• Chapter seven
    I yawned.
    “Uh, where am i?” I wasn’t expecting an answer, but I just knew there would be one.
    “Tai! Oh my God, Tai I thought you were dead!” Luu screamed, nearly toppling over the chair.
    “Hush Luu, she just woke up.” Ma said in a whisper, gently rubbing my shoulder.
    “Oh…okay.” She said, nodding her head as she sat back down.
    “Ma…I’m in the hospital right?”
    “Yes, honey.”
    I yawned as I nodded.
    “So Tai, those boys didn’t hurt you right? They better not have.”
    Oh crap, what happened to Roy and Christian? Did that freak really captured Christian??
    My mother’s voice shook me back into reality. “Tai, the doctors said you can leave tomorrow…if that’s okay with you.” Ma said.
    She thought something was wrong. What a drag. I sighed and layed back on the bed, sinking inside its memory foam mattress.
    “Okay fine, but can I leave today?”
    “Why the rush?” Pa said, leaning back against his chair.
    “Has it ever occurred to you that I don’t like hospitals?” I said, closing my eyes. I never wondered why my parents didn’t do anything. They should respect me, I’m their child, and I get what I deserve. But, I knew it was truly because of the Child Protection Services. You can get away with almost everything with them in action. My parents couldn’t even touch me, more or less, harm me.
    “No.” my father said briefly.
    “Well, we’ll go see if they can let you out of here today but…” Ma’s voice was drowned out by the metal door.
    “But is not an option.” I said quickly, opening my eyes once they left.
    “I swear Tai; they’ll send you to military school for acting like that.”Luu whispered.
    “So that’s the worse they can do?” I paused. “Please.”I rose from the bed this time, trampling over my own feet.
    “Those doctors sure did drug you.” Luu murmured, holding me up.
    “Shut up,” I said, leaning into the chair beside her. “I go to school tomorrow don’t I?”
    “Yep, you don’t like it or something?”
    “No, it’s nothing.” I said, myself looking at the linoleum floor. I had a headache. Stupid drugs. They should’ve let me decide if I wanted them.
    My parents walked in a few minutes later, explaining to me that they convinced the doctors to let me leave today.
    Yes!! I cherished in my head, wondering if Roy would be there to rescue me. I wasn’t safe anymore. The Mahre knew who I was now, and it made no since in me staying in this unprotected world of glamour.
    I slowly stood up and walked to them. “So can I leave now?”
    They looked at each other, and then nodded.
    “Good.” I said, walking to the door. “Do I leave this crappy garment the hospital calls ‘clothes’ or do I just take it with me?”

    At home I slouched on the cream leather couch, the television watching me. I didn’t get to keep those pajamas that the hospital made me where, but I did get some privacy. But, like always, it didn’t last.
    “Tai, Luu’s here.” My mother murmured through the kitchen.
    I walked to the door and looked through the peep hole. Someone else was with her. I looked away and then looked back. Nope, I wasn’t trippin’, someone was with her.
    I opened the door and smiled, only to find Luu with her boyfriend.
    “Hi Luu. Hi Brian.” I said, not moving out of the doorway.
    After about a couple of seconds-although it seemed like hours-, Luu finally nudged Brian to speak up.
    “So, uh…are you gonna let us in or what?” he said, big brown eyes just staring at me.
    “Hmm…I don’t know, I’m thinking of letting Luu in but not you.”
    “What?” he said abruptly, his voice rising in every word he spoke, “Why her? I’m as much as your friend as she is!”
    I stared at him dully, and then chuckled. “No, no you’re not. I remember what happened at that party. You and you’re so called friend.”
    “I bet you don’t know what happened after that.” He remarked, grimacing.
    I stopped my smirking. He wasn’t exactly right, but close. I remembered Roy and Christian, but before that…I simply remembered that stupid crew member of his…Ugh. Why couldn’t that idiot imposter delete this memory? I remember his breathe and his movements…but did he do something? Eww, I hope not. I immediately shoved this out of my head just as Brian’s voice fell through my ears.
    “Hmm? Cat got your tongue?” he said annoyingly.
    I rolled my eyes, “Fine, come in.” I moved out of their way and let them walk passed. I stared at the snow outside before closing the door. Did that bush just move? Okay, I’m hallucinating again. That was not Roy, that was a cat.
    I found Brian and Luu on my couch flipping the television channels.
