Blood Bride

Chapter Fifteen: Wilting Daisy

 THE following day, Ophelia stood at her locker, bruised and achy from last night. She could barely get out of bed this morning, and Tobias suggested she remained home to rest up. Ophelia declined the offer. Two missed days of school wasn't something Ophelia was fond of.

She had always been a good student. In her old life, she never let anything get in the way of her attending school. That wouldn't change in her new life. Even if she had to limp around in pain the entire day, she would make do.

One of her arms was in a sling after finding out this morning from Tobias that Jon had actually missed the sprain in her shoulder. Tobias was kind enough to treat it before she left for school, but not after trying to convince her to stay home another ten times of course.

Abruptly, a hand slammed against her locker, closing it rapidly enough to nearly cost Ophelia a few fingers.

"You bitch; why haven't you been answering my calls?" From the low sneer in her ear, Ophelia already knew who was behind her. She turned around to face Marissa, her hands placed on either side of Ophelia. There was no way for her to avoid Marissa any longer.

After finding out about Marissa being part of the horrid blood ring, Ophelia didn't want to drag Marissa back into it. She was doing her very best to stay away from Marissa.

"Answer me." Ophelia ran her tongue over her cut lip.

"I got into a car accident so excuse me for not being able to get to my phone for the last few days." That wasn't a complete lie. She did get into a wreckage, and the story paired well with her injuries. Ophelia went along with it.

"Bullshit. You have been gone for almost three days, and these wounds are fresh. You would have been hospitalized if you had gotten into an accident. Wait a second, did he hit you? Cause if he did, I'll-" Ophelia gave her a look of disbelief.

"No, of course not! What would lead you to believe that? Jon is a good man." Marissa's glossed lips pulled back into a snarl.

"Jon? You call your father Jon?" That's right. Marissa believed that Jon was her father. Her mouth had suddenly gone dry, her tongue became rough against the roof of her mouth. "You remember, don't you? Something happened at that party that triggered it. That's why you're avoiding me. You remember me now." Marissa pieced together, stepping back from Ophelia.

She was fuming, but in her fury, she stared at Ophelia, her eyes softening.

Ophelia swallowed what felt like sand and opened her mouth to speak.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Her nerves went haywire, the clutter of noises in the hall of student's chatter and slamming lockers fading into the background.

"Yes, you do." The bell came to life, the ringing shattering her eardrums. Ophelia turned away from Marissa without her proper books and readied to head back to class. "Oh, you're not going anywhere until you tell me what you remember!" Marissa growled, grabbing Ophelia's backpack and ripping her back towards the lockers.

Ophelia tried to scramble away, but compared to her broken and bruised body, Marissa was a lot stronger.

Marissa pinned Ophelia against the lockers, forcing her to remain in the halls while everyone made their ways to various classes.

"Tell me everyone you remember, Ophelia."

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She honestly didn't believe her suspicious behavior was all that noticeable, Marissa being a lot smarter than Ophelia when it came to reading a person's attitude change. She noticed Ophelia was acting strangely before she even walked into the building. Ophelia seemed like a goody two shoes. For her to miss school was out of character, also, Ophelia quickly replied to most of her text messages so when Marissa never got replies, she knew something was wrong.