I had to have a fever today

Kirsten looked at the strange women in a state of horror. She couldn’t believe what she had heard, her mind just couldn’t, wouldn’t comprehend it. ‘I’m here to kill you.’ The words the women spoke repeated themselves in her mind like a broken record. It had to be a joke.
“What?” Kirsten finally managed to say barely above a whisper. The women gave a shrill laugh, one that told Kirsten that this was no joke. Kirsten’s stomach tied itself in knots, what was going on? Kisten opened her mouth again to ask what the women’s issue was but no sound came out.
“I see you are at a loss for words, Kirsten. Good, then you’ll have no final wishes.” the women pulled a gun out of the inside pocket of her long black coat. That was it for Kirsten, she ran down the hallway quickly screaming when she heard a bullet fire. She skidded around the corner where the phone was hanging on the wall. She smacked right into the lady. She must have went around to the side door, Kirsten thought. She backed quickly away from the women.
“This is just too easy,” she said, flicking back her fair hair behind her shoulders. “Say good-bye,” she pointed the gun at Kirsten.
“Good-bye,” both Kirsten and the women looked up in surprise. On the landing came a guys voice.
“Who are-“ the women started but then he jumped down. Kirsten screamed. The women didn’t have time to duck out of the way before the guy landed on her. She went down fast, her head smacking against the wall on her way down. The gun flew from her hands and landed inches away from where Kirsten was standing. Thinking quickly she sank onto her knees and grabbed it. She pointed it at the women who gave a moan of pain.
The guy got up and used his elbow to bang the women’s head, she went out cold. Kirsten directed her gun to him now, trying to decide if he was friend or foe.
“Hey, it’s okay Kirsten. I’m here to help,” the guy said putting his hands up in a gesture that showed he meant no harm.
“How do you all know my name? Who are you? What’s happening!?” Kirsten said her voice shaking. She held the gun tightly in her hands as if for dear life, still pointed at the guy.
“I’m here to protect you. You’re in danger.” The guy took a step closer to Kirsten, she found herself clenching the gun tighter. Her fingernails digging painfully into her palms, but she took no notice. “I’m from the a place called the S.S.A. My name’s Casher. Kirsten your in danger, we have to go, I can help.”
“What’s the S.S.A., and what makes you think I’m going anywhere with you?” Kirsten questioned. She wished she had never been sick today. All she had was a stupid fever, she could have gone to school. If she had none of this would be happening.
The guy took a deep breath, as if letting his frustration with her out. “I can’ t tell you what the S.S.A. is but didn’t I just save you from getting your brains shot? That’s enough reason to trust me isn’t it?”he took another step forward. “Now, put the gun down.”
Slowly Kirsten found herself putting the gun down on the ugly yellow-brown shag carpeting. She slowly unclenched her hands from it and stood up.
“Good, now we have to go. It won’t be long before the Obells sends more men out to see what’s taking Cheryl so long,” Casher said.
“Oh, I can’t go anywhere. I’m sick,” Kirsten said. The last time she had checked her fever it had been at 101.4. Casher looked at her with a look that said he really didn’t care. “And I’m in my pj’s,” Casher looked at her as if realizing that she was in pink and orange polka-dotted cotton bottoms, a smiling monkey tee, and froggy slippers.
“Doesn’t matter. We have to go now,” Casher said pushing past her, his destination the front door.
“Wait, can I at least brush my hair first?” Kirsten asked quickly.
Casher turned around. “No! We have to-“ a loud banging from upstairs interrupted him, but Kirsten knew how his sentence would have ended. “They’re coming in from the skylight copycats,” Casher muttered to himself. “Let’s go,” he said, but Kirsten just stood there looking up at the landing. Casher let out an angry sigh and grabbed Kirsten’s arm and pulled her out the door.
“Wait, lemme grab my shoes!” Kirsten screeched.
“Hey! She’s getting away!” came a loud gruff voice.
