DIARY OF ABIGAIL VAN HOUTEN
It is at this point that I entered the strange events that have reshaped our lives recently.
After I returned from helping my Grandma I was relieved to see Mark. Let me tell you about him. We have been friends since we were kids. Mark was always there for me and I for him. We used to have sleepovers and stay up late to watch scary movies. I think Mark only wanted to watch them for all the naked girl scenes, but I always went along because I wanted him to be happy. I have been head over heels in love with him for about a year now. I've never told him, even though I'm sure he knows and he never said anything to me. We're both painfully shy and I think that's how we ended up becoming friends in the first place. We have sort of an unspoken relationship that goes beyond friendship we have just never taken the next step. It's complicated, but I guess that's high school romance! Lately, I have wanted us to get closer. I'm sure Mark wants to have sex with me and honestly I want to have sex with him too—I think. I just think we are both simply afraid of ruining what really is a perfect friendship. Plus I'm afraid he'll think I'm a slut-bag-whore if I have sex with him too soon. I'm sure Mark wouldn't actually think that, but I FEEL that way.
Oh, let me back up a bit. Hi, I'm Abby!
After running into Ari and Jane we found out that something was up with our friend Louie West and Mark's teammate Topher Grady. We were concerned they might be doing some kind of drugs, or possibly having a torrid love affair with some UBER-MILF in a sports car.
Things have gotten a little bizarre around here since I left!
The next day at school I saw Mark and he had been talking to the other guys on the team. He said there was something up with all of them, but he couldn't figure out what it was. He had talked to them and they all seemed exactly the same, distant, strange, almost in a stupor. It wasn't really that obvious to the casual observer, but if you were looking close it was a plain as the nose on their faces. Mark said he talked to the coach who told him he hadn't noticed anything and pretty much chalked it up to teenagers being teenagers! Great help from the adults—it looked like we were in this on our own.
"So do you think it's drugs?" I asked him.
"I don't, but something is definitely wrong here, these are not the guys, they aren't like this." Mark told me.
"Okay, well, maybe it's something else. Maybe there is something in the water of the pool, maybe it's mold in the locker room, meningitis, or something that's making you guys sick. Do you feel okay?"
"Yeah, I'm not sleeping well, but otherwise I feel okay." he said.
"Why aren't you sleeping?" I asked and then there was something; Mark looked away and shook his head.
"I don't know I'm just not." He said and I knew he was lying.
"What's that?" I asked.
He looked at me incredulously.
"What's what?"
"You just lied to me! You've never done that!"
"What!"
"You made a weird face. What happened? Why aren't you sleeping?"
"I didn't make a face. I'm just not sleeping, I don't know why." He said it more believably this time, but there was more to it. I looked at him for a long moment and he smiled back at me like I was crazy.
"Really. I'm not lying, I was having weird dreams that's all."
"What kind of dreams?" I asked.
"I don't remember." He said and I gave him a look. "No, seriously, I don't remember." He reiterated and I had no choice but to believe him, although his face betrayed him with a blush.
He looked at me with a strange expression then leaned in and put his hands on my shoulders rubbing them up and down. He looked like he really wanted to tell me something, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
I saw for only a brief moment a look of tiredness in his eyes and then he turned and walked away without saying anything else.
As I walked to my locker I dissected the moment from a scientific perspective.
Mark wanted to tell me something; that much was clear. He either couldn't say it, or didn't know how to say it, or maybe he didn't know what it even was. All I knew for sure was he needed my help and I was going to give it to him no matter what!
I didn't see him the rest of the day and when I waited for him after school I found out he had already gone home. I sent him a few texts, but they went unanswered. I was becoming concerned for him. That night I couldn't sleep, I just kept thinking about what could be wrong with the boys at school. I did some research online and came up with nothing.
I spent the entire night thinking about this and finally came to the only possible scientific conclusion:
Something about this is fucking weird!
At that point I had no idea how right I was about how wrong things were.
