Mirror Mirror

Chapter 7

"Please don't hate me, I'm innocent!"
"My brother is dead, at a walking distance from where you were. Then the next thing you know there is a GUN in YOUR ROOM! How could it not be you?!"
"Harvey, please listen-"
"NO I don't want to listen to all the lies, excuses, BULLSHIT coming out of your mouth."
"Calm down-"
"LISTEN TO ME"
"NO HARVEY YOU LISTEN TO ME, you have just lost your brother, you are in shock, maybe denial even. You don't want to accept that Max did this himself. But you have to, and you can learn to get over it, or at least live with it."
"Maybe you're right, sorry, I know it's ridiculous. I-I-I..."
"C'mon, it's alright" she hugged Harvey, he buried his face into her shoulder
"I'm sorry for what I said Riley"
"So you don't hate me?"
"No, sorry"
"And you believe that the gun isn't mine?"
"What gun, I don't remember sorry"
"Erm, the gun that was found in my room, the one that you just screamed to me about."
"Sorry"
"Doesn't matter, but do you really not remember?"
"Sorry"
"Harvey I said it doesn't matter"
"Sorry" and at that he went limp in Riley's arms. He went stone cold and when Riley sat up and pushed him away, he had grown very pale. She blinked and suddenly the figure was wearing different clothes, it was Max.
"W-what's going on." Riley looked up and realised that she was in the boys' cabin again. She looked around, definitely the cabin. How did she even get there? When she focused her attention to Max again, he was stood upright. When he opened his eyes they had turned black, but there was no mistake that he was staring right at her.
"Why did you do this to me Riley?" He asked, his voice recognisable, but yet cold, raspy and threatening.
"I-I didn't do an-n-nything" Riley was shaking uncontrollably "H-how d-d-did you get th-that?" She pointed to a gun that seemed to have just appeared in his hand.
"Oh, I could ask you the same thing, especially as you used it to kill me." He started to lift the gun, but relaxed his arm again when an alarm started ringing. "Did you set that?"
"N-no"
"Why did you set an alarm for me if you were going to kill me?"
"I said I didn't set it, also why would I set an alarm for you? It doesn't make-" but she was cut off short when Max shot his arm up. He gave her one last smirk and pulled the trigger...

...but nothing happened.

"RILEY!" She heard someone scream in her ear, her eyes snapped open and focused on Brigitte, who seemed to be floating on top of her.
"W-what?" She asked, still getting used to her new surroundings. There was a low hum in her ear, and people chattering in the background, seemingly miles away. The only thing Riley was sure about was Brigitte's face hovering just above her, she didn't even know how that was possible.
"Why are you looking an me like that? Do I look like and angel or something?"
"Aren't you?" Riley was now more confused than ever.
"You're worse than I thought" said Brigitte "look around you, does this really look like heaven?"
Now that Riley concentrated more, she realised that these people were not actually a million miles away, but all squashed together in a coach. And Brigitte wasn't some phenomenon, but just leaning above her seat.
"This would be heaven for some crazed drug addict, who knows what the people in our school try to sell at lunch." Now Brigitte turned to Riley again "Actually, that explains why you thought I was the angel Gabriel or something"
"Angel Gabriel is actually male"
"Shut up Maddison, since when did I ask to be corrected?"
"Since you got a five on our English test."
"And that was what? Four years ago? So about the same time you lost your only friend, are you still upset that your mum threw that toy in the bin?" Brigitte snapped back.
Riley let out a small laugh and looked out the window again. There was something itching at her brain. Something that had been said in that dream that didn't feel quite right. Well nothing about that dream felt right. Or nightmare rather.

Riley realised that she couldn't have been asleep long, as the bus took ages to get back to school. Or maybe it just felt like ages because the only thing she could do was either look out of the window or listen to Brigitte and Maddison's bickering. There was still that thought gnawing at her brain. But Riley just let it be, if it was about that dream then it was probably nothing important.

Finally the buses came to a halt, a sigh of relief came from all the students. Even though some of them acted like they didn't care, the events of that day had really affected all of them. Home would prove to be a safe place, and Riley couldn't wait to get to hers. Everyone started to stand up. Riley waited a second so that she could get off with Brigitte. When they managed to get though the crowd of people they went and looked for a quiet place in the car park.
"Are you going to be ok, if you are not send me a message and we can talk."
"In all honestly I probably won't be ok in a long time."
Brigitte offered her a weak smile "I'll be waiting for a message, then."
"How are you coping so well?" Asked Riley
"I'm just fantastic."
"I'm being serious."
"What you don't think I'm fantastic? But honestly," Brigitte started to pull away some hairs from Riley's face "I just know that we will have to get over it someday, why not start now?"
Riley smiled and they both made their way back to the massive crowd of people, hoping to find their parent's car. "Found mine" said Brigitte after a while, and pointed to a dark purple Mini. "Bye"
They both hugged each other and soon after Riley found her mum waving at her a few meters away.
"Hey" Riley said when she reached the car.
"Hi sweetie" her mum said as they both got into the car. It was only after a few minutes that her mum broke the silence. So I have heard what happened today"
"Hm"
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No"
"They didn't say who it was though"
"Oh"
"Who was it then?"
"Max"
"Wait, you mean to say Max Mills?"
"Yep"
"The Max And Harvey Max Mills?"
"That's the one"
"Riley I'm so sorry"
"It's not your fault"
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"
"Yep" and silence came once again.
__________________

When they got home, Riley turned on her phone to check the time
13:30
And then Riley realised what question had been annoying her. What didn't feel quite right in the dream and in real life.

Why did Max have his alarm on?