Sleeptember

"Ryker? Ryker, Oh my god!" Someone came running up to Ryker and immediatly started untying his wrists.

"No, No, feet first," He muttered, almost completely out. He had been there for hours, school was out. Kids had just passed by as they left the building, glancing back at him, but not actually caring enough to do anything. His head hung, his hair hanging in front of his face. Dried blood now ran down his face and neck from the cut on his cheek. His wrists and ankles were rubbed raw. And he hadn't eaten all day. He was now starving. Ryker managed to open his eyes and look through his mess of hair to see one of the school staff members working at the rope on his right ankle.

"God, Ryker who did this to you?" She asked, her flaming red hair was pulled up into a bun on top of her head and and she was wearing baggy bright purple pants and a striped green and white shirt tucked in. A variety of chains and beads hung from her neck. Ryker had never seen her before.

"Who are you?"He muttered. She had gotten the rope off his ankle and the fresh air hit the wound. It stung.

"The new school counseler," The lady said, looking up as she worked at the left ankle. She had big brown eyes, that looked extremely worried. "Who did this to you?"

"How do you know my name?" She had loosened the left ankle and now stood up. She reached up to start on his left wrist. This hurt a lot when the rope rubbed against his wound on that wrist because that one was actually bleeding.

"I- I try to know everyone's name at the school," She answered, she looked from the rope to Ryker's face every so often, as she rushed to get the ropes off. She loosened the left wrist and Ryker's feet hit the ground, but he leaned against the fence, feeling too weak to stand. "Will you answer my question now? Who did this? I'll have them punished, suspension, maybe even expulsion."

Ryker didn't answer. He had learned early on that telling an adult meant more trips to the dumpster, and Frank seemed to be getting bored with that, so who knew what other creative ideas he had come up with. The lady got the last wrist undone and Ryker slid down the fence, laying back on the pavement and closing his eyes. He just wanted to stay there.

"Ryker, come on, get up. I'll help you. But you need to get home. We can call your parents when we get inside," Ryker stood up. The counseler found his clothes under a bush and handed them to him. As soon as Ryker was dressed she immediately put one of his arms over her shoulder so she could help him, wrapping an arm around his waist. She was considerably shorter than him. Ryker was starting to wake up and the feeling came back to his legs. When they got inside, he was pretty much able to walk by himself. They walked through the empty halls until getting to her office. She ordered him to sit on the couch, while she sat at the desk on the other side of the room and started typing on her computer. "Ryker, which number would be better to contact, your home or your father's-"

"None." Ryker interrupted, sitting back on the couch. "I'll walk home, it's fine."

The lady looked at him worriedly. "Are you sure? I really think you should call. Do you walk, or have a car? The busses left an hour ago."

"I'll walk. I just need a second to rest," Ryker said, sitting back. His stomach growled.

"Okay, take your time," The lady said. "By the way, my name's Ms. Shriner."

Ryker nodded, looking around the room for the first time. It was pretty bare, the white walls had nothing over them, and the desk was a plain wooden one. The couch he was sitting on was made of bright red corduroy, sitting three people across. Ryker was sitting right in the middle. He suddenly felt like he was one of her patients or something. Therapy wasn't the place he wanted to be. Or counseling or whatever it was. He stood up. "Nice meeting you. I'm fine now though, so I'm just going to go." He walked back to the door as he talked. "And thanks for, helping me out, I guess."

"No problem, Ryker," Ms. Shriner said, standing up out of her seat, but not moving from behind the desk. "Are you sure you'll be fine walking home?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Ryker said and walked out the door.

"No, wait," Ms. Shriner called. She ran out into the hallway after him, stopping in front of him. "Why didn't you want to call your parents? I know it's not really any of my business, but-" She cut herself off, looking up at him for an answer.

She was being freakishly nice. Ryker didn't like it. He understood helping him get off the fence and everything, but she seemed to have some other kind of interest and it was starting to make him extremely uncomfortable. "Uh, I just didn't want to bother them. I can walk home. It's fine," He assured again.

"Okay," Ms. Shriner took his hand, placing it in both of hers. It shocked Ryker, but he didn't pull away. "But tonight, I want you to do everything you can to figure out how to fix it."

What the hell did that mean? Now she was really freaking him out. "Okay." He jerked his hand away. "I'm leaving now. Bye." He walked off down the hallway. He felt her eyes on his back. She was the creepiest teacher he had meet this year.