I sat uneasily, painfully aware that Blake was behind me. I only got a glimpse of his face. He must be new. I shook the thought off quickly and listened to Mrs. Tomms talk about animal behavior. Even though it was pretty interesting to learn about how animal territory worked and how they knew to communicate with each other, I couldn't stop thinking about Blake sitting right behind me.
"Now I brought in something to show you. You all know what a dog whistle is right?" We nodded our heads in agreement.
She pulled the whistle out of her bag and showed it to the class, "Now, the human ear cannot hear this because of how high the frequency is." She put the whistle up to her lips and blew.
At that moment, I heard a high-pitched noise and felt a sharp pain shoot through my ears, jolting in my seat as the noise startled me. When it stopped, I looked to find the entire class staring at me.
"You alright sweetie?" Mrs. Tomms asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I sat angled to the side of my desk. Blake, however, kept looking at me and I was painfully aware of his unwavering attention.
"Why are you staring at me? That's considered rude you know," I snapped as I glared back at him.
His lips parted slightly, but he didn't say anything.
He knows something you don't and he's dangerous. Stay away from him. A voice said. I looked around the room to see who spoke to me, but no one made eye contact.
Silence.
More silence.
I spent the rest of class frozen, staring at my desk. I couldn't really focus on what Mrs. Tomms was talking about. It felt like I had water in my ears. When the bell finally rang, I stood up, gathered my books, and decided to go to the abandoned bathroom towards the back of the school. No one used it since new ones were put in at the front hallway. The only time people go in it anymore is to do drugs, smoke, or make out. All gross in my opinion.
The water feeling continued and I set my book on the counter then looked at my phone. The screen read October 1st.
I was going to be 18 tomorrow, a fact that completely slipped my mind. It didn't seem like Dad was going to do anything with us. He didn't ask and it wasn't like I wanted anything for my birthday anyway. As I stared into the mirror, I glanced at my ear and noticed it was bleeding. Both of them were. I quickly grabbed the old paper towels and ran them under cold water to clean out the blood.
The dog whistle made my ears bleed.
Why was all this crazy stuff happening to me?
Was there something wrong with me?
You are perfectly fine; this is normal.
"Who the hell are you? Show yourself!"
I'm just a voice. You can 't see me yet.
"So, I'm insane."
You're not insane. In time, all of this will make sense.
"How much time? Who are you? What's going on?"
Just be patient. I can't wait to meet you.
"Meet me? What are you talking about? What the actual hell is going on?!"
The voice left me in silence and I felt my blood begin to boil. I paced back and forth in the bathroom, breathing heavily. I didn't know what else to do. Suddenly, my fist connected with the tile and a splitting crack spread up the wall. My fist stayed against the wall but I didn't move. I just stared at the damage I had made.