"Wait! Come back!"

Lori wasn't listening. The lockers and classrooms passed down either side of her in a continuous blur. She ran away from the office, back into the interior of the school. Behind her, she heard the rapid footsteps of her 'visitors'

Suddenly the footsteps were drowned out by the ringing of the school bell. Lunch was over, and crowds of students began pouring back into the hallways. Teachers opened their doors, and one nearly caught Lori in the face.

"Watch OUT!" shouted Mr. Mitchel. He caught her by the arm as she sped past... his fingers digging painfully into her bicep. "Hey, No running in the hall!"

"Hold that child!" the someone yelled. He was a lot closer than Lori thought, and the men that had come with him weren't far behind.

"What? what's going on?" Mr. Mitchel's grip tightened.

"Let me GO! They're CRAZY!"

"We just want to talk to you, Lori."

A knot of students began to congeal around them.

"...what's going on..."

"... it's that witch, Lori..."

"... about TIME somebody called the police..."

"Mr. Mitchel PLEASE!"

"Now hold on, let's see what this is abo-"

Lori twisted around and kicked Mr. Mitchel in the groin.

"OOOP!!"

He released her, and she pushed through the crowd, knocking more than a few people down as she did so.

"STOP HER!" someone shouted.

Hands grasped at her... her arms... her hair.

"LET ME GO!"

Strengthened by desperation, Lori began kicking and scratching her way through her fellow students. The majority of them parted and let her pass. They had gathered to watch a show, not to participate in a capture or get within touching distance of the yucky witch-slut-girl. But there were a few that reached out to block her path.

"OWW!" one of them yelled after getting a face-full of Lori's fingernails. "SHE SCRATCHED ME!"

"She's a DEMON!"

"Get her!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"Lori Zaslow, Stop Right There!" The voice of the principal was lost in the murmuring crowd of students.

Lori got through and ran down the hall. There were more people behind her than before... teachers... even the principal were giving chase. She rounded another corner and nearly ran into a man that had been running the opposite direction.

"HOLD, DEMON!" the man clutched his bible to his chest and pointed at Lori as if casting a spell on her. "I the name of the Lord, I bind thee!"

Something deep within Lori wanted to laugh, but she didn't have the time or the energy.

She tried to run around the man, but he grabbed her hair and yanked her backwards.

"AIIIIGH!!!" Lori screamed at the top of her lungs. "RAPE! HELP!!!"

There were other students in the hall, but none of them helped. They just stood and watched... like sheep.

The stranger threw one arm across her chest and clamped his hand over her mouth. Lori stomped on his feet, but the man only squeezed harder. She stomped harder.

"Our Father," started the man. "Who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name-"

"THERE SHE IS!" shouted someone behind them. The crowd of strangers and teachers, lead by that principal, came barreling towards them.

Lori felt the fear well up inside her. She didn't know why she was afraid, but she was. She was terrified. Somehow she KNEW these people wanted to do her harm. Frank knew it too Lori wanted to cry out, but she couldn't.

She screamed anyway... in her mind.

LET ME GOOOO!

"AAAAGH!" Her captor released her and grabbed his temples as if he were suffering from a sudden migraine. The color drained out of his face, and staggered backwards, looking as if he were about to collapse from the pain.

"Leave me alone!!" Lori shouted. She had no idea what was wrong with the man, but she wasn't going to stick around and ask.

Lori ran straight for the large double doors at the end of the hall.

"SHE DID SOMETHING TO MY HEAD!" shouted the man that had held her. He stumbled after her.

"Stop right there!" someone else shouted.

"She's getting away!"

"GET her!"

Lori burst into the school's courtyard, where the four wings of the school met at a central, open area. Directly across from her was another hallway. She headed for it, but the doors suddenly swung open and a man walked out.

He was a old man, short with snow white hair. His white shirt was starched and ironed with meticulous care, and then tucked hastily into his black slacks. In one hand he held a huge, leather-bound bible with a gold cross embossed on the cover. A cross of similar size hung by a gold chain from his neck. The man's wrinkled face was turned up in a warm smile as he faced Lori, his blue eyes almost twinkled.

Reverend Jericho.

"Hello, Lori," he said. His voice was soft and lyrical, like a song... a hymn. "Come to me, child, so that the Lord can help you."

"SCREW YOU!"

Lori ran into one of the other halls.

"Come back, child," called Jericho.

Lori heard the others following behind her, and in front of her, teachers were ushering students out of the hall and into the classrooms. Everyone turned to look at her, but by the time she had taken four steps the hallway was deserted.

"HELP!" she yelled.

Halfway down the hall, a door opened and someone walked out. It was Mr. Holms, Lori's math teacher.

"Mr. Holmes, HELP ME!"

"We won't hurt you, Lori," he said as he walked towards her.

"NO!"

More people entered the hall behind her... she was trapped. There was another exit ahead at the end of the hallway, but she couldn't reach it without getting past Mr. Holmes.

Lori's heart thumped painfully in her chest.

"You're trapped girl," said a voice behind her. She turned slowly around and saw them... four people were between her and the far end of the hall.

They were all there: the policeman... the man with the bleeding hand.... the few teachers that had joined in the chase... even the principal. Everyone except Reverend Jericho. Where was he?

"Just come with us, Lori."

