Beginnings (The Trifectus Series - Book One) (17 page)

I tried to scream for help, but my screams went unheard.  The strength of my voice slowly went down, as if it was on a dimmer switch and the switch was being turned down.  The blackness started dripping from the ceiling onto my body as I tried to break down the walls that were holding me in.  The ink dripped on my face and started spreading all over.  It covered my mouth and I couldn’t breathe.  Suddenly I woke up and gasped for air as I looked around.

Everything was the way it should be.  I was still in the untouched stall.  It was all a dream.  Nothing that happened was real.

I ran out of the bathroom and ran to the nurse’s office. 

“I feel very sick.  Can I call my parents to go home?” I asked her.

She laid me down and started to take my temperature.

“100 degrees,” she said.  “I will contact your parents and see when they can come get you.”

She went into the other room and called my parents.  She came back in and told me the news.

“Your mother is going to come pick you up in ten minutes,” she said.  “You can lie here and rest until she arrives.”

I was amazed she was coming.  I thought they would just send the car to get me.  After all, they were so scared of the attacks that they made me take it to and from school. 

Fifteen minutes passed by and my mother came in the room.

“Oh, honey, what’s wrong?” my mother asked.

“I feel really sick.  I have a temperature,” I replied.

My mother helped me up and grabbed my things. 

“Let’s go home and get you in bed,” she said.  “I will make you some soup and you can rest and get better,” she said, smiling.

My mother helped me to the car and we went home. 

When we got home, she helped me up the stairs to my room and put me in bed.

“I will go make you some food to help you feel better,” she said.  “Just lie here and rest.  If you need anything call me, honey.”

She kissed my forehead and left the room.  I can’t remember the last time she was this affectionate to me.  It was nice.

I couldn’t get myself to go to sleep.  I kept worrying about the dreams and delusions I was having.  This wasn’t right: it wasn’t normal.  Ever since James and I broke up, I haven’t been okay.  I have been seeing him everywhere.  I have been having nightmares that have been tearing apart my knowledge of what is and isn’t real.  I was going insane.

I turned on the television to try to keep myself awake.  Maybe the noise would make me stay away from these horrible nightmares.  I turned on my favorite show: “Carmichael and Lucy.”  It was a show about two supercops that took down criminals in a fashionable way.  It was highly unrealistic, but that is what made it great. 

“We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for this special news bulletin,” the narrator said.

“This is Terry Kerrington here live at the scene.  There was an apprehension moments ago of androidian bandits that have been robbing banks in the area.  All of the suspects were of African American descent and highly dangerous.  Here with more is Deputy Tim Masterson.”

“Yeah, what we had was a sting operation.  We received a tip that this particular bank would be robbed, so we placed SWAT teams in the area in preparation for the impending attack.  We were able to apprehend the suspects as soon as they came into the building.  There were no casualties and the suspects will be arrested and taken to a secure location,” Deputy Masterson said.

My mother walked in with my soup and some crackers.

“Oh dear, another robbery?” she asked.

“Yeah, but they were caught.  Nobody was hurt,” I replied.

“Well, you father will like that news.”

For once, I was happy too about the situation.  Androidians were always causing problems and didn’t seem to be like the vampires or werewolves.  They were always looking to steal from humans or hurt them in some way.  Vampires and werewolves generally stayed out of the spotlight and just tried to live their lives the best they could.  Androidians were spiteful though, and wanted to do anything to hurt humans.  Stealing their money was a great way to do so.

After eating my food, I started to doze off.  My dream wasn’t like the others. I dreamt about a crow.  It followed me everywhere and never left my side.  No matter where I hid or how fast I ran, it was always there.  When I would stare at it, it would stare back without fear.  It didn’t try to hurt me, but it also didn’t try to help me. 

I woke up and looked all over for the mysterious crow.  I didn’t see it anywhere.  My dreams were starting to become too real.  I immediately got on my computer.  What did this mean?  Why would I have such a strange dream?  I searched for dream interpretations and found one of animals.  It said a crow showing up in your dreams following you meant one thing: death.  It meant that the universe was trying to warn you that death was coming and to know that it is coming soon.  I couldn’t help but think that maybe this had something to do with James.  We break up and all of a sudden I have nightmares and delusions about me being suffocated and killed.  It all started to make sense.  I was going to face death.

I decided to go downstairs to get some water.  Maybe I was dehydrated and was starting to see things.  I went down to see my father sitting in his chair reading the paper.

“I heard you were sick earlier.  I hope that you’re feeling better,” my father said.

“Yeah, I feel a lot better,” I replied.

“Good,” he said while preoccupied with his paper.

“Did you see they caught the bank robbers today?” I asked.

“Yes I did.  They came to my facility today and I got to see them firsthand.”

“You did?  What were they like?  I have never seen an androidian in real life.”

“They were all different.  The thing about androidians is that you never know what they will look like.  They all pick and choose different parts based on what they want and need.  Some might be fully upgraded while others only have minor things.  These guys were similar, yet different.  Two looked like the muscle, while the third looked like the brains of the operation.  The one who planned and hacked everything.”

“Wow,” I said.  “What is going to happen to them?”

“I’m not quite sure, honey.  I don’t make that decision.  Either the President or a higher military official will give orders and I will follow them.  They will most probably be deactivated and dissected for study.  We don’t ever get many androidians, and we want to know more about how they change themselves.”

“Oh,” I said.  “I hope you are able to learn more.”

“Me too, sweetie,” he said while smiling at me.

