Lori spent the rest of the evening musing over the days events, and trying not to cry. Ghosts and religious weirdos were one thing, but rape? Why was all this happening? Was there something wrong with her... was she being punished for something?

Maybe God was pissed off at her for some reason. But why? Her mother? Was she being punished because of her mother? From what Lori remembered about the Bible, God seemed to do a lot of that kind of thing.

For the first time since she'd 'spoken' to him, Lori wished that Frank Waid was there. The ghost didn't answer Lori's calls, nor could she feel his chilling presence anywhere in the house. Just before falling asleep, Lori wrestled with the though of calling her best friend Deborah. She decided against it. For the first half of the night, Lori's dreams were a vivid, undulating tapestry of vengeful spirits and evil, bible-quoting beasts. She woke up just short of screaming, and then, once her mind had settled down, she stared at the ceiling until she drifted off once more.

She awoke grudgingly the next morning. She showered, got dressed and fixed herself a bowl of cereal. As she ate, her mother trudged out of the bedroom and glared at her. Lori paused as foreign thoughts slid into her mind amid the taste of Froot Loops and the smell of her mother's perfume.

<<What the hell is she doing up?>>

"It's Tuesday, mom," said Lori. "School?"

"No way."

<<Not with that nutcase running around. >>

"Paul's in the hospital, remember?"

"What? Yeah."

<<There's something wrong with this conversation... but I can't figure out what it is. Did I SAY anything about Paul...?>>

With a little concentration, Lori pushed the stray thoughts out of her head. It only took a few seconds to convince herself that she had imagined the whole thing and move on to more pressing concerns.

"We're out of cereal, mom. And milk. You gonna go shopping today?"

"Yeah, right after I take you to school."

"Mom! Why can't I ride the bus like I do every day!"

"I'm taking you to school That's that."

"I'll be fine. You don't have to take me... "

"I gotta go shopping anyway, remember?"

Lori sighed. Now her mother would be escorting her to school. Lori hoped that her mom wouldn't decide to get drunk between now and then. She took a few bites of her cereal while her mother rummaged through the mostly-empty refrigerator. Rose found some bacon and eggs, and while they were sizzling on the stove, she reached up into the cabinet, grabbed a bottle of rum, and poured herself a drink. Lori didn't even think her mother knew what she was doing... having a drink with breakfast, and every other meal, was purely automatic now.

"Mom, if you're taking me to school you shouldn't do that."

"Do what?" said Rose. Lori nodded at the bottle. "Huh? Oh. Yeah, I guess you're right." Rose took a tiny sip of rum, then put the glass on the counter and the bottle back up into the cabinet.

"Mom, you should really stop dr-"

"Don't start with that."

"But-"

"Don't."

"Mom? Do you think that, if God wanted you to stop, he'd do something to... someone else? Hurt someone else to make you stop?"

"If God wanted me to stop drinking he'd turn all the whiskey into Liquid Plumber. Besides, me and God have an arrangement... I leave Him alone and He leaves me alone."

"But what about me?"

"What ABOUT you?"

"Never mind," Lori sighed.

"Look. What happened to you yesterday has nothing to do with me. And it only had something to do with YOU because you happened to catch that boy's attention on the day he decided to snap."

"That's not what I'm talking about. I mean, it is... but it's more than that."

"Well what is it, then?"

"What if I were... you know..."

"No, I don't."

"Like one of those people on TV."

"Pregnant!? Lori you said that boy didn't-"

"He didn't. I'm not. And never mind. Just forget it."

"No," said Rose. "Lori, I know things were really hard since your father left. But I'm still your mother and you can still talk to me."

"He died, mom."

"I know that."

"Then say it. Say 'he died', and not 'he left'."

"Lori, now you're being silly."

"No, mom... YOU are. Somehow you still think dad's just going to walk through that door and make everything better. You think he just walked out and didn't come back, like Debbie's dad... but he DIDN'T. He's DEAD... D-E-A-D. Just like Frank Waid."

"Who's Frank?"

"Nobody."

"No. You said his name yesterday, and now you said it again. Who is he? Is that what his is about... some new boyfriend?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me, Lori."

"He's a ghost, mom. Okay. He's a ghost and he died and now he's hanging around. It was him that beat up Paul in the A/V room yesterday."

Rose nodded slowly. Her eyes wandered over to the drink on the counter and quickly jerked back to Lori.

"Uh-huh."

"See... told you you wouldn't believe me."

"And here I was thinking you had something serious to talk about. You're just playing games."

"I am serious."

