I didn’t like staying after school, but it was Monday and I needed to see what Marlene planned for the afternoon I had texted my father to say I would be home later, but I doubted he’d be home by the time I finished.

The school board had organized a sudden meeting of all classes to inform us about Joseph Bridger’s condition. He laid in a hospital, comatose, but stable. Our teachers advised us to believe in Bridger’s strength. He already survived a bombing, which is why he was in his well known wheelchair.

My father had returned from Japan during the weekend, but refused to talk about what happened. Like always he returned to his work.

I met up with Marlene after class. We went to the science classroom and sat down at one of the white square tables. Vanessa was there, I recognized her from the party. Her face showed not a single emotion. She stared at me like a robot. I slowly waved at her, feeling awkward. She suddenly awakened and shot me and Marlene a sincere smile.

“Hello!” She said enthusiastically while waving. It was a weird switch to see, it went so fast.

Next to her sat a girl with blond hair, a boy with a buzzcut fidgeting with an odd cube, and another girl with a blue streak in her stark black hair. She reminded me of Marlene, but with a more chubby face.

“Hello everyone, I have a potential new member.” Marlene announced.

Everyone's heads perked up and they greeted me. I mentally prepared to shake hands, but luckily the introduction used verbal communication.

The blond girl started, “I’m Gina, I am diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder. I am Gina now, but won’t always be.” Huh, I watched a movie about a serial killer who had that. It was entertaining, but not really up my alley.

The boy with the buzzcut introduced himself as Damien. “I have ADHD, that's why I have this little fidget cube.”

“I always wanted one of those,” I said quietly, “Can I borrow?”

“Catch!” He threw the cube at me with a smooth underhand throw. I caught it and started pressing buttons. It made soft clicking sounds, “I need that back in a bit though.”

“Sure.” I said.

The chubby faced girl stood up, “My name is Miranda, I have OCD.”

“Uhm,” I stammered, “My name is Hans Julians, I do not have any diagnosis or anything. Frankly I don’t care.”

“Neurotypical, like Marlene,” Gina said.

“Uh, yes!” I realized I could use this, “We are very alike, it was kind of why I started talking to her. She seems like a good friend.”

What the hell was I doing?

Marlene patted my back and butterflies started fluttering in my stomach. I tried my best not to blush, but I don’t think I hid it well. Damien started grinning at me.

“Nice to have some men in this team.” He said.

“Damien, don’t you like being surrounded by girls?” Miranda sniggered.

“I do, but Hans looks like a broski.”

“Broski?” I asked.

“I’ll teach you, brother,” he said, “When you give back the cube.”

I threw it back at him and he caught it. He started playing with it again.

Vanessa looked at her phone and her eyes went big. She then stood up. “I’m sorry, I need to go to the toilet. Please excuse me.” Her lower lip twitched.

I went to sit at the table and Vanessa strutted past. In the hallway she put her hands in her hair. She seemed to be distressed as she hurried away.

Marlene sat next to me. I could smell her perfume, it smelled like strawberries. I sniffed a bit to make sure I wasn’t imagining things, Damien looked like he would burst out laughing. “You smelling a fart or something?” He said with a humorous voice.

“Nah, it’s just that Marlene has a certain odor about her.” She grimaced at me.

“She farted?”

“No!” I snapped, “She smells like fruit or something, that’s all,” I flushed and decided to change the subject, “So what are we doing today?”

Marlene grinned, “Glad you asked, Hans. We are designing a poster with which we encourage people to boycott Yonas Chancé. We’re going to hang it up throughout the school.”

I had heard of that lunatic. A French faith healer who claimed he could cure anything from homosexuality to cancer. A dangerous individual who used people’s faith and fear to get rich. According to him, prayer can cure anything. Yonas was a popular figure in the hardcore Christian scene. People like him – and the news coming out of America every now and then – are exactly why Bridger stopped funding religious events, but Yonas is rich enough to fund his own shows and advertisements.

“Everyone with half a brain hates Chancé,” I said, “But what does that have to do with us?”

Gina started with a serious tone with a hint of anger, “He is planning a tour specifically targeted at the neurodivergent and mentally ill. He is saying he’ll cure the child of parents who pay him. Chancé is a fraud, and we want people to know what he is doing.”

Typical faith healer. They didn’t listen to basic psychology and science. “That sounds moronic. Autism and such are incurable,” I said.

“Doesn’t stop him,” Marlene said.

“Crazy.” Damien muttered.

I thought about what a good design would be. I was never good at drawing, but others could probably do it. “Is there any proof of what he actually does with the money he makes?” I asked.

The girls shook their heads, but Damien raised his finger. “Yes! I heard he paid for like a bunch of supercars and flies a private jet. He has said he flies a private jet because a regular plane is full of sinners.”

“How about this, ‘Yonas Chancé indulges in the sin of greed’ with some picture of him in his holy private jet beneath it. I can’t draw so I hope-”

“I do,” Miranda cut me off, “I’m the artist.”

