Spirit

Chapter 9: The Meeting
I laid on my side, facing my window that was wide open. My room was freezing cold but I didn’t care. The constant tears ran down my face. I had to keep wiping them away because they felt like flaming balls of fire running down my face. The trail they left was like acid. It felt like it was eating away at my skin.
I wish he understood, I wish I had time to tell him my explanation, I wish I didn’t have to lie to him, I wish I could’ve been honest, I wish I could trust him with all of my might, I wish he was here to tell me everything will be alright, I wish didn’t hate myself, I wish I was normal. If I was normal, none of this would’ve happened and I wouldn’t have to keep things from him.
I watched the sun rise through my open window and I heard the birds chirp happily. I threw my pillow over my ears. I couldn’t stand the sound when the only feeling I felt like I knew was sadness and the only sound I’ve heard over the last nine hours was my crying.
My life was almost fine until this redhead came into it and started stalking me. It made me go paranoid and it made me lie. I needed to know what she wanted. All of sudden, a light bulb flickered on in my head.
I wiped the tears from my eyes and jumped out of bed, I was unsteady and I had to hold onto everything just so I wouldn’t fall over. I took whatever clothes I touched from my drawer and put them on in a hurry. I crept down my stairs, trying not to make any noise. I tip-toed to the sliding glass door and opened it carefully, steeping into the backyard. I ran to the fence and pulled an upside down flower put over as a stool so I could get over the fence. I had to hurry because my parents bedroom was facing the backyard.
I got over the fence and jumped onto Mr. Henley’s backyard. I ran to the front of his house and kept running. I exited his cul-de-sac and kept running. The sun was getting higher which meant my parents would be waking up very soon. I pushed myself faster.
For some reason, I felt odd bursts of energy inside of me. It was like I wasn’t getting tired and I wasn’t gasping for air like I usually did when I ran. I felt different. Ever since yesterday night, I’ve been feeling something inside of my bubbling up like a volcano. It wasn’t painful at all. In fact, it felt good.
I wasn’t even gasping for air as I got to Cowen Park. I looked at a bench and thought about sitting down. I wasn’t tired so I walked around the park, looking for my intent. Actually, not looking but feeling. I was waiting for the force. The redhead somehow always knew where I was, so I was hoping she would find me here. I walked back and forth and watched the sun rise higher and higher. I was becoming impatient. I had to get home now. As I began to run home, I finally felt it. The force was coming from behind me. I spun around and I didn’t have to search to find the flaming red hair in the distance.
What the hell am I doing? I thought to myself. But it was too late. I had to do this. I came this far and I had to know!
I started to run toward her. I needed my questions answered thoroughly but also quickly. I had only very little time on my hands.
I ran up to her and my heart was pounding against my chest so hard, it felt like it would run right out of my chest.
The redhead lifted her head slowly and looked my in the eye. Her bright green eyes were intimidating. All of my confidence was gone and it left me speechless.
“Why are you here?” she asked in a low voice that was like silk but it had a rude tone to it.
“I need my answers,” I stuttered. I didn’t want to look her straight in the eye.
“And then what? Your going to run off with them? If I give you answers, you need to come with me to meet the others.”
“The others? So I’m not the only one?” I was abruptly full of joy. So now I got one out of many questions I needed answers to. “What am I?” I asked excitedly.
The girl pulled her phone out of her purse and started to read something. A text I was guessing. “You need to get home now. Your mom is going to wake up in ten minutes and she’s going to be looking for you.”
“Wait, what?” I was confused.
“You need to get home!” She hissed.
“No! I want my answers!” I said stubbornly.
“I’ll come for you when the police leave your house. But right now, you need to get home.”
“Can I at least know your name?”
“I’m Sarah Fairman. Now get home!” She said rudely.
I hesitated for a moment.
“Go!” She hissed.
I turned around and ran home. I looked over my shoulder as I ran and she was gone.
The sun was now completely visible in the sky so I pushed myself harder. And my running sped up. It felt like I was track champion.
I got to Mr. Amous’s house and jumped over the fence.
When I got to the back door, I saw my mom pacing back and forth from the kitchen to the living room. Her hands were balled into fists and her face looked like it was going to explode.
I was frightened. It looked like this was my last minutes on Earth and I was surely going to die.
My mom saw me in the backyard and quickly pushed open the sliding door, making the glass shake.
“What in the world are you doing?!” She hissed and pulled me inside the house by the shirt. “You better give me a legitimate answer or-or…. I don’t know what I’ll do, but all I know is that your going to be a little damsel in distress. Explain!” She ordered.
I took in a deep breath. “You know about the stalker and everything, so I’ll skip to the note that I’m sure you’ve already seen and understand. Although it was pretty self-explanatory, you didn’t understand it like I did.
“The burst of intuition was like a light bulb coming to life in my head. It was weird how she knew where I was every single minute. How she knew where to find me every time I escaped her grasp. So then, I sneaked out of the house, knowing that she would somehow find me. I ran all the way to Cowen Park. It took a while, but she did find me. I asked her what I was but she didn’t want to tell me there. But guess what she told me mom!” I squealed. I felt like a little girl getting a golden star on my homework.
I didn’t wait for her to reply. “She told me that there was more people out there just like me! And that she wants to bring me to them, mom! I’m so happy! You can give me any consequence you want, but you have to let me meet up with her when the police are gone. I just need to know what I am. I’ve always wondered if it was just me, but after a while I was in utter despair, believing I was the only freak in the world. But finally knowing I’m not alone…” I was speechless. I took a deep breath because I was talking too fast.
A smile slowly grew on my moms face. All signs of irritation vanished. “Give me a hug,” she sighed.
I was confused but I leaned over to give her a hug anyways.
“I’m so proud of you, Natty,” she muttered into my hair. My mom hasn’t called me “Natty” since I was ten yers old. It made me feel like a little girl again. “Although I would’ve liked for you to tell me where you were going.”
“I thought you wouldn’t have let me.”
“Why would I do that? To hold you back from the only opportunity you have to learn about yourself? If I were in your shoes, I would’ve done the same.”
“Really?”
“Well… I would’ve done it better, bet yes. I would have,” she said and smiled.
“I love you,” I said and hugged her.
“Just stay safe. I’ll be on your side only if your decisions are rational. It’ll be our little secret.” She winked at me. So it looked like my mom no longer saw me as a child. I was now an almost independent almost woman capable of making her own choices.
“So what’s her name?” Asked my mom.
“Sarah Fairman. And she isn’t a stalker nor is she dangerous… I think.”
“If she’s trying to help you, why would she be dangerous, silly?”
“Well, she’s pretty intimidating.” I chuckled nervously, remembering how assertive she was.
“So since I’m so mature now… can I get a car?” I asked eagerly.
“Don’t push your luck,” she said and mused my hair.
I went up to my room to think. I needed to do a lot of that. I sat on my bed and went through every theory I had in my mind of what I was.
“A freak?” I murmured to myself. “Believable.”
“A zombie?… unbelievable.”
“Mutant?… believable.”
“Monster?…believable.”
“Vampire?…unbelievable.” I didn’t have any sort of need for anyones blood.
That was all I had. The one I was most sure of was me being a monster. Just thinking about knowing that I really was a monster made me shudder.