Repaying Her Blood

Chapter seventeen: To grieve

Marissa

"I'll repay you somehow, Lorna. Just you wait."

The serious expression that was painted over her face did not ease my mind at all. If she was correct, then we needed to get out of here.

"I know a back doorway that we can go to. We always use it when we're going to a basketball tournament, " Andrew suggested.

"You mean the fire exit in the gym?" I whispered, watching him nod as a reply.

"Ok, well let's go," Madeline agreed, taking hold of Andrew's arm and pulling him along with her. "This classroom's giving me the creeps."

Slowly exiting the classroom, we carefully shifted against the wall, trying to make no sound. My feet had pins and needles after sitting under the table for a while, but they weren't extremely bad as I was able to move my feet.

After slyly making it around the corner, we headed into the direction of the gym. Luckily, the classroom that we had ran to wasn't that far away from the gym. We only had a few steps to go after coming around the corner.

"That was much easier than I thought," Andrew responded cheerfully, dashing over to the gym door and pushing it open.

"That's the strange thing about it. I swear that person was coming for us," Madeline muttered, glancing over at me with a puzzled look.

I sent one back and shook off any of my doubts. We were in the gym and right next to the door that we could exit out of, so why did I feel like that wasn't the end?

Peeking over my shoulder one last time, I rushed over towards Madeline and Andrew who had fled to the fire escape door as quickly as possible. With one push, the door flew open, allowing us to escape.

"My dad should be here by now, so I'm going to go. Do you want a ride home?" He asked as we walked to the car park from the fire escape door.

"Yes, please." I shivered, fiddling with my scarf.

We both turned to Madeline who had nodded whilst she slipped on her gloves.
Scanning the car park, Andrew began walking over to a slick, matte black Mercedes. I realised that it was his dad's car and followed Andrew.

Heading towards his dad's car, I smiled anxiously at him. His looks were rather similar to his son (figures) but I could identify the differences.

Whilst they both shared the same hair colour, which was a light brown, I had noticed that Andrew's lips were more full whereas his dad's lips were thin.

His dad carried a stern and serious manner, on the other hand, Andrew was playful and easy-going. Andrew's dad wore a suit and tie that matched well. It seemed to me that his dad may have been some kind of businessman, since he was dressed so smartly.

"Hey, Dad. My two friends need a ride," he mumbled, getting into the front seat and clicking his seat belt in.

Andrew's dad nodded at us both as we carefully got into the back. He asked us for our addresses and after telling him, I relaxed back into my seat.

"So how was school?" He mumbled out, glancing at his son who was nearly silent throughout the whole ride out of the school's car park.

"Good," he curtly replied.

"How was chess club?" His dad asked, making Madeline and I exchange weird looks at each other. We were pretty sure that Andrew never attended any of the chess clubs at our school.

He stayed silent for a few seconds before replying, "Also good." Andrew never once looked his father in the eyes.

Andrew's dad didn’t ask anymore questions and Andrew never said a single word after that.

The car stopped at my house and I said a quick 'thank you' to his dad before shutting the door. I waved them all good bye and headed to my front door.

Twisting my key to unlock it, I then stepped indoors, hanging up my scarf on the hook and slipping off my coat.

"Mum? Dad?" I called out, waiting for a noise to indicate to me that they were here.
They must have both gone out as I did not hear anything. Without them, everything was so quiet. Too quiet. The silence was deafening.

I jogged up the stairs quickly and made a beeline towards my bedroom. It was what I did every day after school; head to my bedroom and reflect on the past few days. I had nothing else to do but think. I hated being alone with my thoughts as most of the time I would be reminded of how lonely I really was.

Sometimes I would lie flat upon my bed, thinking of my sister. Reflecting on how much time we could have had together if she hadn't left us. If she hadn't left me.

I had been grieving for a rather long time and I wasn't sure when I would stop. It was like an ongoing mosquito alarm that only I could hear. No one else. 'To grieve' meant to feel great sorrow for something or someone that had passed away. They were no longer with you anymore. They no longer existed and the fact that you would never see them in real life ever again was what made someone's death so hard to comprehend.

A faint knocking sound was what brought me out of my conflicted thoughts. It was coming from the window. I directed my attention to the window and slowly creeped towards it.

The knocking got incessantly louder, irritating me slightly more. It definitely wasn't a tree branch smacking against my window, since it wasn't windy outside.

It also wasn't my next door neighbour trying to play a practical joke on me. That was because he was about fifty odd.

"Let me in, little mouse!" a familiar, muffled voice yelled.

Huffing aloud, I stomped over to the window and roughly pulled it open. Fortunately for Jordan, I didn't smack him in the face with it again.

I watched him as he came through the window, narrowing my eyes at every movement he made. "Where were you?"

"My parents called me and told me to get to the hospital right away," He answered, his voice quiet and meek as he studied my room. It wasn't any different from the last time he had been here.

"And?" I turned to sit on my bed, looking up with concern.

"She..." His voice broke. "I was told to say my goodbyes by the doctor, but I was too much of a coward, Marissa."

I let out a breath of air and stood up. I stepped towards him carefully, like he was a delicate flower that could break with one touch or glance.

"I ran, Marissa. I just ran." He shamefully looked down to the floor, slumping his shoulders with utter disgrace.

I didn't hug him. I didn't take another step towards him. Not because I was disappointed in him, but because I didn't want to pity him. I responded after a few seconds of silence between us, "How do you know that she isn't still... living? You could still have a chance to say goodbye."

"But I feel so ashamed, little mouse..." He gulped, ruffling his dark hair. "I don't think I could go back there."

Once again, silence passed between us until Jordan suggested something that startled me. "Could you come with me?"

"It's a family matter, Jordan. I feel like I would be imposing," I replied, biting my cheek.

"Please, Marissa. I need you there," he replied truthfully, his eyes pleading me to say 'yes'.

I really wanted to tell him about what had happened at the school, but I couldn't then. It could wait.

"Alright." I smiled nervously, nodding my head.

He then smiled. A beaming smile with rings of sparkling grey. Like an encrusted diamond ring that glistened in the sunlight. A rare sight of beauty.