It is quite a day already, but something tells Liez that it is far from over. She grabs the mop and bucket and heads out to the dining hall for her clean-up routine with Valerie, just like what Miss Ruth asked her to. Her mind is still preoccupied with the lady in black. She just can't shake off that weird feeling when she realized that the mysterious woman was actually staring straight back at her.
Who is she? What is she up to? It's kind of weird that they have uncanny similarities. Crimson hair, although her's is a bit lighter. Petite. Even weirder is the fact that the mysterious lady has some resemblance to the woman that constantly appears in her visions and dreams.
"What if she really is...?"
She tries to shrug the thought off, pulls her hair to her back, and neatly ties it up. She slaps the wet mop on the hardwood flooring of the dining room, absent-mindedly swiping it left to right. Doing it again and again in the same area, although it is squeaky clean already. She has become so immersed in the thought of what just happened that she barely noticed Valerie and the other girls in the hall looking at her, totally weirded out.
"Hey Liez, is everything alright?", asks Valerie
"Oh, y-yeah I'm good, yeah...", says Liez, as she tries to maintain her composure. She moves to another area in the hall, just by the door.
She tries to concentrate on finishing her chore but thoughts about the mysterious woman continue to persist. It just makes no sense at all. She finds it even more strange how Miss Ruth gazed at the tree line. She seems to be familiar with that lady as if they are acquainted. She places a hand on her hip as she tilts her head, deep in thought.
Liez has known the head matron all her life. As a matter of fact, it was Miss Ruth herself who found her by the orphanage's doorstep. At least, that's what she was told. But there's something a bit off about her this time. Liez plunges the mop back into the bucket to rinse it. She hears a snicker to her right,
"It's like she doesn't even need to try..."
"Try to what?", asked another voice.
"To be utterly weird and hideous."
It's Ginny, Leah, and Joanne, the other girls in her age group. They're at the far side of the dining hall, slacking off from their chores. Liez swishes the mop across the floor, trying to shut out their voices.
"Look at that ugly, red hair and those freaky blue eyes″, whispers Joanne.
"Yeah! Add a pointed hat to that mop and you got a witch!", adds Leah.
"What a freak!", says Ginny.
Liez could hear them giggling. She continues with her chore nonetheless, like she heard nothing. She has already gotten used to the girls picking on her once in a while.
"Once a weirdo, always a weirdo. She's been like that since we were kids. I bet she'll end up like Dirty Harry!", Leah's head throws back in laughter.
"C'mon! Give Liez some slack, would ya?", retorts Valerie, who is obviously feeling awkward for her friend.
Liez tightens her grip on the mop handle, her anger simmering near the surface. Dirty Harry is a homeless guy that passes their street almost every day back when they were little. He is, as the name suggests, dirty, but also very sad. Liez caught his eyes one day while he was walking past the gates, and the depth of loneliness and anguish in them have haunted her ever since.
Later on, she learned from one of the staff that his wife and daughter were killed in a car crash with him driving, drunk as a pirate, and has lost himself to his emotions ever since. Almost like his family took his soul with them to the afterlife.
These girls don't know about that, though. They never really cared about anyone but themselves.
"Do you think her parents were as dull? I bet her mother can give Dirty Harry a run for his money.", sneered Ginny.
Liez just had enough. She snaps the mop handle into two and lunges at Ginny, both hands pressing on her neck and pushing her hard against the wall. A black haze clouds her vision and all she can see are a pair of deeply sad blue eyes of the woman in her dreams. The gossip girls don't even know her. How dare they taint her image?
Dust puffs as Liez push her to the wall.
"You have no right to speak about my mother!", Liez growls at her, as a ring of black and a tinge of yellow lit up in her eyes. Ginny panics as she tries to break free from Liez's tightening grip.
She pulls the girl, only to push her harder to the wall, choking her. She is basically lifting Ginny off the floor. The smell of fear is pungent in the air. Liez can barely hear the frantic screaming around her. Anger is pouring out of her in waves and Ginny is turning purple as she gasps for air.
"Liez stop, please! You're killing her!", screams Valerie as she desperately tries to pull Liez's arm from Ginny.
Snapping back to her senses, she immediately let go of Ginny. The girl drops down like a rag doll on the floor.
"What is the meaning of this? Girls?! Why are you--" Ms. Ruth's eyes widen as soon as she sees Ginny on the floor unconscious. Leah and Joanne are at the other side of the hall, shaking and petrified with fear.
"Get Nurse Pearl, quick!", she asks the girls.
The two hurriedly run to find the resident nurse. Liez slowly backs away, trembling.
"Ginny!? Wake up!", Miss Ruth frantically tells her. Picking her up to her chest, she notices that the floor is damp. Ginny has wet herself. Appalled, she turns to Liez,
"What happened Liza?!"
"I-I don't know. They were saying mean stuff and I...", she gulps as she looks down at Ginny unconscious.
"I swear I didn't mean to, I'm so sorry!"
She shakes her head in disbelief, leaning against a table nearby, only for it to come crashing down at her touch. Liez was just as shocked as everyone else in the room.
"I-I don't know what's happening." She stammers, utterly confused as she puts her hands on her chest.
Her tears won't stop now as she looks around, panic closing in as she loses her focus. Suddenly, every singular sound around her whooshes through her ears as it did so long ago.
"There's blood on the back of her head. She may have a concussion. We need to get her to the clinic now!", exclaims Nurse Pearl as she checks on Ginny.
A flurry of motion explodes around Liez as she clenches her fist, afraid to touch anything and trying to control herself from melting further down. Valerie reaches out to her, but she pushes her away.
"No Valerie, I don't want to hurt you too..." she pleads.
Liez can see the worry in Valerie's eyes, but despite it, she turns away and runs back to the attic, her place of solace. Something is definitely wrong with her. Something's always been wrong with her. Maybe her mother knew she'd be like this.
Maybe that is why she didn't want her in the first place.
The sound of a thunderclap startles her. She curls on the floor and rocks herself back and forth. Has the storm come sooner than expected or is it just nature empathizing with her? As she tries to shut her eyes tightly, a single thought plays repeatedly in her head;
What have I done?
© 2022 C.J. Gracie Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
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