RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!
Had Beth's alarm always been that loud? She couldn't remember it ever being so obnoxious. She wanted it to shut up. Beth groaned. The alarm flew off the table and crashed into the wall. It broke into a few pieces that landed on the floor around and behind her bedside table. This made Beth sit up in bed. She looked at the mess for a moment before deciding she didn't know what happened.
Odd, Beth thought as she got out of bed.
After a quick shower and a change into skinny jeans and a long sleeve shirt with grey and black stripes, Beth was out the door. She tried calling her mum again only to get the same result as yesterday. Her mom hadn't even called once since moving to New York. Every day without a call Beth felt a new wave of abandonment. Her mom seemed to think Beth wanted to stain the family name.
Everyone was already waiting outside the community centre. Beth got there just as Tony walked up from the other direction.
"Alright guys, c'mon you lot, let's get changed." Beth looked at the wall for the first time. In a thick, red handwriting were the words, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU. Not a pleasant way to start the day.
"Look at this," Curtis said. "Someone's taking the piss."
"Yeah, it's terrible isn't it, all this anti-social behaviour." Tony looked at the wall and shrugged.
"Oh, is he having a dig at us?" Nathan asked, smoke dangling between his lips. Alisha's phone rang.
"Right, that's it. All of you, give me phone right now. No ones making anymore calls today." Tony moved towards Alisha who didn't seem at all intimidated.
"Are you allowed to take our phones?" Alisha asked, snapping a picture of Tony. Tony snatched it out of her hands, but she was laughing.
Beth pulled hers out of her purse. It's not like she should expect any calls, everyone hated her now. After he took Nathan's phone Beth held hers out. Tony took it dramatically. She was handing it over, there was no reason for him to get snippy. Everyone went to go get changed into their orange jumpsuits.
Beth changed quickly. She put her hair into a pony tail. Beside her Nathan was taking his shirt off. She looked over at him, when he caught her he winked.
"Checking out the goods?" Nathan asked.
"No," Beth said quickly. "I was looking passed you."
"Sure," Nathan said. "When you're ready to admit you want a shag, let me know. I'll be here for a while."
"I'm going to go now," Beth said, leaving the room.
Beth took her bucket, following Kelly out of the room. After filling it with soap and water she went outside to try and clean off the red writing. She was scrubbing the K in KILL. When everyone else came out they scattered. Nathan started with one of the L's. They worked in silence for a little bit but as anyone could have guessed, the people in this group couldn't work in silence.
"You know after the storm," Kelly started. Beth looked over. "Did any of yous feel weird?"
"Yeah," Nathan said, smirking. "I had a strange tingling sensation in my anus."
Beth shook her head at him dumb sense of humour and went back to work. Kelly suddenly asked Simon if he felt weird.
"What you don't want to feel about the tingling in my anus?" Nathan asked, grabbing his butt. Beth rolled her eyes, he was a man child.
"Do you really need to ask the question?" Curtis asked, making Beth laugh. Nathan looked at her and glared playfully. He went back to grinning after just a second.
"Something did happen." Simon stopped scrubbing for a second.
"What's that?" Nathan asked. "Squeak up."
"Something happened to me," Simon said, no louder than before.
"Are you a virgin?" Nathan asked, before he could get to far into a song Kelly yelled for him to shut up. Beth laughed at that. Nathan turned back to the wall.
"What was it?" Kelly asked. Beth stopped working so she could hear better.
"It's nothing," Simon said. Beth knew that he would have spoken up if Nathan hadn't been a twat.
Kelly walked over and pushed Nathan. Beth was surprised at this action. Nathan asked why she did it but she just stormed off. Her actions had everyone confused, even Simon, and Simon was the one getting the worst end of Nathan's bullying. With just four of them still working Beth started scrubbing harder. She wanted to get this done and with Kelly storming off and Alisha tanning on a bench behind them it would take even longer. Alisha reminded Beth of her sister.
"What are you here for?" Nathan asked. "You don't exactly seem like a criminal."
"I was framed," Beth said.
"For what?" Simon asked. Nathan rolled his eyes.
"My friends took the deans car for a joyride. Then they went to his and told him I did it. They even put my school I.D on the floor of his car." Beth sighed.
"Boring," Nathan said.
"Prick," Curtis said.
"Maybe you need new friends," Simon suggested.
"They aren't my friends. They stopped being my friends when I tried to get them to admit to stealing the car."