“Never mind, slippers are fine,” Kirsten said quickly.
“Thought you’d say that,” Casher said breaking into a run. Kirsten tried to keep up with him but he was too fast, mostly she just let him drag her down the black to his shiny new black car. “Get in!” he shouted and rolled over on the hood to the drivers side. Gun shots could be heard. Kirsten was screaming in fear, she opened the door with nervous fingers and slid into the leather seat. She slammed the door shut. Casher was already putting the key in the ignition. “Buckle up!” he shouted. Kirsten fastened her seat belt as Casher’s car tore up the street with its speed.
They were speeding down the small neighborhood. Kirsten pressed her back against the seat, she squeezed shut her eyes and prayed a silent prayer to God for her life. She hoped that when she opened her eyes again she would be in bed watching MTV, no such luck. Casher was now on the highway, quickly passing cars.
“Slow down!” Kirsten snapped.
“Sorry, no can do,” Casher said with a smile, “unless you want them to catch up.”
“We are going way to fast for them to catch us!” Kirsten shrieked.
“Are you sure about that?” Casher said, still smiling. Kirsten slowly turned around to look out the back window. “They’re the black Cadillac.” Casher said.
Kirsten’s eyes widened. They were just five cars down and getting closer. “Speed up, speed up!” she shouted. Casher laughed.
“I thought you’d say that,” he slammed his foot down on the gas pedal and the shot forward going at least 110 miles an hour.
“Oh my god I’m gonna die,” Kirsten said to herself. Casher smiled. “So what do they want anyway?” she asked.
“You,” Casher said not taking his eyes off the road.
“Me? Why?” she asked.
“Sorry, no can do. I don’t think I’m allowed to tell you that,”
“There’s a lot your not allowed to tell me,” Kirsten pouted crossing her arms over her chest. She turned around again, the black Cadillac was nowhere in sight. “I think we lost ‘em. You can slow down now,” she told him. Now that the shock was gone it was being replaced with confusion and questions. Who was this guy? What was the S.S.A.? Who were the strange people with guns? And what was going to happen to her? Her mind finally settled on a question. “What happens next?”
“I take you to HQ, headquarters and I move on to my next assignment. You’ll probably get to stay there for a while till they get this all sorted out. Eventually they’ll probably give you some memory manager and none of this will have happened,” Casher explained.
“You mean you’re just gonna drop me off with crazy people to take messed up stuff so you can go on and save the next damsel in distress!” Kirsten spat out.
“Yeah pretty much. Except it might be a guy I’m saving,”
Kirsten’s mouth dropped open. “No way! That’s bull! Let me out, no way am I just some task for you to complete so you can get some gold star!” she snapped coldly. Casher was now off the highway and was driving at a normal speed on some country road.
“Sorry, no can do,” Casher said, “Don’t take it personally though, I’m just doing my job.”
Kirsten didn’t say anything. Her trust for Casher had just flown out the window, she didn’t care whether or not he had saved her life. She was fuming on the inside. She wasn’t just some annoying package to be delivered then forgotten. If Casher was jsut gonna leave her at ‘HQ’ then she would at least make it not so easy. Right now, she wanted home and her parents. Kirsten shut her eyes and brought up her legs so she was sitting cross legged on the seat.
“How much longer?” she asked, eyes still closed.
“About an hour and a half,” came Caasher’s response.
“Kay,” Kirsten said. She opened her eyes. She knew what she was going to do. The land was flat, you could see what was ahead of you for miles. Kirsten watched Casher drive. He was definitely a car guy. He cringed when Kirsten sneezed on the seat, and when Kirsten held her breath she could barely make out Casher’s soft voice whispering to it. Finally she saw a small building ahead, time for plan A. Suddenly Kirsten closed her eyes and gripped the edges of her seat. She knew her fever was bad now, her face was all hot and sweaty.
“Hey, are you okay?” Casher asked.
