Heat, noise and people: that sums up pretty well what Camila remembered about that night. It wasn’t usual though, especially for her, to remember about a summer night out with her friends during college. But that one was hard to forget.
The brown-eyed girl sat on the sidewalk with her legs crossed, resting her weight on her arms, her hands pressed firmly against the ground.
“You know guys, if we leave now we might hit Pizza Hut before it closes.” Camila said checking the time on her phone screen. “We won’t get in this club anyway.”
That was probably the seventh time she tried to make her friends give up the idea of getting into this party across the street which its line was about to turn around the corner. It was extremely hot out there, and she could see people getting out of the club to smoke dripping in sweat. Besides, they had been there for at least two hours and the line didn’t even seem to move one step.
She knew it was one of the most amazing parties of the summer break, but was that necessary? Besides, she was settled to just keep drinking on the sidewalk with her friends and observe people getting out of the club too drunk to walk by themselves.
“Mila, we all know why you don’t wanna go inside.” That was Hanna, her best friend. She was blond, blue-eyed and seemed to just have walked out of and plastic surgeon’s office, but she never even stepped at one. “And I can’t blame you, but let’s just see how this goes, maybe the people in line will just give up.” She shrugged it off, taking a sip of her beer. “Besides, we’re in New York. Pizza Hut it’s 24/7.”
“Whatever…” the brunette rolled her eyes and sighed. Hanna was right, Camila did have a reason why she didn’t wanna go inside besides the two hours line and the people all wet. But she was defeated, eventually she would have to face the reason. She just sighed, accepting her loss and finished the beer in her hand.
“Wait… So that’s why she’s complaining about this? Is Sasha inside?” Lucy, the other friend said chuckling. She was two years older than them, but took the same classes as Camila and Hanna in Med School “I thought you were over her!” She admitted, handing a new beer to Camila.
“Well, she was.” Hanna raised her eyebrow, “Until they made out last week.” She spat flatly.
“Oh no…” Camila shook her head.
“WHAT?” Lucy almost screamed, while Hanna was laughing, but didn’t look surprised though. “Why I didn’t hear about this?”
“See? That’s why we can’t have nice nights out.” Camila shoot a piercing look to Hanna, “We just slept together last week, it wasn’t that big deal… really.” She confessed trying to get rid of it.
“Really? So why don’t you wanna go inside?” The eldest in the group asked.
“It’s not that I don’t wanna get in… I just don’t think we will even be able to get anywhere close to that door.” The brow-eyed tried to explain pointing to the line, even though her friends just stared at her knowing it was an excuse.
“What did she say to you?” Hanna asked suspiciously, knowing that there was more to it than Camila was letting out.
“Oh my god… She didn’t say anything, ok? Guys, can we just talk about something else, please?”
“That’s why you didn’t come to the bar with us last week, wasn’t it?” Lucy asked excited, looking like she had just discovered the wheel. “You get so weird when it comes to someone you’re sleeping with…”
“Ok, Scherlock, are you done?” The youngest scoffed, hearing Hanna burst into laugh. “It didn’t mean anything, I would say it was a relapse, that’s all. We’ve all had those.”
“I don’t remember hooking up with any of my teachers… but yeah, perhaps you’re right.” Lucy mocked her.
“Ok, in my defense, I thought she was a student.” Camila raised her hands in defense.
“Yeah, she’s right… I thought so too.” Hanna pointed.
“Me too, until we walked into her Anatomy class…” The brown-haired returned.
“Do you remember Camila’s face?” The blue-eyed remembered excitedly after taking a sip of her beer. “Oh my God, I thought she was going to vomit.”
“Yes!” Lucy answered laughing out loud. “Sasha’s look was precious too, even though we had never seen her, I could tell she wanted to get herself into a hole right there.”
“And we thought they wouldn’t hook up anymore… It’s been what? A year? And they still do!”
“No Hanna, it’s been one semester… And we don’t.” Camila clarified and checked her phone once again.
“It seemed like a year to me.” The eldest admitted.
