Rise of Alpha (The Prodian Journey #1) (5 page)

By the time I made my way back to the building, the last bell for the period was chiming. I plastered on a brave mask and reminded myself that I couldn’t control the tics any more than I could control the weather. The more I tried, the harder it got. It was stupid to beat myself up about it.

Then I saw Shannon at the far end of the hallway. For a brief moment, our eyes met. There was nothing to say. Apologizing would make me look more pathetic than I already was in her eyes. I looked away and entered my next round of hell.

“Is that you, baby boy?” Mom called from the kitchen as soon as I made it home. I wanted to be left alone, but there was no avoiding her. She’d hound me all the way to my room if I ignored her.

“Yes, Mom,” I answered, dropping my backpack on the sofa and heading for the kitchen. She was busy preparing the meatloaf, and the aroma made my mouth water.
 

“How was your first day without the medication?” she asked, turning around to face me.

I kissed her on the forehead and took a celery stick from the plate on the counter, munching on it before replying. “It was okay,” I lied.
 

She threw me a dubious look. “Are you sure? You know, there’s no need to be off it if you’re going to be miserable.”

Here we go. I knew she would start rambling about how scared she was for me. She meant well, but I wasn’t in the mood to hear it. Not today. I grabbed the remote and flicked on the television, not interested in another pep talk. The afternoon news was on, and my mother dropped our conversation in favor of listening to the newscaster. Content that the topic was off the table, I headed to the fridge, humming a tune. Mom shushed me, so I propped myself on the barstool and listened to the tail end of the news report. A few words caught my attention.

When I heard the words “rattlesnake” and “Chino Hills,” I swung around to look at the television, but the segment had ended. Mom shook her head and switched her focus back to cooking.
 

“What was that about?” I felt like I was going to be sick.

“On the news?”
 

I nodded.

“A landscaping company employee was bitten by a rattlesnake while she was working on a project in Chino Hills.”

“How can that be?” I muttered. My shoulders began to twitch. This couldn’t be happening.
 

“Did you say something?” She looked over her shoulder. “Bri? What’s wrong? Are you all right?”
 

“Um . . . yeah. I’m going to my room to do my homework,” I said, rising from the chair.

“Okay, but can you toss the garbage first?” she asked, still watching me.

“Sure.” I reached under the sink, pulled out the plastic liner, and hauled it to the trash bin at the side of our house.
 

What were the odds of my nightmare coming true? I shuddered at the thought. It had to be a strange coincidence. What other explanation could there be?

I powered up my laptop once I reached the confines of my bedroom, then toed off my shoes and sat on the bed. Hell, this was more than freaky. I searched the local news station’s website for breaking news. The woman’s name wasn’t mentioned, but everything I’d seen in my dream had happened. She’d been airlifted to a hospital, where she was listed in guarded condition.
 

My phone rang, and it was the same unknown number again. Muttering angrily, I punched the answer button.
 

“Piss off! I’m not interested in whatever the hell you’re selling.”
 

After hanging up, I glanced back at my laptop and shook my head. What in the hell should I do now? I pressed speed dial to call Mark. Maybe he could help, or at least come up with some convincing explanation for the coincidence.

My call to Mark was directed to voicemail. I had forgotten that he had football practice after school today, and Darryl would be working. The same telemarketing number flashed on my screen while I waited to leave a message, but I ignored it.

I tried to hide the edge from my voice when I heard the beep. “Hey, call me when you get this.”
 

My phone chimed just when I was hanging up. The telemarketer must have left a message. Grudgingly, I decided to listen instead of deleting the crap right away.
 

“Curly, what’s the matter with you? You’re beginning to give me a complex. First, you run out on me Friday night. Then you cursed at me today, twice. Now, you’re accusing me of selling stuff.” The teasing tone was hard to miss, but I also detected a small amount of distress in her voice. “I’m calling because I have your handouts with me from Mr. Peter’s class, and I also wanted to find out when we can meet for Sweeney’s project. Call me?”

Damn, I’d done it again. I kept piling one blunder on top of another freaking blunder. I listened to her voice message over and over for the next hour, wishing I hadn’t been so distracted by the news.

The urge to call her was strong, but what would I talk about? My stammering might turn her off, and my caveman attitude would just make me look like a fool. Was it too late to drop the classes I had with her? I rested my head on the pillow and closed my eyes. This had to be some kind of punishment for all the
fucks
I’d uttered in my life.
 

Dead Girl by the River

Another freakish dream made me jump up, drenched in sweat, in the middle of the night. I turned to check the time. It was midnight, and I had fallen asleep still wearing my school clothes. I sat up, but a pounding headache made me slide back down against my pillows.
 

