The next day, I found myself drifting off again. I had just gotten away with a really bad deed. I could have gotten away with murder too if I had not called 911. As I rested on the couch, I touched my forehead that Dr. Summings had stitched up. I could not understand why they all thought I would intentionally put flower petals inside my skin. I would not even know how to properly cut open a layer of skin. And why would I let petals die inside me—wouldn’t I get sick or something.
Then, I thought about my dream. I had not had my dream of the man saying he would curse me with black lilies if I did not stand up for myself. That had to be a coincidence because dreams don’t come true. I picked up my hand-held mirror and examined my skin again—everything looked normal.
Someone at my door interrupted my thoughts. I ran to answer it and wondered why someone was knocking on the door and did not just ring the doorbell.
I looked through the peephole and it was Paul at the door holding balloons. He looked like he had lost about twenty pounds since I last saw him—that was at Kathy’s funeral.
“Paul?” I said.
“Happy birthday!” he hugged me. “I missed you! I’m so glad you’re okay. I heard what happened.”
“Oh, I’m fine—just a few stitches,” I said. “Come in, come in! So, why the surprise visit?”
“Oh, it’s your birthday!” he cheered as he walked inside.
I grabbed his tiny waist to hug him. “There isn’t much to celebrate.”
“Well, I just thought you needed a friend to talk to, maybe even an assistant?”
“Oh yeah,” I whispered and gave him a nervous smile. “Who have you been working for?” I handed him a bowl of chips, which he pushed away.
“Ana,” he sat down on the stool. “You know your best friend.”
My nervous smile dropped. “I miss her,” I whispered, as I could not remember the last time her and I had talked.
“Yeah, she misses you too. She was going to come, but she was nervous.”
“Nervous about what?” I said.
“I don’t know.”
“Hmm, that’s odd.”
Paul kissed me. “Lily, I missed you!”
It was like old times with Paul. He kicked off his shoes and we danced to the radio while baking sugar free cookies. I told him everything I dreaded to tell him. Everything from the last day I saw him. I did not bend the truth or twist up lies. I told him everything from the acid to the glass bowl that put Jason in the hospital. Paul did not give me his shocked face that he had given me the last time—he believed me—he believed everything—and he wanted to be a friend.
“I hate him,” Paul snapped as he passed me the cookies.
“You have no idea how much I hate him!” I said. “Ugh!”
Paul rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe I was so naïve to like him.”
“All that time I should have gone with my gut in the beginning.”
“What do you mean in the beginning?”
“Well, I remembered there was something about him that I didn’t like,” I said.
“That’s interesting; do you want to talk about it?” he said.
“There isn’t much to discuss about it,” I said.
“Well, is he okay?”
“He survived, I believed. All I know is he went through a surgery yesterday and will be back in a few weeks…maybe even days. I do not know what is going to happen though, since Mike is suspicious of me. Jason might not come back here.”
“I hope he’s okay—”
“Why would you hope that?” I snapped.
“I mean, I wouldn’t want you to go to prison.”
“The cops say I saved his life—how ironic. I should not have called 911, but then again, my head was bloody too and lilies were everywhere. I did not want my head to get as massive as his. You should have seen it. It was so disgusting—ew!”
“What exactly do you mean about lilies?” Paul said with an ugly expression.
“Black lilies fell out my forehead—”
“You’re joking right?” he giggled. “Lilies don’t grow in skin.”
“Are you trying to say I put them there?”
“No, I’m not. I’m just wondering if you’re joking…”
“I’m not joking…”
“Then, that’s really gross. That makes my skin crawl!”