A Girl Between

by Marjorie Weismantel

  Within ten minutes, the students were bleary eyed but sitting up. Old Hag English teacher was being carried off in a gurney to a waiting ambulance. Abby, Abe and I were in our seats, rubbing our eyes and yawning, just like everyone else.

  35. Something’s Happening ‘Round Here

  The incident with Abe and Abby was freaky enough, but there were other strange happenings at school today. A few students I had never noticed before were smiling and nodding at me as if they knew me personally. A girl and a guy I had never spoken to, stopped me in the hall by name, and asked me how I was doing. It was more than friendliness. They were acknowledging a connection with me of some kind. I’m sure of it. Where they luminars?

  Word had also gotten around about Tonya, Red and James having a close call with lightning. Kids were saying that they were lucky to be alive, that they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, just a freak accident. I even heard some girls talking about how Tonya lost most of her hair ‘cause it was “fried off”.

  Then, I was in the cafeteria line waiting for some food, when a lunch lady bumped into me and dumped an entire chafing dish full of taco glop all over my sweats and T-shirt. I was taken aback and looked up to see a beast of a women staring at me. Her name tag said “Helga”. What was most surprising was her reaction to me. I was waiting for her apology but I didn’t hear a word. Helga was staring at me with great animosity, as if I just murdered her baby or something. Hey, I was the victim here! A teacher came over with another cafeteria worker to help clean me off. Helga picked up the chafing dish and stomped off without a word. Her hateful expression never changed.

  I went to the Lost and Found box in the office to get another pair of lovely ‘worn-by- someone-else’ sweats and bumped into Mercy. After I changed, she went back to the café with me and we sat in the corner to talk.

  “Mercy, why was that Helga woman such a nasty witch to me?” I asked with a sigh of irritation.

  Mercy looked at me in disbelief. “Don’t you know, Tess? Cause she really IS a nasty witch! I figured that out my first day of school here last spring. She always gave me a hard time so I learned to avoid her. ”

  I was dumbfounded. “She IS?”

  “Yea, she’s totally wacked. I’m surprised they put up with her here. She must have someone bewitched or something,” Mercy said in complete seriousness then she added, “Tess, you have to wake up and develop a better sense for these things. As soon as I moved here, I saw a number of bad witches around this place. They’re the diaboles. Some of them deliberately showed themselves to me to flaunt their power. They viewed me as being vulnerable so they loved to taunt me. I was pretty defenseless at that time.”

  “Why are things better for you now?” I questioned.

  Mercy looked at me like I was nuts. “Don’t you know? It’s one word, Tess. YOU! When you arrived the dynamics around here changed completely.

  “Tess, remember your first day here? You started out with a bang, challenging the head big bad witch, Tonya, in that fight, and YOU WON. And you won in a very public way. Up to that point the bad ones ran things around here. The good ones, like me, had to keep a low profile if we didn’t want to get our butts kicked.”

  “How has that changed?” I inquired, frowning.

  “Well, the bad witches, the diaboles, can’t take being challenged because they’ve had their way around here for so long. Look at what happened in the cafeteria today with that disturbing Helga witch. Abe also told me what that Old Hag English teacher tried to do to you during class. I had her last year and she was horrible to me, but she never challenged me openly like that. So now, the good witches, the luminars, are having a coming out party here. Haven’t students been revealing themselves to you? You know what that’s about, right?”

  “I’m beginning to. I guess I just don’t want to admit it.” I frowned.

  Mercy implored, “Well you better get with the program. Tess, they are the good witches in this place – the luminars. They know that we’ve gotten stronger and that more good witches will be arriving. They don’t have to stay hidden in the shadows. Abe and Abby just came here last week. Their arrival was not a coincidence.”

  “Is that why you moved here?” I inquired.

  “Yes, it is,” Mercy affirmed.

  “How did you know to come here?” I questioned.

  “Tess, this has been building for a very long time. Remember, it’s why Miss Cassie is here, too. It’s why you’re here. Things have been set in motion. It’s been building for many lifetimes. Much of it was planned a long time ago during the time of The Between. We may forget the fine details but we are innately aware of what we must do. We listen to what our hearts and souls are telling us.” Mercy looked at me darkly and added, “Unfortunately, what is not known is the final outcome. That’s to be determined.”

