The Loneliest Caster

Chapter 5

Amanda has put her headphones in and continues her edits to ensure her paper is perfect for the newspaper. She has had 3 deadlines she’s passed because it just wasn’t good enough for her own standards. The lead in the newspaper editing class said this was it, she would be prying the paper out of Amanda’s hands tomorrow. So here she is yet again at the library editing little things here and there. She rubs her temples and closes her eyes, she groans as flashes of scenes bounce around behind her eyelids: Stacey looking at her phone, Stacey shaking with unfounded anger, Stacey walking back outside to the course. Amanda takes deep deliberate breaths, it’s not real, this isn’t happening. Amanda tries to desperately leave these visions and bring herself back to the paper in front of her. She grips the pencil in her right hand then runs her hand over the corners of the paper and yelps as a paper cut slices through her index finger. She brings it to her mouth and snaps her eyes open no longer looking at Stacey. She lets a sigh of relief leave her body as clarity finally finds her. She shakes her head, as if she could shake the visions away, and turns the music up on her phone blocking out any other distractions as she continues to make edits. Her heart begins to race and she stops to place a hand over it. She grunts in frustration and grabs her head in-between her hands. She runs her fingers into her hair and grips the roots slightly pulling in frustration. She slams her eyes closed and scrunches so hard that she begins to see stars behind her lids. This is not real, I can’t see Stacey when she is away from me, I can’t feel her emotions, I am not crazy and I need to get a grip on myself! Amanda tries to will her heart to beat to her own body instead of Stacey’s.

Amanda hasn’t had visions like this since she was young, since before she even met Stacey. Miss Betty told her she can’t tell anyone, including Stacey, or they would think she was crazy. They wouldn’t understand she said. But something has changed this year, as soon as Stacey made the realization that she does like James, these visions have been popping through. It’s just the stress from this stupid paper I just HAD to do. It’s a tall order to pick a research subject, complete it, and present it all in 2 semesters your freshman year of college. She hasn’t gone to Miss Betty yet, but if they get any worse she’s going to have no choice. She doesn’t want to worry Miss Betty with this nonsense along with all the stress she has with having so many kids. No, she’ll push through this on her own. Amanda saves her file on the computer and pulls the usb drive out and begins to clean up. No point in continuing this madness when the newspaper is happy with the way it is. Amanda quickly slips out of the library avoiding any teachers that would most certainly want a quick chat about her paper. She is just throwing her bag into the car when she cries out at the pain in her head. She grabs her head and throws herself into the car and slams the car door closed.

“FINE!” she says to no one through her teeth. She lays her head back, takes a deep breath, and closes her eyes letting all of her resistance fall away. She grips the steering wheel as her stomach turns as colors swirl and whip past her as if she was traveling through a colorful tunnel at a high speed. Finally she comes to still on the ground beside the obstacle course. She looks around until she finds Stacey once again running through the course.

“Great! I’m here watching her work out, like a CRAZY person!” Amanda says to herself. Stacey finds herself in front of the walls once again. Stacey takes off and begins to hurtle herself over each one, each higher than the last. Amanda finds herself standing beside the last one. “It’s too tall, there is no way you can get over that jumping alone!” Amanda says to no one getting nervous the closer Stacey gets to her. Then Amanda notices something odd, there is a slight glow around Stacey, her green eyes seem to shine a little brighter. “Stacey… don’t.” Amanda starts to worry that Stacey isn’t going to stop. Stacey drops from the second to last wall and takes off running straight toward Amanda. Amanda gasps as Stacey rocks to her toes, squats, then throws herself into a jump. But something about this jump seems different. Amanda watches as Stacey clearly makes it all the way to the top without touching the two stacked walls at all. Stacey plants her left hand on the top of the wall and swings her body over the top of it. She falls on the other side of it with a triumphant smile.

“Yes! I did it!” Stacey yells and throws her hands in the air. But then looks down in confusion, she’s landed in mud. “MARK YOU JERK!” Stacey yells out to no one. Stacey twists and pulls but her weight after the fall has pushed her ankle deep in the mud and she can’t get out. Amanda goes to laugh and then stops as a movement catches her eye. The wall is swaying, and the more Amanda looks the more horrified she becomes. The middle part where Mark has stacked the two walls is starting to crack. He must not have double checked his work thinking Stacey would never get over it. She did throw her entire weight against it earlier and must have loosened it. Amanda turns to Stacey and screams trying to get her to turn around and look, but Stacey can’t hear her. Amanda watches in horror as the walls tumble over and land on Stacey, pushing her face first into the mud.

Stacey’s whole body explodes into pain. She wants to open her mouth to scream, but her head is under mud. The wall is heavy and digging into the entire back of her body, including the back of her head. She uses all of her strength and lifts her head above the mud opening her mouth and taking a deep breath. But immediately her neck begins to shake at the amount of strength she’s using just to lift her head. She’s fatigued from running the course twice now and the amount of energy it took to get over this last hurdle. She has to lower her head again, but she needs air. Stacey slowly begins to move her arms together and cup her hands to allow her face into them. She screams as she rakes her arms against the wood and splinters embed into them. Finally she’s able to get her hands into position and she slowly lowers her head and places her face into her cupped hands. She takes a few breaths and her lunges protest screaming for fresh air. What do I do? WHAT DO I DO? HELP! Stacey beings to panic as the pain from the heavy wall continues to bite into her entire body. She can’t leave this earth like this, face down in mud. She takes a few deep long breaths, ignoring the strain on her lungs. She starts to count and willing her heart to slow itself. Mark will be home soon and he will be able to move this wall and let her out. Tears start to fall as a small voice points out he will gone for a few hours. She needs fresh air and pulls her strength to lift her head giving her lungs the air they desperately need. She fills her lungs inhaling deep as tears continue to fall down her face at the pain. Her neck again begins to shake and with agony she slowly lowers her head back to her hands.

Stacey doesn’t know how long she repeated this painful process, how long she was stuck under the wall. But suddenly she hears squealing tires closer than she could ever pray for. A door slams shut and then Amanda’s voice rings out screaming Stacey’s name. Stacey’s tears fall harder as relief shivers down her spine with rescue just moments away.

“Stacey! O my God! Hold on, hold on I can’t lift this all the way I’m gonna have to use something to lift it off,” Amanda says frantic. The scene is ten times more gruesome than what she saw back at the school. She’s surprised she didn’t get a ticket as she sped through town and on the dirt roads to get here. She called Mark telling him she had a bad feeling and that he needed to get home ASAP. Tears start to prick at her eyes as she searches for anything that can help. She should have just told him the truth, maybe he would be trying to get here faster if he understood how urgent the issue was. But she was too scared that he wouldn’t believe her thinking she had taken something or was drunk. She finds a couple of brinks and stacks them on top of each other. Then she grabs a long piece of wood making a lever to try to lift the wall.

“Stacey I’m going to try to lift it. I know everything hurts but I don’t have enough strength to get it completely off. You’ll need to scoot through the mud to get out,” Stacey makes a noise confirming she understands. Amanda wedges the piece of wood under the pallets and with a lot of effort is able to get it up on the bricks. Then she takes her entire body and lies on the other side. She almost lets the tears fall when the wall lifts a few feet in the air. Stacey lifts her head and gasps taking in the clean air. She pulls herself on to her hands and knees then painfully slow crawls out from under the pallets. Just as she gets out and lies down on the sweet soft grass, more squealing indicates that Mark has made it home.