It's Just Me

Chapter 16

I walk up the creaky staircase to the second floor, excitement bubbling up inside of me. I am grinning from ear to ear. I reach the top of the staircase. I see a clock on the wall next to me. It is 12:53. It might take us a little bit of time to get to the town square. Angela is with me. It's a good thing she arrived at my room early. We reach James's room and I knock on the door. He opens it. He looks horrible. His eyes are blank. Black circles are under his bottom eyelashes. He is slumped over with his hair in a messy part. I stare at him. He has his lips in a straight line across his face. I think he's really depressed. "Hi guys." His voice is different. Lower. Scratchy. Almost sounds like my mom. Oh no... What did I do to him?

"Um..." I say awkwardly. "Hi."

"You ready to go?" Asks Angela.

"Yeah, I guess." James replies quietly. I try to take his hand, but he pushes my hand away. I feel him stare at me. I press my hand on his back and lead him with me. I hear sometime bounce up and down. Like a bottle of Tic Tacs. I notice that James has pockets on his pants. I hear the noise coming from the right side of me, where he is standing. I put ny Han  in his picket and pull a bottle out.

   Pills.

I stop and look at the bottle. James and Angela stop with me, but don't notice that I am reading the bottle. "Oh my god..."

  "What?" Angela stops and looks at me. She stares wide eyed. James does not look at us.

   "James?" I ask quietly. "What are these?" I say louder.

  "H-How did you get that?!" James asks loudly stammering.

"I am taking these." I say sternly. "And I am searching your room later for any more." I continue to walk with them. We have to walk to the town square. We reach the bottom of the steps and walk out the front entrance. We walk to the right and continue to walk for 7 more blocks. We have 3 more blocks to go.

"I almost forgot!" I say. I take the bandana out of my pocket and wrap it around James's head. I tie it in the back and let go of it. We continue to walk the last the 3 blocks. We reach the town square.

   It's time.