She just stood there, feeling again like all the life had been sucked out of her being. Her world was shattering around her. Like it always did right before she managed to rebuild it piece by piece; but this no one but God could rebuild.
* * *
Spencer
Spencer knocked at Rebecca’s door. There were no cars in her driveway, which meant her parents were out of town. A part of him felt sick over what he said to Donna, but another part felt afraid of her as well. He was at her mercy in this situation. If Donna or Rebecca told their stories differently, the police would definitely take him in for more questioning, and run his name and picture, or his mom’s …
Rebecca answered the door. Her face was still very pale, as it had been before he left her. He was surprised to see that Paul was there. What had she told him? Would she tell him? Yeah, he thought, she’s probably called her parents and the police by now!
“Rebecca, I—” Her eyes were swollen and she looked smaller than usual, as if he was talking to a child instead of one of his best friends. “—need to talk to you. Alone.” He looked at Paul, giving the geek a half threatening look. “For a moment.”
“He knows,” she started, her words foreshadowing what he feared. “I told him.”
He looked at them both, feeling the pain of his burns still tearing into him. Flashes of his mom and him packing everything into their old car and moving again went through his mind. Of running for their lives.
He felt sick and unsettled. How was he going to keep Paul, the school’s valedictorian, from talking? He’d probably write an article on it and win some Nobel Prize, while Spencer was back on the run. He took a step toward her, getting in between her and Paul. “How much did you tell him?” he whispered.
“Everything,” she answered loudly. He shook his head, frantic, his mind racing. “He knows more about this than we do. He says there are more people like Donna out there, that they’ll—”
“Stop,” he interrupted her. “I don’t want to know anymore. I have enough to worry about already that has nothing to do with this!” He looked at Paul and Rebecca. He wanted to get as far away from them, from this, as possible. He’d have to tell them both now. “Listen, my mother and I moved here when I was thirteen because my stepfather is a bad guy. He used to beat her and was involved in all this horrible stuff.” He couldn’t tell them the whole depth of it, the memories were too much to combine with the new things that had crashed down on him today. “My mom spoke against him in court and had him put away, but he sent his people after us. Even when we were under witness protection, cops that were working for him told his guys where to find us.” His mind was livid; he’d said too much already, but he had to. “So we ran here on our own, and we’ve been able to stay under the radar ever since. But if the police arrest me, or take my picture, my mother and I are dead!”
“Spencer,” Rebecca tried to speak; shocked by the truth he had always hidden; but then again everyone had always sensed that the reason his mom moved here was “mysterious” and “off.”
“No!” he interrupted her. “I have to go. I’ve talked to the police. They found our stuff. I told them I got upset when Randy almost hit us and went after him, but then Donna stopped me. They think we had nothing to do with that car crash, and it has to stay like that!”
“I can find out if that’s what they really think,” Paul told him.
“No, just leave it alone!” He looked at Rebecca, knowing that, like with Donna, their friendship would never be the same. “You have to forget about this day. Act like it never happened.” His arms were holding her shoulders as if she were small. Then he gave Paul one more “keep your mouth shut” look and left.
He slammed the door behind him and started running. He was afraid of what Donna had become. Afraid that the police would find out everything and take him in for questioning. Afraid his mom would get killed. And most of all afraid he was losing his mind. How could this be happening? Just when he and his mom were feeling under the radar. Now he was closer to crossing an uncrossable line than ever before.
* * *
Rebecca
The next morning Rebecca woke up on her couch with a blanket thrown over her, keeping her warm. She took a deep breath in relief. It had all been a dream, and now it was over. She stood up, her head felt heavy. As she looked down at her shirt, she saw it was the one she had worn last night … No!
She went over to her kitchen table. There was a sticky note from Paul on it. She slowly sat down on the chair and took another deep breath. It hadn’t been a dream, it had all really happened. She had fallen asleep crying, sitting on the couch with Paul. This is all scientifically impossible! No human being can turn into electricity. It’s like something from a movie!
