Lauren Sanders has been left to start a 'new' normal life with her aunt and cousin after her family died. Everybody knows almost everything except for two things: Lauren's parents' mysterious death and her schizophrenia.
Lauren goes out on a mission...
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I know that I told her that she can take as much time as she needs to forgive me and although things appeared to be going great between us with much progress, I cannot help but wonder when will she accept my apologies and actually forgive me.
She continues to remind me occasionally that she hasn't forgiven me and that whatever we are doing doesn't imply that we are in the clear, which slightly bothers me that she gets to act freely as usual before she even found out about what my aunt and I had agreed upon, while I have to walk on eggshells and only get to speak when being asked for a penny for her thoughts.
While I tossed the cherry tomatoes off my salad and attempted to poke the crouton with my fork but failed, I watched it bounce off my salad bowl and plop on Lauren's food tray as I listened to her talk. I instantly got up from the table and she continued talking as if she weren't even aware of the mess I had caused.
I swing my bag on my back and carry the tray with me, dropping the crumpled sandwich wrapper and a bottle of Minute Maid orange juice into the trash as she trails behind me and says, "Wait, I still want to hear your thoughts about the notes."
I set the tray back on the table next to the counter and headed toward the exit. With all the noise, I decide to make my way to the library in search of some peace and quiet. As I walk, I see Lauren still following after me and she keeps talking nonstop, leaving me no room to try and talk my thoughts out.
While looking for a key in my back pocket, I nod at Ms. Jensen as I passed her by the fiction section on my way to the back. I walked into the small room after opening the door, threw my bag on the floor, and then allowed myself to collapse onto the couch. I began rubbing my temples and furrowed my brows as I closed my eyes.
"So, what do you think?" Lauren asks. Before I opened my eyes to look at her, who was grinning at me and waiting for me to say something, I let the silence take over the room for a minute.
I opened my mouth when she suddenly interrupted me, again, "I do know that there are a lot of possible words that might be made up from the capitalized letters in the notes, but I think I will also need to remember about the locations we have visited together or that I am aware Elise has visited— "
"And how will you be able to do that?" I look at her as I stood up from the couch. She blinks at me, her eyebrow raised.
She laughs awkwardly to herself, "I told you we're going to list down all of the capital letters down and try to make out the words for where we can locate the next note," she stares at me, "Were you not even listening to me this whole time?"
"Don't you think it's a bit dumb to be looking for notes written by a dead person?" I continue to ask a genuine question but I guess she found it a bit rude of me to ask such a thing.
Her eyes went dark as she shakes her head at me, "You're crossing the line."
I sighed as I fall back down on the couch and hear her hissing softly, causing me to tilt my head and look at her as she starts walking back and forth.
