“NO! She had to leave for me, she was never taken,” I say getting out of my seat and running for the door. But he grabs the back of my shirt just before I reach the door and hurls me down to the floor.
“You will not run from the truth!” he says as he picks me up and pins me up to the wall. “Your mother would have stayed, child or not, but she went with that fool, Moore, because she knew they would kill him if she didn’t claim to be carry his child.”
I can’t do much but think how I could get out of this, even though it takes longer than it normally should—idiot’s gonna choke me to death. Then I catch a glimpse of gold as my eyes search for something I can use—it’s the globe.
“And you will never know who the Killjoy slime that is your father is, but that you are the same failure that he was,” he shifts the pressure on my throat and I get thrown off to the left…closer to the desk. “The fool would never give-up, never go down without a fight, always had to help the downtrodden, because no one ever helped him as a child—just like YOU!”
I slowly pull myself inch by inch to close the few feet of space between me and the desk—luckily but painfully, Mr. Vamp gives me a hard kick in the stomach that sends me sliding along the floor ‘til I hit up against the side of the desk. He then crouches down, and grabs me around the neck yet again, pulls me into a sitting position and slams my head into the desk.
“That little twit with the ring was specifically left naïve to the rules of our institute, we knew he would bring in that ring that would get confiscated, and made sure that it would happen right before you. You see?” he mocks me as I struggle to get his hands off my throat. “An innocent and defenseless youth, who loses a lifeline to the big bad ‘BLI guards’,” he goes on grinning ear to ear, “And you responded just as we expected, just as your father would…a good thing to know before we use you and your family to obtain him.”
Ok, now I’m really mad. I reach out and grab the handle of the globe, I have to pull that thing hard and quick because it’s dang heavy, and I bring it down hard on the side of Mr. Vamp’s head. He lets go of me out of surprise at what I did, and I gasp to get back the oxygen I lack in my lungs. I quickly get back to my feet before he can and back from him a bit. He touches the fast-forming lump on his head and winces. He looks at me with so much rage, I’m starting to get a little bit more scared. He snarls and starts to make a leap for me with his hands outstretched like claws—shockingly animal-like. Just as he’s about to tear at my throat, (man he’s got a thing for those…he could actually be a vampire), I swing the globe as hard as I can and hear the worst kind of crack as it connects with the temple of his head.
The blow to his head sends Mr. Vamp off course a little in his leap, but not enough to prevent him from ramming right into my left side. The wind gets knocked outta me as I go crashing to the ground with Mr. Vamp’s body right on top of me. Wait! BODY!
I push him off of me and realize how fast the blood is coming outta his head where I hit him. I scramble to my feet, and look at the red on my hands, it’s got a sickening metallic smell, almost like copper. I look back at what is now the dead body of Mr. Long, face still pulled back in a twisted snarl of an animal, but lacking the anger in the eyes. They’re blank with the unexpected death I dealt out to him.
“Oh crap!—Ah!” I can’t believe this stupid freaking band! It can read brain waves yet can’t register the ones that are sending off paranoia at what I’ve just done! Crap! What am I gonna do?
“I have to get home,” I don’t know why I’m talking to myself, but it helps me get through this. I look at Mr. Vamp again, then back to the blood on my hands, and oddly enough, I feel slight satisfaction in what I’ve done…but only for a moment. I can’t walk out of here with his blood literally on my hands, which luckily didn’t get on my clothes, so I gulp and kneel down in front of him. I grab his jacket and wipe off the blood—now don’t go judging me, I know this is sick and wrong, but I have to get it off some how. After I’m done, I go grab my bag and bolt for the door, I have to get out of here and figure out what the heck I’m gonna do now. There’s now freaking way I’m gonna get out of the bad kid lime-light now with this on my record. BLI will probably send me to a mental institute…or worse, juvee! Not that I have anything wrong with the kids there, it’s the treatment, it’s this place times infinity.
I run across the classroom and out into the halls, running through those too, not relishing the fact that I’m probably the first kid to ever do that in this school. I pull the front door that leads outside and dash outside, only to find my first obstacle to getting home.
“Oh man!” I yell in my frustration. The BLI community patrolmen that were coasting by, pull over in front of the school. The driver rolls down his window and looks at the distraught looking teenager that is me.
“Is there something wrong miss?” he says looking at me suspiciously.
“Yes!” I say looking even more upset. “I had to talk to my teacher after class about an assignment and I lost track of time,” building up with tears at my little disaster, “And now I’ve missed my bus and have no idea how I’m gonna get home, and I can’t call my mother because the teachers have all left and the school’s locked too, so I couldn’t get in anyway!” I finally break down in tears and I’m sobbing like a total baby.
