Chapter Twenty

Lorna felt her mouth gape open in shock. That wasn't even close to what really happened, she thought with frustration. She gave a dark stare towards the blonde, who looked back with a faint sneer and moved her eyebrows up and down as if to signal something to her. Something sinister no doubt. She kept her mouth shut—more from exhaustion than anything else—and let her eyes gaze up at the ceiling momentarily. Mentally counting all of the tiles that made it up.

Squinting her eyes, the Russian woman tried to make sense of what was just told to them. She waved her hand towards the door, motioning for the blonde teen to leave. "Thank you, Lisa, you can go now." Her eyes watched closely until Annalisa finally exited the room. She refocused her attention back on Lorna. Sympathy taking up form on her face. She let her thumb run soothingly across her forehead. "What made you immerse your head in the toilet water, honey?" She softly asked, her Russian accent much more pronounced than usual.

"I-I did not do that. I would never do something like that, there's too many germs on those toilets. She's making it up," the words finally came from her mouth, now that she was alone with Red. Maybe she should play in to Annalisa's lie to avoid anyone finding out she'd been bullied, she contemplated. Yet, the thought of everyone believing she was suicidal made her feel queasy. It hadn't surprised her one bit that Annalisa would use that as an excuse for what happened. Anything to make Lorna look like the crazy person.

"I don't think she'd make something like that up. Suicide isn't something to be joked about or taken lightly," Red firmly pointed out, fixing her glasses on her face with her index finger. "It sounds like you just don't want to admit that you did something so scary to yourself, is that right? Do you want to talk about it?"

Lorna felt a big breath of air expel from her lungs. She let a hand run through her hair. Knowing Annalisa, she probably already made it known to the whole school that she was the suicidal crazy girl. So, there was no sense in her trying to say otherwise. No one would believe her anyway. Her eyes peered down at her hands. Every day made her feel like she was losing another piece of herself. She hadn't felt normal since her mother was healthy, she realized.

"I just—I don't know anything anymore," she muttered no louder than a whisper.

Red arched an eyebrow, grabbing one of her hands and giving it a comforting squeeze. "What don't ya know, sweetheart?"

"Nothing. Can I go to class now?" She didn't know why she bothered asking that question when she knew she couldn't even feel her legs enough to get up and walk.

"Not right now. I've tried to get a hold of your father so he could get you and take you the hospital, but he hasn't been answering my calls. Is there anyone else I can call? You need to be seen by a doctor, not just because you tried to drown yourself but because you also said your legs feel weird."

Lorna swallowed uncomfortably at the mention of her father. She was grateful, however, that Nurse Reznikov wasn't able to get in contact with him. The last thing she needed was to deal with his wrath. "You can try callin' my sista Franny." The thought of going to a hospital didn't sit too well with her. Ever since her mother's illness, she deemed all hospitals a terrible place to be. Just saying the word alone nauseated her to no end. And, to think that they would all honestly assume she had tried drowning herself only strengthened the dread she felt at having to go to the hospital.

She watched as the middle-aged woman went into the smaller part of the room, dialing her sister's number on the phone probably. The dixie cup that was still held in her right hand she brought it up for a sip and finished off the water. It wasn't more than five minutes before Red came back to sit back in her spot. And by the expression on her face, Lorna figured out that she had indeed reached her older sister. She could only imagine how upset Franny most-likely was.

"I'm not crazy, Red, I'm really not. They're not gonna throw me in some psych ward, are they?"

Placing a comforting hand over one of the brunette's, Red stroked her thumb lightly over her knuckles. She shook her head as she gazed down at her with a perturbed mien. "No, you're not crazy. Not at all. Who's they?"

"I don't know—the doctors and nurses at the hospital. Isn't that what they do with people who are said to of tried to kill themselves?" Lorna inquired, sitting up in the bed and returning the older woman's stare.

Such a comment came as a surprise to the school nurse. She was positive medical professionals hadn't done things like that for at least a decade or so. At least she hoped that were the case. Clearly, she thought, locking people with mental illnesses away was not only not a productive decision but also inhumane. "No, Lorna, they don't do that. That's more of a nineteen hundreds outdated practice that I would be absolutely shocked if any person with more than one brain cell takes part in anymore. You don't need to worry—they're just there to help you, everything will be fine."

Lorna shook her head in disbelief. She didn't trust any doctors, not after they just allowed her mother to die on the cold, filthy floor. And on top of that, she visibly remembered her father mentioning how her 'crazy' Aunt Lidia was in a mental institution for trying to take her life with a hair dryer. Thinking of—as Mr. Morello deemed—her 'crazy' Aunt Lidia, she started to wonder if maybe she had done exactly what Annalisa had claimed. She pondered if she hallucinated the whole predicament—had she actually been the one to try to drown herself?

