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“HEY!”
At first, the voice doesn’t register. Not when I’m literally being choked to death by an invisible force—just like the people in my comics.
It’s not until he appears out of nowhere—like Superman dropping down on the fight—and shoves Mikey away from me so hard Mikey actually almost goes down, that everything seems to just….
Stop.
The mean words.
The sloshing inside me.
The angry crash of waves surrounding me.
It all just stops…
And I gasp.
CHAPTER FIVE
This stinks donkey butt.
With a huff, I hike up my backpack and keep walking, trying to ignore the way my belly gets all twisty and gurgly with each new step.
I reach down and click the button on my new MP3 player—a gift from Mr. Gavin and Mrs. Linda—hooked over my belt to restart the song, then turn up the volume as high as it’ll go.
Momma hates it when I do this, but how else can I get the music in me, like the guy singing says, if I can still hear my thoughts?
Plus, it’s not like she’s here—she’s still in the car, watching me from down the block, making sure I don’t get lost or kidnapped or something.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to walk you in?” she’d asked when I climbed out.
To which I told her, “No,” and slammed the door.
I’m still mad at her, and she knows it.
This is all her fault.
A car whooshes by, and I feel the change in the air more than I actually hear it, just like the stinky-smelling buses that have been passing me by, shaking the ground.
With the music now blasting in my ears, I can almost pretend they’re not even there, like nothing else exists but the sidewalk and the way my steps thump-thump, thump-thump.
Hands squeezed around the straps of my backpack, I tap my fingers. Nod my head. Mouth the words I know, and make up the ones I don’t.
It’s still my favorite song, even if it makes me think of the rainy day Dad drove away. But it’s the one I would always play when I needed to be invisible, like when Momma would put me in my room and slide my headphones over my ears, so I wouldn’t hear them fightin’ down the hall.
If I can’t hear, maybe they can’t see me, maybe it’ll all go away…
I nod to myself, and walk a little faster, imagining my super-speed kickin’ in too.
In and out. Stealth mode. Got it.
The shadows pressing down on me seem to grow thicker, and a glance up shows I’ve reached the school. My steps slow when I see the crowd of kids standing around outside, past the criss-crosses of the chain link fence boxing in the schoolyard, and something icky rises in my throat.
I don’t wanna do this.
I was supposed to start school last week, just like everyone else. But then our basement got flooded two days before school started with smelly poo water, and we had to move in with Mrs. Linda and Mr. Gavin until it could be fixed and cleaned up.
Most of my nicer clothes—my school clothes—were still boxed up where the water came in, ’cause Momma’s been so busy workin’ her new job waitressin’ at the diner. So she held me back a week in order to get what she could cleaned and aired out.
