TO LIGHT MY FIRE

ELEVEN

‘So she just cut open my neck?’

‘Yes.’

‘I was dead?’

‘Yes.’

‘And then her neck was sliced open… by thin air?’

‘Yes.’

‘And Parker.’

‘OZ.’

‘Oh right, and Oz’s eyes turned blue?’

‘Yes.’

‘How is my neck not looking like an accordion right now?’

Cassi tried to piece together last night while scarfing down a cheeseburger. Each time I explained what happened the more she would examine the situation like trying to dissect a frog and naming each organ. Anatomy was her favourite.

‘Are you ‘special’ too? Did she try to tear open your throat?’ She distastefully reminisced her experience of dying.

‘I have no clue if I am, but no she didn’t touch me. She was dead remember?’ We got up from our seats in the cafeteria and walked out to the courtyard which was less crowded.

The autumn air felt cool against my face. Dry leaves crunched under our feet as we walked around campus.

St. Anne’s was a decent sized school. It was a modern monumental building which you would’ve mistaken for a church if there wasn’t a school sign on the front lawn.

Peterland’s part of Gauteng was surrounded by nothing but humongous trees and the Atlantic Ocean.

You would have to walk a few blocks from our school just to see a Burger King.

I make sure I tell Cassi everything that happened because not only was she there and needed to know but she was also my best friend.

She knew everything that has happened to me since we met in first grade.

The one minor detail I left out about my life was the intense dreams about the hooded figure.

They’ve been getting more vivid since the night of the concert in Grammy’s car, however the stranger’s face is still covered.

‘He said something weird about ‘our history’,’ we walked back into the school.

Every girl was either running to class or skipping because the bell for the last period was about to ring.

Cassi gave me a sceptical look. ‘Do you think that includes how his death was staged?’

‘Most likely, but according to him, whatever he is, you are, and what I am goes back to the 1600’s. Luckily, I have a head start because Mr Collins wanted to teach about history today.’

I walked on the lines in the hallway connecting my ugly Doc Martens heel - to -toe. My focus was on the floor and the farther I walked the dirty white tile became covered with more little red puddles.

‘Holy Hell,’ Cassi whispered and put her arm in front of me to keep me from walking.

‘What?’ I annoyingly glanced at Cassi and saw her mouth agape in horror.

‘What?’ I repeated and she didn’t answer. I regretted following her gaze because what I saw was not what you would expect to see in a Catholic High School. Or anywhere.

I was so struck that my bones felt so cemented together that I couldn’t even lift my foot to scurry away.

Almost 100 fee3t away crouched Bridget, my second worst enemy after Amelia. I could recognize that greasy high ponytail from anywhere. Only it was covered in something thick like wine. She was in a corner between the science Lab door and a locker with her face in something.

Cassi and I both stood frozen too scared to even breathe because of the body we saw under her.

Bridget’s head whipped up and her mouth was filled with the tongue of a snake. It dripped the cherry coloured blood of one the sleepers who was in Trig with me. Annabelle.

Rrrrinnng!

‘There goes the bell,’ Cassi said under her breath trying her to run as far away from the situation.

Bridget’s uniform was smothered with her victim’s blood. Our classmate killed our classmate.

She opened her eyes and it was like I was staring into the face of the devil.

Her entire pupil was a mixture of dark black and grey. It was like trying to piece something together. At least that’s what it seemed since I couldn’t even blink.

Bridget’s eyes swirled back into her green ones and she continued to stare at us. She couldn’t have been looking at someone else since we were the only ones in the hallway.

‘You can see me?’ She started to get up and we inched back which she saw. She let go of Annabelle’s collar and let her pale body drop to the floor.

‘You guys can see me, can’t you?’ She repeated and smeared her blood coated face with her sleeve as she continued to walk towards us.

‘Stay back,’ I finally said but I still couldn’t bring myself to move.

‘I would’ve never guessed the Jesus Squad,’ she wiped the rest of her face with a tissue she pulled out from somewhere.

‘I believe I owe Rinny twenty bucks,’ she smirked.