| Micah's Story Chapter 9: The Way Things Were **Disclaimer** No, Micah isn't mine, but ummm I'm still hoping and praying, oh, I just noticed that today is MY day, and I'm happy about that. Any, like before, Nothing except Middleburg and it's residents are mine, so I guess I'll leave it at that. As the weeks went by, I got more friendly with all of the kids except, of course, Dave. He kept trying to make Marie forget about me, and even though she did keep her promise to spend a say with me and me alone, I kept seeing less and less of her. That fact disappointed and saddened me, but I was getting over it. After about three weeks, we (the Morgans, Danny, Lacey, John, and I) were sitting at the table, when Danny stood up. "I have an announcement to make." No one knew where this was coming from, so we all sat there and waited for him to continue. "Lacey and I have known each other for about four weeks now, and due to an unfortunate accident, I almost lost her." He looked at me and smiled. "From this accident, I realized that I loved her. I lover her as much as words can say, and terrible as this accident was, it made me realize, well find, two things. One, that I care fro her very much, and two, that a little 'brother' type person can be fun to be around as long as he isn't an um, monster. So, right now, under God's eyes, I want to ask a question." Turning toward Lacey, he got down on one knee. "I love you. Will you marry me?" Stunned. Shocked. Amazed. Surprised. All of those describe Lacey's face when Danny asked her to marry him. Of course she said yes, and the rest of dinner was dedicated to making plans for the wedding, but I wasn't in the mood. After dinner, they all went out to begin shopping, but I didn't feel like going anywhere, and I didn't know why. As I sat there, on the couch, in front of the t.v., I realized why I was upset. I felt left out. these people were all related, and Lacey was soon to be, but I wasn't. I even looked different. I guess in a way, this was my fault. If I would have pleased He Who Walks Behind the Rows, and made Lacey's sacrifice, we wouldn't be in this situation. I would be in a mental institute somewhere for the rest of my life. in ways, that sounded better then where I was now. I fell asleep on the couch, and dreamed that I was back in the cornfields. It was the night of the ultimate sacrifice, and Lacey was tied to the bed of stalks. She twisted and spat at me, trying to get away. "You little sinner. He Who Walks Behind the Rows will make you pay for what you have done. you and your foul mouth have defiled the corn, and you will pay. Wait, and get what is coming to you." Then, I walked over to her and used the scythe that I had in my hand to cut her wrists. "lets see if Danny-boy can save you from that, whore," the cuts were not deep, but they were bleeding freely, and I knew that she had maybe an hour to live. "Bye Lacey," i said ten minutes later. "I have to go get Danny now." I walked very slowly away, and knew that it would take me twenty minutes to get back to Angela's house. If I played my cards right, she would be slipping away just as I returned with Danny. Danny and I walked back to the field a little bit early. I had met him halfway back to the house, and we had walked back to the cornfield, with me trying to stall, but not being very successful. it had been about 45 minutes when we returned, and all of the children were gathered. The fires were lit, and I could see the burning church. It was dark, and Danny and I proceeded to the stalk beds. they were uncovered, and Danny paled a little bit. "Lacey?" she whimpered like a scared dog, because she didn't have the strength to talk. There were pools of blood around the and dripping slowly down her body. He walked over to her, and turned to us. "How did this happen," he asked angrily "what did you do to her?" Mordechai spoke up, because he knew that MY name, like He Who Walks Behind the Row's name must not be defiled. He told Danny that Lacey planned to sacrifice him later that night, that it was all going to be a trick. A flash of anger crossed Danny's face as he lunged at Lacey, grabbing my knife. Her eyes widened in fear, and her body shuddered as the knife pierced her skin. she spoke once more. "Danny. I loved you. Why?" Her eyes closed a final time, and Danny realized what he had done. before anyone could move, Danny had removed the sword from Lacey's body, and handed it back to me. "The law says that all the outlanders must be sacrificed, right? Well, I take back my vow. I am not one with you, and I never wanted to be." Danny said with tears in his eyes. "She never wanted to kill me. you just said that so I would sacrifice her. Kill me now. my blood was for the corn," Looking around, everyone nodded, and as I stepped foreword raising the sword above my head I said "Thank you Danny, you have served your purpose. For your willingness to be sacrificed, it will be a quick and painless." I brought the sword down with all of my strength, and He Who Walks Behind the Row's strength as well, and Danny was almost literally sliced in half, dropping to the ground, we let him bleed for a while, before I gave the order to move his and Lacey's bodies into the fire and burn