Death Whispers (Death Series, Book 1) (15 page)

sighs
Yeah,
I was afraid you'd say that-
CH

She
and Brett were actually friends a couple of years ago. I guess his
dick-headed-ness is a more recent development-
CH

Huh...
really?
John Terran

Yeah,
I guess his dad makes her dad look normal-
CH

No,
profanity block!
John
Terran

Yeah,
no
profanity block!
CH

Well,
I guess, we'll just have to tone Jonesy down as much as possible just
in case he gets out of control-
CH

laughs
okay
Caleb, good luck with that-
John
Terran

Hey,
where is Jonesy? I haven't heard from him-
CH

He
got his
profanity
block!
busted over homework and can't pulse-
John
Terran.

How
do you know if he can't pulse?
CH

Because
I pulsed him and his mom answered-
John
Terran

ouch
well
that blows.-
CH

Yeah-
John
Terran

Okay,
see ya tomorrow-
CH

K,
see ya-
John
Terran

I
touched my pad and
thought
:
sleep.

It powered down instantly. I looked at my
suspended monitor, as slim as my pulse and the glowing numbers stared
back at me, ten-forty four.

As if by magic, Mom hollered up the stairs,
“Caleb! Bed!”

“
K!”
I hollered back.
In
the morning it was
school
,
at night it was
bed
.
I rolled over on my back, realizing that my clothes were on.

I
undressed quickly and threw the whole lot on the floor. I looked down
at them and shrugged, picked them up and made a tight ball, making a
basket into my dirty laundry hamper, thinking, have I ever used that?
I didn't know. I flopped back down on my bed and grabbed my book. I
liked to read before I fell asleep. Not the lame stuff the school
assigned but cool authors, like Stephen King. Now that was a tight
author. I began reading and didn't think about the other stuff until
the next day at school where I was reminded by a surprise source.

Did
I say I liked surprises?

CHAPTER 12

Something
was... something was wet. Gross! I lifted my head off the pillow and
I swear, there was the Lake Erie of drool. I did an abbreviated
push-up and hopped out of bed, swaying a little as the blood rushed
to my head. I surveyed the mess, looking for some clothes. I glanced
at the alarm and my hand flashed out and flat palmed it just before
it went off. Couldn't believe I had not slept past the alarm. I dug
around in the clothes pile on the floor and leaned over the laundry
hamper and looked in at last night's clothes that were in there. Huh,
I grunted to myself, Jade would certainly notice if I wore the same
thing two days in a row.

Dejected, I stalked out of the room in nothing but
boxers. I thudded down the stairs where I encountered Mom, leaning
with one hand against the counter top and the other holding a
steaming cup of java.

“Hey now, you look a little rough.” She
smiled. I thought that was rich coming from her, miss queen-o'-beauty
and light in the morning. I threw her a sullen look and made my
unsteady way to the laundry room. Mom followed.

“Caleb,
don't go back there and start rifling around, foraging for clean
clothes. If you'd actually wash some, this would not be an issue.”

I ignored that and plowed forward. There, in a dim
little corner were all the mismatched clothes. I rifled through the
whole thing and got a vintage AC/DC T-shirt that was littered with
the fine holes on the bottom (a theme with my shirts), and threw that
on.

Mom put out her hand and quietly said, “Maybe a
shower would liven you up.”

I
scowled harder, then a vision of Jade popped into my head. She showed
up smelling like a vanilla bean and I was there smelling like...
like... a kid that woke up in a pool of drool. Life just seemed
complicated now. Where were the days when you could just
be?
I grabbed some mismatched socks, the last pair of boxer
briefs
,
no
free-ballin' for me and took off for the shower.

I took an extra-long time in the shower and even
cleaned my feet. Feeling super spiffy and primed I glanced in the
mirror. It was fogged up so swiped it with my arm. I searched
carefully for signs of my impending manhood. Seeing nothing (I think
I had, like, three armpit hairs), I left the steam pit of a bathroom.

I sat down in front of a fried egg sandwich. “Huh,
what gives?” I asked Mom.

“I thought you could use a little pick-me-up.”

For today she was absolved of her sins.

Dad strolled in. “Hey Pal.”

“Hey.”

“You showered!”

I scowled, showering was an event that warranted
comment?

Parents.

“Caleb, I was thinking that we try some
experimentation in the cemetery, in a controlled atmosphere, one in
which there isn't a charged, emotional dynamic.”

Dad looked at my expression.

“
Don't
worry about how
you
do, son. It's about gaining some control over this ability.”

I wondered if having the Js with me would make it
easier or harder? I deliberated. I decided it would be easier with
the Js than without. After all, it had been them from the beginning
of this whole mess.

Mom put her hands on hips encased in pajamas, her
favorite outfit, and added, “I want to be included too. The Js get
to go.”

Sliding onto the bench beside me, she gave me a
level stare.

“I read most of the papers that John gave me.”
I told her. “The main scientist, Daniels-something...”

“Byron, Byron Daniels,” Dad interjected.

