A gasp issued from the crowd around us, but it was Xissa who reacted in an unexpected way. Jumping up from her desk, she swung her arm at me, connecting with my cheek.
The sound reverberated through the room, and chaos broke loose. The twins ran from the room, screaming for Laquilla, and another student shouted to stand in front of the sensors for the room. Pointless, as multiple elevated heart rates would prompt the teacher to come in physically from the head office. I estimated we had less than a minute.
But a minute was a long time, and I felt irrational and burning anger rise up in me like it never had before.
“What the hell?” I heard Andi yell from above. “She hit you? Dude, slug her back.”
“It’s fine,” I assured her.
“What’s fine? Or are you talking to no one again? Because you are a no one. Not sierr. Not human. And definitely not right in the head. You’re the one who will never be anything. Your whole life, someone is going to have to take care of you because you’re too stupid to figure out even basic conversation.”
“Aw, don’t listen to her,” Andi said with venom in her voice. “She’s just a–”
‘Vernandi! Where the hell are you?!’
I watched as she went white. “What’s going on?”
“It’s him,” she said in a panic, scrambling to her feet. I thought I had felt helpless before. I felt even more insignificant as I watched the scene unfold from below.
“Can you hide?”
“What? Wow, you really are crazy, aren’t you? Genetic mutations like yourself are too unstable to be viable.”
But I ignored Xissa, my eyes locked on the ceiling. “I, uh, I dunno. I… shoot no, he’s at the top of the stairs. Look, I–”
There was a bang, and I saw my imaginary friend jump.
“God damn it, Vernandi Elizabeth. I told you to wash the dishes!”
“They are washed! Didn’t ya see? They’re all stacked on the counter!” Andi cried.
“This place is a pigsty! Would it kill you to respect the things I work so hard for? Would it?”
I couldn’t see what that terrible, awful sound was coming from, but it sounded so vile and scarier than anything I could dream up.
“Yes. I mean no! I’m sorry, I…” She looked down to me. “Why are you still here? I gotta go.”
“Are you talking to that god damn imaginary friend of yours? I told you, it’s time you grew up! You’re eleven, take responsibility.”
“She’s not imaginary! She’s just–” Suddenly, a flash of white whipped through the edge of the ceiling, slashing at Andi. I gasped, my hands going to my mouth to cover my gasp. Wherever the spike hit Andi, part of her disappeared, as if it never was. “Ow! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to talk back. She’s not real, she isn’t!”
“Shut up! You ungrateful brat.”
Another blinding white streak lashed through my friend, and tears sprang into my eyes. I wanted to help. I wanted to move, to cry out, but all I could do was watch from my spot on the floor.
Was this hell? I had often heard my parents speak of that place but, I could never qualify it.
Andi collapsed on the floor, but so much of her was just gone. I realized that she was not actually losing those limbs, but rather that they were systematically being denied from my sight. I was losing her.
But I couldn’t! I had known her since I was five.
Andi’s eyes locked on mine, and she gave a weak little smile. “Aw, what’s with the crying? I’ll be fine. I promise.”
“Andi, I can’t see you. You’re going away.”
“Andi? Who’s Andi?” Xissa screeched. “You’re mental! Completely mental.”
“I’m just a little tired, it’s hard to keep seeing you. I’m going to have to close my eyes a little, okay?”
“What is wrong with you, child? It’s not real! Why can’t you accept that it’s not real and stop costing this family with your damn therapy?!”
More white flashes, and my heart squeezed painfully as Andi’s eyelids slowly closed. “Don’t worry, Gee-Gee. I know you’re real. I’ll always know.”
“Andi, I–”
I reached up for her as if I could somehow touch her, save her, give her some reassurance that she wasn’t alone. But a thundering clap sounded from her world, shaking me to my very core. At that, Andi closed her eyes, and disappeared into pitch black.
I stared there stupidly, tears pouring down my cheeks, as the darkness slowly faded and nothing but the ceiling was left.
“What is wrong with you, you freak?”
I looked back down, rejoining reality for the first time in minutes. Logically, I knew it was Xissa in front of me. Just another sierr child with a terrible attitude.
But I didn’t see that.
“I…”
Instead, I saw that awful, violent voice now made physical and suddenly, all my anger coalesced into a violent fog of rage.
