The Second Tuesday of Last Week On the Tuesday of last week, a girl named Fran was walking to school. It was a very foggy morning. Fran’s mother had suggested Fran bring a flashlight, but she said no and that she would make it ok. As Fran turned the corner on to Square Chalk Lane, she was startled by a bird squawking very loudly in a nearby tree. She could only see a foot in front of herself. She kept walking, she knew where she was going, she had walked it everyday to school for the past 4 years of her schooling. She knew that three blocks down Square Chalk Lane, she would turn on to Twenty-First Street. Fran made it to the turn without any problems. However, as soon as she turned onto Twenty-First Street, she saw a pair of splittingly deep sharp green eyes. She figured they were cat’s eyes, however as she walked nearer and nearer to the eyes, she became dizzy. She looked at the scars on her leg from when she was six years old. They suddenly disappeared and blood started pouring down her leg, just like it had when she had acquired the scars. Fran wasn’t going to let this get to her; she just kept walking and telling herself it would stop soon. The eyes had disappeared as the blood began seeping into her sock. She continued as she was for a few minutes, and then began getting dizzy again, looked ahead and saw the glaring deep green eyes again. Fran swore she heard her friend’s voices at the school telling her to keep going. She looked up to see that she was at her next turn, the eyes already ahead of her. She thought that maybe the eyes were there to lead her through the fog, so she followed them onto Thirteenth Street. The school was 2 blocks away, but Fran was beginning to get scared. She was now so dizzy, she couldn’t walk straight anymore, and her head began pounding. She heard very loud screaming and scratching noises in her head. She heard a young girl crying, gasping for air through her tears. Fran could barely hear the girl saying “I want to be good enough. Help me someone. I don’t want to…” The girl cut off her sentence. All the noises stopped, just for a peaceful moment. Fran could see the school ahead, the fog was lifting…or so she thought. Just as Fran was walking onto the school property, the whole world around her whirled to a stop. The school disappeared and she saw more eyes of amazing colors. The brown eyes were deep and sad; they looked as though they were crying. The most vibrant eyes were the blue ones. They seemed to light up the whole area and Fran felt happy from looking at them. The green, brown, and hazel eyes made Fran feel depressed and shut out. The blood had finally stopped pouring down her leg. Just like before, the voices started in her head. This time, the two loudest voices were both girls, and they seemed very unhappy. They were fighting over music. One did not like the other’s rock, and threatened to take away all her C.D.’s and burn them. This fight was short and ended in a very loud –SLAP! - noise. Then, she heard another pair of voices become loud. This time she heard a teenage boy and girl. The voices sounded tired but happy. Fran could hear a movie playing in the background. The boy said “Amy,” and tried to wake the girl up, but she just groaned. Then he again said “Amy,” and this time the girl responded, “Yes, Ben?” Ben said “I have to go, I’m sorry, we can’t be together anymore.” Amy started crying. Fran could only imagine what was going through poor Amy’s head. Then Fran realized these voices she had been hearing, every single one of them, were her friends and family. The eyes had lead Fran to a reality check. She now realized why her friends were becoming unhappy. And then she realized that the first voice she had heard was her own. She fell on the ground, wondering why she would say that. The eyes had since disappeared, and Fran was back on school property. She was very confused, but decided to go on with her day. That next few days were just about the worst days Fran could have had. In the halls, she heard people talking about the freak screaming on the front lawn this morning. Fran wasn’t sure who this “Freak” was, but she assumed it was her when she got called down to the main office during homeroom. The principal and superintendent needed to see her. Fran was very scared on her way down to the office. The secretary’s voice startled her, “Fran, please go right into Mr.Cortown’s office.” Fran did as she was told, and took a seat in a very comfortable chair. Mr.Dotura, the superintendent gave Fran an evil look. Mr.Cortown started speaking. “Fran, a number of students heard you screaming this morning on the school’s front lawn. Is there anything you would like to tell me?” he said. Fran replied “No sir, I don’t remember anything that happened this morning,” she lied. Mr.Dotura added, “Are you sure Fran? You scared a lot of students today,” very energetically. Fran nodded. Of course she wasn’t going to tell anyone what happened, no one would believe her! Mr.Cortown released Fran to sit in the main office until the end of first period. The secretary, Mrs.Eltoran told Fran that there was five minutes until the bell rang, so she would be better off waiting for it. Fran silently agreed, still confused about the voices she had heard. The bell rang as usual, and Fran headed off to her second class of the day: math. Fran didn’t like math, even though it was her best class grade wise. The kids all laughed at her as she walked in. Even Fran’s good friend Gabrielle, Gabby for short, was pointing and laughing. Fran could not believe this was happening, but she continued to her seat in the back of the room. The teacher finally got the class to settle down after the second bell rang, and told them to take out their homework. Finally! Fran had something right. She took out her homework and set it on her desk. The teacher, Mrs.Horillen, collected