FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL

Chapter 11

Alyssa

It was another crisp autumn morning and I was walking to school in a pair of dark washed jeans and a black top. It had now been a little over a year after we had taken that camping trip and I saw those three strange kids. It had been so long ago when that had happened but somehow that incident had been etched in my mind and I could not push it away no matter how hard I tried.

At the time it had seemed so strange and utterly crazy how the three kids had just paused in the clearing for a minute and then they had run with inhumane speed. However a week after that, I dismissed the event as a group of children who were on a camping trip like us.

But now, a month after I started sixth grade, I could not help but reminisce those events. The face of the boy as he drank whatever was in the flask still bothered me. How could anyone in so much pain just relax simply after taking a sip from a bottle?

I walked on, thinking about everything until I reached the school. It was a marble structure with smooth stones etched in the exterior walls. Kids were gathered around the hallways and were chattering loudly. I casually made my way to my locker where I knew I'd meet Kellie. However when I got there, Kellie was not by her locker. The other locker that was next to mine was open and a girl with long curly red hair was rummaging around in it. I guessed she was new.

"Hi," I grinned shutting my locker door. The girl glanced at me from beneath her long lashes and smiled. I noticed that when she smiled, it was as if her whole face grew more beautiful. You could clearly see the blue of her eyes and the rosiness of her cheeks.

"Hey," she said at last. My name's Cassie Wright."

"I'm Alyssa Tremors," I answered. "Are you new here?"

"Yeah," said Cassie. "My family moved here about a week ago."

"You want to have lunch with my friend, Kellie and I? We sit at a table near the back of the cafeteria," I said, taking my math textbook out of my bag.

Cassie grinned and said, "Sure. I'd love to!" Right at that moment, Kellie came bounding towards me, her hair bouncing on her shoulders. She was wearing a blue denim skirt and a deep red blouse.

"Hey," she grinned when she stopped in front of her locker. "Sorry, I'm late. My mom's car wouldn't start."

"Hi," I greeted her and then pointed at Cassie who smiled shyly. "This is Cassie Wright. She's new here."

"Hey, Cassie," Kellie smiled and linked arms with her. "My name's Kellie. We should totally have lunch together."

One thing you should know about Kellie is that she can be very talkative at times, and most of the time she is hyper and will talk nonstop. Cassie just smiled and let Kellie steer her towards our math class.

The room was already full of kids so finding seats was going to be hard. The whole front row was taken and the only ones left were the ones at the back. We dumped our books on the desk and dat down.

"Good morning,, everyone," Mr Winters called over the buzz of chatter and soon everyone fell silent. He began teaching us a new topic and we were all soon copying sums off the board. I was just rummaging in my bag for another pencil when I saw it. Cassie was bent over her desk but her face looked incredibly pale from here. Her eyes had gone wide and it looked like she was having trouble breathing.

"Cassie," I whispered. "Are you alright?" She didn't seem to hear me so I reached out and touched her arm which I now found out was trembling. "Cassie?"

"What?" she wheezed, looking up at me. Her eyes were red around the edges and her lips were quivering.

"Are you okay?" I whispered.

"Yeah," she croaked. "I'm fine. I just....."

"Do you need to go to the nurse?"

She stared back at me, her whole body trembling now. "I'm fine."

I looked at her incredulously. "You are far from fine. You look like you just... I don't know. You look pretty pale and you're trembling. Don't you feel it?" I was seriously worried about her. I mean, I just mer the girl but she was really freaking me out right now.

"I do feel it. I'm not an idiot!" she rasped. "But I'll be fine in a couple of minutes. It's just an allergic reaction to something. Ever since we moved to Crescent, I've been having a lot of them."

"Okay," I whispered back uncertainly. "But I'm pretty sure that when someone gets an allergic reaction, they're supposed to take pills or something."

"I....don't need any....." But her voice was cut off by a low rumble from her stomach. I could hear it because I was sitting mere centimetres away from her. "I'm going to throw up!"

I immediately raised my hand and Mr Winters turned to me questioningly. "Mr Winters? Cassie needs to go to the nurse. Can I take her? She doesn't really know where her office is since she's new." He nodded understandingly and told Cassie that she could get the rest of the class off.

She was mumbling something by now, but I couldn't decipher a word she was saying. Her breathing had grown shallow and somehow, I just knew that puking would do her no good. Whatever was happening to her was far from a normal allergic reaction. I tugged her out of her seat and literally dragged her outside. I took her to the first place I could think of: the cafeteria. It was empty except for the lunch ladies who were busily cooking in the kitchens and Martha, the counter attendant.

"One bottle of water, please," I said.

"Here," I handed the bottle to Cassie who took it gratefully and unscrewed the top. She gulped down the water in record time and put the bottle down. Taking a few shuddering breaths, she gasped.

"Thanks,"

"No problem," I replied. "Are you feeling better. Whatever that was....." But the short moment of comfort was gone. Her body began trembling again and she clutched at her head.

"Cassie?" I asked in alarm.

"I...I need...." she choked out. "I need to get to my locker. Now!"

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A/N

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