C5 Confrontations and recoveries

I immediately become nervous but decide to be cordial." Hey Stephanie, what a coincidence seeing you here, it’s a nice coincidence, though."

"Well, I can't say the same about you. You humiliated me today and had the guts to think I'll accept that sorry excuse of an apology." She and her cronies start moving closer to me while I keep moving back.

"It wasn't half-assed. I was sorry even though what happened to you wasn't my fault. Also, don't you think you're being dramatic? It was only the both of us in the restroom, and it was just water that poured in you. I saw you in a new change of clothes, meaning that you sorted yourself out."

This bitch fucking laughs at what I just said and this scares me. "I was being dramatic? Don't worry, I'll show you what it is to be dramatic. Girls grab her." She orders and they speed towards me without allowing me to run.

"How did you get here so fast" I ask them because I didn't even notice them moving. I must have missed it because of fear.

"There are some things you and the rest of those lowlife scholarship scum can never understand about Haven."

"What are you planning on doing to me?" I ask, visibly shaking.

"Don't worry, you'll experience it now," Stephanie sneered as her cronies tighten their grip on my arms. The anticipation twists my stomach into knots, making it hard to breathe. Stephanie's fist collides with my abdomen, each blow feeling like a heavy stone crashing down, stealing the air from my lungs.

I double over, gasping for breath, but the relentless punches keep coming. Pain radiates through my body, mingling with the taste of copper as blood fills my mouth. Black spots dance in my vision, threatening to engulf me as I struggle to stay conscious.

"Remember, you're a nobody in this town and probably anywhere you'll ever go," Stephanie taunts, her words slicing through the haze of pain. "From now on, if you ever see me, turn the other direction. Do you understand me?"

My voice comes out as a strained grunt, barely audible through the agony. "Yes."

Stephanie's voice drips with a sickening mix of superiority and cruelty. "You're lucky I went easy on you. Don't worry, I didn't touch this pretty face of yours on purpose. Wouldn't want people to get curious now, would we?"

"No," I managed to whisper, my voice trembling with pain and defiance.

As Stephanie and her followers saunter away, leaving me crumpled on the floor, the pain overwhelms me, and darkness claims my consciousness.

I wake up when it's dark feeling disoriented. It doesn't take long for the pain and memories to come crashing down before tears begin to pour from my eyes. I'm going to die here if no one comes and no one is going to come because I'm in the middle of the forest. I lay there and drifted off again until I felt drops of water on my body and woke up.

"When I thought this day couldn't get worse, it does." Tears begin to leak from my eyes once again as the rain becomes heavier and drenches me until I begin to feel a tingle sensation on my belly exactly on the places Stephanie hit.

"God, please don't let this pain become worse," I beg before raising my shirt to see myself fully healed. "I must be dreaming." I press my belly to discover the pain I felt earlier is gone. I'm flabbergasted when I stand up and begin my journey home.

"How did this happen? Maybe I'm dreaming." I slap myself to make sure I'm not.

I hypothesize different ways I could have gotten healed but can't come up with any. By the time I get home, Mum is waiting for me at the door.

"Serena" she runs to me after yelling my name. "Where have you been? Do you know how worried I've been?"

"I'm sorry, Mama I-" I begin to explain when I decide to keep the incident to myself. There's nothing she can do about it if she knows anyway.

"You what? Explain yourself, young lady."

"I decided to explore the town after school and got lost in the forest." I am technically not lying, I did decide to explore before that bitch and her cronies attacked me.

"That's not a good excuse. You couldn't call to let me know when it started getting dark? Not to mention that when I did call you didn't answer."

"I wanted to but there was no network there." I give her my best apologetic look.

"Look at you, you're completely drenched. What will I do with you? How can you even get lost? This child of mine." She begins to fuss over me and I stop her before it gets embarrassing.

"I'm sorry for worrying you, mama. You don't have to worry, no more exploring for me. I'm fully explored after today." I murmur the last part.

"Good. Come inside so you can take a warm bath. I'll make soup and chamomile tea for you." She puts her hands on my shoulders to usher me inside. Once inside, I take off my wet clothes and get into the tub filled with warm water and bubbles.

"God this is what I need." I moan out as the water eases my aching muscles. I stay there until my mum comes knocking.

"Baby, your food will get cold if you don't come and eat it now."

"Alright Mum, let me just get dressed and I'll come out." I get out of the tub and put on comfortable pyjamas. Finally, in the dining, I eat my soup and drink my tea and it soothes my racing thoughts. To take my mind off the traumatic events of the day, I question my mum.

"How was your day mum?" She gives me a sarcastic look and I reply with "I mean your day before my getting lost incident."

"It was good baby, stressful but good. There's a promotion available that I'm even thinking of working towards but I'm new so I don't know if I should apply."

"It doesn't matter if you are new. When someone is good at their job their good. I believe you can get this promotion if you work towards it."

"You're right. I'm going for it, it doesn't matter that I'm new. The fact remains that I'm fantastic at my job. I'm going to bed now but don't forget to wash up the dishes when you're done. I don't like dishes in the sink." She reminds me for the one hundred thousandth time.

"Yes, mum you've been telling me this for years. Go to bed, I love you."

"I love you too." I wash the dishes and sweep the floor before going to bed. In bed now, my mind focuses on the events of today. Stephanie almost killed me today and if she did no one would have known it was her.

I was puzzled about my body miraculously healing after rain water touched me and linked it to the tap, incident, my bath water turning cold, my tea water turning cold, and the dreams I keep having.

The only connection between all of them is water. If water is the connecting factor, what does that have to do with me? I remember how fast Stephanie's cronies get to me and visibly gulp.

"There is something strange about this town, and I don't want to know what it is. No wonder Candace warned me." I make a vow to stay away from the untouchables from now on. If I can even avoid my classes with them all altogether, I will. My mind races until I fall asleep.

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I almost skipped school the next day, but I'm not a good actress, so Mum doesn't believe me when I play sick. I make sure to avoid all the untouchables using my ninja skills. I'm currently having a class, and Stephanie is here, I've already prepared a game plan to dash out once the class is over.

I should drop out of school and become a ninja who avoids people professionally. That doesn’t even make sense. What I don't realize is that after yesterday's incident, I'll have a much bigger problem on my hands.

Throughout the day, I begin to feel eyes on me, I know it's not Stephanie because I'm actively trying to avoid her. When the last bell goes off, no one needs to tell me to race home.

As I walk home, I get lost in thought until I suddenly feel like someone is watching me again. Looking around, I see no one, and my heart begins to race. I quicken my pace and look over my shoulder now and then, searching for the mysterious presence, but I still can't find any sign of it. I take off in a run to give myself a head start in case I’m wrong, and it is Stephanie and her cronies. I pick up my pace when I see the door of my house, I shakily open the door and slam it shut, locking it behind me. I lean my back on the door once I am sure it is locked and take in a deep breath.

“Why can’t my life be normal?” I ask myself before going to my bedroom. Something fishy is going on in this town.