“Ah, great. Let’s get to work then.” I said.

We then worked on the poster. Damien found a great picture and edited it. He had suggested to take a gay porn scene and put his face on it, but that would be too profane to hang on the school walls. We chose to edit a picture of Chancé to make him into a fat man in a suit, eating donuts and servants bowing before him, offering him more snacks. Marlene looked in the hallway. “Vanessa is still gone. I’m worried, it’s been over twenty minutes now.”

“Maybe she is just having very heavy diarrhea.” Damien sniggered.

“Damien, stop it with the toilet humor.” Gina snapped.

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“Maybe she has a secret boyfriend. Would be great for her,” Miranda giggled, “Maybe they’re making out in a toilet stall like fish.”

I remembered her widened eyes, twitching lip and the hands in her hair, “She was distressed,” I said, “She looked at her phone and walked away with her hands in her hair. She was walking fast too. You think she might’ve gone home? Family emergency or something?”

Marlene looked worried, “We need to look for her. You keep working on the poster. Me and Hans are going to find Vanessa.”

Oh hell yes.

“We’ll find her faster if we split up.”

Oh hell no.

“You take the lower floor, I'll take the upper floor.”

I agreed with her and we walked out of the room and into the hallway. Marlene went up the stairs while I wandered around the lower hallway. I looked at every classroom to see if she was there, she wasn’t. I came across the English classroom and saw Mr. Hendricks grading papers. “Sir, do you know where Vanessa went?”

“The silver haired girl?” He said. “She went towards the toilets.”

I thanked him and decided to go to the bathroom, when I was there I heard something. I put my ear to the door and heard someone crying, then a high pitched scream and several loud thuds. I didn’t want to enter the girl’s bathroom without a good reason. I decided to knock first. I rapped on the door and announced myself. “Vanessa, can I come in?”

She kept crying and I didn’t get a single response, except for another loud thud. I decided to open the door and looked inside. What I saw shocked me more than I expected. It was Vanessa, sitting in the corner next to the sink. She hugged herself and her entire body was tensed up. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. Her face was tense and she was gritting her teeth. Her entire body language was a combination of rage and sadness and fear.

“Vanessa, are you okay?” I knew she wasn’t, but it was a force of habit. Her silver hair was a mess and her makeup had run out. I didn’t know what to do, but I slowly approached her. She smacked her flat hand against her thigh and the smacking noise startled me. Her skirt was up and her legs were visible. I bit my lip nervously when I saw the red handmark on her thigh.

“Vanessa, calm down. I am here to help.” I said softly.

She looked at me briefly, then screamed, “No!” With an angry face. She then put her left hand in her mouth and started biting herself, blood came out and my instincts took over.

“Oh no!” I ran towards her and grabbed her wrist, “Don’t hurt yourself, please.” She didn’t listen and was stronger than I thought. She kept gnawing on her hand. I put my hand on her forehead and separated her hand from her mouth. I pushed but I didn’t want to break her wrist, so I held myself back. She shrieked and lashed out with her other hand, scratching me across the cheek. The right side of my face started burning.

“Fuck!” I yelled. This was useless. I didn’t know how to calm her down.

I ran into the hallway and started yelling, “Hey, someone is freaking out here!” I called out. Mr Hendricks started walking towards me from his classroom.

“What in the Hell are you doing in the girl’s bathroom, boy?”

“Vanessa is having some sort of episode. I don’t know how to calm her down. She is just there-” A loud scream interrupted me. “I just seemed to make it worse.”

Luckily, my saving grace came running down the hallway. Marlene ran into the bathroom. “Leave us alone, I can handle this.”

She went up to Vanessa, who was still biting on her hand. She grabbed onto her wrists and pinned them against the wall with great force. She spoke soft and kind words to Vanessa. It took a few minutes, but Vanessa actually calmed down. She was sweating and now just sat in the corner. She wasn’t crying or trashing anymore, but she didn’t seem responsive either. She made the girl lean on her and walked out of the restroom.

“I’m so sorry, I just was afraid to hurt her and pushed her forehead. I am not good for these situations, Marlene.” She raised her hand to shut me up and faced Vanessa.

“What happened, Marlene?” the teacher asked.

“Vanessa had a meltdown. She is autistic, she probably had some sort of sensory issue and all the anger, sadness, and frustration just flopped out of her. She is in a shutdown now. Her body is tired so she needs some time to recover,” She faced Hendricks, “Please sir, can you get a bandage for her hand?”

The teacher nodded and walked off. I looked at Vanessa, slightly shaking. “Should we call an ambulance?” I asked. Vanessa was staring in front of her. Marlene lifted her and put her arm over her shoulder. Vanessa stood up, but her head slumped down.

Marlene looked at me, “No, she just needs rest and time. I think it's best for her to go home. Her parents know what to do way better than me.”

