III

I woke up with a hammering headache. I opened my side drawers. I grabbed the painkillers. The next drawer had bottled water. I took the drugs before shuffling to the bathroom. My eyes were red and puffy. My shattered hair did not help my appearance so I got cleaned up. The memories of last night came rushing in. I hadn’t packed anything. I entered the closet and pulled out a small black traveling bag. I grabbed the necessary stuff; toiletries, neat underwear, tops, jeans and sneakers. I packed two trench coats in case it got cold. I almost forgot my hoodies so I entered the closet again. I noticed the dress bag sticking out from the corner. I carried it out closing the door. It was my birthday dress. I remember when we were all talking about my big party. They had everything planned. For someone socially awkward like me, I knew nothing about parties. We had fun laughing that day. I smiled a little. “Maybe I overreacted”, I muttered, “sure they lied but they have always been there”. And that was the truth. On another hand, I hated being lied to or left in the dark. Just that thought made my blood boil again. I let the dress fall out of my hand. I zipped the bag. I wore my gray hoodie over my slacks and picking my school bag, I left the room. “Morning” I greeted. Being mad at them doesn’t mean that I’ll forget my manners. “Morning” they both replied. I walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to take the milk. The top cupboard had different boxes of cereal so I took my favorite, Cheerios. “I made toast”. Fake mom quipped. “I’m fine with this”, I snapped but quickly added, “thanks”. The air was filled with hot tension. Fake dad came into the kitchen for his coffee. We sometimes like to eat in the kitchen but on good days, fake mom let us eat in front of the TV. I washed the bowl and placed it back in the bottom cupboard. I snagged an apple from the fruit bowl before leaving the tension. “Where do you think you’re going to?” It was fake dad that asked. “To school” was the short answer. “You've been excused from school and we're leaving soon”. It was fake mom that spoke up now. “I’m going and that’s it”, I snapped, “you don’t tell me what to do”. “We do!” She cupped her waist with her hands. I throw my arms in the air, “I’m still going anyways. I need to spend time with my friends and”, I said flashing the envelope, “Principal Collins said to return this”. “But we leave at 10” she tried. “That means I have two and a half hours”. I finally said before walking out. They didn’t bother calling me back and I was relieved. I didn’t think my rude teenager act was going to hold up. I needed space from them to clear my head. I glanced at the bus stop ahead. A bus was boarding the passengers. Thank goodness I have cash in my bag. I met the Principal first. I also told her that I was going to hang around a bit. She approved but only because I had a clean slate. I walked over to my locker to see if Helen and Bill were free. We all have copies of each other's timetables. It was a bit pointless since they both spent more time out than in class. I ran my eyes over the sheets; Helen had English while Bill had Chemistry and they aren’t free until the last two periods. My next stop was the library. I wasn’t a fan of the school's library since students come here to chat. And I always end up with spit balls in my hair each time I want to study. I either study in the girls' bathroom or the janitor’s closet now. I sat in front of a computer system. I might as well play cards. It wasn’t until I had cleared five decks that I realized that it was connected to the school’s WiFi. I decided to do a little research on my ‘parents’. “Martin and Shelly “ I read. I think this is the first time that I’m seeing their real names. They were mom and dad to me for years. Apart from an Uncle from my Da…Martin's side, I didn’t know any other family members. Shelly had a large family; six boys and two girls. Something about her sister caught my attention. Her hazel eyes. She even had black hair. There’s something about her but I’m not sure. Going back to the search results, I forgot about the strange lady. I knew every other thing the search had to say. Martin is a banker and Shelly is a real estate agent. They both lived averagely; an average house, two black Porsches, zero pets and one child aka me. I want to abandon the system for the bathroom. I need to wash my eyes out before I fall asleep. As I stood up, I noticed the silence. This place was always noisy. I stood up making the loudest chair sounds ever. I heard whispering voices coming from the corner. The direction I was headed seems darker than the other parts of the room. This is the part when I turn on my heels and run away but my legs kept moving, one step at a time. I was checking my right and left hand sides for anything suspicious. “Hello?” I called. My voice rang in the room like an echo. This was creepy. The voices were getting louder as my vision was clouding. With no doubts, I knew I shouldn’t be here. I turned around but it was blank. No tables, shelves or chairs. Just a white space. This had better be a dream. My legs finally stopped in front of a shelf. The aisle card had a big ‘O’ on it instead of the number. The shelf started shaking. All the books rumbled. A deep sea blue colored book shoots out colliding with my head. I raised my head to realize that I hadn’t left my seat. It was all a dream, thank goodness. I mused. My fingers were wrapped around a s**t of paper. Strange! I unfolded it. The words drains all the blood from my face. It wasn’t a dream. Get your first clue fast. I said what every reasonable person in my state will say, “what the hell?!”