He was about 6 feet tall; brown hair, brown eyes. He had perfect posture, and walked with an air of confidence. The perfect man, I thought. It was a completely random encounter. Rhiely and I had been talking outside while we waited for our drinks to be made. The weather was nice at the moment, and the sun was a pleasant visitor in this bitter autumn. We went inside, and he caught my eye just as I realized I had left my phone on the table outside. As I was retrieving it he bumped into me, perhaps on purpose, as I was turning around.

“Hi,” he said, full of purpose. His eyes were gorgeous, and I almost stood there staring at him for an entire 30 seconds before I realized I should say something back.

“Hi,” my smile and blank expression might have caught him off guard, when I noticed he didn’t know if he should say something or wait I blurted out “my name’s Fiona.”

“Gorgeous name,” he said, he clearly wasn’t much of a talker. Maybe I had a bugger on my face or something, because he seemed almost unresponsive.

“Thank you.” I gave a slight smile and he checked his watch.

“It was nice to meet you,” he said with a smile, as he turned and walked away.



I smiled like a giddy school girl, feeling the butterflies finally leave my stomach. I watched him walk away, disappearing around a corner.



“Fiona, what the hell are you starring at?” Rhiely demanded, I hadn’t realized I was still staring in the direction he had walked in.



“What does it look like I was staring at?”



“Well, it’s hard to tell. You were looking east; your eyes seemed to be focused straight ahead. So at the end of the road… I see a stop sign? Or is it the ‘one-way’ sign?”



“You’re cute”



“I try, you know, all the money I spend on clothes and makeup.”



“That’s what it takes? No wonder I never get asked out by all those hot guys you parade around every day.”



“You mean Nick?”



“Sarcasm, babe.”



Rhiely was my best friend. We were inseparable, and we had been for 3 years now. Her brunet hair contrasted my blonde hair, but hers was short. We had the same colored eyes though; a hazel-green that changed ratios from time to time for no apparent reason.



“Okay seriously though, why are you standing here aimlessly?” She asked, genuinely concerned.



“Oh chill, I was just talking to someone.” I wondered if I’d ever see him again. Why wouldn’t I wonder that though? He was so handsome.



“Who?”



“It doesn’t matter,” I smiled and gave a small giggle to reassure her, “Now let’s go buy you some more items to make you look cute.”



“Pssh, that was a joke silly, I don’t need anything to look cute,” She gave a smirk and we were on our way.



My car was in the rear parking lot, because it was easier to park there when we arrived at the coffee shop. It was a beautiful Ford Mustang, a little on the old side though. It needed a new paint job, and every so often something went wrong, but it ran well. And more importantly, it drove fast. I was a good driver, a substantially better driver than Alicia. I never went 55 in a 40. When I told my mother Alicia got a Grand Am, the first thing she said was “No racing.”



Off we went down the alley, onto the major street. Rhiely put the radio on to the closest pop station. The most popular music, that the radio stations play 20 times a day. I hated the radio to an unfathomable degree. Don’t get me wrong, I liked that one about the ‘good girl,’ a lot, a year ago, when it first came out, but they still play it all the time!



The mall appeared to be busy today, probably for the holiday season. After searching desperately for a parking space, Rhiely and I hiked to the nearest entrance.



“Are Sadie and Alicia coming?” Rhiely asked.



“I don’t know,” I handed my phone to her, “Ask Serina also.”



I led us to Typo, a quirky office supplies store. I didn’t need anything, but I always bought something form here anyway.



“Ooh, Fiona, look at that dark haired cutie.” I looked up, and saw the man I had just met less than an hour ago.



“Oh my god, it’s him.”



Rhiely was slightly confused, “It’s who?”



“Remember when you said I was staring and the ‘x-ing’ sign?”



“Uh, I’m pretty sure it was a ‘one-way’ sing”



“That-that’s not the point! It’s the guy I was talking to!”



“You never told me you were talking to a god! Way to down play a once in a lifetime opportunity.”



“Shut up Rhiely, he’s turning around. What if he sees me?”



“If he sees you and you don’t make a move I’ll be sure to make a move for you!”



In that moment he did turn around, and he did see me. And Rhiely did push me. One second I thought it was all okay, and that I had caught my balance, but then I tripped. The force in which she had coerced my body forward took over, and I went sailing forward, lurching into a display, knocking down the entire ‘Buy One, Get One’ stand for sassy notebooks. I could feel the eyes of every frantic holiday shopper staring at me, in addition to the eyes of the steaming shop keepers preparing to call security on me. Rhiely promptly stepped back, acting like she had done nothing. Thank goodness it wasn’t a food display, I thought to myself. The wooden display lay on the ground, a little unhinged, but nothing was broken, again, thanking whatever forced just saved my ass from paying for any damages. The notebooks were splayed all over the floor though, completely ashen.



