State of Shock (standard:adventure, 10954 words)
Author: methane propaloptatrine	Added: Nov 06 2001	Views/Reads: 3681/2985	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
4 kids have a very hectic few weeks because of a mysterious stalker...

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

to Eddie. "I think Jess is going to be there," said Grip. "I know," 
said Phil. "She's mine!" I said. "Whatever." "We'll see about that." 
"Phil, you jerk. Hands off!" "Yeah, like your going to even have a 
'hands on'!" Phil gave grip a high five, and Eddie started to laugh. I 
grumbled, and we walked the one block to Greg's house in silence. When 
we got to the doorstep, Grip knocked on the door. Greg opened up, and 
we saw that there was already a bunch of people there. "What's up, 
guys!" he said. "Nothing," I said. "Is Jessica here?" "Always about 
Jessica! No, man, I don't think she's here. But, she told me to tell 
you that she says 'HI'." "Really?" "No. Come in. Quit worrying about 
that and just have a good time." "Are you sure she's not here?" asked 
Phil. "Oh yeah. Just relax." All right, so she is not here. At least I 
can relax and just enjoy the party. I don't have to put on the whole 
"Mr. Nice guy" routine. When I put on the routine, it is not like I am 
pretending to be someone else. I mean, I am a nice guy. I just pay 
closer attention to the girl, and I'm not as rowdy. But tonight, I am 
going to just have fun. I walked onto the dance floor and started to do 
some bad dance that I saw in a music video. Everyone knows I can't 
dance, so it didn't really matter. I was on the dance floor for about 
an hour, during which three different girls started dancing behind me. 
I was having a pretty good night. When I got tired of dancing, I went 
to go find Phil. He was sitting in front of the TV, and I'll bet you 
that is where he was all night. I asked him what was going on, and he 
told me to be quiet because he was watching TV. I knew that trying to 
talk to him was a lost cause, so I went over to find Grip. He was just 
on the other end of the couch. I found him sitting with Rachel Brown. I 
knew that he liked her, so I didn't want to bother them. I glanced 
around me, and I saw that Eddie was sitting at the bar. He didn't look 
so good. I sat down next to him and asked him what was wrong, and he 
answered by puking onto the table and putting his head down. I don't 
mean to say that he puke-drunk or anything. This was an 8th grader's 
party! There wasn't any booze to drink or anything, he just got sick. I 
said that I was going to tell someone, and he said that he would be 
fine. All I knew was that he looked sick, and then he puked, so I 
didn't think that he was going to be just fine. I told Greg, and he 
came over to the bar with me. It looked like Eddie had puked some more, 
because he was now face down in a really big pile of his own vomit. 
Greg went and got his older brother. His brother, Mike, was pissed off 
because he was in his room with his girlfriend. Greg threatened to tell 
mom about it, so Mike got downstairs and started his pickup truck. Greg 
went to the phone, and I went back to the bar. Eddie was not sitting 
there anymore. I looked in the bathroom, and sure enough he was having 
a little conversation with the toilet. It looked like they had been 
talking for a while. I told Eddie that we were going to see a Doctor, 
and he just sort of nodded his head. "If this little dork gets puke on 
my leather, so help you God I'm going to kill you." "Rich, the Doc said 
to send him right over. Mike, shut up. You talk too much, and your 
intelligence resembles that of the Paleolithic Neanderthal man, whose 
central processing capacity was not yet evolved to today's intellectual 
standards." "Wha...?" "Just take the kid to the doctor." "Alright, 
whatever, fine. You owe me." There is a kid who is really sick and 
puking all over the place, and all Mike can think of is the leather in 
his car. It is as if Eddie is just dog or something. I wanted to call 
Mike a jerk or something, but I did not want him to get so mad that he 
would not take Eddie to the doctor. I grabbed Eddie, and we went 
outside and sat down in the back of Mike's pickup. Terra, his 
girlfriend, was making out with him in the front seat. "Mike! Start the 
freaking car already!" I shouted. "OK! Geez! Sorry Terra." Mike finally 
started to drive. Eddie was lying against the wall, half asleep. I was 
watching him to make he sure he didn't start up again, and I had to 
hold on to the side to keep from falling off. I had no idea how Eddie 
was not falling all over the place without even grabbing on to 
anything. After some more yelling at Mike for stopping to make out, we 
finally got to the doctor's about ten minutes later. I woke Eddie up, 
and we got out of the car. "OK, your here. Can I go now?" asked Mike. 
"If you go, how the hell am I supposed to get back?" "Um, you figure it 
out." "Look Mike, if you stay outside in your truck, you can just make 
out with Terra while you wait." "Um, OK. Take your time!" Phew. That 
was lucky. Eddie sort of hung on to the back of my neck, and walked 
into the building. A nine-floor elevator ride later, we were in the 
waiting room. I checked in, and we sat down to wait. Almost instantly, 
Dr. Bonsac was ready to see us. Eddie and I walked into the office. It 
was white, and it had a window, a desk with some medical stuff on it, 
and one of those beds with butcher paper that you always see when you 
are at the doctor's. Dr. Bonsac asked which one of us was Eddie, and 
she told me to go outside. A few minutes later, Eddie was out of the 
office, and he had a sheet of paper in his hand. "What's that?" I 
asked. "It's a prescription. I've got the flu. I swear I felt fine 
coming into that party." "Whoa. You are actually talking without Grip. 
I'm impressed." "Yeah, well, I feel like crap, so shut up and let's get 
out of here. I just need to lie down, and I need a parent or guardian 
to fill this prescription. Go see if Mr. Horn dog will do it for me." 
"I don't know if he will, but we'll see. C'mon." Eddie grabbed onto the 
back of my neck again, and we walked out of the lobby and back down the 
elevator again, without a word. We got outside, and saw Mike making out 
with Terra, as expected. I knocked on the window and he let us in. 