The patrolman looks really uncomfortable and looks at his partner on the other side. The door on the other side opens up and out steps a patrolwoman, looking quiet at ease with my little break-down.
She walks around and starts coming toward me, “Now calm down sweetie,” she says with a smile that looks warm, but lacks the look of the eyes that says that it’s genuine. “There, there honey,” she goes on, “How about my partner and I give you a ride home?”
I give a little sniffle, “Really?”
“Of course,” she answers putting her hand on my shoulder, “We wouldn’t leave you here all scared and vulnerable to all the threats that could be lurking around.”
“Thank you so much ma’am,” I say giving the most relieved smile, because I am, I found an inconspicuous way to get home and get away from these gullible idiots.
“Anytime sweetie,” she says leading me over to the car. I open the door and get in, looking grateful for being given a ride home, when the patrolwoman gets in, the other turns in his seat to face me.
“Where do you live miss?” he asks and wrinkles his forehead when he sees that I’m brushing the tears off my face.
I sniffle a bit for show before I answer in a thick voice, “Down 34th Street, then turn into the Desert Edge Suburb, and it’s the third house on the left.”
He nods, looking a little troubled, then turns back in his seat and pulls the car outta the curb. As we drive, the patrols don’t really talk to me, thinking that I still need some time to calm down after my little melt-down. Fifteen minutes later, we turn into Desert Edge, the most “dangerous” part of Battery City’s suburbs. The patrols get a little edgy, automatically thinking that someone’s hiding a Killjoy in their house or something.
“Right here sir,” I say leaning forward slightly so they can see me point out the house, the one right across from my own.
“Alright, your parents are home yes?” the patrolwoman asks.
“My mother is, my father died when I was young,” I say leaning back so I can unbuckle myself and avoid eye-contact—dammit, I still tear-up at that.
“I’m sorry miss,” they both say, sincerity coming off in their voices, doubt it be there if they knew how he died.
“It’s alright,” I say nodding, “I better get inside, I was suppose to be home ten minutes ago.”
“Goodbye, have a good afternoon,” they say in freaky unison accompanied by bright, false smiles.
“Thank you both officers, goodbye,” I say as I open the door and head up to the Grimard’s house, good neighbors of ours that hid Killjoys when our house was being searched.
I knock on the door, then I hear someone moving to answer. Thank God Mrs. Grimard answers the door!
“Hey mom, I’m sorry I’m so late, I missed the bus after school, but the patrols gave me a ride home,” I say smiling up at Mrs. Grimard. She looks over my head at the patrol car, smiles and waves at the officers watching our little interaction.
“Oh, Thank you so much!” she says. “I was getting so worried where my daughter was.”
The patrols wave back to us, and satisfied that this is my house, they pull out of Desert Edge as fast as the speed limit will allow. Being a law abiding BLI officer kinda sucks, if I were them I would’ve pulled outta here the second the kid was outta the car.
“Come on sweetie, you have homework,” Mrs. Grimard says leading me inside, knowing the patrols are still watching us even as they drive away. She shuts the door and looks out the window next to it to see if the BLIs are gone, then turns looking totally confused at me. “What did you do? Your mother told me that you had detention today.”
“I can’t tell you, but it’s definitely gonna get me in some serious trouble,” I say knowing that my anxiety’s probably coming back. I look back at her and ask, “Are they gone?”
She looks back out the window before she answers, “Yes, but you better take the other way.”
She’s looking out the window to see if they’ll turn back still, but I go over and give her a hug she wasn’t expecting, “Thank you Mrs. Grimard.”
“Your welcome sweetie,” she says turning to return my hug—that’s Mrs. Grimard for you, not having the whole story but still knowing you need some comforting. “Now go, you may not be able to explain this to me, but your mother definitely needs to know,” she says giving me a stern look. I nod in agreement, of course I have to tell mom, she’s the only one who can probably help me now.
I turn and head for the back of the house into the laundry room. I go to my knees and move the rug the Grimard’s have in the middle of the small room, underneath, the trap door that opens to a ladder leading down. Yeah I know, a little to spy movie-ish, but this was cutting edge stuff in my parents’ days…plus it’s such an old trick the BLI doesn’t expect it anymore—idiots, expect anything from us. I open it up and go down a few rungs until my head’s the only thing above ground, then I reach over and shut the door as quietly as I can.
Part 8: http://www.mychemicalromance.com/blog/zone-specter/danger-days-part-8
