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Thursday after getting home from school, and into the night, Zoe tried to distract herself. She proofread that assignment for Monday, which would leave her weekend free (free to do absolutely nothing in, she thought bitterly). She watched some TV with Hope. She went over and over the argument in her head.
Mostly the comment they called me E-laid stuck in her head, and Zoe couldn’t stop imagining how horrible that must have been. There were other things that came out of the blue though, like you think I’m a liar. Where did that come from? Zoe had been suspicious of her, yeah, but she’d never accused her of being a liar.
What would Rachel by lying about, if she was lying about something? The list was endless. A person could lie about anything.
Up in her room, Zoe googled her again, but didn’t find anything she hadn’t already found. Frowning at the screen, and feeling guilty and horrible that she was acting like she did think her friend was a liar, she threw in a few other search words.
She found a facebook group that had been set up a couple of years ago about E-laid. It hadn’t had any activity on it for ages. Zoe didn’t read it.
Zoe thought; what’s the biggest thing she’s told us?
Feeling really guilty now, Zoe searched for news articles about women driving their kids into a river to kill them. It shocked her; that sort of thing had happened more than once. Hating herself, she narrowed it down to 2007, and found: Mother drives car into river: three dead.
Zoe slammed the lid of her laptop closed without reading the details. How could she doubt that story? She was the worst friend ever.
The next morning she felt so guilty for fighting with Rachel, but also righteous, like she shouldn't have to apologise because she hadn’t been the one attacking Rachel, but also like she wanted to go back to before, but also like apologising might be so awkward and embarrassing, and also like she might start yelling again, but also like she might start to cry. She felt ridiculous. She’d been feeling ridiculous about it all night.
Maybe she should avoid them both for a day and give herself some space. Yes that sounded like the best idea. It was Friday. By the end of the weekend maybe she would have calmed down and Rachel would have calmed down and things could go back to normal.
It was still raining hard, which ruled out running. She couldn’t hide in the library because that was the first place they’d look for her, if they cared to look. There was the gym, but there was a chance she’d run into Ms Marlow and that felt a bit weird as well – what if she tried to talk to Zoe about Rachel? Zoe felt incapable of talking to humans today. Presuming Ms Marlow was human.
Lucky for Zoe, London College had a pool. Zoe hadn’t spent much time in the pool before, because of how unclothed you had to be. However, swimming laps was a great way to avoid conversation with anyone, on account of the splashing. Besides, Rachel hated swimming, probably because of the mother tried to drown me thing.
Zoe swam lap after lap, pausing for a few moments at the edge of the pool between laps because, fit as she was, swimming was hard. She’d swum as a kid in a neighbourhood pool, but that was years ago, and she wasn’t used to holding her breath like this. Hands wrapped around the bar, she panted.
“Try turning your head every fourth stroke,” someone interrupted her. Zoe turned to see a boy hanging his arms over the lane divider. She knew him, he was Caius Finch who went by Cai because why wouldn’t you. Gloria had almost killed him. He hadn’t done anything else, though, to put himself on Zoe’s danger radar.
“You looked like you were having trouble,” he said. He had an annoying smile like he was making fun of her a little bit, but not a cruel smile. Maybe she was just annoyed because she didn’t like the idea that she was being watched.
“I’m fine,” she said, and started swimming again. It took half a lap to start counting her strokes and trying to breathe through every forth one, but she still couldn’t work out how to exhale and inhale before her arm came down again, and she kept getting mouthfuls of water. She made it to the other end of the pool though, and looked back to make sure she wasn’t still being watched.
She wasn’t. Cai was watching his friends instead, as one boy dove on top of another and tried to drag him to the bottom. They were just playing, but Zoe saw the teacher on duty giving them all of his careful attention.
She started her next lap, and was almost at the deep end when the vision clapped her over the head and she started running – running as fast as she could to catch up with Rachel, who was going for her life.
Zoe was wearing a black dress. She caught up with Rachel when she paused to cross a road. A car sped past in front of her and she looked over her shoulder, her face wild with panic, her long hair coming out of a twisted bun. She looked at Zoe and though Zoe had seen a lot of panicked people in her life, she had never seen someone so deep in panic. Panic and disbelief.