"Mike, you have to take us to Walgreens to get Eddie's prescription." 
"And what if I don't?" Eddie leaned over and whispered something in my 
ear. "If you don't, Eddie will puke all over your car." "Alright 
already! Can't you see that I'm going?" Mike started up the car. As he 
was driving, he kept looking back at Eddie, who would always respond by 
opening his mouth and making gagging noises, at which point Mike would 
speed up a little bit. We finally got into the Walgreens. Mike walked 
out of the truck. Terra kissed him goodbye and she stayed in the car. 
It was getting sort of cold, so Eddie went into the front seat of the 
car. Mike kept grumbling to himself as he walked over to the 
prescriptions counter. The clerk was a bored lady, mid 30s, filing her 
nails. Mike said excuse me, and the woman gave him a look like he was 
interrupting something. "What do you want?" "Isn't it supposed to be 
something like, 'How may I help you?'" "Do you want your help or not, 
because pretty soon, you're not going to get it." Mike was getting red 
in the face, but I tapped him and told him to just let it go. 
Surprisingly enough, he did, and he showed the lady the piece of paper. 
"It'll be ready in 15 minutes. Why don't you shop in our wonderful 
facilities while you wait?" "Yeah right. I'll just wait in one of the 
chairs." The lady went into a back room. I walked over to the candy 
aisle, and Mike started to take one of those do it yourself blood 
tests. About 15 minutes later, I looked at my watch and headed back to 
the prescriptions counter. Mike got up and asked the lady for the 
prescription. She asked him to show her some ID, and he got out his 
drivers license. "What are you trying to pull? Did you honestly think I 
would fall for this piece of crap?" "Piece of crap? I don't know what 
you're talking about lady, but that's my driver's license." "Yeah, 
right. No can do, pal. If you want to get high on flu medicine, you 
have got to go somewhere else to do it." "Excuse me? I want to talk to 
your supervisor. Now." "Alright, boy. Hold on." She went into that back 
room again, and came out with a short little bald man with a plaid 
shirt and a nametag that said "Melvin" on it. "What seems to be the 
problem, Delores?" "This boy here is trying to use a BS driver's 
license." "Let me have a look at it." Delores handed the license to 
Melvin. "Looks alright to me, Delores. I'm glad you are paying good 
attention, though. Now give this boy his prescription, and get back to 
work!" said Melvin as he walked back into his office. "You got lucky, 
boy. Now take your prescription and get out." "Pleasure, ma'am. Enjoy 
your wonderful job working at Walgreens. Who knows? Maybe you'll get 
promoted and get to wear one of those cool plaid shirts like our little 
buddy Melvin! Excuse me, though. I have to go home and get some rest so 
I will be able to enjoy my college education tomorrow. Ta ta!" "Oooh, 
boy! You lucky this counter's right here." "You wouldn't dare." "You 
really think so?" "Yeah, I do." With that, Delores jumped over the 
counter. I shook my head as Mike and I ran out of the store and into 
the pickup. I got into the back. "Out of my seat, Eddie," said Mike. 
Eddie looked at Terra. "Come here, baby. You can sit on my lap." Mike 
had no time to argue, so he just cursed under his breath and started 
the car. Eddie smiled at Mike as he got into his girlfriend's lap. 
"Don't you get any ideas, Hot Shot, or there's going to be trouble." 
Eddie would have said something, except that he had already fallen 
asleep. Mike looked back, and saw Delores yelling at him. She was 
shaking her fist in pointless anger caused by working a prescription 
counter for so long. It was only supposed to be temporary, but poor 
Delores never got another opening. A few minutes into the drive back, 
some crazed woman wearing a black jumpsuit and mask jumped onto the 
back of the truck from what seemed like out of the sky! She had 
something in her hand...a  weapon... "I need to see Eddie." she said. I 
fought back a scream. "Wha, what do you want?" I asked, nervous as 
hell. "I need to see Eddie." "How do you know him? Why do you have a 
gun?" "That's not important." "Yes it is! Get away from me!" "I just 
need to see Eddie." "No! You are going to kill him!" "Look, kid. This 
is im--" I would not let her finish. Something came over me, and I felt 
a sudden burst of courage, and some stupidity along with it, flow 
through me. I kicked her in the side, and she almost fell off. "I need 
to see Eddie! He is sick!" "I know that! He has the flu." "No, he's--" 
I cut her off again. I kicked her, and this time she fell off of the 
car. Somehow, the three in front did not seem to have noticed a thing. 
I knocked on the window and asked if anyone had seen what had just 
happened. "Your full of crap, Richey. Shut up and get back in your 
seat." "I saw her, Rich. What did she want?" "She said you were sick, 
and she had a gun." "How did she know I was sick?" "I have no idea. I'm 
sort of scared though." "Don't worry. You kicked her out of a moving 
truck into heavy traffic. I don't think she will want to mess with us 
again. She was probably just some crazy who saw us at the Doctor's." 
"Yeah, I hope. I'm going to tell Grip and Phil when we get back. When 
we got back to Greg's house, it was 5:30. Since Eddie's parents weren't 
going to be back home until 10:30, Greg led him upstairs and gave him a 
room to sleep in. Eddie immediately collapsed on the bed, and Greg 
quietly closed the door. I found Grip. He was getting really close to 
Rachel. I didn't want to interrupt him, but I had to. "Grip, Eddie's 
sick. He's upstairs sleeping. We took him to the doctor and got him 
some medicine. He has the flu." "Whoa, alright. Is he going to be OK?" 
