The Good Neighbor (26 page)

I looked at her and she smiled and shrugged.
She was so pretty. I knew she’d never be with me, though. That’s
why I’d never asked her out. I didn’t want to make her suffer the
embarrassment and harassment she’d have to endure.

We were assigned more homework and released
by the bell.

I returned to my locker and put my Algebra
book in my backpack. I grabbed my English Lit book and made my way
down the hall, through the crowd. I kept my head down as I walked,
trying not to draw attention to myself. It almost worked.

“Hey, Boozer,” said Dominic Hawkins. The
sound of his voice made my skin crawl, and not only because it had
already changed. He’d been hassling me my whole life.

I kept walking, pretending not to hear
him.

“I know you hear me, Boozer Loser,” Dominic
said. He was closer now and I got the feeling he was following me.
That was confirmed when he knocked the book from my hand.

I watched the book skid across the floor and
get stepped on.

I reluctantly looked up into the faces of
Dominic Hawkins and his cronies. The four of them stood there,
staring at me and smirking.

Dominic towered over the other three. Puberty
had hit him harder and earlier than the rest of us. His brother,
Garrett, stood to his left, a year younger and a foot and a half
shorter. I could tell he didn’t like Dominic much and didn’t want
to hang around with him, but Dominic told him what to do and if he
didn’t do it, he’d beat him up or tell their parents.

To Dominic’s right was his best friend,
Taylor Reynolds. Taylor, who was a little taller than me, stood
glaring at me, arms folded across his chest. He tried to look mean,
but he didn’t need to try. He was mean. Always had been.

Beside Taylor was Spencer Griffin. He was
short and heavy and wore braces, which gave him a lisp. The other
three boys might’ve made fun of him if he didn’t do everything they
said. If they said jump, he asked how high. He did whatever he
could do to impress them and seem cool.

And they all stood there staring at me now,
wicked smiles on all their faces except Garrett’s. He looked like
he wanted to run away. So did I.

“You hear me the first time, Boozer?” Dominic
asked.

I considered not answering, just picking up
my book and going on to class. But I knew they wouldn’t let that
happen.

“No,” I lied.

Dominic stepped closer to me, towering over
me. “No what, Boozer?” His face was only inches from mine. This
close, I could see the fuzz above his lip and I knew he’d had
sausage for breakfast. Not only was there a piece still caught in
his teeth, but the smell was potent.

“No, I didn’t hear you the first time.”

“He heard you,” said Taylor. Of course he’d
agree with him. If Dominic said the world was flat, Taylor would
back him up.

“I didn’t,” I said.

Dominic pushed me. “Maybe you need to clean
out your ears. Or we’ll clean them out for you.”

The bell rang. Dominic shoved his finger into
my forehead and the four of them walked away.

I grabbed my book off the floor and went to
class.

Everyone was already seated when I walked
into the room. They all stared at me when I walked in, but I was
used to it. They’d been staring at me my whole life. It’d be weird
if they stopped now.

I struggled through English Lit. I just
didn’t get it. We were reading The Rhyme of the Ancient Sea
Mariner. What did the albatross have to do with the story? And what
was an ancient sea mariner anyway?

When Mrs. Wayne gave us a pop quiz, I knew
I’d failed it. We didn’t grade it in class, but we didn’t have to.
Out of the five questions we were asked, I knew the answers to none
of them. But I knew I got my name right. Although, now that we’d
passed the papers forward, I couldn’t even remember if I’d put my
name on my paper. It wouldn’t be the first time.

I returned to my locker, hoping I wouldn’t
run into Dominic or his buddies. I’d been trying to avoid them
since Kindergarten. I was getting tired of it.

Luckily, I made it to my locker, switched my
English Lit book for my History book, and made it to class without
incident.

We had to take turns reading sections out
loud. I hated it. I wasn’t good at reading. That wasn’t a surprise
to anyone. I wasn’t good at anything. Except maybe pretending I
didn’t hear the snickers and sneers as my classmates laughed at the
way I stuttered and stammered while I read.

But I pushed through and was glad I’d had a
short paragraph to read.

