C.R.E.W

Chapter 14 ~ Safe Trip

          It was Friday, the last day of the school week. I completely lost my temper last night over what I was seeing, but it was true. Everything I was seeing was there, I could hear their cold voices, I could feel their strong grip, see their lifeless eyes. They stared into mine with the intention of torture. My mom may not have believed me, but I know what I saw. It was only a matter of time until I would see those cold, smooth, metallic faces once again.

I was sitting in class, I tried to doze off and forget about the need to go to the bathroom but the pain was real. I had been avoiding going to the bathroom all month, I would only go at home, where I knew I was safe. All of the hours worth was catching up to me, I had to go now. As soon as my teacher finished speaking and explaining the instructions, I got up and grabbed my notebook for her to sign.

"Can I go to the bathroom?" I asked, twitching in the stance.

"Hmm, I don't know, can you?" She replied.

I was about to lose it, anytime a teacher was like that, it was the most annoying thing ever. I don't know what the reason is, if they think they're "original" when they say it, or they think they're funny, but neither of them are true.

I sighed in annoyance, "May I go to the bathroom?"

She chuckled, "yes, you may."

I wasn't laughing, but the minute she signed that paper, I was out the door. I made my way down the hallway with a few teachers telling me, "don't run in the hallways!" I ignored them and kept on going.

I turned the corner and pulled myself in front of the doorway. I stopped, like a vampire trying to enter a house they weren't invited in. I took a deep breath and launched myself inside as I rushed to a stall. I was scared but tried to call myself down. There was no one in the bathroom other than me, it scared me. It should have relieved me, but it only made my fear even worse. My anxiety kicked in but I closed my eyes and tried to think of something else. I picked myself up and took a deep breath. When I was finished, I had the urge to double check behind each door. So, I opened the stalls and my life flashed before my eyes. At this point, I felt a little like I was scaring myself because there was nothing there, I was completely safe. Things appeared in the corner of my eyes but nothing was really there. I was ready to start shivering. I avoided looking in the mirror and tried to time out the sound of the water running down the faucet. I closed my eyes and quickly speed-walked to the other end of the bathroom. I pushed down on the towel dispenser and the noise echoed through the bathroom. I dried my hands, quickly threw away the garbage, and ran out the door.

There was a sound.

The loud vacuum-like machine turned on and caught me off guard. It was just the other hand dryer, but the electronic one. Yet, panic from the noise still coursed through my veins. I was blocked by a figure outside the door. I stopped in my tracks and pushed myself against the small sliver of wall behind to the open doorway. My heart was pounding and my breathing was stopped. I looked at the girl and her normally ginger hair flashed black in the blink of an eye.

"Prixley, are you okay?" She cried, putting her arms out in front of me.

I gasped and started to slow my breathing.

She stayed quiet and let a small smile spread across her face, she knew how to deal with me, and it was to stay quiet but comforting. She hesitantly started to caress my arm and gently kept her hand on it.

I pounced up to hug her and stuff my face into her shoulder. She didn't ask questions and just hugged me back.

"I'm sorry..." I apologized once I finally calmed down.

"You're okay." She smiled.

"Do you want to...?" She was asking if I wanted or talk about it. To be honest, I was willing to tell her more than I wanted to tell my mom.

"I just...thought I saw something, and those blow dryer things are scary, man." I confessed, taking my notebook and getting ready to walk back to class.

She laughed, "yeah, they are. Wait, what happened to your nose?"

I paused, completely forgetting that the middle of my face was likely three times bigger than normal, "Oh! Uhm, it's nothing, really."

"Are you sure? I mean, I know that you're strong and all but that looks like it hurts." She was genuinely looking out for me.

"Yup! Perfectly fine. It should heal in about a week or two." I laughed it off and stared into her green eyes that looked happy to see my hazel ones.

Her smile gleamed back at me as I walked away. Noelle was always there for me, recently more than ever. If she wasn't there for me a few seconds ago, I would have been an anxious reck.

                                            ~~~

I made my way to Math class and sat there as usual. What caught my attention was the girl sitting next to me actually wanted to talk to me.

"Hey, are you doing anything after school?" She asked, tapping her pencil.

I looked at her confused, "No...?"

"Oh, 'cause, the girls and I, well, my friends, we're going to hang out after school and go to these shops down by Lasaway." She had her face in her palm and glanced at the board every few seconds. The sound of her chewing gum was as loud as can be.

I slowly bobbed my head up and down to indicate I was listening.

"We were wondering if you wanted to come?" She smiled.

I stuttered, "uhhh...yeah...no thanks, I don't really do shopping." I did a nervous laugh.

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun." She tilted her head to the side and kept her smile.

"Yeah...no, thanks." I tried to turn back to my paper and look like I was doing something. I picked up my pencil and copied the notes up on the board.

She leaned over her desk to whisper over my shoulder, "your friend, the ginger one, she's coming, too." The girl smiled, backed up, and turned the other way, knowing she caught my attention.

"Noelle is going?" I looked at her, taking a questionable pause in between my words.

"Yes, she's coming and getting dropped off at twelve o' clock. She looked to the back of the room in the middle of her sentence.

I turned around and didn't see anything suspicious.

"I don't know." I said looking down.

"I just thought, since you're friends with her, you would want to come, too. I know she would love to see you there. She would really enjoy your company." She nodded her head and pouted her lips convincingly.

"I'll ask." I responded, actually considering what she said.

I thought it might be a big scam, and I was honestly surprised to hear that Noelle was going with them. I wanted to ask her if she really was coming, but I didn't want her to think differently of me because of the question. I thought of asking her later, but this thought was on my mind the rest of class. It eventually left me by the time I got home.