My perfect mystery man came to my aid. He quickly helped me up and turned to the furious cashiers. Rhiely stood in the background, not sure whether to laugh or run before I murder her. The manager finally came out and apologized after a few minutes, the cashiers sulking as they cleaned up my mess. He offered me a gift card for my humiliation. Only 10 bucks, but why should I complain?



Rhiely was no longer in sight and Zach (I finally discovered his name!) walked me to a bench. He was so cool about the entire situation, not freaking out like I would be if he wasn’t there.



“So was that your friends fault, or are you just that clumsy?” At least he had a sense of humor.



“That was my friend Rhielys fault. Though I have been known to be that uncoordinated.” He laughed, reassuring me that I wasn’t being too awkward. Where the hell did she go anyway?



“Well are you okay now?” He asked with a smile.



“Yeah I’m fine.” It was almost surreal. This guy I had met by chance is now sitting here making sure I’m okay. It was almost too good to be true.



And it was. A5’10” blond appeared at his side, crushing the hope that had been building in my mind.



“Hey babe, is everything alright?” She asked. Her voice was high pitched, with a rather bubble-gum warmth to it.



“Oh yeah, I was just helping this girl,” he looked form me and back to her and said, “this is Maryssa.”



Maryssa extended her hand over Zach, “Hi, what’s your name?”



I reached my hand out to hers, trying not to punch Zach in the process. “I’m Fiona,” I said, venomously smiling. She was taken aback by my expression and withdrew her hand after a curt shake from both sides.



“It was nice meeting you hun,” she said, clearly uncomfortable. “Well Zach, we kinda gotta go, we’ll be late for our movie.”



“Right,” he looked in my direction, “I hope you’re all right,” another soft smile. Did he not realize what that smile did to a girl?



I smiled, waiting until he and his girlfriend had walked beyond the corner. Just then Rhiely finally reappeared.



“Where the hell did you go?”



“I figured I was not longer needed in the situation, but look at this nice beanie I just bought.” Her false obliviousness was common, so it didn’t upset me.



“Good for you.”



“You look bummed. What happened? I was sure my skill at getting people’s attention would do nothing but help you.”



Disappointment was written all over my face. “He happens to have a girlfriend already. So thank you for your efforts but they are futile.”



“When has that stopped anyone in the history of forever?”



“Do you still have my phone?”



“Yeah, but all of our so-called friends either have work or are broke. How ironic.”



I didn’t respond. I was utterly depressed; which was useless considering I’d known the guy for less than 3 hours. Rhiely and I wandered around the mall for the next couple hours, talking about uninteresting topics. I swear sometimes she never shuts up.



“Ugh, my parents want me home.”



“Okay, let’s go.” I wouldn’t admit it, but I was glad we were finally leaving.



Once we reached my car Rhiely stopped me. “Fiona, you’re beating yourself up over nothing.”



“I’m allowed to be disappointed about things every once in a while okay.” I pushed my way past her to my car. It was cold outside, proof that it might snow soon. Growing up here we had adapted to the cold, so 40 degrees meant nothing more than a hoodie. Our town was between Sacramento and San Francisco, up in the mountains. It was a small town, but there were more young people than adults living here because of the University.



“That’s not what I mean.” She said, opening the passenger side door careful, sure not to hit the car carelessly parked on that side.



Once we were in my car I started the engine. A loud purr vibrated the dash as Rhiely turned the radio and heater on. “All I’m saying is you’re not the kind of person to just give up like that.”



I put the car into reverse and began backing out. A loud thump was heard at the rear end of my car. I slammed on my breaks immediately.



“What the hell did you hit?” Rhiely screeched.



“I don’t know Rhiely, but I’d appreciate it if you’d shut up.” I put my car into park and got out, slowly walking around to see the damage. Rhiely had gotten out too, making her way to the end of the car a lot faster.



“Oh my god Fiona you hit such a beautiful creature!” She disappeared behind the car and I was left bewildered. Did I hit an animal?



I got to the end and to my horror saw Rhiely scooping up a boy, a man almost, covered in blood and beaten. A bump from my car didn’t do that to him! It couldn’t have, I hadn’t even hit my gas pedal yet.

“Is he alive?” Coarsely escaped from my mouth. Rhiely was checking his pulse, trying to wipe the blood away so she could get a firm grip on his wrist.

“Should we call 9-1-1 or the mall police or something? Is all of this really from you hitting him? How is that possible? It’s cold. We should get him inside or to the hospital or something. Fiona are you listening to me!? This boy is dying!” All I could do was stare at her, and stare at him. Crumpled in on himself, bleeding and dying. I didn’t know what to do. Just a few hours ago he was alive, and happy, and healthy. He wasn’t dying. He didn’t even look like someone who had enemies. He had so much life left.

I fell to my knees, griping onto my tail light. Rhiely was still screaming obscenities at me, but I couldn’t hear her. I was just staring at her. Finally she got up and came over to me. She was covered in blood. I fell backwards, trying to get away from the blood. There was so much blood. Where did it even come from? How could a 17 year old boy have that much blood? She grabbed my phone out of my pocket as I lay back on my elbows, unable to function. I don’t know what she was dialing, or what she was whimpering to the person on the other side. Perhaps I was in shock, and that was the reason I was no longer able to control my movements or my actions.

