Rebecca, Eggs, and The Faceless, Old Man (2)

For a moment, Rebecca did just nothing. She waited until it was almost dark, but nothing happened anymore. She stretched her arms and shrugged her shoulders. “Well, I guess I’ll just go home now.” She took her belongings and left the room.

On the way home, Rebecca saw Mr. Trip lying on the sidewalk on his stomach. Rebecca rushed over to Mr. Trip. She turned his body over and quickly backed away. Mr. Trip lost his face. Rebecca ran straight home. When she made it home, she slammed the front door and locked it. Rebecca's mom, Theresa, walked to Rebecca.

“What's the matter, baby? Hurry and change. We have a guest,” said Theresa.

“Who?” asked Rebecca.

“Your teacher, Mr. Trip, of course.” answered Theresa.

Rebecca's face froze.

“I am sorry, Mom. I don’t feel well. I guess I need to take a rest. Say my greetings to Mr. Trip. Uhuk, uhuk,” Rebecca made false cough and got silent.

“Are you fine, baby? Should we bring you to the doctor?” Theresa sounded worried.

“I am okay, Mom. I just need some sleep.”

“All right. Sleep well, then.”

She heard her mother’s footsteps backing away. But her heart kept pounding hard. Her back felt cold.

Rebecca tossed and turned in her bed. Someone opened her door. She saw her mom. Her mom tucked her in tight. She pats Rebecca on her head.

“Thanks, mom.” said Rebecca.

“Who said I'm your mom?” said Theresa's mouth with an old man's voice.

Rebecca woke up in sweat.

She fell back into sleep even though nightmares kept haunting her afterward. The next morning, she convinced herself that all was just a dream. Everything was going to be fine. She went to the witch academy. Everything went as usual, just as she thought, so far, except for she didn’t see Eggs. Maybe he was sick, Rebecca thought. By the end of the day, while other students were making their ways out of the class and Rebecca was still putting her books and stationary into her bag, someone approached her. She looked up and she saw that Mr. Trip was smiling at her. “Good to see you, Rebecca. You look very well today. Yesterday I went to your house and ….” Rebecca jumped out of out her seat and ran. “Rebecca, we need to talk!” She heard Mr. Trip called out but she kept running away.

Now that she thought about it, she kind of wanted to know what Mr. Trip had to say, if she could even call him that. She stood still and looked back. She saw Mr. Trip advancing towards her. She couldn't do it. She ran away again.

“Stupid Eggs never taught me how to use my broom,” cried Rebecca. Mr. Trip was gaining in her. She was running out of time.

Out of nowhere came Eggs flying with broom. He caught Rebecca by her arm. “Oh, gosh, you’re heavy,” and he almost fell. But Rebecca managed to pull herself and sat behind Eggs.

“Eggs,” said Rebecca. “I thought you only knew how to fly a vacuum cleaner.”

“Uh oh,” cried Eggs. “Why did you have to remind me.”

The two of them flew into the wall. Eggs pulled out a bottle. He threw it at the ground. Smoke filled the air. Eggs grabbed Rebecca's hand and rushed out.

Rebecca sat down on Eggs bed. Eggs bring her a glass of orange juice. Rebecca played with her hair while Eggs searched through his books.

“I found a book on the faceless man,” said Eggs.

“Good, but why do you want to stop him?” asked Rebecca.

“I don't care about stopping him,” answered Eggs. “I just want to give Mr. Trip his face back so I can give him a black eye.”

“Oh my gosh,” said Rebecca.

“Found it,” said Eggs.

Eggs sat down next to Rebecca and opened the book. Rebecca's face turned red.

“Have you got fever or something?” Eggs noticed. “I gave you a glass of orange, not bitroot nor tomato.”

“I need to go to the bathroom,” said Rebecca. She rushed.

In the bathroom she washed her face to cool down. When she looked at the mirror, she only saw eyes. Some parts of her face were gone. She couldn’t even scream because her mouth wasn’t there. She must hurry before she lose her eyes and can't make her way back to Eggs’ room. But she stumbled and then it’s too late. She couldn’t see anything any more.

Rebecca knocked on the wall. Eggs heard the sound and asked, “Are you okay?” He waited for a reply, but heard nothing. Rebecca wanted to cry but she did not have eyes to cry tears. She was stuck in a sticky situation. She didn't know what to do. She didn't want to move because there could be sharp objects lying around.

Eggs began to wonder why Rebecca took so long in the bathroom. He knocked the bathroom door several times. “Are you having diarrhea or something?” but he didn't hear any answer. He got bad premonition.

“Should I open the door?” asked Eggs. “Nah. She is probably pooping. Wait, but I don't smell anything. She is probably changing clothes. Wait, she doesn't have an extra pair of clothes.”

The sound of glass breaking came from the bathroom. The bathroom door opened. Rebecca popped her head out.

“Sorry, I tried opening the window and accidently broke it,” explained Rebecca.

“Here, let me clean it up,” said Eggs.

“That's okay. My mess, my responsibility.”

Rebecca closed the door. An unconscious Rebecca with no face lied on the bathroom floor. The other Rebecca smiles. 

To be continued ....

This is the story I wrote with Sam Pham, someone I met on Bottled. He initiated the first paragraph, as before.