Chapter 38 : Shot in the dark

MAXINE. To say that I’m stunned would be an understatement. I feel like I just got slapped across the face. I have to blink a couple of times to make sure I’m not sleepwalking, and I’m not. This is really Amarantha, except she doesn’t look like herself. Her hair is messy and matted to her scalp like it’s been pulled around in the dirt. Her face and her hands are also caked in grime. She’s wearing some kind of overalls like the one I have on now, but in black, almost blending in with the color of her dirty skin. Only her eyes remain the same. Angry and bulging. Or at least I thought they looked the same. Only when she gets close to me do I realize that it’s not the same at all. Her eyes are wild, like that of a cornered animal. She gets up on her feet and it seems that she can’t even straighten up. She’s limping too, coming closer to me with her gaze almost too sharp to be sane. “What are you doing here?” I ask her, finally able to take a step back. “Don’t come any closer.” Amara