'Murderer' He Whispered

1

Megan's legs shook, almost knocking her off her feet. First it was the press who spoke horribly about her, as they usually did to stir up the plot of the story as though it was just a fictional novel with no real consequences. And now, it was strangers on the streets as well, howling abuse at poor Megan wherever she went, as though she was the one who committed the murders in the first place.

Why? Why are they all doing this? I've done nothing wrong!

"It's because you're still alive"

Megan jumped, stifling a scream as Christie flinched in response in front of her. She blinked in confusion at Megan from across the table as her brow creased.

"Megs, are you okay?" she asked, casting the woman a worried glance as she patted her soft finger tips on Megan's hand.

Without answering, Megan darted her eyes around her before they widened in shock to see crowds of people everywhere with some standing in what looked like a queue and others sitting at tables like she and Christie were, with the low buzz of chatter and the echoes of a song being played throughout the room.

Where am I?

Taking note of the tables, chairs, and people around her, Megan forced herself to breathe again, resulting in a strong scent of coffee hitting the back of her throat.

She lowered her eyes, seeing that her hands were occupied with a mug of her favourite cinnamon sprinkled cappuccino with two sugars. Her usual. Glancing at her hands that were wrapped around the cup, she saw that her knuckles were turning white from how tightly she was holding it.

Letting go, Megan rubbed her hands together to try and comfort herself. Yes, I know where I am. I'm in the café I was supposed to meet Christie in later. Megan tried to control her breathing as she finally began to recognise her surroundings. But something was wrong, very wrong.

Wasn't I just in my living room a few seconds ago?

Megan closed her eyes tightly, diving back into her memories to try and remember what she'd done after ripping up the newspaper and her route to the café, but her heart fluttered in panic when she couldn't remember a thing up until now.

"Megan, you're worrying me" Christie spoke again, her green eyes filled with concern.

Not wanting to worry her best friend too much, Megan let out a little laugh, hoping Christie wouldn't be able to detect the fear hiding behind it.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what's been wrong with me lately" Megan flicked her hand nonchalantly before taking a sip of her cappuccino that burned her lips the moment the liquid touched them, causing her eyes to water.

"Why? How have you been feeling lately?" Christie asked, leaning over the table slightly.

Trying to find the best way to explain it, Megan scratched her blonde strands that were already beginning to look greasy again, before speaking. "You know when you're having a dream and it flashes to the next scene without you knowing how you got there?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, that keeps happening to me recently. Literally, I remember being in my living room reading, and the next thing I remember is I'm at the café with you. And no matter how hard I try to remember what happened in the middle, I just can't!" Megan explained, shaking her head violently from how sickening it felt to recount all of that again, resulting in her taking a bigger sip of her coffee, allowing the hot liquid to burn graciously down her throat, not caring at all for how painful it was.

Christie let out a sigh of pity before reaching her hand out towards Megan's again and held it. "You're stressed, Megs. And no wonder! It's only been a month since - y'know - so it's normal for you to be stressed like this"

"And the fact they're now blaming me for what happened" Megan murmured, causing tears to prick behind her eyelids as a sense of defeat hovered over her shoulders. "I didn't do anything wrong, right?"

"Of course you didn't!" Christie blurted out, a bit too loudly for Megan's liking. She darted her eyes around the café, hoping Christie wasn't drawing too much attention to them both. That was the last thing she needed right now.

"And don't you dare let any of those reporters, journalists - or whatever they call themselves - make you think that you've done something wrong! Like I was saying a minute ago, people are always looking for someone to blame, and finding a living person to blame is better to them than constantly putting the full blame on a dead person who can't respond to any of it" Christie added, her voice growing heavy with suppressed anger.

"But it's not fair!" Megan blurted out, feeling the rage of how unfair this all was wash over her like boiling water on her skin. "I didn't know that -"

Suddenly, Megan's words came to an abrupt halt once she glanced over Christie's shoulders to see the table with people sat around it behind them staring right at her.

As she tried to ignore them, Megan suddenly became acutely aware of the amount of eyes burning against her skin like hot irons and glanced around her to see that everyone had stopped chatting to each other, and stared directly at her with rage burning in all their eyes.

Trying her best to train her own eyes back down towards her cappuccino and ignore them all, hoping they'd all let it go and continue on with their lives, Megan quivered in fear when she realised that none of them were backing down.

When Megan thought her head was about to implode as a constant buzzing noise began to drone inside her eardrums, a hand grabbed her arm tightly, causing the woman to flinch and spill the remainders of her cappuccino across the table and onto the floor. She darted her eyes up to whoever the hand belonged to, ready to try and defend herself, when she sighed in relief to see that it was Christie.

"Come on, let's get you out of here" she smiled reassuringly down at Megan before helping her out of the chair.

With Christie's hand still wrapped around Megan's arm, they both walked down the café towards the glass doors whilst every person in the café glared at Megan with daggers in their eyes.

As they walked, the music booming from the speakers suddenly became louder and distorted against Megan's eardrums to the point that she could no longer make out what song was being played, causing her to feel panicked and sick to her stomach as the world around her began to spin.

Just when Megan thought it was all over as Christie held the door open for her to exit the café, one of the strangers leaned in towards Megan's ear and whispered a word she knew would follow her for the rest of her life.

"Murderer"