them. That being done, all of us walked back to town to begin our new reign of peace. I heard a voice telling me to wake up, and opened my eyes into Lacey's face. "No." I said. "You're dead. You aren't real." She looked at me puzzled. I realized what I had said, and ran out of the house. "ill be right outside, but I want to be alone. Please?" I yelled in her direction. she didn't follow me, so I figured that she had heard and understood me. I ran to the first place that i thought of. there was tree house that Robbie and his dad built when he was younger. It was pretty far back in the yard, and I figured that no one else knew about it. I climbed up the stairs that were nailed to the tree, and was deep in thought about my dream, when i heard what sounded like someone crying. I looked at my watch, it was nearly midnight. who else could, would be here this late. i figured that everyone else would be asleep, but i guess I was wrong. reaching the last step, I climbed into the tree house where the crying person was balled up in the corner. at first i couldn't tell who it was, but after a few minutes I realized that it was Marie, and she looked mad and sad at the same time. I had to find out what was wrong with her, because that's what a good friend would do. "Marie," I said softly. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?" At first she didn't hear me, so I repeated the question. This time she heard me. Standing up, she turned around and looked at me. "Micah, what are you doing here? Oh wait, this is your property. I'm sorry, Brittany told me that I could come here whenever I wanted. and ... right now I need to be here. And I need to be alone. Wait, you look like you need someone to talk to." I was beginning to regret coming up here. I wasn't really in the mood to deal with someone else's problems as well as mine. "Well Marie, maybe we can help each other," I said offering her a small smile. Micah's Story Chapter 10: A New Beginning Marie looked at me with tears in her eyes, and asked if I was sure that I wanted to hear about what was wrong. "yeah I do. You know that I wouldn't have asked if I didn't care. please tell me." She took a deep breath, and told me what had happened. Her and Dave had gone to get something to eat, and while they were waiting for their food, a girl had run up to Dave and thrown her arms around him. when Marie asked what the hell did she think she was doing, the girl had said that she was Dave's girlfriend, and had pictures form their last date, which had been at a carnival. Marie had stood there, shocked, until Dave had told her that it was true, and then she ran to the treehouse, where she had been since. "Oh, Marie, I'm so sorry. I wish that you didn't have to see that. It wasn't fair to you at all. " She looked at me and asked what was wrong with me. I decided to tell her about the dream, and what I thought it meant. when I finished, I was in tears, and she had moved over to where I was. I put my arms around her and said "Maybe we need to teach Dave a lesson." I thought for a few minutes, and then had the perfect plan. "Do you still like Dave?" she nodded and said yeah. "Well, maybe all we have to do is make him jealous. Then he'll want you back." I thought about how painful this was going to be for me, but I didn't care. it would get me closer to her, and maybe make her realize that she liked me. (AN~Who wouldn't like you Micah?) The next day we decided to start our plan. Marie and I walked down the street, holding hands, and said hi to everyone we saw. We made sure that we walked by Dave's house, but that wasn't really out of our way, because we were going to Joey's then to Steph's. To our advantage, Dave was outside, and when we walked by, he didn't notice our hands, and he walked up to us. "Hey Baby, what's up? What are we doing tonight?" She gave him an icy look. "What's wrong? Is it that girl? We went on that date while you were showing Micah around town, I figured that if you had a date, so should i. It didn't mean anything. I promise." He smiled. She smiled too, and stepped up closer to him. "You know what, Dave? That girl may or may not have meant anything to you, but if you really cared about me, you never would have gone with her. I was showing Micah around because he knew no one, and because I had broken a promise that I made to him, because of you, and I wanted to pay him back. That was one of the best days that I have had in a long time, because he didn't know anything about this place, and it felt good to be able to show and tell him." Dave looked stunned. "Oh, and Dave, we aren't doing anything tonight, I'm going somewhere with Micah." She smiled at me, a genuine smile. "Oh, so oyu're going to blow me off for this psycho crazy killer boy? is that really what you want? Come on. I'm one of the hottest guys in this city, you know that. and pale boy Micah is the newbie. He isn't anyone. you know that, too. You're just trying to make me jealous. Well, it's not working. If you really want to date prettyboy Micah, go ahead, see if I care." He turned around and walked away. Marie looked at me, and then we continues to walk down the street. For the next few weeks, we continued the charade of being a couple, and I