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"damsel in distress"
after a short trudge across camp, we make it to nurse lane's cabin and ziggy walks up to the large wooden door. she opens the door causing the bell above us to jingle, signaling that someone has walked in.
"nurse lane! hello!" ziggy says tiredly. she continues walking forward and pauses in the center of the room. "we're in trouble again! help." i say sarcastically as i place my hands on my hips. no reply.
"damsels in distress here!" i shout sarcastically as i walk behind ziggy.
we look down the hallway and see empty beds with light streaming in. "nurse lane, come on, we could die any minute now." ziggy says as she looks around the vacant room. she turns towards the door to the nurse's office. the door is ajar so we assume that she'll be in there sleeping or something.
i follow ziggy to it as i call nurse lane once more. "nurse lane?" she says softly as she pushes the door open. i follow her footsteps quickly as we are welcomed into an empty room. there's an old, ragged diary laying there and ziggy examines it from the door frame.
i grab it and turn it towards us. in the diary lays a photo of nurse lane's infamous daughter. ruby lane. everyone knows her story, girl gone crazy, killed her friends, and ended up killing herself too. some blame it on the witch, while others claim it was nurse lane's influence on her daughter. no one knows for sure.
her picture is in a newspaper article from years ago. it's titled teenager fillets friends. on the page next to it is a drawing of a demonic looking symbol with the words witch's mark above it, a circle with many markings and other shapes inside of it.
"what the hell?" i say softly as i scan the pages. ziggy opens her mouth to say something but is interrupted by, "what are you doing?" we immediately turn around and my heart races as nurse lane appears in the doorway.
"oh my god! nurse lane, you scared the shit out of me." ziggy says as she breaths deeply, as we recover from the scare. nurse lane's face is covered in sweat as her eyes dart from the diary to each of us.
"are you okay?" i question as i step forward. she sighs and sniffles and responds, "i am," ziggy runs a hand through her hair, revealing her burn, "oh my goodness!" nurse lane exclaims as she gets a peak at the burn.
"ziggy, ziggy, ziggy." nurse lane tuts. "sarah has one too." ziggy says quickly as i raise my arm for a moment. "what did we do now?"
as we sit down on a bed, nurse lane begins adding ointment to ziggy's arm after applying it to my own. "okay, so you are going to apply this once a day for three days. okay?" nurse lane says as she dips her finger in the small tin.
"it's gonna protect against infection." she adds as she starts gently applying it to ziggy's mark. "it's gross." ziggy complains as she watches her mark. "you'll survive." nurse lane smiles as i play with the bandage on my elbow.
nurse lane gives me a stern look and i immediately drop my hands into my lap and grin. "so, um... what's the witch's mark?" ziggy asks as she looks at nurse lane. "way to go z." i sarcastically congratulate her as she softly smiles at me, making me smile back.
nurse lane stops applying the ointment and freezes while staring into ziggy's eyes. she places the cap back on the tin and places it in my hand. nurse lane looks down, "you know about my daughter, right? ruby lane?" she asks as she plays with her fingers.
ziggy shrugs her shoulders while thinking for a moment, "uh, i don't—" ziggy responds quickly. "of course you do." nurse lane interrupts. ziggy makes eye contact with me as nurse lane continues staring at her lap.
"everybody talks, i know." nurse lane says as she goes through a box, looking for bandages. "tell me, what do they say?" ziggy opens and closes her mouth and i speak up, "uh, um... they say she, uh.." i pause and take a deep breath, "killed people, at a party. seven, seven friends." i say and nurse lane raises her head at that.
"eight...she killed herself that night too. so eight."
ziggy's eyes dart from each of her shoes to me. we stay silent as nurse lane starts shaking her head. "ruby was such a sweet girl." nurse lane says as she looks at the bed sheets. why'd she kill her friends then?
"oh, and she had a sweet voice. she was in choir..." she trails off as her mind probably thinks back to her daughter. "she wanted to be a singer." she finishes. she pauses and it looks like she's thinking back to something, but then shakes her head.
"i was so proud of her. so proud." nurse lane sighs as she picks up the bandage and begins unraveling it. i share a look with ziggy and she turns to nurse lane, holding up her arm. "the doctors say it was a psychotic episode, that she just snapped." i furrow my brows as nurse lane begins wrapping ziggy's arm.
why would she just snap?
"but the kids. the kids say sarah fier made her do it." she says as she starts tightening the wrap around ziggy's arm. "that's a little tight." ziggy says as her breath catches in her throat. "what do you think?" nurse lane questions as she turns to me.
"i don't—" i start but she interrupts quickly, "cause i think you don't go from being a sweet girl with dreams to ripping someone's insides out with a switchblade." she says as she continues wrapping ziggy's arm, making it tighter each second.
i gulp as i imagine her killing everyone. "nurse lane!" ziggy says as nurse lane makes it tighter. "i've found that people usually kill for a reason, and sometimes that reason is justified. sometimes killing isn't murder. sometimes it's necessary." ziggy gulps and my eyes dart from nurse lane to ziggy's arm.
"that's hurting me." ziggy says softly and nurse lane continues wrapping. "sometimes it is good." nurse lane says. "nurse lane!" i say louder.
she immediately stops and makes eye contact with ziggy as ziggy takes a deep breath. nurse lane points at the tin containing ointment in my lap. "once a day for three days, okay?" she says and pats my knee.
what the hell was that?
the bell rings once again as someone walks through the door. we're met with the familiar voice ziggy knows all too well. "hi nurse lane."
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author speaks hi, hope u guys like it pls read my newest conversation bc it is very, very important. ily all and ty for reading
