My Book Of Random Stories

Insanity (13)

13- Dominos

Jeremy~

I had my hand raised for the longest time, yet the teacher never seemed to notice. The only one who noticed was Jared.

“Teacher! I think Jeremy wants to ask you something,” Jared yelled, breaking the silence.

My face heated up with embarrassment. Now everyone in the class was looking at me because of Jared. Mrs. Gonzalez was looking at me too, and she did not look happy that I interrupted her from reading.

“What is it?”

“May I go to the restroom?”

She pointed at the door as she continued reading. I made sure no one was watching, then slid my laptop down my shirt. I had to tuck my shirt in so that my laptop wouldn’t fall out. Walking out of the classroom with a laptop inside my shirt made me feel like I was smuggling some type of drug. I tried my best to walk out the door normally to not arouse suspicion, but it really isn’t easy when you have a laptop shifting around inside your shirt.

The second I left that classroom, I headed to the room where April and I made the deal, hoping she’d still be there. And thanks to my good luck, there she was, sitting on a chair and looking out the window. Her fingers gently caressed her hammer as she got lost in her own thoughts.

I closed the door behind me loudly enough for her to notice that she wasn’t in the room alone. She turned around in her chair, but didn’t smile when she saw that it was me. She kept her hammer in her hands as she looked directly at me, waiting for me to talk.

“I feel like it’s my fault that Paisley died,” I mumbled.

She still didn’t talk.

“I saw the whole thing. I-I could’ve opened the door or something! What exactly was the point in killing Paisley?”

“I don’t know, but it was fun,” April said, a smile forming on her face.

“Fun?!” I questioned. “You burned a student alive!”

April sighed.  “It was only a little fire. It’s not like the whole school burned down. Besides, I heard the principal was going to end the school day earlier because of the fire.”

“I don’t care about going home early! I can’t stop thinking about Paisley’s death!”

That was the loudest I’ve ever been. I’ve never raised my voice at someone before. I’m always so calm and able to find reasonable solutions to my problems. I don’t know why I suddenly feel the need to yell at the world.

April approached me. She placed a hand on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes as she talked. “Jeremy, what you’re feeling is called guilt. If you want to work for me, if you want to live, you have to learn to either get used to it, or ignore it.”

“I don’t think I can do that,” I stated. “All I see is fire. All I hear are cries of pain. All I feel is guilt.”

“Changing the subject.” April interrupted. “What happened with Stephanie?”

I had to sit down on a chair to keep myself from fainting. I knew from the start that this wouldn’t end well. A smart person would’ve not done the deal, but apparently I’m no smart person. There’s nothing smart about helping someone kill someone.

“She thinks Brandon’s the one who sent the picture.”

“See! I told you no one would ever suspect a thing!”

“She also broke up with Scott,” I informed.

April’s smile disappeared. “I did that?” she whispered.