13.

Lunch break has only just begun when Judy does arrive to school. Her morning with her mum was nice, it was good, it was needed though now it is back to the Hum Drum of her life, back to the dread. There is plenty of time before next class is due to begin so she heads straight for her spot, the place outside of the library, her place that has quick become her little spot where she can escape the world. It is more than a little odd that she is most visible in a place she feels most invisible.

'Do you know that there is a third book in that series in the works?' asks a voice that Judy has come to recognize.

'Really? I didn't even know there was a second book until only a little while ago.'

'A good book can be such a powerful thing' speaks Oliver, the boy whose name she surely will not forget. 'It can take you to places you feel were especially created for you.'

'That is exactly what this story is doing for me, it also makes me seem or feel ... worthy.'

'You are worthy Judy; in fact, you are more than worthy. Never let anyone or anything make you feel otherwise. By the way, hold onto that first book. It's yours now. It kinda has found its way home, so to speak.'

Judy looks up in wonder from her seated position, on the ground with her jacket beneath her, in a kind of awe over the fact that someone seems to know exactly how she feels. Why is he being so nice to her? He is not hanging around right now though for he soon begins to move away. Judy would have liked this conversation to have lasted longer but lunch break is about to come to an end.

'See you.'

'Bye.'

Up on her feet and looking around, Judy can see that those girls from the bowling alley are about a couple hundred meters away from her. They notice her and two of them begin to walk her way. A sense of dread quickly returns. Suzie is nowhere within Judy's line of sight, so no refuge is gonna be coming her way. At this moment Judy would actually prefer to be invisible rather than have these girls come towards her. She needs to move and force herself to begin to move off and away from those approaching girls.

'Hey you, ... where are you going?' one of the two girls call out.

Judy doesn't respond. She keeps on moving, picking up her pace. The other two girls also quicken and fairly soon are either side of Judy.

'We only want to apologise for our behaviour when we were bowling, it wasn't very ... lady like.'

'Really?' asks Judy slowing down a little and wanting to believe what she has heard.

'Err, no' speaks one girl.

'Who do you think we are? Your friends?' says the other girl. 'Let's get one thing straight, okay? We will never be friends with the likes of you. You are here for our amusement. Got it?'

Judy picks up her pace again and a gap opens up. The two mean girls continue to follow. Seconds pass, Judy turns as she continues to move, to see the whereabouts of the other two. A car is moving into the school car park which is where Judy has come to be or is just about to walk onto. She turns forwards again; still at pace and ... it's too late.

There is silence and it takes over the immediate surroundings, with brief interruptions of distorted warbles. There is spinning, almost endless spinning. Attention all around has been caught so much so that even the two oncoming girls are forced to come to a halt and stare in shock and surprise. Judy can see herself fall as if she were having an out of body experience, watching herself drop in slow motion from a position only a few feet away.

Everything is so blurred; dizziness takes control as things spin all the more. Judy tries to balance herself and does so as the spinning sensation comes to a sudden halt. Judy now and all of a sudden is not at school, she is not on the school grounds at all, she is definitely not in the school car park. Where it is that she has come to be, she does not know. It is not the car park she had turned and moved into so quickly. It is a dark and grey space surrounded with a mist which her feet now hide within, and Judy has no idea as to how she got there.

For a few seconds at least, it would appear that Judy is alone in this space, a space that goes on for as far as her eyes can see. She checks herself over. There are no bumps or bruises, no scrapes, or cuts, she had just been hit by a car a moment or two ago, right? Shouldn't she be on the ground and not standing? Before she can question anything, she is interrupted, she hears something, something coming her way.

The sound of footsteps can be heard before it can be seen as to who these footsteps belong to. They cannot belong to who Judy thinks they belong to, can they? There is someone else in this grey space and that someone else is coming close.

'I have seen you before, haven't I?' Judy asks.

'Yes Judy, you have?'

'You know my name; how do you know my name?'

'I know your name as you surely know mine. There is a connection between us Judy. Can't you feel it? You know what my name is. My name is ...'

'... Ellie? No, that can't be.'

'Yes ... yes, it can ... and it is. You do feel the connection; it is what has brought us together.'

'No, this can't be happening. This is not real. You are in ... in a ...' Judy struggles for breath as if she had forgotten she needed to breathe.

'Oh, but it is real. Would you like to come with me?' asks Ellie.

'Where to?'

'You know where to, just say yes and we will go there right now.'

'... Yes.'

A spinning sensation takes over once more, and Judy holds out both of her arms to catch her balance. Seconds pass and the spinning stops. Judy, along with Ellie, is sitting about halfway up a stand by a football field. As Judy had her spot on the outside of a school, Ellie has her own spot right here on a reinforced wooden terrace with metallic plated walkways, indeed right by a football pitch, and of course Ellie knows this.

'We are not where I think we are, are we? We can't be here.'

'We are and we can. You have your spot you like to go to; I have my spot and this is it. This is my spot.'

'This cannot be happening.'

'You keep saying that so I'll keep saying ... oh, but it can, and it is.'

***

Within a dimmed hospital room, a monitor steadily beeps. The young lady that the monitor is hooked up to, is unconscious and in a stable condition. Her mother sits, with her head in her hands, in a chair next to the bed. A boy stands just outside the room. He looks in as best he can without intruding while feeling somewhat guilty. He has done nothing to put the girl where she is but he still feels guilty all the same.

As long as Judy is in that other world, she is safe, right?

I stood there that day in disbelief. I know I did not put her into that hospital bed but still, I did have my part to play. I was still getting use to the power I had. I did not completely understand it. I still don't understand it now.

While I was looking into room that day there was a sudden movement to my left, there was someone running down the hallway and away off to my right. My peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a shadow of someone who is and is not there. I was sure that this shadow person who was running was that bully who had gone missing after having come to me in the library some time before, but I really couldn't see for sure.

When I looked, there was no one running anywhere. Someone was or had been, whether I could see anyone for sure or not I knew someone was close, is close. Yeah, I was sure that this 'Abe' fellow was nearby.

There had been something about him I should have seen, but I did not know the full scale of what I had been a part of so, how could I really have known, still, I feel some sort of guilt.

I never asked for this, any of this and now I am left trying to change it all, I am left trying to put it all right. I may deal with books and libraries, but no manual ever came my way nor had any instruction or guideline, and such a thing is more than a little unfortunate. In this particular moment I wondered, or rather in that particular moment back then, had I been responsible for Abe's disappearance? To be honest I kinda was responsible, though my understanding of it all at that particular time had been next to non-existent.

I knew there was something to it, I could feel the presence of a power, understanding it, well that may something else entirely. What happened to this Abe fellow after he had left the library that day, I shoved a book to his chest? ... what it is that is happening to Judy? ... What was it that I had done? I knew ... something ... just not enough.