The Shadow 13

Stephenie was back at school that next week. It should have been a comfort, seeing her back where she belonged, and you'd think it would be a familiar sight, but seeing her at school that day couldn't have seemed more foreign.

She wandered around the hallways, a schedule in one hand and all of her books in the other. Her normally perfected bleach-blonde hair was dry and wavy, pulled into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. Gray sweatpants with a pink stripe down the side paired with a baggy, turquoise t-shirt to for some kind of outfit. She wore round, thin-rimmed glasses instead of her usual colored contacts, so you could see her eyes were gray and not hazel, and on her feet she wore white, grungy tennis shoes that I hadn't seen since gym class in 7th grade.

Every time Stephenie caught someone's eye, she'd ask "Where is room 304?" or "Can you tell me where the west wing is?" Every person simply blew her off, except for the select few who gave her false directions. Something inside of me told me I should feel sorry for her, but I didn't. It's like my mind knew what I should have been feeling, but I couldn't bring myself to feel any pity.

After third period, I found myself standing by my locker and just staring at her. As soon as she returned my gaze, Stephenie came walking toward me. She was confident, but in a way that she truly didn't know of any reasons why not to be. Still Stephenie, in the most literal sense, but she was young. A small child.

"Excuse me." She called when I began to turn away. "Aren't you the girl who visited me at the hospital?" Each word was spoken slowly and perfectly enunciated.

I nodded. "Yeah, that was me."

She smiled with her teeth. "Oh, good, so will you help me? I'm looking for the cafeteria." I pointed straight ahead of myself, towards the north.

"Just straight ahead that way, then turn left." I instructed. She thanked me, turned, and broke into a run in the direction I had told her.

Hah. What a moron. And she really let herself go.

I spun on my heel and started walking south to meet Shawn and Breann for lunch.