The Stranger She Knew

She had not seen him in a week… And she was not sure exactly what that meant.

She was thrilled that he had disappeared for a while and that she was free to focus on life again. She was excited to be happy and not think about him or her dark past. It felt like when she was a kid before they ever found her, before they started training her. But the other part of her missed him and missed seeing his face every day back at… No, she vowed that she would never go back, let alone even think of going back. Was that what he wanted? Was he trying to get her to return to the life that still gave her nightmares and had her waking up in the middle of the night in cold sweats?

She went into the school that morning, hardly thinking about him since he appeared after the basketball game last week. Though she did not believe he would show up at her school with so many people around, she was still careful to survey her surroundings just in case he turned up again. She tried not to panic, but the fear of being taken back to that hell hole began to form inside of her as she hurried to put in her locker combination.

“Someone’s in a hurry,” a voice said from behind her.

She jumped and almost dropped her books to the ground as she turned to find her friend, Carol, standing near her with a new fluorescent backpack resting on her shoulders. Carol gave out a quick laugh.

“You okay?” Carol asked her.

“Yeah,” she said as she brought her heart beat down to a normal pace once more, “you just startled me.”

Carol was not the kind of person who pried her way into someone else’s business so she simply shrugged and started to walk down the hall to her next class. “Well just calm down long enough to give your presentation in Mr. Connors class after lunch, okay?”

“Right,” She said as she waved good-bye to her friend.

She quickly turned back to her locker as the bell started to ring and students began to hustle off to their classes. She took a deep breath as she finished the combination and opened the door. She needed to stop thinking about him and focus on her stupid presentation instead. She finally gathered all of her things together and shut the door. No other student was in the hall now, so she started to walk towards her Biology class merely three rooms away. But she quickly came to a halt when she heard someone voice her name from behind.

“Celestia,” he said.

She shuddered when the name came out from the boy’s mouth. No one called her that anymore and there was only one other person who even knew that name. She slowly turned around to find Drake standing at the end of the hall… The boy she had been avoiding. She took a deep breath, hoping that she was still amid a nightmare that would soon come to an end.

“Celestia…” Drake said with a soothing tone as he took a step toward her, “We really need to talk.”