Crow

Ch. 2

Echo blinked, feeling numb as she slowly opened her eyes. That was when all of her memories from that day came rushing back.

She jolted up, taking a moment to comprehend where she was. It was the nurse's office. Upon her sudden movement, she caught the attention of her two friends, Wren and Aria, who sat silently on a bench near her bed.

Both of them had puffy eyes and tear-stained clothes.

Before Echo knew it, tears were streaming down her own cheeks as well. Suddenly, the three of them were all clinging to each other.

She could tell that Wren was trying to keep her composure and be the soothing one, but with the other two girls bawling their eyes out, even Wren was starting to tear up again. It was a while before any of them could finally stop, though Aria was still shaking; she seemed to have taken this harder than the rest of them.

Wren stood up weakly, bringing up a different topic, "The principal released school early; with the exception the nurse and maybe a janitor, we're the last ones here."

Echo got up next, only to stagger when pain exploded against the side of her head. She would have fallen as well if Wren hadn't caught her.

"Are you alright?" Wren's tired brown eyes stared at her in worry.

"Yeah... Just a headache..." Her head throbbed so bad that it hurt to hear her own voice, but she didn't show it; Echo needed to be strong for her friends, especially now. "I think I'll head home, but we should walk Aria home first." She straightened her back and helped her red-haired friend up.

They grabbed their bags and walked silently out the school doors together, none of them saying anything to each other as they went.

They briskly dropped Aria off at her apartment; where Wren decided to stay behind so she could keep an eye on her friend. Before Echo closed the door behind herself, Wren grabbed her firmly by the arm.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Wren met Echo's midnight colored eyes with her own wise, mahogany ones.

Echo sighed tiredly. "I don't know. I guess I'll just have to find out."

Wren frowned, but didn't say anything else as she released her arm and allowed to door to close. With everything that had happened, Echo felt like she'd been hit by a speeding bus. She walked on numbly, wishing more than anything that she could wake up from this nightmare.

With her knees already weak, her legs turned to jelly underneath her when another sharp pang resonated harshly in the side of her head. Echo pressed her palms into her temples, feeling the world spin around her for a few moments before the pain went away as quickly as it came.

What was that? She dropped her hands dazedly into her lap. The same thing had happened earlier too...

She shook it off and shakily stood back up, deciding that her headaches were at the fault of her current mental chaos. Echo turned sharply towards the direction of the forest, heading for the shortcut she usually took to get home.

That was when she heard heavy footsteps crunching behind her.

Her shoulders stiffened. She tried to relax, telling herself that it was simply just another person taking the same sidewalk to get home as well. However, something seemed off; as though the person were following her, rather than just walking by on some coincidence.

The edge of the forest was only a couple of meters away now. Soon, Echo would step off the sidewalk, and the person behind her would just keep on walking in the opposite direction. Holding her breath, she stepped into the grass and picked up her pace.