You call this fate?

Chapter 15

There was a scream from behind me. The sound grated on my ears. In an instant Tasha was at my side, holding me up like a new born baby. I didn't resist. All I could do was look at the wall, completely blank. Look, and look and look some more.

"Zara? Zara, are you okay? How did you fall?" She shook me. The wall shook too. Up, down, up, down, and up again.

"Zara?" This time she shook me so hard I was sure my brain must have gotten knocked lose.

I focused on her face. It was difficult. For some reason it kept swimming in and out of vision, like a slippery eel. A humourless laugh bubbled in my throat. An eel. I compared Tasha's face to an eel.

"Zara, you are scaring the shit out of me! What happened? Who was on the phone?"

Her face swam into focus again. There was a blob of ice-cream on her chin. Why was there a blob on her chin? It didn't look good. It shouldn't be there.

"The phone, Zara! Who was it?"

The phone? Oh, the phone. Now I remembered. There was something important we had to do.

"It was Howard," I said. My voice sounded flat, like a drink without carbon dioxide--even that felt funny. My eyes refused to blink. "There's been a mistake. We have to go now. We have to clear it up. Come on."

I looked around for my crutches. Why couldn't I ever find them when I needed them? Didn't I have them just now? Wait, why was I on the floor? I had to go now. I had to clear the mistake up.

I looked at Tasha. She still hadn't moved.

"Zara, what kind of mistake are we talking about here?"

"Hmm? Nothing. He just says that Meli is dead." I looked at her and laughed. "Can you believe that? The idiot actually thinks she's dead. I mean, I talked to her yesterday. The man has lost his marbles." I shook my head. "But we will make it all better. We will tell him that she is fine. Hey, you're sitting on my crutch! Get up."

She didn't more. Grabbing my face, she forced me to look at her. "Tell me exactly what Howard said, Zara."

"Hey, stop it," I said. What was up with her? Didn't she get we were in a hurry? "Howard said he was sorry, and that Meli was dead. But he's lying and we have to go to prove it. Get off."

"Zara..."

"Shut up!" I screamed. There was something on my face. Something hot and then cool, something that hadn't been there before. It dripped. I didn't dare touch it. I glared at Tasha, about ready to explode. "What is wrong with you? Why are you asking me these unnecessary questions? I told you we have to go, so we have to! Now get up."

She did get up. And she helped me up too. But there was a worried look on her face when she looked at me, like she wasn't sure if she should help me or not. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. This wasn't like her at all.

"Come on! We have to leave now."

"What about Ella?" she asked as she picked up her coat and bag.

"Ella's sleeping. Granny will take care of her." I went to the room and unhooked the abaya and a scarf. Then I kissed the sleeping form of Ella goodbye and came back to the living room. Tasha had somehow succeeded in waking Granny up, telling her we would be going out and to take care of Ella. Granny grumbled something unintelligible and went back to sleep.

I hobbled towards the door and unlocked it, a hesitant Tasha following behind. There was a kind of mournful sadness on her face, like she was watching her friend turn crazy. I wonder what gave her that idea.