"Yeah, I think so, but something else happened. Some crazy with a gun 
jumped into the back of the pickup and said that she needed to see 
Eddie." "Good. Um, I think Phil wants you or something." "Did you even 
hear what I said?" "Yeah, Eddie's fine. I think Phil wants you. Can't 
you see I'm a little, um, busy here?" I gave Rachel a dirty look and 
walked off. I soon found Phil, who was still watching TV. It was 
starting to get pretty annoying that we were at a party, and all that 
he was doing was sitting on his lazy butt watching TV. I put him into a 
fake headlock, and he flipped me right over the other side of the 
couch. From there, it was an all out wrestling match. Someone had heard 
the BOOM! of me hitting the floor, and pretty soon there were a bunch 
of people huddled around us. Phil was kicking me in the side, and I was 
laughing so hard that I almost couldn't get up to fight back. I managed 
to grab his leg and push him away, and I punched him in the gut and got 
him pinned. "I am the supreme ruler! I am the Bull God! I am your 
savior!", I declared as I pushed my foot harder onto his chest. "I am 
your--" I stopped. I saw that Jessica was standing right in front. She 
was talking to her friends, and I could tell that she was calling me 
names is Spanish. I got off of Phil and ran out of the circle. Phil did 
not know what was going on. He got out of the circle and found me in 
his spot on the couch in front of the TV. "What's up?" he asked. 
"Jessica doesn't like wrestling," I said. Phil paused a minute to think 
about that. "Oh, I see. Stupid Greg said she wasn't going to be here!" 
"I know. I guess he was wrong. Well, I blew it." "No you didn't." "Yes 
I did. But I'm not even worried about that right now. I'm worried about 
Eddie." I said. I told him the whole story about Eddie getting sick and 
the woman in black. "Whoa. That's scary. Should we tell someone?" "I 
would like too, but you know how protective my mom is, and how crazy my 
dad is. My mother would cry for days, and my father would call in the 
101st Airborne to guard the house. We can't tell anyone about this. The 
only people who know are Eddie and I guess Grip" "You guess?" "Yeah, I 
guess. He was too busy with Rachel to listen to me. I told him, but I 
don't think he heard me. "Alright, well. This party is getting kind of 
dry. Greg has the whole Eddie situation under control, so I think I'm 
going to jet. I'll see you tomorrow." "You know what, I think I'll go 
with you." We walked out. I hung at Phil's for a little while, and then 
I went home. The next day, the three of us were hanging out at the 
park. Eddie had to stay home. He called up Grip after his parents 
picked him up, so Grip knew what was going on. We sort of discussed it 
a little bit at the park, but after that we just sort of forgot about 
it. By next Friday, Eddie was feeling just fine. It was 2:17, and we 
were in science with Ms. Stevens. She was giving us a few questions, 
and then we were going to get a test. "Richard," she asked. "What do 
the ribosome in a cell do?" "They give the cells protein, ma'am." 
"Good. What do the vacuoles do?" "They hold stuff for the cell." "OK, 
Edward, what does a plant cell have that an animal cell does not? And 
Loretta Blanc, if you tap that pencil one more time, you are going to 
regret it." Loretta gasped and quickly stopped tapping her pencil. 
Eddie answered. "Um, a cell...(coughing)...a cell wall, ma'am?" "Very 
good, Edward. OK class, we are going to begin the test. If I catch 
anybody talking, they are going to get an immediate '0' and a call 
home. And, if you are really lucky, I may even make a surprise visit to 
your house for dinner." Yeah right. I wouldn't let that woman into my 
house for the world. Not for the world. We started the test. It was 
fairly easy, and Ms. Stevens let us use our notes. About 10 minus into 
the test, I was just finishing the second page when I heard some 
coughing. It was just a little bit, but then it got worse, and it 
developed into some hacking and wheezing. Ms. Stevens told him to go 
outside and get a drink of water. He got up and went and had a drink of 
water, and then he came back in. Five minutes later, he started to 
cough again. Ms. Stevens wrote him a note, and sent him down to the 
office to call his parents. He was coughing all the while, and he kept 
on coughing as he left the classroom. At the end of class, he walked 
in, and he was no longer coughing. Ms. Stevens looked huffy, and she 
said that Eddie could take the test again tomorrow. After we got 
dismissed, we met on the playground. "Eddie, that was some job you did 
of getting of the test! Was it really that hard?" said Phil. He 
whispered something into Grip's ear. "He says he wasn't faking it, and 
then his lungs felt like they were about to explode!" Grip said. 
Whatever you say, Eddie. Where did you learn to cough like that?" asked 
Phil. "Shut up, you guys. I wasn't faking it. But I feel fine now. 
Anyway, I was talking with Jessica at lunch. She said that she wanted 
us to come to the mall with her, Rachel, Abbey, and Kate." "You were 
talking to Jessica?" "Yeah. So do you guys want to go to the mall or 
not?" "Yeah, let's go meet them now before they leave." We ran off of 
the playground and over to the main doors in the front of the school. 
The girls were standing at the crosswalk, waiting for either the light, 
or us I could not tell. We caught up to them, and I tapped Jessica in 
the back. She said hi, and she told us to hurry up because we were 
going to miss the light. We ran across, paid our fair, and got onto the 
bus. Grip sat next to Rachel. The here of us sat on one side, and the 
three of them sat on the other. Abbey was leaning on Jessica's 
shoulder, and they were arguing about something. Kate was looking out 
the window. Phil was having a laughing contest with Abbey and Jessica, 
and I was talking to Eddie. I was doing it quietly so no one else would 
hear us. "So, do you think Jessica is still all annoyed about the 
wrestling thingy?" "That was a week ago. Of course she isn't. You worry 
too much." "Do you think I have a chance with her?" "Um, sure why not. 