“Same…” Hanna agreed and finished her beer, placing it’s can aside. She looked at the line across the street and groaned “Ughh, will they ever give up? I just wanted to dance for five minutes.”
“You and those sixty people standing there.” Lucy pointed.
Camila glanced at the line and sighed, she didn’t know if it was a relief or a worried one. The youngest girl knew it wasn’t a good idea to face Sasha with the amount of alcohol she had running in her system right now, for both of them. The whole thing was so complicated she didn’t even know how it started, let alone if it was finished. The only thing she knew was that the longest she managed to avoid her teacher, the better.
The thing was, Camila was 21 now and she knew that it wasn’t illegal or something, but her issues with her teacher felt like an impossible thing to handle. Even though she thought she was much more conscious about her actions now than 6 months ago. But being a medicine student, everything got really intense for no reason. Being away from her family, from her friends, living alone for the first time, college demanding all her time and she couldn’t afford to lose her scholarship because she knew her parents could barely afford her living New York. Everything seemed to be just too much.
The 21 years old girl was just thankfull for having friends like Hanna, Lucy and Ash around to help each other go through everything. She knew how much difference they made on each other’s life, even though they could be a pain in the ass mocking her sometimes, they were always there for each other.
The brow-eyed girl took a deep breath and heard her best friends talking about this final test they had last week. Camila’s eyes found something more interesting though, something she had missed since they were sitting there.
Standing in the line waiting to enter the club was this brunette girl, all dressed in black, her long hair tied up in a ponytail, and even though it felt like a hundred degrees out there, she had a black leather jacket on. She was different from the other girls there though, she looked quiet and focused. Her eyes seemed to be looking for something, or someone. Camila couldn’t see much, but she could see her eyes. They were extremely green, not to mention intense, and she could feel it from all those meters away. But not in a romantic way, more in a real fact way.
The brunette standing in line didn’t seem to notice anyone beside her, she just kept looking for something, but being extremely subtle about it. In fact, Camila wasn’t sure if that the green-eyed was part of the line, because no one else seemed to notice her standing there either. The people over there were way too drunk to be conscious about anything.
Camila could tell that the girl was worried about something, because despite being subtle, she was growing anxious. She kept pressing something on her ear, focusing her look on different places and talking very short phrases to herself. The observer knew it because no one there was taking to her, or even looking at her.
The next scene lasted no longer than 60 seconds. As if she knew she was being observed, the brunette stared back at Camila, her eyes lingering there for the next seconds. Camila froze, but couldn’t break the eye contact, her eyebrows frowned because she couldn’t really point at it, but something about that scene was way too intense. The girl in black stared like she already knew her, but Camila would definitely recognize someone that looked like that. Even so, there was a possibility that they could have met some day that Camila was too drunk to remember, because those days existed a lot, just not in Camila’s memory.
She didn’t really had time to think about it, because the other girl staring at her broke the eye contact to press on her ear again. Now Camila could tell, she was definitely listening to someone, with those mini hearing things inside her ear. The green-eyed stared at her again, this time her face looked even more serious and a bit worried, looking like she wanted to tell Camila something. But the girl sitting on the side walk remembered thinking that maybe she was just too drunk and imagining the whole thing.
Camila took a look at her friends for a second, to check if she was the only one watching that scene, maybe they could assure her that she wasn’t that drunk, but they were too deep into a conversation about how much damage wheat made to your brain. Camila decided that they all had to much alcohol.
Like I said, the entire scene lasted about 60 seconds, but the following events seemed to last an entire lifetime. Just when Camila looked back to the club and tried to find the brunette again, she was gone. And the brown-eyed girl had this weird feeling in her body, she didn’t have time to share it with her friends though. Just when she was about to talk, a terrible loud sound came up, followed by screams.
The three of them were thrown away in their backs with the explosion. Camila felt everything hurt when she tried to get up, laying down again in reflex. She could smell the smoke and hear the screams and cries as she tried to understand what was going on. She heard Hanna say something, and that’s when she managed to open her eyes.
