She told me

Chapter 20

Everything that happens after Mia stabs Mrs. Hayes is a blur because the next thing I know, I'm sitting on the floor of my cabinet prison with shaking hands. However horrifying it is finding a dead body, witnessing a murder is much much worse.

It is silent outside, and I know that I should try to get out of here or at least see what's happening outside, but my legs refuse to cooperate. Mrs. Hayes is dead, and Cory probably is too and if Cathy was right, and she always was, soon I would be dead too.

The air seemed to be getting thinner and it was getting harder and harder to breathe, like someone was siphoning air from my lungs. I close my eyes and am immediately met by the image of Mia, knife in hand... my eyes snap open, I really can't do this right now.

I hear the sound of footsteps and the door is flung open, "Lucas?"

I look up and there she is, looking at me, confused, like she didn't just lock me up and murder Mrs. Hayes right in front of me. She grabs something from the shelf above me and walks out, leaving the door open, "come on, help me".

I reach for the shelf behind me and pull myself up, my legs still shaking. I grab the door and use it to support my weight as I peer out of the closet. Mia is on her knees in front of Mrs. Hayes, pressing a towel, now stained red, to her chest. Cory is still passed out and Mia looks at me desperately, "get over here."

Something is very wrong with this picture. The way she's stopping the bleeding from the wound she inflicted, the way she's wearing a bright red t shirt and blue jeans, the sirens I can hear in the distance.

I try to walk towards them, but I find that I can't. I turn away from the gruesome scene, there's no blood on me but I feel dirty, like I want to scrub my skin right off.

"Lucas"

"I can't" I take a step back, "she's um, I talked to her, I was talking to her, and she was telling me about her kid and uh, and then she uh, she made these, these things, they were um, sandwiches and uh, we talked, we talked a lot and she let me out, and now she's dead."

"She's not dead" Mia looks towards the window, "the ambulance is here, they'll take care of both of them, we need to leave".

I stare blankly at Mrs. Hayes, "she's dead, you stabbed her".

The next thing I know, Mia has me by the arm and she's dragging me out of the room. I don't even realise when we finally make it out of the school but the blast of cold air that hits me clears my mind a little.

She loosens her grip on me, "We'll talk okay, for now let's just leave".

I nod and walk ahead towards the main gate. Suddenly, she slams me against the wall of the school and covers my mouth with her hand. I'm confused but there's also no way to get out of the hold she's got me in, so I don't resist, wondering if its my last moment on earth. She's uncomfortably close to me, her eyes boring into mine and I can smell the lavender scent that she always coats herself with at school. Her eyebrows are scrunched up in a frown and a small part of me is kind of okay with the fact that she's the last thing I might see. My murderous best friend.

Then just as suddenly, she lets go, peering outside, "Okay, they're gone inside, this is our window."

I follow her through the front gate to her car and settle into the passenger seat as she throws the car into drive and zooms out of the lot. She shakes her head, "what were you doing in there?"

"Did you kill Mrs. Hayes?"

"Of course not, why would I do that?"

"Why should I believe you?"