In the darkness, I tried to recall the dream. It was almost identical to the one I’d had the night before, except it wasn’t Shannon who was running away this time. It was a girl my age fleeing a man wielding a baseball bat. There was a body of water in the background, but the rest of the details were hazy. She screamed for help. Although I was there, my role was that of a spectator watching the whole thing unfold. She didn’t hear me calling out to her as the man caught up with her. She struggled, and when the first of the blows came, I was dragged away from the nightmare. This was getting downright creepy. What was with the dreams I’d been having? Maybe this was a side effect of the medicine withdrawal. What should I do? Did this mean I was already losing the battle to stay off the drugs?

The growling of my stomach distracted me from my dilemma and made me realize how hungry I was after skipping dinner. I wondered why Mom or Dad hadn’t bothered to wake me up. I tapped the mouse pad, and the article I’d been reading the night before came up.
 

Coincidence. It had to be.
That was the one logical explanation I allowed myself to accept.

I got out of bed and winced at the throbbing in my head. Marching to the bathroom, I didn’t bother to turn the light on before I rummaged inside the drawer until I found the bottle of ibuprofen. I took three caplets and stepped into the hallway. The hardwood floor creaked under my weight as I made my way toward the staircase to the tune of Dad’s loud and even snoring. Despite the closed door, I could hear him loud and clear, and I wondered once more how Mom slept through the racket every night.
 

In the kitchen, I perused the contents of the refrigerator and settled on a carton of orange juice first. I swallowed the pills down with one long swig straight from the container. I smirked after replacing the cap, knowing mom wouldn’t appreciate my drinking straight from the carton. Oh, well. What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.
 

Then I began checking every container for something to eat until I found a covered dish filled with leftover meatloaf. I took two slices, spooned gobs of gravy and mashed potatoes on my plate, and stuck it in the microwave. While waiting for my food, I flipped on the television. At this unholy hour, there was nothing but infomercials, so I turned it off again.

Eating in the dark, listening to my chewing and the steady hum of the fridge, my mind wandered back to the odd dream. What did it mean? Coincidence was an easy excuse. But why had I even dreamed of Shannon? Well, it wasn’t hard to guess since she’d been on my mind every minute of the day. It’d be interesting to know how she would feel knowing about my growing fascination with her, though I would never admit to it.
 

After rinsing my plate, I stashed it inside the dishwasher and hurried back to my room to get some homework done. For the next few hours, I worked like a man possessed, intent on getting everything done. It was after two in the morning when my homework was finished. I wasn’t even sleepy yet, so I figured one game of
L.O.L.
wouldn’t hurt. For the next thirty minutes, the world of strategic thinking and coordinated team-play had me distracted for a while. Then I remembered Shannon’s message to call her. Well, it was too late to do that anyway. I’d see her in the morning and figure out how to change partners. The less I talked to her, the better off I figured I’d be.

Several times during the wee hours of the morning, I woke up, sweating and smarting from terrible dreams, disturbing nightmares that felt so real. The next time I opened my eyes, sunshine was streaming through the slats of the blinds. I looked around, disoriented, and glanced at the clock on my nightstand.

What the hell?
 

How in the hell did I sleep through the alarm? According to the clock, it was well into the third period already. Even if I moved fast, it’d be close to the lunch hour by the time I was ready and out of the house. When I shot out of bed, a crippling pain in my head made me slump back down. Feeling woozy, I stayed still until the throbbing eased up. I took a greedy gulp of water from the glass on my nightstand and felt a bit better after a moment. Despite the spinning sensation in my head, I dialed Mom’s number. Good thing she picked up on the first ring.
 

“Why didn’t you wake me up?
 

“I tried several times, but you were sound asleep. When I felt your forehead, you were burning up.”

“I do feel kinda sick.” That was an understatement. I felt like my eyes were two huge fireballs and my body was a lump of coal.

“That’s why I left you to sleep. Stay home today. I’m just running some errands for your dad. I’ll be back in time for dinner. I left you some pills to keep the fever down and a sandwich for lunch.”

I lifted my lids to check the nightstand. “Yeah. I see it.”

“Keep drinking water and juice. I’ll make chicken soup for you once I get home.”

After we said goodbye, I turned on some music then squirmed underneath the sheet and pulled it up to my chin. My eyes were watery and my body achy. With nothing to do, my thoughts wandered back to Shannon. She wanted me to call her. My stomach churned at the thought. It would be nice to hear her voice and to be able to talk to her every day and not worry about anything else. Not what other kids would think if we were seen together, or what business I had hanging out with such a beautiful girl. Heck, I could even drive her to school if she’d let me.
 

Hey, freak. You’re a goddamn joke
, the voice in my head taunted. Yeah, what was I thinking?
 

The sound of the buzzer hauled me from yet another dream, and I stumbled out of bed in a total daze, not sure where the noise was coming from. First I pounded the alarm clock, but another buzz came. Scrambling down the hallway, I gripped my head while I attempted to swallow. My throat was dry and parched like it had been sandpapered. Another persistent buzzing followed before I reached the front door. If my guess was correct, it had to be around four in the afternoon from the angle of the sun. I wrenched the door open.