Just when she did, the first thing she saw from a few meters away was the brunette in the leather jacket again, standing outside the flaming club. The green-eyed looked exactly like before, her hair perfectly tied up, her clothes didn’t have a single scratch, unlike everyone else beside her. She had the same expression on her face, but now instead of worried she seemed angry, looking through all the people who were trying to run away from the flames. A few seconds later, her eyes found Camila’s through all the black smoke coming from the club. Camila saw it when she skipped a breath, looking guilty when recognized the girl laying on the floor. Camila didn’t understand why, but the green-eyed seemed to be both sorry and relieved.
They kept staring at each other, the brunette standing across the street trying to look for any sign that could tell Camila was okay, as she kept glacing between the brown-eyed and everyone hurt around her.
Hanna was the first one to manage to stand up when her instinct finally overcame her pain. When she saw Camila awake she quickly bent over to help her get up. Camila stood there and watched the green-eyed again, not really putting together how she could look so clean and undamaged.
“Mila! Help me!” Hanna called out when she saw Lucy unconscious on the ground and the brown-eyed rushed over the pair to help.
“Lucy, c’mon! Wake up!” The youngest tried to call, but she wouldn’t respond.
A few seconds later they started to hear sirens approaching as they tried to wake Lucy up. Camila searched for anyone that could help, but everyone who wasn’t laying down hurt was running away in fear of another explosion. Her eyes found the brunette again, but this time she looked extremely different.
Her green eyes were back to focus on something, and again she didn’t even look like she realized where she was or the chaos happening around her. She found Camila again, but this time their eyes met for just a second. When the firemen cars got her attention, Camila turned her head to find out the brunette was gone again. All Camila could see was the chaos, people running around, people unconscious laying on the street, people screaming, and too much smoke coming for the giant hole on the club wall.
Heat, noise and people. That sums up what Camila remembered about that night.
It felt like ten elephants had stepped on Lauren’s head, that would be the only explanation for all this pain she had going through her entire body, specially her head. She had this twinge in her skull so strong that she could feel it throbbing. Her eyes were still closed because she was afraid of what she might find out once she opened them, since she couldn’t remember where she had fell asleep. Her hands slowly made their way to massage her temple, not really understanding if that was a nightmare or something.
That’s when she felt something hanging from her pulse, slightly touching her chin. It was minimal but, believe me or not, it made her shiver way more than all the pain she was feeling. Lauren slowly opened her green eyes to find out that reality hurt even more than the bruises on her eyes.
“Well, fuck…” She grumbled, taking a look around to check the hospital room. “Shit.” She complained and brought her hands to cup her face. “Shit, shit, shit.”
She couldn’t believe that was happening. She didn’t even know how she got there. And she must have been there for quite a while now, judging by the catheter in her arm, the bandages on her legs and the medicine bag hanging beside her bed was half empty, which she assumed to be going through the catheter. How could she have slept through all of this? But Lauren couldn’t afford to worry about this right now, because she definitely had somewhere else to be.
Speaking of which, her eyes quickly glanced to the nightstand beside the bed, hoping to find if any of her belongings could by a miracle be standing there.
“Of course not.” She mumbled to herself. Even so, if her equipment got to the hospital with her, she would probably be handcuffed to her bed right now. And Lauren honestly didn’t know which option she preferred. Maybe handcuffs wouldn’t be that bad…
“Oh, so you’re talking! That’s good!” Someone entered the room with a big smile, noticing that Lauren was awake. She assumed it was her doctor, with this clipboard and a pen in her hand and a stethoscope around her neck, the edges falling down her chest. She didn’t even look at Lauren, just went straight to examine the meds hanging above the bed. “Well, I assume the pain hit you by now.” She concluded and finally turned around to face her patient.
Lauren couldn’t think about anything else that wasn’t a curse word when she recognized the girl wearing the white medical coat. She remembered about her; it was the girl standing across the street five years ago, right before she blew up the club. She remembered it because she spent most of her life working to improve her memory. Apart from cursing to herself, Lauren also prayed that maybe by a miracle this girl wouldn’t remember her.
