Chapter 5 (1/2)

Wendy

“Anyway, even if you’re telling the truth, why should I help her? I- She, I mean we hate each other. So there’s no reason for me to stay by her side and protect her 24/7 right?”

There was a heavy pause after Wendy spoke. Rose studied Wendy’s face and noticed how defeated the girl looked, but this was no time for Wendy to doubt herself.

“Bah, I know you actually care about her.”

“...”

“As a matter of fact, you even like her.”

“...”

“We’re tied together, remember? You can deny it, but both of us know you’d just be lying to yourself.”

I heaved out a defeated sigh. I could feel the blush creep on my face when I admitted it.

“You’re right. I do like her but, she’s… You know what she did to me right? Remember 14 years ago? How she humiliated me in front of my parents and the principal? She kissed me! But what was that for? To make fun of me.” My voice went an octave higher with every new sentence, but the last sentence came out in a half-whisper, the pain was clear even in my own ears.

“I know I was weak back then, a weird fat girl with some weird ability. I was a freak. They called me a freak because everything that I said came out true. She could have-she could have done something, but she just let them, Rose. I wasn’t someone Irene wanted to be associated with.”

My blood boiled as I thought of the past. My face was hot and tears threatened to fall beneath my eyes. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I was not going to cry over something that happened over a decade again, no. I moved to Canada to get away from all those shits so I should just put them behind me, not still weeping over them like a crybaby. I looked down as I continued back to speak.

“The only thing that I'm grateful for... is that she made me like this. To the person I am today. I won’t back down easily from challenge now and God helps anyone who dares to bully me today.”

Silence engulfed both of us for a while. I was lost in thoughts and I did not see the contemplating look Rose had as she looked at me. When I finally looked up to her I was given a smile; the smile almost looked sweet and out of place from Rose’s usual smirk and when she spoke, her voice lacked the slight sarcasm that was often present underlying her words.

“You should wake up now Wen. Maybe it will clear some things between both of you. You'll decide whether to save her or not after that.”

“Huh?” I said, confused. She stood up and walked towards me. Then she bent down and levelled her eyes with mine.

“Time to wake up.”

Before I could comprehend what was going on, she snapped her finger and I heard a soft command saying, “Blink”. I obediently followed and blinked my eyes. As I slowly opened my lids, I found myself back in the hospital room. It was shrouded in darkness and the only light I could discern came from underneath the small gap of the closed door and the moonlight from the opened curtain. I felt a bit dizzy and disorientated – almost as if I was stuck between a dream and reality.

Oh wait, someone was here, holding my hand. Out of shock, I almost pulled my right hand to myself when a soft voice stopped me.