Rhiely hung up the phone and I could tell she was collecting herself. “Fiona, what the hell? There’s a dying boy lying on the asphalt behind your car. A boy that you hit. Now I’m sure you didn’t cause this but you have some involvement because he was behind us when you backed out. Now I’m not blaming you for anything. But you’re the one who met him at the coffee shop, and saw him again here at the mall. I just want to understand if he’s now stalking you, despite his having a girlfriend. Or if you’re indirectly stalking him, and you’re stalker, George or whatever he calls himself, decided to get rid of him.”

“What does George have to do with this? I don’t associate with him anymore. I told him to leave me alone, remember? So I doubt he mutilated Zach because I showed some interest in him!”

“So you admit you’re stalking this poor guy, Zach is his name?”

I nodded, indicating yes, then indicating no. What? Now I was even more confused. Still propped on my elbows and back, a mall security van drove by. Rhiely tried flagging him down, but he must have seen that she was covered in blood and drove quickly away. “F*** you too!” She screamed.

“Why would he just drive away?” I asked, barely audible. I saw blue and red lights reflecting off of the frozen branches then. It was highly possible police were coming to investigate the young woman covered in blood in the middle of a still packed parking lot.

I could hear heavy footsteps approaching us. The cop came around from the front of the car, so he saw me first and asked: “Excuse me ma’am, we’ve heard some complaints about ‘a woman running around covered in blood,’ have you seen this woman?”

Rhiely came into view, “Yes officer, it’s me. There’s a boy here dying and I’m trying to find some help!”

The officer looked behind him and gave a signal, he was probably indicating that he needed back up, because 5 more officers came forward.

Before I knew it I was sitting on a stretcher next to Rhiely, in one of those giant wool blankets meant to make people feel better. Zach was being checked on by paramedics inside of an ambulance, where there was enough light to see if he was still alive, and whether or not they needed to bring him to the hospital.

“No officer, I already told you. We don’t know what happened to him. We don’t know how he got beaten up or attacked. All we know is that as Fiona was ready to back out of the parking spot, she put the car into reverse and let off of the break. Then we heard a loud thump and she stopped immediately. She put the car into break and we got out. I got to him first-” I stopped listening to her tell the officer, for the third time, what had happened. I was deemed to be ‘in-shock’ and ‘un-responsive,’ though I could think clearly now and control my movements. I just hadn’t tried speaking. Tears from fright and the ‘shock’ would probably accompany any speech. I looked to the officer that found us, he was talking to the paramedic, I could hear what they were saying, just barely though. I grabbed Rhielys hand. “Can you leave us alone now?” She said to the officer. He gave an odd grunt and walked away. What is it babe?”

“Shhh!” I was looking in the direction of the officer and paramedic, concentrating to hear them. Rhiely looked and started listening too.

“He appears to have been beat up, now I’ve already explained that to you officer. There’s no evidence that the girl hurt him at all with her car. Let them go. They have nothing to do with this.”

“Then why is one in shock and the other covered in blood?” The paramedic didn’t say anything. He just looked at the officer like he was stupid.

“That officer is stupid,” Rhiely whispered to me. The officer turned and started walking towards us. We didn’t hide the fact that we were looking at him and the paramedic.

“You two are okay to go. You may have some PSTD but that’s for your psychiatrist to deal with.” He was such a smug person.

Rhiely and I went into the mall again to clean up. I was in no shape to drive. After she stripped and washed the blood off of herself, she put her jacket back on instead of her shirt. Leaving the restroom I saw Maryssa again. She looked rather distraught. I wondered if she knew what had happened to him. That he was clinging to life in a hospital bed. I followed her into the restroom and Rhiely was more confused than usual.

“Hey Maryssa, do you know where Zach is?” She smiled at the mention of his name.

“Oh, him? I heard you hit him with your car, and now he’s in the hospital.” It had happened 10 minutes ago, and she was nowhere around, how did she know I had hit him?

“How did you know that?” I was sure she had something to do with it now.

“Because I saw the whole thing, I was there.” She chuckled and as she moved a strand of hair from her face, I saw bruises on her knuckles. She noticed the confused expression on my face. She walked closer to me as Rhiely entered the bathroom. “I’m the one who killed him.” She whispered, looking in the direction of Rhiely.

“But…” He’s not dead I thought. She left, knocking Rhiely out of her way.

Rhiely came to my side, looking at the exit. “What was that about?” She asked.

“That girl, Maryssa, Zach’s girlfriend, well ex now, she tried killing him.” Rhiely just stared at me. “She thinks he’s dead, but he’s not.”

“What should we do?” She asked. I didn’t know. What do you do when a 17 year old admits to murder when the victim isn’t even dead? Was she kidding? Does she think this is a joke?

“I don’t know.” I looked at her and she just shook her head. There was nothing we could do.