Under Her Skin

Chapter 26

Police Officer: Did they go in?

Me: Two went in, only one made it out.

Police Officer: What happened in there?

Me: She took the bandages off her heart.

***

Early in the morning, two girls, dressed identically, arrived in the front lawn of Wrestler High. They took out their earbuds and looked at each other. One girl dug in her bag and wallet and pulled out her phone, attempting an internet search. The other girl told her that it would only return information that would be terrifying and irrelevant, and that they should just get it done and over with, and that if she'd just go in there, all her problems would be gone. They conversed back and forth, expanding and contracting until one girl's seductions had finally gotten into the other. They entered. The girls knocked on a wooden door that had a crooked plaque. Silence. They knocked again.

"Glad you made it," said a woman with curly brown hair and grandma classes that swooped below the bridge of her nose. "And I see that you bought a friend..."

"Yeah."

"Right." From the side of her shoulder, she glanced over at the Asian girl. Scanned up and down. "Well, come on in girls. I'd like to ask you all to put your phones in this basket for me. It's something I get all my students to do to avoid disturbances and all," She was trying to sound confident, but it came out petulant, more accusing than wry. The girls searched the teacher's eyes for sympathy, but she only frowned, sealed her lips with a loud and authoritative zip. They placed their phones in the basket. Sat down in the two chairs facing the desk.

"Are you all comfortable? Would you like some water? Snacks? I got some delicious red twists sitting right over--"

"We're fine," said the whiter one of them. "Thanks."

"Okay, so tell me why you're here. How would you like me to help you?"

"Well. I don't know. I guess I just wanted to talk." The blonde girl found herself struggling to sum up all that was going on. A part of her was afraid what she had to say would be judged as nothingness, that it didn't have enough weight. But another part of her was afraid of revealing too much.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just having some trouble putting it all into words." A long pause. Too long.

"Look. I don't got all day. Do you need help or what?"

"Could we speak alone?" She asked. The woman turned to the other girl and pointed to the door.

"What? Me?" she said.

"Yeah. You heard her."

"Okay." The door opened and closed.

"So? What is it that's bothering you, honey?"

"I just, I don't know."

"You gotta do better than that."

"I'm fine, really."

"Okay."

"What can I do for you?"

"Aren't you supposed to know?"

"Okay."

"Gosh. I'm sorry. It's just I'm sad."

"Sad about what?"

"Just everything."