on my jacket. Then I quickly walked after her. We talked almost in silence, always changing the subject. We took a careful glance at every bush we passed, and looked down the street every ten seconds. Then we reached Karen's house, and I knew I had to make the rest of the journey by myself. We said our goodbyes and I started on my way. I walked on the sidewalk this time. I was thankful, that there were not as nearly as many bushes as there were walking to my house from Karen's house. I thought I heard a low growling sound, but that was all in my head.

Then I started to run, tripping on every stone I passed. I felt a sensation of relief over me when I saw my house. I have never in my life felt relieved to see that beige, red roofed house in all my life. I walked up on the front porch and stared out into the dark night. Then I felt a cooler breeze hit my skin. I better get inside, the weather is getting colder. I walked into the living room and found that my parents were all but freaking out. They saw me and felt relieved.

"Hayden!"

"Mom, I'm okay. Why are you and dad so tense?"

"Hayden," my dad's voice was sad at the same time I could find it raging with anger. "David, Jessica's brother is not just missing, he was kidnapped." What? The police just said that he was missing. Anyway, who is strong enough to kidnap a seventeen year old who happens to be the best quarter back I have ever met? I struggled to find an answer.

"But the police said that he was just missing." That was the only thing that I could let out of my mouth.

"Honey, they only said that because they didn't know at the time. They just found out from a witness, about five minutes ago." My mom's voice was calmer then my dad's. I could tell they had been worried that it was taking me a while to get home. "Oh we're so glad you came home." Yes, I was right.

"Mom, I was walking home with Karen, anyways I was going to sleep over Jess's house tonight. Remember?"

"Oh we remembered, but we thought you would have called us when you left the prom. I had your father go check if you girls' were at the prom because Mrs. Garth wanted to talk to Jessica. Then he didn't see her car, so we did what I do best. We worried." I just stared at her for a minute, and then sat down on the red couch by the fireplace. Just then the phone rang. My dad quickly walked over to answer.

"Hello?" Then he paused. I looked at his face he was worried. Then he smiled, but something was off about his smile. "Oh thank goodness, thank you so much. Yes you have a lovely evening too." He turned to look at us for a moment. "David is all right. It just so happens he wasn't kidnapped, he was just out with friends. Apparently, someone gave the police the wrong information and thought if it would be funny to pretend someone got kidnapped." I was so relieved. I felt my body relax, but the feeling didn't last too long. My mind went blank and all I could picture in my mind was those eyes. Those eyes that I could only see, why couldn't Karen see them too? Maybe I just imagined them, no I couldn't have. Just then my Mom nudged me. And I realized I was staring at my Dad, well more like glaring. He was glaring back.

"Hayden, why don't you go to bed? You still have work tomorrow." Oh great I had almost forgot, work. My job was okay, when you work with people you like. That's why Marshall said "See ya tomorrow." He meant see ya at work. He really did want to touchier me didn't he? Well I wasn't going to let him because whenever I look at him, that's when it happens, but if I don't look at him problem solved. I slowly got up thinking over how tomorrow would go and walked up the stairs to be bed room. I took a left turn at the top and walked up another small amount of stairs into a room. My bedroom seemed even more comfy than usual. My blue walls and green furniture looked so welcoming to me that once I had changed, and brushed my teeth, and feel on my bed, I went right to sleep.

I woke up to my mother's cooking abilities. I smelled burnt toast, burnt eggs, burnt muffins, and burnt pancakes. I slowly got up, and then it hit me. Ugh, work. I took my shower and then changed into my khaki pants and white T-shirt, a typical outfit for work. I skipped down the stairs and on the last step I tripped. Of course I feel on the ground, but my mother didn't even move to see if I was okay. I fall down almost every morning, so it didn't worry her. I got up and went over to the cupboards and got out a bowl and a spoon from the drawer beneath it. My mom looked at me with confusion. I kept going, I went to the fridge and got out some milk, and then went over to the counter, picked my favorite cereal, frosted cheerios, and sat down and ate.

"Hayden, I made you breakfast, don't you want eggs or pancakes or toast? And I even made muffins!" Just what I needed another guilt trip. I didn't want to hurt her feelings so I just said I wasn't that hungry for that much food. She seemed to understand. Then she sat down and ate one of her muffins. She smiled with her mouth closed and her sweet smile turned into a disgusted look. She ran to the trash can and spit out the muffin. "I think I'm just going to have cereal."

"I think that's a very smart choice." I added in. "Okay, I have to go to," I gulped, "Work."

"Oh, Hayden I don't think he's a bad guy. I think you just need to spend more time with him, you know get to know him." My mom liked everybody. But she wasn't the one who had to suffer. She doesn't know about his special ability, actually me, Jess, and Karen are the only ones who know about it. Well at first I was the only one, but when he started to hurt me I had to tell Jess, and then Karen moved here. And the only other people who know about them are the ones who have the special gift, but there's nothing special about it. I got off my seat and started to walk out the door with my bag until my Dad came in through the family room door.

"Hayden, why don't you use my truck, for work I mean? It could come in handy." Then he tossed me the keys to his Dodge truck. I would have caught them if I knew he was going to throw them, but of course I dropped them, and then I leaned down very embarrassed and picked up the keys.

