Walk Through Thorns

Part 3 Chapter 11

Part 3: It Erupts From the Horizon, Light Penetrates to My Bones

Chapter 11

I was having the dream again. The same snow filled road, the same tires cutting through the slush. Auntie shook me awake before the bad part.

"Wakey, wakey. Get dressed for the eye doctor."

I groaned. My hair was tangled around my head and face. If they told me I needed glasses this was going to be the worst day ever.

Auntie only gave me a few moments before she flicked the lights on. I covered my eyes as a reflex. It wasn't as bad as the sun, but my eyes still took longer to adjust than hers.

Auntie sighed and said, "What is this?"

I looked up to see her poking a vine. It had squeezed between the window panes and extended into the room as if reaching out for me in my bed. It was pushing back just enough of the curtain to let in some light. It made it hard to look in that direction.

Auntie said, "You should have told me this was growing. It can damage the house you know."

I said, "That wasn't there last night."

Auntie snorted. "This has been growing for days to get this long. You should clean up in here more often."

True, but that vine was not there before. I was sure of that.

Once we were in the car Auntie asked, "How has your skin been? You've been going out a lot more than usual."

"I'm wearing sunscreen," I said.

On the way into Sudbury the highway we passed a lake of water. The shore was stained crimson, the water too. There were other sickly greens and yellows further out. It looked like someone let a giant battery leak all over.

"What's wrong with the water here?" I asked.

Auntie didn't even need to look to know what I was talking about. "It's acid leeching to the surface, because of the mining."

I asked, "We don't drink that water do we?"

Auntie said, "You drink the filtered water from the fridge right?"

I was going to make sure I did from now one.

A big truck with ENCO printed on the side rumbled past us, going the other way. It was leaking a trail of rock dust even with a net over top of its load. My grandfather had made his living in those mines. Lots of people still did. Brandon's dad was a miner. There was a good chance Brandon would be one too.

"Do the miners get hurt often?" I asked.

Auntie said, "I only see the bad cases."

On Friday I was back to school again. Now with a set of prescription glasses. People were staring. Victoria had a smirk like she had come up with something cruel to say, and was just waiting for her moment. One upside was I could actually read the numbers on the clock. English was the last class on Friday. There was homework to do, but I wasn't working on it. I was counting down the time.

I had my character sheet halfway hidden under my english binder, just enough to peek at. I was finally starting to get a grasp of what all the numbers on it meant. Greta had even drawn a little portrait of my character's face on the sheet for me. Just a few more minutes, then we'd all head to meet up at Avery's place.

Mr. Feral stopped as he walked by my desk. He was wearing cyan today. It was so bright he was almost glowing. Despite my best attempt to look like I was reading from the textbook, he didn't seen convinced. His grabbed the exposed corner of my character sheet and pulled it out.