Wicked Road Page 5

  So, that's why he believes me. I felt him shiver. I have never felt him shiver before. And suddenly, I saw fear form on his face. “Matt, are you okay?” I asked him.

  He took a while to answer. He gulped, his eyes bulging and going back to normal. “Yeah.”

  It was hard to ignore that look on his face. I haven't seen him so afraid. Shocked, I stayed quiet at what Mathew just confessed. So, it's all true then? Marylin drew symbols, weird markings into some notebook, and read from some plain, tattered black book of demonic rituals? I shivered all over too, because it all felt and sounded real for some weird reason.

  So, Marylin wasn't just any ordinary, typical Goth, since being Goth looks like a cover up to not show his “real” side. But a demon worshiper! He was a worshiper who served Satan and gave his back to God by selling his soul to the underworld. Oh God. Why did it sound like the biggest thing to be afraid of from now in the world?!

  “So, the rumors are true?”

  “Apparently, I think I believe now what people are saying, even though it's made up stuff from people's heads.”

  “And you never told me about him because...?” I asked him with a scrutinized face.

  And here I'm thinking after all this time that Marylin was harmless, and convinced myself he has nothing but good in him...I was so wrong.

  “Because I didn't want you to have nightmares,” he joked, the small excuse with a small smile.

  I scoffed, “Nightmares my butt! I already get nightmares from all the horror movies I watch. And I don't think he'll be the latest addition once I watch another horror tonight.”

  And with both of us sighing, the teacher opened the door to the principal’s office. We walked in to face our weak punishment.

  Mathew told him the whole story of what happened. “And what does the fight have to do with you Ms. Sparks?” the principal asked me.

  Like seriously? Hasn't he given his “undivided” attention to what Mathew was telling him?! I'm the biggest part of the whole damn thing.

  Todd kept my last name Sparks instead of Ronalds. He told me he didn't want me to lose my family name. I appreciated that he didn't change it when I was a little girl.

  I was going to say something once my lips started to move, but Matt interrupted saying, “Mr. Greene, the bastard was recording her while making her strip naked,” Matt said the last word with a tone of disgust.

  “Mathew, that is the last time I will ever hear you say any profanity in this room! Do you understand me?” Mr. Greene ordered.

  “Sorry, principal Greene.”

  “What happened?” Todd asked with worry coming in unexpectedly.

  That was kind of...awkward of him to just barge in without knocking. He completed with urgency in his voice, “What happened to you? What's going on? Were you crying Donnie? Mathew, is your hand bleeding?” Yep, Todd could go a little overprotective on us. Honestly, he had the right to.

  “Please, Mr. Ronalds, if you'd be so kind to sit down. I'll discuss the situation to you then.”

  Todd sat on a chair across the desk from the principal who told Todd every single thing Matt told him. Except that he had to use more proper words then naked and strip. I saw how uncomfortable he'd been shifting in his seat. And it was kind of funny. The principal didn't really believe us when we said that I was possessed. He figured it was nonsense. Even Todd took it as something hard believing in.

  Haven't these dudes ever watched any of the paranormal documentaries like Supernatural Actions? Maybe I should’ve let them borrow it for two days. Then, they'd see what's not to believe. But then, people live in a state of normality where they don't believe in such things. If only there was proof... Stupid proofs...Todd turned to Mathew, and asked, “You did kick that boy's butt, right?”

  He kicked his twenty-year old butt alright. Matt raised his injured hand as proof.

  “And out of the band too, right?”

  Matt sighed and nodded.

  “You threatened him, didn't you?”

  “Yes,” Matt answered exhausted, pinching the bridge of his nose.

  “Good. I'll have to throw his ass in jail for sexual assault...” Todd muttered, and Mr. Greene heard.

  “Mr. Ronalds, I will not have another word of profanity uttered in this room.”

  “Sorry,” Todd said with just a little embarrassing shame. This was so unlike Todd. I'd never heard him say a cuss word in my life. Not ever, especially not in front of an adult.