She wasn’t really convinced, but the doctor stared at her for a few seconds, her eyebrows frowning, probably trying to remember where they had seen each other. Lauren knew that back then, they had stared at each other for like five minutes or so, but she also knew that she looked pretty guilty of what happened, not that she actually was, but because she could see the other girl trying to look for her when the police came up.
“Ahm… Not really.” Lauren lied.
“Sorry, what?” The doctor snapped back from her thoughts, staring down at the patient again.
“The pain, I’m not really feeling anything.” The green-eyed remembered. She frowned, looking down to her body as if she was looking for what could be hurt.
“Are you sure?” The doctor asked concerned and grabbed a small flashlight from her pocket. She pointed to Lauren’s pupils one at a time, slightly lifting her swollen eyelids with her thumb. Lauren nodded, trying to prevent to show any pain when she touched her face. “You look pretty hurt.” She said truthtfully.
“I’m positive.” Lauren assured again. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.” She tried her best to look convincing.
The brown-eyed girl grabbed her pen again, and took a few steps closer to the patient’s legs. She pressed the tip of it on Lauren’s shin, “Can you feel this?” She asked and the other girl nodded. “And this?” She asked pressing on the other leg and Lauren nodded again. The doctor grabbed her stethoscope and examined Lauren’s chest for a few seconds. “I mean, you don’t have a broken bone or something, but this should hurt.”
“I’m fine, really.” Lauren reassured, “I guess you just did a great job.” She shrugged it off, her shoulders almost screaming by themselves in pain when she did it. “When can I get home?”
“Well, first things first. I’m Doctor Cabello, but you can call me Camila.” The girl extended her hand and the other took it quickly, squeezing it. “I need to know your name since you didn’t have any documents when they brought you in and no one came looking for you.”
“I’m Sara, nice to meet you.” Lauren lied again, but she was used to it by now.
“Okay, Sara… What happened to you last night?” Camila finally asked.
Last night? Lauren’s stomach twisted; she had been there for an entire day? She was so fucked. Then she started to remember what happened to her last night, she had been so upset with the hospital thing that she completely forgot what brought her there in the first place. Needless to say, her mission had completely failed, but why? How did she end up so hurt? She remembered easily entering the building, letting the Central know by her communicator, they responded that she had back up if needed and that they were watching everything through the camera on her uniform. All the doors were locked, obviously, but she had no trouble going through the rooms. That’s when she thought something was off, because since Lauren got off the helicopter on the roof, she hadn’t seen anyone inside the building. She reported it to the Central and was told that they were probably in a meeting or something. She thought it was odd but didn’t say anything. She kept transporting through the floors until she found this glass room. Lauren remembered pulling out her gun when she saw something move from the ceiling to the floor. When she realized it was too late to even escape, she had been breathing that gas since she entered the room. That was the last thing she remembered.
“I fell.” That was all she managed to say, her eyes still lost in all the memories.
“You fell? From what? A plane?” The doctor tried to joke, but the other girl didn’t even listen. “I mean… Are you sure that’s what happened? Do you remember everything?”
“Yeah, sure…” That was the first time the doctor saw her look different, not having that serious look on her face anymore. “I’m sorry, I fell down the stairs… They are switching the floor at my place, I must have tripped or something.” She shrugged.
“Ahm… They said somebody found you on the street.” Camila confessed with a worried look.
“I’m sorry, my head is kind of dizzy, it must be the meds.” Lauren clarified, “I remember it, I went for a run and must have fell down the park or something.” She corrected and sat up straight for the first time. “Can I go home now?”
Camila giggled and observed the clipboard in her hands. “I’m afraid you can’t, at least not until your observations hours are over.”
“But I told you, I’m fine.” The green-eyed shared again, “Can’t you just give me a prescription?”
The doctor shook her head no, “I will but, just that won’t do it. That’s the hospital policy.”
Lauren sighed, “And when will that be?”
