Forget Me Not

Ch 27. Vanessa's Past

"It all started in middle school," Vanessa continues, "I was a new girl in this new town with no friends. Amelia and Sarah were the first ones with whom I had started talking. Amelia was very sweet back then. I mean, she's sweet now too but she just doesn't show it anymore. I know she can be a bitch at times." Vanessa adds when we all give her an unconvinced look for calling Amelia sweet.

"Anyways, Sarah and Amelia were pretty close. They had known each other since like kindergarten, I guess. And even though Amelia couldn't see how possessive Sarah was of her, I definitely started seeing the signs. Whenever we used to have sleepovers, Sarah would always sleep in the middle. During lunch breaks in school, she would make me sit opposite both of them as she wanted to sit beside Amelia.

"At first I didn't think much of it, I mean come on, we were 11 year olds for God's sake. And I have never been a snobby jealous kid. I thought to myself that it's okay for Sarah to act that way, afterall they had been friends forever and I was just a newbie. I considered myself lucky enough to have some friends in the first place. But slowly, Sarah's behavior started to take a violent turn. Like, one day we were all hanging out at Amelia's house and I had just got this new haircut and Amelia was going all gaga over it. I saw Sarah from the corner of my eyes and she had this stone cold expression, glaring at both of us. And then later when Amelia wasn't looking, she kicked me on my knee, like real hard. I was too dumbfounded to say anything so I just sat there on Amelia's bed, pretending nothing had happened.

"Sarah's cold behavior towards me didn't change. She used to treat me all nice in front of Amelia but was a total bitch when Amelia wasn't around. I even asked her why she was being so mean to me and she used to say even more mean stuff like she didn't like the way I looked, or the way I talked, or the way I dressed. But deep down, I knew what the real reason was.

"And then came grade 7, the year where things really got ugly. By that time, even Amelia had started noticing Sarah's behavior towards me. She had even confronted Sarah about it but Sarah had just plainly denied everything. Said that it's just the way she was with everyone these days because of her mom being a bitch to her at home, you know, the whole divorce thing with her dad. So Amelia also let go of it.

"And now we come to the unfateful sleepover night at my house. Sarah had been an hour late so Amelia decided to start playing the movie anyways. I had insisted that we should wait, scared that this might piss off Sarah even more but Amelia was already annoyed after waiting for so long. Sarah came in when we were one fourth into the movie, giggling and sitting cuddled up together. She just dumped her bag on the floor and sat beside me on the couch with a thump. The worst part was that Amelia hadn't even acknowledged her, she just kept on munching her popcorn and looking at the T.V. screen. So I asked Sarah what's wrong, why are you late and she said, 'it doesn't concern you'.

"We went to sleep after the movie got over, no one was in a mood to talk. I woke up somewhere around 2, I guess, to go pee and saw that Sarah wasn't in the bedroom. I thought she might be in the washroom but she wasn't there either so I decided to pee first and then go and look for her. Just as I flushed the toilet and got up, I heard footsteps outside. I opened the door and there she was, standing outside the washroom with this menacing look on her face, her hair all disheveled. I saw that her knuckles were bruised and she was holding this big steel bowl filled with water with steam rising from it. I got really confused at what I was seeing and before I could ask her anything she threw the water at me. Scalding hot water."

I gasp.

"Holy shit!" Sal speaks in a raspy voice.

"What happened then?" I ask.

"I shielded my face with my left hand. The hot water landed on my shoulder and my arm. I screamed and screamed but the pain just didn't go away. Mom and dad came running from their room. Sarah threw the bowl down and ran downstairs, she ran all the way to her house, in the middle of the night! Dad took me to the hospital while mom drove Amelia home. Amelia swore that she would end things with Sarah once and for all. She was crying when she came to visit me in the hospital the next day, saying that it was her fault. I told her it wasn't. That was the first and the last time I had seen Amelia cry." Vanessa inhales and exhales loudly.

"What about your parents? What did they do about all this?" I ask.

"Mom was furious, she almost barged in Sarah's house, screaming all kinds of profanities. Sarah's mom begged her not to escalate things. She said that she would take Sarah to a psychiatrist, offered to pay for the hospital expenses and also promised to send Sarah to a different school for 8th grade."

"And that's where she met me and Hannah." I say, remembering that Sarah had been to a different middle school for grades 6 and 7.

Vanessa nods.

"Oh my God!" I rub my hands over my face.

This is just Vanessa's story. The main part is yet to come.

"The last one or two months of 7th grade, we steered as far from Sarah as possible and then she was gone the next year. When high school started, we saw that she had made new friends, that was you and Hannah."

"She was normal these past years. I mean, was she mean to you Hannah? Because I clearly didn't notice anything that sort of." I turn my head towards Hannah who has been quiet for so long.

"No, but she sure was letting those feelings of jealousy build up over the years. I and Vanessa found out that she had been seeing a psychiatrist since that incident till the beginning of junior year and then suddenly she just stopped going. No idea why."

"So what happened? What did she do to you Hannah?" I ask but it's Vanessa who speaks again.

"She tried to kill Hannah." Vanessa looks straight into my eyes.

A shiver runs down me even after what Sarah did at my house, even after knowing what she's capable of.

"She's done this before?" Sal asks.

Hannah nods and I can see that she's holding back her tears, "Remember the after party at your house? After the school play? I had come to see you at your house. To apologize for being so distant from you guys. But Sarah–" A lone tear rolls done her right cheek as a sob escapes her mouth.

I put my hand on her back and rub it gently, pulling her closer to me, "Hey, it's okay, take your time."

"I think I should start from the very beginning, from the point when the wheels were set in motion," Vanessa says.

"What do you mean?" I ask, not lifting my arm from Hannah's back.

"Samantha, Sarah's sister's 21st birthday party, that was when Sarah started her plan."

"What plan?"

"Plan Get Rid Of Hannah Forever."