Chapter 5

The next day, she got ready from school as fast as she could. She didn't want to be late. The Mike guy's matter, or as Vesper called it, had left her unsettled and anxious. She was going to make sure that he regretted messing with her.

Her aunt had left early and Regan drove herself to school. She still couldn't shake the look that Vesper had given her. Regan took a deep breath and walked to her least favourite class, math. Vesper was already there, scrolling through her phone.

"Good morning," Regan said and sat beside her. "Morning," Vesper replied, not looking up from her phone.

"So have you seen that Mike?" Regan asked.

Vesper gave her a look, "Never mind, I'm going to tell him about it. You don't have to worry, Reg."

"But what will you tell him?"

Vesper left the phone on the desk, "That you're not interested and that he should stop doing it."

If Mike, or whoever it was, was involved in this, then she was more than grateful that Vesper was helping. But the way that rose was placed in the room, its scent and its thorns....it was way too conspicuous.

The class passed in a blur and Regan couldn't shake the nag in her head. She looked at her hands, at her scratched fingers from the rose's thorns. On contrast, Vesper's hands didn't have a single mark. The red roses looked like they had been a....warning. She didn't know what to think.

At lunch, her eyes searched for Mike, but she couldn't even remember his face. It wasn't like she looked people with much of detail. She was sitting alone at the table, just when Vesper appeared.

"It's done," she said, sitting on the chair, "I sorted it with him."

"Thank you, I guess," Regan said, tried to shake the weirdness out of her voice. She was still thinking about it, when she felt a tap of her shoulder. She turned to see Olivia standing there with a wicked smile on her face.

"Hey scar, what's up?" she said disdainfully as she leaned on her palm on the table.

"What do you want?" Regan retorted sharply.

Olivia's expression took a twist of a sneer, "Oh, just wanting to play a little game," she said with a smirk before pouring her coke into Regan's burger. Regan just watched, blinked, not believing her eyes.

"What the hell?" she exclaimed, her voice loud enough for the busy people to hear.

"I ruined your lunch, scarface," Olivia said with a laugh, everyone else following suit. Vesper wasn't, but she wasn't doing much either. Her eyes were down, expression unreadable.

"You're such an idiot," Regan spat at Olivia, standing up from her chair. Olivia's laugh didn't falter.

"And you're a freak," she retorted.

Regan turned to leave but didn't see it when one of her friends stepped their foot forward to trip her. She stumbled and fell on the floor, heard their laughter, their disdain. Her face became red with anger and embarrasment and she could feel her blood boiling already. Their mockery curled around her thoughts like a snap, activating something that she didn't even understand the moment she stood up.

"Burn," was all she knew she muttered, straight in Olivia's eyes, and then, within a passing second that she said that, the air grew charged, and she felt a strange current of energy shake her fingertips. Before anyone could comprehend what was happening, a small flame had erupted in Olivia's hair.

The cafeteria exploded in chaos, Olivia yelling frantically, her voice loud enough for everyone to hear. The students and teachers rushing, their movements would've be seen almost satirical if this were to be put in a screenplay. But it wasn't a screenplay. It was happening.

Regan didn't know how many seconds passed when she started to move and get out of here. Vesper had already disappeared, the shocked people were now like an irritation background to her ears. She had to get some fresh air.

The walk to the school's playground was more like a run. Literally and figuratively. Regan's heart was pounding, her mind racing with confusing and weird thoughts. She couldn't comprehend how Olivia's hair had caught on fire and she didn't ever want to think she might have been the cause of it.

The playground's air was fresh and crisp, a quiet space for her, broken softly by the birds chirping and the voices of guys playing basketball in the distance. Regan found a set of swings and sat down, trying to collect herself.

Vesper reached there too, her expression unreadable.

"Regan, are you alright?" she asked, sitting on the other swing.

"Yeah....what just happened back there?" Regan asked, her voice slightly shaky.

Vesper shrugged, her expression still unreadable, "Her hair just caught on fire. They put it out, don't worry. It wasn't very severe burn."

Regan nodded, although she was still shaken and confused. She remembered how she had felt something weird, something....powerful when Olivia's hair caught fire. She didn't know what it was and she didn't want to think about it.

"I'm not involved," she told herself.

"But you are...." a voice echoed in her mind.

Her whole body went stiff. She had always been on talk with her subconscious but this....this didn't seem as her subconscious. It seemed out of place.

"Well, let's not think about it. Maybe some fella did a prank or maybe there was some kind of freak accident. We shouldn't jump to conclusions," Vesper suggested, her voice calm.

Regan nodded, trying to push aside the strange thoughts and feelings that were swirling in her mind. "Yeah, you're right. It's just... so strange."

Vesper gave her a comforting smile, but Regan couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something more beneath that fire, something she couldn't quite grasp.

***

The biology class was finished and Regan was entirely unfocused. She kept thinking about what happened in the cafeteria, the voice, the fire, the red roses. She didn't know what was going on but it was definitely weird.

Vesper on the other hand, was bored as well, doodling in her notebook and drawing on the desk.

After the class, everyone was gossiping about Olivia and what had just happened to her. Regan disappeared quickly from the class, but not before a girl told her, "Well, you aren't as innocent as you seem to be," with a scoff.

But Regan only wanted to go home and forget about it. "They're all fools," Vesper sneered as she was walking beside her, "And that Olivia is a piece of shit."

Regan didn't answer. She collected tampered notes from her locker and stuffed them into the bag carelessly.

She made her way with Vesper home and when she arrived, she sank into the couch, drowning in thoughts.

What made her even more unsettled, was that she still had a feeling like something was following her, watching her.

She stood up again and lazily climbed the stairs. She left her bag in her room and grabbed her laptop. As soon as she did, her heart sank. There was another red rose, that one on the pillow. It was bloody red, the thorns like spikes peeking out of an abyss. Their smell was like a drug, one that made her mind spin.

"Oh, God," she said, her voice shaking slightly. What was going on? Why were weird things happened? First the red rose, then the fire on Olivia's hair, then the voice and now another red rose. She had liked roses but now she wasn't very sure.

She didn't know what to do. Tell Vesper about it? No, not now. She couldn't tell her aunt either, her aunt would probably bring that guy from school into it. She didn't know why the hell Vesper had to tell Monica about it.

She was very hungry so she ordered a pizza. After some minutes the doorbell rang and she froze. She tiptoed to see through the peephole and realized it was the pizza guy. She smacked her forehead for being so paranoid.

She opened the door, paid the guy and closed it. The pizza's aroma filled her lungs and she knew it was going to help her thought. She took her laptop to see a movie, but a feeling of being watched crept through her.

When she looked up from the laptop, her eyes widened. It had passed three hours sitting there and her aunt was going to find the living room in a mess. Regan quickly fixed it.

Her phone buzzed and it was a text from Vesper, asking if she was going to go to her house tomorrow. Regan wasn't sure about it, but replied 'yes', not wanting to seem annoyed. Her aunt came and asked her about the day, Regan told it was okay, the lie tasting bitter in her tongue.

She went upstairs to her room there, the crimson rose still there, on her pillow. No, that was definitely creepy. The rose didn't got here by its own. And it certainly didn't land perfectly by 'Mike'. Someone must've entered her room, she realized, and the realization hit like a thunder.