Fear Me More

Jasmine calmly surveyed the classroom with dismay. Poor Penelope, her sometimes evil twin, lay in pieces on the floor. A screaming Karen had been led from the room moments before. Jasmine knew she would have to leave before the crime scene photographers returned.

No one knew about Penelope, sure Karen always blamed everything on a certain "Melanie"1 but Penelope was for real, not a pile of bones in six-month's backyard.2 Penelope was very good at math, while Jasmine usually blanked out when she had to add 2+2. so Jasmine would go blazing down the hall after the bell rang and Karen would always get lost in the crowd. Little did Karen now while Jasmine was expertly winding through the crowd like a crocodile gliding through the Nile she really disappeared into the bathroom while Penelope sneakily emerged from a locker. By the time Karen caught up with her usual "Sure, Jasmine, just ditch me" she had no idea that she was confronting Penelope.

While Jasmine had waited by the staircase to take over at 2nd hour, history being one of her better subjects, she had found it oddly curious to spy people from her pre calc class wandering around the halls in a daze, seemingly calling for Karen and her. And who was the one lost little sheep, wandering about shouting, "Mr. Alfalfa?! Mr. Alfalfa!"3 Where people get these crazie ideas these days.... Then she had heard Karen's screams and from the window could see a figure flying down the street, blonde hair flapping behind her and a bloody sweatshirt in her arms. Now as Jasmine picked her way over dismembered body parts and avoided looking at the glassy eyes she realized that Sara had made a devastating mistake, one that would cost her everything.

She glanced down at her sandals. "Auh! Blood on my shoes?! Stinky!" she complained. She irritably exited the Ash Street entrance. "Wahoo!" she suddenly shouted, her mood brightening. "I get out of my history test! I'm dead! Hahahaha!!!!" Some people dressed all in black, probably from the artsy-fartsy crowd, maybe druggies, eyed her strangely but went back to their mellow whispering.4

Jasmine had never been particularly fond of Penelope, just because she had gotten A's in math for her for the past ten years didn't mean Jasmine owed her anything. But Jasmine felt like avenging her death, it was just one of those days. Sadly though, she knew she could not do this AND return to her normal life, confessing about Penelope. If Karen and Phoebe realized that jasmine was still alive they would also of course realize that jasmine had avenged penelope's death and would kill sara. and then they wouldn't be her friends anymore?! )~: No one will play with her.5 but jasmine decided it would be worth it.

Everyone knew that Sara had disappeared forever but Jasmine knew exactly where to find her.......at the den looking for her nirvana cd of course!!! hopping a bus to state street ("can i borrow a bus pass, gabe?"6) she quickly skirted past the hoodlums to the den (Where is that again?) and sure enough, two black docs edged along the rows and stopped. the clacking of the plastic cases clicking together taunted jasmine as she hid on theopposite side, evilily eyeing the two docs.7 "Nuooo!!!!!! They don't have it!!!" sara whined. She was about to stomp out of the store when she saw the bloody adidas sandals8 with twitching toes on the other side of the rack.

impossible, sara thought, shaking the thought from her head like a dog shakes off water. she jogged out of the store, not bothering to look over her shoulder. she would have to make one last stop home to pick up her meticulously packed suitcase before leaving for seattle. hot wiring a yellow convertible that just happened to be sitting there sara high-tailed it home. she of course manuevered excellent left and right turns, but all in all, she got a 63%9, running a few lights and crushing a couple of pedestrians.

wouldn't you know that just as she was screaming down the road (and could have sworn she spotted a tank in her review mirror) she flattened a porcupine and blew her back right tire. grumbling she pulled over and walked the rest of the way to karen's house. busting into the garage she took julie's bike and helmet (and to her dismay found that the stupid gears wouldn't shift) and ended up ditching the piece of junk at the park. she would have wheeled it home, cuz it was a pretty nice bike, but she was afraid of fracturing her elbow.10 some fool at the park had left his wallet and checkbook.11 i'll need these in seattle, she thought as she scooped them up. by the time she got home it was getting dark. unfortunately, the door was locked and for some reason herbie just wasn't answering. she rang the bell for about ten minutes but finally went over to the fillingames. using their phone she called, but no one answered so she left a message on the machine, "herbie, why aren't you answering the door? i need to get in." by the time she hiked back to her own home marlene had unlocked the door. herbie had been sleeping and was laffing hysterically when sara complained about being locked out.12 sara was just slipping her discman and a few cds in her carry-on when the phone rang.

forgetting herself and thinking it must be karen, she eagerly picked it up, "hello?"

"do you like scary movies, sara?"

"karen! that's not funnie!"

"what's your favorite scary movie, sara?"

"dammit, stop it!"

"are you alone, sara?" there came a rattling at the window and undaunted sara peeked through the blinds. seeing her own reflection she screamed and dived to the floor.13

"all right sara, we're going to play a little game. i'm going to ask you a question. if you get it wrong, you die. if you get it right.....well, you die. oh hell, let's just skip the question, shall we?"

as sara pulled herself up on the bed and looked at the digital clock on her table she saw the time. it was exactly 8:56 PM.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" came the harsh scream as jasmine stealthily flew through the air. she whacked sara on the head with the exact nirvana cd she had been looking for. in the dark her eyes were like two luminous peas. with moves like a jungle carrot15 she pounced on the unsuspecting sara. brandishing a knife she held the phone to her ear and hissed into it, "whoops, there goes my nose" and with one deft move she brought the knife down on sara's nose. and it bounced off her flesh like a rubberball.

"damn, wrong side" jasmine swore. this time chopping with the sharp edge of the knife sara's nose came clean off and landed with a little plop on the wooden floor. "Oops, there goes an ear" the whisper echoed in sara's ear as she still clutched the phone to her ear. and jasmine quickly cleaved off an ear. "Oh no! my toes!" and there went sara's toes, one by one. one of the toes landed by the nose.

"now toe, this isn't the time to be picking sara's boogers," jasmine scolded. lastly, jasmine chopped off sara's left hand. she would let her live a life, but only as a damned rightie.

with glassy confused eyes sara gazed up at the face she had killed 12 hours before. this is a dream, she told herself, i killed jasmine. in her hand was a cracked cd case. "oh look," she mumbled, "it's my cd." the last thing she heard before she blacked out was jasmine cackling manically, "hmmm......if i had killed you maybe andy would've gotten to flush you. oh well, too bad." and with a laugh she galloped off.

passing through the kitchen to the backdoor jasmine spotted something on the counter. "yummy, bread" she said gleefully. she snatched up the half-eaten loaf and burst out through their screen porch under the dark sky with the glittering stars and the moon, a tiny grin shining down on her. jasmine vaulted over the stairs and then did a rather karen like thing.

anybody looking out their window that fateful night would have seen a dark figure hobbling down the sidewalk, expertly stealing through the darkness, clutching a loaf of bread.