Thieves

Chapter Four - Zoe

Life goes on. So did ours. It felt like months ago Dad left. Daniel and I went to school, did our homework, ate at the right time, slept properly - if we didn't got interrupted by nightmares - and laughed with our friends. I didn't feel happy at any moment, though. Everything felt so faked, so unimportant.

Of course I didn't tell anyone. Daniel had his own problems, Mom was at the edge of depression, and I didn't really trust my friends. I just went along with them, smiled at the right time, laughed at the right time, said the right things. Everything not to get attention. Because I didn't care about my social life my grades were getting ridiculously high. I studied all day long. I was becoming the class nerd, but I didn't really care about it. I didn't really care about anything, actually. I just wanted to lay down in my bed and sleep for a very long time.

That morning, at the ten o'clock break, I heard some insurgence on the school square. A bunch of people were standing around some figures. We walked towards the situation. I heard a girl screaming in a high-pitched voice.

The world suddenly turned upside down and around. I guess I was very dizzy - like the not-being-able-to-walk-kind-of-dizzy. Black spots appeared and dissapeared in front of me and I felt like I had to throw up. I slammed my hands onto the ground and tried not to fall down, but it was so hard and it looked like the universe was going to sway me into itself, helpless floating without any control of direction. I didn't know what was going on. I heard my friend's voices talking to me, trying to get to me, but I couldn't understand them, I just cried and begged for help and tried not to fall and dissapear in space, because the sky seemed to has become the ground.

As fast at is has come, it dissapeared. I felt normal again, heard myself breathing heavily, in and out, searching for air. My hands were still slammed on the ground as if nailed, and I tried to focus on the moment here and now. I saw my friend's faces above me. I breathed deeply and stood up, reordering my bag and clothes. My friends all grabbed my arm, my head, and it was choking me, all their voices-

''Ell, you alright?''

''What happened?''

''Are you okay?''

''Do you want to go home?''

''Ella do you hear me?''

I pushed them all away, shrieking ''LET GO OF ME!'' and running inside of the school.

When I'd calmed myself down, drunk some water and removed some dust from my clothes, I tried to reorder my mind. Now this was a good start of the school week, my goodness. I still didn't know what was going on with the screaming girl, too. What just happened? I just got very dizzy, and the world seemed to had turned upside-down, and I gave up trying to figure out what possibly could have happened. It seemed too unlogical to tell anyone. Nobody should've seen it, except for my ''friends'', who I could fob off with a little lie. I walked back to my friends. The break was almost over. Of course I got a lot of questions, but I managed to come up with something that made a little sense. I saw this black-haired girl at the opposite of the hall looking at me curiously. I sent her a little look back, before returning into the conversation. Her eyes followed my all day, though.

When I said goodbye to everyone and walked home she finally walked over to me. 'Hey, who are you?' I asked her. She didn't say anything. Her face didn't express a single emotion. I vaguely  had the feeling I knew her. Finally she said 'Follow me.'She turned around and walked away, clearly in the assuption that I would follow her without doubts. But I wasn't that dumb. She could be a serial killer. I cleared my throat.

'Why should I go with you, again?' I asked in the sharpest voice I dared to use.

She sighed, frowned, looked away and then looked back. 'Just trust me,' she then said. Dander started to spread trough my veins. 'Why should I?' I asked in a higher voice than I wanted. 'I don't even know you.'

She frowned again, shoved me against a wall, and put her hands onto her thighs. 'Will you just shut up now, please?' she said, her voice dangerously calm. 'I want to tell you something but it's not gonna work if you're not going to listen to me.'

I put my hands onto my thighs, too. 'Why would I-' I started, but she interrupted me and said 'OH, SHUT UP!' She grabbed my arm. I felt her nails on my skin. She pulled me with her, with a surprisingly strong arm, and I resisted as much as I could but she eventually took me with her. In a little alley, she started saying something. 'I know who you are. I've been watching you for days. When I finally tried to talk to you, they stopped me , because I'm not at your school.' A memory of a high-pitched scream, surrounded by figures who were clearly trying to get her, a black-haired girl at the edge of my field of vision. 'They're trying to poison you. It's part of the experiment. That's why you were so dizzy this morning. It's part of the pre-effects. Don't accept anything from anyone, even your friends or family. The poison might kill you.'

'Even if all of this is true,' I said, which I doubted seriously, 'Why would you care if I died? You don't even know me.'

She grabbed my arm again, stronger this time. It kinda hurt. 'Don't you ever listen? Come out of your grey, sad world. Your father is gone, there's nobody left to love, I'm so miserable. Shut. Up. You'll have to pay attention to life again, if you want to survive this whole bloody experiment.'

Her words shut me up. I couldn't say a word. I was totally bewildered. I could get killed? But this was just an innocent experiment, right? There would be no harm to anybody? I shaked my head in disbelief. 'Can't be,' I whispered, and because I wasn't sure if the girl heard me, I said 'Can't be.' in a louder voice. 'Believe it,' the girl said in a soft voice. 'How sooner you'll understand it, how better it is. For everyone.'

I frowned and tried to get away. She wouldn't let me. I pushed harder, even scratched her arm. 'LET ME GO!' I cried, and again I thought of the girl on the square, to which the girl who was talking to me right now reminded me of strongly, which was pointless, because I didn't know both of them. She finally let me go, and I just stood there, surprised and amazed, and she told me to run away. Except one thing.  She grabbed my hand, opened it, and put a little note in it. Tears welled up in my eyes now, for no particular reason.

She looked at me, a sad look. She then walked away. I opened the note. It said only two words:

''It's Zoe.''

[A/N: you guys I'm sorry, I promised this chapter would be longer, but I don't really feel like making this any bigger. Just going to start a new chapter now.]