“I got the call,” Randy told Ryan, ignoring Donna’s presence completely. He walked behind his brother, getting a drink from the fountain himself, and cutting Donna in line; another barrier stopping her from drinking.
Then Randy turned and leaned against the fountain, his new four hundred dollar phone in one hand, and his lighter that he was tossing in the other. His eyes locked wickedly on Donna who still stood waiting to get a drink. It made her feel like a child again, with Randy and his friends, all older, pushing her and all the younger kids around.
He stared intensely at her, annoyed. “Shoo,” he ordered coldly.
She glanced at Ryan, with his “Ryan expression,” that “I don’t know you, you’re not cool” look, then turned and walked off. There was another fountain by the office, but she didn’t feel like walking that far. She went back to her lunch table as Paul, the nerdy senior, left quickly, walking as if there were a stampede behind him. She remembered he used to work at the grocery store when she was in middle school, and she knew he was really smart like Rebecca. He was a nice guy. Always nervous, especially today …
* * *
Detention was only a half hour, but it seemed to take forever. Students were not allowed to sleep, otherwise Donna would have. Students couldn’t write or draw either. All they could do was sit and stare at the board. Jacob, a kid from her class, was sitting next to her, texting someone on his cell phone, hidden on his lap from the teacher.
“Ok, its 3:30, you all can go,” Mr. Harris told them.
The dean walked in, not looking at the students as he walked straight toward Mr. Harris.
“What can I do for you?”
“I understand Lynn Eris had a detention today,” the dean started.
Donna, Spencer, and the rest of the students got up to leave.
“Yes, she’s making up for the one she missed yesterday.”
“Yes, well, just as I told you a few months ago—”
“You mean the last time I tried to write her a referral because she had ten detentions, all unserved,” Mr. Harris interrupted.
“Yes, just as I told you then,” the dean continued annoyed. “She is in a special program the Mayor organized and can’t be here to serve after school detentions. If you—”
Donna and Spencer left the room, unable to hear anymore.
“I had no idea the Mayor had special programs being held at the local diner,” Spencer said sarcastically.
Rebecca joined them as they walked outside and Donna filled her in.
“Someone tell me what I need to do to get in the Mayor’s special program,” Spencer went on.
“Date an Applegate boy whose father funds the Mayor, the police station, and the fire department … ” Rebecca went on.
“Ok I get it, they’re father funds everything. Big flipping deal!”
Donna never joined in when Spencer spoke against Ryan and Randy’s dad. Mr.Applegate was her father’s closest friend, and had been named as Donna’s godfather years ago in case something ever happened to her dad. He had been such a wreck after her mother died and her brother ran away. Those years had been awful from what Donna could remember, until Mr. Applegate’s youngest son became her best friend.
Rebecca’s big college calculator slipped out of her sweatshirt pocket onto the ground. The sound brought Donna back to reality as she knelt down to pick it up for her.
“Can’t you store test answers in those things?” Spencer asked.
“You could if you wanted to.”
Donna felt heat in her left hand again as she held the calculator. She felt it, much less than earlier, travel up her arm and into her chest, then down all the way to her feet. Spencer, meanwhile, had put his arm around Rebecca, pouring on all his charm.
“Now, Rebecca, my best friend in the whole wide world, you have to hook me up with that thing next class.”
Rebecca was glowing now. Donna knew how much she liked him, he seemed to be the only one that didn’t. He and his mom were living in another world sometimes. The town still gossiped about the ten big bolted locks Spencer’s mom paid to have added to their small home’s door. Nothing too dangerous ever happened here. Why would they need that? Donna handed Rebecca back her calculator.
“Ouch!” Rebecca said when she took it. “You shocked me.”
Donna just looked at her, puzzled. She’d been shocked before, like when you touch the handle of an escalator, the static on your hands stays behind zapping the first person you come in contact with; but Donna had only touched a calculator. Didn’t both people usually feel it? All Donna had felt was heat in her hand. Strange …
* * *
They walked down the long road by the forest. Donna’s house was furthest away. Spencer had been talking about how much he hated Randy and all the senior jocks hitting on his mom, but then changed the subject back to Rebecca’s calculator.
“I kind of,” she started shyly, blushing a bit, “figured out how to sync the calculator with my cell phone. Like if I want to text someone in class, as long as the signal has gone back and fourth at least once I can text a person from my calculator while my phone stays in my bag.”
“Say what! We can text each other during a test via our calculators?” Spencer started, “When did you learn this?”
She blushed, “I saw Paul do something similar in the seventh grade when they let us take the SAT’s early. He knows all the tricks and stuff. ”
“So you’ve been holding out on me for three years!”
“It’s not like I’ve actually done it … used my calculator to cheat.”
“Come on, it’s time we start immediately. Let me see this thing.”
She handed it to him. He took the cover off of it and hit the buttons a couple of times.
“How do you start it?” he asked.
“Um, shift and then the button that says on,” Rebecca answered, giggling on cloud
nine. Donna was only half listening to their conversation, her body felt so hot and tingly.
“What? It can’t be,” Rebecca was saying.