  “Well, apology accepted. Now to get this deal over with, Marylin is expelled from this school for sexual assault. Mathew is suspended Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and detention Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next two weeks for profanity, violence, and threats on school grounds. And suspension three days for Donnie.”

  Three days? Why me? What did I do? I'm innocent! Of course he thought it was some sick game I was playing along with. I wanted to shake him out of his trance to come to his senses. Some adults! Probably give a good couple of slaps on his face here and there too. Well, at least Marylin is getting what he deserves. In the end, I didn't argue.

  “But it was defense,” Mathew argued as Todd stood up, and placed his hand on his shoulder.

  “This won't affect his school record, will it?” Todd asked not feeling so sure.

  “I'm sorry, but this will affect his record.”

  Damn that sucked. Going into a music career in one of the top Universities in the States can affect an acceptance letter. I felt bad for Matt.

  Todd sighed. “Well, then I guess there's nothing else we can do.”

  Oh whatever Todd. You're a lawyer, I thought. Of course there's always something he can do. It still wasn't hopeless for Matty.

  Todd shook the principal’s hand goodbye. And we three headed out of school and got inside of Todd's car. Mathew left his keys in the school office for Spike and Jade to take it and drive it back to our house. Ronnie was either going to walk home alone without me or ride with Spike and Jade.

  Once we got in Todd's car, Matt and I took our cell phones out at the same time to text the guys telling them what’d happened.

  Well, he texted Jade and Spike. I texted Ronnie.

  “Texting already?” Todd asked us as he was driving out of the school's gate.

  “We gotta give 'em the update,” Matt reasoned.

  “Oh, well that's reassuring.”

  “Uh-huh,” I agreed, not taking my eyes off the screen of my phone.

  I could just imagine Ronnie's face already when I tell him what had happened today when he comes over after school. He was going to get so pissed. He's kind of overprotective of me just like Mathew. I just noticed I'm loved by them all – and the only girl in the group. I felt so weak, it was intimidating. I had a bunch of dudes that worried over me.

  “Yup,” Matt told him.

  Todd sighed, and drove us all home. I sighed as well feeling exhausted from today.

  Chapter

  Three

  Matt's hand was busted up so it had to be put in a brace for a while. Todd did press charges against Marylin for sexual assault who was nowhere to be found. On the day of the ‘recording‘, he just vanished out of town, and no one knows where he was or who he'd been living with. Not even his friends in school knew where he was hiding out.

  I'd say they're lying. They did know where he was. They're just being the type of friends that wouldn't tell on their friend. It's common these days, but sometimes you'd still get stabbed in the back. Or maybe it's just me since I'm so pissed off at him for what he did to me I just want to believe my own assumptions. I could be accusing the wrong people anyway. The cops couldn't even track him down.

  Obviously, he did not hold any technology on him, and neither did he drive. He was like a person who followed the traditional way rather than the modern. He was a ghost, a shadow. He was so weird. I wonder how he drove to school. He couldn't teleport, could he?! Nah, it couldn't go to that extreme with him... Could it?

  I heard Marylin had no family whatsoever. N
o relatives. No parents. Todd said, after looking up his file and old newspapers that his parents died when he was thirteen years old. Papers claim that he was alone in his house in his room while his parents were dead, that they were murdered. There were no traces of forced violence neither have they found traces of fingerprints or any evidence. Just...dead. And there was blood. The story was weird when Todd showed it to me. The headline even read, “Work of an Invisible Killer?”

  Something, deep down in my gut, told me that Marylin was involved for their deaths.

  The band was extinct. Well, not really. The band just needed a guitarist. So they were on hold.

  I tried to tell Ronnie to join again, that this was his chance, but he still refused. There was that feeling I felt deep down in my gut where I knew something was stopping him from joining, something wrong. I did not question him ever again about it since last time though, because I did not like to keep bothering him with it.

  Every time I brought it up, the look he had was like nails digging through his head. And that bothered me deeply, more than anything. I wanted to comfort him so bad. I wanted to tell him to share it with me, but I know he wouldn't, and even if I wanted to push him to tell me, I wouldn't. I couldn't bear looking at his face or imagining feeling the one thing that hurt him most.