  “But Mercy, you just said that all of these good witches are showing up and that it’s really improving the atmosphere around here,” I exclaimed.

  Mercy glared at me. “Yes, it is, but didn’t you listen to Miss Cassie? Bad witches, diaboles, will be coming here, too. They’ll be arriving in town and in school. In fact, some have probably already arrived. I looked at the attendance list today. Do you know what I saw? Ten new students registered here today. Don’t you think that’s a little weird? How many new kids do you think this school normally gets in a full year - maybe ten or fifteen in a year, NOT in one DAY.”

  I put my head in my hands and sighed. “I know you’re right. I’m just so sick of this stuff. You don’t even know what happened to me yesterday!”

  “Does it have something to do with Tonya and her fried up hair?” Mercy inquired, looking amused.

  “Yeah, it does. How did you know?” I asked, stifling a giggle.

  “The minute I heard about it I knew it had something to do with you, especially since it occurred in Ian’s front yard. And I have to say, I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. I can’t wait to hear what happened.” Mercy grinned at me.

  “Personally, I can’t wait to see what big bad Tonya is going to do with her ugly bald head!”

  36. Crazy Brother

  As soon as I got home from school, I took a shower and fixed my hair. I planned on visiting Ian, and there’s no way I wanted him to view me in my total slob garb, at least not yet. It would be sure to scare him off. Eve and my aunt weren’t around so I also removed that stupid neck brace thing. I got ready quickly because I didn’t want to bump into Aunt Amy or Grandma before I left. The minute I was done, I hopped on my bike and took off.

  I tried not to feel too nervous on the way over. I might run into James and I presume that he hates my guts after what happened. Not that I cared about that, but I know he’ll eventually want pay back. I’ll have to be extra careful around him.

  I was also wondering about Ian. He was looking out the window at me the other night and he probably had a few questions for me. For example, he may ask me if I caused his brother to be hit by lightning, or, did I hurt his dear friend Tonya? He may also ask me how I can roll electricity up into a ball, or, did I pull lightning out of the sky? Those are all distinct possibilities. Breath in, breath out…. I tried to calm myself down. This line of thinking isn’t helping. Maybe I should turn right around and go home. Unfortunately, I’m in Ian’s front yard so that’s no longer possible.

  I made an attempt to smooth out my hair as I walked up the steps to his house. Just as I went to ring the bell the door swung open. Phew…, it was Mrs. Miller.

  “Why, hello, Tess. How are you?” she said with a kind smile.

  “I’m OK. How are you, Mrs. Miller?” I responded politely.

  “I’m fine. Sorry to startle you. I was just leaving. If you’re here to see Ian, he’s in the family room playing video games.” Then, she added with her eyebrow raised, “It’s good that you came, Tess. He’s really going crazy just sitting around. He’s acting as if he’s been locked in his bedroom for weeks.”

  I smiled. “I was going to ask how he�
��s doing. It sounds like other than extreme boredom, he’s doing OK?”

  “Yes, he’s on the mend. He’s lucky that you’re here to cheer him up so you can just head on in. Follow the hallway, go through the kitchen and turn left.” Mrs. Miller waved at me as she strode off.

  I proceeded down the hallway when, suddenly, a door on the right flew open. James came out. I obviously startled him because he looked surprised for a minute; he just stood there and gaped at me. He was a shocking sight because he looked so ridiculous. He had two black eyes and a bright red mark, maybe from a burn, right on the tip of his nose. His hair was completely gone (fried, perhaps like Tonya’s?) and his head was totally shaved. Unfortunately for him, he was the kind of guy who was great looking when he was in full possession of his thick wavy brown hair, but no more. I’m sure that was one reason he was so full of himself, he thought he was god’s gift to women. It was unfortunate for him that he had an oddly shaped head, because when it was shaved it looked like a pointed dome. Needless to say, a cone shaped bald head is not attractive. Plus, his eyebrows looked weird. I think it was because they were unevenly singed. If he was wearing polka dots, he’d look like he was working for the circus.

  While we were standing there staring at each other, I could feel a laugh bubble up in my throat. Oh, please, God, stop me! Suddenly, the laugh burst out and turned into a loud giggle. Once that started, I knew I was sunk. I put my hand over my mouth to try to smother the giggling but it was hopeless. It was like trying to stop water from flowing down a mountain.

