Marcus Delacôte

The Second Warning

The second warning arrives right the following afternoon.

I am standing in the front of an overly full bus, on my way home. My head is a fuzzy mess, because I didn't sleep well, for obvious reasons, and school gave me a headache. I'm holding on to one of the poles in the bus. The movements are pushing me and the people around me in all directions, but as we're from the city, everyone is used to it and we do not fall.
I almost doze off, the shaking floor almost lulling me.

Then the bus makes a sudden stop.

I'm forced to let go of the pole, people are falling and shouting and landing on top of me and the bus driver is just repeatedly calling The Lord. "Oh, dieu, dieu, dieu!"
I'm pressed to the ground, face forward, the weight of 3 people on me.
"What happened?" The words echo all around me, as people try to get up, panting, hearts beating.
The bus driver has rushed out and is now standing in front of the bus, hands in his hair. Did he hit a person?

I'm free to get up now, and without thinking, I get out of the bus, following several others. The driver is sitting on the ground, staring in the distance, muttering. I'm the first to crouch down next to him, putting my hand on his shoulder.
"...sir?" I ask cautiously.
I feel him tremble under my hand.
"She just... disappeared," he mutters. His lips barely move.

My heart stops.

"What did she look like?" I urge him. "Sir, I need to know!" He remains quiet and my veins feel like they're on fire. I start shaking him, scared he won't say anything. "Sir!"
Other people then pull me away from him. Two strong arms wrap around my middle. "No! No, I have to know!" I shout, trying to escape from the man's grip. I briefly look around and see he's the man who was sitting in the chair in the front of the bus. "He must tell! No!"
I'm pushed up against the bus, and for a moment I see myself as if from above, eyes wild, hair in my face, struggling to get to a traumatised man.
"She's mad!" I hear someone call.
"Someone help holding her! Or she's going to hurt him!"
Someone else grabs my arm and I'm held too hard against the bus, still I don't stop struggling.
"Sir! SIR!" I try to grab the attention of the driver. "I know more! Please tell me!"

He catches my gaze then, all pale and wide-eyed, an astonished look on his face. For a moment, I think he will stand up and walk towards me, but he withdraws his gaze.

The police arrive and I am captured like a criminal.

--

I manage to convince them that I am not dangerous, that it was the shock that was guiding me. They believe me after calling my school and verifying I really am one of their best students an have a clean record, and send me home with nothing but a warning.
Once I step out of the police office, I call Liam.

"I missed a warning."

It is silent on the other side.

"I'll- I'll come over, okay? Are you home?"
Liam's voice is soft and slightly trembling when he answers. "Yeah. Okay. What-"
I cut him off. "Nothing to discuss over the phone. Look, I'll be there as soon as I can. Are you okay?"
He sounds hesitant when he says he is.
"Good."

It's his life we're talking about, after all.

He opens the door before I have fully reached it. He must have seen me coming through the window. I smile at him reassuringly. He puts his hand on my shoulder and guides me inside. The door closes softly behind us. 

We're standing in a brightly lit room. It looks as if someone did their very best to always have at least one light shining right into your eyes, no matter where in the room you are standing. Or that's what it feels like, at least. I blink several times as my eyes adjust themselves. 

"Sorry 'bout the lights," Liam says. He is slightly leaning over me, and we are close. The room is small.  "Something my mum likes. Keeps her awake." He guides me again, hand on my shoulder, towards a smaller room. The apartment map is the same as mine, and in ours, this is my room.