    “You know, I was watching that.” I lied.
    “Right.”Brian said as he slouched in the coach.
    I sighed and walked to the staircase. My house was a mirror image to Luu’s. Luu always got what she wanted, even if I threatened her. That was the only reason why I was her friend. I needed a balance. For some reason, I actually wanted to be angry. I know, it’s weird.
    I slammed the door behind me and sat in the chair next to my bed. I had to go to school tomorrow. Just great. I’ll have no clue what’s going on there and I know they’ll be asking me tons of questions about me being absent. Ugh. Let’s hope that I find Roy or someone that’s at least capable of not having their face punched out.
    _______________________________

    First period wasn’t as bad as I thought. No one asked me anything, except Brian.
    “So…how was your little…nap?”
    “Shut. Up.”
    “Oh c’mon, it’s not like I’m bothering you to just date you. You know I really do love you.” He said, brushing his finger on my cheek.
    I slapped his hand back. “Touch me again, and I’ll break it.” I muttered, scribbling the notes down.
    “I like a girl that’s tough.”
    I was just about to break his face when the bell rung. He was so lucky I actually wanted to get to lunch and not tell Luu that he was cheating on her. Oooh, this boy was so lucky today. Oh well, Luu probably wouldn’t believe me anyways.
    At the tables, Luu didn’t even speak to me. I felt miserable. But, at least I knew why she was mad at me. I think you know too, and it pains me to talk about it. She’s famous for her grudges on people. And I really didn’t want to be in one right now.
    So I grabbed a tray and waited in the not-so-long line. My stomach was killing me. I hadn’t eaten since I got back from the hospital. I’m sorry; I was too busy trying to regain my thoughts. But, now that I have, all I can think about is food. I wanted to grab everything I saw and shovel it down like some kind of pig, but I didn’t. I wasn’t a pig. Oh no, not me. I was a polite little teenager that ate only a few things give or take a few more.
    So I took some salad, an apple, Jell-o, and a bottle of water. Healthy huh?
    “So…this is Johnson High.” Some new kid said.
    I didn’t even look at him, too busy trying to understand why some calculus problem wasn’t adding up.
    “It’s kinda boring though.”
    I grimaced before speaking. “Why are you talking to me?”
    He chuckled, apparently amused by my anger. “I see that no one has today.”
    I stopped and stared at the paper on the metal table. Was he a stalker? Ugh, not another one, I thought, Oh well, he’ll simply walk away when I give him no eye contact.
    “Please, I…well, I don’t really talk often. Not to anyone. Only family, and…close friends.”
    “So…your name’s Tai, right?”
    “Of course my names Tai, you idiot,” I said abruptly, gettting annoyed.
    “Wow, I guess I’ve made a new…partner.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” I whispered, putting the pencil down.
    He changed the subject. “I see you like being alone,” I heard a shift in his posture, “I can agree to that.”
    “Then why don’t you leave me be?” I asked, having a disdainful expression.
    “Don’t glare at me,” he murmured, chuckling. “You couldn’t survive out anywhere without someone, so why in this whole world would you want to be…alone?”
    “Wait…” I was too confused.
    I couldn’t survive out anywhere? What did that mean?
    Wait, survive?
    Out?
    Oh. My. Gosh.
    “Roy?” I nearly chocked the words.
    “In the flesh.”
    “Why are you…How did you…”
    “Shhh, let me explain.” He moved to the opposite edge of the table, “After they…took Christian, I walked for some time and eventually found enough change for a payphone and called a friend that could help. I’m glad, but my brother, he could be dead. “
    I was just about to speak when Luu’s annoying voice yelled, “Ooh, look at Tai and her boyfriend!” I looked toward her, then back. But Roy had disappeared. Did Luu see him? I glanced up to her, but she was too busy giggling her butt off to notice anything.
    Right or left, I thought, wondering which way he would have chosen. I took a left, and everyone seemed to shade away, making a clear passage for me. I wondered why but… I didn’t feel like thinking too hard and kept on. My eyes shifted through the various expressions of the students, none at all Roy. So I casually slipped into the halls, staring briefly for a moment at the two couples holding hands. I started walking again, two couples were not the thing to see right now.
    Then I had a plan. A very stupid one, but a plan.
    I stopped at the office, one hand carrying a backpack,“I’d like to give Roy his backpack but…” I toyed with the straps of my bag, unconsciously adjusting their lengths. “It appears he’s not here anymore.”
