“Why after three and a half years of following the rules would you think I’d first now decide to rebel against the way I’ve been told - since I was born! – the way my life will be? Thanks for the trust and sympathy mom.”
Her angry expression cracked showing a small bit of concern. Not good enough.
The yelling hurt my face, but I didn’t care. I’d suffered enough abuse in the last twenty four hours. I didn’t need it from her, or any of them.
With angry tears in my eyes, I grabbed my coat and headed out the door ignoring the stunned silence behind me. Going to school didn’t seem like a bad idea anymore. Outside, I paused eyeing the family car parked on the side of the house and then the long road to school.
Even though I should feel safe in daylight, I wasn’t ready to walk that road again. I also didn’t want to go back in and ask any of them for a ride after yelling like that. Life sucked.
The door opened behind me, and I turned to glare at whoever dared approach.
Gran walked out wearing a warm jacket and a purse hanging from her shoulder. Keys jingled in one hand. In the other, she held my bag.
Her calm expression melted a tiny bit of my anger. No yelling, then.
She handed me my bag and said, “You drive to school and I’ll drive it back home. One of us will pick you up today.”
I nodded and took the keys. She followed me to the car, settling into the passenger seat while I slid in behind the wheel. Gran didn’t like driving, but she would if she had too. About halfway to school, my anger faded and I started feeling guilty.
“I’m sorry for yelling,” I apologized grudgingly still feeling the innocent person in the whole mess. “I was just so mad she didn’t even ask what happened.”
“She’s sorry too, honey. We need to trust each other, especially now.” She looked straight ahead watching the road carefully.
Her words brought the image of the thing chasing me back to mind. “What was that thing?”
“What thing?” She turned to look at me with worry.
“The black thing with horns chasing me. It couldn’t have been that dark…” I said trailing off to glance at her in concern.
She slowly shook her head. “We didn’t see anything, honey, but it sounds like you saw the reason we have to get you inside and sleeping at night.” She sighed gustily. A slight quaver of fear escaped with it.
“If you didn’t see anything, why did you say ‘Especially now’?” I asked confused.
“Before you woke, Danielle predicted we’d need to move again. It’s why everyone stayed home. She wouldn’t say why. I’m sorry to say that no one noticed your face when we put you to bed. It hadn’t yet bruised,” she explained. “After what you just told us about the bullying at school, you won’t mind will you?”
I shook my head. Bullying seemed an understatement given the state of my face. It was abuse. I’d once touched a boy and saw my fate as an abused wife. No guess on how he died early. It’d scared me so bad I’d stayed home for two days and then avoided him for the rest of the school year.
With all the weird things I’d seen, and the rumors that started no matter where we went, they’d never moved me during the school year before. We’d always managed to hang in there, even though Gran had suggested it a few times. I’d been one that constantly wanted to stay. Not this time. Leaving mid-year didn’t bother me as I’d thought it would. Gran was right. After what Clavin and Brian did to me, I wanted to leave. Maybe I had a chance for a friend at the different school. I refused to revisit my thoughts of the day before… it had to be better at a new school, not worse.
“If we’re leaving, do I really need to go today?” I still didn’t want to face Clavin and Brian. Hurting Clavin as I had would only make him meaner. Also, my face looked horrible.
“No, I was going to talk to the office to get your papers. You can wait in the car if you want.”
I thought about her offer. The idea of avoiding everyone had appeal. But why should I be the one to run and hide. Hadn’t I done enough of that in my life? Especially last night? Besides, there were books I should return and a final paper I wanted to turn in. I spent a lot of time on it and knew it would be an A.
Sighing, I declined taking the easy out. Pulling into the staff parking lot, close to the school, I parked in a visitor spot since Gran wouldn’t be staying long.
We walked to the office together so I could get a late slip. The state of my face shocked the office secretaries. More so when Gran told them kids at school did it to me, and I wanted to transfer because of it. It wasn’t the real reason, but a convenient one for a sudden upheaval. Moving because of a book written by a centuries old ancestor, or because a monster with glowing green eyes had found me, didn’t seem as plausible.
After talking to the principal, Mr. Jameson, for twenty minutes, I finally made my way to class. I gave the teacher the slip and ignored everyone’s stares as I took my seat.