The Broken Ones

Chapter 6

Taylor:

"I love your parents, Kat," I said, plopping down on her bed.

"Really? They're kinda boring," she replied. Her hair was a wild mess. It reminded me of a nest and I found myself half expecting to see a bird flying through her window and landing on her head.

The walls seemed to shake under the thunder bouncing off of the ground as my mind dazed off to the sound of the tapping of rain on her window. It didn't seem to faze Kat, but to me, I could get lost in the peaceful sound. She noticed this and quickly pulled me out of my trance. "Tay. Earth to Tay."

I looked over at her. "Yeah?"

"Hi," she said with a smile.

"Hi."

"You good?"

I nodded. She continued talking about her boring parents, my eyes flickering to her every now and then in an attempt to show my false concentration, but my brain was somewhere else, as usual. The rain was almost hypnotizing as I watched it splatter on the windows. Felix suddenly popped up in my head, along with the smooth tone of his words. Away.

Friday came, filled with many boring topics and clichés. I was aching for school to end. Felix, Kat, and I were sitting outside during lunch, hidden behind a few trees, and observing the streets in front of us. They weren't busy, which was kind of comforting. Busy streets stressed me out. Felix quietly puffed on his cigarettes, Kat fiddling with her sandwich. I eyed her with suspicion. I knew I couldn't forget those last times when I watched her with blindness, saying she wasn't hungry or forgot to pack a lunch. She said she had to go to the bathroom quite often, but seemed almost panicky when I offered to go with her. Only after two months did I finally realize what was going on. I felt like such a failure and I promised to myself I would never let her go through that again. "Hungry?" I asked her.

She smiled up at me and bit into her sandwich. I could almost feel the relief flooding my stomach. "I can't believe that stupid science teacher is giving us another quiz," Felix said beside me.

"That's what we get for not dropping out soon enough."

He grinned at me slightly. My head darted suddenly in the direction of a noise coming from ahead of us. My eyes landed on an old man with wobbly knees, but what took my particular attention was the glasses in his face that almost looked more like steampunk goggles, magnifying his eyes about ten times. On his shoulder hung an old, rugged bag, weighing him down. He looked animated. The white stubble on his chin glimmered in the sun as he turned around, his eyes widening even more when they landed on the three of us. I sank deeper into the tree, wanting desperately to retreat. "What the hell-"

"You!" he barked, raising a shaky finger to the center of my chest. He then turned to Felix. His mouth fell open then closed in shock. "And you!" Finally, he found Kat. A tiny squeak escaped his thin lips. We watched, not really knowing what to do or how to react as he fumbled around for something, pausing and throwing us another look of awe, then quickly darting away in surprising speed.

Felix's cigarette hung in his parted lips, myself feeling his confusion. Kat just looked scared for the man. "This is why they invented mental asylums," Kat explained.

I could only take a deep breath and silently agree with her.

School finally ended a million years later, and Felix decided to drive me home. I told him Kat could, but, like always, he insisted. We got in his car, driving away from the school and down the street. "How's Kat doing?" he asked me.

I shrugged honestly. "I really don't know. She seems fine, but . . ."

I knew Felix understood how hard it could be to truly see behind a person's mask, depending on how thick or thin it is. Kat, however, seemed to be honest with me most of the time, I hoped. "How are you doing?" Felix questioned.

I shrugged once more. "I'm okay. You?"

He chuckled. His eyes were trained on the road ahead of him, but the ease on his face was pretty apparent. "I'm okay."

"Hey, um, what do you think the guy meant when he started pointing at us and going all psycho."

He let out a breath and drummed his fingers on the wheel. He seemed to be in deep thought. Finally, he spoke. "Kat was probably right. It was just a mentally disabled dude."

He spoke, but his words were on edge, probably just like his mind. I couldn't blame him. The man really seemed genuinely surprised to see us, and it was scary.

We arrived back at my house a few minutes later, Felix waving me goodbye as I stepped out of his car and walked to the front door. He watched me go, not leaving until I was safely inside, or at least just inside. I found Walter sitting on the neatly cleaned couches, observing the flashing screen of the T.V illuminating the dark room. I didn't say anything as I walked into the kitchen, grabbed a glass of water, and headed back into my room. I tossed my backpack onto my rickety bed and sat down in front of my mirror, combing my almost silver hair out. I noticed my eyes looked tired, along with almost every other feature of my pale face. I guess I was more exhausted than I originally presumed.

Homework was hell, considering how many times I fell asleep on my sheet of paper, and finally, I decided to say screw it and go to bed. To my much disappointment, my sleep really only lasted for about an hour, when my eyes shot open and my body jolted up. My brain was fully awake, but my body wasn't. I couldn't control anything I was doing. It was a terrifying feeling, especially to suddenly wake up to. What was happening?

Without even knowing, I swatted the sheets off of me and hopped out of bed, walking over to my dresser. My bottom half was thankfully protected from the cold by my leggings, but my top half was, unfortunately, only covered by a bra. My hands aimlessly wandered to the top drawer, pulling out my Boston hoodie and pulling it over my head. I wanted to do something to resist the urge to move as I began walking towards my door, down the hallway, and into my living room. He was still there, snoring with his mouth wide open. I had no worries on him at the moment, however. There was just the slight issue of my whole body being turned off. My hand suddenly moved to the knob of the front door, my feet slipping into a pair of converse. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop myself from stepping outside into the dark of the night and walking all the way down the street to wherever I may be going. Then everything stopped. I was back in the presence, standing in the ally I so often visited. To my horror, Felix and Kat stood right next to me, and by the looks on their faces, they were just as scared and confused as I was feeling. "Felix," I said.

"I don't know-"

Before I could even let out even a breath of shock, I felt my body being jerked back into the air, landing with a hard thrash to the cold ground. I could have sworn I heard every bone in my body snap with a sickening crunch. My vision was blurry and my ears were ringing, but I managed to glance in front of me. No words could fully describe what I was seeing. I half hoped that it was just a dream. The giant, purple, swirling ball of energy in front of me was simply a nightmare I would soon recover from. No words would escape my lips despite how hard I tried to force them out. As soon as it happened, it stopped. Everything dissolved, my vision went blank, I could almost feel myself drifting away.

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