I Am Phantom by Sean Fletcher Read Free Book Online Page B

he looked in
bad shape.
    The
woman wiped her eyes. “I’m going to the hospital right now.” She leapt in the
car and drove off.
    “Drake…”
I looked back at Cody and Matt, Cody still holding tissues to his face. I
glanced at the prone figures nearby. “We’d better go.”
    I
nodded.
               
    The
adrenaline wore off just as we got into Cody’s dorm room. My chest tightened.
Breathing was so hard now I could barely stand, but instead leaned heavily on a
chair.
    “Drabe?
What wrob, man?”
    The
pain was catching up to my hand. The feeling of skin giving way under my fist,
the gristly crunch of the bone as it snapped, the intense pain on the man’s
face. “What—what did I just do?”
    “Drabe,
calm down. You’re fine. I’m fine. We’re all here and you did nothing wrong.”
Cody looked uncertain, glancing at Matt for help. “Panic attack?”
    “This
isn’t me,” I managed. The air came easier now. “that—that wasn’t supposed
to happen. I just lost it. That’s not what I was taught.”
    “You
reacted,” Matt said. “A perfectly reasonable defense response.”
    “There
was nothing reasonable about that,
Matt.” I pushed myself up and paced the room. Cody and Matt watched me, unsure
of what to do. Cody had stopped bleeding. I was grateful for that. My insides
screamed that I had done something wrong. Hadn’t I?
    “Can’t
be right,” I muttered, face in my hands. “I can’t just hurt people like that.”
    Cody
stopped my pacing. His face was horribly swollen and purple, tinged with red
under the eyes. “Except when they hib you. You want to blambe someone? Blambe
them. They attacked. You protected. It’s not bad to defend something. Don’t
feelb bad for doing the right thing.”
    Was
that the same thing? “I hurt someone, Cody. Really bad.”
    “But
he deserved it. And you were protecting sombeone. You were protecting us.
There’s a big difference. You don’t punch everybody you see.” His eyes crinkled
as he tried to smile. A horrible, cracked, smile. “You’re good.”
    “You
look like crap,” I said.
    “Welb
at least I’m not whining like a baby after saving someone.”
    “So…I
guess I did do some good, right?”
    Cody
snapped his fingers and pointed at me.   “Bingo. Crap, there it goes again. Matt, you have any more tissues?”

Chapter
Five
    Of
Monsters and Me

 
    A
month passed a lot faster than I thought it would. Nights I didn’t spend
hanging out with Cody, Matt and, surprisingly enough, Melanie (apparently she
wasn’t totally thrown off by Matt’s demeanor), or sparring with Liz I spent
free running through Queensbury. There were plenty of high places to climb and
leap off of buildings when people weren’t looking, and the maze of piping, fire
escapes and ledges made for a jungle gym free running paradise.
    As
I grew more used to the ebb and flow of city life, I started to look forward to
my outings. There were places to avoid, sure. Places with shady characters,
where I barely saw any police. But what was blocked off for others was a
challenge for me. Balanced above the dank streets like a hawk, I had full view
of everything. I was separate yet more connected to what was going on below
than I had ever felt to one place.
    With
everything putting right along I had nearly forgotten about the letter and
L.S.. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to know where I had gotten my abilities
from, but here they were still hidden, and here I was accepted. I was liked,
not feared. I would look for the author of the letter later.
    Until
my Psychology professor announced a surprise field trip. Surprise as in,
‘surprise, more work’.
    “We
have been given permission by both the president of Queensbury University and
Dr. Cadel of the Monstaff State Mental Health Institute to tour their
facility,” he announced in class. “This will be a rare opportunity for us to
see how a facility runs. Now,” he said hurriedly as whispering erupted among
the rows of