"Let's talk about something interesting. Tell me, what colour bra are you wearing?" Nathan asked, trying to get a glimpse down her shirt.
"Leave her alone," Curtis said, glaring at Nathan.
"I'm only joking," Nathan said, laughing. "Relax."
After nearly two hours of work they decided on a break. Beth had to go apply more sunblock. She burned very easily. While she was doing that in the locker room she began to get a little worried about Kelly. Kelly still hadn't turned back up, neither had Gary from yesterday now that she really thought about it, perhaps he had decided to skip out on the community service.
Beth looked into the mirror by the lockers for a little while. She no longer liked what she saw. Instead of the rich girl perfectly dolled up, she was now a young offender. The words made a shiver shoot down her spine. She hated it. She hated this.
Beth stood in the locker room for a while. She walked out to see the three boys watching Alisha give a water bottle a blow job. Nathan was sitting in a wheelchair for some reason. She giggled as she pulled it out of her mouth.
"Now I don't know if this cop is gay or what but he tells me I'm four times over the limit. It's bullshit. I didn't even wanna go to the party." Alisha shrugged.
The door slammed open. Kelly fell through the door and onto the floor. In a haste she closed the door behind her. "He's gonna kill os. Shit!"
"Nice entrance. Very dramatic," Nathan said.
"The probation workers gone mental. He's just attacked me!"
"Are you alright?" Beth asked.
Kelly raised her shoulders. "Somefing really weird is happening. I'm hearing these voices in my head. It's like I can hear wha people are finking."
"Awh, have you been sniffing glue?" Alisha asked.
"The storm, the lightning, I donno but it's done somefing to os." The fear in Kelly's voice sent a shiver down Beth's spine.
"Okay, if you can hear our thoughts. What am I thinking now?" Nathan asked pointing two fingers at his each of temples, like Professor X from the X-Men franchise.
"You fink its bullshit?"
"Course I think it's bullshit. You don't need to be a mind reader to know that," Nathan said.
"Why are you in a wheelchair?" Kelly asked, looking at the metal contraption.
"It was the storm. The strange tickling sensation in my anus spread through my body and now I can't feel my legs." Kelly kicked Nathan in the leg. Beth thought he deserved it.
"What do you mean the probation workers gone mental?" Curtis asked.
"This does sound like complete shit." Alisha was still fiddling with that water bottle.
"Just tell us what's going on," Beth suggested, crossing her arms and stepping closer.
"He's out there, and he chased me!" Kelly said, pointing at the door.
"Something's happened to me too," Simon said. He was so quiet Beth almost forgot he was even there.
"Did you pop your cherry? We're all very happy for you," Nathan joked.
"Earlier on when we were in the locker room. I was invisible," Simon said. Beth scrunched her face up. This was starting to sound ridiculous. "I turned invisible."
"So she's psychic and you can turn invisible. That seems likely," Curtis said, chewing on a toothpick.
"Did anyone witness this miraculous disappearance?" Nathan asked.
"You were all there."
"Uh, I think we might have noticed you vanishing into thin air," Alisha said. Beth couldn't help but agree.
"You didn't," he said. "I was standing right there you couldn't see me."
"Are you sure we just weren't paying attention?" Beth asked. "I mean were there just a bunch of conversations going on?"
"Alright," Nathan said, wheeling himself closer to Simon. "Go on then, do it. Turn invisible." Simon looked liked he was clenching his abdomen while holding his breath. But he stayed perfectly opaque. "Oh my god, he's disappeared."
"Can't you see me?" Simon asked, waving his hand in front of Nathan's face.
"No," Nathan whispered. He threw his soda can at Simon's head. "You're invisible. You two are hilarious, really. Keep taking that medication."
"Don't go out there!" Kelly shouted, stopping Nathan from rolling towards the door. "He will kill you!"
"Course he will, cause he's such a badass."
"Don't!"
Beth was getting seriously freaked out at this point. She held her arms crossed tightly across her chest. She felt herself tearing up at the thought of dying today. When was the last time she told her mum that she loved her? Three months ago? The day she was convicted? She couldn't remember. Community service was going to get Beth killed.
"She's telling the truth!" Curtis said, shocking everyone. Beth looked at him expectantly.
"And you know this how? I suppose you're psychic now too," Nathan said, still wheeling himself around.
"All this. It's already happened once. I open the door," Curtis said, pointing at the door. "The probation worker, he killed you. You were right there. You were dead. Everything froze. You were all just standing there. Time went backwards."