  James reacted with a roar of anger, “How dare you laugh at me!”

  “Ha, ha…, I’m sorry. I can’t help myself,” I managed to say before I broke out into full blown laughter. I realized, too late that it was a mistake to try to hold in laughter because when it inevitably got out it would erupt.

  James went at me with a look of rage on his clownish face. I STILL couldn’t stop laughing. What the heck is WRONG with me? I should have a better sense of self preservation. I backed up to the wall and cried, “You stay away from me. I’m sorry I’m laughing. I’ll try to stop.”

  He grabbed both of my arms and started shaking me. (I should’ve listened to Eve and worn my brace. This wasn’t good.) He then screamed, “This all is your fault. I’m gonna break you, girl!”

  Oh my, I think I’m in trouble. I started to scream so he put his hand over my mouth. I clamped my teeth over one of his fingers then, I brought my foot down hard on his instep. He yelped in pain. He lifted up his arm to backhand me. I turned my face toward the wall so that he wouldn’t smack me right in the face.

  “What the heck is going on here?” A voice shouted from the other door. James hesitated for a moment. Could that be Ian? I couldn’t see because James was blocking me. Abruptly, James was pulled away. It WAS Ian, grabbing James roughly by his shirt. Then, Ian proceeded to pummel James in his face, chest and stomach with his fists. James tried to fight back, but it was really quite pitiful. Ian was obviously a much better fighter than James and he was in better shape, probably from all the construction work. I knew I should step in and stop it, and I will … really, I plan on it … soon. I just wanted to watch Ian punch him for another minute or two first. THEN, I’ll stop him.

  Finally, I said, “IAN, you better stop. You’re going to hurt him.”

  “Yeah, I know,” he replied, but he was pushing James against the wall.

  “I understand, but you have to stop. Your mom would get really upset,” I implored.

  “Oh, yeah, my mom. OK, OK, I’ll stop.” Ian finally stepped back. Then, he glared at James who was on the floor and yelled, “What is WRONG with you? Why would you beat on a girl, especially on MY girl? Are you THAT jealous of me? Get away from me you TURD!”

  James actually crawled out of the hallway. I stifled another impulse to laugh. What am I doing? This is not a good time to laugh.

  Ian came over to me and cradled my head against his chest. “Tessie, I’m so sorry. I know my brother is a nut case, but I never thought he’d attack you. You wouldn’t think he was the older one. I don’t know what’s wrong with him. He always wants anything I have and if he can’t have it he wants to destroy it!” Ian leaned back and examined me closely. “Are you OK? Did he hurt you?”

  It was hard for me to concentrate while Ian was staring at me with his intense blue eyes. “No, not really. I am glad that you got here when you did though.”

  Ian leaned in and held me close for a few seconds. His chin was rough from not shaving and he exuded that great man smell, a clean, musky woods and soap. (Why can’t they bottle that?) He lifted up my chin and put his warm lips on mine. He gently backed me up against the wall and held my head between his hands. Then, he pulled my head down on his chest and he tenderly stroked my hair and my neck for a few minutes. He finally stepped back so he could look me in the eye, his hands lightly clasping mine. He was smiling so sweetly at me. Oh, my, God! Was that a rosy hue I see around his head? It’s so light I almost can’t tell if it was his aura or not.

  Of course, I couldn’t just enjoy the lovely moment with Ian. I started thinking about the other night and how he was looking out the window at me while the lightning was flashing and there were three bodies flat out on his lawn. What did he see? I have to know.

  “Ian, what happened to your brother? He looks terrible.”

  “You hadn’t heard about the lightning strike in our front yard? It was pretty weird. I figured you may have heard about it at school.” Ian looked at me curiously.

  “No, I haven’t heard anything. Kids at school were talking mostly about what happened at the Tri Town Fair,” I answered in a level tone.

  Ian slowly nodded his head. “Yeah, I guess that would make sense. You know how we had ‘The Devil Dance’ going on Sunday night?”

  “What are you talking about? What’s ‘The Devil Dance’?” I asked.

  “It’s when there’s pouring rain accompanied by extremely loud and close thunder and lightning. That picked up right around the time you left yesterday,” Ian responded.