"This imaginary ghost... Who is it, Lori? Is he supposed to be your father or something?"

"Mom, I... I'm gonna be late."

Lori dumped the rest of her cereal in the sink and grabbed her books.

"Where are you going? I'm taking you to school!"

"Enjoy your drink, mom. That one and the other FOUR you're gonna have between now and lunch. Don't worry about what it does to ME... I'll be okay."

"Don't go tellin' nobody else about this Frank Waid person!"

"Don't worry."

Lori slammed the door behind her.

---

The bus was almost empty when she got on, but as more students boarded, Lori noticed something strange. Everyone stared at her, but they all looked away nervously when she returned their glances. The seat next to her remained empty even when the rest of the bus was full. A few girls crammed in three to a seat rather than take the empty spot beside to Lori.

Her friend Julie was nowhere to be seen.

<<What IS this?>>

Her classmate's strange behavior continued through the entire bus ride, and through most of the morning at school. None of her friends were in school that day, and everyone else treated her like an outcast. By lunchtime, not two words had been said to her by anyone who wasn't a teacher. Instead, there was the whispering and sideways glances... the pointing... the staring.... the hushed conversations that always ended when she got within earshot. And it was having an effect on Lori. She felt hot and uncomfortable all morning. Her stomach churned whenever she caught someone looking at her.

At lunch it got much worse.

She walked into the cafeteria and half the students were looking right at her. Lori felt a tingling in her mind... like a tiny buzz that she was hearing with her brain instead of her ears. It quickly grew louder and the single noise separated into a dozen voices:

<<Hey, there's that weird girl... >>

<<...You hear what she did to Paul?>>

<<...never liked her...>>

<<...a slut...>>

<<...Guess what I just heard about Lori Zaslow...>>

<<...police were here and everything...>>

<<...what's she doing here?....>>

<<...mother is like this MAJOR drunk...>>

<<...I heard these guys talking about her yesterday. It was so gross it had to be true...>>

Lori wanted to scream at them to shut up.

"Did you hear about that Zaslow girl," said two girls as they entered the bathroom. They didn't know Lori was there, and she wasn't about to tell them. Lori pulled her feet up and crouched on the commode.

"Yeah... Julie says she's like a witch or something."

"No, it's worse than that. I heard she's, like, one of those, you know... those people on TV."

"Ewwww gross. Is she gonna turn into a monster or something?"

"Probably... it's what they do, right? Turn into monsters?"

"That stuff's fake... it's gotta be. There's no such thing."

"But you know what she did to Paul yesterday. It's like... she cracked his head open without laying a finger on him."

"Gross."

"Yeah... I saw her walking down the hall today and I was, like, soooo freaked-out."

"Somebody should call the cops before she, like, freaks out and hurts somebody. Somebody else."

"What a weirdo."

The two girls finished their business and left.

Stunned, Lori sat back down and stared at the stall door in front of her. Tears leaked out of her eyes.

"I'm not a monster..." she mumbled as she rocked back and forth "... I'm not a monster... I'm not a monster..."

With each repetition, she believed her words less and less.

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

"Lori."

Lori looked up and opened her eyes. At first she thought someone else was in the restroom... but the voice she heard was distinctively male.

"Lori," it said again. "Can you hear me?"

"Frank?"

"Lori you have to leave. You're in danger."

"Where did you go yesterday?"

"There are some bad people coming, Lori. You have to get out of here. You have to go back home."

"huh? I don't underst-"

"Go home. Now."

Lori felt a wave of shivering cold wash over her... and then it was gone. She got up and left the restroom. Fortunately, the hallway was mostly empty... Lori didn't think she could endure her classmate's stares any longer. She decided to heed Frank's advice, and headed for the office.

She rounded the corner and saw two people coming in the school's front door. They were adults, but she didn't recognize any of them. They walked to the principal's office, where one other stranger was already talking to the principal.

"Don't let them see you," said Frank.

Lori backed up and hid around the corner. She could see the office from where she stood... the visitors were talking to the principal.

All of them were all clutching large leather-bound bibles.

The principal looked out of the office window and saw her. He pointed her out to the cop, and they both smiled.

"Lori, run." said Frank.

"Frank, I can't-"

"I'm seeing their auras... they're sick."

"Sick? Sick how?"

"I don't know... but it probably isn't a good idea for you to find out."

The strange adults pushed open the office door and stepped out into the hallway. The principal joined them.

"Lori, you have some visitors here."

"No..." Lori backed away.

"Lori," said one of them. "We just want to talk to you."

Lori turned and ran down the hall as fast as she could.

[To Be Continued]