"What are you saying? You turned back time?" Alisha asked. Beth felt a few tears fall. She wiped them before anyone could tell how scared she was.
"This just gets better by the second." Nathan finally stood out of the chair.
"Everything happened again. Exactly the same. I'm telling you, don't open that door! No!" Curtis shouted.
Nathan opened it anyway and then slammed it behind him. "Ah, she's right. The probation workers gone mental!"
Tony began slamming on the door. He seemed to be trying to bash his way in. Beth started crying. She was scared and she wanted to go home. The others were talking but Beth didn't hear anything. All she heard was her heartbeat and the slams of Tony's fists into the door. Beth thought she was going to die. The probation worker stopped trying to break in but Beth just stared at the door anyway. She was waiting for a bullet to fly through and kill her. She was waiting to die.
Everyone started running towards the back. When Beth made no attempt to move Kelly grabbed her sleeve.
"C'mon," Kelly said.
Beth followed Kelly and the rest of the group to the back. She nearly ran into Nathan when he fell on the floor. But she stopped herself.
"Is that blood?" Kelly asked, looking at the red puddle all over the floor. It reeked in this room. There was blood everywhere and Nathan was lying in it. He shot up and tried to wipe it off his hands. The blood was coming from a locker. Curtis moved to open it, when he pulled it open Gary's head bobbed down. Gary, the violent boy wearing the cap, had been killed and shoved into the locker.
"We're gonna die!" Beth cried, tears freely falling down her cheeks now.
"He's gunna kill us," Alisha whispered. Beth cried harder.
"Turn back time. Stop this happening," Nathan said, pointing at Gary.
"I don't know how it works." Curtis looked terrified like everyone else.
"Oh, that's great. That's really useful."
"C'mon. Don't look at him." Curtis was trying to comfort Alisha. "I've got to have sex with you right now. Uh, you're so beautiful."
"What's up with him?" Nathan asked. Beth watched him in confusion. She was so confused her tears stopped.
"Let's do it now, raw!" Curtis said, tugging on his pants.
"Get off me you freak!" Alisha screamed, pushing Curtis away.
"What?" Curtis asked. Alisha moved to slap him but he caught her arm. "Uh, you're so hot! I'm gunna own you. I'm gunna shag you senseless." Alisha pushed him away again. "What?"
"Uh, you said you were gunna shag her." Kelly rolled her eyes.
"And you were getting your chap out," Nathan said, pointing at Curtis' crotch.
Beth looked back to Gary. She was staring at his blood covered head. He was dead. Yesterday he was alive, today he is dead. Did he have a family? A girlfriend? A child? Were they worried? How many people would this affect? How many would fall in depression?
Beth was weeping when Tony burst trough the glass door landing on the ground. Beth screamed backing up away from him. A propane tank from the other side of the room flew through the hair and hit him on the back of the head. He didn't try to get up after that.
"Does the propane tank have a power too?" Nathan asked. Beth looked at her hand, it was pointing to where the tank was.
"I think she did it," Curtis said. Everyone looked at Beth who just fell onto her knees crying.
"Is he dead?" Alisha asked.
"Well, I'm no doctor but do you see the way the back of his heads caved in like that?" Nathan pointed at the dent in Tony's cranium.
When he shouted and came back to life Kelly stomped on the back of his head again and again until he stopped completely. Beth was freaking out. She was screaming and crying. The rest of the people were screaming at each other trying to figure out what to do. Beth was a mess, and Kelly seemed to be the most worried about her.
"Beth? Beth listen!" Nathan said, grabbing her forearms. "We're going to go bury them, okay?" Beth began crying harder. She looked at the body of Tony and screamed loudly. Simon grabbed Gary from the locker and began to take him to the locker room while Curtis dragged Tony. Kelly and Alisha ran off to get wheelchairs. "Try to start cleaning this place, okay? You gotta help now, okay? We'll figure it all out. It'll be alright, I promise. Curtis is getting a bucket of bleach and a bucket of soap water. You need to start cleaning, okay?" Beth nodded. "Good girl, we'll be back to help you soon."
"Here are the buckets," Curtis said. "We'll come back quick as we can."
As soon as they were gone Beth looked at the mess on the ground. This was it. She was going to jail. They were probably going to the police right now to tell them that Beth killed both Gary and Tony. That's what people do right? Frame others? Beth screamed and thrashed around on the ground in frustration. Here she was, a grown woman, throwing a temper tantrum. But she was going to jail.
But what if she killed herself first?