Invisible Killer

Chapter 6

The next morning, Rachelle's alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. She turned her alarm off and immediately woke up to an itchy and burning sensation. She scratched the spot at the back of her legs and shrugged her shoulders, thinking that it was nothing to worry about. She left the spot alone and continued to get dressed for the day.
She put her bra and shirt on and proceeded to pull on her jeans. She was easily able to pull her pants until they met her thighs. When she reached her thighs, her pants suddenly stopped. They weren't able to move anymore. She tried as hard as she could to pull them up to her waist, but they weren't budging at all. "What in the world is going on?" she questioned to herself in shaky confusion. "Why can't I pull up my pants?" With her hand, she rubbed the back of her thighs. The minute that her palm touched the skin, she suddenly hesitated. "They feel warm...and swollen..."
Holding up her pants with one hand, she scampered her way to her full-length mirror. She turned sideways to make the back of her thighs be visible in the glass. The minute that she saw that they were inflamed, she became terrified.
"Ahhh!" she screamed with a high-pitched screech. Her father heard the scream from the living room. He immediately rushed up to Rachelle's bedroom and kicked the door open.
"What's wrong, baby Ray?" he hesitated with heavy breathing.
Rachelle flashed her head towards her father. She began to breathe heavily. "Daddy...poison ivy...reaction," she hesitated.
"What?"
"Rash...itchy...red...swollen...inflamed..." Her dad's eyes bulged up, and his mouth dropped open. "My thighs are so swollen that I can't even put my pants on."
Mr. Truman saw how bad Rachelle's thighs were and became flabbergasted. "Sweetie, get in the car! We have to go!" he called to his wife downstairs. He stepped into Rachelle's bathroom, grabbed her robe, and tossed it to her.
"What's going on?" asked Mrs. Truman when she approached the doorway to Rachelle's bedroom.
"Rachelle's having an allergic reaction to poison ivy. We have to get her to the emergency room, now," informed her husband as he helped Rachelle put her robe on.
Rachelle tied her robe on, her dad threw her arm around his neck, and carried out to the car in his arms. He opened the back door to the car and helped Rachelle lay down in the back seat.
As soon as they arrived at the hospital, Mr. Truman carried Rachelle into the emergency room. They walked in, and Rachelle's mom spoke to Nurse Andrea at the front desk. "We need to see the docut or immediately," she demanded.
"Okay, may I ask what the 'emergency' is about?" asked Nurse Andrea.
"My daughter is having an allergic reaction to poison ivy. Her thighs are so swollen that she can barely walk. We need to see the doctor, now!"
Nurse Andrea looked into Dr. Baxter's schedule on her computer. "Okay...come on back...," she requested. She pressed the button on her desk to open the door. The Truman's walked through the door to the infirmary, and Nurse Allison directed them to an available bed.
They arrived at the bed, and Rachelle's dad gently laid her down on the bed. Nurse Allison rummaged through a drawer next to the bed and pulled out a clean hospital gown. "We're going to need you to change into this gown, so that we can wash your clothes in order to keep the reaction from spreading," she informed as she handed it to Rachelle. Rachelle grabbed the gown and changed in privacy while her parents waited outside the curtain. It didn't take long for Rachelle to change. As soon as she was in the hospital gown, she pulled the curtain back and let her parents renter.
A few minutes later, Rachelle's doctor entered the curtain to check on her. "So...back again?" asked Dr. Baxter slightly hysterical.
"Yes sir," answered Rachelle, chuckling with a guilty conscience.
"Okay...so tell me Miss Rachelle, what brings you in this time?"
"I'm having an allergic reaction to poison ivy."
"Okay. When did you begin to notice that you having an allergic reaction?" asked Dr. Baxter.
"I woke up about an hour or go to intense itching on my legs. I thought that it wasn't serious, so I went on to getting ready for school. As I was pulling my pants on, the brim quickly stopped moving once it reached the back of my knees. I looked in the mirror and realized that I somehow got into poison ivy," explained Rachelle.
"Okay, do you happen to know how you may have gotten into the poison ivy?"
"I may have landed in it when I got slammed into a tree from the bowling ball incident."
Dr. Baxter nodded his head to understand Rachelle's statement. "Well let's have a look, shall we?" Rachelle stood up from the bed. "I'm going to need you to lay on your stomach so I can have a good look."
Rachelle slowly laid on the bed, on her stomach, with her head at the foot of the bed and her feet at the pillow. Dr. Baxter laid a towel over the top half of Rachelle's body and gently moved the bottom of her gown up in order to see the poison ivy reaction on the back of her thighs.