must say that we got a whole lot closer. Things were working out better then I ever expected, and I was glad. Marie stopped mentioning Dave's name every time that we talked, and she kinda always moved closer to me whenever we were together, even if no one else was around. one day, she was talking to me, and she told me that she was glad that we had been able to get closer. I smiled, and told her that I was glad too. she stood up and pulled me with her, and she hugged me before she went home. About an hour later, I saw her walk out the door and get into her car. she drove off, and then I walked away from the window. A few hours later, the car pulled back into her driveway, and she was in it. It was about 9 PM when the phone rang, and Danny yelled that it was for me. "Hello?" I said "Who is this," the voice on the phone said hi, and told me that it was Jenny. "oh hey, Jen. what's up?" "Not a lot, Micah. But I have something to tell you. I promised that I wouldn't say a word, but I have to say something. You still like Marie, right?" Hell yes I did, and I told jenny that in as many words. "OK, that's good. See, she was just here, and she told me all about your plan for her to get Dave back, and as soon as she was done, I knew that you didn't want her to be back with Dave, you were just doing it for yourself, am I right?" The girl was smart, and she knew it. I told her the truth. "Yes, that was my plan, and I think that it's working," i hoped it was working. "Well, Micah, it is working. She doesn't want Dave anymore, she wants you. But she doesn't know how to tell you, because she thinks that you don't like her." Jenny and I talked for about twenty minutes about what to do, and when I got off of the phone, I had another plan. I wasn't going to come straight out and say something to Marie, I was going to go along with whatever she did, and see what happened with that. I hoped that what was going to happen would happen at the right time. I picked up the phone again, and called Marie. "Hello, Marie? It's me. Do you wanna go to the fair tomorrow? It'll be fun, and maybe dave'll be there." It was a date. Micah's Story Chapter 11 : Fair Maiden The next day was pretty warm, but it didn't bother me. I woke up, and got dressed in one of my black outfits. Yes, I still wore black, but I was getting better and better at variety. Anyway, Marie and I had made plans to meet at my house, and when she rang the doorbell at 11:36 am, I was ready to go. Opening the door, I saw her and Jenny standing there smiling. Jenny winked at me, and I smiled back at her. "You guys ready," I asked. They both nodded, and Jenny told me that she had called Dave earlier, and told him to go to the fair today because everyone was going. "He'll be there. I know he will. I was talking to him a few days ago, and Marie, he says that he still likes you." Jenny talked as we walked to the fairgrounds, and Marie and I walked by each other, but we didn't touch. It was kind of strange, because of what we, or at least I was used to. We kept walking, and all of a sudden, Marie grabbed my hand, and smiled sweetly. I didn't know what was going on until I looked up and saw Dave. I looked at jenny, and she looked back at me with an "I don't know what's going on look," and I just stared back. "Hey, Marie, hey Jen, Micah." Dave was being what I might even call nice to me. It was surprisingly nice. "So what are you all up to? I mean, I see that you're going to the fair, but you know, what else?" We all just kinda said that nothing was going on, that we were just walking, and he asked if he could walk with us. We told him yes, and we kept going. A few minutes later, we got to the fair. I bought my tickets as well as Marie's, and in we went. It wasn't that crowded, but there were a lot of people there. We split up from Dave, and walked around, talking to the people that we knew. After a few minutes, I realized that no one was afraid of me. No one was looking at me like I was going to murder them all. It felt good. I was being accepted and respected for who I was, for Micah. Not for being possessed by He Who Walks Behind the Rows. I smiled, and looked at Marie. She was talking to someone that I hadn't met yet, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning I looked into a face that I hadn't seen for at least a month. Jedediah. "Jedediah!" I said, turning. "What's this about? Danny said that you didn't make it. What about that? Where, how, wait WHY are you in Ohio?" I asked with a huge smile on my face. He smiled too. "Micah, I ran! What, do you think that I'm crazy? As soon as you told everyone to kneel, and that light hit you, I ran. I grabbed my sister, and we ran. We both made it, and a family in Middleburg, the Kaines adopted us. They have a daughter named Samantha, who is about Sarah's age. So it all worked out. What about you?" He asked me. "Well, you see that girl over there in the shorts and the black halter?" Jed nodded. "I'm here with her and her friend. It's definitely fun times. I'm enjoying myself." We walked over to Marie, and her friends. " Hey, Marie, you've introduced me to so many people, and now it's my turn. This is Jedediah, my closest friend since I was two. Jed, this is Marie." She turned