The impact sucked the air out of my lungs. I felt the skin of my face flapping from the sheer force of the collision. Everything seemed to slow down as I felt the heat of the truck’s engine inches from my jaw.

I couldn’t move my arms or legs and my head was pinned to the grill. I could hear the sound of breaks being slammed. I knew it was just a matter of a few more seconds until my body caught up with my brain and I died.

It all happened so quickly that I didn’t have time to register what had just happened completely. The truck finally slowed and my hair fell back onto my sweating face. Once fully stopped I tried pulling myself out of the grill but I was stuck, or at least my face was.

I yanked my legs and feet out of the bumper leaving two large dents. Next came my arms which took a lot more energy to pluck from the metal. I was then left with half of my face still crunched into the side of the truck’s radiator.

I heard screaming coming from the driver’s door.

“Kid! Kid! You alright?! Oh shit, oh shit. I’m in trouble, I’m in trouble. Oh no, oh no. God please, no!”

I’m not sure why I didn’t wait there to be helped, all I knew was that I had a crazy desire to get out of there. To vanish before people could find out I’d just survived a literal head-on collision with an eighteen-wheeler. Hell, I wasn’t sure If I’d really just survived the hit or if I was just high off the shock.

I put all my effort into freeing myself. I popped out from the truck’s embrace in one quick sudden movement. Next thing I knew I was on the hot pavement standing myself up while already working myself into a run. I could hear them calling out to me but I didn’t look back.

I had to get to Father Donovan as soon as possible. Something weird was happening and he, being one who dealt with freakish things for a living, would be the only one who could help me. Surely, he must know what the hell was going on with me, right?

I felt the sun beating down on my neck as I kept running at full speed. I reached into my pocket to find my phone to figure out the time but my hand was met with destruction. My iPhone had been completely smashed with thousands of glass pieces jingling I my pockets.

Something caught my eye as I pulled my hand from my jeans. It was significant enough that I stopped running. Surely this couldn’t have been a mirage, could it? No, this was real, very real.

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My skin was no longer its pale self but had taken on the color of yellow. I ran my finger across it and it felt just like bone except there was no pain at all. Was I still in shock? Was I hallucinating? Was I still dying? Had I left my skin with the truck back where I was hit?

No. I was still in one piece. In fact, I felt more than good, energized even. I watched in amazement as this new yellow skin wavered, soaking back into my body and replacing itself back with my normal paleness. I poked my forearm a few more times finding it to be soft and normal as if nothing had happened.

Need to get to Father Donovan, I thought, picking up the pace.

Looking up to see the street signs was painful work. The sun forced itself into my eyes giving me one of the worst migraines I’d felt in a long time. Usually, I was more prepared than this. But, thanks to Paxton’s thieving ass I wasn’t wearing my blind glasses.

I was completely at the whim of the sun and needed to find shade quickly.

But not before I see Father Donovan, I told myself. Need… to keep going.

Slowly, the run turned into a jog before finally changing to a fast walk which didn’t last very long either. I found myself falling over onto my side into some fresh, shaded grass. I laid there a moment, letting my heart catch up with the rest of me. More sweat dripped down my face and made its way into my mouth, but something wasn’t right there either.

The sweat tasted like cool, purified water. No salt at all.

I groaned and rubbed my eyes, preparing them to look at the nearest sign. I cupped my hands over them and readied myself for a quick glance and to my surprise, my resting spot turned out to be the very house I was supposed to find.

“Thank God,” I said to myself, leaning back onto the grass. “Just need a few more minutes. Just a few more minutes of rest.”

Sirens blared in the direction I’d just come. I could hear the shouts of random people and was pretty sure I could make out the sound of Richie’s shrill voice. Another siren, this one must have been an ambulance for Paxton.

Thankfully, Paxton’s dad was a dentist and could get the poor boy a new set of chompers. Maybe his dad could sharpen his new teeth to points which would go perfect with the whole bully thing. But, there was one thing his dad couldn’t fix and that was the fact that his son was headed to a long stay behind bars. Or, so I hoped.

Better get inside before the cops find me, I thought.

I was just about to get to my feet when the scream of a banshee rippled through the front yard and sent me back to my knees. I clenched my jaw, squeezing my hands as hard as I could against my ears as the high-pitched wale wreaked havoc on my skeleton. My skin felt like it was about to melt off and just when I thought I couldn’t take it any longer the scream stopped.

Cautiously, I stood. What the hell could have made such a noise? Was that some sort of trap? Had I stepped over an invisible line causing some speaker to turn on? Then why did it stop?

No, that wasn’t a speaker. It came from somewhere up above me. It sounded like the screech of a dying animal, but like no other animal I’d ever heard before.

I looked up and could barely make out a single, window caked with years of dust. I was just reconsidering my plan to enter the home when I heard Father Donovan’s voice yelling for help.