Ours

Memory Gaps

She'd been dreaming, but it felt more like a disjointed series of sick fantasies. The news of her grandmother's fall had really set Rebecca on edge, and she now sat by the window, staring out at the blood moon. It was funny, she didn't remember having got out of bed at all, but it didn't matter. Now it was just her and the moon.

For a few weeks now, she'd been planning fun things to do during the lunar eclipse. She'd thought she'd head to the supposedly haunted house, take a load of fake murder scene pictures by the lake and watch a horror film. After the previous day, she didn't feel like any of that, but she couldn't waste an opportunity like this. Total lunar eclipses didn't occur everyday, she had to do something.

She searched up one of her favourite horror movies and found the injury she wanted. Somebody got stabbed in the eye and the resulting wound looked sick in multiple meanings of the word. She got out her makeup and body painting kit and set to work.

The work was slow but methodical. The first steps bore little resemblance to the end result, but by now Rebecca was used to that. Often you'd have to start with colours that weren't especially visible, since in the end, they'd make the shape look just right or give the red or purple the unhealthy appearance you wanted. It required patience and imagination, something her art teacher had often encouraged her to channel into drawings and paintings, but nothing brought Rebecca quite as much pleasure as looking like she'd been assaulted by a serial killer. Everybody needs a hobby.

After three quarters of an hour, she was completely satisfied. She admired the result in the mirror and fought the urge to run her fingers over her "wound." As horrible as the flesh appeared, touching it would only ruin the result. She ignored her impulses and started taking pictures.

The worst part was always removing her work of art. All that effort, all those cosmetics were wiped away with an excessive number of make-up removing wipes. All that remained was a slight redness of her eye from all the prodding and poking. Far from the masterpiece she'd created, yet she couldn't go to bed or school like that.

After a few hours sleep, the blood moon had vanished and Rebecca was eating toast. Her mother was pacing to let out all that nervous energy that had built up from a sleepless night in the hospital.

'It's not too serious, they should send her home in a couple of days, thank God,' Sarah Steele rambled as she crossed the room again. Rebecca couldn't help but wonder how many steps she'd accumulated on her smartwatch.

'If you want, you can get some sleep and then we can go visit her together,' Rebecca suggested.

Her mother stared at her. 'You're not getting out of school, missy.'

'Shame,' Rebecca commented.

It turned out that she wouldn't have been alone in not attending classes. A few kids were missing, some of which she was glad about, some of which she missed. Then again, even though she wasn't physically absent, she was absent in spirit. She kept spacing out. It was funny really, she would blink, and it seemed like five minutes had passed. If only every day passed that quickly.

The bell rang and she headed to her locker to fetch a book she'd forgotten. Like a fish swimming upstream, she pushed her way through the crowd, occasionally trying to scare teens that looked like wimps. One person waved a fist at her, but they didn't actually hit her, so essentially, they were a wimp too.

As she headed to her next class, she spotted Martha, who was hanging out with another girl, who had golden skin and long coiled hair. Immediately, Rebecca forced her way into the conversation.