“What?” Donna asked, pulling herself from her thoughts.
“Its dead; I just put new batteries in it this morning.”
Just then a truck came screeching down the road filled with jocks, coming straight toward them, fast. The sound of the music scared Donna, making her drop all her books and papers.
She jumped back to one side of the road as Spencer pulled Rebecca to the other. The truck drove straight through, not even bothering to stop, going about ninety miles an hour. It was a bright red Hummer truck with fire designs on it. Only Randy had a car like that in East Applegate.
“That guy is such a … ” Spencer started to cuss when another sports car came zooming through next. It was Lynn’s bright pink convertible. She had the hood down and another cheerleader in the seat next to her. She was coming just as fast. She zoomed past them; Donna felt more heat as she went by.
“Followed by the next biggest … ” Spencer kept on complaining and insulting them, but Donna could no longer hear him. She walked slowly toward her books. Her legs felt like they’d fallen asleep all the way up. She had to concentrate on each step she took, as if it weren’t second nature to simply walk.
Another car started down the street, still far enough away that she could pick up her books. Donna shook, trying to get a hold of herself. She took a deep breath, trying to wake herself up.
The car coming down the road was in the lane next to her, but then it swerved, coming at her fast. The driver looked up, all of a sudden just opening his eyes as if he’d somehow been as tired as Donna and fallen asleep at the wheel. She heard his brakes slam as the car was only an inch away.
“Donna!” Rebecca screamed.
She didn’t move. Even if she had tried she wouldn’t have had time to. This was all happening in what felt like less than a second. She felt heat shoot through her chest to her face, down to her toes, and through to her fingers. Every limb in her body felt like it was falling as
leep quickly, as if little dots inside her were jumping around. Then there was a brush of new heat, so hot, coming from the car as it hit against her flesh. The car was pouring in, surrounding her outside skin; and the top of her head itched, burning inside. Next the car passed through her, all the way through.
* * *
Spencer
Spencer watched horrified as the driver coming down the road swerved into the wrong side of the lane, right where Donna was standing. He started to brake but it was too late.
Then the car wasn’t hitting her. It was going through her. Donna’s body had become transparent, see-through. She glowed like lightning. Donna … The car passed right through her like she was some kind of ghost. A ghost made of electricity …
And then everything they had ever known changed forever.
Chapter Three
Rebecca
Like some kind of bizarre dream, Rebecca watched the car screech to a stop. Donna’s body stopped glowing as she turned back into herself, still standing as she was right before the car went through her. Paralyzed in her position, her facial expression hadn’t changed. Her body was completely naked except for her shoes.
The driver of the car wasn’t moving … Then Donna’s body collapsed. She fell to the ground. Rebecca stood still, the world had stopped. This can’t be real! This can’t be real! Spencer moved after a moment, slowly toward Donna. Rebecca ran to the driver, feeling safer somehow away from the impossible.
She opened the car door, and saw a middle aged man lying in his seat, seat belted and unconscious. She went to touch his body, but felt a zap, a very strong zap. She’d been shocked. She grabbed her key chain, which hung on one of her belt loops, took the cap off her thyroid medicine injection, and stabbed him with it. Then she pulled her hand away, leaving the needle inside him. She saw his stomach was rising and moving slightly, so he wasn’t dead, yet …
Spencer lifted Donna up. She was in his arms, shaking. Her skin still glowed slightly.
“She’s burning up, getting hotter and hotter!” he yelled. He looked so afraid, so panicked, so out of it.
This can’t be real! Rebecca stood still, not knowing what to do. This cant be real! She looked for her cell phone, her backpack. Where was it? “We need to call nine-one-one!” she yelled to Spencer.
He looked at her, panicking more. “She’s getting hotter!”
“Where’s my stuff … I, I don’t—” she began.
“I think she going to die!” he said next in a low voice.
Rebecca went to her friend; she touched her forehead. She was hot, more than fever hot. She was boiling water hot. “We need to cool her down, now!” She panicked.
They both looked at each other. Rebecca, who could barely form words, now mouthed “the lake” to Spencer. They took off. The lake was at least a mile into the woods. Donna’s shaking was getting less and less, and her body was almost white looking. Glowing like some bluish white bright light was housed inside her.
“She’s getting too hot!” Spencer yelled.
They were almost there. The lake’s water was always cold.
“It’s just ahead!” Rebecca tripped violently over a large branch that was cut down. Spencer was still running, very fast now. Rebecca struggled to get to her feet and keep up with him.
Then they were there. Spencer dropped Donna in the water like she was a steaming hot dish on his hands. Rebecca knelt down and pushed her farther in. Her body was like touching hot china without oven mitts. Rebecca pulled her hands back.
Tiny bits of steam came out of the water around Donna’s body, and her glowing was fading. The skin around her fingers returned from transparent white back to normal hands. Then her hair and fingernails turned back to normal. Her facial color returned, the glowing faded. Donna’s shaking intensified though as her whole body returned to looking like a human being again; a sick human being who needed help.
