When Worlds Collide

Chapter 6

Wannabe Taylor Swift:
This place bores me.

So does your face.

Hey!My face ain't that boring.
[attached image]

Lol.You bought a Taylor Swift wig.
OMG.
No way!

Asshole
[middle finger emoji]

[smiling cat emoji]

Margaret smiled and couldn't hold back her laugh when Medusa sent her a selfie of her with a Taylor Swift filter on.Caroline kept a cup of coffee on Margaret's table.

"Coffee break.I guess Miss Carter.Who makes you smile so much?"
"A mafia",replied Margaret as she sent a selfie of herself with a watermelon face filter.

"Oooh!Dark romance.My favourite genre."
"Shut up!"

Margaret put on her headphones and started playing the Taylor Swift songs that Medusa had sent her.

------------------------------

It was Christmas. Margaret put on her scarf and blazer.She was going to the church.

It was decorated beautifully.Bells,stars and lights adorned the huge Christmas tree at one end.Margaret prayed before the statue of Mother Mary and baby Jesus.She remembered her parents and friends and prayed for them.She prayed for all those humans who can't celebrate this day with a wide smile across their face,with all her heart.

She walked out of the church and into the park beside it.Sitting down on a bench she remembered Medusa's promise.I'll meet you at the park and we'll go to a restaurant for dinner.It was 10:00 p.m. already but Medusa was not in sight.Margaret was shivering because of the cold breeze that was blowing.She waited for another 15 minutes,but all in vain.

Where was Medusa?

She got up and hung her bag over her shoulder.She looked at all the happy, smiling faces of the people around her, with a gloomy expression.She greatly missed Medusa.She was also angry at her for not keeping her word.

As she was passing by an alley,she noticed a girl in a black hoodie and brown trousers.She recognised her as Medusa.And the other person?Zack!Her best friend,Zack Morgan! Medusa had a gun pointed at him.Before Margaret could call out to anyone of them, Medusa pulled the trigger.The bullet hit Zack in the stomach.

Margaret instantly ran to his rescue. "Hey!Zack!Hey!",she cried out to him, holding his almost lifeless body.Blood trickled out of his mouth as he tried to speak.He uttered the words,"Forgive me",with great difficulty.Zack's blood stained Margaret's light blue skirt and white blazer.Medusa came near as Zack breathed his last.Then.He was gone. Gone forever.Sunk into deep eternal slumber.

Margaret's tears flowed from her eyes like a river from a glacier on a high mountain.She understood that she had lost her best friend and there was no going back.

She remembered all those times she spent with Zack. That one time in college when they both bunked classes together. That one time when they both raised a rumour that there was a ghost in the empty dorm of the 4th floor in their college. They enjoyed the better part of it as people ran away in fear from the dorm. That one time in college when Zack fell asleep in class and almost got expelled,but Margaret saved his skin.

That Zack. Her best friend,Zack. He was gone. Not for a day. Not for a week. Not for months. Even not for years. But. Forever!

And then she realised all this had happened because of Medusa.She got up.She looked at Medusa with fiery, red eyes. "How...how could you?! I hate you!",she shouted in her face and ran away back home. Far from Medusa. Far from her reach.

Margaret slammed the door shut behind her.Her great grandfather's portrait seemed to get worried or was she overthinking?

She ran to her bedroom and jumped onto the bed.She was weeping.After half an hour of shedding tears,she got up and washed her face.The sky was also shedding tears just like Margaret. She threw open her blazer on the chair. She had lost her best friend because of some psychopath.As she was undressing,she remembered to draw the curtains. When she went to the window, she found a black figure standing in the rain. It was Medusa.

Margaret wasn't over. She was going to Crucio Medusa.She put on her night gown and ran downstairs.

"What do you want!Why are you even here!",she screamed as she flung open the door."Leave me alone! I-"
Medusa interrupted and spoke in her softest voice,"Can you just kindly listen to me for a minute. Please."
Margaret rolled her eyes."He was my best friend,Johnson!You-"
"Nah!He wasn't!A best friend doesn't discuss about kidnapping and then selling you off, right?!"

Margaret tried to digest whatever Medusa had just said.Zack?Tried to traffick her? She walked inside, towards the couch and in the process hit her knee on the table's edge."Hey, careful", said Medusa helping her to the couch."Wait.No!That can't be true!", whispered Margaret nodding her head in denial.She cupped her face in her hands and started sobbing, profusely.

Medusa approached her after opening her raincoat and keeping it on a nearby table."Look...look at me,baby girl", consoled Medusa as she lifted up Margaret's face. She pressed a kiss on her cheek. Margaret blushed at this. She forgave Medusa finally and wrapped her hands around Medusa's waist.

"Who are you?What are you?",she questioned Medusa looking up at her.
Medusa replied plainly,"I am Medusa Johnson. A human being."
Margaret's arms around her tightened and she buried her face in Medusa's coat.
"No.I mean,what is your name?Actual one that your parents gave you?"

Medusa fell back on the couch opposite to Margaret's and started laughing hysterically.
"Parents?",she laughed."Ha Ha!You mean to say the same parents whom I never got to see except photos? No,I won't blame my mom.To be exact, I have never felt the simple,loving feeling of being held by my own mother.She died right after giving birth to me due to ill health. And my father? Hah! He left my mother for some other woman when my mother was a few days due. I grew up in an orphanage."

Margaret's eyes swelled up with tears, but still she urged."The name that the people at the orphanage gave you?"

"Annabeth Johnson. But no one knows that name except the people, other kids at the orphanage and now,you.I actually don't like that name.Medusa's a lot better.It matches with my life.Okay... I gotta go"

She took her raincoat and walked towards the door,putting it on. Margaret got up and tried to call her back.
"Annabeth?"
She didn't turn.
"Medusa?"
Still in vain.
"Te amo?"
Finally, Annabeth or better known as Medusa, turned to face Margaret.
Margaret ran to her and hugged her tightly."I am so sorry for how I behaved.",she cried apologising for her past actions.

Medusa smiled,"You might not know. But I actually loathe physical contact and affection.Except when it's from you."

After Margaret loosened her hands around her,she turned to go.But Margaret had other plans.She pulled Medusa back by her wrist and pulled her down to her height,by her collar. Medusa was staring at her wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Margaret focused her gaze on her lips for a few seconds and then...did what was supposed to be done.

She touched her lips with Medusa's but then she remembered and parted.
"Sorry.I forgot,you loathe physical contact."

Medusa pulled her by her waist and pressed her lips with Margaret's. Margaret hesitated for a while. Should they be doing this? Is this fine?

She remembered everything Medusa did. Medusa saved her from rapists.Medusa caused no harm to her and took her back home safely even when she was drunk at the Halloween party (Yeah,it was Medusa).Medusa sat beside her when she was half-naked and asleep.Medusa took care of her when she had fever.Medusa saved her from getting assaulted and kidnapped, by Zack.And now this.

Medusa fucking Johnson's lips on her lips.

The taste of Medusa's cigarette smoke intermingled with the taste of Margaret's plum cake. "Nah!This is absolutely perfect!",thought Margaret as their lips parted. Medusa grinned,"I think you didn't pay attention to what I said after that. 'Except when it's from you ." She walked out into the rain.

Margaret's brain was still in a puzzled state. Yes. She was a lesbian. And yes. She was in love with a mafia. And also yes. She had kissed her,finally.