CHAPTER EIGHT

Farik woke up the next morning feeling like a million bucks. For someone who rarely smiled, she was housing a pretty decent curved up lip. Even Safari noticed the tiny deviation her lips made from its normal straight line when she came down for breakfast and couldn't help asking her what made her so "happy."

"Nothing," Farik mumbled in response and reached for a piece of toast to smother raspberry jam over it. Safari didn't think it wise to press further and left it at that. She was just glad that her daughter wasn't looking like she was tired of life for once in her life. At some point, she was even thinking of getting an appointment with a psychologist for her because she feared that she may be having a psychological battle. Now that she had graduated and was "smiling", she started to think that it was just stress from school that made her that way. Safari felt she wouldn't have to worry about her feeling like she used to again since Farik decided not to go to college.

"Mom", Farik called to Safari after breakfast, "can we go shopping later this week? I need new clothes." She had kept true to her promise of throwing away everything she had owned and was on the verge of owning new things. The thought of spending some quality time with her daughter made Safari's lips break out in a huge grin.

"Of course we can!" she said all too excitedly. "We can do whatever it is you want to do today. If you like we can even watch a movie together." Farik didn't really like the idea of that last part seeing that she and her mom had different tastes in movies, but she didn't say anything to counter the older woman's suggestions which Safari took as a sure sign. The TV in the family room was put on and just as Farik was about to watch the news, the doorbell rang. Since Safari was busy checking out her lipstick in a mirror, and Emily was busy somewhere else, Farik had no choice but to answer the door herself. That wasn't a good idea because the moment she did, her smile disappeared instantly.

"Hey," Orion greeted the now frowning Farik who stood by the door. Before Orion could get another word out, she slammed the door shut in his face and walked back to the family room. Safari noticed this action and the change in her daughter's mood and decided to check out what caused it herself. She smiled warmly when she opened the door and found Orion standing there.

"Come on in, Orion," she said as she opened the door wider and gestured to him to walk in. He hesitated for a second before complying with her request.

Inside, Farik was trying her very best to ignore him while Safari acted ridiculously nice to him.

Farik was surfing the channels stations, looking for what would help her ignore him even more, when a headline on one of the news channels caught her attention.

"A young girl was found dead in her bedroom at 7:15 this morning. She was found by her mother who went up to call her down for breakfast..."

Farik's heart stopped beating for a fraction of a second when the desceased's face appeared on the screen.

Orion gasped loudly and started muttering something that Farik didn't quite hear and didn't really want to. All she could focus on was the face that she saw... a face she knew all too well from how much she had to look at it in school...a face she despised so much.

"... blunt trauma to her head and bleeding so profusely..."

Farik's heart went wild again.

"Blunt trauma?" she thought to herself. "Does that mean she died because..."

Her thoughts faded away when she heard what actually killed her.

"... but the report of the medics say it was from a drug overdose..."

The muscles in her heart relaxed and Farik found herself breathing properly again. The news reporter went on to talk about how this was the first case of drug overdose their little town was having in decades and that the authorities were going to investigate how the drugs came into circulation in the first place. They assumed that she had tripped and hit her head which caused the bleeding but they weren't too sure as it didn't really seem like something that would be caused by a simple fall.

Orion was too stunned to say anything in the background. All he could do was gape at the picture of Miley that was still displayed on the screen.

"No, no..." he started to say slowly while shaking his head. Safari looked at him with tears welling up in her eyes. She didn't know Miley personally but she could tell from the look on his face that she was someone close to him. She knew though that they attended the same school and she could only imagine how he must have felt then.

"This cannot be happening. Miley cannot be dead."

He kept repeating the same words over and over again and Safari tried to calm him down but it didn't work. She glanced over at her daughter that was still sitting on the couch, staring intently at the television and wondered what was on her mind. Safari wasn't so sure, but she thought she saw her smile a little at the news.

Not wanting to believe what she saw, she focused her attention on Orion who was now crying on the floor.

"It's okay dear, everything is gonna be alright."

Orion didn't believe that at all but Farik nodded in agreement with what her mom said even though she wasn't referring to her at all.

"She was fine yesterday... I didn't... I didn't... She was fine..."

Safari called on Emily and asked her to bring water for Orion. She faced her daughter then and saw the same expressionless face she was used to.

"I guess I just imagined it after all," she said to herself. "Are you okay honey?"

Farik turned to face her mom. "I've never been better."

Safari didn't have time to really process that because Emily came back with the glass of water and handed it over to Orion.

After listening to the news for a few more minutes, Farik decided she had heard enough – both of Orion's crying and the news – and stood up from the couch.

"Farik, where are you going?" Safari asked.

Without even looking back to face her mother, she replied, "To celebrate. Today's a very good day for me you see."