Tortuous story

4. Pause

Tara wakes up with her body still directed towards Nicole's side of the bed where she does see her sleeping on her back. Tara sits up and notices the sweat on Nicole's face. She checks her temperature with her left hand and stands up, walks around the bed in her pajamas and starts looking after her. Minutes later Tara walks inside the bedroom again with a wet towel that she puts on the still sleeping Nicole's forehead. She moves the blanket away from Nicole's sweaty body and heads back out of the bedroom again.

...

An hour later. Tara puts away Nicole's wet pajamas in a laundry box next to Nicole's drawer and seats back on the bed next to the sleeping Nicole, in her new pajamas and a lighter blanket over her body. Tara puts the wet towel down on the drawer next to the bed and gently checks Nicole's forehead with her left hand again. The temperature is down but she continues sweating. Tara therefore wipes away the sweat with her hands while Nicole opens her eyes and sees Tara seated next to her with a calm face. Nicole stares in Taras eyes with a hurt and tired look. She gulps down the upcoming sadness and whispers loudly "You are a terrible liar". Tara stops touching Nicole's face and starts playing with her bed hair instead while looking back time to time inside Nicole's watery eyes out of sudden guilt. Nicole's eyes water even more, and she starts crying, a cry searching for justice. Tara lets go of her hair and watches Nicole crying. Her tears keep slithering down her face that Tara starts wiping away with both of her hands, again and again. Nicole calms down for a second, but tears still continue coming out of her eyes, she says with a pain in her heart "If you are going to leave me for someone else...". Tara keeps her focus inside the upset eyes in front of her and Nicole continues "I will still...always, going to take care of you, even if you don't want me to. Do you understand?". Tara nods and Nicole goes on with "Your so damn important". Tara with a lot of thoughts dancing in her mind, with a calm look and with a serious tone replies "And you're fucking perfect". Tara looks down on Nicole's closed mouth, on her lips and gently touches them with her right hands fingers while saying "I have to go now and you should sleep more". Tara swiftly stands up and walks out of the bedroom, leaving the calm faced with stained tears drops on her face Nicole alone on the bed, who closes her eyes when she hears the outside door loudly close.

...

Tara enters the police department building again instead if the anticipated usual college building either the familiar usual classroom. Mr.Bim waves to her and she with a forced smile nods, while passing by the reception desk that he keeps looking at her from.

...

Tara stands in front of the glass box again with her father being there too, yet he is inside the glass box. He has the same white clothes on, no shoes and the loose scarf around his neck. Tara has her hands in her jacket pockets however after staring in his eyes for a whole minute, she brings them up and holds them tight around her waist. She then jumps right on him, with a serious speaking voice out of expected fury "Down there where you'll be burning, mum will be laughing at you from up far". Richard smiles and replies with a mean tone "Don't be so sure about that. If anything I'll be there with her. Suicide is a crime". Taras eyes water and she continues "She told you plenty of time that she wasn't feeling good and you like always didn't do anything but keep yourself busy with alcohol". Richard giggles out of strongly feel unfairness up his skeen and says "Told me? She...." Tara interrupts by saying "She did. She told you when she started wanting to be alone. When she made dinner but didn't eat even a bit of it herself...." Tara breaths in the upcoming anger and shouts "You saw her swollen eyes!". The father stops smiling, his big eyes go watery too and he keeps staring in Taras sore eyes. Tara shouts again "You never listen!". The male shouts back "You should have done something too!". Two seconds go by in silence and Tara shouts back out of more fury inside her "You are the father!". Both keep staring on each other sad and angry eyes. However that moment gets interrupted by Richards sudden long laugh, he knees down on the cold floor and speaks with a foolish touch "Father?". Tara with concerned look in her eyes keeps viewing the scenery in front of her, while her father keeps laughing and goes on with "There is a lot of thing that you don't know. You are still a kid". Tara keeps her troubled look on her laughing father, who stands back up on his feet and with a bigger smile says "I didn't actually...joke about your mother being a ...whooore". Tara takes more steps, closer to the glass, to her father. Their faces are in front of each other with the thin glass layer in between them. Richard says "You don't even know my favorite color". Tara keeps quiet while her father continues speaking "Tell me. You coming up with this idea...me being in a glass box, just so you can see me clearly, out of pityness, is that so?". Richard lets go of the glass and goes on with "You are exactly like your mummy..." he continues with a scream "A bitch who stopped loving me!". Tara looks down on the scarf still around his neck out of clear disappointment. While Richard asks with a not so happy smile "Huh, got nothing to say?". Tara looks up on his barely standing smile and back in his eyes. She says calmly "Apples...you prefer apples when it comes to any type of food". The fathers smiling eyes go sad. His smile fades away. While Tara shows him a fake enough happy smile back and says "I am unfortunately your daughter. We both suck at lying". She turns towards the black corridor and walks away from the box. Before she exits for good, walks up the steps,  her father shouts "Thank you!".

