Chapter 3

“Now, Stephanie, I don’t see how you are going to get anything done with your feet looking like loaves of bread!” Exclaimed Winston after I told him what I wanted to do. After speeding away from Mr. Royer’s classroom, I had decided to ditch the rest of the school day, knowing that people would be staring at me. So I had called a cab from my cell phone and rode to Winston’s grand apartment. I say grand because even though this building looked pretty pathetic on the outside, inside it was a beautiful library. I am not kidding; Winston lived in his own little personal heaven. “I’d rather live with books than anyone else in the world”, he told me once. The walls were stocked with hundreds upon hundreds of books, with a desk stationed in the middle of the room along with two chairs in front of it and an up-to-date computer wresting on the desk’s surface. His bed was just shoved into a corner where it wouldn’t bother him while he was doing research. “Stephanie! Are you even listening to me?” I looked back Winston.

“What?”

He just shook his head, pulled a couple of really old looking books from one of the shelves, and then made his way to his desk to sit down. Winston was in his early-to-mid twenties. He had really brown eyes, blonde crusty hair, and was pretty buff for a lonely librarian. He was extremely huggable. He represented my father figure. “Never mind”, he sighed. “I suppose that you will have to learn through your actions.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I demanded.

“I am saying, Stephanie, that the best way to learn is through doing. And this hardly the time to do that, but you are giving me no other choice.” 

Sighing, I turned the wheelchair around and headed toward the door.

“Where do you think you are going?”

Damn, he had made it to the door before me. “I am going,” I said. “Home.” He looked at me like I was crazy.

“Why on earth would you want to go there?”

He had a very good point but I wouldn’t bring myself to admit that he was right. I really didn’t want to go home right now. My mom was extremely nosy; in fact she made a living by being nosy. That is what happens when you become a private investigator. As I dwelled on this, I refused to meet his gaze.

 

            My thoughts soon shifted into what I considered the forbidden territory of my mind. I began replaying the night that I was forced to kill Lilly. The never ending hallways, the mousetraps, the spider webs, the shuffling of chained feet, and the blood- oh god there was so much blood- my best friend’s blood. Recalling that last moment before hearing her body hit the hard and cold travertine, I could have sworn she murmured the words, “Save me! Please save me!” Then I swung the sword. I couldn’t help but dwell on the fact that I still swung the sword even after I thought that those words were released from her mouth. I still swung the sword.

“Steph?”

I killed my best friend, and she asked me to save her, not to decapitate her.

“Stephanie?”

I was such a horrible person- such a terrible friend.

“Stephanie Reaper!”

I was instantly torn from my torturous reverie.

“What!”

 Winston’s voice turned maddeningly gentle, “Why don’t you spend the night here? Just so you have a chance to compose yourself for when you see your mother.” I then realized that my traitorous tear ducts had acted up again. Quickly wiping away the liquid from my face, I said, “What is the point? I will have to eventually face her and all of the other school a******s eventually.” His face hardened, “Are those boys still bothering you?” Woops. “Nope. Not at all. Nuh-uh. They are perfectly fine.” I quickly said. The moment that the words left my mouth, I knew that they sounded extremely false. Even to my own ears. His face looked like it would permanently stay a grimace- a carving in stone. “Really,” I said. “Things are going fine at school. You don’t need to worry about me. I know how to handle myself.” His intelligent and knowing eyes looked disbelieving. “Just know that I have your back. Okay Stephanie?” I nodded.

 

