Invincible

Chapter Five

I don't bother to look back into the cafeteria, trying my best not to turn around and see Taylor or Jack's faces again. The voices start to fade again, and the pain slowly follows along with it. I am okay.

With the show I just put on, there was no way I was going to walk back in there. The only way I could get out of this alive is to simply just get out of here. Leave. Walk right out of the door. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea to me.

As I walk to my locker, the possibilities of what happened in the cafeteria begins to run through my recently cleared head.

Idea one: I was crazy. Maybe that's why I can't remember anything. I'm so insane that someone probably shot me with a tranquilizer and I lost my memory. Actually, I've never thought about that one before. Maybe that one will go in my "What happened to my memories?" list.

Idea two: I was dreaming. It wouldn't be the first time I dreamt something weird. I mean, last night, I was surrounded by fire! Now that I'm thinking about it, I was starting to get confused. Was this a dream? I couldn't tell. This felt real, but it wasn't like the dream hadn't felt real, either.

Ugh! My head starts to hurt again. Not like it was before, but still hurting nonetheless. I decide to scratch those ideas out of my head for now, thinking my thoughts were not too safe to think at the moment.

I check my locker to see if there is anything I need. Nothing really. I close the locker, trying to take deep breaths so I wouldn't lose conciseness. Or my mind.

"Are you okay, Mr. Connor?"

Oh, no. Here comes the pain...

But there wasn't. No pain or any loudness. I was fine.

I turn my head and find Ms. Rockwell walking up to me.

"Um...yeah, Ms. Rockwell," I say. "I'm fine."

She stops an inch away from me. "Are you sure? You sure seem to be sweating a lot."

It wasn't until I wipe my forehead against my hand that I realize I was soaking wet. I wipe my hand dry, and then once I finish scratching at my moist armpits, I begin to fan my shirt.

"Yeah," I repeat, nodding my head, "I'm fine."

Ms. Rockwell looks at me for a moment, her confused expression facing my panicked one, then smiles and nods her head. "All right," she says. And from there, she continues to walk through the hallway.

The sound of the bell startles me. Dang it! I thought I had more time. I grab onto my backpack and start to walk. The sound of kids filling the hallways enter my ears, and I move at a faster pace. But before I take another step, I hear a voice yelling my name.

"Troy!"

I turn around and find Taylor standing in the middle of the hallway, students navigating around her as they get to their next class. When she realizes she's caught my attention, she starts walking in my direction, the obvious worried expression still on her face from where I'd left it.

I couldn't let her see me like this. Not when I was on the verge of having a psychotic breakdown. I quickly turn my head and started to run.

Everything was going okay. No one seemed to attack me when I pushed them out of the way, and I didn't seem to neither hear, nor see Taylor approaching me. My journey out of the school would've been complete and gone unnoticed, invisible to others. But that was before Rick stepped in front of me, and stopped me dead in my tracks, terrified.

"How's it going, Newbie?" he says, pounding his fist into his other hand, like he did the previous day with Jack. "Pretty funny stuff you pulled back there."