  Of course I didn't tell Matt or anyone about his secret talent. My lips were still sealed. And hopefully they’d stay like that for a long time.

  Everything felt wrong. Like as if our lives took a wrong turn, a very wrong turn. The air around us did not feel comfortable, but dead and boring. And the sun always felt too sunny to me. I think that's normal. But where were the gray clouds when you needed them to save you from a horrible tan? I can be so random sometimes.

  Candy-Cane, my cat, was with me on my bed while I studied for a history quiz tomorrow. I touched her soft fur and petted her around her ears and head. She purred softly.

  She jumped down a while later, off my bed and was scratching her paws against my closed bedroom door. I stood up off of bed saying, “You wanna go outside? Okay.”

  I opened the door for her, and she ran like a sprinting fox! Did she really want to leave me that bad? Or did she just have to go do some 'personal business'? Animals! It's weird that she still has not gotten pregnant from male cats out there. Was she an outcast too? She's around me too much. It’s like she picked up my habits, but more like my genes.

  After closing my door, my cell rang indicating I had a text message. It read 'Ronnie' on the screen. He texted, “Wanna hang out?”

  With a smile, I shook my head to myself, and texted, “Srry. No can do. Quiz 2morrow!” and touched send.

  I waited for a while, but he didn't reply. One of my worst pet peeves was when I'm expecting a text from someone after I replied back to them, and they don’t bother to text back. It this is one of those moments. I know he's doing it on purpose. “Mayb nxt time,” I texted him again but I did not wait for a reply this time.

  I sipped from my can of energy drink and went back to studying history. Studying about how men sacrificed their lives over heavy wars was not entirely my subject. Because me, I am a pacifist; a person of peace.

  I never liked or loved war. It was too...brutal. A waste of lives for the people who hadn't accomplished things they wanted to do during their living. Especially for the innocents who died. All those women and children in foreign countries dead was heart-breaking. They never completed their dreams and goals. It was really sad.

  I sighed. My eyes were drooping closed. Also, to be honest, wars was a boring subject. It was just a subject about people killing people, conquering lands, leaders hating each other.

  Hell, maybe why wars exist is because “some” leaders just do not want to coexist with “other” leaders. And what do the “other” leaders do? They go, and make a huge war to force the “some” leaders to coexist with them when they don't want to. It was just a bunch of bull. But what did make history interesting is how the world became modernized and the attack on Pearl Harbor...

  Meeeoooow! Kheeh!

  Ruff! Ruff! Ruff! Arghh...

  My eyes flew open while my history book landed on the floor from my lap with a loud thud. Mia's bark woke me up. I looked out the window that was right beside my bed. I saw Candy-Cane running away from Mia while Mia was barking after her. What in the world...? I thought.

  Without delaying another second I ran out of my room, and ran down the stairs shouting, “Mathew! Come get your dog away from my cat!”

  He opened his bedroom door. “What?” he said, not catching what I’d said.

  I ignored him and ran out of the house to where I saw Mia, but before I got to her, I decided to stop because she looked pissed!

  Mathew was right behind me running. I could hear his shoes scurrying. “What's going on?” he asked me.

  I turned my face to look at him. “Apparently Mia, was going to attack Candy-Cane.”

  “What?” he said again, not being able to comprehend my words.

  “You deaf?!” I asked him in an annoyed tone.

  He looked at me accusingly. “No. But that's...out of ordinary. Mia would never go against Candy-Cane.”

  “Well, I know that too. But it's true. Now take her away from the bush so I can get my terrified cat out.”

  Matt took Mia by her collar and headed back home.

  I bent down on my knees and looked at Candy-Cane under the bush. I was on my neighbor's property. But I did have a reason. I was getting my cat out.

  I extended my hand to her saying in a girly, motherly voice, “Come on Candy-Cane. Come to mommy. Mia's gone now. You're safe with me.” I got hold of her and pulled her out of there.

