The Monster Within (8 page)

I turned the corner and bumped into a girl with a stud in her nose. “Watch it!” she yelled, giving me the evil eye.

“Sorry.” I found my classroom at the same time the late bell rang. Just great. I was going to have to enter the second room of the day with all eyes on me. I was reaching for the doorknob when I felt the first tightness in my lungs.

No! Not again! Not here! I turned and scanned the hallway. It was empty. Through the window in the door, I saw the teacher notice me and walk toward me. I took off, running back down the hall the way I’d come. I had to get away from everyone before I could take another life. It registered what that would mean. I’d die. Again.

Still, I pushed my legs forward, feeling the wobbliness creeping up them. I was losing control of my body. I managed to make it to the stairwell again, slumping forward as I pushed the door open. I fell to the floor. I was trapped. Too weak to pull the door back open or climb up the stairs. This was how it would end. My lungs tightened, making me sputter and cough. I watched my fingernails turn blue as my body went cold. “Ethan.” I wished I could see his face one last time, but at least this was the end. I would rather die than kill again.

The door opened behind me, and a guy nearly tripped over me. “Whoa!” He caught himself before he fell on top of me. I tried to back away, to keep him from touching me, but I couldn’t move.

“Hey, do you need the nurse?”

I couldn’t speak or even shake my head, and I cringed as he stepped closer. I had to warn him to stay back. Not to touch me.

“Come on. I’ll take you to her.” He bent down next to me. “Do you think you can walk if I help you?”

I felt the warmth radiating from his body. His leg was right next to my side, and I could feel it warming my hip. He reached for my hand.

“No,” I choked out.

He must have thought I was answering his question, because he said, “Okay, I think I can carry you.”

Before I could even attempt to protest, his arm wormed its way under my shoulders. My chest didn’t feel so tight anymore, and I tried to resist the urge to touch him as he scooped me into his arms. I stared at the artery in his neck. With every pulse, it called out to me. My fingers had a mind of their own and were working their way, crawling up the guy’s shirt. They found his neck and rested on his artery.

“Wow, you’re freezing cold,” he said.

I begged my brain to fight against my movements, to regain control, but my other hand was tugging at the guy’s shirt.

“Am I hurting you?” He repositioned me in his arms.

My hand found his skin and worked its way to his chest. The guy started to say something, but a pained look came over his face. I closed my eyes as his life flowed into me. He wobbled and fell to his knees, but I held on.
I
was holding
him
up now. Slowly I was returning to normal, and he was dying. Desire to live compelled me to hold on. Only one of us would survive. The monster within said it would be me.

After a minute, I felt the heat leave his body. He was dead. I opened my eyes, horrified at the disfigured face inches from mine. He was wrinkled and withered. No one would mistake him for a high-school student. He looked about ninety years old. I’d done it again, and this time it was a kid my own age. I was so disgusted with myself I wanted to vomit. But the hideous creature I’d become forced me to move him before someone found us. Between teachers on hall duty and the cop who patrolled the halls, this place had security all over it. It wouldn’t be long before someone came. Suddenly being the new kid who freaked and ran out of English lit seemed pretty good. I’d never be able to explain what had happened here.

I reached my arms around the guy and lifted him by his armpits. Immediately I could tell I wasn’t strong enough to carry him out of here. Stealing a person’s life didn’t make you superhuman. A monster, yes, but not superhuman. I decided to slide him across the floor. There was an emergency exit behind us. It would set off an alarm, though, and I’d never be able to drag the body away before someone saw us.

I leaned him against the door while I thought about my options. This exit wasn’t going to work, and no way could I drag the guy up the stairs. I went to the stairwell door, leading back to the hallway, and looked out it to see if the coast was clear. It wasn’t.

The school cop was walking down the hall, and he was heading my way.

CHAPTER EIGHT

I
LUNGED
to the side to get out of view of the window in the door. I had to do something. Now! I rushed to the exit door, a plan already forming in my mind. No one would recognize this guy as a student. I searched his pockets for a wallet, identification of some sort. His school ID was in his back pocket. I took it, shoving it into my jeans. I looked around for something to break the glass on the door. I had to make it look like this guy was breaking into the school.