I helped her haul Vanessa to Andy’s car. He had awaited me outside to pick me up and drive me home. Of course he’d also want to know everything about how Marlene had acted towards me. I’d have a crazy story to tell, but it certainly wasn’t the story he was expecting. He was smoking a cigarette while standing beside his car. He wore a white hoodie. It was tucked into an expensive belt with a golden buckle. His jaw dropped when he saw me approaching with two girls, despite one of them being in a more or less catatonic state.

Of course I also had a scratch on my cheek, it did not cut very deep, but it did penetrate the skin.

“Open up the door, we need to bring this girl home.” I looked to the side and heard Vanessa softly mumbling something. She seemed to be recovering. Andy opened up the door and let her in. He then stood face to face with Marlene.

“Hey, Marlene. What happened?”

“Eh, it just got a bit too much for the poor girl. She needs to go home,” She gave him a note with Vanessa’s address sloppily scribbled on it, “She lives here, just drop her off. Her parents are home.”

“Alrighty then.” Andy got in the car and started the engine. I went to sit in the back, next to Vanessa. She looked downright exhausted. She slowly started looking around to see where she was, she dried her tear stained cheeks and then looked at me. I made myself ready to avoid eye contact, but I didn’t have to; she did already. She softly looked to the side.

“Uhng, I’m so sorry for doing that.” She put her hand on her forehead and sighed. Her face was filled with shame.

“I-it doesn’t matter. It’s over now.”

“What even happened?” Andy asked while driving.

“She had a huge melt down in the bathroom. I won’t go into more detail. I don’t think Vanessa wants to hear it right now.”

“Thank you…” A gentle voice whispered. I looked to the side again and saw Vanessa. Her eyes were becoming heavy, just about to close, “For trying to help.” She then fell asleep, her body resting against me. A tingle went through my entire nerve system as her silver hair hit my bare neck. I felt uncomfortable, I wanted to push her off, but that would be exceptionally mean.

“Damn,” Andy whispered while looking at me in the rear view mirror, “If that isn’t a sign of you getting laid, then I don’t know what is.”

“Shut up!” I snapped with a soft voice to not wake the sleeping girl, “I don’t even like her.”

“Shush, she might still hear.”

I shut up real quick

He grinned and parked in a street full of large houses. We woke up Vanessa and she got out of the car. We knocked on the door of her house and her father opened up. His eyes went wide as he saw his distraught looking daughter with a bandaged hand. He was dressed in a simple blue shirt and had a nerdy look to him. Short hair and glasses, “Oh, Vanessa.” He said worryingly. He embraced her tightly, “I can’t thank you boys enough. This kind of thing happens to my daughter sometimes. It must have been very shocking to see.”

“No problem, sir. We’re friends after all.”

We said goodbye and we went back into the car again.

“Holy damn, she was all over you, Hans. Don’t you see what this means?”

“Bro, shut the fuck up. I appreciate you driving me home, but you are wayyy too concerned with my love life. I like Marlene, not Vanessa.”

“Then I can have Vanessa.” Andy joked.

“Don’t you-”

Then my head got rocked to the side as the car got knocked to the side and spun out of control. The car tumbled over multiple times and got knocked into an alleyway. Andy screamed something as he was pulling on the steering wheel. The engine started burning when we were stationary again. In the light of the fire I saw the silhouette of a man approaching.

Andy was hurt worse than me.

He had a nasty gash on his head and bled down his face. I was still in a good condition, at least I thought. I would have some bruises at most. The silhouette of the man closed in on us. The windows of the car were broken. The engine smoked. The man who approached looked tall and skinny with a sickly pale face shining through the shadow of his hood.

The assailant appeared at the driver’s side to look straight at Andy, then at me. His eyes were dark blue and he looked young. The man reached through the window and dragged Andy out by the throat like a feather.. Andy kicked him, but it didn’t seem to do much. Meanwhile I was frozen in fear. I should do something, I thought.

But I didn’t. I stayed cowering in the car.

“Let go of me!” Andy struggled to speak, then the man opened his mouth and revealed two large fangs. He sank them into my friend’s neck. Andy’s final shriek filled me with unspeakable terror. Like a child getting scared from a jump scare in a movie.

This man thought he was a vampire? Were those real fangs?

Was I next?

He stopped sucking Andy’s blood. Then flattened his hand and rammed it right through Andy’s chest and out his back. Blood poured out onto the floor in large quantities. The man pulled his hand back and dropped my friend to the floor. A small yelp escaped my throat, he seemed to have heard it.

“What a shame,” He said. He had a very well refined accent, “Losing a friend while being so young. You're 16, 17 years old?” He grinned. “The upside is that you’ll most likely meet him soon.”

Then he tried grabbing me and I crawled until my back hit the car door. I now screamed as his hand reached through the window.

Then I heard stomping, like someone was running at us, getting closer quickly.

And I thought today couldn't get any crazier.