Chapter Two – Part 2
Allison raced to get to school. She was late for Mr. Counter's class and she desperately needed to deliver this history paper. She was horrendously late. When she got there, she discovered that somehow she had missed the rest of the semester and it was time for finals. She pushed into the classroom and took her seat in front of the class.
Behind the desk sat Chuck Wilson. He wore Counter's white sideburns and tweed coat, but the stare was Chuck's. Allison felt panic when she began to realize that she had been so rushed to get to school that she was only wearing a bra and panties.
"No talking during the exam," Chuck said, gaze fixed on her chest. "If I see anyone peeking, I'll kick you out. Turn your paper over when I tell you, not before."
Allison realized she was the only other one in the room. Even though the voice was Mr. Counter's, the leer was all Chuck's.
"Begin," Chuck/Counter said.
The phone rang.
Allison stirred at the sound, thankful for being drawn out of the dream. She'd reached over and grabbed the phone off the night-stand even before she was fully awake.
She raised the handset to her ear and said a muffled, "Hello?" She was talking into her pillow. She rubbed her eyes and untangled herself from her comforter. In the process she dropped the phone. She had to hunt down the handset in the dark.
Who's calling at this hour?
All she could think of was that it had to be for Mom, and after dropping the handset she'd probably made them hang up.
She saw a green glow peeking out of a wrinkle in her comforter and she fished under it until she uncovered the handset with its glowing buttons.
What'd you expect? she thought at the caller as she looked at her alarm clock. It's four in the morning in bright red glowing numbers.
Allison expected a dial-tone by now, but instead, as she raised the phone to her ear, she heard her mother saying, "— dare you call me here!"
It was for Mom.
There was a man on the other end, he was saying something like, "They're looking for someone out there—"
Allison was torn between a desire for sleep and a morbid curiosity.
"I don't care what they're doing at the Institute. That's been over for a long time. You have no right calling me here."
"Damn it. You mentioned headaches. Don't you think—"
"Good-bye."
Allison heard the phone click, and she could hear the phone slam downstairs. After a pause, a dial-tone began to sound through her phone. She unfroze and scrambled to get it back on the cradle before the line began beeping.
When she heard her mother pound up the steps she pulled the comforter over herself. She shouldn't be listening on other people's phone calls, especially her mother's.
However, with the mention of headaches, she had a sneaking suspicion that she had eavesdropped on a conversation about her. Allison couldn't make heads or tails of the possibility— other than it had ticked off her mother.
Eventually she fell back to sleep.