...

Tara sits calmly on her usual place in the longed for(not actually)classroom with her eyes on the seat in front of her. The seat is yet again taken but that doesn't bother her.  The biology teacher stands next to the whiteboard and talks about Biodiversity. Nobody pays actual attention, however they start doing so when the door to the classroom opens up by Elizabeth who slams it back of her and with a calm facial expression takes a few more steps forward. A purple mark next to her eye is noticed by everyone, even Tara looks at her with a slightly taken back facial expression. Liza tries her best to avoid eye contact and continues her walk whitowards the seat next to Tara while the teacher with a rude smirk views the odd to him scenery. Elizabeth finally sits next to Tara and puts her bag down on the floor. Tara takes her eyes away from the stiff and quiet Liza on to Mr.Carl, who gives her a glance of pleasure and smiles bigger. The smile reminds her of her father. 

Tara stands swiftly up while staring at him and the teacher laughingly asks "Whats is it Tara?". Elizabeth keeps her eyes down on the desk while feeling Taras body, her air walking around her towards the standing teacher. The anger inside Taras mind shows up even more in her eyes. The teacher with the same smile asks again "Do you want to say something?". Tara keeps staring in his eyes without saying a thing. Meantime Mr.Carl laughingly says "Go back to your desk partner. You two make a good pair...". Tara looks over on the quiet Liza who keeps looking down on the desk out of confusing guilt. The biology teacher laughs again, this time with a more of an annoying feeling in him and says "Go on. Walk...or wasn't your parents good at teaching you that? Tara asks loudly with thoughts in her head "Walking?". The teacher holds his smile still while adding "Striving for things...Something you can't even do in my class". Tara hearing that hastily takes big steps towards him while making her fists tighter and out of pure anger punches him across his face. After the punch is made she relaxes her fists and stares on his red face, that faces her back with big shocked eyes. His red face reminds her of Richard, her father. She sees her dad in him, standing just like that, in front of her, no glass in between. Taras eyes water more, she kneels down in front of him and looks up on her father looking down on her while she stares back down with pure sadness in her face, fatigue and hopelessness. The still shocked biology teacher forgets about the pain on his face and awaits with shock in his eyes. Tara starts shouting as well as crying loudly "Admit it. Please admit it!". Every other student in the room is as shocked as the teacher, everyone but Liza who with a troubled look, and tears has her eyes on the teacher.

Nicole runs inside the classroom, closer to Tara, down on her knees and hugs her tightly. She moves her tired body on her right shoulder and tries to calm her down by patting her head. Another male, in his sixties, in a professional suit with a serious look in his eyes, the principal, principal Evans runs inside the same classroom viewing the scenery. He then holds his eyes directly on Carn and loudly asks "What did you do this time?". The still shocked biology teacher looks on the principal in front of him and doesn't know what to say.

...

It's dark outside of the windows in the classroom with lit lamps and two females still sitting on the floor, on their knees. Tara has her head on Nicole's right shoulder, while Nicole continues hugging her. Both are quiet, calm and both together.

...

Tara and Nicole lay next to each other on their bed. Loud rain drops are heard from the window in the bedroom, that wakes Nicole up, who opens her eyes quickly as if she wasn't sleeping and she moves closer to the sleeping Tara. She views her face in front of her and with a worried smile pats her cheek gently. Then stands up and walks out of the bedroom.

...

The door of the dusty apartment, once bought by Taras father and mother is open. Other door, leading to the suicidal made bathroom through the lonesome living room connected to the empty kitchen is seen in flames. Every piece of dust follows its way.

Firemen are seen outside of the building, as well as the quiet people around there, who live there and watch the only red light coming from the quiet, not spoken much about apartment. Nicole is the only one who doesn't watch the apartment in flames. She holds onto Taras jacket over her pajamas with calm eyes, and smiles with positivity in her mind. Yet her eyes suffer, she holds onto her mouth and leaves the scenery.