Don't Look Behind You ⇒ Lucaya [DISCONTINUED]

girl meets hospital

Now my mind had started thinking about that 'someone' and I'd forgotten all about replying to Topanga. She was waving her hand in my face, saying, "Earth to Maya?"

"Yes. Um, the door was locked so I couldn't get out."

"Which door?" Topanga inquired, raising an eyebrow. "Cubicle or bathroom door?"

It would be easier to pretend that I was stupid rather than to raise suspicion.
"The cubicle. They have weird locks at this school," I shrugged, hoping they'd believe me. It was bad that this chaotic event had happened during my first day of high school, but since I was new to it, I had an excuse for not being able to unlock the door of the stall.

"Hmm, I can see that, especially since you're new. I'm happy you finally managed to get out. But why did you use the vent instead of the front door?"

"Mom, the vent was so much easier to use!" Riley interrupted, to my utmost relief. "The fire was spreading like crazy in the cafeteria!"
Topanga looked slightly embarrassed but regained her composure quickly and gave me a smile.
"The doctors say you've inhaled quite a lot of smoke, but there aren't any burns, thankfully. You're gonna have to stay here for another day. We have somewhere to go, honey, but Riley's staying with you."

She pulled the terrible cotton sheet over me and kissed my forehead, something that made my chest contract in the memory of such loving things. It reminded me of sweet times that I'd taken for granted. What I would do to have another kiss from my mother.

I waved Topanga and Cory a solemn goodbye, with the hints of a smile. The action just didn't come naturally to me anymore. I had to think before smiling, ponder over the effects of laughing. Riley on the other hand, couldn't go two seconds without grinning about something stupid. It was one of the reasons I loved her, but it was starting to annoy me now. And the fact that I was getting irritated by my best friend was enough for the creeping anxiety to return and settle in to the pit of my stomach. I couldn't lose her too.

"How are you?"

I looked over at her, a plain face masked over my inside look of disbelief. What had happened to us? Before any of this, she had been able to read my mind, word for word, and I'd been able to decipher her thoughts as well.
Maybe I was overthinking again. I needed to calm down and say everything was fine.

"I'm alright. A bit dizzy, though," I chuckled, dryly, not wanting to have this conversation right now.

But then I realised: if I couldn't trust Riley, a person I've known for over ten years, who could I trust? I definitely needed somebody, and what was the point of even having a friend if you didn't disclose your problems to them?

I started talking quickly, not wanting to doubt my thinking again.
"I actually have something to tell you. It's strange, I know, and you may think that it's a coincidence, but hear me out first. When I was inside the bathroom, at the sink, I heard the alarm go off and headed to the door so I could get out just like everybody else. But it was locked and I couldn't open it, however hard I tugged.

"The smoke started coming in through the gaps soon after that, and it started suffocating me. I looked down at the gap between the door and the floor, looking for any possible way to escape, but I couldn't find anything. Except...well this note."
The ominous note still lay crumpled in the back pocket of my jeans that I still wore under the baggy hospital dress (what was the point of those things anyway? At least for me: I wasn't in a terrible condition, medically). The words were still there, glaring at me, taunting me all the way from the burning bathroom.

Riley eyed the note and frowned at it, trying to decode it as if it was an enigma of some sort. Frankly, anything could have been possible. I had countless questions about this, the main one consisting of a single word: who? Who would do this? And why to me? It could have been addressed to somebody else, I guess, but the plan was carried out too flawlessly for there to be a flimsy mistake as this.