In the Case of Cathy Barnes

Ch 1: My Dilemma

High school, something I've come to cherish in the later years of my life, even though I'm not exactly looked fondly upon by my peers. You get the popular girls like Riley Newman, brains and beauty all in one brunette package, then you get girls that dye their hair crazy and work as a mechanic who always shows up to school with a bit of oil on them. The latter describes Andrea Fritzberg to a tee, literally all that and more. She's mute, but Riley knows how to speak ASL, and they are pretty close as a major factor. Where do I fit in, you might be asking? I'm not a third-wheel, mind you, but I am, or was, a laughing stock at my school. My name is Cathrine Barnes, and it's the three of us against the odds of high school, at least until a few years ago.

About 5 years ago, I was attending lunch with all the other students, Riley and Andrea, already at the table. A couple jerks, Brandon Smith and George Carson, snuck up to Andrea and spilled their trays on her. Riley stood up to scold and demand an apology for Andrea, only for them to say, "Why should we bother? She can't hear us, right?". Knowing that babying them was fruitless, I came to them and shoved them aside to let them off with a warning. Brandon instead smacked me in the face with his tray and laughed as I knelt down spitting blood.

I could not forgive myself for what I did next, I don't know what went on in my mind at the time. I saw red, my ears were ringing, and for some reason, mauling one of the boys like an animal sounded rational. I blacked out for a moment, only tasting something awful but relieving at the same time, then I had awoken to screams from all around the cafeteria above Brandon's bloodied body. He was still alive, but barely so, security had to drag me away from him before anyone could help him. There was blood everywhere, on the floor, on Carson, even on me. Especially on Brandon, all coming from the huge gash on his jugular, about the size of my mouth. My parents bailed me out of juvenile detention the next day, I was met with suspension and a near endless amount of scolding from my folks. I was made to seek help at a mental hospital for my behavior that day, though I felt I needed more help than that.

The hospital did everything they could to try to fix me, and due to confidentiality reasons, I can only say that I related to other people's stories of losing control and sense of self. The only problem was that I couldn't fathom telling anybody, even patients like me, that I felt something odd about my attack on Brandon. It wasn't remorse, catharsis, or even joy, but relief as if I was starving to death before then. I'm not a cannibal, I can't be. I never killed anyone, nor have I been fed people before now, but it felt good like I needed that more than anything else. I could only imagine how my friends would react to me returning, but I can't be seen with them anymore. I know I hurt somebody that hurt them, but what if it's only a matter of time before I attack again and hurt Riley or Andrea? I had a lot of time to figure that out, but by the time my suspension was over, I felt like it wasn't enough.

Classes came and went, but I kept my distance from my two friends. Lunch was thankfully peaceful. Brandon stayed in his seat this time, but I'm sure he needs less activity due to what the doctors had to do for him. School was then over, Riley and Andrea approached me before my mom could pick me up, and they wanted to talk.

"Are you doing ok?" They asked, Andrea said it first, but Riley translated, though she seemed to want to ask it just as pressingly.

"I guess," I answered. Needless to say, I wasn't ok.

Silence was felt between us. Even Andrea didn't know what to say then and there. I felt like a monster, so without thinking, I said, "How was school without me?" Both of them shrugged, I was sure they were fine without me, though. Andrea then spoke, and Riley echoed as needed again;

"We missed you, Cathy," they said with as much sincerity as before.

"I'm sure you guys got along just fine without me, especially with Brandon and co leaving you two alone."

"Not really, getting along anyway."

I didn't believe them, how could I? They've been friends since elementary school, and I'm the new one of the trio.

"I bet you didn't have to be afraid of crazed cannibals until now," I said. My attempt at dry humor came off as a self-defeating comment instead.

"Cathy," Riley alone said, "You went crazy, that's a problem, but you're getting the help you need, right?"

I let out a sigh. Before I could say anything, they walked to either side of me, putting me in the middle. Each of them placed a hand on my shoulder.

"We're here for you," they said. Of course, Andrea had to use both hands to say it before placing a hand back on my shoulder.

My mother arrived, I said my goodbyes and entered the car. She asked how my day went, but I tried to dismiss it by saying that it was fine. She asked about Brandon, to which I mentioned how I barely noticed him at all. Even then, we'd said nothing to each other. She asked about my friends and I also said it was "fine". We fell quiet shortly after, even when we got home. The only time anyone said anything was when my dad asked the same questions when we came home. I couldn't sleep that night, I know my parents were talking about me in the other room and how I seem to have shut down lately. It's rare for me to sneak outside past midnight to sulk, but tonight was a bit different. Before, I just sat in the backyard to think about things, but this time, I decided to walk over to the park across the street. The only perk of living in a suburban neighborhood was being close to a park.

I know it was dangerous for me out there, I know it was pretty dumb of me to do, but I didn't care. If anything, I welcomed what awaited that night, whether it be a murderer killing me on the spot or some monster giving me a chance to lash out and be sent away again. I didn't care if my family and friends tried to reach out, but I couldn't see myself being good for them anymore. I'm dangerous, I'm weird, and I'm afraid of myself. Just then, I was put onto high alert as a dark figure in a trench coat approached me in the dimness of the street lamp I was under. He didn't say anything for a while, but when I thought he was going to move on, he asked me, "Are you Cathy Barnes?" I froze in fear at that question, but I then nodded without even thinking.

"I heard about what you did in school last month," he continued. "That was unusual, right?"

"Understatement of the century," I answered, "I blacked out, and the last thing I saw before I was sent away was that boy bleeding out. It never happened to me before. "

"The boy, did you bite him by chance?"

"Who the hell are you? His hitman? I blacked out, I bit him, and was sent away. End of story. I won't do it again. "

He let out a sigh and inched closer to me. "I'm not here for that, I'm here to help you."

I tilted my head curiously to that statement. "A whole psych-ward of people can't help me, how can anyone?"

"I'm a little well-versed in terms of the unusual in nature. Not many people can understand what you go through, but maybe we can."

"Is your mom joining us?"

Even in the darkness, I can tell he rolled his eyes at my joke, but instead of berating me, he gave me a card. It read "Anomalies and Cryptids Anonymous & Rehabilitation Services," looked at him to meet his eyes, and got a good look at him. He stood over six feet tall & with messy hair. He had ebony skin, though the lighting made his overall completion hard to see. I'd narrow him down to being someone just saying things if it weren't for how professional-looking the card was. Upon receiving the card, I saw that it had a phone number, address, and everything all printed on. It even had the abbreviation on the back, ACARS. He then placed a hand on my shoulder and, somehow, it felt just as comforting as my friends' touch.

"You're not alone," he said. "We can make it through together. Call or show up after school any day, and I'll handle the rest. "

Just like that, he left into the darkness. I carefully made my way across the street and back into my house to my bed. I turned on a light from my phone towards that card, and it seemed just as legit, if not more so than when I looked at it the last time. I went to sleep shortly after thinking nothing else of it, but the last thing he said was, "Call or show up after school." I needed to know more about ACARS before I could get hurt or worse. Can they help? Will they? If he wanted to spring a trap on me, why can't he just kill me on the spot? None of this made sense at the time, and I made sure to try to make sense of it all.