I had helped a monster. Oh my God, I helped a fucking monster. Why did all my efforts dig me a deeper grave? Why did I have all the bad luck? I should’ve just left her for whatever Xavier had been planning. Why didn’t I?
I couldn’t concentrate throughout class. All I could think about was getting away from Irene. She didn’t seem to be able to concentrate either because she was now sneaking glances at me. I knew now why she observed my every movement and those of the US: she was studying our kind to collect information for some higher teacher. Under her gaze, I could barely keep my body from trembling.
I repeatedly tried to listen to whatever crap Mr. Tower had to say, but I couldn’t ignore Irene’s constant watch. I worried about what would happen after the bell rang. Would she continue to follow me? Was I the new specimen to study? I began to brainstorm a list of excuses to get away. I had blown off people before, so why would this case being any more difficult?
The bell rang with a lovely clatter. I did not wait a second to initiate my plan. It was time to book it out of there.
I shot up from my seat and immediately cursed in pain and disbelief as my thighs collided with the top of my desk. The power of my crash sent the desk trembling. My mechanical pencil, propelled by the tremors, rolled to the edge of my desk and after teetering, fell to the oblivion called the floor. Within milliseconds of the beginning of my plan, I had screwed up. I couldn’t leave my pencil without arousing suspicions, and suspicions could rise to Irene taking action, and her taking action could lead to my eventual demise. However, she would be on me if I stopped to get my pencil, and that would lead me to spending more time with her. The pencil had ruined me.
“Hey Warren, I wanted to ask you something,” Irene said as I bent down to get my damned pencil. I shuddered as my predictions came true, but I stood back up and met the evil woman with a welcoming smile. “Want to grab lunch with me? I can’t stand many people around here, but you seem okay. You’re no hero, but I guess you did help me, and that’s something.”
She smirked at me. Her tone was nonchalant, somewhat sarcastic. She made asking me out so natural, and it would’ve been effective if I wasn’t sweating bullets out of fear. That witch. While I was making plans to escape, she was composing a dialogue. Turning her down was out of the question, however. My earlier theatrics had made it seem I was into her, and avoiding her might make her question why.
“Why not, I’d love to!” I exclaimed with a forced grin. I shoved my pencil into my pocket, stabbing my thigh in anger. “Shall we be off to the cafeteria then?”
Irene beamed. Despite her connections with the teachers, I couldn’t deny she was cute. She should’ve been a shoe-in for the US on looks alone, but I guess that personality of hers didn’t mix well. Instead, I was stuck with her, and I didn’t know whether her being hot was enough of a silver lining.
“Why, I think we shall,” Irene responded genially. Side-by-side, we exited the classroom and headed towards the cafeteria. If I had to guess, Irene likely believed she had me wrapped around her finger. I just hoped I could unwrap myself and escape with my knowledge.
* * * * * *
I’ve flirted before. I’ve dated before. I’ve eaten breakfast, lunch, and dinner with girls in my small time on Earth. I could woo a girl if I set my mind to it. Before the Brain School, I would have liked to think of myself as a gentleman.
Nothing prepared me for this. How the hell do you court a monster? Faced with this challenge, my confidence stabbed me in the back and ran for the hills. My experience and charm still kept with me, but the whole ordeal felt like a test instead of a sit-down meal.
To the observer, the meal I shared with Irene looked like in other date. Neither of us chose the lunch we wanted. We chatted about books, movies, classes, and the other stupid crap. I pulled a few cheesy jokes, and Irene laughed at them politely. We both had a seemingly good time. Of course, there was nobody watching us as we ate alone in the farthest corner in the room, but I guessed we looked normal if someone happened to pull out a pair of binoculars and study us.
Yet the observer would never realize the suffering I endured throughout the date. The conversations shifted from friendly chat to cold interrogations. Despite how innocent Irene seemed as she questioned me about my life, I knew she was studying me like I was some mutated fly. Every inquiry scooped precious information from my brain for her to put in some demented research paper for the teachers. Her onslaught of questions prevented me from slipping any lies into my answers without letting something stick out suspiciously. A sickening sensation rippled throughout my digestive system as I basically puked my life story to Irene.
