What Lies Beneath

Five

There were thumbs pressing deep into my flesh that caused my skin to cave inward. Someone's hands were around my throat, it felt like. They squeezed tight, their grip never letting up, as I gasped for air and swallowed a deep breath. My hands clawed at the thumbs. However, it'd done nothing to pry them off.

My eyes began to roll to the back of my head, my eyelids slowly drifting shut. I could practically feel my life slipping away—until the harsh shove on my shoulder caused my shaken body to jolt up straight. I immediately toppled over and grasped my neck.

"Hah . . . hah. . ." My heavy breathing was loud in my ears. A cold sweat drenched my shirt from top to bottom. I could feel someone's else's presence lingering beside me. When I found the courage to look, I turned my head, instantly noticing the small figure standing beside my bed. His eyebrows knitted into a frown, eyeing me with a strange expression.

"Mommy told me to come upstairs and wake you. You overslept so she threw you on a toaster strudel," Junior rambled, crossing his arms, "there's also some orange juice sitting on the counter for you to drink but you've got to be fast. School starts soon."

"Shit," I cussed under my breath and tossed my blanket off my legs. "Okay, let me get ready first. Tell her I said I'll be right down." He nodded but he didn't move. Instead, he tried to squared his shoulders and let his arms rest at his sides.

Arching an eyebrow at him, I asked, "What?"

Junior shrugged. "Were you having a nightmare? You were fighting in your sleep. I thought you were having a bad dream again." Oh. I didn't know how long he'd been standing there.

After throwing myself out of bed, I flattened my right hand on top of his hair, then ruffled it up a bit. "Don't worry about me kiddo. Why don't you go check on mom and see if she needs your help downstairs?" I suggested.

"Stop that!" He scrunched up his face, swatting my hand away. "And alright. Fine."

I chuckled as he ran out of my room with a load of grimace attached to his face. My amusement didn't last long though when I remembered I was on the verge of being late to school. Oh crap, and I had Earth Science first period today.

* * *

After fixing myself up in the bathroom for over fifteen minutes, fighting with my disheveled curls, and then downing my breakfast, I told my mother I'd see her later before hopping on my bike straight to school. Surprisingly, I had only been about thirteen minutes late. Still late, but not as late as I anticipated.

The first half of the day had gone unnoticed to me, of course, with my head having been filled with thoughts about the mysterious dead woman. More thoughts than I could handle. The second half, however, took a leaping turn when I'd been caught red-handed in the halls minding my business, and not by any of the school staff—though I wish it had been one of them.

"Tyler! You're just the boy I was looking for!" The familiar sound of Patty Lane's voice yelling my name sent shivers up my spine. Not the good kind either. A tech geek with grades out of this world. Always top of the class. But not particularly liked among the junior class.

She was, dare I say, an absolute control freak with a knack for competition. I was the only person who gave her the time of day (when I was in the mood) and I sometimes regretted it. Not to mention, she was the hall monitor from hell on duty during our lunch period. And she took her hall monitoring job seriously. A little more seriously than the average sixteen-year-old girl would, or probably should for a volunteer position in high school.

"Damnit. . ." I groaned under my breath. My attempt to shove my head deeper into my locker and watch her from behind the door was soured when she spotted me failing to hide from her. I wasn't fast enough.