chapter 4

"Whoever wins this race gets this period free and doesn't have to participate in soccer," my gym teacher Mr. Balker announces.

My eyes widen. Yes! I hate gym, including the outfits that come with it. Flexing my hands, I smile because I'm the fastest in my class. All of the students in the class including me are lined up on the track that circles around the field. I look over at everyone, Shaw for some reason wearing sun glasses even though it looks like it's going to rain. Everyone is in a running stance but he is standing calmly with his hands in his jean pockets.

"Ready. Set. Go!" Mr. Balker yells. We start off, me instantly at the front. I grin. I'm going to win and not have to play soccer!

But then I hear pounding footsteps approaching me and Shaw overtakes me easily. Eyes wide with surprise, I growl in frustration and push myself to go faster. I feel it happen then, the burning of emotions in my chest accompanied by exertion easily bringing it forward. In seconds, I'm running right beside him but I can't seem to pass him.

We pass the finish line and I stop, painting. He doesn't even look like he broke a sweat. He looks over at me, my eyes meeting his, until I realize my mistake and look away, closing my eyes as I catch my breath. He had to of seen it. Peeking one eye open, I glance over at Shaw but he's looking ahead, a bored expression painted on his face. If he had he isn't showing it.

"Since you tied you both get to have the period free," Mr. Balker informs us, his eyebrows furrowed in slight frustration. He probably didn't like having to lose two students from his sadistic game of soccer.

"Yes!" I grin, wiping away the few traces of sweat at my temples. The rest of the class grumbles while Shaw looks amused, something that I haven't seen on his face before. It quickly disappears, however. I start to walk back into the gymnasium so I can change into my clothes when I hear footsteps following me inside. I look behind me only to see no one. Eyes narrowed, I glance around before shrugging and walking into the girl's changing room. I open my locker and begin to change back into my clothes when my stomach growls.

"Maybe I'll get something from a vending machine or the cafeteria," I grumble to myself. Closing the door to my locker, I spin the combination lock and start the short trek back to the school building. Once inside, I'm halfway to the cafeteria when a high pitched ringing starts. It's not the bell. Wincing, I rub my ears with my hands to see if it will go away but it doesn't. It just gets louder and louder until I can't hear anything else. It hurts! I cover my ears with my hands but it doesn't stop. I squeeze my eyes closed, desperately trying to block out the agonizing noise when my knees give out.

"Stop," I cry. "Please. Make it stop!" I scream out in pain. I'm crying at this point, the warm tears running down my face as I curl over. "Stop!" I finally feel relief when some type of warm sticky liquid begins to drips from my ears and onto my hands. Then I realize its blood.

Hands begin to shake my shoulders and I blearily look up. Adrian and Ruby are bent over me with worry on their faces. They move their mouths but I don't hear a thing outside of a faint echo of the previous ringing in my head.

"I can't hear you," I try to say normally, not able to hear my own voice, but I probably ended up yelling it.

Adrian frowns, holding out a hand and helping me to my feet. Rubbing my ears with my fingertips, my hearing slowly returns and I turn to get away from probing eyes only to see Shaw leaning against the wall, looking at me. Has he been there long? Why wouldn't he help me if he saw I was in pain? What the hell just happened? Questions raced through my mind ending with no answers and a frown on my face.

"What happened to you?" Ruby asks and I turn back to look at her.

"I really don't know," I answer truthfully. Hiding behind an awkward laugh, I hide my hands and shift my hair forward to cover my ears.

"Maybe you should you go see the nurse." Adrian's frown comes back when I tell him I'm fine, I'm just going to go to the bathroom. Ruby tries to go with me but I tell her she needs to be in class and I just want a moment alone. She's looks uncertain, maybe a little hurt, but I don't want her freaking out when I start washing the blood away. I'll be doing enough of that.

I walk away before they can say anything more, not bothering to look and see if Shaw is still there. I know he's long gone now.

~

A cat runs past us and before I know it, the Yorkshire terrier, Buddy, is barking and running after it causing me to let go of the leash. I start to run after him.

"Buddy! Come back here right now!" Of course, he doesn't listen, just like every other time. I make a mental note to stop walking him.

He runs onto another street and I follow him, not paying attention to my surroundings until it's too late. He finally stops on someone's lawn to bark up a tree at a fleeing squirrel. I quickly lean down and grab the red nylon leash. After getting him to sit by my feet, his little tail wagging, I look around and a lump gets caught in my throat.

The house in front of me is small, painted a muted purple that's slowly been peeling away with every rain and storm. The screen door is scratched open, netting laying open to allow bugs in-between the two front doors. The grass is spotted with brown, a space that was once a garden now overgrown with weeds and dying vines. I've always avoided this house and here it is. My mind replays the memory as if it happened yesterday.

There's a loud bang and I'm carefully running down the stairs, my stuffed floppy dog Sam in my arms, to see what it was only to find mommy standing in front of a wall with a hole in it. She's trembling and her fist is bleeding.

"What happened, mommy?" I clutch Sam closer to my chest.

She looks down at me, her eyes red and puffy from crying. Her eyes that were normally blue are now gold. Daddy had died a week before and mommy hasn't been the same since. She didn't want to play with me as much anymore. She was different. I hug Sam closer, his soft ears pressing into my cheeks and hiding my trembling lip.

"I can't do this anymore," she whispers. She quickly walks over to me and bends down to kiss my forehead. "I love you; always know that, know that I'm so sorry." Her voice is choked as her hands slowly slip from my shoulders and then she's out the door.

I don't understand and my hands are shaking. Sam is having trouble hiding my trembling lip. "Mommy? What's wrong?" I stumble over to see her running into the forest across the street with inhuman speed and disappear out of sight.

The police had looked and looked but couldn't find any trace of her. Tears had been streaming down my face when they took me away.

I guess I can call myself lucky. I have a good family even if they aren't my birth parents. But sometimes I still find myself wishing she were here.