Controlled

Chapter 2

I couldn't breathe. The only movement I could make was rocking quickly back and forth on my bed. What happened? How did it happen? Why did it happen to me? Who else did it happen to? Did I even go to school?

I took another deep breath, trying to calm myself down.

"Okay. If I just stay put until mom comes home, everything will be alright. I just need to stay calm." Unfortunately, I couldn't. I needed to find a distraction. I leaned over to my desk and grabbed my laptop.

What will distract me? I googled, 'distraction' But nothing peaked my interest. Then I felt a soft buzzing coming from my left pocket. My phone. I pulled it out and answered.

"Hello," I said in a shaky voice.

"Urelia? Where were you today?" It was Chris, my best friend from school. He was always so protective over me.

"Uh, I think I was sick. I guess I wasn't feeling well this morning." I said, dazed. I missed school. Did I cut and do drugs and that's why I forget?

"Urelia?" He interrupted my thought process.

"No I wouldn't do drugs...was I roofied?" I muttered.

"You were what?"

"Oh no sorry I thinking out loud."

"About what? What happened today?"

"I told you, I was sick."

"No, you said you think you were sick. Which doesn't answer any questions. Actually, it creates more."

"Okay, I'm sorry Chris, but I gotta go."

"No, we are not done talking ab-" And with that I hung up.

"Okay, distraction." I muttered to myself.

Maybe seeing what other people are dealing with will help me forget about my weirdness. The next thing I googled was "local news stories". The first thing to come up was a news article posted this afternoon.

PSA: Martindale High School Student Found Brutally Stabbed

No. That can't be true. I clicked on the link and it took me to the full article. Attached to it was a picture of a girl named Marcy Simmons. I looked closer and realised that that was the girl picking on the freshman on the bus. I couldn't move. She was dead. No. She was killed. Killed by who?

I read on.

Martindale student Marcy Simmons was found brutally stabbed in the basement of a Marriott hotel. In addition to the bloody knife used to stab the victim, a number of items were also found at the scene including an empty bottle of shampoo and a bar of soap that came from the hotel, as well as a hose that has been used recently, although seemingly not to clean up the crime scene. Investigators are running the bottle for fingerprints and will be on air with a profile of the suspect later today.

I slowly closed my laptop, struggling to breathe. At that moment I heard the back door open and close.

"Mom?" I whimpered.