Becca casually walks toward the trembling man. She grasps the sides of his cheeks as she arrives, pulling him down for a passionate kiss. As she breaks contact, he jerks backwards. Irritated, Becca draws him down again and begins to whisper in his ear. Slowly the blood drains from his face as his expression contorts into one of abject horror.
Whimpering, the man begins to beg for release, pleading with the inexorable girl. She simply continues to speak, her voice a low murmur from across the room. Despairing, the man’s legs go limp as he ragdolls. Becca continues to hold him aloft, her fingers boring into the flesh of his skull. Unable to take it anymore, the man desperately fumbles through Becca’s pockets until he finds a rusty pocketknife. Unfolding it, he positions it above his right eye and-
With a scream, Erika awakes. Disoriented, it takes her a moment to feel about the bed and reassure herself it was merely a nightmare. Covered in sweat, she throws off her covers and stands from her bed. Shivering in the cold air, she stares out her bedroom window. Erika glances back at the bed, afraid. She knows that returning to sleep means a return to her memories, made all the worse by the previous week’s horrifying events. Suppressing a shudder, she wonders if the tremor in her spine is the cold or the fear. Grimly, she admits that it hardly matters. Either way, sleep tonight will be difficult.
Across town, a similar scene plays out. Hailey Penze slumbers in her pajamas, her pallid flesh quivering while she remains ensconced in the memory of Becca’s attack. She cannot break her nightmare, remaining trapped in the memory until the sound of an oft-repaired alarm clock breaks through the morning silence. Surfacing from the nightmare, Hailey needs no urging on this morning as she awakens with a gasp on the first ring.
Staring at the ceiling above, she wrestles with the thought of going to school. Unwillingly, she forces herself out of bed and begins to dress herself mechanically. Pulling her top off, she flinches from the sight of the bandages covering the ugly lacerations on her stomach. Unable to concoct a reason for her injuries, the maintenance of her secret identity compels her to pretend they do not exist. However, it cannot compel them to hurt less.
Hailey silently and ponderously pulls a loose t-shirt and massive sweater over her frame. The sleeves hang past her hands and the hem is long enough to serve as a skirt when paired with shorts for modesty’s sake. For a minute, Hailey stares at her outfit in the mirror before bursting into tears. As she throws herself back across her bed, the haunting voice of Becca rings in her ears, asking, “Who do you see?”
School is hardly better. In a haze, Hailey goes through the motions of her morning until she finds herself standing outside the entrance to St. Cecilia’s High School. A sudden jolt shocks her out her distracted state, full of apprehension she turns to whoever woke her and hears, “Hey.” Standing opposite her is Ginny, the redhead sporting a simple look with low heels and a flaring blue sundress with a high neckline and shoulder length sleeves. Around her neck is a burnished metal necklace.
“It’s been a while,” she says to her dumbstruck friend. Frowning at the lack of a response, Ginny adds, “Soooo, about the repairs. They did a good job, right?”
“Um,” mutters Hailey as she struggles to find her bearings. Her mind catching up to reality, she says in a rush, “Oh! Yeah, it’s like it never happened.”
“Good!” Says Ginny with a satisfied smirk, “I told them if they finished it over the weekend I would quadruple whatever they would have made otherwise.”
“Told who?” asks Hailey, still shaking off her lethargy.
Cocking her head to the side and frowning at her friend’s inattentiveness, Ginny responds, “The builders, who else? Can you believe they thought it would take a full month to finish repairing this place?” She adds with a shake of her head. “Well that would have been intolerable. Apparently there’s a minimum number of days I’m required to attend in order to pass the year and with the delay from the construction I wouldn’t have enough.”
Confused, Hailey asks, “Why wouldn’t you just switch schools? Isn’t that your normal routine anyways?”
Scowling, Ginny replies, “Apparently Beacon told Dad I should stay here and apparently dad listened.”
Shocked by the casual revelation, Hailey misses the rest of Ginny’s speech. Raising her hand, she says, “Wait, wait! Beacon told your dad what?”
Flippantly, Ginny answers, “Yeah, like I should stay here or whatever. I guess he and dad know each other from like waaaayyy back. He’s cool though.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Feeling dazed once again, Hailey slaps her face gently trying to shock herself out of her morning lethargy. Watching her, Ginny says in a critical tone, “You need some color in your cheeks, but that’s the wrong way to do it.” Then looking her up and down with an appraising eye she adds, “Honestly this entire outfit is cute, but also terrible. Is that Theo’s sweatshirt? You know he’s got like two feet on you right? Because the hemline is practically at your knees and I don’t even want to talk about those sleeves.”
Downcast, Hailey nods and mumbles, “Yeah.”
Her tone clearly indicates something is wrong to her friend. Pursing her lips, Ginny regards Hailey. As if examining a butterfly trapped under a pin, she calmly assesses Hailey’s forlorn attitude alongside her peculiar choice of attire before saying, “Alright, what’s the drama?”
Guilty, Hailey looks away and replies, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
For a moment, Ginny looks at her. Then she grabs Hailey by the arm and drags her to an alcove and off the steps. Finished marching, she turns back to her captive and says in a no-nonsense voice, “What happened?”
Squirming, Hailey tries to worm her way out from Ginny’s clutches. But the bigger girl casts her hands wide and stops her from escaping. Ceasing the struggle, Hailey falls limp and says with tears in her eyes, “He hates me and it’s my fault!”
