The Girl

Part 3- Into the Dark

Friday morning, she awoke and went to the fridge. It was still just as empty. "Shit, I forgot again!" she said. She took a piece of paper and wrote 'groceries' in big letters on it. She put it in her pocket. In the bathroom she examined her bruises. Still slowly fading, except her neck, which was now a deep purple.

After applying some makeup she grabbed her bag and started to head out, but a stack of envelopes on the little table by the front door caught her eye. She picked them up and thumbed through them. Bills, electric, water, tv, her cell phone. "Shit," she said and looked at the dates, they were all past due. She totaled them up, over four hundred all together. "Well, to town for me after school," she said and stuffed the bills into her pack. Winter then grabbed a few hundreds from the money stash and headed out.

On the sidewalk she paused at the field and stared off at the woods in the distance. She thought of yesterday. Vague images of chasing, grabbing, hitting... dragging, hiding. She lingered a moment more then began walking again. "It had to be done, right?" she said. "I had to defend myself, and she was going to tell. I had no choice, right?" She walked on. "She was trying to get me, it had to be done...right?" "I don't know. I don't know..." "What's happening to me?" she asked herself aloud.

At the school, she noticed the search party was not meeting there again. She had forgot to watch the news last night, she had meant to but forgot. She headed inside. Students were going to class, some were still in their lockers. She saw Mark down the hall. He saw her and waved, shyly. She smiled, and walked over to him.

"Hey, I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?" Winter asked.

"The fire's been put out. They announced it last night. I tried calling you, but you must have been out or something."

"Oh, yeah I was sleeping. I was tired after school, and went to bed when I got home."

"It's okay. But, uh, they said they're still investigating it, so we should still lay low, okay," he said quietly.

"I am," she said quickly.

"I know, I'm just saying-"

"Yeah, we should watch ourselves," she told him.

"Yes, we should. No news on anything else about the fire though, so good for us right?"

"Yeah," Winter said and looked off.

"Did you hear about Tommy?" asked Mark suddenly.

Winter's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, I did. What did you hear?" she asked him.

"Just he's still missing, and so far no trace of him. But they're widening the search area. They've been searching around the school grounds, and in town. A few places he's been known to hang out."

"Oh, so they're searching around the school grounds," she was staring off again.

"No, widening from the school grounds, out to the surrounding area," he said.

She looked thoughtful now. "What's up?" asked Mark.

"Huh? Oh nothing, was just thinking where he could have gone." They had an awkward moment, then Mark said, "I really am sorry Winter. You got me by surprise the other night. I didn't expect any of that, you know?"

"I'm sorry for that night too, I haven't been myself lately. I'm not mad at you, okay?" She looked into those deep green eyes. "It's okay, really," she said.