Frostbitten Past

V I I I

 Andorra had her mother on the phone as she sat in the nurse's office. Her head was bandaged, though the nurse was eyeing her as if she were truly insane, even when Andorra didn't indulge in any stories. The nurse, who had heard of Andorra's previous hallucination scenarios, was about ready to send Andorra to the doctor for some real evaluations that had more to do with mental illness than anything else.

"She's there now, at the house?" Her aunt was home, in Maine, waiting for her return. The insides of Andorra's belly had gone sour, and she felt like vomiting, but she held herself in check. Her head was spinning and aching, and she knew she needed to go home.

But, her aunt was there. And the last time she saw her aunt, she'd almost been poisoned. She'd almost been choked. And she had no desire to go home and face her aunt, not after the day she'd already had.

"Yes, we just got in. Are you... alright? You've called twice now about not feeling well at school. Maybe you should have stayed home today."

Andorra bit her lower lip and closed her eyes. She needed to come up with a plan on how she was going to deal with her aunt, and she needed time to do it. Staying at school until it ended was her only real option, and she had plenty of time in class to think over what she would do when she got home.

Behind the closed door of the nurse's office, Andorra felt the creature lurking. But there was an equally dangerous creature at home, also lurking. Andorra would take her chances at school, no matter how much her hands shook in fear.

"I'm fine, mom. I just... fell. I'll see you when I get home."

When Andorra returned to class, Shaniah sat in the front row and snickered at her. She pushed her dark hair over her shoulder and leaned into Noah, whose dark blue eyes were studying Andorra as though he was surprised to see her in class.

"I'm surprised they let her back in here. They should have sent her to an insanity ward by now."

The burning of Andorra's cheeks was in shame as she pushed past Shaniah and Noah, finding a seat in the back, wishing that Noah had been looking at Shaniah instead of her, or that he'd said something to the dark haired girl. But, Andorra wasn't stupid enough to have fantasies about him liking her.

Andorra focused on the whiteboard, trying to conjure up a solid plan for when she returned home. Her aunt was wicked, and every part of Andorra told her to stay far, far away. Her parents loved her, but even they didn't have time to read into every move her aunt made. Every glass of lemonade she gave their precious daughter.

As class continued on though, Andorra couldn't think of anything that would save her from her aunt. She was going to have to return home, face the woman, and get it over with.

Every few moments, a giggling Shaniah would turn in her seat to grin at Andorra, her eyes hard and scheming. She didn't want to think about why Shaniah suddenly had it out for her, or why Noah hadn't looked at her once.

Her teacher droned on. "What's important is not the length of your essays, but the content. I'm expecting only the best, not fluffy fillers like usual."

Andorra glided her pen across the page, writing in her planner about the assignment she didn't want to do, and probably wouldn't start until her aunt was gone. Sick to her stomach, she thought about her aunt once again.

"Now, I used to have students work on this alone, but this year, I've changed my mind. You and a partner will be working together to read and research a novel of your choosing - one I have up here - and you'll have a few weeks to read the book and analyze it for the final project."

Andorra looked around the classroom, trying to spot a classmate she could work with, but all of them seemed to shift away from her at the word partner. Of course, Andorra knew she was crazy; her classmates weren't actually shifting away from her... or so she thought.