Alone (Bluford High) (Watty Awards 2013)

Chapter 3

"Hurry up, Karen! You don't wanna be late," her friend, Carla Brutons warned her.

 It was Friday and Karen was haunted by something from last night. While she was in her room lying in her bed, she heard her window slide up and down constantly. She was turned to her side and didn't see who was doing it. The more it happened, the more ferocious the action became. She felt like she was in one of those horror movies where the terror kept on rising. It was tense during that odd time and she was puzzled on how her parents did not hear it.  But it didn't stop there.  

Since she was on her side, she was facing the bedroom door. Karen remembered the door opening widely and she could see someone's long fingers creeping on the doorknob. She was so scared, she thought her heart would explode from the excessive pumping it was doing. The sweat from her forehead slid down her temples and her nerves rised. Before she could even get a chance to see the intruder's face, her door closed quietly.  The opening and shutting of the window ceased soon after. She was slightly relieved, but didn't feel safe at that moment.

"Karen!" shouted Carla, snapping her friend back into reality.

"Huh?" 

"Come on! We gotta go!"

 They hurried into algebra class, which was third hour.  Karen would have Elle and Dale for the rest of her classes, surprisingly.  Together anyways. She had Elle in the morning. She didn't want to tell anyone about it. They'd think she was totally insane. Like one of those people that belonged in a mental institution because they had hallucinations and delusions. Actually, she remembered a few months ago that a young girl around her age was placed in an institution for unknown reasons. She hoped the girl wasn't dangerous ill, particularly murderous and/or suicidal issues, like Hannibal Lecter or Michael Myers. Those were the kind of people her parents forbid her to even go nearby or have a small talk with.

Karen and Carla were taking a quiz and despite Karen's struggles with math in general, she somehow managed to pass classes each year. That was her most hated subject. During the quiz, the whole room was silent in an almost eerie sort of way. She was behind Carla in the back rows of the room.  Mr. Lells wasn't taking one second off of his class. It was as if the man didn't even blink. His eyes were intense, making Carla cringe and shiver. Some of the students were giggling quietly.  Nothing was particularly laughable, the deep silence, for some reason, just made them snicker and start chortling. At one point, one male student laughed so hard that he accidently broke wind. It was quick, but very loud and noticeable. Some were laughing, some were disgusted and others were both, like Carla and Karen. A few kids made rude comments under their breath like,

"Too stank!"

"Need to wash his ass."

 The boy was embarrassed greatly.

  Halfway done, Karen unintentionally began to day-dream. She was thinking about the events of the  nights before. Not only was she recollecting about what her parents warned her about and the missing teens, but things that happened before that no one else knew. It was a personal secret that was only meant to be thought and heard by her. No one knew of the occurences that struck her not too long ago. She thought it would make her parents have an outrageous fit, make her friends shun and demean her well-being and ruin her entire life. It was too dark.

"Hey, Amerson!" scolded Mr. Lells, who noticed her not paying attention to her quiz.

Karen snapped back into real life.

"Yes?" she responded nervously.

"Are you done?"

Everyone looked at her and her face turned red as an apple.

"Almost."

"Keep on working or I'll give you a zero and call your parents."

She nodded. Karen couldn't afford to get into trouble. If she did, that would mean she would have to explain why she wasn't working, which would lead to her spacing off and eventually telling what she was thinking about exactly. And she didn't want to do that.

  At the end of the day, she met up with Elle, and not Dave surprisingly, outside on their way home.

"Where's Dale?" she queried.

"He's sick," replied Elle.

"Oh."

"Why you ask?"

"Just wondering. You know Allie Richardson?"

"I've heard of her. Why?"

"After you left yesterday, my mom was on the phone with her mom and saying Allie never came home."

"Really?" said Elle, now intrigued.

"Yeah. I just found out that eight kids were missing."

"Oh, yeah. It made me kinda scared.  With the noises and now this. Whoo! Some crazy people out here, girl."

"You think someone took them?''

"Mhmm. I'm not tryna be all scary and stuff, but its most likely that that's what happened."

"True."

 Elle noticed Karen looking slightly uncomfortable and nervous like she didn't want to talk to her.

"Girl, what's wrong?" she asked concerned.

"Nothing."

"You sure? 'Cause you look like somethin' botherin' you."

"I'm fine. Don't worry, I'm fine."

"All right," she complied with a hint of doubt in her voice.

 As instructed by her parents, Karen was walking straight home. THUMP! BANG! THUMP! BANG! That sound was still in her head from last night. CREEEEAAAKKKK. The door opening. She wanted it to be a nightmare, but she knew in her heart that it wasn't. She came across 22nd Street, but was about two blocks from her house. About 20 feet away from her, she saw a tall, slim person walking across the street. They looked they were in a hurry. But she stared to realize that another similar shape did the same thing seconds later, however, it was about 5 feet closer. Then, another came out and did the exact same; running and five feet closer. They all looked like the same person. She was creeped out by it and slowed down. Four more of them ran along the street, each individual seemed to get closer and closer towards her direction. On one of them, she got a clear view on who it was. A man wearing a black jacket and probably in his late thirties. Karen backed away quickly. Soon, the same image of the man kept running across, becoming more closer than ever. Finally, she ran as fast as she could away from him. But for some reason, she could still feel his presence right by her side and felt heavy breathing. She nearly tripped on the cracks of the pavement.  Karen was completely terrified of this insidious figure chasing her in the most peculiar way. After some time, she was unaware that she reached the speeding traffic. A large truck came up towards her.

Her eyes opened  and she was covered in sweat and her adrenaline was pumping. Her heart was racing. She found herself on her front porch steps, apparently dozing off some time before.  Thank God, it was just a dream. But those images of the man would stay with her and she knew it. What did it mean? Why did she have that kind of dream? Whatever message it was trying to send her, she knew for a fact that it wasn't good.