Storytime

Chapter 3~ Apologise

"Hi..." I say walking into the medical room. My hands hang down by my stomach, clasping each other, slipping slightly from the sweat.

"Hi." She says weakly, straining her voice.

"I'll leave you girls to it." The nurse says, exiting through the side door.

"Listen I... I am so sorry. I didn't know-"

"It's okay. You weren't to know." She winces.

"Are... Are you okay?" My fingers fiddle and I look down. My soft side never really shows. But it decides to now.

"I'll be fine. Eventually. Well, I won't ever be fine. Not really. This problem is for life. But the bruises will go away and the pain will die down so in the case if the shoving thing, I'll be fine in no time." She smiles a little at me. As I look at her, my eyes seem to get lost in hers, a deep brown, shimmering in sunlight that streams through the window. Her hair hangs down to her shoulders in beautiful brunette curls and I can't help but stare.

"Is something wrong?" Suddenly, I snap back to reality. I shake my head and smile.

"No. Not at all."

"Illeya isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"I'm Josie."

"Nice to meet you Josie." She smiles warmly at me again. To my surprise, she gestures for me to come and stand beside her.

"Really?"

"We got off to a bad start. So what? The first day is expected to be like this." She laughs and I do too. I go to stand at her bedside and find myself looking at her curls again.

"Listen, Josie, I really am sorry."

"It doesn't matter. Look, why don't we just start over. I'm the new girl. Gotta learn to fit in first. Anyway, I've had a lot worse first days than this."

"How can you have a day worse than this?" She sighs and flashes a sad smile.

"It's a long story."

"Oh. I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"I was at school. Drama lesson. We were studying A Twelfth Night. No one really understood it," She laughs. ", and I was Viola. It was a woman pretending to be a man. I forget why. It was my first day and I was in a group with some nice people. They were very welcoming and we had a lot of fun together. Then the lady from the school office came. She came into the room with a grim look on her face. That face looked right at me and I saw the look in her eyes. Those sad, apologetic eyes stared at me and it gave me a fright. As she pulled me out of class, I was shaking. Not because of the cold, I had a jumper on. I was scared, I have to admit. Then she put her hand on my shoulder and I was so confused. She lead me into 'The Blue Room' and sat me down on the big comfy chair. Across from me sat my mother. I could tell she had been crying because her eyes were puffy, her mascara was running and her cheeks were red. Also, she was still sniffling. She stared at me and I fidgeted in my seat, lips trembling. My mother took my hand, kissed it and placed the other on top. She looked me square in the eyes and said to me 'Your sister is gone sweetheart.' That was it. No sugar coating. But I did not understand yet. 'Mum?' I said, beginning to sniffle. 'Your sister.' She sobbed. 'She's dead.' I froze, like I was paralized, glued to the seat. And I sat there in utter silence for about 20 minutes. Then the realisation hit me and I started crying uncontrollably. My sister was my shoulder and she was always there. Always. And she was gone. Mother hugged me and looked solemnly at the school office person. We hugged until the end of the school day. No lunch, we weren't hungry. They let me off school for a few weeks. You see?"

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologise. Things happen. Look I er... I know I may not fit in but... Maybe we have a shot at being, not friends, but... You know what I mean."

"Friends. I am sorry about earlier."

"Already forgotten."

"Thank you." For a moment, we stare at each other with a huge smile on her face. Then, her face contorts to one of pain and she cries out. I grab her hand and she squeezes. It hurts as her nails dig into my palm but I ignore it.

"Nurse!" I scream. Them Josie's eyes close. And that's when I know I may have just killed a girl...