Fateful Hindrance

5. Dead Girl Walking

“The princess is awake,” the Jamie girl said loudly. 

My eyes found her standing in front of the bed, arms crossed over her chest.  She looked exactly like I remembered when I’d first say her in Berlin, dark brown hair with a few blond highlights, brown eyes, and tanned skin.  She was wearing a faded pair of jeans and a plain white t-shirt, though she still seemed to make it look like it just came off the runway. 

Seeing me look her over, she raised an eyebrow.  “I think you were right about Juliet giving her too much.  She looks like the dead.”

“Oh, good!” 

The other girl who’d spoken rounded the corner, a bright smile on her face.  She had dark skin, long black hair, and bright, expressive brown eyes.  She had been the third girl who was with Juliet and Jamie in the bathroom in Berlin.  She smiled, already a lot friendlier than Jamie, who was still looking at me like she smelled something disgusting. 

“How are you feeling, Emmy?  Not sick or anything?” she asked, sitting down on the bed in front of me. 

I couldn’t help it.  I pulled my legs up to my chest, shrinking away from her when she reached out to feel my forehead.  She looked confused, eyebrows pulling together, but pulled her hand back anyway.

“Maybe the medication made her lose her voice,” Jamie grinned.  “That would make this situation ten times better.  I wouldn’t have to hear her since she’s staying with us for God knows how long.”

“Jamie, shut it already, would you?” the girl in front of me snapped, looking back at her.  “She scared and confused enough as it is.”

“Whatever,” she shrugged, turning to go back in the sitting area.

“Don’t mind her,” the girl in front of me said softly.  “I don’t know what her problem is with you, but she’s been like this since we saw you in Berlin.”  She smiled, trying to be even friendlier.  “I’m Tory.  And that’s Jamie.”

I nodded slowly.  “I’m Emmy.”

Her smile widened, seeming happy that I actually answered.  “Oh, I know.  I’ve known about you for a while now, though this is the first time meeting you officially.”

I just sat there, curled up on myself under the covers, staring blankly at her. 

“I know you must have a lot of questions…” she started.

I swallowed hard, shaking my head.  “I died.”

She shook her head also.  “No.  No, you didn’t die.  That was the medication that Juliet gave you.  I thought you knew about that?”

“I did,” I said, nodding slowly.  “I told her that I didn’t want to do this, didn’t want any of this, but she did it anyway.  And now…”

“I’ve known Juliet all my life,” she said.  “She gets what she wants, no matter the cost.  And she wanted you.”

“And she killed me.”

“She didn’t kill you.”

“To everyone else, she did.”

“But technically, she didn’t.”  She looked away, toward where Jamie was sitting in front of the television.  She wasn’t the one she was looking at, though. 

My picture was on whatever news channel they had it on and underneath it read New Year’s Tragedy. 

“Play it, Jamie,” Tory called. 

My eyes were glued on the screen as the report started playing. 

“Tragedy has stuck one family in New York City after already going through enough earlier in the year.  Emmy Alexander, who had been kidnapped back in May during a class trip to Paris, has died.  She had been out with friends at the New Year’s Even ball drop in New York City, celebrating.