Chasing Memories

[20] Explosive

    "Well, Ellie?"

    The comfortable peace of the ward shredded apart, entangling Elise in an intricate, suffocating web of underlying noise. Every squeaking wheel, howling breeze, and snapping building joint honed the hairs along her arms and neck closer to ruthless needlepoints. Yet the relentless piercing pain Cadence's eyes lodged in her chest overshadowed all other discomfort. Elise had hurt her friend, and she was about to do it again.

    Cadence tapped her foot against the dull laminate flooring. "So...what are you waiting for? A written invite?"

    "I...I was reading through that passage James handed me, and something about it bothered me," Elise began, wincing as she snapped her bag's clasps open to pull out the writing sample. "It felt far too familiar, so I started thinking where I might have seen something like it before."

    "What tripe." With a snort, Florence craned her neck to avoid looking at the papers. "Lots of stories use the same plots and characters. Authors are bloody magpies, don't you know? Forever pinching the best bits of everything, they are."

    Handing the papers to Cadence, Elise withdrew her copy of Wanderlove and opened it to the bookmarked page by Florence's side. "This isn't just pinching, Florence. I don't know how or why, but this random student's work from years ago is in your story with hardly any differences."

    Florence refused to meet Elise's eye. "Blasted coincidence, that's all."

    "A coincidence? Across a sixteen-page extract?" Though the author avoided the sight of her, Elise still waved her arms at the side of Florence's head. "Sure, that'd be convenient for you."

    The pages shifted and flapped in Cadence's hands, and muted gasp parted her lips. "Oh fuck," she muttered as she stared through the murky air at her mother. "Tell me you didn't pull this shit, Flo."

    As her daughter's sudden hostility knocked Florence's mask of indifference from her face, the author covered up her surprise with a dark scowl. "I don't know what the bleeding hell you're on about, girl."

    "Tell me you didn't fucking steal Mel's story and slap your own fucking fake name on it!"

    Beyond the curtain, the few sets of footsteps that shuffled along the ward coasted to a captive halt. Florence tossed her blanket aside, her drained, weary body trembling under the burden of her anger. "I did no such thing," she said through clenched teeth. "I don't know what the bloody hell's going on, but it's got nothing to do with me."

    Slapping the sample onto the bed, Cadence stabbed the pages with her finger. "The hell it doesn't! It's in your fucking book, spreading your name, raking in your cash!" She delivered one last thrust to the papers, then stifled a desperate wail in the rear curtain. "I bet this is why Mel ditched me, isn't it? Because of you! You tricked her, used her, ripped off her hard work just to –"

    The curtain out into the ward flew open. "Alright, that's enough," a nurse snapped. Her name badge identified her as Gail and, judging by her grey hair and vicious green eyes, she was the seasoned head of the ward staff. "You're upsetting the other patients, and you're getting on my nerves and all. If you can't be civil, then I suggest you leave now."

    For all the fear the nurse's tone inspired in Elise's gut, Cadence refused to flinch. "Whatever. I'm sick of this place anyway." She pushed past the nurse and headed straight for the exit door, waving behind her without stopping. "Always a fucking pleasure, Flo!"

    Elise stuffed the book and papers into her bag and mumbled a sheepish apology, too distraught to meet Gail's stern eye. After repeating her pleading words to every member of ward staff she passed, Elise spotted Cadence's thundering form through the hospital's main door. "Cade, wait!" she cried as she spilled outside, letting the door slam behind her. "Just stop and wait!"