And Ruin Followed Behind Her

Chapter 9-1

Chapter 9

The next morning, I decided to call off work. I got precious few sick days a year as a teacher, but I just couldn’t imagine sitting in class again today, watching Duncan stare at me like a coyote eyeing his prey. The thought made me violently ill. It also made me violent.

Of course, that’s exactly what Duncan wanted. He wanted me to call off, shirk my duties, and get fired. This kind of disgusting tactic was popular with awful racists who wanted to push forward their horrible agendas at the expense of people like me.

More than that, I had a special power that scared them. I could disappear like magic. If they didn’t like me before I showed freakish power, they surely hated me now.

The white van was idling across the street. I could see it from my bedroom window as I rifled through my things and found my ratty, purple backpack from high school. I put on my darkest hoodie and blackest slacks and stuffed my bleached hair into a beanie before I made my way downstairs.

“Mama!” I shouted, rushing down the stairs.

She turned from the front window. “Did you know there’s a white van across the street with some white men in it?”

“Yes, Mama. I know.”

“And why is my favorite couch pushed up against the door like there’s a tornado coming?”

“Because there is,” I replied, solemnly. “Don’t go outside today, okay? Lock all the doors and windows. They aren’t after you. They want me.”

“Damned fool, just like your father. You know, there was a big ole white van like that when he up and vanished too.”

I sighed. “He didn’t vanish, Mama. He was abducted.”

“Oh yes he did vanish. Don’t you forget that. Right after a white van like that followed him around for days.”

I kissed her on the forehead. “That’s not gonna happen to me.”

“That’s what he said, too.”

I grabbed the Pixie Dust book from the broken coffee table and stuffed it into my old backpack. Its edges bulged out as I struggled to zip it up. “Promise me you aren’t gonna leave until I get back, okay?”

She stared at me, steely eyed. “And what if you don’t come back, what then?”

“I’ll be back,” I told her with all the confidence I could muster, which wasn’t much.

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