The Silhouette (Alan Quinn and the Second Lifes)
Page 27
The bus ride to school went by quickly. Jessica and her brother were absent, which I found to be a little strange considering she always bragged about how she never missed any days unless there was an emergency. I definitely could think up several emergencies that would qualify and one of them involved something terrible happening to her father.
Vick was waiting at the back of the building when we got to school. He had the same dirty hoodie on that he was wearing the day I brought Lathon into the school. Something felt different about him. He didn’t have any of his friends with him. I wondered if he had chosen that day to exact his revenge on me for beating him up. I was not in the mood to be messed with.
All of the kids piled out of the bus and headed off for their respective classes. I walked as fast as I could, but I wasn’t fast enough for Vick who grabbed my satchel and pulled me toward him. I stopped when we were face to face and put up my guard by clenching my fists.
“What do you want today, Vick?” I said.
His expression switched to terrified in a heartbeat. He said, “I want to know what really happened yesterday.”
I maintained my fake tough guy voice, “I punched your lights out.”
He raised his eyebrow along with his right fist and I backed down.
“Really,” he said, “I remember most of the other day, but three hours of it are wiped clean. It was like an etch a sketch had replaced my brain. You weren’t there to talk about it.”
This was not the time for the “Guess what! You were possessed by a Silhouette” conversation, so I remained silent.
“Seriously, man. I had the worst dream of all time last night. It is not the sort of thing that I dream about either. It was more like something a freak like you would have.”
“As much as I would like to stay and chat,” I said, “We have to get to gym class.”
“Dude, listen. I am only telling you this because you are the only one that understands any of this creepy weirdo stuff.”
Offended, I said, “And, why is it that you think that?”
“Because you are a creepy weirdo.”
I said, “Thought so,” as I straightened my satchel on my shoulder. “What do you want?”
Vick looked around us to make sure we were alone. He waited until my bus driver entered the building. He said, “They started after I woke up in LeCarre’s classroom. I went to Mrs. Applewood’s class and sat down for my mid-day nap, you know? Well, it wasn’t like any other nap. It was the worst nap ever. Shadows and stuff.”
Suddenly, his words were bringing me in. I didn’t like where it was going. He may have known too much after all.
He continued, “I was in this field, right? It had grass and animals and stuff. Well, it wasn’t just that stuff. There was even more stuff.”
“Like?”
“There was a beach and bunch of trees. First, I am thinking this is totally awesome. I am definitely in a peaceful place, but it isn’t too long after that when I find out I am not alone—”
In a strange way, he was describing the dream I had almost word for word. I wanted him to stop immediately. I didn’t want to hear whom he saw in his dream with him. I walked a few steps away, but he grabbed me with his big hands.
“Has anyone ever told you that you were rude?” he said. “I am having a heart to heart and you are just going to walk away like this is nothing? No wonder you don’t have any friends.”
I pushed his hands off of me, while finding it difficult to tell him it was probably the fact that he picked me to be his punching bag that kept me from having friends.
“This man was walking towards me from the direction of the beach and like—”
I finished his sentence, “Set the whole place on fire? Was it my father? HUH?”
Vick’s face scrunched with confusion, “No. What I was going to say was I was taken off to join some school in the middle of nowhere, but it got so lame that I made myself wake up from it. What do you think it means?”
The bell rang, making it ok for me to discontinue the conversation. I was thankful too because I had no idea what to say to Vick and I was sure he thought I was even weirder for my outburst. I walked off and left him outside.