I remembered seeing a fire extinguisher on the landing. I sprinted up to it and used the little metal bar meant to break the glass in case of an emergency. This definitely was an emergency. I grabbed the fire extinguisher, careful not to cut myself on the glass, and rushed back down the stairs. I peeked out the window. The cop was only a few doors down the hall. I ran at the emergency exit and rammed the end of the fire extinguisher into the glass. It took a few tries, but I managed to break it. And with the help of the handle, I was able to pull some glass shards so they fell on my side of the door. Maybe that would make it look like the window was smashed from the outside. I used my shoulder to open the exit door. The alarm blared in my ear. Definitely loud enough to give an old man a heart attack.

I took off back up the stairs, pausing only long enough to put the fire extinguisher back in the case. I ran the rest of the way up the stairs and waited behind the door. I was sure there would be an announcement the second the cop found the guy.

The alarm stopped, and the PA system crackled on. “Attention all students, faculty, and staff. The school is going into lockdown. Any students in the halls should report to the nearest classroom.”

The announcement repeated, and I walked to the nearest room. Oh crap! Mr. Ryan’s class. I knocked on the door.

“Ms. Smith?” Mr. Ryan looked at me like he’d seen a girl who’d committed social suicide. Even he knew I was off to a bad start here. “Come in, come in. I was about to lock the door.”

“Sorry. I was in the bathroom when I heard the announcement.”

“No problem. I guess this is turning out to be some first day for you, huh?”

The girl sitting in the desk by the door stuck her foot out and tripped me as I walked by. “Walk much?” she said with a laugh so nasty I wanted to smack her. If only she knew who she was dealing with. If only she saw my Mr. Hyde.

“You okay?” Mr. Ryan asked me after he told the class to push the desks to the back of the room and away from the door.

“Yeah.” Only I wasn’t okay. My victim count was up to three. I’d never be okay again.

I took an empty seat. Mr. Ryan looked around the room and smiled at us, probably trying to keep the class calm. Everyone was on edge since the announcement, and they didn’t have a clue that the real danger was in the room with them.

We were stranded in the room for another forty minutes. Mr. Ryan finally gave up and let us talk or do homework. Since I didn’t have a friend in the class or any homework to speak of, I sat there trying not to think about what was going on downstairs—what the police would find. I’d tried to keep my fingerprints off the emergency exit. But there was the broken glass on the fire-extinguisher case, and my fingerprints were all over that. Someone was bound to notice the broken glass case sooner or later.

The PA system crackled to life. “All students are to report to lunch. Sophomores report to the multipurpose room. Juniors and seniors report to the cafeteria. Lunch will be served in both locations. All teachers and staff not assigned to cafeteria duty, please report to the auditorium for a mandatory meeting.”

After the announcement repeated—because apparently they liked to say everything twice around here—Mr. Ryan unlocked the door. “Everyone to the cafeteria please. I don’t know what happened, but I suggest none of you cause any trouble. Do as you were instructed.”

Nods went around the room. People listened to Mr. Ryan. I was the last one to leave.

“Oh, Ms. Smith.” Mr. Ryan followed me out of the room. “I hope tomorrow’s a better day. Don’t judge us just yet, okay?”

I nodded. So far the school hadn’t done anything wrong. I had. The freak-out in class over the book we were reading, the fire alarm—they were my doing. And neither of those compared to the corpse in the stairwell.

I went to my locker, thinking maybe Ethan would meet me there before lunch. I’d grabbed a copy of
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
from Mr. Ryan’s class on my way out, so I actually had something to put in my locker this time. It took me a minute to remember the combination. My hands shook, and my mind was spinning. I kept trying my old combination, from my old life. Who would’ve thought I’d miss my old life? But I did. Sure, the cancer had made things rough, awful even, but right now, I would’ve taken that over whatever this was. I’d rather be the one hurting than hurting other people.

I finally got my locker open, and the first thing I saw was a silver necklace hanging from the hook. I reached for it, surprised by its weight. It looked heavy, but it wasn’t. It was a spiderweb pattern, and in the center was a ruby, just like my ring. I’d forgotten about my ring. I had to ask Ethan when he thought we could drive out to his storage box and get it. I really missed wearing it.

