Morgan Rice - Resurrected

As she hurried down the hall, she wondered once again about what exactly had happened the day before. It really freaked her out, what her parents had told her, that she’d left the house; she couldn’t remember that at all. She put on a brave face for everyone, telling them she was fine – and she did feel fine. But inwardly, she was terrified. She was so nervous that she had no memory of it, of where she might’ve gone. It was terrifying, also, to wake up in the hospital like that. It really shook her. She couldn’t stop obsessing over the black hole in her consciousness, over where she went, what she might’ve done, why they couldn’t find her for so long. Had she done anything stupid? Had she seen any of her friends? Had she seen Blake? Why couldn’t she remember?

Scarlet felt her cheeks flush as she suddenly recalled what her mom had said: that they’d called the police – and even worse, that they’d called her friends. How mortifying. Who did they call exactly? What did they say? And how would she face everyone? What would all her friends think? And how would she explain it to everyone? She didn’t even really understand what had happened herself.

This day would not be easy, she realized, as she neared the classroom door. There’d be a lot of questioning – and she didn’t have any answers.

Scarlet finally reached the end of what felt like the longest hall in the school, came to the last door, and grabbed the knob. She braced herself and took a deep breath, clutching her books in one hand, and opened it.

“The algorithm for a triangle that does not exceed – ”

Her math teacher stopped writing on the chalkboard, and turned and looked at her. Every other kid in the class looked up at her, too. There were about 30 kids in here, the most boring math class Scarlet had ever had, and luckily, she wasn’t friends with most of them.

But there were a few girls in the back that she was friends with, including her best friend, Maria. Scarlet was relieved to see that Maria had kept her seat open for her. Maria was like a sister to her, like the sister she never had; they had known each other since childhood, and were hardly ever apart. Hispanic, with long, brown curly hair and brown eyes, Maria looked a bit, Scarlet always thought, like a young Jennifer Lopez. She was always there for Scarlet when she needed her, and Scarlet was always there for her, too.

But also in the back of the room, Scarlet noticed with dread, were two of the mean, popular girls, including her arch-enemy, Vivian. Scarlet got along with almost everyone – with one exception. Vivian. Five foot nine, with perfectly straight blonde hair, mean blue eyes and a perfect chin and nose, Vivian strutted around the school as if she owned it. A year older than Scarlet, 17, one of the oldest girls in the class, she looked down on everyone. She always wore some kind of variation on a silk blouse, with a small necklace of real, shining pearls. She had pearl earrings to match, and always had perfectly manicured fingernails, in some shade of pink. As beautiful as she was on the outside, she was equally ugly on the inside: she never missed a single opportunity to giggle at someone else, to make fun of them, to take advantage of any moment of weakness.

As Scarlet took another step, right on cue, Vivian let out a loud, mean giggle. That giggle spurred several others to giggle with her, mostly her little group of mean friends. It made a bad situation for Scarlet even worse.

“Sorry I’m late,” Scarlet said to the professor, who was still looking at her with wonder.

“You’re more than late,” he snapped. “The class is almost over. I can’t mark you tardy – I’m going to have to mark you absent.”

“Fine,” Scarlet snapped back at him, then turned and strutted down the aisle, taking the empty seat next to Maria. She hated this math teacher. He was as mean as he was boring. Sometimes she wondered if he and Vivian were distant cousins.

Math was her least favorite subject anyway. She loved to work hard, but if she wasn’t interested, she found it really hard to find the motivation. Her favorite class, by far, was English. She loved to read, and lately, she was finding she loved to write, as well. And her English teacher, Mr. Sparrow, was as nice to her as could be. The complete opposite of this math jerk.

The teacher cleared his throat loudly, conspicuously.

“As I was saying ,” he snapped, “when you’re dealing with a triangle, the equation between…”

“What happened?” Maria whispered, the second Scarlet took her seat.

Scarlet looked around, waiting for everyone to stop looking at her. Finally, they all turned back to their notes. All, of course, except Vivian: she stared at Scarlet, a condescending smile on her face, as cold as ice. Vivian then leaned over and whispered in her friend’s ear, who put her hand to her mouth and giggled. Scarlet could only wonder what she’d said.

“Nothing,” Scarlet whispered back to Maria. Scarlet hated hiding anything from her, but she really didn’t want talk about it – especially not here, with the teacher waiting to pounce.

Scarlet suddenly felt a vibration in her pocket. She looked down, glanced around to make sure no one was looking, and slid up her cell phone, holding it under her desk. She looked down.

U ok?

It was from Maria.

Scarlet saw Maria furtively holding her phone under her desk with one hand, texting with her thumb, and pretending to take notes while she stared at the blackboard.

Scarlet smiled. She copied Maria, raising one hand and pretending to take notes, while with her thumb, she typed back:

Am fine. Thx.

Scarlet had just hit the send button, when suddenly, the bell rang out.

“Okay class, don’t forget, I want chapter three read by tomorrow. And our first quiz is Friday!” the teacher yelled out over the din, as all the kids jumped up, collected their stuff, and headed to the door.

Scarlet got up, collected her things, and walked with Maria out the room.

“OMG, what happened?” Maria asked immediately, barely able to contain herself. “Like, your aunt Polly called me last night. Said they couldn’t find you.”

Scarlet’s heart raced, as she debated how to respond. She didn’t want to lie – especially to Maria, who she never held anything back from. But at the same time, she really didn’t know what to say, and she needed to diffuse the situation.

“Yeah, they like totally overreacted,” she said, thinking quick. “I just went out for a few hours, I forgot my phone, and they couldn’t find me.”

Scarlet was a bad liar, and wondered if Maria bought it.

“But I heard this morning you were like in the hospital or something,” Maria replied skeptically.

Scarlet’s heart pounded. That was the downside of living in a small town; she couldn’t escape this.

“Yeah… um… well… I got like really sick yesterday after school, and they made me get checked out. But I’m fine.”

“Okay, cool,” Maria said, and Scarlet felt relieved as it seemed her friend might put it to rest.

They blended out into the loud and crowded hallway, and as they did, Scarlet’s sense of dread deepened. She wondered who else would interrogate her, and started to wonder again where she’d actually gone during that time. What if she’d seen one of her friends? What if one of her friends asked her about something she did? Something she couldn’t remember? What excuse could she give then?

The halls grew more and more crowded as classes emptied out from every direction. Scarlet and Maria headed down the hall, and as they went, two more of their close friends spotted them and hurried over. They were looking at her in an odd way, and Scarlet braced herself for the questions.