Her head throbbed again. Her first reaction was to call Donna. Then she remembered this had all happened because of her. She remembered what Paul had said. That there were more like Donna that would kill her if she knew.
Could Donna know what she is? Could she try to kill me? No! Donna would never. Rebecca’s next instinct was to call Spencer, but she quickly dismissed that idea as well. She went upstairs and changed into different clothes, and then headed out with her purse to Paul’s house.
She knocked at the door a short time later and his mother answered. Rebecca had known Paul’s mother well from all the award assemblies Paul and she had gone to.
“Rebecca, how are you?” his mom asked with a smile.
“Fine, Mrs. Cohen, um, is Paul here? He said he’d give me a ride to school today,” Rebecca lied.
“Yes, he’s in the basement, studying as usual. Come on in.”
Paul’s house was so warm and cozy. It already had a Christmas tree in the corner even though Christmas wasn’t for another three months. She walked down the stairs of his basement. It was well lit with music playing. She saw Paul sitting in the corner listening to something with headphones on. He had the place filled with scientific charts and weird experiments. There were several old televisions and laptops he had picked apart, missing all kinds of pieces.
She tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped and turned around quickly. She jumped too, feeling his fear. He looked at her, startled and embarrassed.
“Oh, Rebecca. I’m sorry. I’m just … ” His hands were slightly touching hers. He pulled away when he realized it. Rebecca wished he hadn’t, his touch felt comforting. “On edge.”
Her heartbeat quickened hearing him say that, reminding her of the reality that lay in front of them. “Me too,” she whispered.
“You don’t need to be … ” His glasses began to side down; he pushed them upright. “I got your backpack.” He pointed toward it in the corner. “You can go through it to see if anything’s missing, but because it’s brown it seemed to have blended in.” She felt relieved and amused by how cute Paul was. Even now, he seemed so sweet. She had never looked at him like this before. He signaled for her to follow him through the maze of experiments over to one corner of his room. There were two televisions broken open, their cables all connected to each other, with a radio tangled in the middle. Paul used pliers to cross one cable with another, then plugged his headphones into the TV.
“What is this?” she asked him gently as he crossed a bunch of wires together.
“It’s kind of like a super radio I’ve built.” He moved the antennas on the TV around to face the wall. “It can pick up any frequency in both East and West Applegate.”
He placed the headphones on her ears. She listened. “Going to West Road to watch for speeders, copy,” said a man’s voice.
“Just caught two myself, going to breakfast, copy,” replied a woman’s voice. She recognized the woman. It was Miss Susa, the only woman sheriff the town had.
She looked up at Paul while still listening. He had a nervous smile.
“It’s the Sheriff department. I can pick up whatever they’re saying over their walkie talkies, even the highly blocked stuff”
She took the headphones off, watc
hing Paul in disbelief and amazement. He was an absolute genius. She knew he was able to build computers, he had won a fifteen hundred dollar scholarship for a robot he had built last year, but listening in on police conversations was something she never imagined people really did. They looked at each other, eyes locked for a moment.
“I, ah, have been listening to them all morning. They haven’t mentioned your name involving the accident, but they are looking into it, as I thought,” he told her, breaking the silence.
She just stared at him, admiring his genius and being scared again. Hearing him talk about her and the accident brought back a wave of fear about the whole thing. He looked uncomfortable from her not saying anything. She looked to the floor, trying to make him less nervous, but not able to speak.
“I, ah—” he started babbling, “—soon should be able to pick up cell phone conversations too, I think. I just need to get myself some old MP3 players and a couple rare computer parts and I think I can do it; and then—”
“Paul,” she interrupted him gently.
He looked at her and she felt her eyes water. She wished she could stop herself but she started to cry again. He was all she had now. Her parents were away at some dig that didn’t have cell reception, and her friends were … different now.