  She was refusing to leave, but I managed to get her out. Bringing her close to my chest I saw blood on her front left paw. I kissed her head, and stood up.

  “Let's go and take care of this cut,” I told her.

  What made Mia want to attack Candy-Cane? That's the question. Why all of a sudden? Did Candy-Cane bother Mia? Candy-Cane is a sweet cat, like me. She doesn't like to annoy anyone. She stays to herself. So, what did make Mia go off on Candy-Cane?

  When I turned around to head back home, I looked up and almost screamed when I found Ronnie standing still in front of me as if he's been there the whole time. I sighed.

  “Dammit, Ronnie. You scared me,” I told him in a loud voice. I shoved him.

  “Sorry,” he said hiding a smile and placing his hand softly against where I had shoved him.

  He bit his lip, and completed, “I didn't mean to startle you.”

  I sighed, “Its o-kay.” I more like wanted to punch his arm...

  We walked back home with me holding Candy-Cane against my chest in my arms.

  As we walked on, Ronnie petted her. My heart kept skipping an unusual beat every time his hand would land back on her head. He was so close that our arms were brushing against each other. My blood rushed in my veins. I couldn't manage to breathe for a moment. I felt my cheeks get hot...

  What the hell is wrong with me? I noticed nowadays he brings himself closer to me...

  “So, you still haven't changed your mind about the mask dance that's coming up?” he asked me skeptically after moments of silence, breaking my thoughts.

  For the Halloween dance we had to dress up in a costume and hide our faces behind a mask. Come in whatever costume we wanted as long as we had a mask for it.

  “Uh, nope. I'm still not going no matter what you guys say. I think dances are stupid. I think it's just a waste of time. Honestly, all you do is dance, see your friends, and see who turns out to be the Horror King and Queen. And then you go home or go to an after-party, if you're lucky to be invited. So, sorry, I'd prefer to hang out in the garage and watch the guys play. But are they staying? No, they're going. Why? Because they don't have a guitarist, they're just gonna go for the heck of it...”

  Every word I’d just let out felt essential. I think I just poured some steam out to him. It didn’t hurt being a li
ttle sarcastic when I was so tired of keeping the topic quiet.

  “O-kay, Donnie, I think I see your point,” he said a little bit worried.

  His whole one side was now touching my arm. It's like I reminded him of why he couldn't join. Was his time limited or something? Because every time I mentioned the whole guitar thing he just brings himself closer to me more than ever. I felt like he just wanted to wrap his arms around me and not think about time.

  Honestly, that would feel so good. Just the thought of it felt good. But it would be a bit eerie since we were just best friends. I really need to stop thinking all girly. I'm definitely not the romantic type.

  “Why are you even going when you can hang out with me?” I scoffed.

  “My mom is forcing me to go.”

  “So?! Then, don't go. During the time of the dance, you'd be sitting watching movies with me.”

  “I can't.”

  “What? It's like she's breathing down your neck and has a camera on you twenty-four seven. You can never break a rule...”

  “When it's my mom, I can't ever break a rule. It's just something I really got used to.” There goes that face again, the face of where claws clawing out of his heart. That expression!

  I wanted to reach out to him to tell me what's bothering him so deeply. Since I’d just mentioned his mother, it made me realize she could be the reason why he couldn’t play his guitar in our band. “Well, if you can't break any rules then how'd you become this?” I asked with a horrified face and waving my index finger in the air at him up and down.

  He had black dyed long hair that came to his shoulders all chopped up, black eyeliner on his blue eyes, snake bites piercing, gauges in his ears, and a bar piercing in his right ear.

  He chuckled. “She knows her limits. Plus, I'm still a teenager. Well, I am a young adult, but still in the teen years, eight-teen. You get it?” he smiled trying to make me feel better.

  I sighed deeply. “Fine then, I guess it's just me and the pets.” I didn't realize my voice was full of sorrow until now.

  We were in front of my house, standing in front of the driveway. Ronnie stared at me, leaning back and forth towards me on his toes and soles of his feet saying, “Look, I'm sorry...”