Chapter 26

The first opportunity I had to talk to Gem, I asked for a private meeting. She couldn't straight away, but after a promised five minutes that ended up being half an hour, we met in my bedroom. I explained what had happened with Dr Barn and the love that Laura was showing and my desire to come clean. I also mentioned my fears about Eve and my thoughts that if we convinced Laura, she could decide what to do with Eve.

Stephanie and family talk of her dating and some more bonding with the women of her family.

Chapter 25

The rest of the day was partially planned. Eve had managed to shift her schedule so that we could still do the singing lessons and gym, even if I was at school. Eve had her lesson or practice session, starting at three and mine was at four pm. Jane was due to start the personal training at five. In the meantime, I had to make some choices as to what to study. Eve and Laura were going to call some friends and see if they had any recommendations regarding therapists.

Chapter 24

It was just me and Eve going. Eve decided the car journey was the perfect opportunity to discuss what she knew about the school. She had only moved in the last couple of years, so she wasn't a long term resident and could only report what her school contacts had told her. The school was a public school, but it was catering to a very rich area with extremely wealthy contributors. The teachers were said to be first class and the facilities excellent.

Chapter 23 Sophia's POV

Chapter 22 Agent Atworth's POV

I entered the directors office clutching the file that I had been given three hours ago. He indicated for me to take a seat.

“Well, what do you think?” He asked me.

“It's incredible.” I replied.

“What are your conclusions?” He prompted.

“That we may have an UE inhabiting a human body. The evidence is all circumstantial, but it is all pointing in that direction.” I suggested.

If
I opened the SUV's door a wave of heat rolled out, imediately causing my shirt to wilt and stick to my chest. Quickly sliding into the bucket seat, I stabbed the keys into the ignition to start the engine and the air conditioning. Why didn't I use the remote start, I asked my self, that's why it's there.
I had to drive to a remote spot by 12PM. Otherwise the little voices will be gone. This spot was deep in the woods, the only access was down an old logging road.
********************************************

The prior Wednesday my mother told me that she had made an appointment with a counselor for Friday afternoon, and she handed me a note to give the school excusing me from my afternoon classes.

As I left for school on Friday morning, she said, “The appointment is for 1:30, so try to be home by 1:00.”

My friends were interested in what this was all about, but I had absolutely no clue. “My mother made the appointment but didn’t tell me anything,” I explained.

“Look, if when you get wherever you’re going, and you see men in white coats with a straight jacket, run like hell,” Joe suggested.

My second big mistake was going to school in a skirt the first day after coming back from hospital with a broken bone. It was stupid but it was so much easier a way to deal with the cast.

Of course my first big mistake was to break my leg. I’d have liked to say that I was a victim of unfortunate circumstances or I that I had done something heroic. The simple truth was that I had tried to do something really stupid. I failed. It hurt.

Jimmy Warren trudged down the street with his hands forlornly thrust into his pockets. The eighth grader was lost in his muddled thoughts of only seven months more of middle school hell. Then there would be four years of high school hell. Maybe, if he survived, college would at least be tolerable. The week before Halloween chill wind whipped and swirled the brown dead leaves willi-nilli across the sidewalks and streets. As usual the backpack he carried was filled with books and weighed nearly half his scrawny seventy five pound weight. The added weight hunched his undersized four feet eight inch frame forward making it look like he was fighting hurricane force winds rather then normal fall zephers.

Unfortunately the day had been normal for the smallest boy in his class. Twice Gary Newhouse slammed him into the lockers as they passed from class to class while his stooge Will Kilmer knocked his books and notebooks from his arm immediately followed by crony Jeff Gray kicking them down the crowded hall. In phys-ed they took every opportunity to trip and jeer at him. No matter how hard he tried to avoid the six feet two inch two hundred twenty five pound fifteen year old the bully still unerringly sought him out.

HUGS!
Shauna

Lupita watches Black Wolf as he teaches Haloke to ride a horse. It has been a total of five months since Haloke came into their life. She has managed to figure out most of what has happened to herself. Haloke, on the other hand, was still a mystery. They had gone into Rapid City to see if Haloke was listed as a missing child, but there was no record.

Chapter 17 Sophia's POV

I hadn't been waiting long before Laura came and got me. Instead of going straight out, she took me back to her bedroom and through to one of two walk in robes. Laura already didn't look like Laura. I guess she was wearing a wig, changed her makeup and her clothes to dull herself down. She had gone from movie star glamorous to attractive housewife. Part of it may even have been how she was now moving. Still feminine and graceful, but somehow different.

Chapter 16

I had another bad night. I don't really remember what I am dreaming, just wake up terrified. I usually wake to the sound of my own scream. I am shaking and crying and I don't even recall what has made me so scared. In the end, I can't get back to sleep, so even though it is the middle of the night I tried to get up.

Chapter 15 Sophia's POV

I woke up with Gem spooning me comfortingly. I had another wake in the middle of the night screaming episodes. Gem had done a wonderful job of calming me down, but she needed her sleep and it wasn't fair for me to keep interrupting it. I was thinking of offering to sleep on the sofa, but the flat was so small, I would only be a couple of metres away and I'm sure you would need to be in another country to not hear my screams.

*Before…

It’s doing all this stuff and having a few more drinks as we’re doing it and talking and it’s Terri’s turn as she talks about some cool people she met and that a couple were girls and that mixed in her head with what I was going through and doing and she figured out that she’s… “Maybe Bi or like Pan or whatever.”

After things are done we’re having another round of drinks then grandma says.

“Why don’t you go and change so we can spend time with Robin?”

I swallow my tea and schnapps. “Are you sure?”

I look at her and Mom and then Dad and Grandpa and they’re all nodding and Terri smiles at me. “C’mon Robin let’s go and get you changed.”

*And Now…

Chapter 14

Singing? As Dillan I had never liked my voice, so sang as little as possible. The only singing I had done as Sophia was to a few songs in the car with Gem. “Err...only in the car.” I replied.

“What was the last song you sang?” She asked me.

I blushed since it was one of her songs and for some reason that made me feel embarrassed. “Gratitude.”

She laughed. “Come with me.” She jumped off the couch again and headed off at a fast pace. I don't think she knows how to do anything with less than full energy.

I glared at him when he called me "our little princess."

 
Bian -26-
Hero of the Zero
 
by Erin Halfelven