Free Flicker by Arreyn Grey Page A

early?”
                  “We had an electrical line short-circuit at the office, and there was no point in staying if we couldn't get any work done. So I ask again,” her mother said sternly, planting her hands on her hips. “Who was that boy?”
                  Elise glared at her. “Apparently, having a friend is a crime now?” She demanded sarcastically, annoyed at her mother's accusatory persistence.
                  “Only when you seem so guilty about it,” Marie retorted immediately.
                  “You're out of your mind,” Elise snapped, and ignoring whatever her mother replied with, she swept past her and up the stairs. “I have homework to do.”
                  Once she was safely hidden in her room, however, Elise dumped her heavy backpack on the floor and sank onto her bed, scouring among the pillows until she located her old stuffed cat. Clutching Mr. Fluff to her chest as she had done far too many times over the past few years, she stared out the window and breathed deeply until she was sure she wouldn't cry.
                  She hadn't meant to get so defensive, but her mother's disparaging tone had made her feel like walking home with Alex had somehow been wrong. She supposed her mother was downstairs misconstruing her attitude into something much worse than it had been, picturing Elise with that boy sneaking around while she and Elise's father were at work-- Elise felt, often, as if they were watching her for signs that she was doing exactly that. Rather than have to listen to her parents go back and forth at dinner about how poorly behaved she had been and how her loose morals and lack of respect for herself could damage her future, she decided just to stay in her room. She was well aware, having done the same thing for much the same reason throughout her entire high school career, that missing a meal or two wouldn't kill her. Flopping onto her stomach, she stowed Mr. Fluff back under her pillows and grabbed the book she had to read for English class. Great Expectations wasn't her ideal read, necessarily, but thinking about Pip's problems was better than thinking about her own.
     
                  The next day, Elise woke up feeling gloomy and like she wanted to cry, though she didn't immediately remember why. As she cuddled in her nest of soft blankets, fragments of a dream fluttered through her mind-- something about hiding in her room because some undefinable thing was chasing her, a thing that stomped up and down the stairs all night while she cowered underneath her blankets... But there was something in the room with her, too, something that wanted to pull off the covers and her nightgown and even her skin, strip her down to her raw nerves and force her out into the light where everyone could see...
                  She shivered violently, rolling onto her side and pulling the covers up around her throat as she fought the urge to be sick.
                  BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!! Elise jumped a mile, her heart hammering in her throat. Apparently, she'd woken up mere minutes before her alarm went off. Fighting to ignore the way her surging adrenaline sent tingles down into the tips of her fingers, she reached over to shut the stupid thing off. Between her nightmares and the alarm clock, Elise was an uncomfortable combination of heavy and jittery, her stomach twisted and her limbs tingling. She had skipped her shower last night as well as dinner, a decision that left her skin feeling sticky and tight. Overall, she thought miserably, today was off to an unpleasant start.
                  It wasn't until she was rushing into the shower that Elise really remembered the likely cause of her poor night's sleep. Scowling, she scrubbed herself vigorously, glad she had chosen to hide in her room and go to bed early. Her parents' blatant hypocrisy was annoying at the best of times, but