She now lay in the shallow part of the lake, naked and trembling. Rebecca looked at Donna and then stared at Spencer in shock. His arms were red and looked like they had burn marks on them; burn marks from carrying Donna. She heard the sound of police sirens back toward the road. They sounded very far away, yet she knew right where they were coming from.
“The man.”
Spencer looked at her.
“His body had been shocked!” Tears rolled down her eyes. “We have to go tell them,” she told him as she turned around and started walking.
“Tell them what?”
She turned back. “Tell them what happened, tell them that—”
“Tell them that as a driver slammed into our best friend she turned into lightning and he passed through her, electrocuting himself!”
“Yes, we’ll tell them everything,” she insisted.
“They will think we’re crazy and that we’ve hurt the driver somehow. They’ll arrest us!”
What is he saying? Has the world gone crazy?
“That will not happen, that’s not even logical.” More tears were running down her eyes.
“You don’t know the cops here like I do; we can’t let them know we’re involved!” he barked.
“What are you saying?” she asked weakly, her entire world falling apart.
Meanwhile Donna was crawling out of the water naked and on her knees. She was still shivering, her eyes looking drowsy. She mouthed something but Rebecca couldn’t understand it.
“My arms,” Spencer said, tears now coming from his eyes too. His arms were burnt, bad.
“The police will get you to a hospital in—” she started, panicked.
“No!” he interrupted. “The police can never know I was involved. Never! If they do, my mom and I could die. I—” He winced in pain. “I can have nothing to do with this!” Then he turned around and ran.
Rebecca felt like she was going to throw up. She didn’t know what to do.
“Rebecca.” Donna reached out, trembling. She was standing up now.
“No, don’t touch me, you’ll burn me!” Rebecca cried.
“Hey, is someone there?” a voice from far away called out. “This is the police!”
Rebecca turned, panicked; she had to make a decision, now. “Spencer and I weren’t here!” she yelled at Donna frantically. Then she took off running behind Spencer, running as fast as she could, never wanting to stop …
* * *
Donna
Donna didn’t feel strong enough to run, she didn’t understand what was happening. Her body still felt hot and tingly, like it was asleep. Nothing made sense, and all she knew was that whoever was coming toward her had made Spencer and Rebecca run away, leaving her behind. She went back into the river; she’d swam in it her whole life and knew it well. From far behind she heard a man calling out, “Police!” but she never bothered to look back.
She dove under the water, opening her eyes and feeling overwhelmed as the water cured her, penetrating her skin, taking that tingly feeling away, and soothing her flesh. She swam all the way to the other side.
When she got out of the river, she ran through the old woods to the big climbing tree she’d climbed as a child. It had a ladder made of ropes on it. She hadn’t climbed it since she was a kid, but needed to escape as the officers got closer. The big tree’s branch lead into another large tree’s big branch, leading to another rope ladder she’d placed there as a kid.
Once she had climbed it, now very high into the air, she arrived at the fort she and Ryan had built when they were twelve. It was simply a thick wooden floorboard nailed into a bunch of branches that came together from various trees. The branches met and were securely able to hold up to four or five kids. She and Ryan had hidden in it many times. It blended in so perfectly that it was almost impossible to see unless you stood at a certain angle by the base of the river. Now years later she was sitting in it, naked, hiding from a police officer. Not even knowing what had happened, what she had done. She closed her eyes and started to cry, trying to hold back her sobs. She could see the man near the lake. H
e said something into his walkie talkie. She was too far away to hear it.
After he left she closed her eyes, too scared now to move, and laid there, helpless …
* * *
Spencer
Spencer ran as fast as he could. Yet it seemed to be an eternity before he reached his home. His mother was just opening the door with her keys when he ran up to her, tears rolling down his eyes as he held up his burned hands and drooped to his knees.
“Spencer!” She clutched him in her arms and held him. “Oh my God! Your arms!” She grabbed her phone, ready to call nine-one-one.
“No, Mom, don’t,” he whispered through his tears. His skin felt like it was still burning, like he was still holding Donna’s body.
“Spencer! What’s happened to you?”
“A car accident, the police are involved, Mom! I ran, they didn’t see me.” He fought to speak more words through his pain.
“Oh, my boy,” she wept. She clutched him in her arms, and then helped him stand up and took him inside. His mom spread butter down his arms and gave him the tiny whisky bottle that she had in the house. She took a wet rag and put it on his forehead as he laid down.
He lay there silently, letting the whiskey kick in, not wanting to talk to his mom. He didn’t know what he was supposed to tell her. If he told her the truth, she’d only think he was lying, that Sergio had found them. Which he hadn’t.
He hated the fact that he had made his mom worry. He could see all those familiar expressions of stress and panic rush back on her face as they had years ago when he was eleven. She shook her head and drank a big glass of water. “They look like they’re only second degree burns, if they’d been anything worse I would have had to take you to the hospital,” she said, looking at him numbly, as if someone had died. She paced back and forth in front of him, suddenly looking like she had been up all night. “What kind of car accident?”
“A … ” he started. “A driver blacked out or something and almost hit us. When we went to check on him, he was knocked out. I don’t know!”