Dirty Secrets

Part 26

When they parked in front of the hospital the next morning, Lyla thanked her dad for the ride. 

"You don't need to leave work early. The bus stop's right around the corner. I can almost see it from here."

"You sure?"

"See you later."

She shut the door and made her way onto the curved sidewalk arcing toward the hospital entrance, enjoying the morning sunlight on her face.

"Hey, Lyla!" Packer jogged up the pavement behind her. "How's your weekend?" 

She pulled her phone from her back pocket. "Got a new phone."

"Awesome. How many selfies you add?"

"I'm not a selfie kind of girl."

"That's a crime against humanity. You legit need to take fresh selfies with a new phone. Gotta test it out, right?"

In one sweeping motion, he snatched the phone from her hand, threw his arm around her shoulder, pulled her close and said, "Smile."

She gave him a what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you look.

Snap. He checked the pic. "Step up your game, girl."

She jumped to grab her phone from his hand but he was too tall.

He raised the phone higher and said, "Smile."

"Give me my phone."

Snap. He checked the pic. "I can do this all day. You gonna smile or what?"

"We're gonna be late."

"Well, that's up to you."

Lyla relented and managed a feeble smile. He lowered the phone and snapped another pic.

"Awesome. Send it to me."

She tucked her phone away. The glass doors caught a slash of sunlight as they automatically slid open.

"Can't miss group," he said. Then, doing a passable impression of Matthew, he applied the quiet, clinical voice. "So, Miss Lyla. What revelations did you have this weekend about the meaning of life?"

She clapped and chuckled.

"Am I talking too much?" He grinned.

They walked down the hall to the east wing where they signed in and surrendered their phones to the security officer. 

"Later," Packer said and jogged down the hallway toward Bo, Eric, and his posse, pretending to dribble an invisible basketball between his legs. 

"Hey, roomie." Shaniece poked her head out of Matthew's session room and waved her over. "So good to sleep in your own bed, am I right?"

"The best. And I took some nice, loooooong showers."

Shaniece closed her eyes and tilted her head back in ecstasy. "Ahhhhhhh."

"Lyla," Matthew called from inside the room. "Come on. We're ready to get started."

"I need to use the bathroom."

The nurse overheard and fast-stepped up the hallway, searching for the key on her lanyard.  "Let's go. You're already late."

"No, I'm not."

The nurse unlocked the bathroom door and opened it. "Hands," she said sternly.

Lyla obliged. The nurse patted her down. "Okay." She closed the door behind Lyla.

She stepped to the metal commode in the dim light and unzipped her pants. She shivered when her naked thighs made contact with the toilet seat. "God," she huffed.

The sound of her urine hitting the water was amplified, echoing against the metal bowl. When her stream stopped, she thought she heard a voice. A faint sound, like someone, quietly crying, drew her eyes toward the shower stall in the dark corner of the room.  

"Hel-lo?" Her voice cracked.

Again, she heard it. And now she could make out a thin figure tucked away in the shadows of the shower stall. 

Lyla pulled up her pants and cautiously approached the shower. "You need me to get the nurse?"

When her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she was horrified to find Clover, naked and shivering in the stall. Tears streamed down the marker lines she'd drawn on her face blurring them together. She gazed at Lyla with sorrowful eyes then slowly turned her head to display her throat. A blue serpent tattoo had been inked on her neck. 

Lyla remembered latching onto the sink when her shoes lost traction on the slippery tile floor as she backed away toward the door, but she had no recollection of escaping from the bathroom and racing down the hallway. She burst into Matthew's group therapy session, pale and out of breath, drawing every pair of eyes in the room.

"You okay?" he asked.

She nodded and took her seat beside Shaniece, wild eyes on the floor.

"What happened in there?" Shaniece whispered.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

Of course, she wasn't fine. The macabre image of Clover wearing Keenan's blue serpent tattoo on her neck stayed with Lyla for the remainder of the day. There was no way she was ever going back into that bathroom. Ever.

........

A few minutes after 3 o'clock, Lyla jogged out of the hospital lobby through the sliding glass doors. A slate-gray sky threatened rain. She hoped to make it to the bus stop before the clouds opened.

"Lyla!" Packer chased after her. "Hey, I can give you a ride."

"I'm good." She turned. "I'm gonna miss my bus." 

"'Kay. Don't get wet. See you tomorrow." He waved.

She jogged down the street toward the bus stop. It had been a long time since she'd been pursued by a boy. It should have felt good to think a guy was attracted to her. A guy with a sense of humor, who was actually kind of cute and seemed normal-ish. But she just wasn't ready. Maybe Packer was pushing too hard. At this point, every move that she made in her life had to be baby steps. Except for catching this bus. She sprinted when she rounded the bend and felt a warning shot of rain striking her cheek just as the bus squeaked to a stop.

She climbed the steps onto the bus behind a couple of passengers dressed in hospital scrubs as the first wave of rain swept the street. She found a seat and instinctively reached for her phone. There were a dozen text messages from Darcy. 

U okay?

Miss U ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Richie says hi. Attached to this message was a selfie of Darcy and Richie making funny faces.

Lyla laughed then texted: Miss U 2

She checked the selfies that Packer had taken that morning. She cracked up at her angry face in the first two pics. She had to admit, the third one was kinda cute.

Something caught her eye. An image in the hospital's glass doors behind her and Packer. She pinch-zoomed in on the pic. It was a reflection of a guy in an olive green bomber jacket. A guy with a shaved head watching Lyla and Packer.