Broken Nightmare

Chapter 3

  "Wait, so, this guy threatened you, chased you, and then went after your younger siblings?" Claire asked me again.

"Yeah, that's what happened."

"Why would he do something like that? What did you do?"

"That's the thing—I don't know what I did. It's like he's got me confused with someone else." I grabbed a lunch tray from the line and stood in front of the lunch lady for her to plop the slop on my plate and continued down the lunch line. The food looked like it was moving, so I held it as far as possible from me as I grabbed my apple juice from the bin. After handing the lunch lady my school ID, I waited for Claire to get her grub. She stepped from the line and gave me the same disgusted look, so we both dumped our trays, only keeping our juices, in the trash and went to the only private place during lunch—the math hallway.

On the way there, Claire broke the silence, "So, he didn't tell you why you were in 'trouble'?"

"No—it just, kinda—happened."

"Wow, what a nut job."

"Yeah, well, Liam is looking into it, so we shouldn't worry too much."

"Oh, well, in that case, consider him dead." She joked.

I gave her a light smile and sat down in our usual spot in the deserted hallway.

"At least you're okay. I mean, if he got to you, I mean, really got to you, who knows what—"

"Claire, stop right there. I don't want to imagine what would have happened, and I doubt you want to, either." I glanced over at my best friend, who had tears in her eyes and shifted so I was sitting in front of her. "I'm sorry, are you okay?"

Claire wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, "Yeah, sorry, that's just scary. I can't bear to lose you."

I encompassed her hand in mine. "And you won't. Remember, I have big bad brother going after him."

Claire burst out a short laugh. When I first met Claire, Liam was still worried she would hurt me, but then she met him and totally ticked him off. She showed him up—probably the only person that has ever done that. I instantly liked her even more for being the only person not afraid of my brother. She wiped her eyes again and glared at her hands. "Great, now my mascara is everywhere. I'm gonna run to the bathroom and fix it, 'kay? See you in sixth period?" She jumped up from her spot and looked down at me expectantly.

I smiled at her instant mood change. "You bet. See ya!" She spun, her newly dyed black hair swaying on her back. She's just one of those people who is friends with everyone, but I knew she was my best friend by the way she stuck to my side all the time and consistently spoke to me about all her problems.

I chugged my juice and thought some more how grateful I was to have the people I did in my life. My mother left us five years ago—right after she had my twin siblings, Shawn and Lucy. There wasn't really much warning, and she didn't leave a note. She is the real reason we left our house in Idaho, and came here to Nevada. I felt the closest I had ever been to my brother, though, as we toughed it out and was there for our other siblings. Not long after, my oldest brother, Johnathan, told us he wanted nothing else to do with us and cut us off. Claire came into my life then. And was a huge help, her filling in some of the empty space left behind in my heart.

Knowing the bell will ring soon, I headed towards my locker to get my things for my next class. Turning the last corner, I got a dreadful feeling knotted in my stomach. But before I got a chance to think about it, I reached my locker. A yellow piece of parchment stuck out of the top vent, looking like it'll turn into dust if I even breathe on it. Carefully reaching towards the paper, I plucked it from the vent with a couple fingers and opened it so gently you would have thought I was operating on a baby.