"Are ya gonna let Nicky move in with you? She told me that if her parents agree, you will let her." Lorna decided changing the topic would do her mind good. She desired to focus on something other than the earlier incident. And she hoped for Nicky's sake that the answer would be yes—Nicky needed to move away from her parents for her own well-being, Lorna rationalized.

"I will need to discuss that with Nicky and probably her parents, too. You really miss her being here in the same school, don't ya?"

Of course she wanted the redhead to be back in the same school, but she knew that was certainly not the only reason Nicky needed to move in with Mrs. Reznikov. "I do but it's not just that, Red. Her mom and dad don't seem to care about her that much and I—I just really think she should live with someone like you. You're real nice and good and Nicky needs, um, a good person like you in her life," she rambled, letting her fingers play with the fabric of the blanket she was covered in.

Hearing that, Red felt her heart slightly clench. She had a soft spot for that Nicky. Ever since she met her at the beginning of the school year, the two had grown close. Nicky reminded her so much of the daughter she once lost—a tragic memory she tried to repress as much as possible. "I'll talk with Nicky and her parents and see what comes of it, is that good?"

"Please do it soon," the brunette pleaded. "I'm real worried about Nicky."

Red nodded, patting Lorna's hand comfortingly. It was clearly evident just how much the young teen cared for her beloved best friend and that was something the school nurse found endearing. "I will try to, honey. Now why don't ya try and rest until your sister gets here?" She placed her back against the cushion of the bed, wrapping the blanket gently around her, and giving one last pat to her hand before going to her office to make a phone call.


Once Franny picked her up from the school, and drove the five minutes to the local hospital, the two sat in the waiting room for what seemed like forever but really ended up being a mere ten minutes. A nurse ended their wait as she called Lorna's name; the two brunettes followed her back, the shorter one holding onto the taller one's arm to steady her stride. They entered inside an empty room and the nurse motioned with her hand for Lorna to lie on the gurney.

The younger brunette complied and situated herself on the gurney. An unnerving aura hit her the second she entered inside the building and she only hoped she wouldn't be stuck there long. She sighed while the nurse quickly took her vitals alongside drawing some blood from one of her arms. When she was finished, she informed both girls one of the doctors would come in shortly and left.

Alone now with her sister, Franny sat in one of the chairs and scooted it closer to the gurney. Her arms folded over her chest as she peered down at the teen with a sternness lurking in her blue eyes. "So, ya wanna tell me about this drowning yourself incident?" She finally broke the silence; her eyes kept their gaze, searching her sister wearily. She still couldn't believe what had happened. Imagining Lorna doing something so awful to herself—it brought an intense wave of nausea over her.

Lorna nervously slicked her hair back, unintentionally avoiding eye contact with the older woman. "I didn't do it, Fran. I swear I didn't," she muttered exhaustively. The entire day felt hallucinated to her at that point, she wondered if any of this was even real. What if she was still asleep at the cemetery dreaming up all of this? She wished that were the case. Wished today hadn't happened—or better yet, that she could have restarted the day and waited longer before going to the bathroom. Maybe then she wouldn't be sitting in the emergency room with everyone around her thinking she was out to kill herself.

"But why would the school call me and tell me ya did? You think they would make something like this up, Lorn?" Franny pondered, looking her sister over concerningly. As much as she wanted Lorna's words to be true, she couldn't imagine the school creating a lie like that—suicide wasn't a joking matter, she knew, it just didn't make one bit of sense to her. Any of it.

"The school didn't make it up," the younger girl confirmed. Her breath caught in her throat for a moment as she tried to reason with herself to share what truly took place.

Even more confused, the older brunette arched her eyebrows while watching Lorna cautiously. "So, then, you really did try to drown yourself in the toilet? Lorna, what is going on with you?"

"No, no!" Lorna shrieked in response. She held up a hand and waved it profusely in her sister's face, "I swear that I did not try killing myself, Fran. It wasn't me, please believe me. I'm not—I'm not a crazy person."

From the tone in her voice, Franny knew she was being honest with her. She sighed, both relieved and still very much unnerved. If Lorna hadn't done what the school was claiming she had—she rubbed at her temples from the intensifying headache that loomed between them. Nothing made sense now, she understood that much. "You're not crazy, hon, I know. I never said you were. I just—help me understand what happened? Did someone else try to hurt you?"

It took several times for Lorna to open and shut her mouth before words finally flowed out. "I—Franny, there's just…there's just this one girl who likes to pick on me sometimes is all."

"This one girl, huh? Is she who tried drowning you in the toilet?"

