29 Standing Apart

Isabelle and Celia stood facing each other under the awning inside of their mostly empty campus. It was a Saturday afternoon and most of the students had already left that morning for their flights home. Celia had been screaming, but there was no one other than Isabelle who was around to hear it.

"I was hearing voices in my head while I was eating a steak and suddenly I was knifing my friend. I don't know what happened, Isabelle," Celia screamed.

Angry tears streamed down Celia's face. She wiped them away roughly using the back of her hands. Isabelle stood quietly, measuring her words and holding back the ones that would send Celia over the edge.

"You said something about a Master. Do you remember that?" Isabelle asked.

" . . . I don't remember," Celia said. Her green eyes were angry slits staring in Isabelle's direction. She wasn't angry at Isabelle, but she was angry about everything that had happened and Isabelle just happened to be standing in front of her.

Celia was angry that she had hurt their friend. She was angry that she had not meant to do it, she never wanted to. But she was angrier that she had no control over the damage that had already been done.

Isabelle saw Celia's anger and turned away from it. She had already seen too much today. One friend had already gotten hurt, she wasn't about to let herself get hurt as well.

Isabelle walked toward the Dorm. She walked slowly, trusting Celia not to hurt her, and hoping that Celia would say something, anything, just to close the distance between them.

Celia watched as Isabelle walked away from her. A voice in her head was telling her to run after Isabelle. Her inner voice was telling her to apologize and ask for help. Celia stood under the awning and ignored the pleading voice. After what happened at the restaurant earlier, Celia had no more faith in inner voices. She most especially doubted her own.

She took out her phone and started typing out a message.

"I'm sorry."

She sent the message to two people. One of the messages went undelivered.

She put her phone back in her purse. She opened a zippered pocket and checked for her passport. It was there.

There was nothing to be done anymore. Celia walked down to the side gate where the school had a shuttle bus bound for the airport. There were a few other students on the bus. Celia sat down at a window seat, as far away from the others as she could get. She wanted to be alone. She just wanted to be alone until she got home.

Isabelle walked all the way to the Girls Dorm. She stopped just before she reached the front step and turned around. Celia wasn't behind her. She had hoped that maybe Celia was just being sneaky, being mischievous, quietly following her and biding her time before she said something. She would turn around and Celia would be there. But there was no one.