“In seventeen hours.” She answered glancing at her watch. “It would be twenty four hours but they can only discharge you in the morning so… Try to enjoy yourself.” The doctor said with a small smile in an attempt to change the mood. She saw it had no effects on her patient though. “Look, is there something I should know?” Camila asked seriously.
“What do you mean?” Lauren froze, what if she remembered about her? Or what if they had found her equipment? The agent knew she could get out of hospital in a second, in fact, she wondered what she was still doing there, but she couldn’t really erase her doctor’s memory, even if she wanted to. And if by any chance she got suspicious of something, that was Lauren’s ass on the line.
“I mean, did someone did this to you?” The brown-eyed woman said in a concerned low tone. “A boyfriend, maybe?” She went on, “I’ve seen this, we can call the cops, they know how to handle it and…”
Lauren let out a small sigh in relief, “No, that was me.” She assured reliably. “I assure you that no man could have done this to me.” And she really meant that.
“Are you sure? Sara you can trust me, you’re really hurt, they can catch whoever did it.” The doctor looked so certain that Lauren whished she could believe her.
“I’m sure, you don’t have to worry about it.”
“Okay then…” Camila backed up a little and examined Laurens forehead cautiously. “This is healing pretty well, have you ever had any stitches before?”
Stitches? What did they even do to her? “Yeah… a few.” Lauren confessed.
Before the doctor could respond, something bipped on her waist, it was this little thing that looked like a gps or something but instead of maps, it had words on the screen.
“I gotta go, but I will check on you later ok?” The brown-eyed said and checked the med’s bag again. “This should be over in a few hours, but I will tell the nurse to come change it soon.”
Lauren shook her head quickly, “You don’t have to, really. I told you I’m okay.”
“That doesn’t mean I believe you.” The doctor said smiling as she made her way to leave. “You should see how you look.” She arched an eyebrow and stopped by the door. “I mean, it’s okay considering everything, but still…”
Lauren laughed for the first time and nodded, “Was that a compliment?”
“Just press that button if you need something okay?” Camila said, pointing to a yellow button beside Lauren’s bed and saw when she nodded. “See you later.”
She left before Lauren could answer. The girl was funny, Lauren thought. And she was almost sure that she didn’t recognized her from that night five years ago. Also, for a few minutes she made Lauren forget the reason she was there, this could be dangerous though. The green-eyed sighed when she realized she was alone, how could she even let this happen? How could the Central let this happen? And why did they let her end up at the hospital? She could have been easily treated back home; they had the newest medical technology available and probably the most excellent doctors of the country for this reason. Something just didn’t make sense. All the facts just started to pop in her head, remembering about last night’s mission. She must have missed something.
But she should just solve this back in the central. She carefully pulled the catheter out of her skin and found her black clothes folded resting on the drawer. She got up quickly to get them, but just when she was about to change she saw the door knob twisting. Without even thinking she teleported to the bathroom. She heard somebody get in and prayed not to be anyone from The Pact.
“Hey, are you in there?” She heard someone knock on the bathroom door.
Lauren sighed in relief, it was a nurse “Yeah, I’ll leave in a second.” She responded.
She wasn’t really planning to go back there, but she wouldn’t alarm the nurse just 5 seconds after the doctor had left her room. She would wait the nurse leave and teleport to the central, she already knew which hospital she was in from the sheets on her bed so that helped.
“Okay then, someone left this package for you at the reception, so I’ll just leave on your nightstand.” The nurse let her know and probably left when she saw Lauren didn’t respond.
How did anyone know she was in there? She just lied about her name. The green-eyed got so curious that she had to see what it was, and who sent it. So she got out of the bedroom when she didn’t hear anything else. The first thing she saw was this sunflower standing on her nightstand. Lauren approached it until she saw this little card placed between it’s leaves.
She thought about it for a few seconds before picking it up. It could be a trap, but she was so curious that she had to open. Obviously she regretted as soon as did. The agent brought a hand to her face and sighed, not really sure of what to do next. She kept glancing between the card and her black clothes on her bed.
She took one last shot at the card before making a decision that she knew she would regret soon. “Fuck it.” She mumbled and ripped the card that said:
