The Mouse and The Wolf - Chapter 25: Chapter 25

-Oliver-
I was having a pretty good day at school. Well, at least it wasn't horrible day. In the morning I had decided to pretend I was normal, and not utterly crazy. I guess it worked. I wasn't seeing things or hearing things and if I did, I ignored it. Thinking about all the weird things that had happened lately was only making me crazier and I was tired of it.
So, everything was going pretty well. There was just this one thing... I felt like someone was following me. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but I had to fight with myself so I wouldn't keep looking over my shoulder every two seconds. I feared it was Jack, but at the same time... I knew it wasn't him. I knew Jack's aura painfully well and the one following me was definitely not him. This one was almost familiar to me. Well, it would've been if I was a crazy person who thought someone was following him.
After that, everything went pretty well again. Until...
I was waiting for my last class to start. I was sitting away from others, watching two guys fooling around further down the corridor. I ignored the feeling that someone was watching me. I only had to get through this one class, and I was good to go home. Just one more class and I'd make it through the day.
And then Nick spotted me. First, I thought he wouldn't do anything since our teacher would come open the door any second now, but all of a sudden, I knew I was in danger. I didn't stay to find out if I was right or not. I heard footsteps coming after me when I hurried away from the classroom. I kept my head down and accidentally ran into someone after walking around the corner, but I didn't stay to see who it was. I was so sure Nick was right behind me.
I didn't stop until I was absolutely sure I was alone. When I stopped to look around, I saw no one in the hallway. I felt horrible. My good day didn't last until the end after all. I wanted so badly to have one, normal day for once. A day without incidents. One day without having to be afraid. One day without being reminded I was going mad.
The floor was cold and wet from melted snow, but I sat down anyway. I pulled the hood of my jacket over my head, trying to hide from the world under it. My heart was still racing, and I did my best to calm down and keep the old memories out of my head. The first few moments were the worst, but then, all of a sudden, I started feeling better. Warmer. Like I didn't have to worry about anything.
Now that was nice. I didn't even bother to wonder why I was feeling like that. I just embraced it. I stayed still for a while, staring at the wall in front of me, enjoying the silence. I could hear muffled voices all around me, coming from classrooms, but the hallways were empty. My poor nerves really needed that break.
I took a deep breath and leaned my head against the wall. I felt bad for skipping the last class, but no one seemed too interested in me skipping classes so... yeah... why bother then? Although, I had the feeling I would get in trouble at the orphanage soon if I kept doing it. I turned to look at a corner that was close by. Mrs. Bundt knew I was having a hard time at school, so maybe they didn't want to confront me about skipping classes just yet? That corner seemed to have seen its better days as well – it was missing some paint and there were small holes here and there. Mrs. Bundt would definitely talk to me about my poor grades at some... point...
I was leaning so far on my left I almost fell face first on the floor. I still kept my eyes on the corner. There was... No, of course there wasn't... No, there definitely was someone just behind it! I couldn't see anyone or hear anyone or anything, but I knew it. Just like how I knew when the wolf was close by, I knew there was someone there right now, hiding from me.
I tried to be as quiet as I could when I stood up. I was still staring at the corner, hoping I could see through it. I creeped closer and closer, holding my breath the entire time. I was dying to know who it was. It was the same person who had been following me the entire day – I was sure of it.
And then, I reached it. I took a deep breath, and carefully peered behind it.
The breath I was holding came out as a disappointed sigh, when I saw the spot behind the corner was empty. Of course I was just imagining things. Why on earth did I believe there would be someone there? But my disappointment lasted only for a second, before I realized the hallway wasn't empty. I looked up and saw someone walking away from me without making a sound.
He was far away, so I doubted he could've been standing here just a moment ago, but... The weird part was that the guy walking away from me, his hands deep in the pockets of his leather jacket, was Jaden. I had been tailing him long enough to know it was him just by how he walked. And he was the only person in our school who wore bandanas.
I leaned against the wall and watched him disappear behind a corner at the other end of the hallway.
Now that I thought about it, the person I ran into earlier was wearing that same leather jacket.
Later that day, I was playing with the kids in our living room, patiently waiting for the wolf to drop by. I knew I was getting too dependent on seeing the wolf every evening, but it had become the highlight of my day really fast.
"Mouseeee!"
I pushed the wolf out of my head and turned to look at Gecko, who was playing with a toy truck.
"Sorry," I smiled. "Could you show me again?"
"Yes!" the little boy smirked and ran off with the truck, pretending it could fly. He made the truck "jump" on couches and tables as he ran around the entire room, dodging the other kids who were building puzzles or decorating a big dollhouse we had in the corner. Then, Gecko ran straight to me with a proud grin on his lips. "Did you see that?!"
"Yes, I saw that," I said just as cheerfully.
He ran off to do the same lap again, so I had a few seconds to focus on playing with two of the girls, Paisley and Dana. We had a barbie fashion show going on. Everyone was a winner, of course.
"Mouseee! Did you see that?!"
"Yes, I saw that," I turned to look at Gecko, who was back.
"You need a ribbon," Dana told me, and took my barbie to put a tiny ribbon in her hair. "Here! All done!"
"She looks great now," I admitted, and took the barbie when she gave it back to me.
"She looks the best," Dana said promptly.
"Definitely," I chuckled, and walked the doll across our "catwalk" that was just a piece of paper on the floor.
"Mouseee!" Ron came running to me. "LOOK!"
I looked. He was holding my phone. He was playing some game, and all I had time to see was his new score with big, brightly-colored letters, before he started jumping around in excitement.
"I was wondering where my phone disappeared off to," I told him with a raised eyebrow. He suddenly stopped jumping and hid the phone behind his back.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, looking somewhere up at the ceiling.
"Uh-huh," I chuckled. "Just don't break it."
"OKAY!" he giggled loudly and dashed towards his favorite couch, jumping on it so that it almost tripped over.
"Your ribbon fell off," Dana spoke next to me, and I was without a barbie again.
"Mouse! You never play with me!" Gecko suddenly said, and I turned to see him crossing his arms on his chest with a deep frown on his face.
"Well, why don't you play with us? The barbies need a driver," I told him, and he quickly joined our little group. Soon he was up and running around the room again, but this time there was a barbie sitting on top of the truck, and Paisley was following him, giggling like a madman.
"Okay everyone!" Mrs. Bundt walked into the room. "Who wants to watch a movie?"
"Oh, thank God..." I whispered and leaned back against a couch, letting out a deep breath.
Mrs. Bundt walked to me and patted my shoulder. "Thank you for watching them. We'll take it from here."
I saw Mrs. Hudson behind her shoulder.
"Crisis averted?" I asked and stood up from the floor. Apparently, we were having a problem with our heaters – right in the middle of winter of course.
"Yes," Mrs. Hudson nodded, letting out a light laugh. "They should be fixed now."
"Good," I said and stood up, turning to look out of the window.
He wasn't here yet...
"Are you going out for a walk again?" Mrs. Bundt asked.
"Uhh... yeah," I said with a nod. "If it's all right?"
"Just don't be out too late. And take your phone with you," Mrs. Bundt said.
"If you can get it from Ron," I chuckled, and turned to look over my shoulder. Ron, Tim and Keegan were all gathered on the couch, staring at the little screen with wide eyes.
"Ron? It's time to watch a movie, and Ollie needs his phone back," Mrs. Bundt said, walking towards them.
"Noooo five more minutes!"
Mrs. Bundt turned to look at me shortly, and I nodded. Then, she turned to talk to the boys, who promised to give the phone back after five minutes.
I decided to go change my clothes. I actually liked the idea of going for a walk, so I needed to put on warmer clothes. It took me around fifteen minutes to get dressed and get my phone back, and then I was finally good to go.
But... the wolf wasn't there.