Catharsis [Novel]

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

            Or is the worst part the fact that I don't know how to get at it?  I can see the throb of the artery in the curve of her neck, but I don't know how to get to it.  I hunger for it, but I don't know how to break the fragile container that is her skin.

            My tongue instinctively runs along my teeth checking them for sharpness, but nothing useful registers.  My thumbs gently run across my fingertips searching for the point of a nail, but they are all smooth.  A growl of anger wells up from inside of me.  I won't be denied.

            The image of tearing into her like a horror-movie zombie flashes into my mind, but the brutality of such an attack is sobering.  Something tells me that's not how it's done.  That it's wrong. 

            Then another idea sparks in my brain: a knife.  But I don't have one on me (School regulations and all.  Who would have thought they would apply in a case like this?).  Maybe she does?

            "knife?  get me one."  My voice has gotten even deeper and thicker than before, and I know my need for the pointy object was draped across every word I uttered.

            She blinks at me for a moment, before responding quietly, "In the kitchen."

            "get it," and I force every bit of my desire for the knife into those words.

            The thought that I will soon be satiated washes over me in a wonderful wave of warmth and calmness.  Getting to drink is all I can think about, and I watch her step over to the door of her office and grab the door handle.

            The kitchen?  In the cafeteria?  But the connection hits me a moment too late.  She opens the door to leave and the blast of fluorescent light from the school hallway strikes my unshielded eyes like the Nazi's looking upon the Ark at the end of Raiders.

            The pain shatters my hypnotized stare and becomes the only thing I can think about.  The pain consumes my entire being.  I howl as my nerve endings rage against the whiteness.  Must.  Make.  It.  Stop.

            I leap for the door and slam it shut with every bit of my strength, but in my attempt to solve the problem I overdo it.  The wooden door slams into the frame hard enough to splinter it, and a hinge pops next to the wall.  It may have been overkill, but at least it's dark for the moment.

            It's enough to allow me to relax and quit screaming.  Then I realize I can still hear screaming.  From the hallway.  It's Nurse Pritchett, and she sounds hysterical.  I shake my head, and the memories of the last few moments come back to me.  What was I about to do?  I'm horrified as I realize I was a single sharp pointy object away from eating the nurse.  I wanted to cannibalize another human being!

            This can't be happening.  This isn't right.  I have to get out of here.

            Grabbing my sunglasses off the chair and putting them back on, I pull my sweatshirt’s hood over my head and cinch the strings as tight as they will go.  I have no idea what I'm going to do, but I know I have to get away from here.  Right now.

            Looking at the busted oaken door sitting in the blue metal frame, I make a decision.  Settling my weight into my legs, I leap straight at the door hitting it with my shoulder.  It cracks down the middle, and I erupt through it and land in the hallway.  Kids, teachers and administrators are everywhere and they are all staring at me as I stand in the dead quiet of the hallway (Then again who wouldn't stare at the pixie of a teen that just burst through a wooden door.  Probably not part of any school’s daily curriculum.).  They just stare.  A scream pierces the air behind me, and I jump.  It's a scream that will haunt me for as long as I live.  The scream of a person I just tried to eat!

            Turning toward the emptiest hallway I can see, I take off sprinting, moving faster than any kid has ever moved in that building.  Moving faster than probably any kid has ever moved in the history of schools.  Running without paying attention to where I am in the building, I make three quick turns down different hallways.  I’m moving with so much speed that I'm past kids before they even get a chance to process what's moving towards them.

            The brightness of sunlight finally glints off metal and glass at the end of one hall, and I aim directly for it.  Twelve paces away from it, I realize it's not a door but a window.  The fuzzy horizon I can barely make out behind it tells me this isn't even a first story window.  I must have climbed stairs at some point and not even realized it. 

            It's either turn and retreat or jump.  That’s not even a choice I care to consider.  Three paces from the window I put all my weight into my left foot and push as hard as I can into the air and propel myself towards the glass like a Hispanic cannon ball, making sure to duck my head and pull my knees up to my chest.  The window exploding around me as I hit it barely registers as the harsh yellow of the sun bathes over me grabbing my attention.

            Instinctively, I rotate my body in the air so that I hit the ground sneaker-first and immediately roll for several feet before coming up into a run.  I have a brief moment of realizing how cool that was and how much of an action movie I just lived through before the fact that I just jumped out of a two story window, unharmed, hits me.  Following shortly behind that thought is the memory of trying to eat another human.

            I run, and I don't look back.  The life I had before today is gone, and something new is about to begin.