Metanoia Read Free Page A

and gas
properties at the same time. But remember this occurs under rare
conditions and is hardly seen…” Suddenly her scream pierced the
air. Gina’s attention shot up to her teacher for the first time,
totally ignoring her drawings. Mrs. Spencer stared out the open
door at some unseen horror beyond it, but something else caught
Gina’s eye. A black and blood-stained arrow now protruded from her
teacher’s desk. Gina stared at it in horror, complete fear
overtaking all of her ability to move. Mrs. Spencer sank back,
crawling with grasping hands towards an inexistent safety zone. The
rest of the class retreated to the furthest corner of the room they
could get to, all but Gina. She continued to stare transfixed at
the arrow, panic weighing her down.
    It was in this instant that the embodiment of
pure terror emerged. First one claw, then another, dragged in the
body of a horrific beast. Straightening up, it towered eight feet
in the air, covered in black and red colored skin. Shards of
rusting metal protruded from this monster’s baldhead, splitting its
skull in what seemed like a million pieces. It wore armor
displaying sharp spikes that steam sizzled from. As terrifying as
this sight was, nothing compared to its horrific eyes. They were
black with a pupil of red fire seeming to actually have living
flames. These eyes turned to Gina. The creature’s harsh, raspy
voice interrupted the screams and gasps coming from the class.
Painful sounds began to emerge from its mouth and though barely
understandable, one word could be clearly distinguished.
    “ Re-gi-na!” The creature was after her . The realization finally set in,
and Gina scurried to get away. It was too late.
    “ Freecra!” This was yet
another horrible hiss emerging through the creature’s mouth, but
its affects were much worse than its sound. An invisible hand
seized Gina and snatched her up into the air. Tighter and tighter
the grip became until…
    Gina rolled over painfully. She tried to get
up, but the hurling to the floor was too much for her to handle.
The beast yanked her up and flung her over its shoulders - right on
the spikes. Gina screamed in pain as blood soaked through her white
sweater. With each breath the creature took, the spikes drove
deeper into her stomach. The rhythm of the beast’s breaths began to
match the beating of Gina’s heart. Her head dangled against the
monster’s back as she made the feeble attempt to hold on to
consciousness. Suddenly, another arrow, this one brown, flew
through the door. From her view at mere inches away, Gina could see
the arrow protruding from the creature’s back. The monster swayed
and dropped Gina, the spikes tearing at her stomach as she fell to
the floor. She looked up in just enough time to see the creature
crashing down on top of her.
    Gina lay there, her pain excruciating. It
seemed her life was quickly being sucked from her. She felt so much
pain from her injury and from suffocating under the creature’s
weight that she slowly began to stop feeling. Slowly, she could see
light, but her eyes could not focus on anything until someone cast
a shadow. Someone was standing over her having torn the monster off
of her. The person lifted her up and held her close. In the
stranger’s arms as he ran through the halls, Gina slowly began to
breathe normally again but her pain would not cease. Even though
the person had shifted the creature off of her in a hurry, the
trauma to her stomach was severe. Quickly, the stranger burst into
a computer lab and set Gina underneath a desk for protection. With
all the strength she had, Gina turned to look at her rescuer, her
first true look at the most gorgeous man she had ever seen in her
life. He, like her, had brown loose curls, though short, that hung
messily around his face and stunning blue eyes.
    “ What is
going on...who are you...what was that thing ?” Gina pushed out
painfully.
    “ Don’t speak, just relax.
You’re hurt badly,” he exclaimed. He