Morgan

Katie leads me into the break room and closes the door. I look down embarrassingly as she looks at me with a frown.

"What's gotten into you today? Are you not feeling well?" She says and places a hand on my shoulder.

I sigh and look aside at the grey lockers. A pink scarf peeks from under one of them.

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to spill the coffee on that customer. It's just...my head was aching last night so I didn't get much sleep. I apologise if I'm being sloppy today and making a lot of mistakes."

She stays silent for a second and then pats my shoulder.

"Take a 15-minute break and get some rest. I'll make you some latte when I'm free. The coffee won't be free though!" She jokes and walks out of the room. Before the door closes, I see our manager trying to calm down the angry customer who has a brown stain on his grass green hoodie. I walk over to one of the chairs of the breakroom table and sit on it as I place my maroon coloured apron on the table.

Why? Why can't I remember anything? I can tell It's something important but...what is it!?

I get up and go towards my locker. Opening it reveals an empty space with just my black bag and clothes. Taking out my phone from the bag, I close the locker and then walk back to the chair.

I dug up some more stuff about the family and Judith. On my way to the cafe, I had continued my search. Some of the information I found felt weirdly nostalgic and made my head hurt whenever I tried to think about it while the other was confusing and seemed almost fake.

The head of the family, Matthew Alexander, CEO of a popular pharmaceutical company 'Helix', dead two years ago. It's said that he killed himself by taking a lot of sleeping pills all at once. How mysterious. His wife was a quiet and reserved woman. So it was a surprise when she took over the company later on and is even managing it till this day. Not letting the business die. She was also determined to hide Lydia away from the public eye.

And about Judith...

The things I was sure about was, one, that Judith was my classmate and possibly a friend. She was a jolly person and was smiling in every piece of memory I have of her. Two, she died of cancer. Three, after she died, the family adopted an orphan girl named Lydia. Four,...there isn't a single picture of her on the net, except one...

But the person in that picture...isn't Lydia. It's most probably fake. Even the people commenting on it confirmed it's fake.

There's also another thing I found about Judith. While I was searching more about her, a ton of pictures and magazine clippings showed up. In it were horrible rumours about her. There was a picture of her in a glittering pink gown walking at the side of the road at night with her long blonde hair covering her back. She was holding a green bottle. The picture was taken by someone following her and posting it on the net. Other people analysed the photo and concluded that that's a bottle of alcohol. Other rumours included people claiming they saw her with different boys and even older ones. Some said they have seen her smoking while others said she's a snob who always loves to flaunt her wealth. The most outrageous one was a picture of her sleeping on her bed. The person seemed to be standing right next to her bed. In the caption, he said how he was so happy for being invited to his 'girlfriend's house' while her parents were away.

I try to remember how she used to be. How she dealt with all of this but all I remember is her warm smile. For now, I'll focus on getting to her. Finding out why she did what she did is pointless at this point. No amount of reasoning and sympathy will spare her from me. I already found out about her location. I'm planning to go there this afternoon. But still...there's something about the past that keeps bugging me. And the problem is that it all happened before my accident.

All I remember was that I was at Judith's funeral. There were many people there and it was raining. For some reason, I ran out towards the road and that's when I got hit by a car. It kinda left me in a coma for a month. And I couldn't remember anything after I woke up. Not even how I was before or what made me run towards the road. My parents explained what had happened and I saw the news of my accident on Facebook too. I couldn't remember how I used to be so mom and dad explained how I was such a good girl and how I always made them proud. How we were a happy family. I was...glad to hear that, obviously but deep down I felt as if there was more they weren't telling me. Soon, I became exactly how my parents described I used to be. A good obedient girl who minded her own business. But these rose-tinted glasses soon started to break as the harsh reality started to dawn on me. I was a good girl but I kept to myself so as not to get bullied. My dad said he loved me but I began to see through his lies. I also knew about his secrets. How mom didn't believe me when I told her. It was when she angrily told me not to start it 'again' was when I understood that this wasn't the first time this has happened. They were lying to me about everything so that I would forget about their dirty secrets. This was where my hate and distrust of the world began. Later, my family and I left the city sometime later to start a new life in another town. But after dad left us, my mom and I had to come back to the city and buy a new cheaper apartment. Truth be told, the way I am now feels a lot more like my true self. Was I like this before the accident?

...If the reason Lydia is doing all this is because of something that happened in the past and had something to do with Judith's death then I don't remember a single thing. How was I involved? I was just a kid what could I have done to make Lydia this mad? I never even met her before! Ugh...

I take a deep breath and look at the clock. Only 7 minutes have passed. I'd like to be done here and go back to the factory, get changed and then be on my way to her family house. I had told my co-worker Greta that I'd take her morning shift and she can take my afternoon shift since I had to go somewhere at that time. She was kind and said alright.

The door suddenly opens and Katie walks inside in her sleek red heels holding a transparent cup. The tantalising smell of fresh coffee fills the air and I just want her to give me the cup already.

"Here you go! One cup of hot caramel latte. How are you feeling?" She asks as she places the cup in front of me, with the face of a panda staring back at me. She really loves latte art, doesn't she...I carefully hold it as the soothing warmth of it hits my face.

"Yeah, I feel much better now, thanks. But you know, as my senior, this coffee should have been your treat" I say as I blow on it to cool it down.

She laughs "I may be the best senior you've ever met but that doesn't mean I'm THAT nice. Think of it as payment for taking a break. I'll get the money myself, that's you're locker right?" She points towards the third one in the row and I nod my head. I tell her the combination and take a sip as she walks over to it.

