Journey to Psitharis

Chapter 40

Forty

Friday brought the glad knowledge that for a whole week I would be free from the confines of Ross Alexander Memorial High School. It should have made me happy, but it didn't. I had learned the new story being distributed by my fellow classmates. "Beware of Crazy Medora. She tried to kill the principal's daughter in the bathroom." It was the very reason my bus stop was always abandoned; fear of falling victim to one of my rampages had scared all of my bus mates to other stops. I had gone from begrudgingly accepted to complete outcast to creepypasta. Sometimes, if I really thought about it, it kind of brought me down a little.

But today the still silence of the bus stop allowed me the chance to think. And I sat there and thought about Roland. He wasn't making me feel any better than the people who ran from any association with me. He was running from me as well, running from any bond we might share thanks to his blind devotion to a queen who wasn't sure she wanted the job. I hated how he put me on a dais on which I didn't belong. If anything or anyone made me feel like an idiot, it was him and his comments in that cold tent. He saw me as the one thing I didn't want to be; an untouchable deity who, due to her elevated distinction, was destined to live her life in loneliness no matter which life she chose. All I really wanted was to walk with him, hand in hand, through a free Psitharis, unnoticed by the people who passed us without a second glance. Please Roland, see me for who I really am. But my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a familiar engine turning to corner at the end of the street. Something told me to hide, to get behind the large oak near the bus stop and make myself invisible. It was almost as if Roland was warning me himself from Psitharis, so I quickly grabbed my bag and made myself scarce.

I took my things and crouched behind the tree, waiting. As I sat there, I heard the car pull up to the curb. I ventured a quick peek from behind my cover to see Peyton's head peering out the passenger side window of a red car, scanning the bus stop for me.

"Dammit Peyton, you said she always sits out here by herself. Where is she?" Jennifer's voice demanded from the driver's seat.

"She's usually here!" Peyton insisted. "I swear. I've passed her sitting on her fat ass on that bench for the past couple of days. I figured she'd be here!'

"Well, she's not here." I heard the loud sound of Jennifer pounding her fists on the steering wheel. "I really wanted to put the bitch in her place, out of school so we wouldn't get busted. Besides, we can't use our little gift to scare the crap out of the cow if the resource officer catches us, can we?"

I was paralyzed with fear. What kind of gift were they talking about? Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. Natalia must have leaned forward between the seats, because suddenly I could hear her voice clear as day. "I think you two are stupid for doing this. I told you it was a bad idea in the first place. What if you get caught with that thing? How are you going to explain to the cops you had a gun on campus?"

A gun? I swallowed the huge lump that was forming in my throat, afraid that even that action would alert them to my presence. Peyton's voice suddenly chimed in, sounding a little hesitant. "Hey Jen. We weren't really going to use that thing, right? Just scare her with it. Make her piss her pants or something, right?"

From the tone in Jennifer's voice I could almost see the smile of insincerity spread across her face. "Of course, Peyton! We would never use a gun on your best friend! Since when were you so concerned about Fatty anyway?"

"Hey, playing a prank is one thing, but winding up in jail for your damn wounded ego is another. I'm not going to shoot anyone, and you'd be a moron if you tried it. It's your dad's revolver. The damn thing's registered, right?"