The Originals

Chapter Thirty-Three: Saira Levine

When Saira arrived back in the dorm room, Fareeda was writing something at her desk. Once she saw Saira, she quickly closed the diary's cover. Whatever, she was probably just writing about her boy crush. Saira couldn't put up with Fareeda along with Orchid and Stoll today, so she ignored her, heading into the bathroom.

She stripped off her clothes and hopped into the shower, nothing like a steamy bath to calm herself. Orchid's wrong and you're right, her mind convinced her. Orchid didn't get it, at least she had money to her name. Saira didn't, her mama didn't. God, if Mama lost everything because of her, Saira would never forgive herself.

As the water battered her back, she pushed her forehead to the shower's wall. You really screwed up, her mind hissed. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she counted the minutes that slipped away until she had to get out of the shower for Fareeda. She stepped out, wrapping a towel around her body as she shivered. Saira glanced at herself in the mirror—slumped posture, bags under her red-rimmed eyes, and a girl whose life was spiralling out of control.

Suddenly, all the pain that Saira had been burying all these years finally was unearthed, and she started to sob uncontrollably. She spent all these years hiding from the officials for the murder of her abusive father, and soon enough, for what? Utterly nothing. She collapsed on the cold floor, crying.

There was a knock at the door. "S-Saira?" Fareeda asked quietly. "Do you need help? Are you okay?" Go away, go away, Saira thought miserably. Fareeda did end up retreating after Saira didn't respond for several minutes. Finally, she threw on a sports bra with some loose shorts. She slid down the wall, covering her mouth to hide her raspy sobs.

She dialled Mama's phone number quickly, sniffling as her phone rang. Please pick up, she shut her eyes. Finally, Mama picked up. "Sar? It's almost midnight, Jesus Christ," came her mama's voice. Despite her crude words, Mama's sweet voice was almost relieving.

"Oh, Mama," she sobbed.

"Sar?" Mama became alarmed. The wind whipped over the phone, she must have just finished her shift at work and was walking back to her apartment. Maybe Saira shouldn't have disturbed her.

"Oh no, it's the flood that happened a week ago, right? Or was it two weeks ago? I just assumed it hadn't hit your area, I'm lucky that our apartment complex was far enough away not to be evacuated... That is what's upsetting you, right, Sarah?"

Sarah. Could Saira be Sarah, the girl who let her father die in a fire, again? "Yeah," she said, forcing a smile despite only talking to Mama over the phone. "The flood just spooked me, i-it was kind of scary," she lied.

"Oh, sweetie, take it easy," Mama said gently. "Things have been hectic over here too, the police are dealing with the aftermath of the flood and checking for missing people." So Headmaster Roux hasn't called the cops yet to notify them that three people had passed. Saira honestly couldn't see Silverleaf's headmaster's angle, but she always deemed him as a lying bastard, barely keeping the academy together.

"Ma? Can I-I ask you something?" Saira wiped her tears away. "Can we ever stop running and hiding?"

There was a long pause. "Pardon?"

Saira pressed the phone to her ear, crying. "If people discover I allowed my father to die in a house fire, they'll stare at me and call the cops. Then the cops will arrest y-you and me because we disappeared all those years ago." Shortly after Mama called the fire department, they both realized that they had committed murder—they shut the door on Papa, letting him die. The police will find us, we can't explain this, little old Sarah had shouted. Mama agreed, so they fled the scene, letting the firefighters and police arrive to deal with the mess.