Lily

Chapter 8: Jack

No-one laughs anymore. It's as if the heart and spirit of the community died along with the shopping centre.

Sarah is being discharged today. She doesn't laugh anymore. She doesn't even talk anymore.

At least she doesn't cough anymore.

Luckily, her physical injuries weren't really that serious and she managed to get away with smoke inhalation. Both me and Hannah watched as she packed her stuff. To be honest, my attention was mostly on Hannah. They shouldn't blame themself. I'm almost certain Sarah doesn't.

There was a knock on the door. Finally, there was some sound to break the silence. We all assumed it was Sarah's parents. They promised they would come yesterday, but work got too busy. But we assumed wrong.

"Lily? What are you doing here?"

She quietly closed the door and shuffled towards us.

"You told me that Sarah was being discharged," She turned to Sarah, "Hi, Sarah!"

Lily must have realised that her energy levels were completely off kilter as she changed her demeanour. She held the bag she was holding in an attempt to give it to Sarah.

"Umm...I brought this for you. It's a humidifier. I read somewhere that it's good for the lungs after smoke inhalation."
I couldn't help but smile. It wasn't an appropriate time, but one has to appreciate how sweet and caring Lily is. Everyone except Sarah.

She still had her back turned to Lily and continued to pack her bag. It was a little funny considering she had already packed all of her belongings into the bag and so all she was really doing was fiddling with bits and bobs and rearranging various items.

"I'll take this." I felt bad for Lily. "Thanks on Sarah's behalf."
Lily may have smiled but I knew deep down she was disappointed. She had done nothing wrong, yet Sarah was treating her like she had. Like she was the one who had caused the fire.