The soft steps of footsteps echoed down the hallway as Sandi tried to sleep more, her mind and body exausted from the night before. She was tired, as beyond tired as she could possibly be. So tired that she didn't take into account that her Science Teacher was glaring at her from the other side of the bars. "Get up!" She yelled at her student before taking the cell key and opening it, tossing a pile of clothes [surprisingly fitting clothes this time] onto the poor, sleeping girl.
Sandi moved around a little bit before acting like any tired teenager would in the morning, picking up a bit of the towels and now the clothes and throwing them on her head, trying to drown out Ms. Barch. Mumbling something completely incoherent, Sandi tried to fall back to sleep, it striking her that she was, once again, naked infront of her Science Teacher... Turning around she glared at her teacher, "Why are you here?" She asked impatiently, letting her eyes adjust to the lighting over the dim cell.
Barch left the cell door open and walked towards a desk, picking up some coffee and returning to Sandi, "I hope now you understand this isn't a game." She stared coldly at Sandi, giving a look that was more than terrifying.
Under the covers, Sandi started to put on the clothes that Barch brought. They weren't anything special but they weren't anything horrible either. Much better than the sweatshirt from before but... She really wanted a shower. She was moving slowly, in a daze, half listening to what Barch was saying, the other half aimlessly putting on the clothes, "I feel horrible..." She mentioned as she slid the rest of herself under the covers to put on the remainder of the clothes given to her, "What's with these bandages?" She said coming out of the blankets and stumbling to her feet.
"You'd feel even more horrible if I had not stopped you last night." Barch moved to the chair near the cell and sat down, yawning, "After all, you almost killed your family." Sipping more of the coffee, she continued, looking at her watch and flipping on the TV.
/LAWNDALE CHANNEL FOUR NEWS NOW/ A strange animal sighting had occured last night outside of a local Lawndale Family's house. Residents had this to say.
Linda stood infront of the camera [having been used to being on the news from her previous job timez] preparing to make a statment. Her hair and makeup looked fine and ready. As if she was supposed to be the reporter and not the witness. "Last night around 9:30pm we saw a strange creature roaming in our backyard with long, chain like appendages coming from it's limbs. Terrifed at how the alien monster tore down our shed, my husband Tom was sent outside to exterminate it."
The camera panned to Tom, who looked tired and lethargic, having dreamt of the scary beast he saw, "Uh." He paused, trying to recall the story, "It was awful. It looked like a bear or a wolf... or a coyote." He swallowed nervously trying to fathom the terrors of what he saw, "It had glowing yellow eyes and growled like it was rabid." Remembering how the bullets had no effect he shuddered, "I tried to shoot it but it wouldn't go down and after I shot it the first time, I think it got pissed, because it flew or jumped up and tried to attack me, and I shot it again and nothing worked." So he ran inside, "So I ran inside to call the police."
During the interview, Sam and Chris were waiting impatiently for their turn, fighting over who would go first about what they think they saw, "I think it was a werewolf!" Chris yelled out, holding up the picture he took, "Later another one came and fought it and I was able to take a picture before the police took them out!"
Sam agreed, pointing to the destroyed toolshed, a few fragments of plush toys and blankets litering the wreckage around the shed. "It ate all our storage!" He laughed.
The camera panned to the reporter who then continued on to ask Linda a vital question, "Isn't it true that you have a daughter, who was last seen with Scott McPhearson the night of his death?"
Panning over to Linda, the camera zoomed in further, "Well yes, my daughter Sandi was going to the dance with him, but she left when he asked if he wanted to go to Lover's Lane with him. I don't see how-"
"And is it true that a month prior to that your daughter was in an accident as well?" She continued, "Where she and the corpse of Johnathan Jones were found outside of High Hills Park?"
The microphone still at Linda, she felt forced to respond, "Yes but I don't see how..."
The reporter nodded, "Where is your daughter right now?" Her voice had turned sour, and agitating plea that she and the rest of the people asking were suspicious about something.
Linda didn't know how to answer this, she didn't know where her daughter was. She had been so consumed with the animal attack last night she didn't dare think that maybe her daughter was in danger, "I'm sorry. May we continue this at another time?" She asked quickly, starting to worry about her daughter, "I'm not sure where she is right now."
Sandi stared up at the TV screen, speechless. Not only did she see a picture of herself as the beast, then and there, but she was said BEAST in front of her family, moments from eating them. Her mind twisted and turned for a few moments before she clenched her fists and walked back into the cell to sit on the bed of towels and rags. She didn't know what to think of herself and for once she felt like her whole identity was gone. She felt broken inside, insecure, and distant from her friends and family.
"You should probably call your mom." Barch walked over and gave Sandi her cell phone, "Tell her you were at a friends house." She went back to the desk and sipped her coffee, her cruel tone wearing down, "She seemed worried."
She felt like there was no point in calling. If she goes back she might just hurt them again or something, or create some sort of disaster of catastrophe or... Shaking her head she picked up the phone and dialed the number to her house.
"Hello?" Linda answered, a worried tone in her voice, "Who is this?" She was impatient, wanting to get out of the house ASAP and find her daughter.
Sandi sighed and tried to put on the best normal sounding voice she could, "It's me, mother." She continued, "I'm sorry. I was out with a friend and we pulled an all-nighter and.."
Relieved yet Angry, Linda responded, "Sandi, how many times have I told you to call me if you are going to be out later than midnight! I don't know if you saw the news but those damn beasts the media's been talking about were in our backyard! I was worried that they got you. With the strange things that's been going on and all-"
"I'm fine. Mother." Sandi growled, wanting to hang up the phone as fast as she could, "I'm fine." Despite she wasn't.
