Chapter 17: Yanked From Reality

*Esmerelda*

I continued to stare at Abner, feeling as if he was speaking a different language. He was acting so strangely all of a sudden. It was as if he had taken a mask off and was showing something else beneath the surface.

He was looking at me with such a somber, serious look. There was a touch of regret in his eyes, which was understandable considering that he was now trapped in the night school after I had asked him to make sure he was out by 8:30.

I laughed once, a humorless laugh that sounded nervous to my own ears. “What do you mean that your only reason for coming here was the night school?” I asked in dismay. “What do you plan to do now that you’re trapped in here illegally?”

This fact didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest. I thought that he should at least be a little concerned. I felt panic start to seize my throat as I imagined Abner being grabbed and then locked up just like Elijah and Richard had been.