She said she doesn't want a boyfriend right now, so do you mean do you 
have a chance to be her boyfriend, or do you have a chance to kiss 
her?" "Do I have a chance to kiss her?" "Yeah, I think so. Who knows, 
maybe we'll end up playing truuuth or daaare." "Yeah, OK. Look at Phil 
trying not to laugh. It looks like he is about to burst." I really did 
look like it, too. His face was all red and he was tearing. Jessica was 
making all these funny faces at him. Eventually, he lost and just 
started cracking up. Next, he had a laughing contest with Abbey and I 
had one with Jessica, and she kept yelling at Abbey to stop leaning on 
her, and we were all having a good time, and that is pretty much how 
the bus ride went. About a half hour later, we got to the mall and got 
off the bus. The level of fun kept on going down by the minute. First, 
we went into Claire's. The girls were looking at some necklace, and 
Grip was showing Rachel a shirt that he thought she should get. Phil 
was talking to Jessica, but you could tell that she was not paying him 
any attention. She glanced at me and started giving me the eye. I 
responded by smiling and giving her the eye. I though that things were 
going pretty smoothly. Then, without warning, she gave me a "P'shaw" 
and gave Phil a hug. I do not know what he said, but it could not have 
been good. The next store that we went in to was D E B. The girls 
looked around while we just sort of stood there, bored as hell. Grip 
actually seemed to be enjoying it, and he was having a great time 
finding shirts for Rachel to wear. I just could not believe my eyes. 
After we left D E B, we went to Rue 21. The girls were looking at 
clothes, and Grip and Rachel were in the changing room making out, 
leaving me and Eddie stranded. I suggested something that Jessica 
should buy, and she told me that was a complete fashion no-no or 
something, so I just gave up. It seemed that all of us had forgotten 
about the woman in black except for Eddie. He was really paranoid. He 
kept looking around to see if anyone was behind him. He was so busy 
being paranoid that I think that he completely forgot that he was 
bored. When the girls were finally done shopping, I knocked on the door 
in the fitting rooms and got Rachel and Grip out. Grip had a bunch of 
lipstick all over his face, but I didn't feel like telling him. Kate 
decided that she was hungry, so we all went to the food court. We went 
to the pizza place. It used to be a Sbarro, but it had a different 
name. Everybody ordered their food, but when the teller got to me, she 
just walked away. I called her and called her, and after a minute or 
two she came back. I told her that I wanted a spinach pizza, and she 
said OK. She walked into the back, and after five minutes a I just gave 
up. "This place sucks!" I yelled. I saw someone coming over to the 
counter, so I quickly ran across the food court over to Manchu Wok. I 
ordered some fried rice and a bowl of egg drop soup. That is what I 
always get when I go there, and always tastes just as good. I carefully 
guided my food over to the table and took a seat next to Jessica. She 
was wiping the grease off of her pizza with a breadstick, and then 
eating the breadstick. It was different from what I usually see which 
is really finicky eaters who like to wipe all of the grease off with a 
paper towel and throw it away. I started to talk about how boring this 
whole trip was. "I though you liked shopping?" asked Rachel. "I do, but 
not for like chick stuff from stores like Claire's." "Well, you knew 
that we were going to do that, so why did you come?" "I know why he 
came." "Shut up, Phil." "He came because he wanted-" "Oh my God! Abbey, 
look at those guys over at the other table! One of them just winked at 
you!" Abbey looked over at the guys at the other table, and they were 
all laughing. She said the guy who winked at her looked hot. Jessica 
said that she was going to go get his phone number for her, but she 
grabbed Jessica's arm. Jessica broke free and went to talk to the guys. 
She came back and said that the guy's name was Dominick, and that he 
wanted to talk to Abbey. Abbey was pretty shy, so she was at the table 
thinking about whether she would go or not. As I was watching Abbey 
furiously giggling, something caught my eye. I looked over up in the 
rafters, and I saw a black figure climbing around up there. Could it 
be...yes, it was. It was the lady who had jumped in the back of the 
pickup truck! I tapped Eddie and silently told him to look up towards 
the rafters. He saw what I saw and started freaking out. He was about 
to make a run for it, but I told him to try to keep cool. I whispered 
to Phil and Grip, and they looked at the rafters. I told them that it 
was the lady in black. I looked up again and saw that she had a gun in 
her hand! I counted to three. On two, Abbey said that she was ready to 
go and talk to Dominick, and on three we all bolted. Abbey didn't know 
what was going on, so she just fallowed us, and so did the others. I 
did not hear a gunshot, but I knew that one had been fired, because I 
heard some glass shattering and I could see a big hole on the table 
that we had been sitting in. Another two seconds and we would have been 
toast. I looked back up, and the woman was gone. We stopped running 
when we got to the Old Navy. "What the hell was that all about. I hate 
running., said Jessica. "Jessica, did you hear that glass shatter when 
we were running from the food court?" I asked. "Ye-yeah. Why?" "Well, 
if you hadn't of ran, that could have been where you were sitting." 
"Whoa, OK, so who shot that gun?" "Yeah, why would anyone want to kill 
us?" asked Kate. "I have no idea." I said, shakily. "I'm scared, Grip," 
said Rachel. "Come closer, Rachel." said Grip as he hugged Rachel. 
"This damned woman's been stalking me and Eddie, and I have no idea 
what she wants with either of us. She's not after you girls. And Grip, 
I told you I wasn't full of crap." "OK, so what now?" asked grip. "I 
have no idea. I'm getting tired of this. I'm just I kid. I'm not 
supposed to go through stuff like this until I'm at least in high 
school." We all left the mall. I never got to let Jessica know how I 
felt. Oh well. Maybe I could see her at that movie night thing that she 
is supposed to have at her house. Yeah, that is where I can talk to her 
without any of this stuff happening. The next Saturday, we went to her 
house to watch a movie. I seemed to be getting pretty well acquainted 
with her. We were sitting on the couch, and I had my arm around her and 
everything. The movie was terrible, some slasher film, but I didn't 
care. I was having a good time anyway. After we all left, she gave me a 
kiss goodnight. Things were starting to look up. Next Friday, the guys 
and I went to the mall. We went to the mall on a lot of Fridays, and we 
always met in the food court. For all the time that we have known each 
other, I don't think that we have ever met at the mall and not met at 
the food court. So there we were. Phil and I had gotten off the bus, 
and we walked over to the food court. Grip and Eddie were sitting in 
front of Manchu Wok. "What should we do?" I asked. "I don't know. I'm 
thirsty. Let's go to Freshens" said Phil. We all agreed. Freshen's is 
this awesome drink shop. They have all kinds of smoothies and stuff. I 
got a strawberry smoothie and Grip got a raspberry banana smoothie. We 
went to one of the tables and sat down. It was a sleek, metallic blue. 
