“Holy—” I jumped back, flinging my hands over my mouth. The telescope was in front of me. My skin was humming. Snowy mountains and trees were everywhere. I was back at Star Grove. I wasn’t lying on the ground, passed out. I was on my feet. What the heck had happened?
I glanced around. Hadn’t anyone noticed my disappearance? It didn’t look like. Everyone seemed content in their little groups, working away on the assignment. Alex was still standing right behind me just like he had before I’d…I have no idea how to finish that sentence.
Alex stared at me strangely as he cocked an eyebrow. “You okay?”
Aislin was looking at me weirdly too. But neither of them appeared to be alarmed or completely freaked out, which seemed odd since I’d just disappeared for who knows how long. Or had I? Maybe I’d hallucinated or something. Perhaps I’d dazed off. God, it didn’t feel like it wasn‘t real, though. It had felt very real. Too real. Like I’d seen it before. Lived it before. Maybe I had. The mother had called the little girl Gemma. Maybe the little girl was me. But if that were true, then why had I called the woman, who I was certain wasn’t Sophia, mama. My mother had died when I was one, and the little girl had to be at least four.
Confusion swarmed my brain. I started to sweat and blood roared at my ears. Tears stung at my eyes, and I had to remind myself to breath.
“I have to go,” I whispered, making to move around Alex.
He stepped in front of me and held up his hand. “Go where?”
“I…To the bus.” I made another attempt to sidestep around him.
He mimicked my move at lightning speed, blocking me and stopping me dead in my tracks. “You can’t just go wandering off. We’re out in the middle of a forest.” His bright green eyes were filled with concern. It was weird. Why did he care? In fact, hadn’t he been the one to drive me up into the middle of the forest just a few days ago.
Despite my efforts not to, I started to cry, tears rolling down my ice-cold cheeks.
Alex’s eyes widened. “Are you…are you crying?”
“Um...Oh just shut up.” And then I dashed past him, my shoulder slamming into his.
“Gemma wait,” Alex yelled after me.
But I kept running, not thinking about the consequences of what I was about to do as I headed straight for the bus.
Chapter 12
I found the bus door cracked open—thank goodness—leaving it easy to open. The bus driver was MIA and the lights were off. With tears streaming down my face, I dropped down in the seat Alex and I had rode up in. I hugged my legs against my chest, and cried in the dark in typical Gemma style—all alone.
What was happening to me? Was I heading towards an emotional breakdown? Was I going to end up locked away in a padded cell somewhere, screaming at the top of my lungs that everything I said was true—that I wasn’t crazy?
Was I crazy, though? Was any of what was going on actually real? Or was my mind pushing on the boarders of sanity, conjuring up a fictional world?
Absentmindedly, I touched the pocket of my jeans where the list of dates rested. I pulled off my glove and reached in, the edges of paper grazing my skin as I took it out. Letters forming my name and the dates stared back at me.
It was real.
Tears raindropped down from my eyes and splattered against the paper, bleeding the red ink. Everything was so complicated. I desperately wished I could just piece it all together.
Through my blurry veil of tears, I thought I saw a flash of yellow just outside my window. With my heart thumping wildly, I leaned in for a closer look and saw a tall, dark figure zipping through the pine trees at an inhuman speed, heading directly for the bus. I’d almost forgotten about the monster. How could I have been so stupid? Again. I needed to get off the bus. Right now. Before it was too late.
I leapt out of my seat, preparing to make a mad dash back to the telescopes where I could be safe. At least for the moment, anyway. But electricity spun through my body, and I hit a dead halt.
Alex was making his way slowly up the aisle. “What the heck are you doing out here?”
“Nothing.” The word rushed out. I shot a glance at the window. The tall, dark figure was gone.
He stopped just short of me, his eyes as round as two golf balls. “You’ve been crying.”
“So.” I stuffed the list into the pocket of my coat and wiped the tears off of my cheeks. “People cry all the time.”
“Yeah, but only when something horrible or sad happens to them.” He paused, looking out the window, then back at me. “Did something horrible or sad happen to you?”
I shook my head, afraid to speak. Afraid my voice would give away my lie.
He nodded at the window. “What were you looking at out there?”
“I was looking at…the stars.” It sounded more like a question than an answer.
He cocked his head to the side, his forehead creasing over with worry lines. “But weren’t you just looking at the stars through a telescope. Right before you ran off in a mad craze.”
I glared at him. Insulting me was not a good idea right now.
His expression softened a little. “Gemma there’s obviously something bothering you, so tell me what it is please.”
I think it was the first time I’d ever heard him use the word please. Still, it didn’t mean I was going to break down and tell him all my secrets. Not with the risk of looking like a total lunatic. “There is nothing bothering me so, if you don’t mind, I think I’m going to get back to the class.”
I marched forward, but his hands came down on the back of the seats, keeping me from going any farther. I backed up, trying to widen the distance between us, but he matched my steps, narrowing it right back.
I tried not to freak out about the fact that I was being cornered like a cat. “Look, I don’t think—” My back hit the back door.
He stopped just inches short of me and reached for my face. I flinched as he wiped away stray tear rolling down my cheek. His fingers tingled against my skin, making me feel lightheaded and dizzy, and I had to grab hold of a nearby seat just to keep from falling over.