Chapter 34 Waking Trouble

The school bell went off followed by hordes of students exiting the classrooms, chatting along loudly in the hallway. Cheryl moved over to a corner in the lobby with the phone at her ears.

"I saw your missed call. I was… caught up with something," she told him.

"Iris woke up," Ricky announced all of a sudden. Cheryl felt lost for words. "Get this. The first thing she says when she wakes up is that you're in danger."

Cheryl bit her lips, unsure of how to respond to that information. The chitter chatter from the students passing by made it harder for her to process.

"Cheryl. What's going on? I know Iris wouldn't just say something out of the blue. What have you not been telling me?"

"I can't leave, Ricky," she said, looking over to Rosa standing by the wall with her arms crossed. Her eyes then wandered towards the many clueless faces just marching past. "If only there was a way to evacuate the entire school."

"Cheryl, if you don't tell me what's going-" Ricky was saying before Cheryl quickly interrupted.

"There's this lunatic who's been going around calling shadows from out of a mirror."

"Where did you see this person?"

"I'm not sure… She just appears and disappears without anyone noticing."

There was a long pause before Ricky spoke again.

"I'm getting you out of there. Pack your stuff."

"Wait at least listen-" Cheryl was saying but the call ended. "It won't matter where I am!" she yelled at the empty phone out of frustration. People stared as they walked past, some whispering among themselves. Dan's head popped out from behind them, moving against the crowd. Cheryl quickly followed behind, despite the disappointed stares she got from Rosa in the distance.

Dan strode up the steps, dodging the incoming students. The crowd thinned out eventually by the time he reached the second floor. Cheryl looked down at the sudden buzzing in her hand. She breathed out an exasperated sigh, staring at Ricky's name blinking over the screen. Her finger swiped to cancel.

She tucked the phone away in her back pocket. Dan stopped to get a drink from the vending machine. Incidentally he pulled out two soda cans. Cheryl watched him disappear off into the dimmer corridor. She hastened her steps, turning the corner. Next to the branching path at the end of the hallway was another smaller set of stairs going down. It looked a lot like the path to detention, except this one was clean and well lit. She watched Dan pick the lock, amazed at how quickly she heard the door click open. She waited a few seconds before rushing in after him.

A single light flickered on in a familiar looking place. Dan looked up from where he sat, back leaning against the stacks of furniture along the wall. He held a soda can in his hand while the other remained beside him unopened.

"You followed me for real," he said, taking a sip.

"Why are you here?" Cheryl asked. "I thought maybe you…"

"Went to see her?" he completed for her.

"I thought you knew where she was," Cheryl sank down beside him, making a face of disappointment.

"I wish…" Dan said, lifting the extra soda can in front of her face.

"You got one thing right. This is the room I saw when I met her." She took the soda can, looking around the place.

"Took me a while to find it after the first time. I come here in case I run into her."

"You like her…" Cheryl murmured in a low voice.

Dan half spit, half choked on the soda.

"Maybe she likes you too. Maybe that's why she hasn't killed you yet."

Dan looked away too quickly, wiping his face while coughing at the same time.

"Don't get ideas… in your head," he said, taking deep breaths between the coughs.

"That's what they all say…" Cheryl rolled her eyes, getting back up on her feet.

"Where are you going?" he asked all of a sudden.

"I thought maybe you'd know something. Pretty soon my brother's going to be here and I'll have to leave for good," she complained.

There was a sound of pitter patter from behind her. Dan froze for a second, staring off at something in the distance. Cheryl wore a look of confusion, following his gaze towards the door. She gasped as her eyes fell on the little blue eyed Catter standing in the doorway. It cautiously approached, hissing at his surroundings.

"How did you find me here?" she said with surprise, moving towards it, only to be held back by the hand. She glanced at Dan who just watched the Catter with unsure eyes. His hands trembled slightly as they held her wrist.

"Why would you get close to it? It's a shadow. These things are dangerous," he told her, giving her hand a light squeeze.

"This one's not," she was telling him when a familiar voice echoed from above. Both their ears and eyes perked up. The Catter jumped over her head, settling onto her hair, messing it up a little.

"Rosa, how could you be so irresponsible as to let both of them out of your sight," Kurtis said in his strict tone.

"Dad, just let it go this once. Cheryl's not a trouble maker. You don't have to keep tabs on her," Rosa answered.