Speaking of the digestive system, eating proved to be another obstacle. If I didn’t finish my meal, Irene would be suspicious and that could lead to some pretty bad consequences. If I ate the whole thing, I could lose my mind. I still didn’t know how much punch the brain-washing agents had.
I argued with myself as I ate the half of my meal I would always eat. I wondered whether to consume the rest or somehow get rid of it when Irene wasn’t looking. Irene only seemed to have stirred her lunch around, but for me to do same wouldn’t be as easy. As half of my hamburger and fries lay bathing in my presence, I tried frantically to come to a decision. Irene persisted with her questions. In hopeless defeat, I raised my hamburger to my mouth and took a sickening bite out of it. With a small whimper, I swallowed the chunk of bread and meat along with the bile that had crept up my esophagus.
“You okay?” Irene asked as I grimaced to prevent the hamburger from coming back up.
“Good as I’ll ever get,” I replied hoarsely. I slid a reassuring smile to Irene and took a bite of a fry to stop any suspicions. She returned my smile and continued with her assault of questions. Meanwhile, my stomach did flips as the fry tumbled down its maw.
What hurt me the most was not the troubling questions or the meal. No, another dilemma just about killed me: Irene was becoming more attractive to me. Not only was she pretty, her dry wit made it easier to joke with her. Additionally, all of her questions about my life actually allowed me to bitch about things I hadn’t told anyone in ages. I tried to reason with myself, tell myself only bad could come from a relationship with a monster, yet I yearned for this connection. A deep human need drove me to see Irene for what she most likely wasn’t: a lovely, kind girl.
Despite my strange feelings, one side of me screamed for me to get away from her, so when I gulped down that last dreadful bite of my hamburger, I made up an excuse to get away. She bought my lie about needing to do homework although she seemed a bit disappointed. After all, I had interrupted her before she could finish her interview. Sighing, she responded that she would walk with me at least to the stairs. After trashing my empty platter and her full one, we exited the cafeteria, again side-by-side.
“You’re actually not that bad to talk to,” Irene joked as we reached the stairs. I was eager to get away from her, but I stood my ground until I could utter a suitable farewell.
Meeting her eyes, I said, “You’re not that boring, yourself.” I paused, winking at my wittiness. “Well, I’ll see you some other time.” Waving meekly, I turned around and trudged away as fast as my legs would carry me.
“Wait, Warren,” called Irene’s voice, sounding strikingly commanding. I shuddered and urged my body to take another step away, but my next step instead brought me back to face her. She studied my face as she spoke, “Maybe we could have dinner together tonight? Sound good to you?”
Hell no. I wasn’t going to stand for two meals in a row. I could make up any excuse; it didn’t matter how good it was as long as I didn’t spend time with her. I pieced together something acceptable in my mind and opened my mouth, responding, “Sure, why not?”
Damn it. I felt the butterflies in my stomach, a sickening giddiness. That emotional part of me was still smitten with the idea that she was interested in me. Screw you, male hormones. You had betrayed me for the last time.
“So, what time should we meet?” asked Irene cheerfully. She had given me another opening. I could pretend to think of my schedule, then remember that I had “something else to do.”
“How about 7:00?”
Damn you, Warren. You had betrayed me for the last time, again.
“Sounds great; I’ll meet you in the cafeteria then.” Irene flashed me a warm smile and trotted away, leaving me utterly lost in confusion. I couldn’t blame the food for this snafu.
As I teetered off to my dorm, I was at least grateful that I had allowed time for my meeting with the Brain School Survivors that night. At this moment in particular, I knew I had to join the group whether I liked it or not. My life depended on it. Now I only had to explain to Mind why I would be hanging out with a necklace-wearing woman. I smirked. There was a rule against that, right? Whoops.