Linda nodded on the other end, "I'll talk to you when we you get home, but you're in trouble, Sandi." She hung up the phone.
-
Sandi hung up the phone and continued to sit, leaning against the grey walls of the jail cell. Every part of her hurt, especially where she was shot the night before. Her mind was weak, she wanted to cry. She was tired, exausted even. Looking over at her teacher she closed her eyes for a moment, surrendering herself to her pity. "So what should I do?"
Barch looked away for a moment before turning to Sandi, "You want to be on your own, don't you? So go kill your family. I stopped you this time. God knows if I'll save you next time." With that she stood up and grabbed a jacket off a desk, "Now we've got to get out of here before we run up our stay."
Wobbling to her feet again and then rubbing her head, Fashion Club President girl walked towards her teacher and returned her phone to her, "Thanks for letting me use this..." Sandi looked at the bandages on her arm and began to pull it off to see how scar number one came along, "I've decided to accept your help." She mumbled a bit as she tore the rest of the bandage off, "Like, last night was..."
Glancing at her student, Janet Barch sighed some relief, "I'm surprised. You'd think someone like you would be against asking someone like me for help." Continuing to walk out, she took the keys to her car out of her purse.
"...and that's why we're going to keep this strictly professional." Sandi proclaimed, remembering she had somethings to say to Barch, "So um..." Damn, she had to say it. This man-hating science teacher saved her life AND her families life... "Thank you for what you've done for me and stuff..." She knew she was not at all deserving of it... but she acted like doing good unto Sandi Griffin was the only right thing to do. "Like, really."
Barch opened her car door, "You're welcome, Sandi." She knew this was coming. She could sense Sandi's insecurities from her Freshman year, "It's really not so bad." Putting on some sunglasses she motioned for the car, "I'll explain it over breakfast."
-
After a quick stop into the drug store for a hair brush [if she had to be seen like... this in public, she begged Barch to let her at least brush her hair], Barch and Sandi stopped into a small diner at the corner of town to talk about the seriousness of the situation, the night before, and well... lay everything on the table in a way that an idiot like Sandi Griffin could understand.
"So uh..." Sandi stared at her water glass, a shy, quietness about her, something she rarely showed, "Have you been like this... long?" She didn't know how else to ask it. "Like you kno-"
Barch interuppted, "Since I was about your age." Looking out the window she kept the sunglasses on, stirring her coffee aimlessly. [a.n. sandi doesn't drink coffee as it is a major teeth stainer - true fax] Starting to think about the memories more, she began to feel regret and remourse. It was evident from her somewhat quietness that she was relentless to talk about this, "It was my second month at Berkeley..." Continuing to stare outside she took a sip of her coffee and looked at Sandi, "After the attack I thought I was fine, I didn't even see a doctor... but then the next month I had gone home for a break. Something was stressing me out." She paused, "'Maybe it's school.' I thought, 'A weekend home and I'll be fine.' I thought."
Sandi glanced at her teacher having an instinct as to what she was going to say next. Looking away she let Ms. Barch finish her statement before commenting or doing anything at all.
"Well Sandi." She looked at her student, "A smart girl like you can figure out what happened next."
Nodding, Sandi looked at her long, ragged nails and then up at Ms. Barch again, "What did you do after that?"
"I up and left everything. I was a monster. I had mutilated my entire family." She almost seemed like she was starting to cry, "Then I come here and think I've finally met a man..." Her sorrow quickly went from sad to angry, "But aft-" She stopped, trying to repress those feelings, "I didn't want the same thing to happen to you, Sandi."
Sandi looked down for a moment, feeling somewhat guilty, "I'm so-"
"Wait until you get a load of thi-." A somewhat rushed voice came from behind Sandi, it had an arrogant sound to it bu- "Whoa. I'm liking her." A tall, buff male figure came walking from behind Sandi and stared at her, "Wow Ms. B. I didn't know you had a neice or something with such a tight figure." He glanced under the table quickly, looking at her legs, "I like what I see..."
"WHAT?" Sandi stood up and glared at this new coming guy who had just so randomly said this horrible stuff about her... well, it was complimentary, despite she looked like crap at the moment but... "Who do you think you are?" She said to him, glaring at him with as much hatred and disgust as any Griffin woman could.
He chuckled as Ms. Barch immediately told Sandi to calm down, her anger towards the newcomer very over whelming, "Calm down Sandi. You're making a scene." With that she continued to keep quiet and turned to the newcomer, "You better shut up - She can see you." She mumbled turning to him.
Sandi growled, "Calm down!" She sat down, glaring at this guy, "Did you hear what he said!" Pointing towards Senior Buffness, she scowled, "Also, I'll have you know, this is a personal conversation. How dare you-"
Grinning a bit as several people stared at Sandi's random outburst, the newcomer sat down next to Sandi and looked at Barch, "That guy you asked me to look at-"
"Get away you geek!" Sandi tried to push the guy who sat down next to her away but failed, falling through him immediately, his presence cold and disheartening, almost like he was a ghost or something. He made chills run down her spine and she immediately got back up and moved as close to the window as she could.
The ghost glanced over at Sandi, "Are you calling Tommy Sherman a geek?" He laughed, then realized the for a moment, she was almost inside him... sorta... in a weird, ghostly way. "Where'd you find this girl?"