“What’s the matter? Is the quarter-breed having a little breakdown?”
“I…”
“Awww, do you need to talk to your human mommy?”
Internal fire licked up my spine, spreading throughout my whole body. White hot fury flooded through my mind. Logic didn’t matter. Rules didn’t matter. I wanted Xissa to hurt. I wanted Andi back.
“I said shut up!” I screamed.
I lunged at Xissa, tackling her over the desks. We crashed to the floor, but I barely registered the impact. All I knew was my little, speckled fists were crashing repeatedly in her face. She was yelling at me and flailing, but I didn’t care. I was enveloped only by the primal need to destroy her.
It wasn’t until a strong hand gripped the back of my neck and pulled me up that I stopped raining down punches, and I struggled for several seconds before realizing it was Laquilla who had separated us.
“Jyra, calm down.”
I stopped flailing and stood peaceably for a moment, while Xissa’s cronies rushed to her side to help her up.
“Are you insane? I’m going to sue you!”
“No, you’re not.” Laquilla said calmly. “The teacher is going to be here in seconds, and you’re going to explain that you fell and hit your face on the desk, then pulled it down on you when you fell to the floor, and Jyra here was helping you up.”
“Why on Latier would I do that?”
Laquilla finally let go of the back of my neck and lowered herself so she was staring Xissa in the eye. “Because if you don’t, I will make your life a living hell. You will never have a single day of peace as long as we both attend this school together. And if any of your little minions rat on me, I’ll ruin all your lives? Got it?”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Why wouldn’t I? Or did you not put two and two together and realized that Harlynn Mazzcraft was my big sister?”
Xissa went pale, but before she could answer, the teacher came barreling in.
“What is going on here?”
There was a very pregnant pause before Xissa hiccup-answered through split lips. “I tripped and fell, then brought the desk down on me. Everyone was helping me up, but I got blood everywhere.”
The teacher’s eyes slid from the injured, to her friends, to Laquilla, to me. I could tell that she knew something was up, but she couldn’t quite place it. She could just review the mandatory security footage of the room, but she would need a reason to acquire it. She wouldn’t need a reason if we all agreed that was what happened.
“Class, is this true?”
There was a wave of nods and a few affirmative grunts, but the teacher caught my lack of movement. “Jyra, is this true?”
I thought about it long and hard. No, of course it wasn’t true. But I was still reeling from the loss of Andi, and it wasn’t like Xissa didn’t deserve it. Also, saying the real truth might stop me from getting the education I needed to find my friend again, whatever strange land she had disappeared off into.
“Yes. I am most worried about her injuries. She hit her nasal bridge very hard.”
“Hmm, alright then. Xissa, how about we get you to the infirmary?”
“Yes, thank you.”
The teacher came and led my arch nemesis out. I feel safe in saying that she will not bother me again.
But now, as I talk to you, dear friend, I realize that this day will forever be a turning point in my life. It is the day I lost my best, bravest, and closest companion.
It is also the day I learned to lie.
I think I understand the neurotypical a little better now, and I am no longer scared.
I’m just angry.
Please don’t leave me too.
Your always friend,
Jyra
***End of Preview***
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Table of Contents
Contents
The Return
Chapter One: House so Far from Home
Chapter Two: Interview Nerves
Chapter Three: Finding the Back Door (And Not the Fun Way)
Chapter Four: One Way Ticket to Doomsday
Chapter Five: Cross Dimensional SOS
Chapter Six: The Daring Rescue from the Jaws of the Dragon
Chapter Seven: When De Ja Vu Turns Deadly
Chapter Eight: Sweet Dreams are Made of Sabotage
Chapter Nine: An Injector in a Haystack Filled with Rattlesnakes
Chapter Ten: Joining the Fray
Chapter Eleven: Space Battles and Janitors
Chapter Twelve: Head on a Silver Platter
Epilogue: Happily Ever After For the Time Being
The Plague (Alternate Dimensions 1) Preview
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Exclusive Prequel For You
Ralis 1st, 4702
Ralis 9th, 4702
Ralis 20th, 4702
Obden 2nd, 4702
Obden 5th, 4702
Obden 18th, 4702
The Return (Alternate Dimensions Book 5) Page 17
