Kidnapped

New Things

It's been two months since the incident and today everyone was told-forcefully- to return to school. Everything meant to return to the normal ways. We were to act normally, as if nothing had happened. Of course none of the students knew what happened. They were told that some pipes had burst, flooding the basement. While I was locked inside Principle Riley's office, students were told to go home, the police had come, and they apprehend Jeremy. He was actually kind of relieved when he was called down to the office. He just wasn't expecting the policemen, who locked him inside the Vice Principal's office.

I heard him screaming from my end of the room. He reached for a gun in his back pocket, shooting two officers in the shoulders. The sound was so loud that I almost fell unconscious.

Yet, today here we were, ready to return to school. Students buzzed and laughed as I walked past to sit on the steps, until the bell rang. They were all too happy to have gotten two months off. Didn't they understand that most of them could've died?

"Of course not," I muttered to myself, watching as Brandon Jennings threw a football toward his friends. They shoved each other for a few moments before one of them jumped up victorious. Brandon whooped and ran toward his friend. He passed Jenny and tried to spook her, but I held up my hand and he tripped on his untied shoes. Jenny glanced up and walked to another space on the grass. Asshole.

I approved. Jenny had spunk.

My gaze followed her until it landed on the bench off to her left. Two months and he still hunted my thoughts. A girl sat there now, reading a book and wondering about Brandon. What makes him tick?

"A dare," I answered her. She looked up suddenly. What was that? I hadn't realized that I sent it her, but it was enough to get me moving toward my locker. Looking at the tree almost made me lose my mind. I have been coming to stare at the tree since the school closed. There was something about it that had my shoulders stiffening every time I looked at it. I went through the front door, walking this time, and turned the corner to my locker. Inside there were books covered with dust as if they have been there for years. I pulled one out at random and concentrated until the image appeared.

Jeremy sat on his cot, his hands shoved on his face. The room was stark white, same as the clothes Jeremy wore, and really bare. Nothing hung on the walls. A door to his left was his bathroom. There wasn't anything he could hurt himself with. His thoughts were as dark as ever, if not darker. I blocked against those thoughts and searched for the one I knew was there. Jeremy sat up suddenly, as if he'd felt me prowling through his mind, and his pale eyes searched the room. The poor tree. I miss him. The only friend I've ever had.

I pulled back, gasping at the thought. Him? Jeremy identified a tree as a boy? Or is it a man? I kept watching the screen, waiting for more, but Jeremy had slipped back into his heavy mood, glaring at the wall. He made a gun with his thumb and pointing finger, lined it up with the wall, and frowned. You're going to die. He made a motion like he was firing his gun. You all are. Then he peered in my direction and smiled slowly. Die.

The book cluttered out of hand, onto the floor, and the image faded away, leaving me staring open mouthed at my math book.

"You must really hate math class, huh?" A presence appeared behind me. A boy, I picked up. I turned around to face him. He stared at me with an eyebrow raised. "Or maybe there was a spider on it?"

I picked up my book as quickly as I could without taking my eyes off the guy's. I hope she can't tell I'm a new kid. She probably can't. I stood back up and stared at him until he cleared his throat, glancing down. "Do you speak? I need to know where room 210 is." I pointed down the hall and he followed my hand, then nodded before walking away. Maybe she's a mute.