'Dad?' Cheryl wondered.

"Fine. I'll let it go… if when I walk into that room and I find it empty. That will mean they really are in the cafeteria having lunch as you say they are."

Cheryl gasped and turned to see Dan looking just as alarmed.

"He shouldn't know about this place," he said, "He's never caught me here."

"But she might know," Cheryl raised her eyebrows at him with realization, "Everytime she knows where I am, so does the principal."

Without giving him a chance to even question that logic, she began to search around the room. Her fingers groped around the dust filled shelves in the dark, hoping to find something.

"There has to be something… something she uses to see us."

Images filtered at the back of her head. Something glinted in the dim light, at the far corner of a broken shelf. Cheryl's hands curled around the object. The Catter hissed, bouncing off the shelf and scurried away under a table to the side.

"An old mirror?" Dan was saying.

"She always has one on her. This is probably how she's been spying on us."

Cheryl flipped the mirror side down. Her heart raced alongside the incoming footsteps. Dan peeked underneath the table where the Catter had disappeared. Luminous blue eyes flashed at him from a distance. He stretched out his hand into the darkness, feeling himself crawl into a hole.

"This way," he whispered from underneath, disappearing under the table like a shadow.

Cheryl almost jumped at the sound of the knob being twisted to a stop, followed by banging on the door. Her heart lurched inside of her as she bent down to crawl in after Dan. Suddenly, there was a hole in place of the wall, revealing a secret passageway from underneath the table. She could make out the blue eyes floating around further in.

She held her breath as someone wrestled with the keys. There was a click and the door flung open with a thud.

"Come out!" Kurtis's angry voice reached her. She clapped a hand to her mouth, feeling Dan do the same beside her. Her heart thumped away at an alarming speed.

"No one's here. See?" Rosa was saying. "Dad, you're paranoid. Let it go."

Kurtis laughed out loud all of a sudden.

"But I was right. They were here. Look. Soda cans just lying on the floor like that."

Rosa paused for a few seconds before speaking.

"Th-that could be anyone!" she said. "There are thousands of kids in the school. I told you, they're in the cafeteria."

"Alright then. Let's go see if they really are in the cafeteria. If not, then you're grounded. You will not be allowed to leave your room for an entire week."

The door slammed behind them as they left, leaving the room in utter silence. There was a faint sound of a fan blowing cold air from afar. Cheryl breathed out, sagging her shoulders in relief.

"I don't understand…" Dan was saying in a distant whisper. "You're saying she knew we were in here."

"That's how Mr. Kurtis found out. I never knew he was Rosa's dad…" Cheryl trailed off.

"But I come here all the time. She knew that. Why didn't she rat me out before?" he debated.

"Because, this time I was there with you…" Cheryl replied coldly. "She's out to kill me whether you believe it or not. Now come on."

She tugged on his sleeve.

"Where?"

"We need to get to the cafeteria," Cheryl said, crawling out of the small space. "If you didn't notice, Rosa really stood up for us. If Mr. Kurtis doesn't find us there, she'll be in trouble."

"Hang on," Dan said, looking over at the Catter behind him. "Follow me. I think I know where this leads."

It was like the Catter led the way, crawling faster ahead of them, turning right at a branching path. A dull light seeped in from her right. Cheryl turned to see the Catter jump out in the open. Dan followed after. She peeked her head out to find themselves inside a food storage. There was a sound of clitter clatter from outside.

"Where are we?" she asked, dangling her legs as she jumped, landing in a crouch.

"The kitchen is right beside us," Dan said, stealing a chocolate bar from out of one of the cartens. There were shelves filled with boxed food items. The Catter immediately crawled up to his feet, staring up at the chocolate with its large blue eyes. Dan paused to think for a second, before dropping the snack at his feet. With its claws extended, it quickly lunged for it and ran off into a corner to nibble.

"I can see why you're here… you greedy little cat." Cheryl shook her head at it. Then back at Dan. "But how did you know?"

"I sneak around a lot of places. This room reeks of cinnamon because of the tea they serve. I could smell hints of it through the vent." He sounded so proud of himself as he said that.

"You're both animals…" Cheryl muttered, peering through the half opened door that led to the kitchen. There were people busy rushing over from counter to counter. Whatever was cooking smelled good. Dan quickly grabbed her hand and snuck her through the kitchen when they had their backs towards them. Once outside, he grabbed a tray, handing her one as well.

