Change of Identity (The Ruh-ruh-redux!)

Chapter 7 New Information

My mind was still reeling.

A lot of things made sense now.

She'd told me not to talk. How could she have known how I'd sound?

Funny, because the journal page had a while section on it.

And the way she'd spoken while were on that log...

*Flashback*

"Fine." I plopped down onto a small log with mushrooms on it.

"Hey, we could eat one!" Mabel smiled. "Or more."

"But they might be poisonous..." I told her, but she whimpered, and I sighed. "Fine, I'll try one, but if I die you can't deny it's your fault."

Mabel grinned. "Yay!"

*End of Flashback*

Stupid. I was stupid to not see she'd been acting weird.

The door slowly creaked open.

"Go away, Mabel." I muttered through my tear-soaked pillow.

"But I just got here!" She complained jokingly, and I could feel her sitting in my bed next to me.

"I don't want to talk to you." I muttered.

"Hear me out!" Mabel pleaded.

"No. And that's final. There is no good explanation or reason for you to do this to me!" I said furiously, still talking through my pillow.

"Just let me talk!" She exclaimed.

"Fine." I let out the single word hesitantly. "But don't expect me to accept whatever explanation you have.

"I...I just..." I felt a single tear fall onto the back of neck. She was crying.

"Go on." I turned towards her, pushing that stupid hair out of my eyes. Even at chin length it got everywhere.

I could see tears streaming down her face. "I just...just wanted...I wanted you to understand! Is that too much to ask?"

"Huh?" I sat up and moved over to her, her crying ceased. She had my attention.

"You always criticized sleepovers and boy bands and everything and I thought that maybe you'd, y'know, just...understand." She sighed. "But I guess not. And I also failed to see 'no known cure' printed there. Heh."

"Hey. All you had to do was ask me to try, you didn't have to go through such great measures. It's cool. We're cool." I smiled, but her smile fell.

"I don't know if this is the best time to tell you this, but..." Mabel started.

"Yes?"

"Stan...he found Journal 2. And it was more updated. And the status went from 'no known cure' to..." She seemed on the verge of tears.

"To...?"

"No cure."

My heart skipped a beat. I heard her wrong. She had to be kidding.

"You're joking. This is a joke. Right? Like...this is a Kerprank'd thing, isn't it? Justin Kerprank is gonna come out of a flower pot and..." I stifled a sob, because I knew she wasn't joking. I was just trying to deny it.

"No. No it's not." Mabel sighed. "I guess this wasn't the best time to tell you this, huh?"

I slowly shook my head.

The world came crashing down. First, I found out this was all Mabel's fault, and she'd done this on purpose. And then, the icing on the cake, there was no cure. I was stuck. Forever.

"I'm sorry, it's not my fault..." She began.

"But it is." I said blankly. "You know that."

"I'm so so so so sorry, I didn't read the whole thing and I-I just..." She burst into tears and wrapped her arms around me, sobbing into my chest.

That stupid girl chest I would never be rid of, and it was all her fault.

Part of me wanted to forgive her, to say I was sorry for overreacting, to comfort her.

But part of me also wanted to push away and leave her alone. For a long time.

I chose option A.

"Shhh...it's okay...I overreacted...it's fine..." I gently ran my fingers through her hair. "Let's both get some rest. It'll be better in the morning."

She nodded, and got into her bed.

And we both drifted of to sleep.

But only one of us was going to wake to the next morning.

And that would be me.

((Next chapter is actually like second or third to last *cri*
But
THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL
Yea))