Light in the Dark

Chapter Nine

    To say that I felt nervous going to school the next would be an understatement. Every cell in my body ran cold when I thought about my first class with Charlotte and Ava. I would finally get to sit by Ava but would Charlotte actually be there? Would there be news of an 'accident'? Oh stop fussing over it! Darik wouldn't hurt anyone! Remember how he made you feel safe yesterday? He probably just went over and talked to Charlotte's mother about it or something. Stop being so paranoid. I had to rationalize my thinking. There's no way Darik could hurt anyone, he was the nicest person I had ever met. Still, there was something about the way he talked about taking care of "it" yesterday that sent chills down my spine and not in a good way. I shook my head at the nonsense and breathed long and slow. I'm okay.

     Walking into the school building, I noticed that everything had been the same, no whispers, no pointing and more importantly no one looking at me with the look I got from when everyone heard about what I did at the last school. I went into the cafeteria where I spotted Ava excitedly waving her hands towards me. Smiling, I met up with her and we shared a hug.

"Can I just again, say how sorry I am," I apologized.

"It's okay, everything will be okay from now on," she assured me. I smiled and together we walked to our government class where the real test would be.

     Sitting next to Ava I anxiously bit at my bottom lip as I waited for Charlotte to come in with some kind of pomp and circumstance while waving my file in the air or worse not coming in at all.. Every time someone walked in I flinched then turned to see if that time it would be Charlotte but every single time it wouldn't be her. Finally, class had started and Charlotte was nowhere to be seen. Both relief and fear entered my system at the same time. Relief that I was out of the woods but then fear for Charlotte. Darik seriously wouldn't hurt her, would he? He didn't seem like the type but then again most people thought Ted Bundy couldn't be a serial killer. Oh enough! I clamped my eyes shut and forced all the bull shit to exit my mind. In the moment I had decided to ignore the fear and accept the relief for as long as possible because I knew those thoughts were only going to come back sooner or later. Class went on as usual and for the first time, I had enjoyed learning about the Legislative branch or as much of it as was possible.

    Going to Drama had brought out some more fear but not related to Charlotte but to the fact that today we were going out on the stage for the first time and rehearsing. The play had only been a matter of weeks away.

"Okay let's do the wedding scene with Hero and Claudio!" Mr. Jet announced after we did the beginning scene. I didn't have that scene memorized quite yet but neither did anyone else and I would be lying if I said I wasn't grateful to be able to hide behind my script and avoid Darik's face. Even though it was just acting, I still hadn't been very good at pretending when it came to certain things like romance and cute scenes that would make the audience's heart flutter.

    As the scene progressed and got more intense I tried to feel the words, tried to understand what on earth Hero could have been feeling but the fear of just being on stage struck me to a core.

"Stop!" Mr. Jet cut us off and we all took a breath. "Mariah, will you please come down here?" he asked patiently. I felt awkward, being singled out but with my performance it made sense. Jumping off of the stage I walked over to the chair that Mr. Jet sat in. "Mariah, have you ever been in love before?" he asked kindly but his essence made me feel like he was losing his patience with me.

"I don't know, maybe," I answered.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend break up with you because of something awful that you may or may not have done?" he asked again.

"Sort of," I answered. Mr. Jet's eyes grew big with happiness.

"Perfect, dig up those emotions like you did with the monologue and convey them to Darik, your Claudio. Make him feel pain, anger and confusion," he suggested. I nodded.