"No!"

"We don't want to hurt you... but you've got a problem and we can help you."

"You... you chased me..."

"Because you ran. The Lord loves you, Lori..." the policeman began to move forward.

"I'm NOT evil! I'm not a monster!"

"Shhh.... we know you don't think so, Lori. But you need help. We're just here to help you."

"FRANK! FRANK HELP ME!"

The crowd began to back away, mumbling to themselves. The cop kept coming, however.

"Get away from me! Frank's gonna HURT you!"

The cop hesitated. He began looking around, and then he smiled.

"See? We have nothing to fear from you... and you have nothing to fear from us-"

Suddenly it got very cold.

The florescent lights began to buzz and flicker. off-on... off-on...

"What's going on?"

"Go get Reverend Jericho!" someone shouted.

With a series of loud POPS, the ceiling-mounted lights burst one by one, leaving Lori and the Congregation in a darkened hallway. There was nothing but shadows...Lori... the others... and one shadow that wasn't there before.

"RUN LORI!" It was Frank's voice... but it was *real,* not just in Lori's head.

The new shadow leapt at Mr. Holmes. Screaming in fear, the math teacher went down, with Frank on top of him. A fist rose and fell, and someone grunted in pain. Several of the others backed away, and several more ran forward to help. While they wrestled on the floor, Lori ran past them. She hit the double doors running full speed, praying that they weren't locked.

They weren't.

She burst through them and out into the schoolyard. Without bothering to look behind her, she raced across the street and headed for home.

---

With the school far behind her, Lori made her way toward home. The apartment complex wasn't far... less than a twenty minute walk under ideal circumstances. But Lori's progress was considerably slower. Lori shied away from the sidewalks. Instead she kept to the wooded areas just off of the main streets. Roots, rocks, and deep holes grabbed at her feet with almost every step she made. She took more than a few nasty falls, but still managed to make progress. Whenever she was forced to cross a parking lot or a gas station, she paused for several minutes to make sure the way was clear. In most cases it was, but she DID catch a glimpse of some suspicious looking people standing in the Waffle House parking lot. They weren't the same people from the school, but the appeared to be looking for someone and that was enough for Lori. She ducked back into the woods and took the long way around the restaurant.

Occasionally the woods got too thick or frightening, and Lori ventured out into the open for a while. These times were the worst. She eyed everything with suspicion... every car on the road, every person on the street. Even the police car in the Dunkin-Donuts parking lot made Lori's heart beat loudly. Everyone was in on it... she didn't know who to trust. She had to get home, where it was safe.

And then what? Hide out there forever? She certainly couldn't go back to school... they all thought she was a Sovereign. But she WASN'T... was she? Could it be possible? She certainly didn't FEEL like a monster...

Lori pushed the thought out of her mind and continued on her trek. About a half-hour after she had left the school, Lori came to a gas station with a set of payphones on the side of the building. No one was using them, and if she stood just right she wouldn't be clearly visible from the street.

Lori waited.

Patrons went in and out... a few used the phones or had quick conversations at the pumps, but no one stayed more than a few minutes. It was safe.

Lori crept out of the bushes. She straightened up and brushed the leaves and dirt off of her clothes, then walked calmly over to he phones. She had two dimes in her pocket. She slipped one into the slot and dialed her home number.

"Come on mom..."

It was busy.

"Shit!"

Lori weighed her options... she could stay here and keep trying, or move on. This place LOOKED safe, but would it remain that way? After all, she was a girl... alone and disheveled, looking very much like a runaway. Even if the Congregation DIDN'T find her, she was in just as much danger from some of the other people who might come across her.

"Five minutes," she said. "I'll wait five minutes."

She tried the number every minute, with the same result. After each attempt, she would peer around the corner of the building and look out at the parking lot. Toward the end of the five minutes, the gas station started getting a little too busy for Lori's comfort. She didn't recognize any faces or cars... but that just made her more nervous.

"Anyone could be in on this... the whole town could be looking for me!"

Lori crept back into the wooded area beside the gas station and waited. Home was only a few minutes away. Maybe. But she was tired, and the longer she was out walking around, the more likely she was to be spotted. Then there was her mother... was she sober? Could she drive well enough to come and pick her up without killing them both? Was she even on the phone or had she knocked if off the hook accidentally?

Lori sat down on the ground.

"I'm not a monster. I'm not."

The more Lori tried NOT to conclude that she was a Sovereign, the more her thoughts turned to Frank Waid. He was real... He had rescued her twice already. And yet he was dead. A ghost.

Or was he?

Ghosts didn't *attack* people, did they? Not physically... not the way Frank had at the school. And what about the lights? Could ghosts do that? Lori remembered a TV show where a group of scientists went into a haunted house with all sorts of recording equipment. They caught voices and strange images on tape... which meant their equipment had *kept working* throughout the appearance of the spirits. The lights didn't pop. The recorders didn't smoke and burn out. That didn't fit with what Lori had seen. When Frank appeared, he destroyed *evereything.*

So maybe Frank wasn't a ghost... but what else could he be? He was invisible. Intangible. He left cold spots wherever he went. How else could he do that unless...

"Oh, my God..." Lori gasped. "Oh, God... I'm not a Sovereign... FRANK IS!"

 

[To Be Continued]