Bitter

fifty-three - lydia

   I'm pretty sure Marco forgot I was with him a couple times. We'd passed the gym doors again, making our way to the bathrooms where Meg had been taken and with me being in heels, I was starting to slow down. Marco was rushing deeper into the dimly lit hall and only once did he look back, noticing I was about ten steps behind him. "We've gotta go, Lydia," he urged, pressing on and forgetting me again. So much for sticking together.

   Marco went on ahead, disappearing around a corner to go down the math hall while I trailed behind, taking every detail in. Every door to every classroom was shut and locked and when I reached the bathrooms finally, two girls waited outside, talking to each other and comparing their dresses. I guess Marco hadn't seen anything important near the bathrooms that would lead to Meg because he was already halfway down the hall. Good thing I was going a bit slower than him.

   Next to one of the girl's shoes, something tiny sparkled in the white light flowing from the bathroom. A ring? The two girls moved away from the wall, into the bathroom and I walked over and knelt down to pick up the silver ring that had one purple and one pink bead on it. It was unmistakably the ring I'd given Meg when we were younger. I had one too from her, but I hadn't worn mine in so long and I was kind of surprised she kept hers. She'd actually been wearing it again too.

   I stood up and continued down the hall after Marco with the ring, looking at the floor for any strange marks, any signs of a struggle. The hall branched off into two others and I found Marco had gone down the left one, pausing in the middle of it. I walked towards him, heels clicking as confusion washed over me. "What are you doing?"

   Marco glanced at me and put a finger to his lips, eyes narrowing in concentration. "I thought I heard something," he spoke, "hold on." He walked further down the hall, passing by all of the lockers until he came to the door just after that. I followed him, looking at the janitor's closet he was eyeing suspiciously. Then he turned the door knob and out it swung slowly.

   Meg's body fell out onto the hallway floor, right at our feet. Her wrists were bleeding as if something had been digging into her skin and she was so pale, I thought for sure I was looking at a dead girl. My legs shook as I got to my knees, hoping she still had a pulse. Marco was right beside me, turning Meg's head so she was looking up at the ceiling now, wild hair spilling over her shoulders. "Meg, can you hear me?" he asked, voice breaking a bit. She was breathing, but it was ragged and abnormal and her eyes were blank, staring. "Meg, please say something," Marco pleaded, finding her hand and holding it in his. It was like Jason's party all over again only worse. I saw that Meg's dress was soaked with a dark liquid and I knew immediately it was blood.

   Marco started fumbling for his phone in his pocket and he frantically typed in 911. He looked at me then, eyes wide and truly afraid. "Get Cal," he told me, just before he put the phone up to his ear as a voice on the other side of the line crackled in. I didn't need to be told twice. I gave Meg's ring to Marco and got to my feet, letting him take the call and care for Meg.

   Suddenly, a dizziness came over me all at once like the tide rolling in, though it was gone as soon as it arrived, the tide of nausea pulling back out. I didn't let that strange feeling stop me and I wasn't going to waste any more time. Seeing Meg like that was scary and made me want to throw up, but I fought the urge and started back down the hallway again, set on finding Cal and bringing everyone back together to safety.

———

   It didn't make me feel good to see that Cal hadn't come back to our meeting spot like he said he would. He was supposed to be here if he didn't find West and he'd been gone for about five minutes longer than the time limit we'd set. That was five too many. Fifteen minutes, that was what it was supposed to be, but he'd been gone for twenty and that meant only one thing. He'd found West and they were somewhere in the school. Flashes of Meg and all of the blood invaded my thoughts and as much as I hated to do it, I removed my heels and set them beside the lockers. Then I dashed down the hallway, pushing past the double doors Cal had gone through.

   The halls were full of shadows grabbing at me from either side as I ran, holding my dress up to keep myself from tripping. My bare feet raced along the cold floor, carrying me past lockers and windows and classrooms. I saw the clock on the wall above the library doors, ticking away, a reminder that I needed to move faster, so I sprinted around a corner and stopped dead in my tracks. Ms. Hunter's anatomy room was greeting me with an open door and the darkness beyond it. Then my gaze flicked down to the floor to see drops of red. They were tiny, but there were so many and they led from the doorway and turned down another hallway. I took a few steps closer, following the blood with my eyes as it went right up to the side door that opened to the outside of the school. I never let myself think about whose blood it was.

   I walked into Ms. Hunter's room and right away I simultaneously heard the crunch of glass and felt a stinging pain shoot into the bottom of my foot. Instantly, I cried out and sucked in a breath, hopping back out into the hall where I leaned against the wall, bringing my foot up to examine it. Small pieces of broken glass stuck out of the sole of my foot, twinkling under the fluorescent light directly above me. Knowing I wouldn't be able to get anywhere without removing those pieces, I placed my fingers on one shard and squeezed my eyes shut. I tugged a little on it, testing the pain, then just plucked it right out.

It was electrifying, paralyzing. Warm tears were streaming down my cheeks as I did it again, and again, until all of the glass was out of my foot and it was just blood slipping down my skin. I didn't try to risk going back in Ms. Hunter's room to see what happened in there. I already had a pretty good idea anyway.

With one last glance at the room, I noticed a fairly large shard of glass peeking out of the doorway and I grabbed it, taking it with me. Then I turned towards the droplets of blood, leading me to the school exit like a trail of breadcrumbs, and limped my way outside into freezing, pouring rain.