Read Online The Bodies We Wear by Jeyn Roberts - Free Book Online Page B

of them slips into my mouth, coating my throat. I begin to choke, unable to fight against the darkness that tears its way into my chest.
    Another pole pierces my stomach. I can feel the blood pouring out of my body, dripping along my legs and pooling in my shoes. My hands are covered with the stuff and I start pressing the elevator buttons in panic, but my fingers only manage to leave behind sticky prints and accomplish nothing else.
    The walls break away, opening up to complete darkness. I’m not falling but I’m not moving either. I curl up the best I can with the metal rods piercing me, trying to make myself as small as possible. Blood drips away from my body into nothingness.
    Then in the distance I see my father. He looks the way he did the day they led him away to prison. He’s tied to a cross and bleeding everywhere. His eyes roll around in his skull until he’s looking right at me. His mouth opens but no sound comes out.
    I try to scream but just like him, my own voice has been stolen.
    The shadows dance around me, whipping my body with their darkened arms and scaly tails. They cover me completely until there is nothing.
    “You’re a pretty little piece of sunshine,” something whispers in my right ear. “I’m going to swallow your soul and devour you for all eternity.”
    I open my mouth and try to scream again. Scream forever because no one is going to hear me.

    “What the hell?”
    I open my eyes and discover I’m back at my desk and everyone is turned around and watching me. My mouth is open and although I’m quiet at the moment, I’m pretty sure I was screaming a few seconds ago. The look on everyone’s faces confirms it.
    “Faye?” Mr. Erikson is looking at me. The book is still in his hands but he’s forgotten it’s there.
    “I’m sorry,” I say. “I was up all night. Not sleeping well.”
    There are several snickers and whispers.
    “Please see me after class, Faye,” Mr. Erikson says. He turns his attention back to the rest of the class. It takes a few minutes but eventually the students turn around in their seats and I’m temporarily forgotten.

    The bell rings and of course there are stragglers, kids taking their dear sweet time at their desks because they’re dying to overhear my talk with Mr. Erikson. But he shoos them away, telling them to get the hell out of his class. For a teacher, sometimes he’s kinda cool.
    I stay at my desk with my books piled neatly in front of me. I don’t want to be here but he’s standing between me and the door and I can’t get past him without confrontation. So I wait, hoping he might forget about me, but of course he doesn’t.
    “Is everything okay, Faye?” Mr. Erikson closes the door and comes over to sit down at the desk beside me.
    “Yes,” I say. “Just having some bad dreams.”
    “Anything you want to talk about?”
    I shake my head.
    “Only natural considering the hell you’ve been through.”
    No pun intended. There’s no way he could possibly know that I didn’t visit heaven when I died.
    “You know, I don’t care much for the way things have gone for you,” he continues. “I’m not really in a position to criticize, but I know your records and I know what you’ve been through. The way they treat people like you is abysmal. They never really give you a chance to recover. I wish I could say we’ve grown into a more cultured society but we haven’t. We’ll forgive a mother who drowns her children but we won’t forgive a young girl who had no choice in becoming an addict.”
    I look at him in surprise. What he’s saying is very unpopular. He could get fired for even suggesting that the school is treating me poorly. He knows it too. He’s giving me power over him. I could turn around and report him. Of course, he’s probably counting on the fact that they probably wouldn’t believe me.
    “I had a younger brother who died of a Heam overdose,” he says. “He was an addict and he died. It’s amazing how simple I