Haunted

Chapter 11 §

Zach came bounding up the stairs, eyes wide and hair disheveled. He got there just in time to catch me as my knees buckled. He stumbled a little as I landed in his arms.

"Mak? Wha-what happened?" I opened my mouth to explain, but clamped it shut almost immediately, remembering the warning in the note. "Um-uh, nothing." My voice trembled. "I just-I thought I saw...a bug. Yeah, a bug." I mentally kicked myself at the stupid response.

"So you screamed?" I struggled to right myself. My legs were shaking. My whole body was shaking. "It just caught me off guard, that's all."

Zach looked bewildered as he helped me stand. "You collapsed."
"I started feeling faint."
"It scared you that bad?" I gave him a look.
"Oh, right. I almost forgot."

-----

Age 15
Zach and I pushed our way through the crowd of people outside the cafeteria, just trying to get inside. This was a usual thing; there was another door, but everyone tries to cram in one door. Zach likes to joke about it all the time, saying things like, "Let's play how many people can we cram into a door! Ooh, I think I just trampled someone! Bonus!" Or, "Don't they know what a line is? Or do they just like running over people?"

We immediately got into line. After everyone else pushed their way in, the line would probably be wrapping half way around the cafeteria. Luckily, Zach and I were one of the first people there.

Once we got our lunch, we sat at our usual table, in the back. We had a few minutes to ourselves before random kids were forced to sit with us, due to the lack of room in the cafeteria.

Suddenly, something on the wall caught my eye. A dark spot, crawling to the floor, towards me. A cockroach.

"Ah!" I ended up practically in Zach's lap, knocking his and my food everywhere. I pointed and screamed, "Kill it! Kill it! KILL IT!"

Zach looked around, obviously very confused. "Kill what?"
"THE ROACH!" Zach looked down and spotted the ugly thing. "Oh-"

I guess my fit disturbed the horrid beast, because it took to the air in a flash of wings-straight towards my face.

Horrified, I screamed and flipped off Zach, onto the ground. The roach flew past me, out the still-open doors.

Face flushed and heart pounding, I stood up slowly, and found the entire cafeteria frozen, staring at me. Zach's hands were extended, as if he wanted to help, but he, too, was frozen. A few girls nearby looked a little panicked by the roach, but everyone else was just shocked by the scene.

One girl had dropped her tray, but made no move to pick it up. Instead she just stared. A few boys were snickering a few tables down.

Humiliated, I sunk down and hid under the table.

-----

I grabbed Zach's hand. "C'mon, I'll make you some breakfast." He followed willingly, thankfully letting the subject drop.

Zach refused to let me make breakfast. Though he's not the best cook, he tried making me some scrambled eggs. Needless to say, he handed me a plate of burnt eggs with a sheepish grin on his face.

I laughed and took the plate from him. Before I could start eating, he kissed me on the cheek and thrust a small box into my hand.
"Happy Birthday, Mak."