I walked back upstairs and walked over to my computer.  I had a message sent hours ago from Marcus.

“Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to get together sometime soon.”

I saw he was still online and decided to message him back to see if he was still there.

“Yeah, I would really like that.”

A few minutes passed and he replied.

“Good, are you able to meet this weekend possibly?”

“Yeah, that should be good.”

“Saturday afternoon then?  At the pier?”

It was weird he was asking me to the pier.  It was more of a commercial area where barges and boats could come in and out with their goods and products.  It smelled of fish and diesel fuel, but I needed to see and talk to Marcus so I was willing to meet at the dump if it meant I would be able to.

“Yeah, that works.  I’ll see you then,” I replied with a smiley face.

“See you,” he replied with a smiley face.

I closed my computer and got in bed.  Things were starting to look up.  I was finally going to meet the friend I had been talking to forever.  I was finally going to see my best friend.

I woke up the next morning rested and cleansed.  I didn’t have any more nightmares and I didn’t have any visions.  I even felt better and cleaner.  I felt like a demon had been expelled out of me and that I was a new person.  Somehow talking to Marcus really lifted my spirits. 

I still wasn’t over James, but I was okay.  I was at peace and knew life would go on.  A part of me was still praying he would be at my locker today so that I could talk to him and see how he and his family were holding up.  I still loved all of them.

As I gathered my things, I stopped and realized something major.  I forgot it was Friday.  We had a dissection today.  First it was a frog, then a cat, now who even knows what it will be.  I might walk in to a giant, dead elephant lying in the middle of the room.

As I picked up my purse, my phone beeped from inside.

“See you tomorrow,” Marcus said with a smiley face.

I walked out of my door with a smile on my face.  I hadn’t smiled in what felt like an eternity.  I started feeling good again.

Chapter Eight

Confused

As I went to school on this beautiful Friday morning, I couldn’t stop thinking about my date with Marcus.  Well, I wouldn’t call it quite a date, more like two friends getting together and hanging out.  Even if I were still with James, I would still want to see and talk to Marcus.  He was like my brother, and he made me happy.  He always knew how to make me smile and make me laugh.  He would play games with me and let me vent all of my problems and frustrations to him.

His knowledge and wisdom went way beyond his years, and it showed.  He was the one person I always knew I could count on. 

I got to school and jumped out of the car with a beaming smile across my face.  Nobody seemed to notice, but I didn’t care.  I was feeling great and nobody was going to bring me down. 

I walked to my locker and saw Ariel at hers.  Her locker wasn’t too far away from mine, and I knew I needed to apologize to her.  I hadn’t been a great friend and yelled at her when she was only trying to help me and be there for me.

I walked over to her and gave her a giant hug.

“What’s this for?” she asked with a smile.

“I was mean to you the other day and you didn’t deserve it.  You were trying to be a good friend and I see that now.  I just want you to know I am sorry for the way I acted,” I replied.

“It’s OK!  I’m not mad at you!”

“It’s just that James and I broke up and I was feeling really down on myself and I took it out on the first person to come along.”

“You two broke up?  Why?”

“Because of the fight he was in.  I just don’t like that and thought it was better if we took a break.”

“I get ya.  If someone gets that mad you never know if they would do it to you.”

As we were talking, the bell rang. 

“Are you ready for the test today?” she asked.

“Test?  What test?”

“Oh yeah, you were gone.  We have a history test today.  I don’t think it will be too bad, though.”

Great, just great.  Since I was gone I didn’t even know about this test and now I was going to fail it.  Even when I was there I was so obsessed with James and everything that I wouldn’t have paid attention anyway. 

We had history first today.  Our school ran on a variable schedule.  It basically meant our classes rotated and changed depending on the day.  They said they did this so that people like athletes and those in clubs wouldn’t miss out as much.  They also said it made us smarter somehow and that it prepared us for life.

I think it was all made up, but I didn’t mind it too much.  It was better than doing the same thing at the same time everyday. 

We walked into Mr. Quigley’s class and grabbed our seats.  Everybody was looking over their notes and worksheets as I just sat there like an idiot.  I didn’t have any of these things.  This was the most unprepared I had ever been for a test in my entire life.

“All right, class,” Mr. Quigley said.  “Today we have an exam on the Spanish-American War.  You will have the entire class period to work on it.  When you are finished, please bring your exam up the front and then work quietly at your desk until it is time to leave.  Good luck!”

Mr. Quigley handed out the exams individually and I sat there staring at the paper without a clue.  My heart rate increased a little as my palms started sweating.  Everyone made it look so easy.  They were marking down their answers as if this was just common knowledge. 

I started reading the questions and got lucky because I knew a few of them.  I filled in answers for the rest and took my exam up to the front of the room.  I was the twelfth out of twenty-two students to be done, and I felt okay about it. 

I went back to my seat and took out my notebook.  I had no idea if I even had other homework to work on at this point.  I sat there doodling as I periodically glanced up at the clock to see how close we were to leaving.  It would feel as if ten minutes would go by until I would look at the clock and see only two really had passed. 

I counted down the minutes until finally the bell rang.

“Thank you everybody for your hard work.  I will grade the exams and hand them back to you on Monday.  Have a great rest of your day and a great weekend!” Mr. Quigley said.

I grabbed my things and walked out of the class.  Next up was math, and I was very nervous.  Math was a subject you couldn’t miss.  If you turn your head for just one second, you might miss ten formulas that just so happen to be the most important you could ever learn.