  “Yeah, I remember. It did start to pour right around then,” I answered.

  “Well, you know how I told you that Tonya and Red helped me out at the Tri Town Fair? I guess they were coming here on Sunday night to see how I was doing. Anyway, James saw them as he was heading out the door to work so he talked to them in the front yard for a few minutes. It’s a little weird that they stood in the pouring rain during a bad electrical storm to socialize, but I guess that’s what they did. Anyway, lightning struck the ground right in front of them. I heard something so I looked out the window. It was pitch black outside so I couldn’t see a thing,” Ian exclaimed.

  I tried to appear shocked. “That’s so unbelievable! What happened to them?”

  “They went to the hospital and stayed overnight for observation. The doctors were concerned about permanent heart damage but they’re in the clear. James, Red and Tonya all lost their hair from the extreme heat of the electricity. It burned their skin a little but, fortunately, the pouring rain mitigated that. They’ve all experienced some skin bruising and temporary hearing loss. Tonya called me today and complained about her hair loss and constant headaches,” Ian remarked with a grimace.

  “Why did your brother act so crazy to me? Could it be related?” I asked.

  Ian answered in a tired voice, “I don’t think so. Tonya and my brother are like this.” He held up two fingers stuck together. “I know it’s nothing romantic, not that I care,” he noted, while glancing nervously at me. “You probably realize by now that Tonya doesn’t like you. I presume it’s because you had the courage to challenge her in front of others. She’s not used to being challenged, you know. She’s used to having things her way.” Ian looked over at Tess with a wry smile.

  “So you think that your brother doesn’t like me because of Tonya?” I asked.

  “That’s only part of it. You heard what I said to my brother earlier about him always wanting what I have. He’s be
en like that ever since I can remember. Even as a kid, if I had a favorite toy, James would try to take it from me. If I stood up for myself and didn’t let him have it, he’d manage to destroy it. I’ve learned that if I want to hang onto something that I like, I have to hide that fact from James. If I don’t, he’ll eventually find a way to take it for himself or destroy it. Unfortunately, he found out about you from Tonya. That’s why I lost it with him today. I don’t want him going near you, EVER!!” Ian said that with a quiet fierceness, looking me straight in the eye.

  I stood there, a sense of relief washing over me. So he didn’t see me in the front of his house. It appeared that he didn’t see anything. I should’ve realized he couldn’t see me because it was so dark and he was in a lighted room. I was too freaked out to think clearly. Ian looked upset. I think it’s time to change the subject.

  “Hey, can we go out for a little while? I think you need a change of scenery. You’ve been stuck home for a few days. How about we take a short walk?” I asked.

  “Actually, my mom said that I should leave the house for a couple of hours today. She knows I’m going stir crazy. Why don’t we go out for a burger and a coke? I’m starving.”

  “I would like that, Ian. Can you throw my bike in the back of your truck?” I was thinking that it would be so nice to do something as ordinary as going out for a burger and a coke. I like ordinary. I miss ordinary.

  37. They’re Coming

  It’s Tuesday and it’s storming again. I’m so sick of this! Even the power at school went off for an hour today. The teacher said that it was because the wind blew a tree over some wires. At the time we were watching a really boring video in personal finance class on how to set up an individual budget. The outage came at the perfect time. Everyone was starting to nod off.

  I did take note of the number of new students in school. Most of them seemed quiet, a good strategy as a new student. A few were definitely on the freaky side, though. One girl came into my biology class with a black hoodie enclosing much of her face and her body. At one point she turned her head and stared directly at me, a challenge in her eye. I responded with my stone-face look, giving her nothing. Her eyes then receded to the usual façade of teenage apathy. I did catch a glimpse of dark eyes, pale skin and weird sparkly flashes which I finally surmised was body jewelry. She had several body piercings on her lips, eyebrows and nose. I have nothing against body piercings, but there’s a limit. It’s like she doesn’t want people to really see her face or see what might be inside her. Those sharp metal pieces are saying, “F%# you. Leave me alone or I’m gonna mess with you.” At least that’s how I read it. Her aura was one of the strangest I have ever seen; dark purple with black spots around her head. The spots were shifting around erratically. I shivered. She has a screw loose. I’m not going near her.