"They are definitely swollen," he informed as he gently rubbed the skin. "Are you able to feel my hands?"
"No sir. I can't feel my thighs, period," answered Rachelle.
"Well you do have some red patches leading into a rash, and you're thighs are definitely inflamed."
"Great..."
"Now..." Dr. Baxter removed his plastic gloves and moved to where he was looking at Rachelle in the eyes. "Here's the thing: I strongly recommend that you do not scratch the rashes. The reason why is because you have some blisters along the rashes. If you were t o scratch those blisters, then they will begin to leak fluid and eventually crust over which will become very painful for you later on. In order to relieve the itching, I will do two things. First, I'm going to prescribe you a corticosteroid cream that you'll apply to the infected areas twice a day as needed. Then, I recommend that you get a Calamine lotion and apply it after the cream. When you get home, I suggest that you take a cold shower with a mixture of baking soda and water applied to the rashes. As for right now, I'm going to have Nurse Allison come in and wash those rashes. She will use lukewarm water and mild soap. It may sting, but it will begin the process of keeping the reaction from spreading."
"Yes sir," muttered Rachelle, nodding her head to understand his orders.
"Have a good day!" He smiled, patted Rachelle on the arm, and left the room. A few minutes later, Nurse Allison entered the room to clean Rachelle's rashes.
As soon as the nurse finished cleaning Rachelle's thighs, Nurse Allison gathered up her supplies and left the room. Rachelle was able to change back into her clean clothes, and her and her parents were able to leave. They climbed into their vehicle and left the hospital back to the house. When they arrived home, Rachelle entered the bathroom in order to take a shower with the mixture of baking soda and water like the doctor said. After her shower was over, she walked into her bedroom and became startled to see Ryan sitting on her bed.
"Ryan? What are you doing here?" she hesitated as she tied her robe in a knot. She sat down next to him, and they began to talk.
"I was going to walk to school with you, but I saw that you weren't home," answered Ryan.
"Yeah...my parents and I had to run an errand."
"Was that errand to the hospital?"
"What? No..." Rachelle began to feel guilty. "What makes you think that?"
"Rachelle, you're still wearing that orange paper band around your right wrist," Ryan pointed to Rachelle's wrist.
"This was from when I had that concussion."
Ryan held up the orange strip from Rachelle's wrist. "Rachelle, this one says, 'concussion,' on it. Where did that one come from?" He was not fooling around.
"It's my new piece of jewelry."
"Oh really? Can I see a closer look?"
Rachelle snatched her arm out of Ryan's possession. "No, you'll ruin it!"
"Rachelle, this conversation will be ruined if you don't cooperate."
"Why are you acting like my father?"
"Rachelle Lynn, don't make me pin you down."
"You wouldn't..." Rachelle hissed through her clenched teeth as she squinted her eyes. Ryan gave her an evil grin and moved a little closer to her.
Rachelle instantly became worried as her heart began to beat faster. She tried to make a run for it until Ryan grabbed her around the waist and threw her on his lap sideways. Her head was on Ryan's left side, and he wrapped his left arm around her chest. He threw his left leg over her to keep her down, pulled her right arm outward, and tore the bracelet off of her wrist. After he grabbed the bracelet, he threw Rachelle to the floor.
"Was that really necessary?" hissed Rachelle.
"Yep, because I got what I wanted," Ryan smarted off as he waved the paper strip in his hand. Rachelle rolled her eyes and climbed back up on the bed.
Ryan looked at the bracelet and immediately became flabbergasted. "Poison Ivy reaction?" he grunted. Rachelle became even more guilty as she looked off into the distance. "What's the meaning of this?"
"It's nothing," muttered Rachelle.
"Rachelle, this isn't just 'nothing'. You had an allergic reaction! How did this happen?"
"I woke up this morning to an itchy situation. I thought that it was no thing, so I carried on with my day. I tried to pout my pants on when they couldn't move anymore because my thighs were apparently swollen. I looked in the mirror, knew that I was having an allergic reaction, and was rushed to the emergency room. They prescribed me some anti-itch cream, a nurse had to wash my thighs, and I had to take a specialized shower when I got home."
"Is that why you smell like baking soda and water?" asked Ryan as he smelled Rachelle's neck.
"Yes."
"Well, why didn't you call us?"
"Because I didn't want y'all to worry about me."
"Rachelle, it's our job to worry. We're your best friends. Someone is after you, and we need to find out who it is. When we worry, it helps us concentrate to dig down deeper into the case. We will find the one responsible."
