Comfortable Madness First PDF 4-13-18

Faces
Faces melted. Jaw lines narrowed and stretched. Teeth
grew pointed and yellow. Eyes dropped into dark wells and
foreheads grew into bony, ridged Neanderthal domes. I stood in the
hall and watched, and the faces watched me. I stood in the hall
waiting for someone, something to come out of the dusty light to
eat my heart. Jaundiced strips waved in tatters, like bits of flesh
pulled free of bone.
Getting through the day was an impossible job.
When the bell rang, it rang forever. Walls buzzed, and
doors slammed. I was alone. I stood, frozen, scared, locked in
place. I could not run or hide. These monsters knew how to hunt
me.
Mr. Skarey found me. He said something, my name maybe,
a spell to tear out my throat. He came, and he put his face into
mine. He smelled of coffee and donuts. His eyes rolled free of each
other. This was it. I was dying.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Somehow the words slithered through the panic. His words
made sense but still all I could do was shudder. When he put his
hand on my shoulder I screamed, and he jumped, and we circled
each other, feral and fierce.
Things changed again. The voices told me to hide. The
voices told me to get out of the building. I felt sick. I tried to run,
but Mr. Skarey was faster than me.
“Stop,” he said. “Just stop. Please.”
I found a window. It refused to open. It refused to move out
of my way. A chair waited for me in the corner and I swung like a
stick at Mr. Skarey. I swung it like a weapon at the window. These
were super windows. They did not break. They just rattled and
stood between me and life. I swung and swung and swung and then
someone took me down. Someone grabbed my wrists and sat on my
back.