Someone She Knew

Era glanced at her watch while she sit, waiting for the bus. She was debating inside her head if she should go and visit her father at the hospital again.

She had gotten her schedule of practice and she had received a call from Dommie. She was asking if she's free for a three days, two nights skiing trip.

She doesn't know how to ski and she has no idea how she can get away from her race practice. Trez will definitely ask her questions and she has no excuses.

But the money Dommie offered was tempting. She knew that she could not turned it down, especially after her last encounter with the baby shark.

She felt like she must pay him soonest because he had given her a layaway and didn't do anything harmful to her—like cutting one of her fingers when he caught her lying to him.

The scary threat was a mercy.

And it was one of the reasons why she was itching to visit her father even though she knew that the visiting hours were already done.

The threat she received distracted her from the race practice and the thought of her father knowing the fact that she had remembered about her previous life, more than what she had shared to them made her worry.

She didn't want to add to the stress of her father. He didn't need any kind of stress with his medical condition.

Still could not decide on what she should do, the bus stopped in front of her and she hesitated until the bus's door started closing.

She shot up from sitting down and ran to the door, waving her arms for the bus driver to see her.

"Sorry," she murmured, swiping her bus car into the card reader when she saw the deep frown lines on the driver's forehead.

Ignoring the annoyance of the driver, she walked to the back of the bus and settled her tired butt into the empty seat next to a goth girl—she was about fourteen if she was going to guess her age from her body frame. It was impossible to gauge how old she is from her face because of her heavy makeup.

The image of her wearing a similar outfit and makeup as the girl is wearing, not a long time ago makes her smile and decides to go to the hospital.

The visiting hours would be over by the time she reached the hospital but it wasn't the first time that she ignored the visiting hours of the hospital and slipped inside her father's room and spent the night there.

When the bus passed by the bus stop going home, she yawned and closed her eyes for the hospital was still far.

She didn't expect to fell asleep.

"Hey."

"Hey!"

Era felt a nudge in her shoulder and irritablely opened her eyes and looked at the direction the voice was coming from.

Her eyes landed on the annoyed face of the goth girl that was sitting next to her.

The girl's small frame was towering over her because she was standing up and obviously wanted to get out of her seat but couldn't because her legs and her backpack were on the way.

Era pulled.her legs and tucked under the seat

She looked out of the window as she picked up her backpack from the floor and brought it to her chest.

"Shit!" She muttered under her breath.

The goth girl looked over her shoulder to look at her, checking if she was cursing her.

She mouthed "sorry" to the goth girl and scrambled to stand up from her seat.

"I wasn't cursing you," she said on top of the head of the goth girl when she caught up with her on the door, stepping out of the bus.

She quickly jumped out of the bus because the door was closing.

"I almost missed my stop," she told the girl, still explaining.

"Shit is not something I would die from."

Era chuckled amused from what the goth girl said.

"Still, I'm sorry. If you didn't nudge me I would have missed my stop."

"I wasn't waking you up. You're just blocking my way."

She nodded, chuckling. This goth girl has the guts and the anger to go with her looks.

Era wondered why she was talking to the young girl. The goth girl was obviously not in the mood to talk to her. But she could not stop herself from making conversation with the girl.

"Are you also going to the hospital?"

The goth girl stopped on her track and turned around.

The goth girl stood there not saying anything, just staring at her as if she was pondering if talking to her was worth her time.

Era gave the girl an engaging smile but the girl's expression remained passive.

"Sorry if I ask. It doesn't mean anything. I was just making small talk," she explained.

The goth girl heaved a deep breath and looked at her as if it was painful for her to carry on a conversation with her.

Era could not help but feel amused.

"Don't talk to me. I don't care for small talk! Especially from a weird stranger"

She laughed when the girl snapped at her then ran.

She stopped the urge to follow the girl and continue to talk to her just to tease her.

But she didn't do it. The hospital facade was within sight. She had to be serious if she wanted to get the sympathy of the security guard on duty.

She clicked her tongue when she saw that it wasn't the usual guard. New guards are difficult to talk to. She had to build trust all over again.

And if she failed, she would not be able to get to her father's floor to check on him.

She was busy explaining her situation to the guard on duty, making sure to exaggerate her explanation.

She bit the inside of her cheeks to summon a tear or two when a man passed by and the small hair from the back of her nape stood up.

"Not the Baby Shark again," she murmured to herself.

But the baby shark wasn't the one she saw when she looked behind her.

The man lost weight but the mole beside his nose made her remember him quite well and she urged the hospital guard to allow her to see her father even for just ten minutes.

The guard must have sensed the urgency from her because she was no longer faking.

She must talk to her father to know why he was talking to an old acquaintance—a police officer that used to be assigned in their neighborhood when she was first found by her parents.

It was the police officer who knew that she was found and was kept by her parents away from the public.

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