The table was wire frame, and so were the chairs. There was a woman 
with a crying baby-sitting next to us, and a guy eating a sandwich on 
the other side. I heard faint scream off in the distance, and the baby 
wouldn't stop crying, but it was like I was somewhere else. I was just 
sitting there, drinking my smoothie, and I swear to god I couldn't hear 
a damn thing, and I loved it. This whole sensation of weightlessness 
had taken over my body, and I was staring into space. Grip, Eddie, and 
Phil were just blurs in front of me and to the side of me. They were 
getting up and Grip was walking toward me. His lips started moving, but 
nothing came out. I saw his blurry, wavy hands move to my arms, and he 
started to thrash me. It looked like he was doing it pretty hard, but I 
wouldn't respond. I could see him thrashing me, but I could not feel 
it. I just kept sipping my smoothie. The straw never left my lips. 
Pretty soon the smoothie was gone, but I just kept on sipping the air 
up from the straw, and my head was slowly moving back and forth. Grip 
punched the smoothie and knocked the straw out of my mouth. My head 
just kept rocking back and forth, and I heard another scream, but it 
seemed so far off, and so did Grip. He kept going farther away, and 
from the blurs I could make out that he did not look so good. I wanted 
to tell him I was alright, but he was so far away. I tried to scream 
for him, but no sound came out. God, I wish my head would stop rocking. 
My neck is getting tired. I'm getting tired...so tired...Grip was gone. 
Everyone was. It was nice. No more yelling. It was so quiet and so 
serene. I started drifting some more...drifting...I was asleep. 
Suddenly I opened my eyes and looked around. I wasn't in the mall 
anymore. I was in a bed, in a some room. I know it wasn't my house, 
because there was a curtain next to me and a TV on the wall. There was 
a tray on the nightstand by my bed with some "interesting" looking food 
on it. Then it hit me. I was in a hospital! Why the hell was I in a 
hospital? What was going on here? All that was on TV was the snow, and 
I realized that it was up pretty loud. I reached over to find the 
remote, but I couldn't. I was strapped in. My whole body was strapped 
in. What the hell was going on here? I started to scream, really loud. 
I didn't want to but I had to. It was too much to process. First I was 
in a mall, I think, and now I was here. Someone was coming. It was a 
nurse. Blonde, slim figure, beautiful eyes. I started to melt. She was 
your standard issue sexy nurse, with the hat and gown and everything. 
Well, you can bet that calmed me down a bit. I stopped screaming. She 
asked me if everything was OK. I wanted to say, "It is now", but that 
seemed kind of sleezeball, so I just said yeah, I think. "What's going 
on? Why am I here? What happened?" "Well, you seem to be in better 
condition than when you came here. You were just laying there on the 
stretcher, rocking your head back and forth. I'm nurse Sarah, and you 
are at St. Josephine Memorial Hospital." Whoa. That part about the 
stretcher scared the crap out of me. "Your friends are fine. They are 
probably at home right now. Here, let me fix the TV for you." She 
pulled a remote control out of her pocket and turned the TV off. I 
glanced at a clock and saw that it was about three-thirty in the 
morning. "How long have I been here?" "Well, your friends called the 
paramedics at four, and you got here at about five. You've been laying 
in your bed, rocking your head back and forth ever since." "Excuse me? 
I was just laying there, rocking my head back and forth? Is something 
wrong? What's all this stuff I'm strapped into?" "You have no idea what 
happened, do you? What do you remember last before you woke up?" "Well, 
I was sitting at the mall in front of Freshen's with Grip and Phil and 
Eddie, and I was drinking my smoothie, and then, then it gets sort of 
fuzzy." "You were in a state of shock. Your pulse rate and blood 
pressure were off the charts. It looks they have calmed down now. Your 
lucky to be alive." Lucky to be alive? State of shock? "Lucky to be 
alive? What the--where are my friends? Are they OK!?" "Well, Phil and 
Grip are OK. They're probably at home right now. Eddie wasn't so lucky. 
He's in the bed next to you, behind that curtain. You can't see him 
right now." "Why not?" "He's sleeping and he needs his rest. I don't 
how to say this to you. I don't know if I should, I don't want you 
shocking up on us like you did before." "I'll try not to just tell me!" 
"Your friend Eddie... has been... shot. You saw him get shot and you 
went into a state of shock.  Your heart and blood pressure were so 
high, for a time you seemed to be in worse shape than Eddie was, but I 
think you are OK now." "W-w-wait a minute. Eddie's been sh-shot?" "Yes, 
once in the shoulder. The assailant got away, and from your account of 
what happened, it does not seem like you will be able to give us any 
new information." "Well, what do they know about the, um, assailant?" 
"I'm not really sure. The only description given was a dark, black, 
slim figure." "Oh my God!" "What?" "Uh, nothing. How much longer do I 
have to stay in here?" "Well, your heart rate is back to a norm, but we 
are going to have you stay here for another night, just to be safe. You 
really had a scared for a little bit!" "Do my parents know?" "Oh, yes. 
Yes they do. They're in the waiting room. Would you like to see them?" 
