Touched by the Fear

[22]

"Look, it's not like he did something stupid. It was a life and death situation. We could have been killed," Lydia added.

In a way, Lydia was right. Their lives had been at stake. But, for some reason, Hollis knew there was an explanation. If it had been someone she didn't know, she would have possibly believed the worst. But it was Scott, and she knew he wouldn't do anything to put them in danger.

"I know, Lyd but...I can't believe that," she said, noting the look of annoyance on her face. "We know Scott. We shouldn't believe the worst."

The cafeteria was quickly filling up as students rushed past her, jostling her as they entered the vast room. Hollis stayed glued to the doorway, somehow unable to set foot into the room. It was lively now, noisy from all the conversations going on at once but the only thing she saw when she looked at the room was the grim reminder of Wednesday night and of being barricaded inside with someone, or something, trying to kill them.

Hollis shook that thought off as a shiver ran through her. She momentarily lost herself in her thoughts, only pulling herself out of her mind to take a sip of her coffee. The liquid was still hot but not hot enough to burn her tongue and throat. Hollis savored the caffeine despite the copious amounts of coffee she had consumed over the four-day weekend. With one final look, she turned and walked against the traffic of students trying to enter the room. Once she was out of the crossfires of being trampled, she turned the corner to find a different place to spend her lunch period. The hallway thinned of people the further she moved away from the cafeteria. Up ahead, she noticed Scott sitting alone against the wall.

"Hey," she said when she stopped a few feet away from him.

Scott didn't reply or acknowledge her presence. It was as if he was lost in his mind, staring ahead at the opposite wall.

"Scott," Hollis said, her voice a bit louder than before.

He snapped out of his daze and looked up at her, recognition dawning on him. "Oh, hey, Hollis," he said quietly.

"You ok?" Hollis lowered herself onto the floor and took the space beside him. She looked over at him and noted that there was something different about him. He didn't look quite like himself but she couldn't tell what had changed.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Scott replied unconvincingly before he gave her a small smile. "So, what are you doing here? I thought you'd be ignoring and hating me like everyone else."

"I don't hate you," Hollis said with a shake of her head. "The others don't either. They're just confused and freaked out over everything that happened."

Scott nodded but she could see the doubt on his face. "Did you talk to them?"

Hollis knew that by 'them', he meant Allison. She nodded before she spoke. "Yeah. She's..." She paused, trying to find a gentle way to say her next words. "She thinks that you abandoned us, Scott."