After History, I put my book in my locker and
headed to Woodworking class. I didn’t drag my feet about getting
there like I did to my other classes. It was one class I didn’t
dread. I liked working with the wood. I liked the smell of the
lumber, the hum of the lathe, and the feel of the tools in my
hand.

It was one of only two classes I wasn’t
flunking.

Plus, I shared my worktable with Carly. I had
a lot of classes with her, but this was the one where we talked the
most. You didn’t have to be too quiet in Woodworking.

“Could you help me for a minute, Brian?” she
asked.

“Sure,” I said, putting down my planer.

“I’ve measured this board three times and
have gotten three different numbers.” She smiled.

I took the tape measure from her and measured
her board.

“What’s it supposed to be?” I asked.

“I don’t really know, to tell you the
truth.”

I looked at her.

“You think I’m stupid?” she asked shyly.

“No. I’d never think you were stupid.” I
tried to gauge her reaction.

She smiled at me. “Well, I feel stupid. I
have no idea what I’m doing.”

“I’ll help you,” I said. That’s when I began
working with Carly on her project, a shelf for her mother. I spent
more time working on her project than mine. That was fine with
me.

“Thanks for helping me,” she said as we
walked to lunch.

“You’re welcome. I don’t mind.” I looked at
her and she looked back at me and smiled.

Of course, when we entered the cafeteria, she
ran off to be with her friends and left me to myself. I was used to
it. But at least I had the time we spent together to think
about.

I stood in line and waited to be served my
food. I glanced around and was happy not to see Dominic or his
friends. I knew they’d be here, though. They always were.

I got my tray and headed out to the tables.
There was no one willing to let me sit with them. I always sat at a
small table on the far side of the room. I usually ate alone. The
only time anyone ever sat at the table was if a new kid had no one
to sit with. Usually, they had already made at least one friend by
lunch.

So I sat alone eating a chunk of dry lasagna
with undercooked noodles, green beans, peaches, chocolate pudding,
and drinking my milk. It wasn’t a delicious meal, but it would fill
the hole in my stomach. Besides, I wasn’t paying attention to the
food. I was thinking of Carly.

A few times, I risked peeking up to get a
glimpse of her talking and laughing with her friends.

She was pretty. The prettiest girl in the
whole school. And her attitude made her even prettier. I couldn’t
remember a single time that she’d ever made fun of me like everyone
else did. She talked to me when I talked to her. Everything was
just different with her.

Her warm smile, kind blue eyes, and adorable
dimples made her cute. But the way she treated me made her
beautiful.

I finished my lunch and walked over to dump
my tray. Had I not been so preoccupied with thoughts of Carly, I
might’ve seen Dominic rushing toward me with his tray.

Before I noticed him, he slammed his tray
into my chest, pretending to have tripped.

“Oh, Boozer. That sucks.” He laughed. The
three buttholes behind him laughed too.

Dominic pulled his tray away from my chest,
revealing the mess. Lasagna and chocolate pudding covered the upper
half of my shirt. Here and there, a green bean was stuck to the
goo.

“You did that on purpose,” I said
quietly.

“Did I?” Dominic asked, stepping toward me.
“Prove it.” He jabbed his finger into my forehead and walked
away.

I looked at Carly, hoping she hadn’t seen
what just happened. She was looking directly at me. So were all her
friends. So was everyone else in the cafeteria. But out of all
those people, Carly was the only one not laughing.

The following is an excerpt from Held. Look
for the Smashwords Edition soon.

Most horror stories begin on a dark and
stormy night in some spooky old house. Mine began on a sunny
Tuesday afternoon in the parking lot of the Lakewood Mall. That’s
where I was abducted at gunpoint while walking to my car.

I hadn’t even had time to register his
approach from between two large SUVs.

“Keep walking,” he said. He simultaneously
wrapped his left arm around me and squeezed my left shoulder, and
used his right hand to shove the gun into my ribs.

So here we were, walking to my car. With his
arm around me, we looked like a normal couple. I knew no one could
see the gun. The handful of other people we passed along the way
didn’t even glance at us.