"OK. Can you send them in?" She answered yes, and said that she would 
be a few minutes. She then walked out of the room. I wanted to see what 
was on TV, but I couldn't find a remote. Sarah must have taken it back 
with her after she turned it off. Oh well. Maybe I should go try and 
see Eddie. I called out his name. No answer. I called again, even 
louder, and still no answer. I started to get up--oh yeah. I was 
strapped in. Rich, you idiot. I called one more time, louder than the 
first two calls. After I was not answered, I just gave up. I heard the 
door open, and Sarah and my parents walked. My mom was on top of me and 
she started in with, "Oh you poor baby! I was so worried!", and all of 
that. I assured her that I was feeling OK, and after a few minutes of 
smothering me with kisses, she finally got off of me. My dad had 
something to say, too. "Boy, don't shock up on us like that again. Ye 
had your mother worried sick. Just bite your lip and press on if some 
stuff is going down. You got that?" "Yes sir." "Good. Now lets get out 
of her." "Mr. Harris, I'm afraid that is not possible right now. You 
can take your son home tomorrow afternoon, but for now you are going to 
have to leave him with us." "Leave him with you? Lady, I ain't throwin' 
another damned cent in this hospital. Ye said my boy's fine, so I'm 
takin him out of here." "Dad, Eddie was shot. I want to spend the night 
in the hospital with him." "Mr. Harris, your son is experiencing post 
traumatic stress syndrome, and we are going to need to monitor his 
heart rate and blood pressure tonight." "Dear, please. Can't we go one 
night without you yelling at some nurse or anyone trying to pry one 
miserable cent from your cold, cheap hands?" Dad sort of grumbled, and 
they got out of there. The nurse stayed. "I'm real sorry about my dad. 
He gets a little edgy with money. He was robbed by one of his best 
friends at his old job, and he has all kinds of trust issues, and, 
well, I guess he's just sort of messed up." "Oh, don't apologize, 
Richard. Here at St. Josephine, I've seen much worse. You need to get 
some rest, and the doctors need to run some tests in the morning." 
"Will you be there?" "We'll see about that, sweetie. Just try and get 
to sleep. And when you wake up, call me with the button by your bed.", 
she said as she started to walk out the door. "Wait!", I called. "Um, 
could stay here for a little bit? I sort of, um, have trouble sleeping 
when I'm staying somewhere new." "Well, alright. Maybe for a little 
bit. But I've got to get back to my shift." I nodded, and I closed my 
eyes. After a few minutes, I heard some footsteps, and the opening and 
closing of the door. I remembered that I had wanted to ask her for the 
remote, but I was just too tired to do it. Maybe in the morning. The 
next morning, I woke up and looked around. I glanced at the clock. Ok, 
so maybe it wasn't really morning anymore, but two in the afternoon. I 
was up pretty late last night, and I was still sort of tired. I looked 
over at the bed next to mine. The curtain was up, and there was no one 
in the bed next to me. Maybe they moved him to another ward or 
something. I pressed the button to call Sarah, and in a minute or two, 
she was there. She told me that the doctors were going to run a few 
tests, to test my stability or something. I thought I was fine, but I 
couldn't go home without the tests, so I just went through with it. 
Sarah brought me to an office. There was a man sitting at a desk, and a 
there was a nameplate on the desk that said Dr. Braun. "Thank you, 
Sarah. If you don't mind?" "Of course, sir. Sorry, Rich. I've gotta 
go." I didn't protest. I just sort of looked back at her as she walked 
out of the door. The office was completely black and gloomy. Dr. Braun 
didn't really seem like the kind of guy that you would like to be alone 
in a room with. The doctor asked me to please fallow him. I got up, and 
he walked over to a door on the other side of the room. He walked 
through and I fallowed. The door led to a smaller room with a nice easy 
chair and a TV. There was a fridge on the side. It looked like a nice 
little place. Dr. Braun told me to please sit down. He put my arm 
through a wristband that was connected to a machine that would take 
you're your blood pressure. Then he got a remote out of his pocket and 
turned the TV on. The words "Faces of Death" flashed across the screen. 
I think I remember seeing that title at a video store before. Yeah, it 
was in the horror section. Oh no. I didn't want to see this. It was a 
documentary on death. It was over an hour of actual death. It began to 
start. There were some soldiers on the screen, and they were speaking 
some other language. One of the soldiers was standing on top of 
another, yelling something at him that I couldn't understand. Then he 
did something horrible. He took a knife and slashed it through the 
other soldier's neck. He screamed, and then made an odd sound that you 
are only capable of making if you have just been stabbed in the throat. 
Some blood flew out in a little geyser. The man pulled his knife out, 
and the soldier died shortly after. Dr. Braun stopped the tape, and by 
the look on his face, it seemed like he had seen the same clip 
thousands of times. It had not fazed him in the slightest. I, on the 
other hand, was not dealing so well. My heart was beating really fast 
and I could feel it pounding. It felt like my heart was trying to jump 
right out of my chest. I blinked, because I realized that my eyes had 
been wide open for the past five minutes. It was not even a 
subconscious blink. I did it because I did not want my eyes to dry out. 
I just was not blinking. It was really weird. I could not look away 
from the TV. Dr. Braun pressed the stop button, and I could not keep my 
eyes off of the blank screen. I was aware enough to know that something 
was wrong. I used to be able to watch slasher flicks all the time, but 
now this seemed to have really messed me up. I was awake, though. I 
could tell. I pinched myself and I felt it and everything. "Are you OK, 
Mr. Harris?" "Ye-yeah. I think so." "Your heart rate is abnormally 
high. If it does not recede in the next forty-seven seconds, I am 
afraid that you are going to have stay here over night again." "Oh, OK. 
