The Scar

It was a cold November night, everyone was inside with the heaters on full blast. My eyes widened when Marcy returned to the dorm after being in the hospital for two months. I even heard a small intake of breath from a girl not far from me. 1

Marcy was beautiful but not the most popular girl in school. She had hazel eyes and layered auburn hair that glistened gloriously in sunlight. Her eyes, a vibrant shade of emerald now, shifted to look each girl in the face, as if accusing somehow.2

My eyes, however, stayed loncked on her right eye, as I'm sure everyone else's were too. A lengthy dark scar, beggining at her hair line angling down across her forhead and eye down to the far right of her jaw, now marred her pale complexion.3

Her hair on the right side was pulled back in a black barrette, possibly so her autumn loches were restrained from irritating the wound. She twisted a ring, a gold and silver knotted band with a celtic cross encrusted with emeral and saphire, to center the jewels on her middle finger of her left hand, then turned towards our room. 4

Shutting the door with a soft click, the living room fell silent for a few more heartbeats. Then the girls immediately erupted into hastily whispered conversations all evidently about Marcy.5

Only Nora and I kept silent. We glanced at each other, then at the closed bedroom door we shared with Marcy. As if we were on in the same person, we strode from the living room towards our door. Nora knocked tentatively. 6

"Marcy?" She asked quietly. She tried the handle, which turned after some stubborn resistance. Nora looked back at me and I nodded once. 7

We slowly advanced through the doorway. Edging around the door, we shut and locked it before any of the other girls could disturb us.8

Marcy wasn't in the main room or her bedroom but we saw a flickering light underneath the bathroom door. I knocked on the polished wood and a shadow moved across the tile.9

"Marcy, it's us. When you're ready, you can come out and talk, okay?" The shadow moved away. I walked out to the front room where two plush armchairs and a couch stood in front of the dying remnants of a previous fire.10