the homework, and handed out a new page for notes. Fran never liked taking notes, but who did for that matter? Fran copied down all the notes and started her homework assignment. The boy to her left, Icigo, Ici for short, handed Fran a note from his gang of guys, including Ben. The note ridiculed Fran and said how much of a freak she was. Fran felt as though someone was stabbing her heart with a frozen knife. Her insides twisted, and felt cold. Fran was so angry; she got up, walked over to Ben’s desk, and punched him in the face. Ben did not punch her back, “What was that for Fran!?” was his reply. Fran shoved the note in his face and walked away. Ben read the note until the bell rang for third period. Fran got up and walked towards her third class of the day, Spanish. She was taking this class as extra credit, instead of a study hall. Everything went perfect through Spanish; it was Fran’s favorite class. –BEEP! - The bell startled Fran from working on her homework. “Fourth period, fourth period” Fran thought aloud. She had to go to English. This was her least favorite class of the day. She absolutely despised her teacher, Mr.Jeichol. He was always telling her what she did wrong, the way he acted; he seemed to think nothing Fran did was right. Fran walked into the classroom to find Mr.Jeichol laughing and chatting with Mr.Cortown. Fran took her seat, read the board and got her journal off the shelf. On the board was this assignment: Write in your journals about a good childhood memory. Paragraph form, at least 3 paragraphs. You will have 20 minutes to complete this assignment. Fran sat in her seat and stared at the blank page. She had no clue what to write…she was frantically searching her brain for a good childhood memory. Then Fran got it, the first time she went apple picking with her family!! She remembered taking her dog with her, to Kennedy’s orchard. She wrote “I remember the first time I went apple picking. I went with my family and my dog to Kennedy’s Orchard in September when I was 7 years old. I had tons of fun trying new apples and climbing trees! I accidentally fell out of one but my dad caught me. My dog, Laurence Licorice, was such a sweetie! I loved him so much. We had to put him down when I turned 8. But back to the apple picking…we picked 6 basketfuls of Macintosh, Empire, Red Delicious, and Granny Smith Apples. I liked the Empire’s best. My mom told me that New York’s State Nickname was the Empire State, so I assumed that all New Yorkers like Empires. I had so much fun on that apple picking trip, and I have been apple picking every year since.” Fran looked up at the clock and saw she had 1 minute left to re read her writing, and then Mr.Jeichol, collected the Journals. He told them that for the last 20 minutes of class, they could talk to their friends while he graded their writing. Everybody immediately starting chatting about what Fran did that morning. Everybody was drilling her with questions, and she didn’t know the answers. She finally told everyone to buzz off and shut up about 5 minutes before the bell. She couldn’t help being mad at everyone of her “friends” who she thought she had, because they had all betrayed her and were giving her dirty looks across the room. Her best friend, or so she had thought, Mike, had turned against her. She couldn’t blame them. From what Fran had been told, what had happened was scary for everyone around her. The bell rang, and Fran got up and headed to her fifth period class, Social Studies. The teacher, Mrs.Natallly, was really nice. She was always happy. Sometimes, too happy. This annoyed Fran, but she did her best to ignore it. In Social studies, Fran was learning about World War II. Fran loved learning about Hitler. However, when Fran walked in the room, the voices started again. She shut them out. The teacher’s eyes were like the green eyes Fran had been seeing that morning. Fran was very freaked out. She took her usual seat, and waited for the bell to ring, but it never did. The fire alarm went off and screaming was all that could be heard. Fran looked in the hallway and saw people running from bright orange and red flames. Fran decided to go out of the room, and onto the roof, down the escape ladder and be free. Mrs.Natallly did not follow her, even though Fran begged her to do so. Fran finally decided to get out, even if she was alone. So, she opened the escape window, went onto the roof and walked to find the fire escape ladder. She was amazed at how calm she was staying. As she was climbing down the ladder, she saw the Fire fighters from her town, Ojoevilleton. She also saw all her classmates freaking out and whipping out their cell phones to call their friends or parents. Fran wished she had someone to call, but her parents wouldn’t care and all her friends hated her. She decided to find a teacher and tell them that Mrs.Natallly was still inside and wouldn’t come out. She looked around but only saw students and Mr.Cortown. She decided to ignore him as much as she could. She found Mrs.Phastoner, the home and career teacher for the seventh graders. Fran remembered home and careers, she hated that class, who didn’t?! So, Fran approached Mrs.Phastoner, and told her that Mrs.Natallly was inside and wouldn’t come outside. Mrs.Phastoner told a firefighter but Mrs.Natallly couldn’t be saved. Everybody was told to wait patiently for the buses and parents to bring them home. Fran decided to walk home. She wasn’t scared to see the eyes again if she had to. At this point, Fran didn’t care about anything at all. She was so mad at herself for not getting Mrs.Natallly out of the school and for having such a bad day. She almost began to cry as she left the school grounds. She felt as though she was surrounded by the green eyes, like depression was surrounding her and the air around her, so it was impossible to feel