I, I don't seem to be blinking. I have to do it on my own. When my eyes 
feel like they are drying out, I have to blink on my own. If I didn't, 
I swear to you that my eyes would just stay wide open forever." "If 
your heart rate recedes in..." Dr. Braun said as he glanced at his 
watch. "19 seconds, then that should clear up within a day or two." Dr. 
Braun started to count down from 10, and, amazingly, according to the 
monitor my heart rate was receding! I could go home! Dr. Braun got to 
zero, and then he said that I would be able to leave momentarily, but I 
would have to some pills. I did not care. Just as long as I could get 
away from that guy. He gave me a bottle of pills and said that I would 
have to take 1 of them a day until the bottle runs out. There were a 
bunch of pills in the bottle. I called my parents, and within minutes 
they were at the hospital. They talked to Dr. Braun, and he told them 
about the pills that he had given me. Pretty soon, I was on my way 
home. Dr. Braun assured my parents that it was safe for me to go out, 
as long as I took my pills, so I would not have to be cooked up at home 
for a while. I was thankful for that. The next Saturday, Jessica was 
having another one of her parties. I was really excited. All of us were 
going to go. When I got there, everything was running pretty smoothly. 
We were on the couch together, watching another bad slasher flick. I 
wonder why she liked those so much? I had my arm around her, and we 
were kissing for a little while, when Kate comes up and tells Jessica 
that she needs to talk to her. They walk over to the next room, and I 
start to look at the TV. I couldn't concentrate on the movie, because 
it seemed like I was forgetting something. I could not put my finger on 
it, but I thought that it was something important. Oh well. I started 
to actually watch the movie. The slasher snuck into the back door of 
this girl's house, and he had a really big knife in his hand. The girl 
was sitting at her computer, and somehow she couldn't hear the guy 
clomping around behind her. He slowly crept behind her and then SLASH! 
he got her right in the back of her head. Then the TV got really hazy 
and the room started to spin. I held tight on to the couch, afraid that 
I was going to fall off. Oh my God! I forgot to take my pill! Rich you 
idiot! The room was spinning so fast. I could not hold on anymore and I 
fell off of the couch and on to the floor. I was shaking, and my left 
leg kept twitching. I couldn't hear anything, and I didn't see anyone 
trying to help me. Jessica came in, and she was just a big, blobby, 
blur. She saw me lying on the floor. I saw her lips moving, but I could 
not tell what she was saying. She bent down, and she started to scream 
when she looked my directly in the eye. That can't be good. I wanted to 
say I was ok, but I could not, and I was pretty sure that I wasn't OK. 
Everybody looked at us, and Jessica said something to someone, and they 
all walked out of the room. I was all-alone. After about thirty 
seconds, a dark, blurry figure came into the room. I knew who it was. 
She put her hand on my forehead, and suddenly I could hear again. 
"Richard, can you hear me?" "Yes, yes I can. What is going on? Don't 
shoot!" "Don't you worry, I won't. I am not the evil one you need to 
watch out for. I haven't much time. I think I can still save your 
friend Eddie, but I need to give you some information." "Save Eddie? 
From What?" "Eddie is a lot sicker than you think. What he had, rather, 
has, that was not the flu. There is a man who poisoned him. He slipped 
something into Eddie's soda at that party that you were at, I believe 
the boy whose house it was named Greg?" "Yeah, Greg." "Eddie was 
poisoned so that I would come and save him. The man who poisoned Eddie 
wants to kill me, and he knew me well enough to know that I would try 
to save your friend." "How did you know that Eddie had been poisoned?" 
"The poison was mine. It had been extracted from my body after I got 
sick a long time ago in a place I cannot remember. The poison is very 
advanced, and it lets anybody who has been poisoned with it before know 
if a new person has been infected. I have the serum. It is what I was 
shooting at your friend with my gun. I meant him no harm." "Why should 
I believe any of this?" "Because you have to believe it, or your friend 
will not make it. Life is all about risks, and this one that you and 
your friend cannot afford not to take." "Who is the man?" "The man is 
someone who wants me dead so that he can extract the poison that 
remains in me. With it, he will have unspeakable power. The poison that 
he gave to Eddie is only enough to kill one person. What I have 
remaining inside of me could kill millions." "Why aren't you dead 
then?" "I am the sole possessor of the antidote. I have a steady amount 
of both flowing through my bloodstream. The antidote is very peculiar 
in the way that rather than kill the poison, it merely keeps it at 
bay." "And who exactly is this man?" "I don't know that right now. I do 
know that if I don't shoot your friend with two more shots of the 
antidote, then he may not make it. Scratch that, he definitely won't 
make it." "How much time do you have left?" "I'm not sure. No more than 
12 hours, possibly much less. I really must go." "Wait! What about the 
man who started this all?" "I can handle him. Right now, you need to 
let your friend know that I'm not the bad guy. I know that he won't 
trust me. The second shot I may be able to get into him, but he third 
one cannot be done from afar. I need to shoot a specific vein in his 
arm, so I need to be very close to him, and I have to concentrate 
closely on what I am doing. You need to contact Eddie and tell him that 
he has to trust me. If you don't, things may get a little ugly." "What 
do you mean, ugly?" "Let's not go into that right now. Your friends are 
coming back in here right now, so I have to go." "OK. What is your 
name?" It was too late. She was already gone, and I was back in 
shock-mode again. I saw some blurs that looked like my parents. Oh 
great, they called my parents. My dad is going to be pissed that I did 
not take the pill. I could not hear him, but I could tell by his facial 
expressions that he was yelling. Jessica said something to him, and he 
stopped. He picked my up and carried me our of the house. I liked the 
state that I as in. I was aware, but completely unresponsive. You could 
have beat me up right now and yelled profanities at me, and I would not 
have done a thing. The next thing I knew, I was back at the hospital 
again, laying in bed. How did I get here? Let me think. I was at the 
party at Jessica's house...we were kissing...she left...I watched the 
slasher flick...something happened...and I ended up here. What is the 
missing piece? I do not know. I think I will just sleep on it. I woke 
up. I glanced at the clock. I had just fallen asleep about an hour ago. 