Taken aback, Ginny asks, “What did you do?”
Wailing, Hailey continues her sobriquet through sudden tears, “I’m lying to him and I thought I could explain it to him but now I think I can’t and Missy is going to yell at me too because I’m lying to her also and I’m going to lose them and have no friends except Bella and even though Bella is great I only met her a few months ago and Missy is my best friend and I don’t want to lose her or Theo!”
Sorting through Hailey’s spew of words, Ginny pauses to think. Seeing her captor’s distracted face, Eldritch decides to try escaping once more by ducking under her arm. She manages to slip through, but finds herself collared once again as Ginny grabs the hood of Theo’s sweater.
Annoyed, Ginny says, “Oh don’t even think about it.”
However, just as Ginny reaches out with her other hand to pull Hailey back, she finds herself holding nothing but air! Somehow, the smaller girl managed to wriggle free. Unable to see Hailey’s eyes, she does not notice the slight flicker of light that flashes through them, just long enough to aid her escape.
Surprised, Ginny cannot stop the other girl from racing up the steps and into the school. Her entrance comes not a moment too early either, for as she crosses the threshold of the school the alarm for the start of first period blares! Startled, Ginny makes for the entrance with a guilty haste, leaving her altercation with Hailey for a later time.
Shuffling into class, Hailey keeps her head down as finds her way to her seat. Sitting down she hears a loud whisper from the chair next to her, “Finally! I’ve been waiting all morning for you.”
Without looking up, Hailey whispers back in a voice full of fear, “Hi Missy.”
Missy’s next message comes across with the full weight of her anger as she hisses, “Don’t ‘Hi Missy’ me! Do you have any idea how mad I am right now?”
Hailey agonizes over her answer, but before she has to reply the voice of Mr. Rutter cuts the pair of them off as he cuts through the student’s conversations with, “Attendance is done, let’s get started. Today I thought we could deviate from the usual lesson plan and talk about something a bit more topical, who can tell me why we call threats like Becca A1s?”
Seeing an avenue of escape, Hailey raises her hand. Feeling the weight of Missy’s gaze boring into her side, she quickly replies when called upon, “A1 is short for Association-One. The A signifies that the ranking comes from the Association. The number is a designation of how many casualties are likely to occur in the course of fighting the villain. Numbers range from one to five with an Association-Five threat capable of causing casualties equal to or less than an ordinary, unarmed, individual. In contrast, an Association-One threat is typically considered capable of killing everyone within their effective radius.”
Mr. Rutter smiles and says, “Good answer, Missy you look like you’ve got something to add?”
Taken by surprise, Missy swallows her anger before she answers. When she does, an edge runs through her voice, but she refrains from continuing her stare down of Hailey. “That isn’t entirely correct. Property damage, prior encounters, and circumstances are all important to understanding a rating. If a villain attacks a crowded theater and causes a panic, it is possible that many of the resulting injuries stem from the panic and not the villain themselves. And, if a villain’s power causes no damage to structures, an A1 rating means that they are extremely dangerous. So dangerous that even going outside with them active is a foolish, stupid, and completely insane decision.” As she finishes, Missy glances in Hailey’s direction. Her demeanor leaves no doubt in Hailey’s mind that she is the subject of the final portion of her answer.
Taken aback at the fervor in her tone and unaware of the undercurrent, Mr. Rutter says in a careful tone, “Ah, well, yes it is of course a poor choice to go outside at all when an A1 is active in the immediate vicinity.”
Cutting him off, Missy adds, “Exactly!” pouncing on the word with an angry passion before clarifying in a less aggressive voice, “it’s an obvious poor choice.”
Hailey, tight lipped, raises her hand. Mr. Rutter waves his assent with a cautious resignation. “But Mr. Rutter, aren’t some A1s cause for evacuation to safer ground? Didn’t Seghulok cause the evacuation of the Falklands Islands last year?”
Missy jumps in before Mr. Rutter can reply with an aggrieved, “Of course, but Seghulok isn’t Becca. One of those things is a moving glacier and the other is a psychotic murdering bit-”
“Miss Anderson!” says Mr. Rutter, cutting her off. Refocusing the discussion, he continues with, “You both bring up quality points. Although Missy, I would like to point out that Seghulok isn’t exactly a moving glacier and I expect you to watch your language in my class. Either way, I think that is enough on the subject for today. Now I think it would be a good exercise for us to talk about our experiences during the attack, does anyone have a story they would like to share?”
Trusting her tenuous friendship, Hailey gives Missy a pleading glance. Missy starts to raise her hand, then seeing her companion’s face an expression of doubt appears on her visage. Internally warring, she slowly lowers her hand as Mr. Rutter calls on another student and the focus turns away from the two girls. Silently mouthing her thanks, Hailey lets out a nervous breath and slumps in her seat.
But her relief is short lived, for as she slumps back a voice crackles to life over the loudspeaker saying, “Hailey Penze to the principal’s office, Hailey Penze to the principal’s office.”
A walk to remember or perhaps one to forget! What does this mean for our heroine? Is her secret identity not so secret anymore? Has she forgotten a ream of homework in the course of her heroics? Does discipline, accolades, or some other fate await her at the end of the hallway? As Hailey takes the longest walk a high schooler can, we await the outcome with baited breath. Find out her fate next week in… “Eldritch Maiden to the Principal’s Office!”