Fourteen and Counting

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Mel," Katarina said shakily as she put her arm around her friend and turned her away from the window. "Mel, what happened?"

Melissandra looked up at her friend with tears forming in her eyes. "Justin Mitchell reached his breaking point."

"There's always one," Thaddeus muttered as he climbed back on the bus. Everyone heard what he said though. There was nothing quiet about Thaddeus Abrams.

"Don't cry," Katarina soothed as she hugged her friend. "It's all going to be okay."

"I can't" Melissandra cried out as warm tears started running down her face. "He wasn't that bad. I learned more about him in five minutes than I had learned about him in sixteen years."

"It's okay," Kat said, rubbing her friend's back. "We're going to get through this."

"Anyone else?" Thaddeus questioned as the bus started moving again. "Anyone else have some complaints?" The bus was silent. "I thought so."

"Shh," Katarina whispered, looking at Mel. "Now do you see why you have to make up with Mica? We need to stick together. We can't have any of us breaking like that."

Mel nodded and wiped the tears from her face with her gray winter coat. "I'll apologize when we get to the Mausoleum," she managed to squeak out.

"Good girl."

For the rest of the bus ride everyone was silent. No one spoke. This was the exact opposite from the normal excited chatter that filled the bus when they went on field trips. This wasn't anything to be excited about. For many of them this was the beginning of the end. For many of them their minds were cluttered with thoughts about seeing the names of their own family members who had died. Of course all of these thoughts were also mixed with the memories of Justin. Justin was always so calm. He never did homework and he never seemed to care about rules. No one expected him to cave like that. But under pressure, even the strongest people break. Sometimes the tree branches the look the strongest are the ones that fall the quickest.

The brakes made a loud metallic squeal as the bus stopped in front of the Mausoleum. The kids nervously shuffled out of their seats keeping their heads down to avoid any eye contact with their peers. Melissandra spotted the familiar gray hood that belonged to Mica and ran over to him. She pulled him into a hug and buried her head in his chest. "I'm sorry," she apologized, biting down on her lip to keep from losing it and crying again. Mica looked down at the girl in his arms and pulled her closer. He smiled and started rubbing her back. "I am too, Melly."

Mica was glad he had gotten his friend back. The ride with Lainie had been hell. She spent the whole time complaining about all the boys she had been with and how annoying they were. Then she realized that Mica technically fell under that category and she shut up. Everyone shut up after the Justin incident anyway.

Mica looked up at the Mausoleum. It was a large brick building. All of the gray bricks fit together perfectly in a pattern that spanned the entire building. There was a large gray metal door at the front and nine neat concrete letters at the front that spelled out "Mausoleum" above door. Mica lightly pulled Mel away from his chest because the rest of the students had started to file in and he didn't want to be the last ones out there. He grabbed her hand, gave it a light squeeze and ran with her to where Damien and Katarina were walking in. "Thank god," Kat said when she saw her two friends together again.

"What do you think of what happened back there?" Damien asked.

Kat punched him in the side and the boy groaned in response. "Let's not talk about it," she said quickly. She didn't want Melissandra to get upset about it and she also knew that the government officials might hear them and punish them for talking about it. He defied the law and it was never good to talk about those who defied the law.