Dead & Forgotten

Ch. 11

Somehow I was clever enough to sneak back into Marshall Academy. It was late in the night, and somehow I managed to pull it off. I sneaked into the building subtly and quietly enough to not disturb anybody, and I managed to go up the elevator myself into my room. Luckily, I had my keys with me, or else I would have gotten locked out, and that would've been the worst time of my life! Carefully, I opened the door and my purse unexpectedly dropped on the floor. I saw Donna tossing and turning, and I was glad to not disturb her. Then I changed into my nightgown and fell asleep; I was too tired and lazy to unpack, so I decided to do it tomorrow morning instead.

I had a strange—scary, shall I say?—dream about meeting the girl again, Rachel. In the dream, the same exact things that happened in real life also happened. With one exception—I was about to leave to go back to the school when she took out a knife that came from nowhere and acted like she wanted to stab me with it. I started running as fast I could, and I could hear her saying, "You can run, but you can never hide....from me!" I woke up screaming, unintentionally startling Donna.

"I thought I've had crazier dreams!" she hissed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry if I scared you," I said.

"You know, there's nothing like getting a good scream once you wake up," she said, and I knew she was being sarcastic. "How'd you even get here anyway?"

"Oh, I sneaked into the building last night while everyone else was asleep," I said.

"Real clever. Why did you just scream, night terror?"

"More like a nightmare, really," I said. I told her about my encounter with Rachel as we made our beds and unpacked all my belongings.

"That does sound weird," said Donna.

"I know this will sound freaky, but her last name is Lang," I said. "As in Rachel Lang, the girl who you've kept saying died a long time ago."

"That's crazy," she said.

"I know. That's why I'm telling you."

"No, I mean it's crazy that you believe in spirits," she said. "The girl is dead, and you claim to have seen her? You're nuts, Cassandra." She didn't sound like she wanted us to be friends again.

"I know what I saw," I said. "Too bad you refuse to believe me."

"When someone is dead, they can no longer exist!" she snapped. "That's what the word dead means, if you've ever noticed. Wake up and stay in contact with reality for once."

We said nothing afterward. If this was how things would be around here, there was no use saying anything else anymore. I'd been hurt many times by many things many people have said to me, and this time, I wasn't sure if I would recover from that pain. When we were dressing up, she said, "So, do you think you'll ever have a chance with Marvin anymore?"

"I don't know; he's dead to me. After all, once something is dead, it can't exist anymore." See what I did there?

"All right, all right, I'm sorry I was a bitch before," she said. "I believe you now."

"Great," I only said.

Then we decided to hug it out. Donna said, "I'm also sorry for calling you a coward."

"Ah, that's all right," I said. "You were actually right, though. Running away never solves anything."

"We're boarding school students, Cass, and as boarding school roommates, we should face everything together and get out of them together," she said. "I am not a quitter. If I don't quit, neither should you."