Charl opened the back door. Cinna was standing there, at her side, a police officer.
"Officer, is something wrong?" Charl asked, glancing down at Cinna, trying to read the expression on her face.
"Do you know this young woman?" the officer asked.
"Yes, I do. Is she in trouble?" Charl said. Laurie came up behind him.
"What's going on Charl?" She asked. "Cinna!" She hugged the younger woman tightly.
"We found her unconscious. We believe she is alright, but you guys make sure you keep an eye on her, okay? If she seems to be having any problems, bring her to a doctor." The officer handed Charl a card with information about the situation on it.
"Oh, Cinna, are you okay?" Laurie asked after the officer had left.
"Mm-hm," Cinna said, smiling at the kind almost-mother.
"You passed out?" Laurie asked, concerned.
"I guess?" Cinna replied. "I'm better now."
"Well, come sit down," Laurie told her, leading her by the hand into the living room.
Cinna sat down on the floral couch, and Laurie sat down next to her. Charl didn't come into the living room with them, instead retreating back into Cinna's room to search.
"What happened?" Laurie asked Cinna.
"When?" Cinna responded.
"Why did you leave?" Laurie asked. "I thought you were going to stay here."
Cinna, feeling targeted, started crying again.
"No, sweetie," Laurie said, hugging the teen girl. "It's okay. I thought you had felt like a burden and left us. But I want to hear what really happened, okay?"
"I wanted to try to find my friend," Cinna replied, leaning into the embrace.
"Oh, that's okay," Laurie said comfortingly. "Did you find them?"
"No," Cinna said. "I'm too trusting." Her crying intensified.
"What do you mean?" Laurie asked. "What happened?"
"I went into a stranger's house because they said they knew my friend, but they tried to shoot me."
"Shoot you?" Laurie asked, her eyes wide. "Oh, come here." She hugged the girl tighter.
"I ran away, but I got lost. I was trying to get back, but I guess I fainted. I started hallucinating, then I woke up with the police officer helping me."
"Yeah?" Laurie said, stroking Cinna's hair. "It sounds like you had a rough day."
Cinna nodded into Laurie's chest.
"Here, let me make you some hot chocolate," Laurie said. She got up and went into the kitchen, where she prepared the drink and brought it over to her friend.
"Thank you," Cinna said, excepting the mug.
Laurie sat down next to her again. She knew she had to talk to Cinna about what she had found out about her but was now really a good time?
Cinna took a sip of chocolate. It was good, but her stomach didn't let her savor it long. She threw up again, leaning forward.
Laurie jumped to help Cinna. Was she sick? The police officer had said that she should go to the doctor if she was having any problems. Did this count as a problem?
"I think I need to lie down," Cinna told Laurie after she was done vomiting. "I don't feel good."
"How about you just lay here on the couch?" Laurie asked. "Your bed seems to be broken." Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, since Cinna went into another wave of crying.
"I didn't break it," Cinna said.
"Oh, oh," Laurie said hastily. "I'm not blaming you, sweetie. I just don't think it's safe for you to lay in right now."
"Okay," Cinna said, and promptly lowered herself into a lying position on the couch. Laurie got up to give her room, taking the mug of chocolate from her hand so she wouldn't try to drink anymore. "Just get some rest baby."
Laurie put the mug down on the kitchen counter, then went to join Charl in Cinna's room.
"Hey darling, how's it going?" Laurie asked.
"This bed is very broken," Charl replied.
"Yeah," Laurie said sadly. "Wait!" she said, now excited. "What if we refurnish her room?"
"And let her live here with us?" Charl asked doubtfully.
"Yes, of course. This is her home, though we might not have known that before."
"That's true," Charl commented. "What kind of bed do you think we should get?"
"We could ask Cinna," Laurie suggested.
The couple went out into the living room. Cinna was curled up on their couch, asleep, a small smile on her face.
"Oh, she looks so sweet," Laurie cooed. "We can ask her when she wakes up," she said to Charl.
"That's fine with me," Charl said. "I'm going to move the broken bed frame out of her room. Do you want to examine the mattress and pillow and see if they're usable?"
"Sure," Laurie said with a smile. Her husband always knew how to assign her the work she loved doing.
Laurie and Charl went back into the little bedroom. Charl began to take apart the bed frame, while Laurie finished taking the sheets off the mattress, though they seemed to be catching on something so it took her a while. Laurie brought the mattress over to an empty spot in the room and began examining it. Holes were speckling the whole thing, some of them with springs peeking through or fully out.
"Wow, those are a lot of holes," Laurie commented. "And the sheets must have been catching on these springs."
"So..." Charl said, leaning over to look at the mattress with his wife. "Not usable?"
"Definitely not," Laurie replied, nodding her head firmly.
"I'll add it to the list of things to get for the room," Charl said, whipping a paper out of his pocket.
"You made a list?" Laurie said excitedly. "So we're totally going to do this whole project?"
Charl laughed. "You know me too well."
Charl went back intently to his work, and Laurie continued on with hers, examining first the pillow, then the window shades, then the carpet. Nothing in the room seemed usable.
"It makes me wonder what happened in here," Charl said as he added a sixth thing to his growing list.
Laurie smiled and began to turn to the next thing, but before she could, a knock sounded at the door.
"Who could it be this time," Charl said, getting up.
"You got the door last time," Laurie told him. "My turn."
YOU ARE READING
When Death Won't Take You
FanfictionShe was too young, too innocent, and death didn't take her. She got another chance. Another, alternate future.