The curtain being pulled back halted their conversation from going any further. A darker-toned woman entered inside—a notepad in hand—situating herself on the circular chair on wheels and gliding it closer towards the patient. She set the notepad on her lap before lifting her head up to look straight ahead at the petite brunette who lay on the gurney. A kind smile formed on her face. "Hi, there; I'm Doctor Washington—a psychologist here. You're Lorna Morello, yes?"

Psychologist. She was a psychologist? The words rumbled piercingly through her mind. Swallowing a wad of saliva, Lorna squeezed her eyes shut as the realization dawned on her. Everyone believed her to be crazy now—for something she hadn't even done. That was all thanks to Annalisa, she knew; the girl probably had their entire class thinking she tried to kill herself. Oh, did that make her feel queasy inside. She loathed what would be in store for her when she arrived back at school on Monday morning.

Franny tapped her on the arm and that immediately brought Lorna back to the present state. She looked back at the psychologist, who still had that smile on her face, and sucked in a breath. Her head nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'm Lorna. But I'm not crazy."

"No, of course you're not. No one here thinks you're crazy," Dr. Washington assured her, gently.

Before she could continue, Lorna interjected with a waving motion of her hand. "Then why do I need to talk to you? If I'm not crazy then I don't see why I need to talk to a psychologist."

The doctor shared a glance with Franny, who placed a comforting hand onto her younger sister's shoulder. Clearing her throat, the dark-skinned psychologist retrieved her reading glasses from the pocket on the white coat she wore and used her thumb to push them up over her nose. "Well, your school did call right before you came to tell us that we'd be expecting a possible suicidal patient. That's why I've come to talk to you, Lorna," she factually informed the young teen.

"But—but I'm not suicidal!" Lorna yelled out. To say she was frustrated would be an understatement. She was enraged that Annalisa would make up such a cruel lie on her behalf. That she would convince the entire school—adults included—that she was the one to put her own head in that damn toilet bowl. Now, she truly was the crazy girl at school. She couldn't imagine how much worse the bullying would get but had an inkling it wasn't going to be good.

She looked over at her sister, arching her eyebrows at her. "Tell her Franny, tell her I'm not trying to kill myself."

Franny folded her arms over her chest, hesitating slightly. She wasn't sure what to believe at that moment. As much as she longed for Lorna to not have tried, she also knew her sister had a knack for lying or covering things up. "I don't really know, Lorn, ya didn't really give me a good reason to believe you. I mean I want to but you don't have the best track record for being honest," she cautiously pointed out.

Doctor Washington closely observed the exchange between the sisters and jotted something down on the notepad. "Why don't you start by sharing what happened?"

Lorna shifted her legs uncomfortably beneath the blanket that rest overtop of them. The question, alone, brought a headache over her. She had no clue how to answer it—clearly, they hadn't seemed to want to believe anything other than she tried to drown herself in the girls' bathroom at school that morning. A sigh sounded through her vocal cords; she reached a hand up to her forehead to try and ease the ache.

"Can I just go home, please? I really have nothin' to say. Because no one believes me anyway so I'm not talking. I want to leave."

"Just tell us what happened, Lorn," Franny pleaded, looking down at her with desperation in her eyes. She was terrified for her sister; she hadn't felt safe with the idea of leaving the hospital without any answers. Didn't feel safe to allow Lorna to be at home when there was a chance she was plotting to take her life.

"Let's not push her," the psychologist carefully interpolated. She took a card from the pocket of her pants and wrote down a date and time on the back of it. "It's okay if you're not ready to talk about what happened right now, Lorna. Here's my card with all my contact info; we can meet for an appointment on that date if it works for you. You can find the address for my outpatient office on the website listed there, too."


On their way home, it was decided that Lorna would be staying with Franny—at least for the weekend. After everything that took place, the older brunette was on edge and certainly wouldn't allow her to go back to their father's house. She hadn't needed to deal with their perverted uncle on top of recovering from whatever may have happened in school that morning, anyway. Her eyes periodically gazed over at the other, watching with an intense worry looming over her.

Lorna had her head resting on the brim of the window. She let her eyes peer out at the passing surroundings, allowing the naturistic sights to mesmerize her. Snow flurried through the sky but melted away the second any flakes hit the ground. Strangely, watching that calmed her immensely. She shut her eyes and kept them shut until the car came to a stop. They reopened, seeing her sister's apartment complex out of the window now.

Before either sister exited the vehicle, Lorna lifted her head and turned to look at the older woman. "Can I invite my friend Nicky over for the weekend, please? I'll get my schoolwork done first, I promise."

"That's fine, Lorn. Ya gonna talk to her about what happened? It'd be good for you," Franny suggested, a hopeful expression in her light blue eyes. She longed for Lorna to open up to someone at least—even if it was a friend, it would be a step in the right direction.

