The Insiders

Chapter 36

Chapter 36- Sharlene

I toss and turn in bed as I beg for sleep. I'm in my own bed tonight. I don't want to push my luck with Coren.

'You need him.' My subconscious tells me but I choose to ignore it, even though I know it's right. I will try to sleep but a nightmare will come. The nightmare will come. The same one as always. The one that starts out as a memory. A happy one of Joy, Coren and I. But ends with Peter shooting me.

Peter. His name haunts me. It's a constant reminder of how complicated my life is, but also how secretive I am. Peter knows now. They all know. They know that I'm here and I'm not like them. I'm an insider nothing's going to change. What's going to happen now? No matter what happens, one day I will have to tell Coren. I will push the day away for as long as I can but not to long, or the day may never come. I cringe as a floating image of Coren's dead body from the nightmare dangles in my imagination. I violently turn over in my bed to rid of myself of the nightmare. The lights from the hallways peer through the crack of the door nearest to Coren. That's weird, they don't normally keep the hallway lights on at night. I tilt my head back toward the other door. Light sneaks under that door too, except for two spots. Two spots just wide enough to be...

I quickly sit up. Just wide enough to be feet. There's someone outside the door. I get out of the bed as fast as I can. Once I reach the door, I rise up onto my toes and peer through the peep hole. With a blast the door is launched off it's hinges, pushing me to the ground with a gasp. My head hits the ground and I begin to see stars. I hear Amy scream, but I don't move. I don't think I can.

"Coren!" I hear Bryce yell. His name sends a rush of adrenaline through my veins and I begin to sit up, trying to push the door off of my body.

"Thomas, help Shar!" I hear Coren yell. Very quickly, Thomas is at my feet helping me slide the door off of me. A sudden ray of light catches my attention. I look over to see Amy blinding our uninvited guest while Coren and Bryce try to take him down, but our guest has a gun.

"Shar, you're bleeding." Thomas says shakily, bringing my attention back to myself. I look at my left arm to see a large flow of blood soaking through my shirt. My attention is stolen again, but this time by a sound. A sound of a loading gun. I flip myself over onto my knees. Coren punches the intruder in the head, knocking him to the floor unconscious. Coren looks at the man for a long while until he looks at me with fear and disbelief. I breathe heavily but I force myself to crawl over to the intruder. Once I'm close enough, I get a good look at him.

The intruder is wearing a tight grey suit which sticks tightly to his skinny figure. He's also wearing a black mesh mask over his face. I need to remove the mask. I need to know if it's Peter, Damien, my dad or anyone else I know. I reach under his neck and grab the hem of the mark. As my fingers touch the man's skin I feel the prickle of an unshaved neck and a steady pulse. I begin to lift the man's mask up. My jaw drops and my breathing becomes uneven.

"It can't-This-This can't." I begin to stutter as I stare at the man's face. I hear Thomas approach from behind me.

"Mr.Rasdear." He whispers quiet enough so only him and I can hear it. I drop the mask and begin to stand up, backing away from my math teacher.

"He's not dead." I say without any emotion as I begin to walk around Mr.Rasdear's limp body.

"Should we kill him?" Bryce asks.

"What?" Amy breathes beginning to pull away from Bryce's tight arms.

"Yes, we should." Thomas chirps in.

"Thomas." Amy gasps.

"He's just going to kill more people if we don't!" He shouts at her. He's letting his connection to Mr.Rasdear stir his emotions. He shouldn't. He did just try to kill us.