The next day I was in second period, the one class I share with Mark, and when I looked over at him, he looked terrible. His eyes were bloodshot, there were dark rings under them, his hair was a disaster, and he looked tired and weak. After class I caught up to him in the hall.
"Hey, what's up with you, you look terrible!" I said.
"Yeah, I don't know, I guess I didn't sleep well again last night." Mark said, even his voice was shaky. For the first time I became really concerned.
"Mark, what's happening. What's wrong? Tell me, you can tell me anything!"
He struggled to smile, but instead he just looked at me and as if in a trance he said, "It's okay, really. I'm just not sleeping. I'm fine."
Then he shrugged and walked away. This was wrong. Mark doesn't act like that, ever. I spent the rest of the day worrying about him. When I got home I called his house and talked to his Mom. She told me he came in and went right to bed and that she would check on him. I spent another restless night worrying.
The next day Mark wasn't at school until after lunch and he looked half-dead. He was so tired he could barely speak. He managed to tell me he went to the doctor and they couldn't find anything wrong with him. I asked when he slept last and he said he didn't know. He told me he had been having strange dreams and weird thoughts, but couldn't explain them, he said it was like they were behind a foggy glass. When I pushed him to try he clamed up again. And I know I saw a flash of embarrassment in his eyes, which meant he knew what the problem was, at least on a subconscious level, but he couldn't tell me.
This was the first time in our lives that Mark seemed unwilling to tell me everything (except that he loved me of course) and I was scared, I couldn't imagine what kind of problem he was having or what trouble he might be in.
He decided to go to the nurse's office and lay down for the rest of the day. I had to do something, but what? I skipped my next class and went to a different study hall than I was supposed to because I knew a lot of other guys from the swim team were there. What I saw scared the hell out of me. All of them looked like Mark! All of them! Only worse, they looked even more tired, bloodshot eyes, dark rings, crumpled clothes, sweaty, pale.
They all had it—whatever IT was.
I marched right down to the nurse's office and reported my findings. She told me a "bug" was going through the school and to make sure to keep my hands away from my face!
Adults run the planet, no wonder it's so fucked!
Anyway, when school let out I went to the pool. I walked around knowing that practice had been cancelled since so many on the team left school early. I really started to believe it was something in the water, it had to be. What else could it be?
Then I noticed something strange.
The new kid was here. The new kid, Brad Drake, was a weird one to say the least. He was tall, thin, super attractive in a sort of dangerous way, he had dark hair, light skin, and eyes that went right through you. I have to admit, he was weird, but he had a strange sexiness; an animalistic quality. If he weren't such an oddball he would be at the top of everyone's list of sexiest guy in school!
Instead he was almost lurking in the corner of the swimming center, near the door and I swear he looked like he was stalking. But then, on the other side of the pool a door opened and in walked the mysterious, sexy lady in the sports car! The second Brad saw her he bolted.
Fuck's going on? I wondered. By the way, I usually don't swear this much, but my guy was in trouble and I was in no mood for polite shit.
The Mystery Woman looked around and saw that there was no practice then left. Now I may be shy but I am also brave, especially when my boy needs me!
I followed the woman out into the parking lot. She got into her little car and peeled down Main Street before turning down Borgo Street. Thankfully that's a dead-end so I had a pretty good idea where to find her. I walked a half-mile down Main Street then turned onto Borgo.
I looked at each house seeing no signs of the woman, until I reached the end. Her car was in the driveway of an old dark mansion-looking place; you know the one house in town that all of the young kids are sure is haunted.
'She lives there! Very appropriate!' I thought.
Why was she snooping around? Why did that Brad kid bolt when he saw her, what has she done to him? What was wrong with all the boys on the team? What did this strange woman know? Why did none of the guys seem to want to talk? Why were no adults interested even though there was clearly something wrong? It was like everyone was under a spell.
These were all questions I needed answers to and I was going to get them!
