Casey: Chap 2 Whispers

Beeeeep….beeeeeep…..beeeeep beeeep beeeep beeeep

I rolled over and smacked the alarm clock hard only to pull back my hand and hold it.

“Time for school Casey!” My mom called from the hallway. I heard the dryer door shut and she opened my bedroom door. I turned my head to look at her.

She might as well have been my twin. Her brown doe eyes were kind and polite, her smile just as gentle as her features. Blond hair came out in ringlets from her scalp and hung down to her shoulders. As her daughter, I was the “spitting image” of her.

“I washed your shirt for school,” my mom said and I lifted the corners of my mouth as a reply. “Well come on, get up,” she started and pulled the comforter off of the bed. I groaned and swung my legs over to the side.

“I’m up,” I replied.

“Did you take your medicine?” Mom asked and I nodded.

“I took it last night,” I replied.

“Take another one, you look terrible,” mom said. She lightly put the folded shirt on the corner of the bed. With that she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

I was already dreading walking to the school. Snow was on the ground and ready to kill someone. I used to wish it was me that it killed, but now I didn’t and couldn’t think like that. 

I pulled on my school uniform along with a bulky coat and headed out the front door with a goodbye to my parents and a swallow of the pill.

As I walked, I came closer and closer to the school bus stop. It wasn’t the school bus that I was dreading nor was it the walk there.

 

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“Aiden come on, dude. I would like to get this s**t done,” Jamie yelled from the other side of the hallway.

“I am,” I growled back. A “patient” didn’t have to take orders from another “patient”, but everyone who didn’t want trouble just wanted to get the job done. I looked up at the analog clock on the wall and it read 6:30.

I peered over at the empty room. The door was open as usual and I looked back at Jamie who had his back to me. I slowly got up and crept into the open doorway even though he wouldn’t have minded. Inside was one window that I was interested in. I quickly ducked into it and lightly walked to the window.

A tall, slim figure walked through the pouring snow with a thick coat on and knee high stockings. Her blond hair blew with the wind and she pulled the jacket closer to her shoulders. She was patiently waiting for the school bus, as she did every weekday morning.

I closed my eyes and put my head against the glass.

“S**t,” I muttered. I could almost see her face smiling at me and the feel of her soft skin against my finger tips. I opened my eyes and she was staring straight up at me.

I backed up and tried to get out of sight, but I knew she saw me. I slowly walked back to the window and saw that she wasn’t looking at me anymore. Instead, she was heading down the street toward the school.

“No! F**k,” I whispered, angrily, and fought back the urge to hit the wall with my fist. Instead, I bit my lip hard and dug my fingernails into the skin on my palm. I walked back out onto the hallway floor and took it out on the filthy rag.

“Saw Casey, huh?” Jamie asked with his back to me.

“F**k yeah,” I muttered under my breath. Jamie turned back to look at me and I simply nodded my head and continued to scrub the floor. “Jamie, have you ever wondered about escaping?”

“You’ve only gotta week left, what would you want to escape for?” Jamie asked, continuing to scrub.

“I have four days, but I don’t have time. She’s been taking the pills, I can feel it when I sleep,” I said and Jamie stopped scrubbing. “When I dream about her, I wake up with a hangover.”

“If you keep using your powers, Aiden, it will get you killed,” Jamie whispered loud enough for me to hear.

“I’m not doing it on purpose this time which is kind of weird, but don’t you think it’s wrong?” I asked and Jamie stared at me. “They’re turning them into walking robots and no one is doing anything about it.”

“I didn’t say I think it’s right, Aiden,” Jamie stated.

“Then what do you think?”

“I’m saying that I’m not about to go up against one of the most power companies in the world,” Jamie said and grabbed up the wet rag, turning around to face me. He plopped it on the floor and continued to scrub. “I can rob women on the street, Aiden. Hell, I’ll take out a couple of banks and convenient stores disguised as a f*****g mouse, but the hell if I’m dumb enough to destroy a multi-billionaire dollar organization that makes a few million hormone pills.”

“It’s more than hormone pills and you know it.”

“Of course I know it, but I’m not complaining about it. If they want to ruin our brains while they make those new, modified babies, I don’t care. Whatever.” Jamie was getting closer down the hall than I was. I looked up and could feel my blood pressure rising. “I’m too alone in this world to care right now.”

“I can’t take that the girl I love is ruining herself because she thinks it’s not normal to be normal,” I replied. The harder I watched everyone’s actions in the world, the harder I thought of Casey and her parents. “She’s taking the medication because the world is telling her to do so and the doctors are too smart to tell her to stop.”

“I know,” Jamie said, his blond hair falling in his eyes as he looked up at me.  “I’m just as pissed as you are, Aiden. I had a girl back home, just as you did or do, and I have friends who are doing the same s**t. They think I’m a freak. So be it.”

I looked at Jamie for a minute, but wasn’t really looking at him. I looked back at the ground and scrubbed harder on the sharpie marks that were on the tile floor.

 

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I watched my teachers intently. Everything they wrote on the board was in my notes, even if she said I didn’t have to write it down and it didn’t used to be like that. School used to drone on forever before I started taking the pill. Now, my attention turns on like a bug to a flame when my teachers speak. The doctor said that nothing has changed in my normal behavior, but I’m not so sure about that.

The harder I tried to think about how I could do better in the class, the more my head started to hurt. I tried to wade it out, but finally I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Misses Langston?” I asked with my hand raised. Mrs. Langston turned to look at me and peered out of her glasses. A few students turned to look at me while some continued to write down the notes.

