Pandemonium

The clock ticked incessantly. I could have sworn that it was close to my ear. I was itching to get out of this building, and I was glad that the day was almost over. Just a few more minutes and I’d be free.

The phone in the classroom rang, and I was startled, to say the least.

“Oh, one moment, kids. Continue working on those sample problems I gave you,” the math teacher said, making her way towards the phone.

I looked back down at my paper, my sample questions already done. I was itching to get out of here, so I began packing my stuff. We had ten minutes left. Ten minutes before the last period was over and we’d be free for the day.

“Phyre?” the math teacher said, placing the phone back on its base. I looked up at her. “Your mother’s here to pick you up.”

I got up from my seat, grabbing my backpack and making my way out of the classroom. One word was on my mind: freedom. But confusion was present on my mind as well. Why did she come to pick me up? I could have just as well waited for the bus to arrive and be home in just a couple of minutes.

My mother was waiting for me in the main office, along with my sister. When she saw me, she grabbed my sister and proceeded to walk out of the building.

“Mom, where are we going?” I asked, trying to keep up with her pace.

“Not here,” she simply said, unlocking the car and ushering us in.

“Mom, what’s going on?” I asked once more.

“PHYRE, NOT HERE!” she yelled, once the door was shut. She sighed, turning on the ignition of the car and driving out of the school parking lot. “I’ll explain to you both later tonight. But you,” she said, looking at Marissa through the rearview mirror, “have a doctor’s appointment, and you have an appointment with your therapist.”

‡

After my mother’s psychotic drive, I was sitting in the waiting room of my therapist…two hours before my scheduled time.

“Phyre, hey! I didn’t expect to see you here at…two thirty. Aren’t you supposed to be here around four?” she asked me, sitting down across from me.

“Uh, yeah. But my mom was freaking out about something and dropped me off here,” I shrugged. “So I guess I’m stuck here until six.”

She placed her notepad down on her secretary’s desk, mumbling something to her before turning back to me. “Well, you’re my only client today. And our scheduled time doesn’t start ‘til four. Wanna go grab a bite to eat?”

“What? No, it’s alright. I wouldn’t want to be a bother. I’ll just go walk around the block for a while or something, to pass the time.” I got up and grabbed my coat.

“Phyre, please. How long have we been having these sessions?”

“A couple of months now,” I replied. It was true. I had started seeing Tess when school started, and it was now the final days of school until Christmas Break.

“Then come on. It’ll be my treat,” she smiled.

Once she had grabbed her coat, we headed out into the coldness of New York City. We headed to a quaint cafe near her office, sitting down at a booth near the window.

The snow was starting to fall outside, but only in showers. People were rushing to and from their job, using whatever minute they could as lunch hour. It was hectic, but peaceful at the same time. It was as though people moved in sync with one another, like knowing the moves of a dance step.

As Tess and I sat there, we ate and talked. But our conversation was nothing like it was during the sessions. It wasn’t as though we were talking about serious and grave things. We were acting as friends…which scared me for a moment.

After eating, we headed back to her office, Tess deciding to start our session then. There was nothing to be nervous about at that point, for our sessions had been going on for a while.

“So Phyre,” Tess began, grabbing her notepad. “I want to ask you about something that might hurt a bit.”

I shrugged. Not much hurt me nowadays, for I had turned myself numb to everything around me; to everything in my past.

“Did that man leave any memory of himself?”

I took a sharp gasp. How the fuck did she know? “Uh, yeah,” I said, finding the words in me to speak. “A scar, but I prefer not to think about it.” My hand subconsciously went to where the scar was present.

“And what about the case?”

“It’s still open,” I told her. It was the truth. Months after we moved to New York, we received a call from detectives back in Huntington, who had told us that they had gotten a small lead on the case. The lead had turned out to be a bogus one, and soon after the case had been called cold.

Our meeting had died down after that question. We talked about other things, at one point our conversation straying to the friends I had in Huntington. Before we knew it, our session was over for the day.

My mother was patiently waiting for me in the waiting room, and the moment I exited she practically rushed me out of Tess’s office. By far, it was starting to become one bizarre day.

The ride home was silent and rushed. The air between my mother and I was awkward, to say the least. We arrived home fairly quickly, since Tess’s office was not far from where we lived. The house, like the ride there, was silent. I didn’t bother talking to my mom upon our arrival, simply getting out of the car and walking inside. The sight I was met with was something that frightened me.

“Mom,” I said, stopping in the doorway. “Why are there suitcases here?” Walking further into the house, I saw that the majority of our things were in boxes. Everything but the kitchen sink, basically. “Mom!” I yelled, frightened and angered at the same time. Instead of getting my mother, my stepfather was the one to arrive in front of me.

“Phyre, we were going to tell you earlier today,” he said, grabbing my hand and bringing me to the couch. I was in shock, too many things running through my mind to allow me to even think about speaking that moment.

“Mom?” I spoke, the only word that could get out of my mouth.

“Phyre,” she said, sitting down on the opposite side of me. “Phyre, honey, we have to go back. We have to go back to Huntington.”

“What?!” I freaked. Huntington Beach was the last place I expected us to go. Hell, I expected us to go to the North and South Poles before we went back to Huntington.

“Why?” I whispered, feeling my voice leave me even more than it already had.

“He’s found us, dear,” my stepfather said. “He’s found us, and right now Huntington might be the only safe place.”

I felt my eyes roll to the back of my head before I lost all consciousness.