A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 39

The world seemed brighter this morning. I had mostly shed my grief last night in Diane's arms and I could feel happiness again. I giggled as I skipped around Diane as we passed through the gate. Once we reached the corridors I fell back into my usual spot behind her elbow.

Matthew seemed happy to see me grinning again. Trish looked glad that I wasn't so dejected. None of them knew why though. I was in a mischievous mood and Trish was my favorite person to tease lately. It was so easy to get her worked up...

I kept my face innocent, "Trish, I think I thought of something that you might have missed for your wedding."

I noticed Diane grinning silently. I often teased Trish about her upcoming wedding, although I had never mentioned babies since that first day. Trish seemed relieved that I was talking today, "Oh? And what would that be?"

This was going to be fun. "Diane has been with the Foraging groups lately, so she has not been scouting. We don't really know which trees will be in bloom during your wedding or where lots of them even are."

Diane dropped her grin with a perfect poker face. Trish's eyes went wide as she turned to face Diane, "I forgot that you weren't out scouting! Please tell me that you remember where all of the lilac trees are."

Matthew, Nathan and John were fighting to keep a straight face. Diane shrugged, "Shrubs all look the same in winter, I am pretty sure that there have to be several in town in people's yards though."

If Trish bought that lame excuse, then she obviously forgot that Diane was an experienced Forager who had done most of our scouting. Even in winter and without leaves, I knew if I was looking at a lilac tree or not.

Trish's face reflected worry and her mouth opened, but no sound came out in her shock. Nathan couldn't hold it back any more and snickered. Trish turned on him, and he quickly put up his hands in surrender, "Calm down Trish, remember how she made a map marking hundreds of those trees months ago? Honest, even if they lost it, Diane would remember where they all are anyways."

Trish blinked in realization and turned to me with a mock glare as she crooked her fingers into claws, "Making me worry like that.... Come here, you!"

She had been sitting right beside me as usual and immediately started tickling me. I was really ticklish. I squirmed as I tried to avoid her while laughing from all of the tickling, "Diane! Help me!"

Diane chuckled as she scooped me up and moved me to sit on her far knee. I leaned against her with a smile while trying to catch my breath. My cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much.

All too soon it was time to head to the loading docks to join Brett's group. I planned to avoid Lilly today if I could. If I stuck close to Diane, she would avoid me simply by avoiding Diane.

We weren't the first to arrive, although neither Lilly nor Brett were here yet. One guy joined those waiting and let us know that Brett was going to be a few minutes late as he was talking with another Group Leader.

Diane moved to the side and turned to face someone. I recognized her slightly protective stance from when we sparred with Ace. Well, in truth, our sparring mostly involved Ace trying to get close to me as Diane gave him bruises for his efforts.

I peeked around her and noticed that Lilly was approaching us. She seemed a bit nervous and embarrassed. She took a deep breath, "I am sorry about what I said and how I treated you yesterday. Several people came to me afterwards and told me exactly what I had done and helped me realize that I had been unfair. Anyone could get bitten, the fact that you survived shows that there is hope for others. I am sorry, I hope you can forgive me."

It sounded rehearsed. I wasn't impressed, as an apology it was pretty pathetic. I bet her group had forced her to do it. Diane crossed her arms as she regarded Lilly with her bright blue eyes. Lilly blinked in slight surprise, I guess that Diane had never looked directly into her eyes before. Diane's eyes were quite the surprise when she did that.

"A pretty speech. Time will tell me how truly sorry you are. But at the moment, I would like to see you apologize to someone else whom your words hurt much more."

Lilly blinked in confusion. She obviously had no clue what Diane was talking about. Diane slowly stepped to the side so Lilly could see me. I heard others gasp, they had likely not known I had overheard Lilly's insults. She must not have realized I had heard her either, and looked somewhat appalled that her words had hurt me.

I did have words to say though. I frowned at her as I quickly went over what I planned to say. I slowly walked forward, I knew Diane would never let me get hurt, but I really didn't think that Lilly would intentionally try to hurt me. It was hard to walk forward and that alone took most of my courage.

Lilly was staring at me in shock. I stopped in front of her and looked at her in silence for several seconds, which seemed to unnerve her. I wasn't acting like a child and it was throwing her off balance.

"Diane once told me that using words to hurt someone was like firing a bow blindfolded. You were far more likely to hit a different target that you didn't see. What you did was wrong. I want to know why you did it. I don't want to hear lies or excuses, I want to hear the truth."

I waited silently for her response. Lilly began to look flustered and shuffled her feet, "I am sorry... I didn't mean to hurt you..."

I continued watching her in silence. I knew from Diane that silence would often prod the other person into speaking, especially if they were nervous or uneasy. Lilly grew even more flustered with my lack of reaction to her words, "I don't really know why I did it."

That was an excuse and I knew it, I shook my head, "That is not true and you know it. People have to feel strongly to talk like that. I know from things I overheard that you pretty much always treated her like that."

I resumed my silent stare and Lilly looked shocked. She kept fidgeting as everyone present waited for her words, although I think she had forgotten about the audience we had. She eventually dropped her eyes to her feet and her voice was soft, "I guess I was jealous of her abilities to identify plants. She was also stronger than anyone in Erica's group."

I felt like I was the adult correcting the child. This was so backwards. I nodded seriously, "That doesn't make it right. You know that if you asked she would have been more than happy to help you learn. She helped me learn."

Lilly blinked at my correction, "I guess I could have..."

Now that she was thinking and being honest, I was going to make my point stick. I didn't want to be separated from Diane, ever. If she felt guilty about her previous actions, hopefully she would never repeat them. The truth alone would make her feel guilty.

I gathered up my last shreds of courage and nodded, "Think before you act. Your comments yesterday made me realize that my parents had actually turned into zombies. I thought that they just had a bad flu. Now I know that I will never be able to speak with them again."

The grief was threatening to return so I silently turned and went back to Diane. I wrapped one arm around her waist for comfort and she rested her hand on my shoulder as a silent support. I looked back at Lilly who was completely shocked as she realized what her words had done. She was at a loss for words.

I heard someone behind us clear their throat and turned to see Brett watching. Now that he had the attention of everyone present, he spoke, "I know that those plants aren't about to walk off on their own power, but we really should get going before the deer eat them all."

Lilly turned bright red in embarrassment as she remembered her audience. The others headed for the bus. Diane squeezed my shoulder lightly and spoke quietly, "You did well."

I shakily grinned up at her encouraging smile. The standoff with Lilly had my nerves tight. We followed the others onto the bus that they managed to get running.

Thankfully the rest of the day went easier. Lilly did seem truly sorry for hurting my feelings, although her group must not have realized it earlier as they were somewhat standoffish with her now. It faded as the day wore on and Lilly tried to repair the damage with both Diane and I.

I was glad when the day was over though. We helped unload as we always did and went off to the playground. I kind of missed our days alone where we did nothing but scout.