Two Faces

Chapter 6

   That night, Scarlet slept in Jetta's room on the floor like she had the last two nights. She refused to sleep on the couch when asked if she wanted to. At about 2 a.m. that night, Jetta came into my room, waking me up. "Jetta, what in the world are you doing in here?" I asked, with a hint of irritation in my voice.

   "Have you seen Scarlet?" Jetta replied, looking back into the living room. "What do you mean? She's in your room, sleeping on the floor." I said, starting to fall asleep again. "Um, no, she's not. She's gone." Jetta answered. I quickly sat upright. "She's gone? What do you mean gone?" I asked. "Gone, gone. As in, not in the house gone," Jetta replied, frustrated.

   "Well, you go find her and I'll stay here," I said, laying back down. "Ok," Jetta replied, turning to walk out. But then, she turned back around. "Wait. No. You're coming too," she said. "Fine," I replied, getting up. We did a walkthrough of the house then. Jetta was right, Scarlet wasn't in the house at all.

   The last place we looked was outside on the front porch. Sure enough, Scarlet was sitting on the edge of the porch, and seemed to be staring up at the stars. Jetta breathed a sigh of relief, and went to sit down beside Scarlet. "Scarlet, you scared me nearly to death! What are you even doing out here? Tomorrow's school," Jetta said, frowning.

   "Tomorrow's going to be so different. At least one of you will be in every one of my classes, and I'm going to take on a new last name," Scarlet replied. "I'm not ready," she added. "Scarlet, nothing can prepare you for something like what happened on Friday, and nothing's gonna prepare you for this," I said, placing a hand on Scarlet's shoulder.

   "You need to sleep so you'll at least be awake for tomorrow," Jetta said, standing. I think Scarlet was in a sort of daze, because she didn't get up when I stood up, and when I helped her up, she wouldn't walk into the house, so I had to guide her.

   When we got in the house, I let Jetta take Scarlet back to Jetta's room, and I went to my room. As I lay there, I thought about what the next day would hold. I would be in Scarlet's first, fourth, and sixth hours. I was already in her sixth hour on a regular schedule. Jetta would be in Scarlet's second, third, fifth, and seventh hours and that was her normal schedule.

   Scarlet would be fine, I thought as I fell fast asleep.