Rachelle threw her head down and sighed in misery. Ryan moved closer to comfort her. "Come here...," he mumbled as he held out his arms.
Rachelle leaned into his arms and laid her head on his shoulder. "It'll be okay...I promise," said Ryan. Rachelle displayed a half smile of trust. They hugged for a few seconds until Ryan pushed Rachelle away. "Well time to head to school..."
Rachelle rose from her bed and squatted down to pick up her bag. "Oh I see where the reaction was," said Ryan.
Rachelle looked behind her, quickly got slightly embarrassed, and frantically stood back up. "That was my underwear...," she corrected him. As soon as they were all situated, they walked out the front door and headed for school.
They arrived at school and began to approach the front doors. They starated to walk through the doors until Rachelle suddenly stopped. Ryan became worried and went back for her. "What's wrong?" he asked when he caught up to her.
"I can't go back in there," Rachelle huffed with nervousness.
"Rachelle, it's okay..." Ryan held out his hand before her possession. "There's nothing to be afraid of."
"No! Last time that I was in there, somebody attempted to shoot me." Rachelle began to weep as tears started to fill in her eyes. "They're not going to want me back in there!" She started to shake her head. "I'm sorry! I can't do it!"
Rachelle began to walk away until Ryan grabbed her arm. "Rachelle?..." Rachelle turned around. "You can and you will."
"But..."
Ryan held out his hand and smiled. "Don't you trust me?" he encouraged.
Rachelle half smiled and took Ryan's hand. He slowly led her into the school building. As soon as they walked through the front door, everybody immediately stared at them with dead looks. Rachelle reluctantly clenched her arms around Ryan's arm. They began to walk down the main hallway until Ryan informed Rachelle that he needed to use the restroom. He left Rachelle and entered the boys restroom. Rachelle approached her locker and began to grab her books. She closed her locker, turned around, and bumped into Kevin Howard. He was up in her personal space with his arms up to the lockers.
"Why did you come back? You nearly killed us all," he grunted.
"Did you think that I wanted to come back?" Rachelle hissed with guilt.
"Well you sure did have the nerve to walk through that door and act like you own the place."
"Oh and you do?"
"At least that I don't need a pity boy to protect me."
"He's not protecting me!! He's helping me. I know how to defend myself," grunted Rachelle.
"You do?" Kevin sarcastically remarked.
"Of course!" She kneed Kevin in the crotch with devious anger. Kevin fell to his knees from the pain in his groin. Rachelle then kicked him in the face which caused him to hit the opposite wall. She walked over to him and lifted up her foot to stomp on him.
Before she could hit him, Kevin grabbed her foot and swung her around. He then threw her back towards the lockers. Her back hit the lockers, and she slid down to the floor. Kevin stood up from the floor and began to approach towards Rachelle. When Ryan walked out of the bathroom, he entered the hallway and saw the fighting.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" he demanded as he ran towards Kevin. When Ryan got close enough to him, Kevin slammed him into the fire extinguisher. Ryan hit his head into the case and fell unconscious.
"Ryan!" cried Rachelle.
"Sure he's not protecting you," Kevin sarcastically smarted off. Rachelle suddenly became furious. She stood up from the floor and head-butted him into the wall. Kevin fell to the floor completely unconscious. Rachelle left Kevin and ran over to Ryan to check on him.
"Ryan?" she mumbled for his attention. Ryan slowly opened his eyes to see Rachelle looking down on him. Rachelle softly smiled with relief and helped Ryan back onto his feet. Ryan was able to stand up when he was full conscious again.
Seconds later, Troy and Lyndsay randomly entered the conversation. "Rachelle! Ryan!" called Lyndsay as her and Troy approached them. "We have some news."
"What's up?" wondered Rachelle.
"That bowling ball that gave you a concussion?"
"Yeah?"
"I tried to retrieve some fingerprints on it, and there were absolutely no sets of prints located anywhere on the ball."
"What?" Rachelle reluctantly freaked out. "What do you mean that there weren't any fingerprints on the bowling ball?"
"How can that be?" asked Ryan.
"Well...," began Lyndsay. "The simplest, yet only, explanation that I can give you is that the perpetrator wore gloves when they threw it at you."
"Well that officially gets us nowhere," moaned Rachelle.
"So what did we do now?" wondered Ryan.
"The only thing that we can do is to go down to the local bowling alley and see if the owner knows anything," replied Lyndsay.
"Then let's go!" suggested Troy. Him and his friends walked out the front doors and climbed into the truck. Once they attached their seatbelts, the gang headed into town.