I looked around for Ethan, expecting him to jump out and surprise me…again. The necklace was the first surprise. But since Ethan didn’t seem to be around, I put the necklace on myself. It felt oddly warm against my skin. After all, it had been hanging in a cold, empty locker. Ethan must have had it in his pocket before he snuck it in here. He amazed me sometimes. I didn’t even think he’d seen my locker combination on my schedule. He was sneaky, and I loved him for it.

I was so happy about my gift that I almost forgot about what was going on in the school. A teacher carrying a walkie-talkie started ushering kids out of the hall. “Get to where you’re supposed to be.” His voice was stern. “Seniors report to the cafeteria. If you’re not a senior, you have no business in this wing as it is, so move!”

I couldn’t wait for Ethan any longer. Maybe he’d already been sent to the cafeteria. That would explain why he hadn’t met me. I closed my locker and followed the crowd. I hadn’t seen the cafeteria yet, so I didn’t know how to get there on my own. For once, it felt nice to feel like I was part of the crowd, blending in, even if just on the outside.

We headed to a stairwell on the back side of the school—nowhere near the stairwell where… The hall monitors had those stairs blocked off. We were like cattle being herded. I stepped down the last stair when someone shoved me from behind. I fell forward, grabbing on to the backpack of the guy in front of me to avoid falling on my face.

“Hey.” He whirled around.

“Sorry.” I regained my composure, and a girl stepped in front of me, blocking my path. I recognized her as the one who’d tripped me in Mr. Ryan’s class. Not what I needed right now.

She looked me up and down and scoffed. “You know, Mr. Ryan was only being nice to you because he felt sorry for you. He can tell a loser when he sees one.”

“I bet he’s glad you sit by the door then, so he can get rid of you sooner at the end of class.” I’d had enough. I wasn’t letting this girl walk all over me.

She let out a guttural grunt and lunged at me, shoving me hard in the chest. I fell backward, hitting my tailbone on the bottom stair. Chants of “Fight, fight, fight!” rang out. I’d thought we were among the last people in the stairwell, but apparently news of a chick fight spreads quickly. Suddenly it seemed like half the school was there.

“Hey!” someone yelled, and most of the kids scattered. I figured it was the principal or something. A trip to the office would make my horrific day pretty much complete. “Ms. Tilby, report to Mr. Snyder’s office. Now.”

I looked up to see Mr. Ryan standing two stairs behind me. Oh, this wasn’t going to ease things between me and the ultimate fighter chick over here.

“But, Mr. Ryan, she—”

“I saw the whole thing, Ms. Tilby, and I’ll be having a discussion with Mr. Snyder as well. You better make sure our stories match, or you’ll find yourself suspended for a week instead of three days.”

Suspended? I closed my eyes and sighed. This girl was going to kill me the next time she saw me.

“Ugh!”

“Shannon,” Mr. Ryan said. She calmed down at the sound of her name, and I wondered if Mr. Ryan had called her by her first name on purpose. From what I’d seen, he always addressed people by last name.

Shannon glared at me one last time before heading for the office. I used the railing to lift myself up. I never knew you could have a pulse in your tailbone, but mine was throbbing.

“Are you okay?” Mr. Ryan reached out a hand, like he was getting ready to catch me if I stumbled.

“Seems like you’ve had to ask me that a lot today. You must think I’m the weakest girl on the planet.”

“Not at all. Like I told Ms. Tilby. I saw what happened between the two of you. I also heard what you both said.”

Ugh, he’d heard me talking smack. I wondered how many days suspension that would get me. Maybe Gloria would let me work an extra shift on those days. We could use the money.

“Normally I don’t encourage students to talk to each other in that manner, but seeing as you’re having a rough first day, I think you handled yourself rather well. Most girls your age would’ve pushed her back after she shoved you, but you kept your cool.”

That was me. Cool as a corpse.

“I think you should get to the cafeteria now. I have a meeting to get to. Actually, now I have two meetings to get to.” He shook his head.

“Sorry about that.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

I nodded and walked through the doors. “Um, do you think you could tell the principal it was just a misunderstanding? If Shannon hates me, she’ll make my life miserable.”