Read Glimpse for Free Online Page A

bald head and age spots all over his face and arms. His wrinkled skin sagged like loose clothes. His hearing wasn’t very good either, and as a result, he never asked the students many questions. He just stood at the front of the class pointing at various spots on his pull-down maps, entirely unaware of what was happening behind him.
    It would have been a good place for me to drift into the background and gather my thoughts, if it hadn’t been for the fact that Eric Feldman was in my class and he sat just a few desks away. After talking to Lisa, it seemed people thought I had done them a favor with the whole rat prank, but that didn’t stop Eric from muttering things about invisible rats for the benefit of his posse. I was pretty sure he wanted the attention to shift away from how close he’d come to getting his butt kicked in the hall. It worked. Mr. Webber’s lack of awareness enabled a barrage of notes to make their way to my desk, the bulk of which were signed by Eric as if they were pieces of artwork. One was a piece of scrap paper that he’d made to look like an official certificate announcing my insanity. Another was a picture of a giant rat eating a kid. My name was written with an arrow pointing to the kid, not that it was really necessary. The rest were more of the same.
    By the time the buzzer sounded, the idea of spending another second in the school was too much for me to bear. Everyone was now eyeing me rather than ignoring me, and I felt as if I had a diaper strapped to my head.
    Lisa and Colin were waiting by my locker when I got there.
    â€œLook, I gotta go, guys,” I said, not giving them a chance to speak first. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” I unlocked my locker and loaded my books into my bag.
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Colin asked. “You’re leaving?”
    I nodded and slung my bag over my shoulder.
    â€œTell us what’s going on,” Lisa ordered. “What happened to you, Dean?”
    I was going to tell them. I even opened my mouth to speak, but then the image of Mrs. Farnsworthy flooded my head and I started wondering if I really was going crazy. If I had another hallucination, I didn’t want it to be somewhere with so many witnesses. I was halfway down the hall and heading for the door before either one of them had a chance to say much else.
    â€œI’ll call you later,” Colin yelled.
    I didn’t turn around. I suddenly felt smothered, as if a monster-sized blanket had fallen on me and threatened to stifle the very breath from my lungs. The only thing I could think of was getting outside.
    Fresh air filled my lungs, and the feeling of suffocation was gone by the time I reached the corner. “I’m going crazy,” I mumbled. I felt the urge to run, and that’s exactly what I did. I ran as hard as I could, ignoring the pain in my ribs, until the school and everyone behind me fell away. Even more than the embarrassment, I had a feeling of dread that surged and twisted in my guts whenever I thought about Mrs. Farnsworthy. I wondered how fast I would need to run to lose that feeling.

Chapter 7
    Â 
    I cut through Mr. Utlet’s yard and hoped the ornery old man wouldn’t notice me. But of course I ran straight into him. I bounced back as if I’d just run into a brick wall, then winced and looked up. He was glaring down at me.
    Mr. Utlet was one of those neighbors who looked both old and dangerous, as if he’d been an assassin in his youth and only retired to suburbia to throw off a hit squad out for revenge. He was on the small side of average, with short gray hair, a bristly face, and skin that looked like tanned leather. But despite his size, he came across as a giant. My dad said Mr. Utlet’s tattoos—he had one on each forearm—were from his time in the army. Special Forces, no doubt. His eyes were what freaked me out the most, though. They were cold and dark, like the color of the sky