The Unknown Other

Chapter Six: Another Me

      After ditching school for three days, I had finally regained my courage to go out from my house.

      I walked down the school hallway. Am I being paranoid, or is everyone staring at me right now? Their stares scared me to my bones, like I could sense something wasn't right. They made way for me as I walked pass them, which made me feel strangely uncomfortable. I decided to ignore them and continue walking.

      I entered my class and sighed. Ugh, Math class. How boring. It was my least favorite subject mainly because none of my classmates were actually my friends, except for Natalie.

      I've known Natalie since seventh grade, when we moved into the same school together. Unlike me, she was much more of a cheerful and sociable girl. She enjoyed making friends and going to parties. She's definitely an extrovert.

      I looked up from my book to see Natalie entering the classroom. Her face immediately lit up like a firefly when she saw me, but her smiled vanished almost as soon as her eyes met my textbook.

      "Hey, Nat," I smiled. She smiled back, but her eyes were still glaring at my textbook.

      "Hey, uh... Is that your book?" she asked.

      "Um, yes?" I replied. Is there something wrong with my book, or did she just forget to bring her book again and thought that the book I was reading was hers.

      "Oh," she replied. As simple as an oh? It's just... unacceptable. She's definitely hiding something from me.

      "Is there something wrong?"

      She looked at me with a shocked expression. "Uh... No, no. There's... Nothing, really." she said, forcing a smile.

      Now I'm certain that everybody's behaving strangely today. But why? Was it a really big fault to be absent for three days? Anyway, I wasn't in the mood to debate so I decided to stay silent. I couldn't focus in class. Pictures of people behaving strangely to me kept flashing in my mind. It wasn't until I notice the large letters written on the board. Whoa, hold on. Exercise 21? Weren't we discussing about exercise 15 three days ago? I really didn't want to talk to Natalie, but I did.

      "Nat, was it really possible that I skipped six exercises?"

      She looked at me, confused. "What do you mean, you 'skipped'?"

      "Don't tell me you didn't notice I was absent these past theee days."

      Her expression immediately changed from confused to annoyed. "Ha ha. Very funny, fancy pants."

      "I'm serious."

      Natalie smirked. Honestly, I hate her smirk. It made me feel uncomfortable in some ways. "Your acting skills are good, but not good enough." she laughed.

      I could feel my blood rise into my cheeks as she turned me into a joke. "Natalie Woods. This isn't funny!" I yelled, almost too loudly, completely forgotten that we were in class.

      "Whoa! Chillax, princess. Why did you have such a bad temper all of a sudden? Are you still not over yesterday?"

      "Yesterday what?"

      "Oh God," she muttered. I was about to ask her when she continued. "Did you really forget, or are you faking it? You spent the whole Math class yelling 'she was mine' and kept repeating it until you were sent to the nurse room. I thought you went insane, but thank goodness you're back to normal again." she started laughing again, but her laugh immediately fades away when she noticed that I was glaring at her.

      Her reply made me froze in my place. I felt my heart pounding so fast that it actually hurts. Again, I felt the same way as that night when I woke up from nightmare. For several times in this month, I had been consumed by fear. I was shaking and my palms got sweaty as tears started to roll down my cheeks. I was absolutely terrified at this point.

      "M-margie? You okay?"

      "W-what did I d-do next?" I asked, ignoring her question.

      "You screamed someone's name that I can't remember... Probably... Abby?"