    “No…” the secretary said, not paying attention. “He’s here.”
    “Then can you call him up? It is lunch break you know.”
    The secretary stared at me with a mixed expression of annoyed and suspicious, and then announced the information on the intercom. “Just leave his things here,” she said afterwards, “you should get going.”
    Like I actually had anywhere to go. Everybody hated me, more or less wanted to kill me. I sighed, “No, I’d rather stay; I’d like him to know it was me who found his bag.”
    She sighed with a slight pinch of anger, and then agreed.
    I nodded as I sat in the uncomfortable black chair against the wall. It seemed like hours, but only mere minutes passed as I stared at the linoleum floor, counting the squares around my chair. I started thinking about Christian. He was captured, but Roy told me that he could be dead. But…if he was dead, what would happen to Roy? I mean, they were inseparable brothers. They didn’t have any other family (at least none that I know of) and they needed to tell the people that the whole world was deceiving them, torturing the so called ‘aliens’. The secretary shook me back into reality with her disrespective tone.
    “Look, apparently he didn’t get the announcement. Can you please leave?” her suddenly aggravated voice said.
    “Why? I still have two minutes, can’t you wait?” I wanted to see how an adult besides my parents responded to my manners. They couldn’t do a darn thing, and if they did, well, you know what would happen.
    “Look young lady, I don’t know who-“she stopped suddenly by the green-eyed guest.
    “Um…I supposedly left my backpack somewhere?” he said, yawning and scratching his head. He turned to me, chuckled, and then said, “Oh, never mind. She has it.”
    Yes, I cheered. I wanted to finish our conversation and now was my chance.
    He smiled as I handed him the faux bag, and chuckled as he turned around. I followed.
    “Wait!” the secretary suddenly yelled, “you two better not be ditching. If I even see a tardy-“
    Saved by the bell.
    We rushed out, Roy dropping the bag in the trash, the real one sitting along our next class. Mr. Smith was waiting by the door, apparently disappointed in us.
    “You two- get inside, now.” He pointed his sausage-sized finger to the classroom and Roy pulled me in, sitting down in the back corner.
    I pulled out a paper and pencil; a distraction for Mr. Smith.
    “Why did you leave?” I demanded, staring at him furiously.
    He chuckled, “Luu’s seen me before, she would so call the police if she had the chance to recognize me.”
    I stared down at the metal table, looking at my reflection, “But, aren’t you in still in danger? I mean, won they come for you too?”
    “No, they know I’ll come for my brother, its only a matter of time…”
    “Before what?”
    He abruptly took my paper and scribbled the notes down, allowing me to get the hammer.
    “Why don’t you have a sheet of paper? I just said copy the notes down and turn to page three hundred and fifty-six. You don’t even have your book out!!! How do you expect to graduate without following directions!!! I don’t care if you just came back from the hospital, you’ve been in school for eleven years and you should know what to expect!!!”
    Roy didn’t have his book out either, why was Mr. Smith yelling at me? I turned to Roy and, to my surprise, he had that book out. I turned back to Mr. Smith. I wasn’t going to erupt in front of him.
    “…do you understand, young lady? Roy, a new student, even has his book out, Tai.”
    That commanded full attention. He never said my first name… ever. I guess he must really hate me today. After he turned his back I slapped Roy in the back of the head and took out that book and some paper. This time more than one sheet.
    “You’re such a freak.” I murmured, quickly copying the notes.
    He chuckled, “So are you.”
    ________________________

    “So, tell me again, why they don’t they come after you?”
    He sighed, and then pulled me to the nearest table in a park, setting me down. He sat across from me, his eyes serious. “Here,” he said, and pulled out his phone, “look at this.”He slung it across the table and nodded to me.
    I did a reassuring smile before pressing play.
    It started off slow, something moving in the darkness. A figure of a body was squirming around like a worm. however, as the dim lights flickered on, the body was not on the ground, but on a table.
    ‘Help!’ a voice said, it was low, but I could tell whoever it was was screaming at the top of his lungs, his voice extremely course. He repeated this word, screaming louder and louder each time. ‘Please, not that!! NO!!!’ it sounded like he was crying out, not at all screaming.
    He was pleading them to stop, and yet, they didn’t. I saw that needle, and the dreaded clear liquid they injected him with. His voice cut off immediately, a silent scream escaping his breath.