“Tell me what danger I’m in.”
Chapter Four
When Donna was in New York a few trips ago
“There is no one like you in the town I’m from,” Donna told Brook, laughing.
“Oh, yeah, what would they call a girl like me?” Brook asked her as she downed her third shot of tequila. She had dragged Donna, who was much younger than her, to a strange, strange place.
“Um, well, if I’d have first seen you, I’d probably call ya a kind of daredevil type,” Donna told her, not touching the shot glass that sat in front of her.
“A daredevil? Girl, you are so country! I know I’m going to find some city girl in you somewhere,” Brook told her with a big smile.
* * *
Current day: October First
Donna was running very slow, afraid if she got dehydrated too fast she’d turn into electricity again. At least something like electricity. What she really was turning into, she had no idea. It had been two weeks since the accident, and nothing had been right since. She’d changed into “it” eight times now. She’d figured out that drinking enough water or keeping her skin wet was the only way of staying normal.
So when she had nothing else to do but run, she brought five bottles with her. She’d drop them as she ran, that way on her way back she’d have extra water to consume. When she saw Ryan, he was wearing one of his old sweat suits this time. He looked so handsome and perfect as usual. He had big sweaty muscles and perfectly groomed brown hair. His eyes sparkled as he looked at her.
She kept her eyes forward, trying to act like they always had. The path twisted around and they began running in the same direction instinctively; he seemed more far away than ever. The child in Donna wanted to hug her former childhood best friend. Cry into his arms and never let go of him. She wanted to tell him everything. But she knew he’d only act even worse than Rebecca and Spencer had, seeing as their friendship alone was such a ghost. He’d probably call the police, and never want to look at her again. She was too weak to handle that, not just right now, but ever. After all, his shoes were the only things that didn’t disintegrate when she turned into the electric thing for some bizarre reason.
She knew she was running slower than normal but he kept pace with her, listening to his music. As he went to get water from the fountain first, she felt a bit unstable. Feeling her skin turning a bit hot and her heartbeat quicken.
He moved out of the way, saying something to her, but she didn’t hear him. She needed water. Now. When she was done, she turned around, finding him behind her. Usually they spoke one or two words, then they’d separate. Two days ago he’d said, “Welcome back,” because she hadn’t run with him the past week or gone to school. She’d said that she was sick, which was a lie, but at the time she was too much in shock to face reality.
He looked her up and down slowly, concern on his face. “Are you ok?” he asked gently. He put his arm on her shoulder and her heart started beating faster at his touch. All of a sudden she felt alert and nervous at the same time.
“Yeah.” She struggled not knowing what to say. “I’m just, a little tired that’s all.”
He nodded, pulling his hand away. “Do you want me to walk you home?” he asked her next.
“No. Um, I’m fine really.”
Truly all she wanted was for him to walk her home. To feel close to him the whole way, but if she got too dehydrated even with her water being there and turned … She couldn’t risk it, not with anybody. As it was, she’d tried to tell her father everyday this week but she hadn’t found the courage or strength to do so.
“Thanks though,” she told him. “For everything.”
He nodded. She was unsure if he understood the full length of her thank you, but felt too thirsty again to say another thing. They both turned opposite ways and parted from each other. As she walked off, toward the water bottle she had dropped for herself a half a mile away, she imagined he was her boyfriend. That he had his arms around her as he walked her home, and she’d tell him everything, and he’d love her anyway. She imagined he’d look at her with the lust he looked at Lynn with. She imagined she was normal, rich, or at least financially stable, with a mother and father who could explain why this was happening. Explain how her body could possibly be able to do this.
At school that day, Donna only arrived ten minutes late to Mr. Harris’s class. There was something about having no friends to do things with that gave her lots of extra time to get other things done. She had never in her life felt so lonely and isolated before. Even when Ryan had stopped talking to her, she still had managed to find Rebecca and Spencer as new best friends. Right now she had no one, and to top it off, something very frightening was happening to her body.
