Darkest Dawn. Katlyn Duncan

of calm breathing, I tested my legs.

      The echo of a door slamming made my already fragile heart skip a beat. Girls’ voices floated across the space, bouncing off the empty locker room. It wouldn’t be empty for long.

      I didn’t have a chance at getting out of there without someone seeing me, so I closed the stall door and locked it before standing on the toilet. After five minutes of keeping still while listening to the girls talk about dates to some event and gossip about other girls in school, I wondered if I should have risked leaving when I had the chance. One girl even tried the stall I was in, pushing it hard enough to almost move the flimsy lock from its place before giving up. I counted the seconds through my quickening breaths and soon enough the pack of girls left in one noisy group.

      I gave the stragglers a few seconds to clear out before I stepped down from the toilet.

      I took a breath, opened the door, and bolted for the entrance of the locker room. I didn’t stop, even when some girl cried out when I knocked her purse to the floor.

      The hallway was cooler and I sucked in deep breaths when the dizziness returned with a vengeance. I stopped and leaned against the wall, terrified of what might happen next. I knew I shouldn’t be out in the open for fear of someone thinking I was Bri but my legs were solid blocks on the floor. A bead of sweat traveled across my hairline and dropped like an icicle on a hot day.

      The ceiling lights buzzed and crackled. I lifted my gaze to them. They were flickering wildly. The ceiling moved in a slow circle above my head. My mind put it together that this wasn’t right. Someone at the end of the hallway caught my attention. The person’s body blurred as I tried to focus on him or her. My eyelids drooped as I fought to stay conscious. My legs propelled me forward even though my head wanted everything around me to stop. As I neared the person it was as if I’d entered a carnival mirror room. In front of me was me. I cocked my head to the side and tried to focus on me.

      As much as my brain was fuzzy, I knew I wasn’t looking into a mirror. I’d found Bri. I didn’t need to wonder if she felt the same way as she staggered toward me. We were both jelly-legged yet pulled together by the same strange force. The lights continued to flicker and the buzzing intensified. Then as suddenly as the buzzing started, my hearing turned inward as if the world had swallowed all sound. I couldn’t take my gaze from her eyes. Both of them were dark green, matching my left eye.

      Mom’s face flashed before my eyes. The look of horror as she fought for control of the wheel. She turned in her seat and her face was my face. The face of the girl in front of me.

      I grounded myself in the present and reached for the girl, needing to touch her. I needed to know that this was real.

      And as our fingers brushed all sound returned forcefully. A crack like thunder shook the ground beneath us as I clasped her hand in mine. She returned the grip as something sharp hit my cheek. Her eyes bored into mine and at that distance I saw the faint outline of a contact lens in her left eye. I didn’t need to think about what color would lie under the lens because I knew it was blue. The only physical difference between me and this girl. A warmth spread through my body as if I’d been waiting for this moment my whole life. It was as if I was transported back to the day before Mom died, when the world was right and perfect.