The Other Hailey

34| the arrested

  
Hailey Marshall.

     I'm surprised I am not dead yet.

Veronica sure did look like she wanted to end my life right there and then. My head still rings loudly— the aftermaths of getting a wine bottle smashed into your skull. These past three days have not been what I expected. I didn't expect my identity to be discovered so soon. I didn't expect the boyfriends to meet each other this soon. And I sure as hell did not expect Veronica to materialize out of, literally, thin air.

It felt so unreal.

Well, the current situation feels unreal as well; I did not expect I will be detained in a prison cell before I clocked eighteen. I so did not see this coming.

But then again, how was I supposed to? This wasn't how it was to end. Gabe and Dimitri were to go scouting for her, and when they find her, they'll slip her quietly into her life while I take the backdoor out, never to be caught by anyone, not even Veronica herself. But the universe had other plans. They made her waltz into the Charity ball, grab a bottle and smack me with it.

What a cinematic entrance.

I wrinkle my nose at the nauseating smell of the cell. The prison cell is more of an open air holding pen, containment with no protection from the elements. The walls are metal rods laid in a crisscross pattern. I've been held in here for most of the night. The Gala Ball started at 7 pm, and everything fell down the drain at exactly 7:45 when Veronica arrived. From the clock on the other side of the wall, it's 2 am. This is officially the worst night of my life.

I hear the clanking of metal first, before the voice of a police officer follows.

"Hey, you have a visitor."

I look around the prison cell. My eyes fall on the police officer. And beside him is Veronica.

I want to hate her for putting me in here, but it's all my fault.

Fuck. Staring at her makes me more nauseous. How can two people with completely different ethnic, cultural backgrounds look so identical? It's like staring into a mirror.

The male police officer with a round tummy shoots curious looks between us girls. I'm repulsed by him, and Veronica voices that out.

"What are you waiting for? Leave. I want to talk to her in private," she says in the rudest tone I've ever heard.

The police officer grunts in disapproval, before turning away.

"It's not exactly private if there are other people in the police station. There are desks with people on their laptops behind you," I say, but she ignores me, shooting me the stick eye. I don't stop. "You almost killed me."

"You deserved that." She curtly replies.

Once we're alone, Veronica stares me dead in the eye. I put on an innocent face even though I'm in handcuffs. There's nothing to be ashamed of. This way my future kids can say they have a badass mom.

The girl looks me up and down, the most disgusted look etched into her face. "It's like staring into a distorted mirror with dirt smudged onto it."

"You know, you're exactly how I pictured you— foulmouthed."

"I didn't picture you at all, because I had no idea you fucking existed."

I'm surprised the government hasn't locked us up yet, and ran tests on us. We could easily pass off as different versions of each other from different universes. With bated breaths, I shuffle on my feet. This would've been exciting if the situation was different. Maybe if I had met Veronica under favorable circumstances, we would have been friends? But considering that attitude of hers, I doubt we will be friends. We'll probably kill each other.