Lavamarble

8. THE FLOOD

My lungs felt worse than they would have had I smoked an entire pack, not that I had ever, but I imagined it would feel something like this. Hot, burning; my chest felt so heavy I didn't run back to the clearing as I probably should have, Maria had waited long enough.

I found her on the stump where I had left her; her legs crossed and her expression like stone. She slowly brought the phone she had held to her platinum locks away and pressed the 'End Call' button so I could see the screen.

"Heather..."

"I'm sorry," I wheezed.

"Wanna tell me why you left me in the middle of nowhere or are you going to do the usual and pretend everything is okay?"

I swallowed; I had expected her to be angry but that still stung.

"Maria, I really am sorry," I said quietly, looking at the floor like a child being scolded.

She waited.

"I don't know what...there was some..."

"Some what?" I looked up to see Maria's face change, her need to be my older sister took over the anger. "What happened?"

I wanted to tell her, but the words wouldn't come. How was I supposed to explain what had just happened? What I had seen was too ludicrous for words. What if I didn't tell her, though?

"I want to go home," was all I said.

Maria looked as though she was about to say something else but she saw the tears welling up in my eyes and thought better of it.

"Okay," she said quietly, and nodded to herself. "Okay," she repeated.

We didn't say much else on the way back, but I did notice Maria looking at me every so often. The heaviness in my chest got worse.

"Do you think you should call your uncle?" Maria asked when we were close to the cul-de-sac.

I shook my head. She frowned, then sighed.

"Please, could you sleep in my bed tonight?" I asked when we were inside.

Maria wrinkled her nose, "Don't I usually sleep in your bed?"

I shook my head, "You've slept in the spare room or on the sofa the past couple of times."

"Oh," she said. "Then... yeah, of course. Damn, I stay over so much I can't keep up."

That made me smile a little, it was true and I was grateful for it.

We decided to watch a movie in bed, some horror Maria had recommended and bought on YouTube. My uncle wasn't rich but he was big on having decent technology in the home. And cars. He loved cars. I didn't know anything about them, which is why I kept rejecting his offers of lessons. Actually, there were two cars parked out the front and one of them he hardly drove, because it was intended to be mine. I never knew where he got them, which made me uncomfortable at first but that all changed when he let me give it a whirl in the supermarket parking area once.

Horror had been a good choice; it was my favourite genre and it meant I could get distracted by the tension and anxiety of the scenes instead of focusing on my own. I think I was in a state of shock, nothing else was at the forefront of my mind but I knew if I had a moment to myself the flood gates would open. I didn't dare.

In the morning, I woke up to fix breakfast but Maria beat me to it. Nothing much; toast and cereal with tea but I hadn't needed to lift a finger.

"Your eggs had gone bad," Maria told me. "Sorry, I wanted to make eggy bread for you."