The Intruder Is Back

Chapter 6

It was the last day of Spring vacation. I go back to school tomorrow. My nightmare last night got me thinking about not wanting to walk through those double doors, Cindy and her friends annoying me to death.
I looked at my phone and it was seven- fifty on a Tuesday night. Tomorrow was my first day back at school after two weeks. I feel like this year is going to be fast.
It was getting late so I wanted to go to bed in fifteen minutes. But I had to brush my teeth so I walked to the bathroom. I turned on the light and started brushing my teeth. After rinsing my toothbrush off, I see a shadow figure in the mirror. I thought I saw my mother. I formed tears in my eyes as she faded away to the moment I couldn't see her anymore.
The next day, my alarm went off. It was about seven- thirty in the morning. I quickly sit up and reach for the lamp to turn on the light. The moment I stood up I had a headache. Before I got dressed for school I drank the rest of my water that was sitting on the dresser, then I went to take a shower. From the dresser, I took out a black sweatshirt, blue jeans, and my black and white converse. I brushed through my hair and put on a little bit of mascara I had in my bag.
I keep imagining my mother everywhere. I keep seeing her.
I hear Ms. Juliana's voice calling my name from downstairs. I grabbed my backpack and rushed downstairs to Juliana.
"Good morning, Leah. Would you like me to bring you to school?" Juliana offers. That reminds me of when my mother would offer to bring me to school. "No thank you, I'll ride my bike if that's okay?" Ms. Juliana smiles at me and hands me a cup of coffee from the cafe.
"Alright, yeah. No problem. Have a good day, Leah. See you after school!" I smile and rush out the door to the garage. I walked my bike outside and jumped on to start pedaling.
I rode away in the cold autumn breeze. I enjoy being outside, especially riding a bike. It was absolutely beautiful outside. There were multi- colored leaves flying in the air all around me. It took me a second to realize my birthday was tomorrow. I'm going to be sixteen.
I took a few deep breaths as I rode my bike on the sidewalk near the high school. Soon I dropped my bike off and took a step by the double doors.
"Let's get this day over with." I whispered to myself. I walked into the school confidently as people rushed past me. I rushed to my locker in the third hallway next to the gymnazium. I tried to remember my combination to get in but I wrote in on the back of the lock, thankfully.
Hoping to see Cindy around I started looking around for her but I finally opened my locker, until it slammed in my face. In front of me there I see Cindy next to my locker with her hand against it.
"Oops, sorry. It was an accident." Cindy takes her hand off and just stands there with her arms crossed, with an ugly look on her face.
"Seriously, Cindy. That was unnecessary." I tried not to lose my temper, but her face made me want to punch her. She giggles in my face.
"What? Don't be so dramatic, Loser. You can just open it again. It's not that hard to punch in a few combinations." With those words I couldn't help but say something.
"Maybe a punch in the face would shut you up." I say back. Cindy gives me another dirty look.
"Is that a threat?" She says dramatically. I was so mad but turned away from her. Then behind her I see Zoe.
"I think everyone would be so much happier if you left the room." Zoe said and smirked at Cindy. I couldn't help but laugh. Cindy jumps and backs away. She was speechless. She rolls her eyes and storms off. I look at Zoe and I give her a big hug.
"Zoe, I missed you so much. Even though it's been two weeks." I say and look down at my feet. "Still, two weeks are too long." Zoe smiles at me and throws your hands on my shoulders again.
"Anyway, how are things at home? How's your mom?" After that question I suddenly felt empty inside. Thanks a lot for reminding me. I look down at my feet again.
At my locker, then at Zoe with tears forming in my eyes. Zoe's face turned from a smile into a confused face.
"What's wrong?" Zoe asked with concern. I just stood there trying to hide the tears dripping off my face.
"S-she- p-passed away." I say quickly and softly. Zoe instantly hugs me again and rubs my arm. "Oh, Leah, I'm so sorry for your loss, your mother was an amazing woman. But she's in a better place now." I quickly wipe my tears away with my sleeve and look back at Zoe.
"If you don't mind me asking, what happened?" Zoe asked. I look up at her without hesitation and give her a hint that I don't want to talk about it anymore. But she didn't get the hint.
"Zoe, I really don't want to talk about it anymore. That's all you need to know for right now." I said to Zoe with a serious expression.
"Okay, okay. I'm so sorry." she wrapped her arms around me again within a minute. Zoe glances at my left arm with my brace on it. She carefully picks up my left arm to show me.
"By the way Leah, how's your arm? How much longer?" I kinda forgot about my arm as well. "It's feeling way better now, then better. But it still hurts once in a while."
"Oh and your birthday is tomorrow!" Zoe reminds me.
Zoe pinches my right arm and nudges me. She moves her eyes to point out my crush, Devon was walking towards us. I quickly froze up and just stood there with Zoe. I felt as if my heart sank to my stomach. Devon came closer to us and smiled directly at me.
"H-hi Leah, Zoe. How's it going?" He greets us with his hand in his pockets and his hood up. He looked so cute the way he was standing. With his messy chocolate brown hair, his dark blue eyes. He was sorta the same height as me but one inch taller.
"Hey Devon, it's going. The day just started. Nice to be back I guess. How 'bout you?" I say with my hand pinching the back of my neck. I thought as if I was acting awkward, but Devon didn't judge me. Instead he gives me that smirk and puts his hands on the straps of his backpack.
"My day is going good, now that I saw you." Devon's face turns red and I can tell he was trying to hide his blushing. I instantly smile and Zoe looks at both of us back and forth with a smirk and her glasses in the middle of her nose.
"Okay, have a nice day Devon. We should probably get to class soon." Zoe interrupts our staring contest and I drop my Algebra textbook on the floor by my locker. The first bell was going to ring at any moment now. Devon notices so he bends down to hand me the book. I give him a smile as he hands it to me. "Thank you, I think I'm going to need this." I joke around. He chuckles.
"Yeah, true I better go." He slowly walks away, waving at me and Zoe. I gently slapped Zoe's arm and gave her a look like, really?
"What? You just stood there. I had to save you." Zoe teases me. I can tell Devon has a crush on me, it's quite obvious. A couple minutes later the first bell rings and I instantly jump. I wave to Zoe and head to my first hour. I see Devon going to the same place I'm going, so I walk slowly trying not to make a fool of myself.
Just before I entered the classroom, I noticed movement or something out the window across the hallway.
For a sudden move I thought I saw someone standing there. I got this strange feeling that someone was watching me.