Clay Heroes

Chapter 7: Abduction

Chad awoke the next morning full of dread. All he could think about was Eddie's betrayal and what Justice might do to him, now that there was no one to defend him. What was more, there was little hope of anyone else associating with him, once Eddie had spread the news that Chad was bad luck to anybody who didn't want to get pounded by Justice. Kids gave him sideways looks, but always walked the other direction when he started to walk in their direction. No one wanted to play any of the games with him, but that wasn't much different than the way things normally were, so Chad continued for miserable hour after miserable hour.

He spent the entire day avoiding the very sight of any of those bullies. So much as the sight of Dune's beanie on the other side of the hall would set his heart beating frantically. Once, when he saw Corbin's shoes walk into the bathroom when he was in the stall, Chad pulled his feet up and did not so much as breathe until he saw those shoes leave and heard the door close behind him. The young boy went about with the air of a man marked for execution. Corbin had even cared enough to leave him a message scrawled on the door of he boys' bathroom stall, which he came across later that day: DEAD MAN WALKING. So what if the janitor could buff it out after school that day? The point had been made.

Not even the announcement that the school-wide talent show was accepting any and all entries to fill their last three spaces cheered him any, despite Ms. Desser's best effort to recruit him personally.

"Are you sure you don't want to sign up, Chad?" She cornered him after the rest of the class filed out for afternoon recess. "You could tell a story, one that you wrote yourself; your written assignments are among some of the best I have ever received in all my fifteen years of teaching third grade."

Somehow her praise didn't make him glow like he always thought it would. It was as if a big black raincloud hung over his head, blocking out all the happiness and excitement and other positive emotions.

"I'm sure, Ms. Desser," he told her in a reluctant mumble. "I don't think I want to be in the talent show."

"All right, I'll let you make that decision," she backed away. "But just know that if there's a spot, I really think you'd be great if you went for it."

Chad shuffled out the door of the classroom, full of the conviction that Ms. Desser was only saying such kind things because she was a teacher, not because she meant any of it. There was no way he would have a chance in any kind of talent show. He was sure to freeze up and ruin the whole thing, and then the teasing would only get worse. It was safer for him and for the kids around him if he just didn't participate.

In his mind's eye, the black shadow around him grew still larger.

It was raining again when Chad left school at the end of the day, but this time he wasn't moving very fast in an effort to get home. He knew that the closer he got to home, the nearer he was to the certain doom that surely awaited him at the old parking garage. He took small steps all the way down—and as the black rectangular building rose into view over the horizon, Chad kicked himself mentally. Didn't he know a better way to go? Why was he always forgetting at the most important moments? He would practically need a billboard at the corner of Hillsmith and 12th to tell him not to keep going straight, at this rate! As slow as his steps had been before, Chad moved even slower now, at each pace bracing himself and preparing himself for the beating of his lifetime.

The rain slacked off somewhat, but the clouds remained when at last Chad reached the shadows of the parking structure. He tentatively stepped onto the dry area of the pavement under the overhanging concrete. He peeked around the column at what used to be the entrance of the garage, toward the place where Dune Fraiser usually stood, juggling her hackey sack.