Airel - Aaron Patterson [45]
Michael glanced up at me as he ran by, flashing me a little smile that gave me shivers. I was not entirely sure I should even be allowing this kind of thing. How is it possible to know someone for such a short time and feel like this? If Dad, or even Mom, knew how I felt... wow. Danger. I looked at Kim. I guess I had to take the plunge.
“I have news of my own, but you have to promise not to make a big deal out of it... I mean it.” I knew that it was like asking an addict to quit cold turkey, but I had to try.
“Michael asked you out, didn’t he?” Kim had a look of glee stamped on her face and the look on mine must have been confirmation. “I knew it! He asked you out! Yesss!” She made the same gesture I had made in the car, like she had just scored a touchdown. “I was hoping he would, and he is sooo hot! Oh my gosh!” Then she looked alarmed. “You said yes, didn’t you? You had better have said yes, or I’ll kill you.”
Death by Kim. Chalk up another murderous stalker. How many does that make now? I nodded and shook my head in defeat, grinning helplessly. “Kim, it’s not like I could have said no…”
“Oh, Airel! I’m so excited! You and Michael, and me and James, we can go on, like, double dates! And hang out and talk about stuff! Oh my gosh! We should go shopping and get a new outfit for our first official dates of the school year!”
Seriously, I don’t know what I did to deserve this. My best friend was going to drive me insane with the shopping and the—and the—my mouth went dry and my lips felt like they were thick, swollen shut from lack of water. I sat straight up, my back stiff, and all the tiny hairs on my neck and arms sounded the alarm. Across the field on the visiting team’s bleachers sat a blond haired man with black sunglasses hiding his evil eyes.
Kim felt me tense up and stopped talking. “Uh-oh. Do you need a barf bag?” Then she followed my gaze across the green grass to the man in the far bleachers. “Who is that?” Kim asked in a whisper. She pushed her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose and peered out.
I tried to respond, but I couldn’t because my mouth was so dry. A wave of raw heart-stopping fear rushed over my body. Kim was ditzy, but not dumb. She touched my arm, leaned over close to me, and whispered in my ear—so softly, I almost missed it, “It’s him!”
It was him. He was right there. He was watching me. Watching with careful consideration and…something else. He knew. He knew that something was wrong with me. He wanted to see what it was. Or, maybe…he wanted to see what I would do. Maybe he wanted to scare me into silence.
If he wanted to scare me, it was working. I was so scared that my hands were shaking. I felt weak. Oh, neat. Here’s something new and impossible. I totally need more of that. I saw it happening. It wasn’t slow-mo, not like a movie at all. This was real. The seat of the bleacher below came at my face shockingly fast and I knew this was going to hurt later.
Chapter XXV
I opened my eyes to see a black sky. The sun above was enclosed in a womb of smoke and smog. I saw jagged rocks the color of coal sticking up from the ground below at sickening angles.
I was in what looked like a huge bird cage, except this one was square and made of rough iron bars with a plank floor. I could see that I was high above the ground in a tall and ancient tree.
I looked out over the vast valley beyond the black rocks. Row upon row of mountain ranges were stacked against each other, rising and falling. The distance beyond me seemed to be impassable, even if I could get out of this cage. It was another world. It was so dark and so dead that nothing grew or lived. This ground was cursed–even the sun wore a cloak.
I thought I was dreaming but the bump on my head proved to me that I was somehow…not. I did indeed pass out and eat the bleachers. I didn’t know quite how to explain it to myself. Wherever I was though, it was not beautiful. The air had a chill as a slight breeze made its