Midnight Heights - S.J (life changing books to read .txt) 📗

and in fear of what was yet to come. I couldn't really see the guy's face but I could see that he was pretty tall and had black silky hair. Just from the look of his body language, I knew that he was just as scared of Leona as everyone else in the room.


Leona's expression suddenly changed from mischief to curiosity. She grinned. "Anthony, wow. I can't believe you would do something like this. Up here, now."


I watched in both curiosity and fear, as Anthony made his way up to the front of the room next to Leona. Once he was standing next to her, Leona looked to three men who seemed to have come out of nowhere, and then gestured her hand towards Anthony. Two of the men held on to Anthony's arms, while the other man held something that looked like a bat, in his hands.


I swallowed and turned to look at Allie. "She can't do this." I said, but in my head I knew that there was nothing any of us could do about it.


I was suddenly starting to see why everyone feared Leona, I mean; she was crazy for goodness sake! So what if the kid broke the rules, I broke the rules all the time and I've never gotten beaten with a bat, instead I've been sent to a place with crazy people who apparently beat other people with bats.


I watched as the bat in the man hands connected with Anthony's stomach; leaving him crying out in pain. Just when I thought that it was over, Anthony cried out again as the bat slammed him in the stomach once more. The guy kept beating him over and over again, hitting him in the stomach and on his legs. Without realizing it, a tear escaped from my eye in an instant from what I had to witness. I looked over at Emily and Allie who looked just as scared as I was. There was nothing right about what they were doing right now. Leona couldn't possibly have permission to treat other peoples' kids this way. I took a breath once I noticed Anthony's beating was over and wiped away the tears from my eyes.

Leona smiled her annoying smile that I have grown to hate already.

"Let this be a lesson to any of you who wants to break the rules here. There will

be consequences for your actions." She stated.

I rolled my eyes in an annoyed manner. This was it. I was going to call my parents and tell them everything that just happened and then I was going to beg them to come and get Emily and me. After they hear about the horrible things that have happened already, they will rush to get us.

"Okay everyone, you're dismissed. Off to class now." Leona made her way out of the room in an instant.

Something's not right.

I sat at the back of the classroom next to Emily and Allie and tried very hard to listen to what Mr. Roman was saying. Mr. Roman was supposed to be our "Guidance" teacher and teach us about how we're supposed to respect ourselves and crap like that. I knew that it was probably best that I listen to him but I couldn't help but wonder if Anthony was okay. So many questions ran threw my mind completely unanswered.

Will he be okay?

Is he Hurt?

Where is he?

So I was completely obsessing about it but could you blame me? Everyone just sat there and watched a person, a human being, getting beat up badly and now they just expect us to focus in class as if we hadn't just witnessed that? There was no way I could do that. All I cared about was if that boy was going to be okay. He just had to be.


"Criss, you okay?" Emily whispered.


"Yes." I lied, but of course Emily already knew that. None of us were okay, not after what we just saw. I mean, how could we be?

I noticed everyone getting up from their seats and realized class was now over. I must have missed the whole lesson just thinking about what had happened earlier. I stood up from my seat and began to follow the crowd out of the room until Mr. Roman called my name.


"Can I talk to you for a minute Crystal?" he asked.

I turned to look at Emily who was standing beside me.


"We'll wait outside the door for you." she said before leaving out.


I walked to the front of Mr. Roman's desk and waited curiously to hear what he was going to say. He looked kind of concerned for some reason, as if something was heavily on his mind. I could tell that something was bothering him, but didn't quite know what it was.


"Is everything okay? I couldn't help but notice how "out of it" you looked today." he told me.


I forced a smile as I nodded. "Sorry, my mind was in a different place."


"Care to share?"


I let the fake smile drop from my face as I could see that he was clearly not buying my fake reaction. I understood that he was my guidance teacher and all that, but the idea of me sharing my "feelings" with him, kind of made me feel embarrassed. Not to mention he was a complete stranger to me, but on the other hand, I was just dying to get what I felt out and who better to share your feelings and thoughts with than a guidance counselor? I mean, what's the worst that could happen?


I took a deep breath. "Something is really bothering me and I just don't know what to do about it."


"What is it that's bothering you exactly?"


I began to pace back and forth in front of his desk, trying to calm myself, but I couldn't. There was a million things going through my mind right now and I just couldn't sort them all out. It was like having a glitch in your brain and no matter how much you wanted it gone it just wouldn't leave.

"I don't understand why they had to beat him like that just to teach him a lesson. Everyone just sat there and watched and nobody did anything about it. He was standing there, crying out in pain after being beaten over and over again."


I can't even describe how I was feeling at that moment. Just replaying what I saw in my head over and over again made me want to throw up. I wasn't used to seeing people get beat up the way Anthony did. Yeah there were parties I went to and guys got in fights and stuff, but it wasn't the same. Nobody held their hands back while another guy batted them in the stomach multiple times.


"Crystal, I understand what you're feeling. Although I wasn't there this morning to see what had happened, I have very well witnessed it before. I'm sorry, but if you break the rules, Leona will not let you get away with it."


"Yeah, so like beating a kid half to death is going to solve anything!" I shouted.


"Crystal, you really should keep your voice down."


"No! You know what this place is crazy and so is everybody in it!"


"Crystal.." I heard him call, but I didn't care to stop now, I was way to upset.


"She can't do this! She can't treat us like this. Someone have to do something. You have to do something." I realized my face was soaked in tears now, but I didn't care.

It was never like me to cry in front of people but after what I saw happened, I couldn't help but cry. When I was a kid, I would always get cut by the sharp leaves in our garden, and even though it stung pretty badly I never cried about it. My mom told me that I had great strength like her and that I could pull through just about anything. I guess I'm not as strong as I thought I was.


Mr. Roman took a breath. "I can't do anything Crystal and you shouldn't either. I'm sorry you had to witness that. I'm sorry you all had to witness that, but it's completely out of my control, you have to understand."


"Well I don't." I snapped.

I quickly made my way to the door and existed out of it. Emily and Allie was standing against the wall, waiting for me.

Emily looked concerned once she saw how angry I was.


"What happened?" she asked.


"Midnight Heights is what happened." I took in a deep breath and tried to calm myself.

All I really needed was to get a grip and try to calm down. How am I supposed to survive at this place for the rest of the summer? I just knew there was no way I was making it out alive.

"There's something I think I should tell you guys because it seems you have no clue." Allie said.

I nodded. "What is it?"

Allie glanced around at the crowd of kids passing through the hallway and then she looked back at us. "Not here. Follow me."

She started down the hallway and me and Emily followed closely behind her. She suddenly stopped in front of what looked to be a supply closet and pulled me and Emily in with her. Allie made sure the door was all the way closed so that no one would hear us. Inside, the space was so small and tight, that I could barely feel my legs. I looked at Allie.

"After I tell you this, it will change everything." she started off.

Me and Emily exchanged a glance and then nodded. I had no idea what Allie was about to tell us but judging by the look on her face, I knew it was really serious.

She let out a breath. "Midnight Heights is not the place you think it is, in fact, it's not what anybody thinks it is. Leona wants nobody to know what's behind Midnight Heights and now I'm getting the feeling that she's up to something."


"What do you mean?" Emily wondered.


"Did you see the way she had that man to beat Anthony the way that he did, only because he broke her rules? She doesn't want any of us to know the truth."


It finally made sense. Leona was actually crazy and now I