Alignments

Chapter 12

"Okay, class. Remember not to go beyond the fence. Have fun." The students ran out to the playground for recess. The twelve year old made her way to a bench and sat down. "Janet, you don't want to play?" She shook her head.

"I don't feel good." She spoke in a very low tone. The teacher sat next to her.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" She sighed.

"My stomach hurts." The teacher raised her eyebrow.

"Again?" Janet nodded. "Sweetie, your stomach has been hurting all week. Why haven't you gone to the doctor?" She shrugged. "Do you want to go to the nurse? We can tell her..."

"No." Janet jumped and cleared her throat. "No...it's fine. I'll just....take some medicine when I go home." The teacher looked at the little girl.

"Janet, what's wrong with your stomach?" Janet's eyes darted back and forth.

"It just hurts. I think I ate something bad."

"Even more reason to go to the nurse." Janet shook her head.

"No, it's fine. I probably just need to go to the bathroom again. Can I go?" Janet looked at the teacher. She sighed.

"Sure, but if you're not feeling better, we're going to the nurse." Janet got nervous.

"Yes, ma'am." Janet got up and slowly made her way to the bathroom. She held her arms in front of her stomach and tried not to look too suspicious. When she entered the girls bathroom, she went into the biggest stall and locked it before leaning against the wall. Another pain hit her hard in her stomach, causing her to writhe in pain and hold her stomach tighter. The pain got worse and she felt a wetness in her underwear.

Unbuckling her pants, she pulled them down and immediately got scared when she saw the amount of blood that came from her. Her breath began to shake in fear. She couldn't go back out there with blood in her pants. The teacher would get suspicious then she would tell her foster father and she'd be in trouble. He would hurt her more and she just got a break.

Janet grabbed some tissue and tried to clean up. Everything in her hurt as she moved. Just as she reached for another piece of tissue, the teacher came into the restroom. "Janet." She mustered up her strength.

"Yes."

"It's been over ten minutes. Are you okay?" Janet's breathing got even more shaky.

"Y-yes." The teacher immediately got nervous.

"You don't sound okay. What's wrong?" Janet held her stomach as another pain hit her.

"Noth...nothing."

"Yes, there is. What's wrong?" Janet tried to talk, but suddenly everything started to spin around her and she felt her body lower to the ground. "Janet." The teacher beat on the stall door. "Janet!" The teacher looked under the stall door and saw Janet passed out on the floor. "Oh my god." She stood up and used all of her strength to pull at the door until the lock popped open. Without wasting time, she got down and tried to wake Janet up. "Oh my god. HELP! HELP!"

Janet sat in her room, on the couch, and looked at the wall. She had been at Amaru's house for a week now and everything had been great, but she couldn't shake this feeling that something was up. Amaru, his mother, Esther, Esther's husband and Marisol were always talking, but stopped when she came into the room. For the past few days, she had overheard them talking and there were times she heard them saying her name. It was weird. "Janet." She jumped at the sound of her name. Looking up, she saw Joey.