On The Fifth Day

Day Three

"I'm sick."

I feigned a cough into my balled up hand. I sat on my bed, tissues all around me not from snot as if I was actually sick, but rather from drying my tears. My sheets were all messy, which was unusual for me. I had thrown all my pillows onto the floor in a fit of rage. My phone laid beside me untouched for most of the night, which I could not sleep. I had a book propped open next to me which I had attempted to read but I couldn't focus on the pages. My face was sticky from dry tears from when I had stopped bothering with the tissues. I was sure that my eyes were red and ugly from the crying. I was shaky as it was cold, but it was just nerves. I had my arms wrapped around myself, trying to pretend like I was freezing from a fever. Mom carefully stepped into my room and walked over to me. She sat next to me on the bed and placed her hand on my forehead.

She tsked. "You don't feel warm, Sammy."

I made my eyes as big as possible, trying to will the tears to come back. "Please Mom, I really don't feel good right now."

She sighed. Her eyes were tired from the night shift she worked the night before after my dad had given her a lift. I could see the worry in her eyes. Whether she was worried about me, or her own predicament with her car, I couldn't tell.

"Okay Sammy, I know things are tough right now. I'll give you one day, okay ?"

I nodded solemnly, allowing my body to flop back onto the bed. I forgot I had thrown my pillows off, so I kind of hit my head on the headboard and the mattress. She left without another word. A part of me wished she would stay, and a part of me was glad she left.

As tears filled my eyes and I stared up at the ceiling, my phone started to buzz. It was an incoming call from Paige. I press the decline button. I didn't have the energy to deal with either of my friends at the moment. Maybe I was a little bit harsh in leaving them the day before, and they could be angry at me if they wanted to. But they didn't know how I felt. They didn't have their car stolen just to murder someone with it, and then have yourself blamed. They didn't have their moms car burst in the flames in front of their eyes. They didn't know how it felt. They didn't know how I felt. No one understood how I felt, and I was going to stay in my bed and not leave it for as long as possible. Lindsay couldn't hurt me if I didn't leave my room. And hopefully she would leave my mom alone, and my dad, and everyone else. I wondered if she had anything up her sleeves for Alex and Paige. And then I felt rude and stupid. What if something had happened to them the day before? I had left them to their own defenses and hadn't even considered that Lindsay could be taking revenge on them too.

Reluctantly, I picked up my phone and called Paige. The line rang about three times until her preppy voice answered.

"Sammy, how are you doing today? Do you need me to come pick you up for school?"

I shook my head before realizing that she couldn't see me. Was she serious? She sounded so preppy and happy and not at all at odds with the world.

I responded, "Nothing happened to you yesterday?"

"Oh...no."I could hear the frown in her voice. She always did this really ugly, exaggerated frown when she was thinking hard, or when she was confused about something.

"Nothing happened to Alex yesterday? Have you talked to her?"I waited a few moments for her response, taking the time to put her on speaker so that I could scroll through my phone. I had a few text messages from acquaintances from school, some asking me about my car. I had a few Instagram notifications, a few likes on my newest post. Nothing serious, nothing really worth my attention.

"No, nothing happened to her. Why, are you still worried about Lindsay? She probably just went crazy one day. It's okay , the cops will be able to get her and everything will be fine. Just stop worrying, okay?"