The Experiment

Chapter 3

Little weird things just kept happening to me. It was like I was a magnet to coincidences. I'm not sure when, but at some point, I accepted that fact that I was most likely insane.

One day in early June, I was walking out of the school at the end of the day. There were sunflowers lining the school's exterior, but they were all dead and hanging limply. Even a dose of water and sunshine wouldn't have been able to fix them.

But I apparently I could. As I walked by them, they straightened up and turned yellow again. I gasped and turned around to face them.

Yep, they were alive and well again. I thought that it must be a coincidence. So, I went back into the school and went back out the door near it. This one also had dead flowers on the sides of it.

I took a deep breath and walked out calmly. The flowers sprang back to life. It looked like they had been replaced.

"Holy crap," I muttered. It was just too weird now. Was there some ghost possessing me? It had to be something supernatural. Or maybe I actually was deranged.

I started running away. I wanted to run away from the weirdness. I thought if I ran fast enough, I could leave it all behind.

That was when I decided to tell River. I thought that I could trust him, I had known him for about six months.

So, the next day at school, I asked River to come to my house after school. He looked shocked, and asked me if I was serious multiple times. I told him I was, and he eventually obliged.

That day after school, River took the bus home with me. Then we walked down the street to my house.

We walked into my small apartment. It had two bedrooms, a bathroom, a small kitchen, and a tiny living room. I got us a bowl of chips, then we sat down on the couch.

"I don't need to be rude, but why did you ask me here?" River asked, munching on some chips.

"I have to talk to you about something."

"Okay, what?" He put down the chips and looked up at me.

"I think I might be losing my mind," I said, in all seriousness.

River laughed heartily and picked up another chip, like he thought I was joking. I just stared at him, waiting for him to say something.

"Oh wait you're serious. Um, why would you think that?" He asked, suddenly realizing that I was serious.

I told him all about the beach and the flowers. He was there for the freak storm thing, so I only explained my theory of connection with the three events. As I went on, River kept getting paler.

Once I finished, River stood up. "Can I use your bathroom?" He asked hurriedly.

"Sure, it's right around the corner," I said, but before I even finished speaking, he was gone. He ran to that bathroom, like he hadn't urinated in weeks.

I heard the bathroom door close, water running, then quick hushed whispers. It sounded like he was talking to someone in there.

He took an unusually long time in there. Too long for a pee. I hoped he didn't stink up my bathroom. I scrunched up my nose at the thought, and started imagining scenarios where it would be acceptable to take this long.

I hear some snippets of what he's saying. "But we're still three hours away........... Now? Like right now?...... Oh okay......... A note?........ No? Okay."

I heard a door slam. My mom was home. I guess now would be a good time to explain about her.

My mom is a bit insane. Okay, maybe more than a bit. She would ignore me for months at a time, then act like we're super close. Then she would scream at me for doing nothing. Then she would go into her room and talk to a wall.

So, my mom walked past me, and didn't even acknowledge that I was sitting there. She bumped into the wall and said, "Oops, sorry darling. How are you today?" Then she went into her room.

Finally, River came out of the bathroom. That's when everything went bad. I heard a giant screech, then something crashed through the window.

The creature had a lady's body, but wings, talons, and other bird-like qualities. I screamed, and River made a mad dash for me. He grabbed my hand and dragged me into the kitchen.

He opened up a cookie jar and pulled out the five hundred dollars that was hidden in there, even though he shouldn't have even know it was there. Then he grabbed two giant knives. Knives that I wasn't supposed to touch, never mind run with.

We ran out of the apartment, me completely confused as to what was going on. "What the hell was that thing?" I asked. "No time for talking, just run," River answered.

I heard wings flapping and screeching coming from close behind me. We raced down the stairs. I felt scratching at my back, and River pulled me along faster.

We were outside now. I thought we were in then clear, when the thing made one final screech, then tackled River from the back.

River grunted and fell to his stomach. "River!" I yelled, stopping running.

The creature screamed and clawed at his back. "Stab it!" He yelled.

I held up my knife, then brought it down into the creature's back. It screeched and twisted over, before collapsing into dust.

"Oh my God. Oh my God. I killed it," I mumbled, dropping to my knees next to River. He stood up and brushed the monsters guts off of him.

"Good job, now, come on we have to go," He said. He took my hand and pulled me up to my feet.

"Where?" I asked, still in shock of the situation. "Camp," was all I got for an answer.