Talisman

by S.E. Akers

  I awoke in the morning, feeling surprisingly well rested. In fact, I’d snoozed right through my alarm clock, which NEVER happens. After all the crazy I’d experienced yesterday, I figured I would have tossed and turned all night, but I didn’t have so much as a hint of a bad dream.

  Maybe my nightmares prefer to torment me when my eyes are open? Lucky me…

  Seeing how I was running late, I followed my morning routine with swift precision. Though I’d taken a long enough bath last night, I hopped in the shower anyway for a quick pick-me-up. As the water cascaded down my body, I caught the lingering scent of Chloe’s bath salts. I ran my fingers across my neck and shoulders. Amazingly, they didn’t feel sore anymore; every lingering twinge of pain my assailant had inflicted was miraculously gone.

  I guess the bath did the trick.

  I was out of the shower and back in my room in a flash. I had to hurry. I hated to be late for anything — namely school. As soon as I whipped open my closet door, I jumped back in a flinch.

  “Ugh!” Hanging on the back of the door was that damn yellow dress.

  Chloe must’ve snuck in my room last night and hung it in here. How kind of her!

  A thought crossed my mind. I ran over to check my alarm setting. It had been readjusted to go off at 10:00 AM.

  That little witch reset my clock—totally on purpose—just because I used up all of her precious bath salts! My eyes panned back to the hideous dress still swaying on the door hook. I think having to wear that thing is punishment enough.

  Promptly, I threw on my clothes — a fitted red tee and my favorite pair of jeans, which I always saved for Fridays. Instead of my usual ponytail, I opted to wear my hair down for a change. The switch was purely psychological; I didn’t want too much of my neck showing, not after the way it had been strangled yesterday.

  I had to head straight into work after school, so I threw my uniform in a duffle bag, along with my roller skates. These will come in handy, I figured, knowing the Sterling Drive-In would get slammed with customers as soon as the Homecoming game was over. There was no time for breakfast. Daddy would be sleeping in, so I didn’t feel the least bit guilty about getting up so late and not fixing anything. Charlotte will just throw a bowl of corn flakes at him later and call it “brunch”.

  I made it outside just in time to see Mike’s Camaro driving off with Chloe.

  Crap! I’m REALLY late, I grumbled as I hurried over to my car and slid inside. I pulled out of our driveway and zoomed down the road. I was careful not to speed (well not to speed excessively), but I really didn’t want to spend too much time dawdling down the road that flanked Shiloh Ridge. Normally the curvy, downhill drive would take a solid three minutes, but today I cut it down to only one and a half. At that revelation, I decided it was time to slow down. I couldn’t make a habit of speeding — not out fear, at least. As soon as I’d reached the bottom of the mountain, I paused to look over at the mine. Everyone’s jobs were secure today, and it appeared to be business as usual.

  I pulled onto Highway 52 and headed down the two-lane road to Welch High. I had approximately ten minutes to get to school, park, throw my stuff in my locker, and make it to first-period without officially being late. I was proud of my perfect attendance record. A tardy would certainly count against it.

  Thankfully, I was whipping my Charger into a vacant space nine and a half minutes later, but only because I didn’t get stuck behind any school buses along the way. However, I did have to park in the lower lot, which forced me into making a mad dash up the steep hill. I wasn’t too pleased about that, but at least I arrived at my first class on time, just as the second bell rang.

  Katie turned around as soon as I sat down. “You’re running behind this morning. I’ve been waiting on you for the past fifteen minutes. Are you still upset?” she whispered.

  “No,” I mouthed back and gave her a look, signaling Mrs. Thompson had entered the classroom.

  Katie jotted down a quick note and passed it back to me. It read,