My head cracked against the ground. Pain raced across the back of my skill. The whole world turned white for a second and then my vision returned. Just in time for me to see Allan pulling his arm back, hand curled into a fist. I bucked underneath him, threw him off balance. But as he tumbled off of me, Winston grabbed me under the armpits and pulled me up. Next thing I knew, I was being carried away to an alley between the chain link fence around the teachers’ parking lot and the Baptist church. I flailed in Winston’s grip, kicking and screaming and throwing my elbows back in a vain attempt to get free.
I was thrown against the wall of the church. The rough brick cut across my elbow as I staggered to the ground. I pushed myself up, only to get shoved back down. Their kicks came in quick succession. I tried curling up into a ball to protect my head and torso, but they deliberately kicked at my arms and legs to keep them apart.
Pain erupted in multiple places; my stomach, my ribs, my shoulder, my face. I heard a snap. A scream tore out of my throat. My knee felt like it had been crushed. Then I took someone’s boot to the mouth. My scream was abruptly cut off.
Chapter 14
Charles
I was playing video games when the vision came.
Our underground apartment melted away to reveal an alley by the college. I saw the teachers’ parking lot and the familiar Baptist church. For a second, I thought this was the unofficial home of a vagrant or a junkie that was about to overdose. What I saw was so much worse. A group of faceless teenagers were pounding the shit out of someone who was curled up on the ground. Someone with red-orange hair.
I felt sick to my stomach. “No.”
She covered her face with her hands, one of which sported a crooked finger. Someone kicked her so hard in the side that she twisted violently away. I glimpsed her profile then. It was bloody, swollen, and torn up, but I knew it was Esmer.
Not her, was all I could think as the ground tilted beneath my feet. Please, not her.
I slapped both hands against my cheeks and even pinched my still-mending nose. I felt the pain but I stayed trapped in this gut-wrenching nightmare. This nightmare that wasn’t just a bad dream but was happening in real time.
Esmer was dying.
I stumbled back, suddenly weak in the knees.
Esmer was dying and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
“Uncle Vic!” I shouted so loudly that my throat hurt. “Uncle Vic, if you can hear me, send an ambulance to the school. Esmer’s dying in an alley right by the teachers’ parking lot. We have to do something now!”
Breathing heavily, I grabbed handfuls of my hair and just stared down at her. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so helpless, so frustrated, so desperate.
Esmer’s attempts to protect herself were growing weaker and weaker by the second, but her vicious attackers didn’t seem to be letting up.
“Stop. Goddammit, stop!” I sprinted forward, reaching out to drag them away from her. My hands went right through their shoulders. I punched and shoved and screamed, but the horrible scene dragged on.
“You can’t die. You can’t.” My nose was running. My face was wet. My chest hurt. I collapsed where I stood, inches away from the relentless kicking and stomping feet separating me from my only friend in the world.
Then the scene faded to black.
I sat up. “Esmer!”
“You’re all right, Charlie,” my uncle said, barely glancing in my direction. “Just breathe. We’re on our way.”
We were in his cruiser. I was strapped to the passenger’s seat. He was weaving through traffic like a bat out of hell. The siren was blaring but Uncle Vic still honked his horn a few times when stupid drivers refused to get out of his way. It was pouring rain outside.
“You...heard me.” I placed a hand against my sternum, felt my heart acting as a battering ram against my chest. My mouth was dry, my throat stinging with every swallow.
“It was kind of hard not to,” my uncle said with a nervous chuckle. “You were screaming and thrashing around just as much as Jasmine was. I’ve never seen you do that while in a trance before.”
I ran a hand down my face multiple times to get rid of the sweat and tears. I still saw Esmer when I closed my eyes; curled up on the ground, grimacing through the blood, suffering in silence.
“How far away are we?” I asked, looking for landmarks through the sheets of rain.
“Maybe two minutes.” My uncle sped through a red light and made a sharp left turn.
The seatbelt locked around me, cutting into my neck. I hardly noticed. Because the college was up ahead. An ambulance was already there. With the help of its flashing lights, I saw people in navy blue uniforms taking a stretcher out of the back.
The cop cruiser skidded to a halt by the sidewalk, spraying dirty street water everywhere. I was out of the car before it came to a complete stop. I slipped but caught myself, continuing in my mad dash to get to Esmer. I was soaked in seconds. Mud coated my sneakers and the bottom inch or so of my jeans.
A male EMT held up his hands to stop me but I barreled past him.
“SPD!” Uncle Victor hollered somewhere behind me. “Let him through!”
I slid to a stop beside the four EMTs working to stabilize Esmer. The damage looked so much worse than it had in my vision. Maybe it was because she wasn’t moving or because the blood was