"Problem solved," he said, flashing a proud grin. They stood in a slow moving line. In front of rows of long tables spread out with clusters of students sitting and chatting away. There was food everywhere, even on the floor. She could see people throwing food from one table to another. Somewhere around the corner a fight broke out, followed by kids hooting at them.

The hooting ceased as the principal suddenly entered the cafeteria, eyes searching the place. Rosa quickly followed behind, looking panicky. Her eyes fell on the two standing in line for the food and she breathed out with relief. She quickly pointed towards them. Kurtis's eyes met Cheryl's uneasy ones.

"Just look ahead," Dan said from in front of her, casually picking up a sandwich from the counter of food. He put one in her tray as well. She realized he'd already filled it with an apple and a pack of juice while she wasn't looking. From the corner of her eye, she watched Kurtis stomp off. The crowd roared once again, resuming their chitter chatter. A minute later, Rosa was at her side.

"Where were you?" she whispered. "The principal's been at my throat."

"You mean your dad? Yeah, we heard," Cheryl said, "Sorry to put you through that."

"But how did you guys get here so fast?" she sounded surprised.

"You should be thanking me. I saved you from a week long of boredom," Dan teased.

Rosa punched him in the arm. "None of this would happen if you didn't sneak off like that."

.

It hadn't been long since I opened my eyes to the familiar walls of the hospital. I tried calling Cheryl using Ricky's phone but she didn't pick up. I handed the phone back to him after transferring the number into my own phone.

"She won't pick up," I told him simply, fiddling with the needle in my arm. I pulled it out with one swift motion, like ripping off a bandage. Pain shot up my wrist. I clenched and unclenched my stiff fingers. Having just woken up, my body felt slightly heavy. My bones clicked when I moved them, stretching my arms out to touch my toes. A pulling sensation remained at the back of my head, as if I were still in the white room. The shadows whispered to me, some of which I understood. It was like a cluster of words.

"I said, is there anything you need from your apartment?" Ricky waved a hand in front of my eyes. I realized only then that I'd been staring off into space.

"Yeah no, Jon's already on it," I told him.

I noticed he looked anxious for a minute there. The room was small, with a single bed and a bunch of empty metal drawers beside it. I'd turned the monitors off since the beeping had started to give me a headache. The last thing I remembered was telling Cheryl to leave the place. I'd forgotten how stubborn she was.

"Dixon!" Meryl shouted with relief, standing at the doorway with tears glinting through her eyes. She barged in, almost knocking over a chair in a clumsy manner, keeping her hands out of the way. Ricky pulled the chair back up, dragging it out for her to sit, then slowly walked out of the room without a word. She watched him leave, while sitting down beside my bed.

"What did you do to him?" I leaned in a whisper.

"Why would you assume that I did something?" she replied in a startled whisper. I raised my eyebrows at her sarcastically. "I only came back to see you and Iris. I need to leave soon…"

She was saying when my eyes fell onto the bandages peeking out of her sleeve.

"You've been training," I interrupted all of a sudden. She paused wide eyed, as if caught doing something wrong. She quickly crossed her arms, stuffing the hands under.

"No, these are just some burns I got while cooking."

"I never said anything about burns…" I half smiled at her. "Whatever it is that you're doing. It helps if you let yourself heal before jumping back into it."

Her gaze shifted towards my face, studying it in silence. A few seconds later, her mouth flew open in astonishment.

"You know, don't you?" she whispered with disbelief.

I just looked down at my hands, clenching and unclenching them, hearing them click once again.

"You're not even surprised. How long have you known?" she insisted on it, despite me trying to avoid the talk.

"Remember those random fires that would start in the house that I bluntly took credit for?" I looked her in the eye. "Back when we were kids."

Meryl's mouth hung open as she stumbled for words, unable to conjure any at that moment.

"Why did you never say anything? You should've told me-"

"Does it help? Now that you know?" I cut her off before the conversation could proceed further.

She slowly shook her head. "No… for some reason ever since I found out, I can't control it anymore. Nothing's the same as before."

"It's 'cause you're too conscious. Give it time," I advised her.

At that moment, there was a knock at the door. Jonathan stood there with an unsure expression holding a bunch of my clothes under one arm.

"Dude…" he hesitated a bit, "Th-your… parents are here."