Then it hit me. I remembered everything that had happened, including 
that whole conversation with the lady in black. I had to get to the 
guys! I looked at the clock, and it said that it was 8 'o clock.  I've 
got to tell Eddie what is going on! How am I going to tell him? I was 
strapped in, and I had to get out of there to use a phone. I pulled 
something that you might see in an "Incredible Hulk" comic and ripped 
through the cords. I ran to the window sill where there was a phone. I 
called up Eddie. It rang a few times, and then a someone else answered. 
It was a woman, but it was not his mom or his sister. I could not quite 
put my finger on the voice. "Hello? Vasco residence, may I ask who's 
speaking?" "This is Richard. Who is this?" "Richard, it's me." "And who 
would that be?" "The lady in black." The something in my brain ticked, 
and I immediately recognized the voice. "I have your friends here. I 
have the anecdotal gun pointed at Eddie, and he has been instructed not 
to move. I have been trying to reach you at the hospital, but there was 
no answer. It is pure luck that you called. I am going to put Eddie on 
the phone. I need you to verify that for him." "He-hello? This is 
Eddie. That crazy woman has us here with a really weird looking gun 
pointed at me. She has shot me once in the shoulder, and she says that 
she needs to shoot me one more time, in the arm. I keep squirming so 
she can't get the 'special spot' that she needs to hit." "I know. You 
need to let her do it." "I do? What?" "Yes, you do. She is a good 
woman. She is trying to help you. When you got sick at Greg's party, it 
was not the flu. You were poisoned. I know this sounds really messed 
up, but it is what happened." "Poisoned?" "Yes. Did you see a man that 
you didn't know when you were at the party?" "No, no way. It was just 
us kids." "I think you might be wrong. The woman said that a man tried 
to poison you so he could catch the woman in black. Regardless of 
whether he does or not, if you don't take that final shot in your arm, 
you are going to die.: "And who told you all this?" "She did." "And you 
believed her?" "Well, yeah." "Why the hell would you believe a woman 
whom the only experience with her that you have had has been in a mall 
with you getting shot down? Why would you trust her now?" "I, I don't 
know. I, I guess I was delusional. Now I don't know what to do. Where 
are your parents?" "They're...out. They are always out. But as of right 
now, what am I going to do? I'm not about to get shot by this woman who 
obviously lied to you." "I don't know what you should do. If you don't 
agree to get shot, she is going to have to do it the 'ugly' way." "What 
is the ugly way?" "I have no idea, and I don't think that you want to 
find out." "But I don't want to die either!" "Fight her. Fight back." 
Eddie dropped the phone, and then all I heard was clicking. I didn't 
know what was going on. Later, Sarah came in to check on me, and she 
found that all of the straps on the machines and everything were 
broken. "What happened here?" I thought up a good lie. "I, I don't 
know. I remember lying in bed, and then waking up much later with all 
of the straps broken. I must have somehow gone into shock again." 
"Well, alright. We'll you get you all fixed up." She left, and later a 
doctor came in and re-attached me to all of the machinery, and then I 
went to sleep. A little later, I was woken up by a phone call. It was 
Grip. He told me the rest of the story. Eddie jumped up and kicked the 
lady in the face. This didn't even stun her. She did a back flip and 
knocked Eddie down, hard. She put her foot on his chest and pressed 
down. Grip and Phil tried to jump in, but she pointed the gun at them 
and they jumped back. Eddie was breathless, and he could not muster up 
enough energy to even move. The lady in black shot Eddie in the arm 
like she said she would. She pulled the bullet out and left. After she 
left, Phil and Grip walked over to Eddie's seemingly lifeless body and 
checked him out. They found something very odd. Not a scratch! There 
were no bullet holes, no blood, no anything. Eddie was completely fine. 
I guess the woman was good, after all. After Grip told me all of that, 
he put Eddie on the phone to let me know that he was OK. It seemed like 
everything was wrapped up pretty nicely. The next day, I was woken up 
at around 10:30 AM with a telephone call. It was the lady in black. 
"Hello?" I answered. "Hello. I think you know who this is." "Yes. Yeah, 
what is it? Did everything work out with Eddie?" "Yes, everything 
worked out more perfect than you could ever imagine. Richard, you are a 
very gullible boy." "Excuse me?" "There was no 'mysterious man' at the 
party a few weeks back. I made that part up. It is true that I saved 
Eddie's life, but I am the one who gave him the virus in the first 
place. Once in his system, it spread to the amount potent enough to 
kill all those people that I told you that I had in me. I have next to 
nill in me, because my immune system fights most of it off. Eddie, on 
the other hand, was young. Although almost fully developed, his immune 
system was not ready for this. The first two shots I fired, the one at 
the mall and the one at his house were the ones that vaccinated the 
virus. See, I am not all bad. The second shot fired at Eddie's house 
was the key. The special bullet I fired captured the new super-potent 
form of the virus. I have the unspeakable power now." I was stunned, 
and I was surprised that I had not gone into shock again. "Why did you 
get all of us involved in this?" "Because I like a challenge." "And why 
are you telling me all of this?" "Because when you die, I want you to 
know who is responsible." That did it for me. I shocked up and I 
couldn't hear a thing. I fell over, and I lay on the floor for what 
seemed like hours. Finally, a doctor came in and gave me a pill. Here I 
lay on this bed, watching the news about the crazed person known 
nationally "The Woman In Black". The war was over and I had lost, 
suffering the casualty of being screwed up for life. I don't know how 
long that will be, I can only hope it will be while. 


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