In Another Life | deena johnson

chapter one

Lorraine looked at her own reflection in her bathroom's mirror, and she couldn't help but sigh at how tired her face looked. Since the nightmares had begun, she was always with dark circles under her eyes. She grabbed a hair brush and tried to tame her dark hair that was framing her pale face.

Lorraine splashed her face with cold water, hoping to get rid of the exhaustion and the lingering fear. She then reached for her makeup bag, determined to cover up the evidence of her sleepless night. She carefully applied concealer under her eyes, trying to hide the dark circles that seemed to mock her. She then dusted some powder on her face, giving her skin a bit of color.

In Lorraine's opinion, it wasn't a big improvement compared to how she looked before, but she was sure that it was enough to fool everyone else. Especially now that she knew that everyone would be more focused on gossiping about what happened the night before.

Lorraine put on bordeaux turtleneck and black skirt with a pair of tights and some black leather boots. Then she grabbed her jewelry box to pick which stuff should she wear. She decided on two rings, one with a small moon made of silver that her grandmother gave her and another one with the symbol of the infinite that she had since she was 11.

She already had a necklace on that her dad gave her before school started, that it was so beautiful for her that she just refused to take it off. It was a delicate silver necklace that had a teardrop-shaped stone at the center of it that would change its color with "her emotions" according to her father. She knew that it was probably due to the lighting, a fact that she chose to ignore.

A knock on the door made Lorraine jump, but she realized quickly that it was her dad to give her a ride to school.

"Are you ready?" Nick asked his daughter.

"Yep, let me just get my bag."

She grabbed her backbag very quickly and followed her dad to the front door.

"What about breakfast?" He reminded her and she ran into the kitchen, grabbing an apple and a piece of bread.

"I'll just eat this in the car."

They both entered Nick's police car. "Bread without anything?"

She nodded, taking a bite out of the apple. He was driving in silent while she put on her walkman, listening to one of her favorite bands, Radiohead, while staring at the car's window.

Lorraine noticed a few people walking on the streets, staring at the car, probably recognizing the driver. "Maybe you should drop me off behind the school building."

"Why, embarassed of your old man?" He chuckled. "I get it, I always hated when my father drove me to school with his police car."

"No, I'm just saving you from the other parents asking you about what happened last night." Lorraine explained, refering to the mall massacre.

"Don't worry about that, I know how to deal with that. I'll stay in the car and as soon as you leave I run away before anyone else has the chance to ask me about anything."

In less than five minutes, the car stopped in front of the school building, and just like Lorraine expected, it was drawing attention from the students who were still outside.

She was used to it, but it wa never that big of a deal. She sighed, knowing what she would have to endure for the rest of the day.

"Don't worry, people only step on you if you let them." Nick told her, putting his hand on her shoulder. She wasn't sure what that had to do with anything, but she was used to her dad just dropping some random life advices out of the blue.

Her eyes widened with the look that her dad was giving her. "You remind me so much of your mother. I wish she could be here to see you."

It was rare of him to mention Lorraine's mom at all. Sometimes he would say sappy stuff like that and she heard some stories of her growing up, but Lorraine had no memory of her mother because, unfortunately, she died giving birth. Lorraine never knew how to feel about that, how to miss someone that she barely knew and to make it worse, Nick didn't talk about her that much.

It was obvious that he never got over her. In Lorraine's whole life she never saw her dad interested in dating another woman, that she knew of, and every time Lorraine's mom was mentioned, there was always this look of sadness in Nick's eyes.

Nick coughed, dropping the subject. "Have a good day."

She hugged him and left the car quickly, trying to avoid the stares.

As soon as she entered the building of Sunnyvale High, she ran towards her best friend's locker.

Lisa was right there, staring at her own reflection in the mirror while putting on some lip gloss.

"Lisa!" Lorraine approached her, waving at her. "New hair?"

"Yeah, I dyed it red last night." She smiled at her. Lisa's hair color was originally brown but she would always change it all the time, which made most people forget about her original hair color. "But forget about it, have you heard about what happened last night? I mean, I figure you did, your dad's the sheriff, but did he told you who did it?"

"I don't know, but why do you care who did it? You probably don't know that person."

"I know, but I work better with names." The bell rang, which scared both girls.

"God, I'm so tired, I didn't got any sleep last night." Lorraine complained.

Lisa looked at her, looking concerned. "Do you want some pills or something, my bag is full of them." She offered.

Lorraine chuckled. "Nah, I don't think that drugs are going to help me, but thanks."

Both girls just linked arms and walked down the hall together to their classroom, just chatting. Lorraine sat on one of the seats in the back and lucky for her, her first class was English, and she was short-sighted, which meant that Lorraine could just take the time to try to sleep.

"Lisa, wake me up when the class ends. Or if the teacher calls me."

"Ay, ay captain." Lisa nodded.

And while everyone was opening their books, Lorraine's eyes felt heavier and heavier until she finally fell asleep.