Rachel’s eyes went past Zoe, looking behind her. Zoe looked over her shoulder, too.
Someone was chasing them.
They kept running.
Mostly the comment they called me E-laid stuck in her head, and Zoe couldn’t stop imagining how horrible that must have been. There were other things that came out of the blue though, like you think I’m a liar. Where did that come from? Zoe had been suspicious of her, yeah, but she’d never accused her of being a liar.
What would Rachel by lying about, if she was lying about something? The list was endless. A person could lie about anything.
Up in her room, Zoe googled her again, but didn’t find anything she hadn’t already found. Frowning at the screen, and feeling guilty and horrible that she was acting like she did think her friend was a liar, she threw in a few other search words.
She found a facebook group that had been set up a couple of years ago about E-laid. It hadn’t had any activity on it for ages. Zoe didn’t read it.
Zoe thought; what’s the biggest thing she’s told us?
Feeling really guilty now, Zoe searched for news articles about women driving their kids into a river to kill them. It shocked her; that sort of thing had happened more than once. Hating herself, she narrowed it down to 2007, and found: Mother drives car into river: three dead.
Zoe slammed the lid of her laptop closed without reading the details. How could she doubt that story? She was the worst friend ever.
The next morning she felt so guilty for fighting with Rachel, but also righteous, like she shouldn't have to apologise because she hadn’t been the one attacking Rachel, but also like she wanted to go back to before, but also like apologising might be so awkward and embarrassing, and also like she might start yelling again, but also like she might start to cry. She felt ridiculous. She’d been feeling ridiculous about it all night.
Maybe she should avoid them both for a day and give herself some space. Yes that sounded like the best idea. It was Friday. By the end of the weekend maybe she would have calmed down and Rachel would have calmed down and things could go back to normal.
It was still raining hard, which ruled out running. She couldn’t hide in the library because that was the first place they’d look for her, if they cared to look. There was the gym, but there was a chance she’d run into Ms Marlow and that felt a bit weird as well – what if she tried to talk to Zoe about Rachel? Zoe felt incapable of talking to humans today. Presuming Ms Marlow was human.
Lucky for Zoe, London College had a pool. Zoe hadn’t spent much time in the pool before, because of how unclothed you had to be. However, swimming laps was a great way to avoid conversation with anyone, on account of the splashing. Besides, Rachel hated swimming, probably because of the mother tried to drown me thing.
Zoe swam lap after lap, pausing for a few moments at the edge of the pool between laps because, fit as she was, swimming was hard. She’d swum as a kid in a neighbourhood pool, but that was years ago, and she wasn’t used to holding her breath like this. Hands wrapped around the bar, she panted.
“Try turning your head every fourth stroke,” someone interrupted her. Zoe turned to see a boy hanging his arms over the lane divider. She knew him, he was Caius Finch who went by Cai because why wouldn’t you. Gloria had almost killed him. He hadn’t done anything else, though, to put himself on Zoe’s danger radar.
“You looked like you were having trouble,” he said. He had an annoying smile like he was making fun of her a little bit, but not a cruel smile. Maybe she was just annoyed because she didn’t like the idea that she was being watched.
“I’m fine,” she said, and started swimming again. It took half a lap to start counting her strokes and trying to breathe through every forth one, but she still couldn’t work out how to exhale and inhale before her arm came down again, and she kept getting mouthfuls of water. She made it to the other end of the pool though, and looked back to make sure she wasn’t still being watched.
She wasn’t. Cai was watching his friends instead, as one boy dove on top of another and tried to drag him to the bottom. They were just playing, but Zoe saw the teacher on duty giving them all of his careful attention.
She started her next lap, and was almost at the deep end when the vision clapped her over the head and she started running – running as fast as she could to catch up with Rachel, who was going for her life.
Zoe was wearing a black dress. She caught up with Rachel when she paused to cross a road. A car sped past in front of her and she looked over her shoulder, her face wild with panic, her long hair coming out of a twisted bun. She looked at Zoe and though Zoe had seen a lot of panicked people in her life, she had never seen someone so deep in panic. Panic and disbelief.
Rachel’s eyes went past Zoe, looking behind her. Zoe looked over her shoulder, too.
Someone was chasing them.
They kept running.
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