I hear the locker open while I enjoy my drink. This is exactly what I needed after all that thinking. But just as soon as she reaches for my bag, my eyes shot open with a sudden realization.

She's going through my bag!!!

"Wait! Katie I-" I get quickly in a panic and look in horror as she takes out a knife with a surprised look. She stares at me as I look down and think about what to say.

"It's ok. It's nothing to be embarrassed about." She says calmly. I look back at her in confusion as she puts it back and takes out the money from my bag.

"What?"

"It's always best to be prepared. In my opinion, every girl should carry a weapon for self-defence. I, in particular, use a taser" she says and comes to sit down next to me.

That was close...luckily I didn't get a chance to use it on anyone yet. I calm my nerves and sit back down too.

"Yeah, I don't feel safe without it. Especially with everything that has been going on about this angel wing serial killer." I take another sip of my coffee as Katie nods in agreement.

"So where are you going after your shift?" She asks as takes out her phone from her pocket and tucks a strand of brown hair behind her ear which had fallen out of her updo.

"My...mom isn't feeling that well. It's just a cold but she always overexerts herself and makes it worse." I answer.

"Hmm, I understand. You're a good daughter, Morgan" she says as I gulp down the last drop of my coffee.

Good daughter, huh? How laughable.

"Thanks, well, I guess I better get to work now." I get up and stretch my stiffed arms. I can't wait for my shift to end.

_________________________________________

After packing up my bag, I tie my black boot laces and walk towards the backdoor of the cafe. The smell of fresh coffee fills the air as I walk down the hallway to the grey coloured double doors.

I need to go back to the factory and then get changed.

As soon as I pull open the doors, the warm yellow sunlight hits my skin and bliss washes over me. A cold sunny day is what I consider great weather. I stand at the door closing my eyes and taking in the fresh polluted air of the city.

"Nice day, isn't it?"

My eyes shot open and I frown. Looking in the direction of the voice, I see his tall figure leaning against the wall with a cheery smile. He pulls out an empty lollipop stick from his mouth and throws it on the ground.

"You're quite the pain in the neck," I say as I step outside and close the door behind me. What does he want now!? Why is he here in this back alley!?

"I'll take that as a compliment, thank you," Ethan says and walks towards me with his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Are you seriously stalking me right now? What are you doing here?" I ask as I turn to face him. I try not to let my inner temper out since I'm not Morgan right now. Resist your urge to chop him into bits. I'm Rachel. A calm person.

"I was waiting for you actually." He answers. I raise my eyebrow.

"You looked at my schedule? What are you trying to do here?" This is bad. I need to walk away from him.

Ethan pauses for a second and then replies "I want us to be friends"

What?

"Why on earth do you want to be my friend?" I cross my arms and look at him like he's lost his mind. It's stupid really.

"No particular reason. I just thought it'll be cool" he shrugs.

I stare at him in disbelief. He can't be serious...

"No thanks, creep," I say and walk away from him.

As I step out of the back alley into the main road, I can hear his footsteps behind me.

He really does have a death wish, doesn't he!?

"Aren't you supposed to be in school at this time?" I say angrily.

"Meh, I was feeling a bit...under the weather today. Although, you're supposed to be in school too," he answers and keeps following me.

"Ugh! Stop following me! You're starting to creep me out!" I say to him as I walk quickly down the street. I wanna push him on the road beside me and enjoy the sight of him getting hit by a car. So. Bad.

"Heyyy~ I just wanna be friends. I'm not gonna leave until you agree. I really spend most of my time alone so..." he begins as he picks up the pace too.

"I don't care! This is stalking! I'm going to call the police now" I say...but obviously I can't. Nor can I call the locals. I don't wanna attract any kind of attention.

"Go ahead then." he answers with a smirk.

Then it occurs to me...

Is he doing this because he knows I won't be able to call for help? Then...has he figured out who I am? If that's the case, then he needs to die right away. I need to lead him into a quiet alley. It'll be hard doing it in broad daylight but I got no other choice.

"Why me? You look like someone who won't have trouble finding friends." I say to him. I remember there was an empty place somewhere nearby. I slowly slide my hand into my purse. My fingers grace the handle of the knife.

"Finding friends is easy but finding the right ones among the fakes is harder. Someone true like you seems like a breath of fresh air. I'm constantly surrounded by people who think they know everything about me and judge me based on their views. Everyone wears a mask hiding their true selves, don't you think?" He says subtly.

My footsteps slow down and the grip on my knife loosens a little. What did he just say...?

"Why are you asking me that? And how do you know that I'm not a fake either?" I look back at him, curiously.

He looks calmly at me with his hands in his pockets.

"I've got good instincts. I can tell"

I cross the road and he follows behind me.

I hate it. I hate what he said. I hate what I'm feeling right now. Even if he may be just bluffing, I don't wanna feel this way.

I understand him...

I'm reminded of my time spent with Lydia. How behind all that care and sweetness hid a vicious monster just waiting for the right time to rip you apart.

"I don't want to be friends. Just leave me alone!" I stop and yell at him.

I hear him stop behind me.

"What are you so afraid of?" He asks curiously.

Simple. I can't be friends with a soon-to-be-dead man. As if this is any way to make friends by stalking people and following them.

But...

I turn around to face him, with a big smirk on my face. He looks back at me with his clever eyes. He seems to be caught off guard.

I figured out just what to do with him.