positive feelings. She walked into her house not even realizing how fast she had walked home. Fran walked into the kitchen and saw a note from her mom. It said: Fran: I went to go pick up your brother from school and bring him to the doctor’s for a checkup. Will be back much later in the afternoon, Doctor’s office is busy!! Call me if you need me! You know my cell number!! –Mom- Fran got some food and went upstairs to her bedroom. She was very tired and almost fell asleep, but could not. She felt too much pain inside that she had held in for a very long time. She wanted so badly to find a way to get rid of this feeling, it made her want to go jump off a bridge and never see anything again. She decided not to call her mom because she didn’t want to give her anymore stress. Fran lie down and fell asleep for 2 hours or so until her mom came home. “THANK GOD YOUR OKAY!!” was her mother’s word when she got home. Fran sleepily replied “Yeah, whatever, leave me alone, I’m trying to sleep!” Fran’s mom was quiet while Fran slept until the next day. Her alarm clock went off as usual and Fran got up and took a shower. Fran still felt the sadness and depression and sinking feelings she had the day before, and she couldn’t shake them off. After showering, Fran got breakfast. She had a bowl of Quaker Oatmeal and some orange juice. She figured there was no school so she went into the living room and turned on the TV to channel 13 News. Fran saw the headline story was the school burning down and the teacher that died. Fran changed the channel to music videos and left them on for a while. Around 9:15, Fran decided to call her dad to see how he was. Ever since the divorce two months ago, Fran hadn’t talked to him. So, Fran picked up the phone and dialed the number. He didn’t pick up, so she left a message on the machine and told him to call back soon. Fran’s parents were divorced because her dad was having an affair with another woman and her mom found out. They kept fighting about it for two months and then her mom filed for divorce. Those two months were chaotic. Fran’s dad’s new girlfriend’s name was René. She was a tall, skinny redhead. Just like Fran’s mother. René worked as a movie set director, and traveled to sets at least 3 months a year. She seemed nice and Fran didn’t have any problems with her. Fran’s mom, Sandi, worked at a sharpie factory. She made and tested new color formulas. However, she was not very nice. She was irritable and tired. Enough of these women, back to the story at hand. Fran had nothing to do but sit around all day, and that’s exactly what she did. Sat around and talked to herself about what had happened the day before. She decided not to worry about it. Around noon, she popped in a movie called Simple. It was a really good movie and it always had cheered Fran up when she watched it. She fell asleep halfway through it and heard some more voices. This time she heard a boy’s voice screaming “Why can’t anything go right?! First, the school burns down, and then my sister runs away, what’s next? BRING IT ON! I’m ready for it this time!” The voice seemed familiar but Fran couldn’t exactly distinguish it. Next she heard a girl calmly talking to what seemed to be herself. “It’s not going to be okay. I can’t put up with this anymore. I’m so sick of the shit I go through everyday. I need something more. I can not put up with myself anymore. I am not sorry for anything I have done. Goodbye.” Fran was shocked. She heard the sound of a door opening, a sigh and the door closing. She heard the girl crying. Fran knew what was going on with this girl, she was running away. Fran felt so scared for this girl, she woke up. Fran got up, and walked to the mailbox outside. She found some mail. Most of it was bills for her mother or letters from Fran’s brother, Timothy’s school. The last envelope was bright orange and was addressed to Fran. It was from her pen pal in the United Kingdom, Violet. Violet and Fran had been pen pals for about 2 years, as of Tuesday. In the letter, Violet told Fran that she would be moving to Wyoming for a year in two months. Fran lived in New York, so she wasn’t in much luck there. Violet said she’s going to move to Wyoming because her parents are having another child, Xavier. Fran was excited that her only friend was going to live in the same country as her. Fran considered maybe moving in with Violet’s family if she could. She figured anything was better than her family. She was sick of the fighting. Fran’s mom came home early, and asked Fran how her day had been. Fran gave her mom her mail and told her about Violet moving to Wyoming. Fran’s mom immediately said “You will NOT visit her.” Fran was enraged. “WHY NOT!?” Fran yelled. Fran’s mom yelled back “BECAUSE I SAID SO! YOU ARE GROUNDED FOR 2 WEEKS FOR TALKING BACK TO ME,” Fran started to say something but her mother, but her mother cut her off, “DON’T MAKE IT 3 MISSY!!” Fran turned around and walked to her room. She was so angry! She turned up her stereo as loud as she could and blasted her favorite band, “YouthFul DreaD,” her mother came up to her room and screamed “TURN THAT DOWN RIGHT NOW!” Fran ignored her and sat on her bed, reading a book. Fran’s mother screamed again, “I’LL TAKE AWAY THAT MUSIC IF YOU DON’T TURN IT DOWN RIGHT NOW FRAN! RIGHT NOW! DO YOU NOT HEAR ME? I SAID RIGHT NOW!” Fran turned it down a little, it was still loud. Fran’s mom made an aggravated sighing noise and went back downstairs. Fran was in tears from fighting with her mother. She hated being told she couldn’t do something without a good reason behind it. Her friend Zach called, but Fran’s mother told him Fran couldn’t talk. Fran was thinking one thing: suicide. This was the only way Fran could think of to make things right. Fran talked to herself again and said, “I want to be good enough. Help me someone. I don’t want to…”