Tumblefields [ONC 2021]

7

"Sorrow compressed my heart, and I felt I would die, and then . . . Well, then I woke up."
― Fyodor Dostoevsky

7

They sat at the same table. The same parking lot outside, the lighting from the street lamps stretching shadows from the parked cars. Only, this time, there were two people fewer than before. No smiles adorned faces. No jokes passed between them. Only accusatory looks from Jennifer and concerned ones from Tabitha.

Food, ordered by them without thinking, lay upon the table, growing cold and untouched. Jennifer leaned her elbows on the table, her eyes never leaving Rachel, causing Rachel to shift her own eyes anywhere but at the two people across from her. Hunched, her hands in her lap, fingers pulling and twisting the edge of her sweater, she felt exposed and hunted, by her friends and by Mara.

"You're insane, you know that? A crazy bitch and from what Tabitha says, it runs in the family." Picking up a fry, Jennifer began to tear pieces off it, dropping each one to the table top. Still her eyes never left Rachel, forehead creased, eyebrows hooding her eyes. "I've just lost my girlfriend, my best friend, and you want to play ghost stories. Wanna sit around a campfire? Point flashlights under our chins and laugh?"

"You asked." Rachel looked out of the window. The shadows stretched like fingers across the parking lot. Long, black fingers that seemed to reach towards her. "I can only tell you what I know."

"You don't know a damned thing! You're just trying to grab some attention, some sympathy, because it's all gone to others. You're playing the victim, just like you always do." Sweeping her hand, Jennifer pushed the torn pieces of fry aside. "Poor little Rachel! Falling 'asleep' when things don't go her way. Oh! She's not the centre of attention! Here comes the inhaler!"

Rachel's ears burned and her hand moved away from the pocket that held her inhaler. True, she sometimes used it when she didn't need to, but not to garner attention. It was a comfort, sometimes, like a favourite childhood blanket. She didn't need it, but she 'needed' it. As for her episodes, there was nothing she could do about those.

She wanted to scream at Jennifer. Tell her that attention was the last thing she ever wanted. Sitting there with faces staring at her, as they did now, made her feel like curling up and disappearing through the floor. She only knew that she had seen things she never wished to see. But she couldn't say anything to Jennifer. She had gone through too much.

"That's unfair, Jenn! I know you're hurting, but you're just lashing out now." Tabitha had kept her own peace as Rachel and Jennifer had talked, watching but not joining in. Until now. "If it's all for attention, how did Rachel know that Gwendy had a bone missing? I say we hear her out. Go on, Rachel."

"I ... I don't think there's more to tell. I dreamed it and saw ... saw Gwendy. And Mara." She stiffened as Jennifer scoffed, throwing herself back in the seat. "I saw Mara break ... break Gwendy's back and then she took the bone. She ... she ripped it from Gwendy's arm."

Those last few words came out in an almost inaudible whisper, her head dipping to see her fingers had pulled the threads of her sweater apart. Again. She interlaced her fingers, gripping her hands together so tight, it began to hurt. Tabitha sat with her thumbnail tapping at her teeth and Jennifer scowled.

"And you saw Anton's accident before it happened, too, right?" With a calm voice, Tabitha dropped her foot to the floor, trying to catch Rachel's eyes. "You saw it and then it happened. Just like Gwendy."

"Maybe she caused it all. Maybe she's more of a freak than I thought." Jennifer's lip curled in disgust and Rachel cringed even more.

"It's not me. It's not me. It's Mara. Mara!" Before she could stop herself, her quiet, mumbling words became a bellow. She looked up, then, slapping her hands against the table top, causing both Jennifer and Tabitha to jump in shock. "She's angry with us for taking things from her grave! We need to take them back!"