“Yeah. He said that if there were another
Parker, that the kid would be limited to what certain groups
wanted.”

Mom
sent Dad the
oh
shit
look and he gave a minute shake of his head,
later.

“You know this Dr. Daniels?” I asked Dad.

“
I
know
of
him. He works in related fields.”

I looked at the clock and stood up, Mom gave me a
hug.

“I haven't died mom,” I said, pulling away.

“I understand,” she commented, “but
sometimes moms just want to squeeze their boys.”

“I know,” I said and took off for the door,
whipping my hair out of my face. I turned and walked out the door,
jerking my backpack off the chair as I went. I stuffed my feet into
my shoes, closing the door behind me. I was looking forward to
another day with Jade and my best jamming day of the week. Little did
I know that the day would start off weird and just get stranger as it
wore on.

****

The
school commons was in the center of a humungous room with circular
tables. Lockers flanked the entire room and bled down into the halls
leading to our classes. Eighth graders had the commons lockers and
the sixth and seventh (sevies) graders dealt with the jostling
hallway. We all hung out in the commons and stalked each other's
activities. I had time before Morginstern's class and could hang with
the Js before and if I was really lucky, Jade.

I spotted Jonesy right away, his dark face a
chocolate dot in the crowd. He raised a finger in salute and looking
around I didn't see John or Jade. Sucked.

Jonesy wore that expectant expression I knew so
well. “Hey man, what's up?”

“I heard you got nailed for skipping homework.”

“Yeah, I had to make up, like, ten CE's.”

My
mouth hung open. “My parents would've
executed
me for that many missing current events.”

Jonesy looked down and shuffled his feet, then
looked up with a sheepish expression. “Yeah, no pulse for now...”

“No pulse?”

Incredible.

“
Yeah,
but my mom knows I am going to hang with you all day Sunday so I
either didn't do that,” NOT an option for The Instigator to
be
absent, “
or
no pulse for a week.” Spreading his hands out,
sacrifices
must be made for the greater good.

Right. “Well,” I clapped him on the back,
“thanks for that.”

“No problem.”

Carson and Brett strolled by. Carson paused and
said, “Hey Queers, how's it hangin'?”

Brett looked at Carson, and said, “Dumb question
Carson, that's all they know, how each other is hangin'.” They
laughed at their brilliance.

Jonesy gave me that knowing smile. I was tired of
them. I hoped Jonesy got them good. Jade appeared, making a wide
berth around the chumps. She put her small hand in my bigger one,
turning to look (contemptuous expression) at Carson and Brett who
were unsuccessfully containing their glee.

I
was distracted. Jade did actually smell like a vanilla bean. Then
Brett interrupted my sniffing.

“Not exciting enough for ya? Gotta use Jade as a
cover?”

“A cover for what?” she asked.

“
Their
fagness
,
obviously,” Carson claimed.

Jade did a smooth roll-her-eyes up in her
beautiful head look.

Girls were uniquely talented in the rolling eyes
department.

“
I'm
not a cover for anything. By the way: listen up, dumb asses, haven't
you figured out that you guys aren't important enough
to
worry about covering for?” she said, hands on hips, head tilted,
that hot considering look painted on her face.

Nice...
feisty! Suddenly, Brett was standing not two inches from Jade's nose
and she stepped back.

“Hey!” I yelled, shoving Jade behind me.

Brett
was in
my
face now (that was just fine), poking his finger in my chest. We
stood eye to eye, that small growth spurt putting me right where I
needed to be.

“Keep
your slut in line there, pal, or I will.”

I
grabbed his finger and twisted it while I said, “She isn't a slut,
mouth-breather,” and gave him a hard shove.

He stumbled into Carson but rebounded fast,
coming for me. Things slowed down. Feeling Jade's presence at my
back, I got ready to abuse and then Carson said, “Cool it Brett,
Morginstern's coming.”

“What's going on here young men and woman?” he
nodded at Jade, including her in his political correctness. My heart
was still hammering in my chest with the post adrenalin surge.

Brett and Carson wore sullen expressions, which
didn't faze Morginstern one bit.

“John told me you were having an issue out here
and may be late to class. You know that I frown on the first period
'slouch'.” A dissatisfied furrow formed between his eyes.

Huh, clever-John had been cookin' up a way to get
us out of this little disaster. Nice.

“I
wasn't trying to be late, honest. I got distracted by Carson and
Brett's interesting dialogue.” I threw a glance their way, digging
their identical expressions of confused dumbness. Jade smirked. She
was definitely getting it.

Morginstern folded his arms across his chest and
stared at us.

Pointing
a finger at Jade, then Carson and Brett, “You go
now
to your respective classes.” He watched them walk away and I saw
Jade turn around to look back at me. I smiled back.

Morginstern
gave his attention to Jonesy and me. “I think I caught sight of a
skunk and smelled a skunk so there must
be
a skunk.” I had heard that before from Gramps
.
It
was time to purposely misunderstand the expression.