My meandering thoughts soon shifted as I found myself kneeling in front of my dorm’s toilet. Despite all the trouble my stomach went through during the day, I did not feel the need to puke, yet I knew why I was there. If I was going to have a relationship with Irene, I wouldn’t live through it like a brainless zombie. I needed to get rid of the food inside my stomach.
After making sure the bathroom door was locked, I lifted my head over the toilet. In my mind, I could see myself reaching down my throat and gagging myself. The whole idea sent tremors through my body. Taking a long sweeping breath, I finally gathered some courage and did exactly what my imagination had. The first attempt brought me nothing, only causing me to retch beside the toilet. The second try also came up fruitless but seemed to make improvement. Finally, my third shot sent me heaving all my insides into the toilet. Three ended up being a freaking charm.
By now, my nerves were a wreck. I was surprised that I was still functional. I amazed myself when I had the wherewithal to brush my teeth. I almost died of shock when I made it to my next class with all of my supplies.
The next two classes were full of miracles. Although my mind was virtually offline, my body managed to keep going and mimic actions as if I had a working brain. The teachers, as well as my friends and enemies, ignored me for most of the time too. Inside my secluded little world, I thanked God that he granted me such luck. In my automaton state, I cruised through the day, conserving energy for the meeting ahead.
My brain was back online when I reached the library for the meeting. I found a large group of kids over in the area with the couches and recliners. Eli spotted me from the cluster and called me over. I grabbed a spot by him just as Mind was quieting the group.
“Okay everyone, quiet down,” announced Mind quietly. “We need to get this meeting over with before anyone gets too suspicious. That means only I will be doing the talking this time. Save your opinions for after the meeting. To begin, is our new member here, William, right?”
Mind began scanning the group to find this William, and it took a painful shove from Eli for me to realize he was trying to find me. “I’m here,” I called out softly. “And it’s Warren.”
“Oh sorry,” muttered Mind indifferently. “Well, it’s wonderful that you decided to join our association, Warren.” A few members clapped quietly.
“Continuing on, I called you all here for an important reason. Today our meeting has a real purpose, and that purpose is to plan to escape this school. Yes, it sounds fishy, but we have to get out of here before another one of us is called. I realize many of you have doubts. I bet some of you doubt the teachers are really bad. I bet that almost all of you think we’ll survive if we just hold tight and lay low. I also bet all of us are too nervous to make a run for it. That’s why I’m going to do a bit of investigating before we start making plans.
“I plan on following the next person who is called by the intercoms,” cried Mind daringly. “I’m going to follow that poor sucker down to the office and see what happens. I’ll be undercover in this mission, but this is no reason to act scared. I’m certain I’ll survive.”
A glint of pride shined in Mind’s eye as he relished in his own genius. “I don’t know what I’ll find, but if they’re hiding something, I’ll uncover it. It could be the teachers are working for our government and this whole set-up is secret training camp for kids, but it’s also possible that the teachers work for Germany or Russia and they’re using our advanced brains to attack our own home. Depending on what I find, we’ll set our future plans. Hopefully, I will discover my first assumption and not my second, but if I do encounter the latter, we’ll need to escape from here.
“So here it is again. I’ll ‘stalk’ the next person who is called to the office and figure out what is happening. If the news is good, we’ll stay in the school. If it’s bad, we’ll make a run for it! Everybody got that?” The group nodded unanimously and excitedly. “Okay, Brain School Survivors are dismissed!”
Several of the Brain School Survivors rushed to Mind to pat him on the back and congratulate him for his bravery. I remained in my seat mortified. I already did what Mind wanted to do; why should he risk his life when I could tell him what I experienced?
I stood up and walked to Mind when the crowd had died. I didn’t necessarily have to tell him about the monsters. It was enough if I could prevent him from going on his adventure and killing himself.
“Mind, I need to talk to you for a moment alone,” I said quietly.
Mind looked at me cheerfully and responded, “Okay, Warren; where should we go?” Without answering him, I pulled him away to an empty corner.