"Okay dad, whatever you say," I opened the door, "And thanks." He smiled and waved. I decided to wave back, and then headed out. I walked over to our driveway, and opened the door to his faded red truck. I got in and started the engine. Wait, I just remembered what he had said before I left, "It could come in handy." What could he mean? I always walked to my job. It was only five minutes away. He was up to something, something he knew I wouldn't approve of. I tried not to think about it when I was driving to work, but somehow it just kept slipping into my mind.

I pulled into Dave's Diner. The parking lot was empty except for three cars. Hmm, I thought for a moment. The blue car was my boss's car, Dan, his father was Dave. The small black one was the chief's car. He always came early just to get the food started. Then I looked at the small silver one, I hadn't seen this one before. No wait I have, oh that's right I always see it at school. Oh no, it was his car. Why did Marshall have to come early?

I walked out of my dad's car and slammed the car door unnecessarily. I gazed at the tiny silver car with anger. Then I stomped into the diner. I saw Dan at the counter talking to the chief-whose name I have yet to learn, and I have worked here for over one year-and a motionless body in the back room. That was Marshall. I remember what I thought about last night. If I don't look at him, I won't get hurt. I went over to Dan to see if there was anything I could do.

"Excuse me." Was all I could blurt out before I ran to the bathroom. I think I heard my name in the background, but I didn't pause. I rushed through the door and clasped the sink to hold me up. I dared to look in the mirror, but I knew I was going to be pale so it didn't bother me when I saw how pale I really was. I felt like my insides were twisting, I clenched the sink so hard I could break if I wanted to. My knees gave out and I fell on the ground. I gasped for air, for anything to give me support. Then I felt a deep pain inside my chest, this was new. It hurt worse than anything else I had experienced. I couldn't breathe, and I panicked. Then nothing, I felt uneasy, like I was going to throw up or something. I looked up to see if it would help me breath, and then there, in the air was that same dust type thing floating right above me, then it floated away. I slowly got up and looked myself in the face, I looked fine, but one part of my face was pale. Weird, I rubbed my face in disbelief then I looked at my face again and it was gone. Honestly I never thought I would go as far as hallucinating, but I guess I just did. Then I heard a knocking on the door, it was Dan.

"Hayden! Are you okay?" As soon as he asked me I panicked. Should I tell him I'm sick or just save all the trouble and skip work today? Then as I was thinking about the possible ways I could answer, I felt better, just as I did when I left my house.

"Dan, I'm fine. I just had t go to the bathroom, um, really badly."

"Okay then." Wow I can't believe he fell for that. It's not that I'm not a bad liar, I'm actually a really good liar, but the lie I just said sounded pathetic. I pulled myself away from the sink, then seeing as I could stand again I walked out of the bathroom, with a smile. Of course I was just smiling so Dan would believe I was fine. I walked quickly trying to keep a steady pace. I noticed my hair was wet. I put my hands up to my face, I was sweating. I was suddenly aware of the fact that I was sweating and sweating a lot.

I stopped and hurried back to the bathroom. I looked at my face and noticed that I was really red too. I took a wash cloth from the side table and ran cold water on it. I wiped my face till it cooled off. My face turned back to it normal tan shade. I remembered that I had brought a bag with me, and maybe there was a hair brush. If I didn't pack one, my mom probably did. I looked in the bag and then I found a small hair brush, I would thank my mom for that later. I brushed my hair, which took a while, I have really thick hair. My long almost blonde hair was back to normal.

Then I returned to the dining room. I heard a quick movement besides me.

"Marshall, get out of here."

"Listen, I'm really-"

"Save it. Now the only one who is going to talk today is me. I'm going to show you your job, and you will listen and leave me alone. Got it?" I tried to hide the anger because the customers had already started to come in. I would definitely get him after work if he even dared to talk to me again. He just nodded and looked at the floor. I showed him how to find the silverware, menus, and the orders when they are done. I told him what to do and what not to do. Specifically I told him to never use his power in anyone. I tried to make it so that anyone included me. He just shook his head when I had said this, but before he could answer I left. Today's work seemed to go fine, though there was one kid that caused a disturbance and I had to ask the mother to control her child. I guess that was fun. Then at the end of the day I packed my stuff up and got ready to walk out the door when I heard Dan call my name.

"Hayden, could you come here for a moment." I slowly walked over towards Dan's office and opened the door, and I stared at him for a second.

"Yes Dan?" I asked him trying to sound eager to help him, but I was really eager to leave.

"Marshall's car won't start, and I noticed that you have brought your truck today," Oh no. When I get home I'm going to kill my dad. "So I was wondering, if you could drive Marshall home? Just for today." I really was going to kill him when I get home.

"Why can't you?" I asked, I tried to sound innocent, but I just sounded ignorant.

"Oh, I have to stay after and finish paper work. Please Hayden. Just one favor?" I took a deep breath and nodded. I knew that I was going to hate every minute of the car ride home. I opened the door and saw Marshall sitting at a table playing with a salt shaker.

"Good news Marshall, Hayden has accepted to take you home." I smiled sarcastically and then ripped open the front door and walked as fast as I could, without falling, to my dad's truck. I opened the car door, got in, and slammed it shut. I turn the engine on and gripped the steering wheel. I looked in my review mirror and saw Marshall walking towards my truck. His face was hanging low. He got in and sat down in the passenger seat. I didn't look at him straight in the face, but through the corners of my eyes. I pulled out of the parking lot.

"Where do you live?" I said in a dark tone, you could barely tell it was a question.

"Conda Muckleroy St." He looked away from me the moment he spoke. That wasn't far away. At least I wouldn't suffer for a long time. I drove faster than usual.