Worm: She s Dead Jim
Chapter 9 {Revised)

DISCLAIMER: Worm, Parahumans, and the characters and settings of Earth Bet are owned by John "Wildbow" McRae. I don't own them. This story was written for my own amusement, not for profit. I neither expect nor deserve any sort of financial reward for this work of fiction.

I hope you're enjoying this story. If you are, please write and post a review.

ADVISORY: Foul language. The teenagers of Taylor Hebert's circle of acquaintances, including Taylor herself, have potty mouths. Some characters, like Bonesaw, do not. Which ones do you think are safe to socialize with?

-((((o-o))))-

The telephone rang. Despite the rivers of shit I'd been subjected to since Emma teamed up with Sophia and started bullying me, I decided that I could risk picking it up without getting a hateful response.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hello," said the voice. "Is this the Hebert residence?" I was thrown off-balance as I recognized the sound of Zoe Barnes' voice.

"Yes," I said shortly.

"Could I speak to Daniel Hebert?" she said, then she recognized my voice. "My God, Taylor, is that you?" she said.

"Yeah," I said.

"What the hell is going on over there?" she asked. "Alan says that the PRT has arrested Emma for assault and conspiracy with Sophia and are pressing charges."

I found myself speechless. My head was a swirl of feelings. I felt guilt, I felt elation, I felt hope. Did the PRT arrest Emma? And somewhere, not so far below the surface was a bubble of hope, hope that finally the School Board, the PRT, or the Brocton Bay cops would make Emma and her pals stop bullying me.

"Taylor, are you there?" said Mrs. Barnes.

"I don't know anything about the cops or the PRT investigating Emma," I said. "They did ask me some questions about phone records and computer files they'd gotten off Sophia's electronics after she died. I gave them copies of my journal to help their investigation, but Mr. Barnes said that they don't have any standing in court."

"What?!" said Zoe.

"I let them have copies of my journals," I replied. "I like to think they'll help the PRT catch Sophia's killer." I was lying and felt like a traitor. I hated doing this to Mrs. Barnes but on the other hand, Mrs. Barnes had let Emma bully me for over a year and a half and so far as I knew, Mrs. Barnes didn't lift a finger to make Emma stop.

"What do those journals say?" said Mrs. Barnes.

"They say what they say," I replied, "and if I'm called to testify, I will tell the court what Sophia has done to me. And she did it with Emma's help."

"Did what?" said Mrs. Barnes.

"Aunt Zoe, don't you know that Emma and Sophia locked me in my locker on the first day of school?" I replied. "That I was trapped in there and that Emma didn't do a damn thing to get me out of there? They left me in that locker for hours!" I could feel my pain rose to the surface and the words started coming out like water from a bursting dam.. "That I freaked so badly I not only had to spend a week in the hospital just for my wounds and weeks in the psych ward? And what's more, she and Sophia started the whole damn thing up again until Sophia died, and if Sophia was still alive, she'd still be at it."

"Alan said," Mrs. Barnes began.

"What?" I said nastily. "That I was lying? I fucking hope the PRT has tapes and files that Uncle Alan can't wish away and that they're going to use them, and I hope they send Emma to jail!"

"Taylor, what got into you?" said Mrs. Barnes. "She's your oldest friend!"

"Emma hurt me!" I yelled into the receiver, my anger and bitterness coming through. "Friends don't treat friends the way Emma treated me!" I hope she was really listening to what I was saying but I doubted it.

"Taylor, Taylor," said Mrs. Barnes. "I know you're upset but could you please calm down?"

"No!" I yelled. "Because you guys didn't listen!"

"Taylor, for God's sake, be reasonable!" said Mrs. Barnes.

"I was reasonable," I said. "I hoped that my old friend would finally leave me alone. Then I got thrown in my locker for a couple of hours, then spent weeks in the hospital recovering from my breakdown. That's where reasonable got me."

"Taylor, please, I'm Emma's mother," said Mrs. Barnes. "I can get through to her. Let me."

"Bullshit!" I said. "I don't trust any of you." I hung up the phone.

Mrs. Barnes called back a couple of minutes later. I picked up the receiver, listened just long enough to see who it was, then I hung up on her again.

-XXX—XXX—XXX-

Dad came home about an hour and a half later. He had been busy with a Dockworkers' meeting.

"How was your day?" he said.

"Better," I said.

"Any calls?" he said.

"Yeah, Mrs. Barnes called," I said. "She asked me what was going on between me and Emma. She said that the cops had arrested Emma. She acted like she didn't know what Emma had been up to. I think that the DA is going to be filing charges. I think she wants me to back off or something."

Dad sighed. He and Mrs. Barnes had also been on good terms before the locker and Mr. Barnes turned on him. "What did you tell her?" he said.

"I told her I'd testify," I said.

"You didn't cuss her out, did you?" he said.

"No," I replied. "But I think she knows that I think she was with Mr. Barnes and that they didn't do a damn thing to stop it."

"No, they didn't," said Dad. "Anything else?"

"I told her that I didn't trust her anymore," I said.

Author's note:

I was not happy with the previous version of this chapter and revised it. I'm still not happy with it.