Whisper

Two

The stains are dry, rough and faded.

They look like blood but I can't be sure of it. If I can prove it is blood and it's my blood, then my suspicions... my memory might be true. I researched online on how to determine if the stain is blood. The most reliable experiment I found online is using hydrogen peroxide. A few drops of hydrogen peroxide on blood should cause it to bubble.

I browsed the internet to find where I can buy hydrogen peroxide in Havenwood, but the closest store is more than forty kilometres away. Havenwood is too much of a small town to find it's store catalogues online. I stare at the blouse in my hand, looking at the blood stains around the front collar. This piece of clothing is the only reason why I think I died, the only reason that helped me remember a glimpse of what happened that night.

Tomorrow after school, I'll go to the chemist and find a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. I need to know that the stain isn't blood, just to put my mind at ease. I live sleepless nights, frequently questioning myself. I need to know so I can let this insane illusion disappear.

During dinner, dad and Lily talks about how their day has been. I hear something about how dad enjoyed his first day of work and Lily's day at town. I'm too distracted to concentrate on what they're saying.

"Senera, honey, what's wrong?" Lily captures my attention. Her bright blue eyes look at me with concern. I find dad look at with concern whereas Brian ignores me.

"Nothing. Just tired," I reply.

My so-called family, is really two families joined into one. Lily, my step-mother married my father when I was seven years old. That's the only reason how Brian, my step-brother, entered my life. I always wanted a sibling, but I ended up getting him. Although Lily and I can get along, I can't tolerate Brian. For the ten years we've been step-siblings, we've avoided each other.

"You seem distracted, are you sure everything is alright?" she asks.

I look at my barely touched dinner. Meat loaf. The only meal that Lily can make without burning. "Yeah, just thinking about tomorrow," I lie.

"What is happening tomorrow?" dad pitches in.

Nothing. Nothing is happening tomorrow except another day of psychological torture. "Nothing. Just class," I say.

"How was your first day of school?" I never liked the casual dinner talk, asking everyone how their day has been. The response is usually always the same. I feel like it's courtesy to ask, even though we already know the answer to it.

"It was nice. I meet Chief Field's daughter today. She showed me around school," I state. After my mathematics class in the morning, Reyna was outside my classroom like she said she would be. She gave me a tour around school before she showed me the lunch area. Reyna was telling the history about Havenwood – she seems very proud of this town, like she is lucky to be living in such a fantastic place.

She told me how the town was originally part of the Crossnight Forest but after a bush fire, people came to restore the forest and decided to create the Havenwood right beside it. Reyna likes to call Havenwood residency the protectors of the Crossnight Forest.

"Chief Fields? I didn't know he had a daughter," Lily says.

"Well the girl I met said she was," I state.

"That's lovely. You already made a friend. I'm sure you'll make many more," dad says. "How about you, Brian?"

Brian glares at my father. We all wait for his response but the table is silent. Brian doesn't like dad. My dad even knows that, even Brian's mother knows that. I think Brian hopes his father would return and take him away. I wouldn't mind that at all. He doesn't care that his parents had a divorce when he was four and left him with Lily without any support – he can't accept that his father won't come back.