Prey Chapters 2-4

Chapter 2

I spend the rest of the morning trying to cheer her up.  I'm unsuccessful until we park right outside my school where I fumble for the rear view mirror and pretend to adjust my tie.  This amuses her. 

"What are you doing?", she laughs. 

She's smiling, and it feels good to be responsible for that. 

"Do I look okay?", I ask, checking my hair.  I try to ham it up a bit more, but a snicker escapes.  And suddenly, we're both in stitches. 

I reach between my legs for my back pack and remove my seat belt. 

"Well, there's Kaela," she says.  "Hmm..."

"What?"

"Nothing.  It's just...either Kaela's getting taller or her skirts are getting shorter." 

I fight a smile because I know the truth.  Her skirts are definitely getting shorter.  It'd been a little less than a year ago when she had come over to my house and placed my hand on her leg as she lifted her skirt and asked what length she thought she could get away with at school. 

She had also asked me that day if I thought she was attractive to which I had replied that I didn't know, which would've been a perfectly logical response.  Maybe.  But then I added the following sentence- that it didn't matter.  Well, it did because that was the first and last time she's let me touch her like that, and I find myself missing it. 

And she's gorgeous.  I know that may not be the kind of thing you'd want to take my word for, but she garners attention wherever we go and not just from dumb asses my age.  Over the years, I've tried to piece together all the descriptions I've heard of her- long brown hair, blue eyes, heart shaped lips, killer body, long legs, etc.  But ultimately I lack the necessary tool to envision or appreciate any of this for myself- sight. 

What I can say about Kaela though is she's my best friend, and next to maybe my pillow, she's the softest I've ever touched. 

Chapter 3

Will

There's a foul stench in the air as my eyes blink open.  I detect the buzzing of flies nearby; the world, coming into view.  I am naked and covered in fresh blood.  It is not my own. 

I rise from the ground I've been lying face down on and vomit at the sight of a large, decapitated grizzly to my left.  Such a lovely image to wake up to, but at least, it's not human. 

I vomit some more because the shock and taste are still fresh.  He put up a good fight.  I can tell.  There's a clawed gash in my lower right abdomen, but ultimately, he was no match.  He's in pieces, and I'm whole.  I've already begun to heal.  Hardly a fair fight.   

I begin collecting the pieces of the bear, burying the evidence and with it, my own existence. 

Chapter 4

Kaela and I decide to skip fourth period.  She's on the fencing team where I serve as team manager when I'm off season for swimming.  It's more of a title really because I don't do much.  It just allows us to cut class occasionally. 

From what I can tell, she's a very competitive fencer.  Each year the team goes to nationals, and she's always their top performer.  She's given me a few lessons, and despite my unnatural ability to detect where she is, I can never take the offense. 

I take a seat on the floor in the far corner of the gym.  I listen to her footsteps as she walks onto the mat from the hardwood floor where Coach Williams is waiting for her.  They've kind of got this thing.  No one's supposed to know about it, including me if you ask Coach Williams.  I just kind of play dumb when he's around, which is relatively easy considering his perception of the visually impaired. 

He's not a bad guy I guess.  He just tends to exaggerate disabilities greater than they actually are, like most.  Most of the guys are jealous of him because all the girls have crushes on him.  Kaela's just the one who got him.  She refuses to describe him to me, but if I had to make assumptions, my guess is that he's a rather handsome guy. 

I open my backpack and reach inside for my iPod and headphones.  Their conversation doesn't really concern me.