Not so different

Fire.

     Veronica paced back and forth in the kitchen well Camille propped herself up on a stool, attempting to fix the bandage on her thigh that had slowly become loose over the last couple of hours. For the past hour or so, neither of them spoke a single word. The only sound that could be heard were Veronica's foot steps echoing through out the tiny apartment as Camille could feel her heartbeat quicken with every step. She felt bad.

    No.

    She felt guilty.

    For some reason, although there was nothing she did wrong or anything to intentionally hurt or scare her best friend she just felt immensely guilty. She felt her heart grow empty with every foot step as if she was feeding her heartbeats to Veronica. There was a massive pit at the bottom of her stomach, it felt like it was on fire. Her entire body felt like it was on fire.

    Her mind kept flashing between the events that took place last night and the sight that was occurring right in front of her. She stretched out her arm and gazed down her skin noticing small bruises and scratches that began to ache as she took the sight of each one in. Her eyes closed quickly, preventing more tears from streaming down her face. She shook her head and forced herself to stand up, opening her eyes slowly to notice that Veronica had stopped pacing and was now rummaging through Camille's cabinets. Camille carefully gripped onto her counter top to move herself in eye sight to what Veronica was doing and noticed she was trying to search the top shelf.

    Camille sighed before trying to walk over to help. Veronica was a lot shorter than her and watching her friend struggle and gasp trying to force her arm up onto the shelf was not as entertaining as you'd think it be. Veronica saw her out of the corner of her eye and scoffed before jumping onto the counter where her arm could finally reach. She heard the clang of bottles and cups being smoked against each other as she tried her hardest to ignore the disaster that was occurring in her kitchen.

Camille watched her friend.

She watched as she stumbled on the counter.

She watched her face stay stone cold as she searched ; not a single change. Not a single muscle moved.

She watched her friend as this could be the last time she ever saw her. As the bottles and cups continued to bang together, the sound of the glass led her mind into a world of darkness. In the darkness however she saw it.

The dark figure.

Oh if only, if only she hadn't walked that path that night. If only she had listened to her friend and took the long way home.

If only.

The sound of glass slamming against the counter awoken her as the darkness began to fade into the light that was surrounding Veronica. Camille looked at her friend who was judging the distance between the counter and the floor.

Veronica jumped down, bracing herself by grabbing onto the counter. Although it wasn't high by any means, her anxiety seemed to betray her when it came to simple activities such as this. Veronica avoided eye contact. She instead went to a different drawer and pulled out two glasses, slamming them beside the bottle.

"Whiskey?"

Camille asked as she gazed on the dark bottle. Veronica did nothing besides poor the liquid into the two cups and slide one across the counter to Camille. Now, she didn't know if this was some sort of breakdown or something she had missed since she had woken up on the couch a couple hours ago but Veronica didn't drink. She shakily grabbed her glass and took a sip, watching her friend as she stared aimlessly into the cup as if she was searching for answers before she slowly took a sip herself.

Veronica cringed as the taste of the alcohol hit her tongue before setting the cup against the counter once more.

"So, what happened?"

She asked faintly. Camille didn't know how to answer her, how to tell her she almost met the same fate as her brother. There was something in her screaming for her to tell the truth but her brain wouldn't allow it.

So, she took another sip.

And another.

    She paused as she let the glass fall from her lips taking a deep breath, her friend crossing her arms and staring at her angrily. She felt the heat of the alcohol reach her stomach which caused a flame to flicker inside of her sending shivers throughout her entire body.  Veronica tapped her foot against the tiles, watching Camille as she anxiously waited an explication for what happened the night before.

    What caused the no responses, not showing up for work, the bruises, the cryptic text message...

    The stab wound.

    "Do you promise me you'll try to believe me?"

    Veronica nodded as she took a quick sip of her drink. Then it happened. Camille shook her head and let go of her tongue which previously was stitched between her teeth and began to recount the events from last night.  She told her friend about the sounds, the sounds that chased her throughout the forest and the person she saw hovering above her as she lay helpless on the ground. She told her friend how she woke up on her couch with the wound safely wrapped and all her personal belongings placed nicely in her room. Camille went on about how she felt like today wasn't in fact today. She told Veronica about the water and the comfort it provided her and how now, for whatever reason ; she feels like today isn't today.

    Veronica watched her friend during the conversation, trying to read her facial expressions and body language ; trying to see if she should believe her. Veronica shakily placed the glass to her bottom lip and tipped it slightly, letting the liquid flow into her mouth. Camille finally stopped her rambling after seeing Veronica slowly become even more concerned than she ever thought was possible.

    Silence fell over the room. Not a single sound could be heard from inside the small apartment. The two girls just stared at each other, watching their body language trying to understand what was going on in both their minds respectively. Veronica bit her lip, turning her gaze away from Camille and out the window. Camille's heart was beating rapidly against her chest as she awaited her friends response.

    "You know Cam, this is why I specifically said don't go on the fucking path."

    Veronica sighed, turning her attention back to her friend who was obviously petrified of what she might or might not say next.

    "I know- I know I'm sorry I..."

    Veronica shushed Camille before taking another sip from her cup.

    "After I finish this drink, we are heading to the police station."

    She spoke cooly, grabbing her glass and moving her way past Camille into the living room. The fire inside her chest began to spread as the thought of going to the police and explaining her story again filled her mind. All she wanted right now was to curl up on her couch with Veronica and watch a scary movie or something on TV. She didn't want to constantly think about the unfortunate events that occurred the following night ; she just wanted to pretend it never happened.

    She sat at her table, drink in hand and began to wish that the fire inside her would ignite her skin on fire and let her burn away to nothing but ash.