I thought of screaming. I thought of
struggling. I thought of turning and running. But I also thought of
my husband. And my son. If I turned and ran, he’d shoot me. If I
struggled, he’d shoot me. If I screamed, he’d probably beat me and
then shoot me. I couldn’t leave them without a wife and mother.

Before I could make a choice, we were at my
car. I considered just walking on by it, pretending I forgot where
I parked. That would buy me a few more minutes. But he led me to
the driver’s side door.

He knew this was my car.

“Open it,” he commanded.

I dug through my purse, wishing like hell I
carried bear spray or Mace or hairspray or anything that would give
me the second I needed to get away from him. But I didn’t carry
anything like that. I felt the pack of gum, the tampon, the extra
pacifier, my wallet, and finally my keys.

I jerked them out of my purse, nearly dropped
them, and clumsily began to unlock the door.

The closer we got to getting in the car, the
harder he pushed on the gun. He’d soon crack a rib if he kept
on.

When the door was unlocked, he tightened his
grip on my shoulder. He leaned into my ear, which would look to
others as if he were whispering sweet nothings to me.

But that’s not even close to what he
said.

“You’re going to get into this car, slide
over to the passenger seat and nothing more. Got it?”

I didn’t even look at him. I just stood
there.

“If you do anything, and I mean anything at
all, other than what I’ve told you to do, I’ll kill you. And if you
manage to get away from me, I’ll kill your husband. And then, I’ll
kill that pretty little boy of yours. And I’ll take my sweet time
doing it. Got it?”

This time, I nodded. I wouldn’t let anything
happen to my family.

He kissed me on the cheek quickly.

“Good. Now get in.”

I did as I was told, though the urge to open
the passenger side door and flee was overwhelming.

He got in quickly, took the keys from me and
started the car. I watched through the door window as we drove
through the parking lot and away, to wherever we were going. I
fought to keep from vomiting as I realized that no one was going to
save me. No one was going to stop him from taking me away.

Even if I could somehow manage to escape him
at some point, everything was going to be different. Assuming he
didn’t kill me first, life as I knew it was over and gone
forever.

In the side mirror, I watched as the parking
lot slipped away, taking me further and further away from hope.

The following is an excerpt from Annie’s
Revenge. Look for the Smashwords Edition in summer 2011.

I ran. I heard laughing and yelling in the
distance behind me. “Annie! Annie!” Repeatedly, they kept calling
for me, taunting me. I ran faster in the complete darkness. I had
no idea where I was or where I was going, but I knew for sure that
I had to get away from them. My heart pounded against my chest. My
breathing came and went in raspy puffs, my lungs afire and my ribs
aching fiercely. I had to keep going. Stopping was not an
option.

My mouth filled with blood, its metallic
taste nauseating me. Missing teeth, a busted lip, and a bitten
tongue were all sources of the bitter blood. I also felt blood
running down my thighs. My left eye was swollen shut and
throbbing
,
and the other was attaining a haze. My unseeing
eyes mattered little, as the darkness around me was so absolute, I
couldn’t have seen under normal circumstances. The sky stood
moonless, but moonlight wouldn’t have reached the thick forest
floor to illuminate my way had it been in its fullest phase.

My head ached and I felt blood pouring out of
the gash above my right ear. I was dizzy, but I couldn’t let myself
lose consciousness. I couldn’t let them get me again.

I kept telling myself that people had lived
through far worse than this, so I would too, but every step jarred
my entire body and reminded me of how bad this experience really
was.

I knew my jaw was broken. There was a large
lump in the middle of my forearm, which I presumed was another
broken bone. My ankle was sprained. My ribs were aching. My swollen
face was covered with scrapes and scratches, not all of which I
received from the limbs and branches that I ran into blindly.

I was aware of the aches, but I was so
worried about getting away that my mind numbed the pain, or at
least pushed it down into my subconscious so I could go on. It was
a good thing it did. I knew that if my mind let the pain in, I’d
probably stop right where I was, sit down and cry, and they would
get me again.