Through The Dark

39 - Emmalyn

39 - Emmalyn

'How come your mom is fine with you coming here when you were just in jail?' my mom asked Olivia the next morning over breakfast. We all had huge dark bags under our eyes. It was Monday, but we had all taken the day off.

I was making the biggest batch of coffee I had yet made in my life. Ben was beside me, way more groomed than he would be on a normal day. I smiled quietly, careful that he did not see me, for he would make a scandal out of it.

I felt like I was finally back at home after weeks and weeks. It made me feel nostalgic, and grateful. Life had a funny way of making things happen. It had taken me a night in jail to get my family back together and up and running again.

I glanced warily at Olivia, afraid that my mom had crossed the line with that question.

Olivia just smiled a tiny smile. A dark shadow crossed her eyes. She took a bite of her toast and looked up at my mom. 'My family is not as awesome as yours,' she said with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

It was the understatement of the century, but I kept myself from saying anything.

'Her father is in the army,' I pointed out, trying to change the subject.

'Oh cool,' my brother said, pushing me out of the way and sitting next to Olivia. My mom gave me an amused look and patted the seat beside her. I gave Ben a dirty look but sat beside my mom and in front of Olivia.

'Yeah, he'll be back soon,' Olivia said with a huge grin. Her whole demeanor changed when she spoke of her father, and that made me feel happy. At least she had something to hold on to.

'How long has he been gone?' my mom asked after gulping down a bit of carrot juice.

'Too long,' Olivia replied with a tiny voice.

'I'm the best at a war against zombies' game,' Ben eagerly told her. He ducked his lips smugly and I choked on my toast. Olivia and my mom laughed as Ben shot me daggers.

*

Olivia and I spent the rest of the day in, watching movies and with her cringing at my wardrobe. 'I definitely have to give you some of my stuff. I still have too much anyway,' she said the next morning as we hopped off my mom's car and walked through the parking lot towards the school premises.

'After we gave away all those gowns to charity?' I questioned with raised eyebrows.

'Still,' she confirmed.

'I don't remember your closet being that big,' I mused.

She shrugged. 'Before you came along I used to binge shop.'

We walked through the hallways and I was glad to notice no one had bothered on putting up any more posters of Olivia from that day at the bridge. It seemed as if her news were finally fading away.

'How is the charity shop doing, by the way?' she asked, remembering the place we had been to.

'Great, they have collected a lot of money from your gowns alone, given that the prom time is coming.'

'Oh my, it's true, prom is coming!' she observed. 'I did not even remember about it anymore.'

I was about to reply when Mr. Jenkins materialized out of nowhere in front of us. He was wearing a wine-colored vest of some weird material that resembled Velcro on top of a maroon shirt and grey pants that had a million tiny black dots that you could barely notice. You could only tell something about the pants was making you dizzy, but not pinpoint what it was. 'Girls, glad to see you. I missed you yesterday.'

We exchanged looks. Surely we were not the only people to miss his class. 'Sorry, we had some personal issues,' I replied in behalf of both of us. He noticed –of course he did- and eyed Olivia carefully.

'How are you doing, Olivia?' he asked.

'Just fine,' she squeaked, feeling squirmy under his powerful gaze. 'Anyway, we should get going, or we'll be late for class,' she noted and walked past him.

I waved at him and tried to walk past him but he stepped in front of me. When Olivia looked back and frowned he just smiled wildly –or maybe that was just the way he usually smiled. 'She'll be right up,' he assured her and put an arm across my shoulders. 'Emmalyn, how are you?'

'Alright...'

'Emmalyn, I need...I need to ask if something is wrong with Olivia. I am worried about her. She has been acting weird these past months, and when I got her house number and called, the woman that claimed to be her mother just dismissed my concerns and said that her daughter only needed to toughen up. I am being literal here -that was exactly what she said. When I asked about the dad she laughed out loud and hung up.'

I sighed sadly. 'I know, Mr. Jenkins, Olivia's mother is not the...most caring woman in the world.'

'Oh...' he said, at a lack of something better to say. 'Well, is she seeing a therapist? Olivia, I mean.'

'Uh, no, but I am interested in finding one for her. She has a lot of unresolved issues that she needs to talk about.'

'Good, that is exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. Since I have seen you two are close. I have,' he licked his lips and dug into the pockets of his Velcro-like vest to look for something. 'Ah, here it is, I have been carrying this paper for days now. Here you have the phone number of several good therapists that could hear Olivia out.'

I grabbed the piece of paper and tucked it into my backpack quickly, afraid to lose it. 'Thank you, Mr. Jenkins, for your concern and all.'

'You know, I should probably not say this, but I am glad that Olivia changed her friendships. Those kids were dragging her down with them.'

I smiled lightly. 'Bye, Mr. Jenkins.'

'Bye, Emmalyn, good talk.'

Olivia was waiting for me a few steps ahead, resting against a locker. 'What was that about?' she inquired as we started walking again. Our classes were nearby each other, so we continued walking along.

I debated about lying, but decided it would do far better good for Olivia that I just told her the truth. 'He gave me a list of therapists' numbers for you.'

'Oh, did he?' She remained silent for a moment and I carefully watched her. 'Why didn't he just give me the list, though?'

'I guess he thought it was better coming from a friend.'

'Yeah, it would have been weird to talk to him about my suicide attempt,' she reminisced with a joking manner.

I gave her a grave look. 'You will go, won't you?'

She sighed deeply. 'Yes,' she droned.

'Good, now, on to class we go, see you later.'

I waved goodbye and so did she. I walked into my class and saw Lena in a corner. I realized I was no longer affected by her, now that I knew Alex kind of hated her and had been forced by her to betray me. Without intending to, Alex had given me what I needed to move on.