A Different Descendant: Freshman Year 1

Chapter 21

     The two words that left her mouth took away my ability to type. I had never been more shocked in my entire life. They left me speechless as words just wouldn’t come out.
    “I got one of those self-test kit and I tested positive,” she said in a whisper.
    “Those things are usually wrong like three percent of the time. Maybe your case falls into that category,” I said. It wasn’t something I wanted to believe. She was always so careful about everything she did. It was beyond odd for her to be pregnant.
    “I’ve been exhibiting pregnancy symptoms Henry. Mom is going to kill me.”
    “You’re damn right about that!!!!” Mom said from behind.
My eyes opened widely.
    ‘How did I not notice when she entered?’
    I turned slowly towards mom. She stared at Alexis who was still on the bathroom floor. Her presence froze us both.
    “ERIC!!” she yelled.
I had not heard her yell like that in forever. It was deafening. Dad arrived in seconds.
    “What’s going on?” he asked.
    “Why don’t you ask Alexis?!”
He shifted is eyes towards Alexis. He didn’t say anything.
    “I-I’m pr-pregnant,” she stuttered.
    The words left had the same petrifying effect it had on me. His eyes widened and his mouth slid open slightly.
    “Living room, now!” mom commanded and stormed out of the room. Dad followed, leaving Alexis on the bathroom floor and me standing next to the bathroom door.
    I helped her get off the floor and walked her downstairs, where the rest of the family. She sat down on the sofa farthest from mom. I sat next to her to protect her as mom could lunge at her at any moment.
    “Now, start explaining,” said mom, giving Alexis her infamous death glare.
    ***********
    Alexis explained how she wasn’t in her right mind at the after-party and how she woke up next to Michael that night, half naked. She explained how she got the self-test kit and realized she was pregnant the previous week.
    Dad and I had to hold mom back twice when she lunged at Alexis. Alexis spent that entire afternoon crying in the living room.
“Did you tell Michael yet?” mom asked.
    “No.”
She took in a deep breath.
    “Katie and Sarah?” she asked again.
    “I haven’t told anyone,” Alexis replied, wiping her wet cheeks with her palm.
    “Alright--”
Just as she was about to say another word, someone knocked.
    “I’ll get it,” I said, heading for the door. I opened the door to see Blake.
    “Not now Blake. I’m in the middle of something.”
    “No no, you have to hear this,” he said hurriedly, stopping the door before it closed completely.
    I didn’t want him to come inside to see Alexis crying. And he definitely didn’t want to anger my mother. In that state, she could kill a person. I headed out the door and closed it behind me.
    “Hurry up,” I said and slid my hands into my back pockets.
    “I know who the vandal is.”
     My hands moved out of my back pockets on their own. I didn’t think he would find out who it was in such a short amount of time. The uneasy feeling I felt at the lunch table when he narrowed the vandal to three locations.
    “Your new friend. Misty.”
My heart dropped into a pool of confusion. The gentle girl in my class that shared my same genre of music and books, was going around naked at night, vandalizing property. Why?!
    “What makes you think it’s her?” I asked in disbelief.
    “I did my findings and it turns out, she is the only MFHS student that lives on Shira Street. She wasn’t at the after-party. I aked her, she said her corsage was missing.”
I stayed quiet.
    “I’m going to my dad to tell him now. He’ll be mad about me making copies of cop files, but on the bright side--”
    “No.”
He paused and the excitemnt on his face fell.
    “What do you mean no?” he asked.
    “Look, we’ll talk about it in school on Monday, I swear to you. Just don’t make any moves yet,” I pleaded.
    He paused.
    “Dude, I worked really hard to get all the clues and I finally did what the cops couldn’t. I have to tell him.”
    I grabbed him by the hand and squeesed it tightly.
    “Don’t do anything,” I threatened.
    His face changed completely on hearing the shift in my tone of voice.
    “Fine. But promise me you wont make any moves without me.”
I paused.
    “I don’t make promises Blake, but I won’t do anything without you,” I said.
He stared at me for a while in disbelief.
    “Fine.” he groaned.
    “Good.”
    I bid him farewell and went back into the living room.
    After loads and loads of talking, mom decided on us going to the Henderson’s the next morning to let them know about the issue on ground.
    ***********
That night, sleeping was indeed hard. The fact that Alexis was pregnant was troubling enough. The knowledge of Misty being the psychotic, naked vandal disturbed my insides.
    ‘Why is she doing this?’ I asked myself.
I wanted to believe my hunch if her being troubled mentaly and wasn’t concious of the things she was doing. I couldn’t sleep. When I analyzed every detail I had, it pointed in her direction.
    *******************************
Few minutes till midnight;
    I called and texted Mistly a couple of times, but she didn’t pick up or respond. She’s usually awake till midnight. Most likely reaing a novel.
    I didn’t want her getting into any form of     trouble even if she was doing it conciously. And so, I decided to sneak out of the house that night.
    I emptied my school bag and put a black T-shirt and a pair of shorts inside. I locked my room door, turned off the lights and quietly snuck out via the window.
     My plan was to get to the third location that Blake had mentioned in school, wait there to see if Misty would show up and well, stop her. It wasn’t any of my greatest plans as she couldve gone through another route, but it was better than having to stop Blake from telling his father.