Eyes still closed Kirsten shook her head no. “I think I’m gonna be sick,” she said smiling on the inside.
“Oh, no way! You are not getting sick in my car!” Casher said panicky.
“Uhh, I feel sick!” she moaned and covered her hand with her mouth.
“Um, hey! There’s a gas station here, there’s a bathroom in the back!” Casher said pulling over. Kirsten ran out of the car and into the store, Casher behind her. “I’ll wait here!” he said as she went into the bathroom.
Kirsten waited until the door was shut before she let out a giggle. He was so easily fooled. Thankfully there was a small window above the sink. Too easy, she thought to herself. Kirsten was thankful that there was no mirror in here to see how bad she looked. Kirsten climbed up on the sink and stood up, her slippers sliding on the wet dirty surface. She pried open the window and pushed herself up and out, head first. She put her hands out in front of her and slid down the wall so she wouldn’t smack her head on the dirt ground.
Kirsten brushed herself off and considered her options. If she made a run for it Casher was sure to catch up in a matter of minutes. Kirsten quickly ran back to the front of the gas station and snuck in. She hid behind a greeting card display where she was hidden from view but could still see. She suppressed her laughter as Casher called her name.
“Kirsten? Kirsten are you okay?” Kirsten held her breath and watched as Casher went inside the bathroom then came out moments later his face red with anger. He stormed out, the man at the register laughing at him. Casher stormed out and got in his car and drove away. Kirsten stood up, and did a victory cheer inside her head.
“Thanks for not saying anything,” she said to the cashier guy.
“Anytime sugar. You’re the first of many to actually come back inside,” said the man, his name tag read Bert.
“Well I had a feeling I wouldn’t get very far on flat land,” Kirsten said with a little laugh. Bert laughed too.
“Hun there’s some flip flops in the back. Why don’t you grab a pair on the house?” Bert said eyeing her slippers.
“Oh thanks,” Kirsten flashed a smile. She walked slowly down the aisle to the back where on the bottom shelf there was a bunch of dinky one dollar flip flops. She grabbed a pink pair and left her slippers on the floor.
Bert cut the tags off the flip flops and wished Kirsten good luck.
“Thanks again,” Kirsten said as she walked out the store and went in the opposite direction that Casher’s car went. She had no idea where she was going and was a little shaky about everything that happened. She didn’t want to encounter any of those people ever again. She didn’t know whose side Casher was one, the good or the bad, she didn’t even really know if there was a good side. Kirsten let out a frustrated sigh.
After about ten minutes of walking Kirsten found herself in a small dinky town with the quant name of Clover Bay. It was 11:31 according to the gaint clock tower in the middle of town. She could tell the people passing by her were looking at her twice but she didn’t really care. So what if she was in her pj’s? So what if she looked a mess? So what if she was walking around in a small town on a Tuesday? All she wanted was to go home where things made sense. Finally she found a pay phone, now all she needed was fifty cents. She looked around for a non scary face, finally an elderly man came hobbling by.
“Excuse me sir, could I bother you for some change?” she asked politely.
“Oh of course dear, quarters right?” the man said in a voice that seemed strangely familiar.
“Yeah,” Kirsten said uneasily, for some reason the man gave off a weird vibe, and Kirsten couldn’t place where she had heard his voice before.
“Hold on one second,” the man said and suddenly Kirsten knew where she had heard it before, it was the voice that had called out when she and Casher had been leaving her house. Uh Oh.
“Uh, yeah I just remembered that I need to be somewhere. But thanks anyway,” Kirsten said panicky and turned around and started walking briskly away. The old man caught her arm though.
“Where do you think you’re going Kirsten?” he spat, then used his other arm to peel off his face, revealing a much younger one underneath. Kirsten opened her mouth as if to scream. “You scream and I shoot.” the man showed Kirsten a gun stealthily hidden inside his coat. There was no way out this time, she was dead.