Both stepped out of the car—the older brunette locked it—and made their way into the building, up to the third floor where Franny's apartment was located. As soon as they entered through the front door, Franny dismissed the babysitter and went into the kitchen to prepare a kettle of tea. While it heated up, she turned back to gaze at her sister. She watched her closely as she tried to distinguish what she was thinking.

"I really think you should let your friend know what happened, Lorn. It might help ya."

Lorna scrunched her nose at the comment. Help her? What was her sister trying to get at with that? She folded her arms frustratedly over her chest, coming to the realization that the older girl indeed believed she tried to kill herself. "Help me with what? I'm fine, I'm not crazy and I am not suicidal," she angrily shouted out, not even giving her a chance to say anything as she ran down the hall to the spare bedroom.


Nicky drove straight to the address her friend had given her right after school let out for the day. Snow picked up just as she pulled into the complex's parking lot. She pressed the button to lock her car and ventured into the building, up to the floor where Lorna's sister's apartment was located. It didn't take long for her to make it to the front door; she lifted a fist to knock on it and silently waited for someone to let her in.

A few moments passed before the door was finally opened. The woman inside was clearly not her friend, obviously her older sister, Nicky observed. She looked her over and noticed the slight resemblance between she and Lorna—albeit Lorna much shorter with her mesmerizing brown eyes. The thought was quickly shook away as she greeted Franny, "Hi, I'm Nicky, Lorna's friend. She invited me over."

With a third cup of tea cradled in her hands, Franny nodded and moved aside to allow her to walk inside. After, she shut the door while motioning her hands down towards the hallway. "She's in the room on the left, just finishing up her schoolwork."

The door slowly creaked open, rapidly halting Lorna from her current task. Her eyes caught sight of a familiar silhouette standing in the doorway and without a thought, a smile took up form on her face. She threw her books aside, jumped off the bed, and ran to engulf the taller teen in a tight embrace. The one person—other than her sister—who genuinely cared for her. She tightened her arms around her, allowing her head to naturally fall against her shoulder.

Lorna's actions brought a smile to her own face. And Nicky returned the hug happily, instinctively letting her lips brush against the other's forehead. "You're too cute, kid," she softly stated, allowing her arms to wrap snugly around the smaller girl's waist. "God, I wish I could just live back in this town again. I miss seeing ya every day at school. I miss annoying Red instead of going to class, too." The two shared a chuckle at the latter.

"I do, too. Actually, I talked to Red today about ya," Lorna informed her, lifting a hand to cup gently around one of her cheeks. Her fingers caressed its flesh in a delicate manner.

The sensation of her fingers against her cheek had Nicky's heart swooshing with tingles. She bit down on her lower lip to calm herself before focusing her gaze back on Lorna's face. A warm, fuzzy, feeling overpowered her to hear that she had spoken with Red—the woman closest to a mother-figure to her—about her. That proved to her even further just how strongly Lorna cared for her. She bit her lip once more, that time to keep herself from crying tears of adoration.

"Yeah? What'd ya talk to her about, kid?"

"Well, I told her I really think it's the best for you to move in with her. Because you deserve to live in a home with someone who actually wants ya there and gives ya their attention, hon. And Red's real nice. I think it would be real good for you to live with her and it might be good for her too, she seems kinda lonely…I don't know."

Such words couldn't stop Nicky's eyes from becoming misty. She sucked in a deep breath to cover up a sniffle she felt brewing. "Lorna," her voice murmured; she framed her hands warmly around the brunette's face. For a few silent moments, she gazed intensely into her eyes and took in all of her features. Gradually, she moved her own face closer until their foreheads were melded together. Her breath on Lorna and Lorna's breath on her. She inched a smidge more so that their lips delicately molded together. It was soft and sweet. Both girls momentarily closed their eyes at the same time.

Lorna opened her eyes again and smiled gently. She used her thumb to stroke along the jawline of Nicky's faintly freckled face. "Hmm," she warmly hummed, "Second kiss and even better than the first."

Chuckling, Nicky nodded and pulled her in for another kiss. That wasn't what she imagined would take place when she came over, however, she surely hadn't regretted any of it. In fact, she longed for more of it—more Lorna kisses, more Lorna everything, she thought. She wrapped her arms even tighter around her, pulling her against her body and moved them onto the bed. The kiss was deepened, both girls fumbling about as they held lovingly onto one another. It wasn't long before the two were in a heated make-out session.

The pair were so engrossed in their intimacy that neither heard anyone entering inside the room. Not until a shriek boomed through the room did the two girls realize they weren't alone anymore. Both turned their heads and Lorna felt a lump form in her stomach when she realized it was her little nephew. Quickly followed by Franny, who walked behind the toddler and covered his eyes with her hands. Everything inside of Lorna froze as she braced herself for what was to come.