    The stream was in the woods. Those two streets were on the far side of town, as well as Kendall Road. Behind Misty’s house was Sphire Woods. One could take those woods, cross the stream, and get to the busy streets of Mystery Falls.
    **********
    I got the stream in the woods ten minutes after midnight. I had received no calls from anyone, so I knew I was still safe from my raging mother. I crossed the stream and hid behind a tree.
    I waited for about forty-five minutes in the cold night, waiting for my naked friend to take that route. I rehearsed my plan to hold her before she crossed the stream over and over in my head.
    It was ten minutes till one o’ clock, and she wasn’t in sight. I already gave up hope and so, I picked up my bag.
But just as I was about to get off my butt and leave, Yokai smiled down on me and I heard someone humming. The humming had no selective rhythm. It was practically noise. From the sound of the dead leaves on the soil, it sounded like the person was skipping.
    The humming got closer and closer. I took a little peek and saw the girl skipping towards the stream. She was naked.
It was the vandal, but was it really Misty?
    I waited until she was a few steps away from the stream. I took in a silent, deep breath, and crept towards her. The closer I got, the farther she was from me.
    ‘Creeping like this won’t get me anywhere,’ I said to myself.
She stopped and crouched in front of the stream. She was talking. It was impossible to make out what she was saying.
    “Pest!” she said aloud, causing me to freeze in a rather difficult position.
    ‘Does she know I’m here?’ I asked myself, still maintaining my frozen state.
    “You’re such a pest Misty,” she said again, this time in a lower tone. With the regular tone of voice, I recognized that it was her after all. She continued to talk with herself.
    “No one likes Misty. No one ever did, and no one ever will.”
I listened to Misty chastise herself for being herself. With every sentence, her tone reduced. I slowly walked closer to hear what she was saying.
    “Even Henry thinks of me as weird.”
I stopped.
    “He might say he cares about me, but in the end, he’s probably like Freya’s friends. They don’t like me without even knowing a thing about me. Who am I kidding? He can’t be my best friend.” She was crying.
    In that moment, I was already a step away from her. Her naked body was covered in dirt and leaves with dead twigs stuck in her scattered hair.
My heart ached from hearing her cry and hate herself. She was so fragile on the inside. I felt myself soften from seeing her in such a feeble state.
    Before I could think of taking out the T-shirt, she stood up and slowly turned her head. On sight of my face, she shivered, took some steps back and fell to her behind.
    It was the first time I ever saw a naked female body directly. Misty looked up at me with confused eyes. I crouched and stretched out my right hand slowly.
    “It’s okay Misty,” I said.
She stared at my right hand with a hopeless look on her face.
    “He-Henry?”
    “Yes, it’s me,” I said, moving closer to her.
    “It’s okay. Just give me your hand,” I said softly.
    She slowly stretched out her hand, and when it was within reach, I grabbed it softly and pulled her in closer.
I was successfully able to stop her from going to destroy another person’s property that would most definitely push Blake to tell his father, which would be a pain for Misty and her family.
    I dressed her up in the T-shirt and shorts I brought along and carried her on my back, back in the direction which she came. I knew Blake would certainly not approve of my actions in handling the Misty case, but since when did I need anyone’s approval to do some things.
    After few minutes of walking, we arrived at the swimming pool behind her house. When I attempted to go around the pool to the front door, she squeezed my lower adbomen with her thighs and tugged at my T-shirt.
    “I understand, but they have to know what’s going on.”
‘It’s better than the other option.’
    By other option, I meant telling Blake’s father. I could tell she was too tired to care about the second option. I arrived at the front door and rang the doorbell about three times.
    “Who is it?!” her mother called out from above.
    I looked up and responded.
    “It’s your daughter Mrs. Carpelle,” I responded.
    On noticing her daughter on my back, she immediately closed the window. I waited patiently for her to arrive at the front door.
    “What’s going on? Why is my daughter with you?” she asked, placing her hand on Misty’s cheek
    “May I bring her in first ma’am?”
She hurriedly stepped aside and allowed me to bring her inside. The living room was poorly lighted by a lamp next to the couch. I laid her gently onto the couch.
    “What’s going on down there?” a male voice asked from upstairs. Misty’s father came down the stairs in his red robes.
    “What’s Hayden’s kid doing here?” he asked. He was also a classmate of my mother back when she was in highschool. On sight of his daughter on the couch, he abandoned his previous question and hurried over to Misty.
    After making sure she was okay, I explained everything starting from when Blake involved me in his investigation, to that afternoon when Blake told me that the vandal was Misty.
    “Thank you so much Henry,” her mom said in deep gratitude.
    “We are beyond grateful for this Henry,” her father added.
    “You’re welcome. I should get going,” I said, looking at my time on my phone.
    “Let me drive you home,” her mom offered.
    “Thank you ma’am, I have to turn down that offer.”
A car pulling up in the front yard would most certainly alert my father, thus putting me in trouble. He didn’t want to agree to me going home on my own as it was late, but I insisted on going home my own.
    ****************
    Sneaking back into the house wasn’t that hard of a task. I was able to climb the tree closest to my room with no complications. I only had a few hours to sleep that night, so I didn’t bother to change into my pajamas.