Collaborative free-write Chapter 5

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Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4
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Chapter 5

In the darkness I heard voices. One seemed like a low raspy male voice, while the other was familiar, but too far in the distance to recognize one way or another. "-know about his real parents. He turned seventeen and is going to want to know what's going on." the raspy man's voice became quieter, "He doesn't have much time."

"He has no more time than the rest of us had," the familiar voice finally became clear and as the darkness began to fade from my eyes. Topanga was speaking, and for the first time that I can recall, she was frustrated. "We can't be discussing this here, he's coming awake."

"That's exactly why we must discuss this now," The man's voice grew increasingly stern and irritated, "he is awakening too fast and may not realize the danger he is in if he cannot control it."

"No," Topanga corrected herself, "I mean look. He's actually waking up."

As I opened my eyes fully and finally shook the blurr from my eyes I saw what looked to be the school nurse's office. I could see Topanga and my Chemistry teacher, Mr. Quinton huddled over in the corner of the room, both of them staring intently at me. "What happened? Why am I in the nurse's office? Or rather, why are you two here with me?"

Topanga, with a look of what could have been surprise or even relief, took the lead as Mr. Quinton folded his hands on the table and poured his gaze into his palms. "You don't remember what you did back there on the bus?"

"Remeber what? The last thing I remember is getting on the bus and talking with you about something personal," I glanced back at Mr. Quinton to see if he was taking the hint that this was personal and he needed to leave. No dice. "And then the bus came to a really hard stop and all my stuff was on the ground, and the next thing I know is that I'm sitting here in the nurse's office." I thought about my own words for a second. "Oh my God, did we get in an accident? Are the other kids ok? That would explain why my wrist hurts so bad! But hey, wait a minute, why would I be in the nurse's office and not the hospital? What's going on here?"

"Calm down Jaden," Topanga giggled a little bit with a sigh of relief. "You obviously don't remember so I'll tell you. The stupid bus driver got freaked out when an old man went J-walking and slammed on his brakes. And apparently you couldn't handle the motion because you fainted. Luckily no one else was hurt and no one saw you kic-" She almost ghasped as Mr. Quinton's hand suddenly clamped her shoulder. "-And no one saw you kicking the floor with your face, so don't worry. I just told everyone that you stayed up the night before doing a project and forgot to eat breakfast this morning, so we brought you to the nurse and she got you some food and blankets." She pointed at the other side of the fold-up rolling bed where a tray of cafeteria food lay next to my belongings.

I didn't quite understand what she was getting at, my head was still a little fuzzy and I didn't feel like thinking too hard. I wasn't sure if I should believe her or not, but for now all I knew was my wrist and head hurt, and I felt as if I had just run a twenty mile marathon. "Then why is Mr. Quinton here?"

Finally, his expression changed, but his tone of voice remained low and bored as ever. His eyes still staring into his hands. "The nurse called your parents. Your mom was histerical and insisted that you come home. I happened to be in the room for other business and heard the conversation. Your mom has such a loud voice, you know! Anyways I told your mom that you were fine and that you were going to flunk my class if you didn't take the exam today, and told her I would personaly see to it that you get better and return to class by the time my class starts."

The story continued to get more and more confusing so I put my hands up and said, "Okay, fine. I get it. You're really a cruel teacher but thanks for sparing me from my mom's obsessive babying ritual. The last thing I want is to go home and be told not to leave my bed for a week. I'm feeling better, can I please get going?"

Mr. Quinton stood up and nodded his head. As he turned for the door, he leaned toward Topanga and whispered just loud enough for me to make out the last part of his sentence, "-him the truth or I will." Topanga lowered her head deep in thought, waiting for the teacher to make his exit, then turned to me with a smile.

"Truth about what?" I insisted

"Nothing." She replied. "He wants me to tell you something but after today I think its better that I tell you some other time, you've had enough drama for one day. Nothing important, just some B.S. about our grades and stuff that he wants me to help you with. Now come on, get your stuff we're going to be late to second period. You don't want to flunk Quinton's exams after he stood up for you on the phone do you?"

As she started for the door, I reached for my bag, forgetting about the food laying next to it. My arm brushed the cup of juice and nearly knocked it over. To the best of my reflexes I retracted my arm in a jolt and instead of the cup, my bag came toppling over. For the second time today its contents spilled out onto the floor, with the exception of one thing I don't recall seeing on the floor of the bus. I reached down and grabbed the small red book, and the moment my fingers touched it I caught a vision of myself being seemingly thrown at some dark figure, and in a rage my fist made contact with what looked like its head, but the motion was so fast I couldn't quite make out what my body was doing. The vision dissappeared as I threw the book back onto the floor. My wrist suddenly hurt ten times worse than a few minutes ago. I looked over at Topanga, half-expecting her to run to my side and ask if it hurt. But instead she just stood there, mouth slightly open as she searched desperately for the right words.

"I totally forgot about that book. You remember what happened on the bus don't you?

"No," I winced, "actually I don't remember anything. But for some reason I just had a dream in which I beat the living hell outta some monster faster than my imagination could keep up with."

"Well you wanted me to teach you how to fend for yourself right?"

"Yeah, why?

"The reason I haven't helped you yet is because you already know. Or rather, the other you knows."

"Other me?" I could no longer disguise the histeria in my voice. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

Her face became pained and worried. She was clearly hiding something about what happened, and by now my mind was racing, searching my memory for what might have happened. She checked the office to make sure the nurse was still on break, then closed the door, locked it and came toward me. "Sit back down. We're going to talk."