She sat in her usual seat behind Spencer, who didn’t say a word to her. He didn’t even look at her or make jokes in class. Sometimes she’d walk down the hall hearing him say something funny, but when he saw her he’d turn away. What had been his reason for having nothing to do with her? Something about his mom and the cops, and if that wasn’t the circumstance how would he treat her right now? Would he call the police and watch them take her? Would he still be talking and laughing with her? Rebecca hadn’t given her a reason at all. All of a sudden she and Paul were best friends and were seen everywhere together.
What was Rebecca doing with the knowledge of what was happening to Donna? Had she told Paul? Had she told her parents? Knowing her, she would have called the police and they would be watching Donna right now. Waiting for her to turn into whatever she turned into and take her away. For the first time felt like she didn’t know Rebecca and Spencer at all.
“Donna. Donna!” her teacher called.
She looked up, her attention back to the classroom.
“Come get your test.”
She got up and got her test from the teacher, a little embarrassed. Not like anyone was paying attention to her.
“Didn’t she wear those disgusting overalls yesterday? Who even wears clothes like that in our day and age? Hello, get with the times,” Lynn snickered toward Donna. A couple people laughed. Donna didn’t even look Lynn’s way. She didn’t need to see Lynn’s overly tanned hands wrapped around Ryan. Nor did she remember or care whether she wore her overalls yesterday. Her mind was too much in a haze of confusion.
She stared at the “D” test she’d taken after being “sick” all week and missing the material. Donna wondered how she was really going to move on from this. How she was going to rebuild herself? She had done it when her brother ran away and when they lost the farm. She had done it when Ryan stopped talking to her. She had done it when she became known as the “Fat Gymnast” and a nobody at school. But how was she going to do it now
when the pieces she had to pick up and rebuild she didn’t even recognize?
How was she going to do anything?
Lunch was the worst part of the day. It wasn’t like Spencer and Rebecca had forbidden her from sitting at their table, but with them not looking or speaking to her, it was awkward. So Donna resorted to eating her lunch in a bathroom stall. Then she’d sit there for a bit, do a little homework, and then …
Donna looked at her watch, ten minutes left. She could go clean out her locker very slowly, leaving some of the mess for tomorrow. She had gotten through yesterday, and she’d get through today, but what was she going to do for the rest of the year? Now she was very glad she’d missed school last week. That shaved five days off this official jail sentence.
As she walked past the cafeteria toward her locker, she looked at Spencer, who sat with Rebecca and Paul. Rebecca and Paul looked like they were doing math or something and Spencer was keeping to himself, looking at girls in the cafeteria, as usual. They were perfectly fine without her. She stopped by the water fountain and filled her water bottle up, making sure she was hydrated.
* * *
Lynn
Lynn’s day had started out bad and was getting worse by the minute. Ryan had his hands around her but she did not feel like cuddling. Randy was in his usual terrible mood, and yet all of the other cheerleaders were hitting on him anyway. Tara had twisted her ankle so she couldn’t cheer tonight, which was going to make their whole routine uneven. She’d wished Lucy would have been the one to fall off their pyramid, then she could have just grown a new ankle. To top it off she had training tonight, so there’d be no way she would be able to go over a new routine with any of them.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Ryan watch Donna Young as she walked by, making Lynn’s bad mood heighten even more. Ryan had always been particularly interested in Donna’s well being, but now that she had lost weight, making her breasts seem bigger and her waist seem smaller, Lynn wasn’t standing for him looking at her now. At least Donna and the other two stooges also known as Rebecca, and that annoying cretin Spencer, were in some sort of tiff and weren’t speaking. An advantage to living in a small town like East Applegate, and having a small school, was everyone knew everyone’s business. Or at least they thought they did anyway. The three hadn’t been talking as much. Good, they’re too bothersome to deserve happiness.