Masked (now an EBOOK on Amazon)

Chapter #24

                                                                                            CHAPTER #24

I woke up to the sound of a glass clinking beside me, somewhere. I opened my eyes slowly to see who it was. It was Sky.

"Hey, Alicia stopped by for a second. Told me to give this to you," she said, handing me the glass, now that I was awake.

"What is it?" I asked.

"She said it was iced coffee with a splash of caramel. You do like it, don't you? If not, I'd be glad to-"

"Thanks, Sky. I'll take that," I said, smirking. She pouted and stalked out of the room.

"Oh wow, this is good," I said to myself after taking the first sip. I finished the entire mug in two minutes, flat. I put it on the table next to me and threw my legs over the side of the chair again and fell asleep.

***************************************************************

"Mom! Mom! What are you doing?" I heard screams, faintly ringing in the background. I thought that maybe I was dreaming but after a minute, they got louder.

"Z! GET UP HERE! Z!" I heard Sky's voice echoing in my ears. I got up from the chair with a sharp jerk. I swayed for a second and ran out of the library, ignoring the rush of blood to my head. I dashed up the stairs, taking three at a time and dived into mom's room. I saw broken glass near the nearly empty window frame and a whole lot of blood. My heart was racing as I looked around frantically, even if they were both right there, sitting on the bed.

"Mom! What happened?" She sat still, staring at something outside the window. I groggily walked up to the window and looked down, all I could see was a white van parked downstairs. I looked back at mom again and speed- walked to the bed.

"Mom, what the hell? Did you cut yourself? Were you trying to get yourself killed? Why would you do that? Mom, talk to me! Are you not happy? Are we doing something wrong? You can't do things like this, we need you," I said, voice cracking at the end.

"Shut up, Z. Now's not the time," Sky hissed. I looked over at her and her face was wrinkled with a frown.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"You heard me; this is not the time to project your anger towards mom. Leave the room; do whatever it is you have to do, get your anger out and come back. You got me?"

"No. No I won't, I want to know what happened."

"I will tell you everything later, now leave."

"Tell me when? When she actually is on the verge of dying? When she tries to jump off the wind-"

"SHE ALREADY DID, Z! She tried to jump off. That's why the window is broken."

"Oh my God. Mom, what's the matter with you? Why don't you want us to help you? You know we'll do anything we can, right? Wait, did you try to jump off because you thought you saw Noah-"

"SHUT UP, Z!" Sky screamed and smacked her hand across my cheek. I felt my face burn and I knew it was turning red. As the realisation of her action dawned upon her, she was appalled.

"Z, I'm so sorry," she whispered, reaching out. I gave mom one last look, hugged her even as she sat motionless, like a rock; and walked out of the room. I shut the door behind me and staggered as I started to go down the stairs. I could see two doors and double the number of stairs.

"What the-"

I mused to myself about the absurdity of this whole 'seeing double' situation and all of a sudden, I felt the ground give way as I fell.