“Yes, Casey?” Mrs. Langston asked and I could feel my cheeks starting to burn. I hated being in the center of attention.

“May I go get some water?” I asked, politely. Mrs. Langston merely nodded and turned back to the board, continuing on with her math equations. The rest of the students turned back to the board and wrote down the notes.

I simply got up from my desk and walked out of the classroom. No one paid me any mind. My big performance was over and done with.

I walked through the open door and into the hallway. I looked ahead to the bathrooms and saw a guy sneak into the girl’s bathroom. I frowned and walked faster to the bathroom. I wasn’t about to let that happen.

“Ex-” I started when I reached for the door handle, but talking interrupted me. Inside, I could hear whispering from a boy and a girl. I opened the door a crack and listened.

“Do you have yours?” The girl asked and I heard ruffling of jeans.

“Yeah,” the guy replied. “My parents tried to give it to me and I pretended to take it, but I’m worried that they’re catching on.”

“What do you mean?”

“Mom’s been noticing changes in other teenage guys while I’ve been recently acting like their old version of their trouble-making son.” I heard the girl sigh.

“What are you doing that’s so different?” She asked.

“School is f*****g hard! I’m sorry, but I can’t take it,” he muttered. “It’s driving me crazy, I take the notes and I study, I do, but English? History? History is the worst.”

“Chris, you have to try,” the girl said. “I can’t keep losing friends to this s**t. I mean, there are a lot of people in this school that’s stopped, but it’s not the same as having my friends.”

I felt the burning come to my nose.

“I know how you feel. Have you heard from any of the guys at Piston?”

Oh no, I thought. I put my finger to my nose, but was too late. I sneezed so hard that I thought my head would explode. Instantly, the door opened and hands pulled me into the bathroom.

“Who are you?” The girl asked. I stumbled to the bathroom wall, putting my hand on it to steady myself and looked at the girl. The boy was nowhere in sight. The girl stared at me with brown eyes, her skin the color of coffee stains. She had shoulder length ­­wavy brown hair and wore the typical girl’s uniform. Her face was sternly set on me with an expression of uncertainty.

“Who are you?” I questioned back.

“Do your business and get out,” the girl said bluntly, but I wasn’t leaving.

“No. Who was the boy that was in here?” I asked, trying to hide back my fear. I looked around and didn’t see anything.

“Ah ha! You were spying!” She said loudly. The boy opened one of the bathroom stall doors and looked at me. He had dark, shaggy brown hair and stubble that was growing on his jaw line. His eyes were pale blue and his face was sharply built. He wore the boy’s uniform that was made up of a long sleeved button up shirt and long pants. He had rolled up the sleeves and it made the uniform look casual.

“What did you hear?” He asked. I looked back at the girl and then back to the guy.

“You’re not supposed to be in-” I tried, but the girl cut me off.

“What did you hear?” She asked, forcefully.

“Something about pretending to act like everyone else and losing friends,” I whispered. I saw the girl close her eyes as if she were bombarded with too many problems. The guy sighed and I looked at him.

“I’m sorry, I really am. I didn’t mean to pry,” I said, but it didn’t seem to relieve any of the tension.

“Just go and if you say anything to anyone, I’ll find you,” the girl said, pinching her nose. I took a step forward toward the door, but then stopped.

“Wait. Piston?” I asked, turning to face the two. I saw both of them tense when I said the name. “Piston memorial?”

“Yeah, so?” The guy asked and I saw the girl shoot him a glance.

“Leave,” she muttered to me.

“I will if you tell me if you know someone named Aiden,” I said, standing my ground. I looked at the guy and I saw that he furrowed his eyebrows. The girl continued to study me.

“How do you know Aiden?” The guy asked.

“I won’t answer the question until you do,” I replied. My mind shot to earlier this morning and I felt my heart turn numb from where it was supposed to flutter. I needed another pill.

“Tell her,” the girl said. The guy quickly looked at the girl, then at me then back at her.

“Are you crazy?” He asked, almost hysterically. “We’ll risk everything!”

“You’re Casey, aren’t you?” The girl asked. I looked at her and she was staring me in the eye.

“I..how did you know?” I asked.

“You’re his ex-” She started, but I cut her off.

“How do you know him? How is he?” I asked, getting annoyed. The girl looked at me with the same expression as the guy.

“He’s fine,” the guy replied. I looked at him and saw that he wasn’t impressed by me.

“Do you take the pills?” The girl asked. I simply nodded my head.

“I advise you to quit,” she replied.

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“You don’t know what you’re doing to both yourself and Aiden,” the guy said.

“Casey?” Mrs. Langston called from the hallway behind the door. Both the girl and boy looked at me.

“Leave now!” The girl hissed. I opened my mouth and looked at the door.

“I want to know what’s going on first,” I quickly whispered. The girl huffed and pulled out a sharpie from her pocket. She grabbed my hand and began writing down an address on my palm.

“Meet us here around four this afternoon and we’ll explain,” she whispered hastily. With that she pushed me to the door and I slowly opened it and walked out.

“Casey, are you okay?” Mrs. Langston asked from the classroom entrance. I nodded my head innocently.

“Just had to go to the bathroom.”

Reviews

[Alex Thomas]

This chapter is pretty good. The plot seems very tightly wound. These pills really make me curious. I have no criticism.