            Expressions, faces, eyes, mouths twisted into scowls as people walked past me; letting me know how much they blamed me for her death. Disapproving appraisals from teachers. I got them all. They had no idea how right they were. I kept my head high, though, and walked on only with a slight limp. The school day passed by in a haze. It was kind of depressing living in that kind of environment. That was why I would rely on Winston to cheer me up when I ever I got back to his place, if I ever got back to his place. My mom had officially kicked me out of the house. We had a huge fight a couple of nights ago. I refused to tell her what really happened that night. I simply stuck with the story that I had already given her. But she didn’t buy it. Her “instincts” were too keen. “Fine then!” She screamed at me. “I just thought that I raised you better than to lie to your own mother! When you are ready to treat me with respect again, then you can have a place to stay. But until then, you have no home under this roof.” I remembered being so shocked that I just stood there staring at my mom. “But I am telling you the truth Mommy!” I plead. “Please this is the time that I really need my mother and not the private investigator!” She turned her back on me, “I am sorry but my daughter is a beautiful, intelligent, and honest young lady. Not a lying, deceitful, disrespectful little brat. Now get out of my house!”  I left the house that night with an overflowing duffel and little money to keep me well fed. I knew that I couldn’t rely on Winston in this instance. It was too much for me to ask. I slept on the street that night and every night since then, using the local lake to bathe (of course when no one else was around). I avoided all contact with Winston, I didn’t know why though. I just did. I guess that I was too embarrassed to really talk to anyone. The last thing that I wanted was to have anyone know that I was truly a homeless person at that point in my life. That was why I was extremely pissed and incredibly confused when I found out that I had been followed to my special ally. Pissed because it was Elric who had followed me- and confused because I couldn’t figure out why he had. “What the hell are you doing here?” I screamed at him.  The sun started to disappear behind a series of buildings; nighttime was less than ten minutes away. “I think that I should be the one asking you that question,” he said. I gazed at the dumpster next to him, anything that wasn’t his face. “I am here doing my homework.”

“In an abandoned ally?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

This time I did look at him. “Because I can. Now will you please go? I would like to be left alone.”  Of course he stood his ground. Silly me for thinking that he would actually do as I asked him to. “How about we have a little study session?” He suggested. “I will provide the heating system,” he offered. “No thanks,” I declined. But just then a huge gust of wind soared into the ally leaving me shivering. Still trying to keep up my tough gal persona, I said, “I’m good. Can you please go now?” Giving me a disbelieving look, he said, “I doubt that- and no I will not leave.”  Instead of replying to him, I just stood up and made my way out of the ally. I abruptly halted in my tracks. “Where do you think you are going?” He asked.

“Elric, get in your car now.”

“No.”

“I am not asking, get in your car now.”

“Why?”

“Damn-it Elric! Trust me!” He did as I asked- sort of.

“Fine, but you have to get into the car with me.”

“Alright, I will be right there. Just get into the car now!”

The zombie that had killed Lilly was right across the street, and it was staring right at me. I could have sworn that I saw something fall out its mouth, but I did not want to find out what. The car horn startled me, and I turned around to face Elric, waving my hand to let him know that I understood. When I faced the direction of the zombie again, it wasn’t across the street anymore- it was less than a few steps away from me. I caught my breath, my eyes grew wide, and I tried to step back. The last thing that I needed was to fight the undead with an audience. It had different ideas, though. It started to attack me. I dodged and avoided each and every swipe it took at me, until Elric left the safety of his car to help me. “No! Get back into the car!”

“Like hell I am, Steph!”

I didn’t say anything in response because I was too busy pushing him out of the way because the zombie had lunged at him; and I wasn’t about to lose another person to the same creature. It definitely missed Elric, but it sliced open my abdomen with its abnormally sharp and pointy nails. I fell to the ground with a cry. I stayed conscious long enough to see the zombie sprint away from a 200 pound quarterback.

 

Reviews

[matrixmark]

'I'd rather live with books than anyone else' - funny line. Good descriptions with the book room (sounds more like a minaiture liabrary to me. A real good flow of dialogue between Winston and Stephanie - very natural. I liked how you described the peoplelooking at Stephanie in adispleasing way- Just with the few choice words you used, it gives the reader a very clear picture just how hated she was.
The next partof the chapter showed her being quite stubborn and fairly naive, until that is the Zombie came along which quickly changed her mind and she was back into fighting mode. I thought that was a really good emotional part of this chapter.
The image of a zombie in the distance will always go down well because the readers mind will portray all sorts of terrifying images. I liked the little bit where you said about the stuff coming out of its mouth (small details count for a lot) and was easy to imagine the look in its eyes - almost as if you were actually there.
The ending was a definate page turner - which is always a good tease for the reader to want more.

When Stephanie was having the conversation with her mother, when each new character speaks it needs to start on a new indented paragraph.


Mark.