around, and gave him a hug. Any friend of mine was a definitely a friend of hers, I assumed. After we talked for a few minutes, I excused myself for a few minutes to talk with Jedediah about what had been going on. We were gone for longer then a few minutes, though, because when we found Jen and Marie it was almost 2:30. They were sitting on a bench eating an elephant ear or something like that, and I walked up behind them, and put my hands on Marie's eyes. " Guess who?" She stood up and turned around. Smiling, she walked around the bench, and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Pretend to kiss me, Micah" she said with a smile. "Please do it." I leaned in as she leaned down, and he hair covered half of my face, so I guess it looked like we were kissing, but we were just standing there. I thought that I was going to fall asleep, she smelled so good. After a few seconds, she pulled away, and leaned in to hug me. "Thank you." I only stood there and looked stunned for a few seconds, because at that moment, Jenny asked me to go on the spinning strawberry ride with her. Grabbing my hand, she pulled me up to the entrance, leaving Marie and Jed to talk. "Did you kiss her?" Jenny asked as we sat down. "Did you finally tell her?" I asked if Dave was anywhere near where we had been, and jenny replied "Well, yeah, he was standing under a tree about ten feet from the bench, but-" "Then it was all a ploy to get him to see us, and make him jealous." I snapped as we began to spin. "She came up to me and said 'Pretend to kiss me, Micah.' Are you sure that she doesn't still like Dave? Because it seems like she does. I'm getting sick and tired of this. I want her, and want her more then she ever wanted Dave." I Said this, not realizing that I was close to tears. "If she doesn't say something soon, I'm going to have to." The ride stopped, and the four of us managed to amuse ourselves for the rest of the day at the fair, and by the time the vendors were selling the glowsticks, we were a little bit tired. Walking around, Dave was nowhere in site, and Marie decided to "let me" put my arm around her shoulders. I told Jenny and Jed to go on ahead, and I stopped Marie, and led her over to a bench, and sat her down. Looking into her eyes, I didn't want to do what I knew I had to, but I did anyway. "Marie," I said gently. "You know that this is wrong. Maybe you should just tell Dave that you still like him. Lying is wrong. Look where it led me. I killed people because I was lied to. Dave likes you, and you like him. It's time to end this game that we're playing. I like spending time with you." I knew that I had to choose my words carefully. "I hope that even after you and Dave get back together, that we can still spend time together, because you are a great person. You have been the best friend that I could want, especially since you knew what I did. If you do not tell him by the end of tonight, then I will. He needs to know the truth." Nodding, she stood up, and so did I. Pulling me into another hug, she said OK. On what I guess was a second thought, she leaned back in and kissed me on the cheek. "Thank you, Micah. I need to do this. you're right. I have to go find Dave." Turning on her heel, she called back that she would walk home, and that we shouldn't wait for her. I walked around for about ten minutes before I found Jenny and Jedediah, and when I found them, they were playing that one game where you had to throw the little balls into the glasses, and Jenny had three in, and out of his seven, Jed had gotten every single one of his into a blue one, meaning that he was very very good. I told them what had happened, and shortly after their game ended, the three of us walked back to our houses. John had told us about two weeks after we got to Ohio that he didn't think that we were going to go to New York, because of the wedding, which was fine by me, so we had moved more permanently into the Morgan's house. I had a lot of stuff in my room, which was just mine, because Danny had moved into the attic. Among this stuff were pictures of everyone that I had met so far. I didn't want to loose all of these people because of what Marie and I had done, but only time would tell what was going to happen. I laid down on the bed for about a half hour, and fell asleep. I dreamt that I was in the corn (of course) and that He Who Walks Behind the Rows was yelling at me. "MICAH! YOU INSUBORDINATE FOOL! YOU HAVE BECOME WEAK BECAUSE OF THIS GIRL, AND THAT IS NOT ALLOWED! YOU MUST BE PUNISHED." "No. I haven't done anything wrong. Please, she is a great person, and doesn't deserve this. She-" The beast raised his hands above his head and pointed at me with one of them. "THIS FOOL MUST BE TAUGHT A LESSON. KILL HIM!" A blinding white light came from the sky, and hit me square in the chest. I woke up, drenched in sweat, and looked at my clock. 3:00 am. Laying back down, I finally fell back into a dark, troubled sleep. I didn't dream of anything else that night, but as I slept I saw people's faces floating around me, and the one that I most remember is my own, with tearstained cheeks and mussed hair as I wept for some unseen tragedy. My sleep that night was light and not resting at all. |