Whisper

Five

I've been waiting all week just to go back to chemistry lab to check whether the stains on the blouse is blood or something else. I'm too eager to find out. I couldn't go town to the pharmacist like I planned earlier because Lily was busy working from home all week. Dad has been doing the needed grocery shopping. I don't have a driver's license, which prevents me from going to town.

Havenwood is a small population, however, a reasonably large area as it almost encircles the Crossnight forest. Each property is large with a large area of space as the backyard. It's one of the biggest homes we have ever owned. Our home is not even near the main road, rather, it has a long driveway, about two hundred metres, that goes along with the cutting line of the forest, from the main road to our home. So, it was difficult for me to find transport to head to the town square unless I was willing to walk for more than an hour.

The suspense is killing me; staring at the stain knowing I couldn't know until next class. I thought the day after, I would have lab but we only had a regular class. I had to wait two more days until lab.

As every day passed, I was losing more patience. The stains are an answer; something that would confirm my suspicions. Without that answer, I don't have any idea of what truly happened that night. If it really is blood, then I will be one step closer to knowing what happened that night.

I have lab after lunch, so I finish lunch early to sneak in class and use their peroxide. Dani saw me earlier, asked me if I was going to have lunch with her. I told her that I couldn't because I had to go to class early. She didn't question it even though I could tell she thought it was weird. I've been having lunch with Dani and her friends more often for the past few days. I rarely see Reyna during lunch; I actually haven't seen her since the day I met Reyna.

But I don't mind. Every time we do meet, she talks about Abraham Donovan; the pocket watch her brother had which he lost and her brother. They are the only things Reyna is interested in talking about; the only things she is willing to talk about. There isn't much I can talk to her about because everything we say, always leads back to either her brother, Abraham Donovan or her brother's pocket watch. Sometimes, she mentions the fire that happened at the school seventeen years ago. Talking to her is dull.

I reach the chemistry lab. The door is unlocked and no one is inside. I slowly walk to my lab counter, placing my bag on the table. Only the beakers and Bunsen burners were set out. The solutions were all at the front of the class, all in a large white box. I'm not supposed to be in here; there is a large sign on the door that no one is allowed to be alone in a lab without the presence of a teacher.

But I couldn't do this with a teacher presence. I had to do this by myself. By the time I find out the reaction of the stains, I'll leave the lab immediately and wait until class starts. I grab the hydrogen peroxide from the front of the class and take it back to my counter. I take out my white blouse with dark, red stains. I place it flat on the counter.

I feel nervous. When I find out that this blood, it will only just raise more questions as to why I have stains on my blouse, why do I have memories of dying that night and why I was in the church. At least if I know I died, it would link with the other things I remember. Although it is the most illogical explanation.

I close my eyes. The image of standing in front of the mirror, wearing that very blouse with the blood stains and bruised neck is fresh in my mind. I could remember the fear in my eyes and the very feeling I had when I recovered that alleged memory of the night. The churning of the guts, feeling light headed as though all blood has drained from my face and I remember my sore, dry throat. The bruise disappeared the next morning so no one noticed anything happened to me. I even believed that it all never happened but the blouse is the only evidence that something did happen that night; whether I like it or not.