“I can’t let you carry out the plan, Mind,” I grunted.
“Why the hell not?” he retorted. His face whitened suddenly and his eyes widened. “You aren’t one of them are you?” He gripped the front of my shirt and pulled it toward him. After finding no necklace on my body, he sighed and mumbled, “Okay, so you aren’t with the teachers, yet you aren’t going to let me go to the office. May I ask why?”
“I’ve already been down to the office,” I muttered cautiously, still wondering if I should tell him this information. “I went when the Sands twins were called.”
“You did?” Mind asked excitedly. “What did you see? Tell me everything, every little detail.” Realizing his immature behavior, Mind straightened himself. “Of course, I can use this knowledge for my own expedition.”
“Didn’t you hear me a second ago?” I snapped. “You can’t go, Mind. It’s too dangerous; if you get caught, I doubt you’d get the pleasure of being expelled. The teachers are worse than agents working for Russia or Germany. They’re worse than Neo-Nazis trying to take over the world! If these guys find out you spied on them, they’ll take you out next.”
“Okay, Warren, what’s worse than a power-hungry Nazi?” asked Mind skeptically. I wasn’t getting to him. “I’m willing to believe you, but I need more information before you stop me. Stop giving me warnings; tell me who the teachers are, explain what they’re doing, or at least tell me why they’d “take me out” if I got caught. Maybe you can also tell me how you made it out safely.”
“I was just really lucky,” I replied nastily. Mind was becoming another Tommy. “As for your other questions, you wouldn’t believe the truth, and don’t you dare say you would because I that’s a lie. You’ll just have to trust me.”
“It’s amazing,” Mind whistled. “I thought you’d help the Brain School Survivors, Warren, but you’ve already proven that you’re a pest. Now let me go and please never bother our association again.” Mind pushed past me and headed out of the library.
No matter how much I didn’t want to, I couldn’t stop myself from calling out to Mind, “Just be careful when you go, Mind, and come to me if you manage to survive.” I hoped for him to pause, but he kept walking without so much as hesitating.
I sighed and muttered a half-hearted curse. The whole day had worn me mentally to a fine dust. I wanted nothing more than to curl up in my bed and never lay eyes on the world again, but I still had a date before I could call it a night.
* * * * * *
I don’t know how I made it through that second date with Irene. By the time I met her in the cafeteria, my energy was drained completely. Still, I had managed to survive another onslaught of questions and inquiries from the girl.
After the meal, Irene tricked me into accepting another date. In my state, I was just glad I didn’t confess knowing how she was a monster. At some point, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, and at another, I cursed God for choosing me to be her specimen, but ultimately, I found myself over the toilet puking my guts out again to rid my system of the drugs.
Once again, I pulled another miracle by preparing myself for bed. I did another by finishing my homework, although I didn’t know how well I did it. It didn’t really matter; if I produced a crappy paper, it wouldn’t make me the next candidate for the callings.
When I reached my bed, the whole gang was in the bedroom. Stomaching my desire to scream for all of them to get out, I focused whatever was left of my attention on whoever talked. Robert was groping some random girl, warning everyone to stay out of the study. He seemed awfully impatient to get in that room with the girl, but when he finally noticed me, he grew serious and began talking to me. Realizing I should probably listen to what he had to say, I focused on his words.
“I’m telling you, Warren,” he said worriedly, “if you mess with Xavier or any of the other guys in our group again, they’ll beat the shit out of you. It may seem like they won’t, but there are some pretty big guys that can knock you out in a second. I don’t want to see a guy like you in a mangled mess, so stay away from them, okay?”
I nodded again and offhandedly thought he wasn’t such a bad guy. The two blobs of Robert and his girl disappeared into the study. Dizzy, but still awake, I turned to see what Tommy and Silas were doing. To my relief, I found Silas in bed and Tommy switching off the light. Smiling stupidly in the darkness, I fell upon my bed. I made it through an awful day. I hoped tomorrow would be better.
Chapter 7 – End