for the sins of her mother

Destruction

The first thing she saw was the lights. They danced behind her eyes, better than any firework show. She followed it for what could have been weeks and what could have been five minutes before realising that having eyes meant she should open them. Her name was next to return, and the fact that she might have been in the most trouble of her life. She kept her eyes shut, to ward off the trouble. As waking up thoughts go, it was worse than remembering four essays that were due in an hour, of which five total words had been written. She opened one eye. No one yelling. So far, so good. Unfamiliar surroundings. Less good. She looked around, too weak to stand. Dark. Bad. Bulletin board. Weird. Big windows. Not her room. High ceiling and where was her bike she had a distinct memory of her bike and oh. Country club. Daring break-in. Friendship. Stupid immune system. Everything made enough sense for her to sit up straight. Then she saw that her jacket was stained deep red and nothing would ever make sense again.

She stared at it, waiting for some divine explanation. Her jacket was powder pink and fabric textured. It was not slippery. Fancy words for red swirled in her brain, not allowing any useful thoughts. Scarlet cadmium crimson vermilion carmine. Blood. It looked like blood. It smelled like blood, the dull metallic smell that everyone recognised. Her brain stubbornly refused to accept what her eyes could see. Her jacket could not be covered in blood. She wasn't bleeding. She patted herself down, in case. Nothing. She hadn't even scratched herself on the fence. And that wasn't scratched on fence blood. It was gunshot blood, knife wound blood. Horror movie blood, dripping onto her lap. She held the jacket at arm's length. It dripped on the floor. She was dreaming. Nothing else could be true. Except she knew the blood was real. She had bled in dreams, a silky cotton-candy substance that was a metaphor for her relationship with her mother or something. This wasn't that.

Her phone vibrated into her pocket, making her spring back into the wall and come to her senses. Fighting overwhelming dread, she scrunched the jacket into a ball and wrapped it into the plastic bag she had meant for her bathing suit. Her hands directed themselves without input from her conscious mind.

She thanked god that you couldn't see the stains on her shirt and hid the bundle behind the bulletin board. Not the best hiding place, but a casual observer wouldn't notice it. She'd come back for it later and everything would be fine. Not believing a word of that, she answered her phone.

Vee: omw, had to deal with stuff at home

Chiyo: Am finally done with work, be there in five mins!

Mei dropped her phone and jumped at the noise. Her friends were coming. Chiyo and Vera. They were going to meet in the entrance hall. She wiped the last of the blood - oh god - off her hands and clasped them behind her back to hide the shaking. She forced a smile, doing a marionette's dance of happiness. She'd see Chiyo and Vera and then she'd wake up from the nightmare. They'd explore, and it would be exciting. They'd talk and laugh and swim. She could wash herself of sin. The swimming pool became salvation. She would forget about the blood and see her jacket at home, tossed on the floor, pristine pink. Everything was going to be okay. Something brushed her shoulder, a tentative contact that felt claw-like, inhuman. A brush of cold seaweed or the point of a knife and Mei wanted to scream but she couldn't remember how and-

"Mei?" The voice was soft and familiar. Mei spun around, fixing her haunted smile in place. Girl. Small. Pale but not a ghost. Hairbow, cardigan, bob. Holy shit. Mei was an idiot.
"Chiyo!" She was proud of how calm she sounded. "You got here so fast!" Chiyo became fascinated by her shoes.
"Thanks. I did all my work as fast as I could and then I ran all the way from the bus." Her hair was a little dishevelled. Mei was lighter than air and filled with laughter. All the fear had drained away. Chiyo was here and was adorable and they were about to have an adventure. She had passed out, had a nightmare. Everything was fine.