The Hirt

Chapter Five

5

A hand touched Heather’s back.  She groaned, and cautiously opened one eye.  Heather looked around and realized she was back in her room.  Her other eye flew open and she surveyed her surroundings.  She looked to the side and saw her mother looking at her with first concern, then relief flooding her face.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re awake! We were so worried!” her mom exclaimed.  Heather grabbed her own forehead and groaned, an excruciating headache overcoming her.

“What happened?” Heather mumbled.

“I’m not entirely sure.  A nice young boy dropped you off here.  He said he saw you walking in the hallway during class and you just collapsed.  Then he said he saw another classmate came running down the hallway, holding a pass and saying that you needed it in order to go to the nurse’s office.  The girl with the pass told him that you had fainted in class and were going to the nurse’s.  The boy told me that he picked you up, took you to the office, and they gave him permission to take you home.  He was very worried about you, and he seemed scared.”

Heather was pretty sure she knew who took her home, but she wanted to make sure.  “Did he tell you his name?”

“Yes, he said his name was Henry.  He had an accent too!  Very cute.  Oh! I almost forgot.  He said that someone named Damien had your Chemistry homework and notes that you missed.  Henry said that you could meet him tomorrow after school and he could give it to you.  He said to meet him somewhere he called KH? I hope you know what that means, because I certainly don’t!” Her mother explained, laughing slightly.

Heather sighed.  “Yeah, I do.  It’s . . . um a new coffee shop.”

“So do you have any idea what happened?  Any idea at all?” her mother asked, concerned.

“No, Mom.  I have no idea.  Probably the same thing that’s making me hallucinate.” Heather responded.

“Maybe we should go to the doctor.  And you are definitely not going to school tomorrow,” Heather’s mom said, protectively brushing her daughter’s bangs to the side. 

Heather nodded, her eyelids feeling heavy.  “Sounds good.” She mumbled.  Her mom smiled, kissed her on the forehead and said, “Get some rest.”  Then, she rose from the bed, and quietly shuffled out of Heather’s room.  Heather almost immediately fell back to sleep, still exhausted from the long day.

Everything was in slow motion.  Her ears popped.  She was struggling, holding someone’s wrists so he couldn’t touch her.  The wrists she was holding twisted counter-clockwise, forcing her grip to release.  She couldn’t see who it was, but she knew instinctively that he was going to hurt her.  His hands came up to her shoulders and shoved her backwards.  She stumbled backwards, one step, two steps, and suddenly, the floor wasn’t there anymore.

She was falling.  Wind was whistling through her ears, her arms and legs were being pushed upward from the force of the air beneath her.  All that Heather could see was the blue sky above.  No, there was something else too.  Heather squinted and stared hard at the object above, trying to figure out what it was.  A plane!  Yes, it was a plane.  And she heard something.  More specifically, someone.  He was shouting, but she couldn’t possibly fathom what it was that he was saying.  Everything was still moving in slow motion, as if Heather was falling through honey.  Even though she knew she was falling to her death, Heather felt calm.

Her eyes flew open, and Heather gasped.  Sweating, she sat up and put her hand over her heart, trying to make it calm down.  She put her head in her hands, using her palms to rub her eyes.  That dream again.  It was creepily realistic.  This one started differently, though.  She shook her head, shrugging it off as a coincidence.