The public library was exactly what she needed, not just because she had a few more books and topics to cover, but because she had a lot to think about, the former overshadowing the later a great deal.
It was really hard giving all of her concentration to the textbook in front of her. She was barely understanding anything in that book as it was, all she could think of was her, the girl she had seen earlier at the floral shop, the one that looked exactly like her.
Who was she?
How was any of it possible? How was it possible to look exactly like someone and not be related to that person? Anne-Marie had spent the entire evening asking herself the same questions, the exact same what if questions.
What if there was more to it? What if meeting her wasn't a coincidence? What if there was more to the story? What if she knew her? What if they were probably related? Twins perhaps?
Snap it out Anne-Marie, this is not a movie.
She let out a weak exhale and unconsciously picked up her pen from the middle of the text, she started to drum on her book slowly.
What exactly was she missing? There had to be a puzzle she had not found yet. She raised her hand to her head so she could rub her temples gently. Why did she leave when she did? She should have just stayed back and maybe asked all the questions she had.
There was no way that girl could have been her sister talk more of her twin. She'd have known. All her life, the only sibling she ever had was Abel. Her parents would never have kept it from her if she had a twin somewhere. It was—
The loud laughter from behind her messed with her thinking a great deal. She rubbed her forehead as the laughter grew louder. She didn't need to take a second turn to know who the girls that had just walked into the library were. They always left their signature laughter everywhere, the crane sisters, seven to nine or even more high schoolers from the crane high school, AKA, Anne-Marie's old school who were known for terrorizing the community and breaking as many rules as they could, making a hell of noise in the library was one of them.
The last thing Anne-Marie wanted was getting their attention. She had managed to stay out of their way for three months. The last time she saw them, the situation wasn't exactly in her favor. If no one was going to stop them from being so noisy, then she wouldn't either. They could do whatever they wanted, they always did. All she had to do was go back to reading again or at least pretend to.
Not like she could help herself, she was such a show stopper. It was really difficult not to notice her even in the middle of a crowd. She knew that when the laughter stopped and got exchanged with a few whispers directly behind her. How on earth was it so easy for them to notice her?
Anne-Marie pushed herself closer to her desk and tucked her hair behind her ear.
Focus Anne-Marie, focus and they'd just go away.
She prayed they did. She really didn't need their energy right now.
"Isotopes." She reminded herself, giving the book in front of her all her focus. "Isotopes." She said to herself again as she started to hear the loud footsteps approaching her.
"Look what the cat dragged in." One of the girls behind her said as she led the rest to the table. "It's Maria the bum."
Anne-Marie held her breath, not daring to look up even though the girl sitting across her had started to fear greatly for her. She raised her head to the girls' as they surrounded the table while one of them that looked like the leader, pulled herself to sit on it, she gave her a stern look, signaling her to leave the table.
Anne-Marie could see how the girl packed her books immediately and walked away without as much as an argument. She let out a shaky breath.
Here we go again.
"Fancy meeting you here." The girl on the table went on, raising her hand and then dropping it on Anne's book so she didn't bother to look into it anymore. It was frustrating and at this point, it was getting really hard to hold back. Anne-Marie held her breath.
"I don't want any trouble Keisha." Anne-Marie kept her gaze exactly where it should be, on her books. "I'm just here to read and go."
The girl scoffed.
"To read?" She asked her just as another one picked up one of the books from the table. "What on earth are you reading for when you don't even go to school anymore? Didn't you drop out to take care of that dying brother of yours?"
"It looks like she's keeping up with our syllabus for this week." The girl with the textbook said as she flipped through the pages.
"Woah," the first girl gasped. "Are you trying to go back to school Maria?"
"My name is not Maria," Anne-Marie turned to the girl beside her with her textbook, "it's Anne-Marie." She snatched the book from her and dropped it back on the table. The girls chuckled.
"Maria, Anne-Marie, what's the damn difference? Your name still sounds super lame."
"Fancy you talking about returning to school when you can't even afford to buy yourself a new pair of shoes." The girl beside her said, lowering her head to Anne's old pair of all star sneakers in disgust. "How do you intend to pay for your tuition?"
Like it was any of their businesses.
"Are you sure your brother is going to live if you do that?" Another girl from behind her said. "I heard his skin has started to decompose already, that means, he's a walking corpse." She chuckled just as the other girls laughed with her.
Anne-Marie was doing so much holding back already. How was any of that funny? How was laughing at her sick brother's condition funny? Why were they constantly trying to pick on her and bully her all the time?
The girls kept exchanging handshakes as they laughed even harder. It was frustrating hearing them laugh like that.
"It's not funny." Anne-Marie told them in a rather calm tone, their laughter started to subside a little bit when they heard her. "None of what you just said is funny." She kept her face straight and her eyes focused on the table.
"What?" The girl sitting on the table asked her. "What did you just say?"
Anne-Marie raised her face to meet hers.
"My brother is not a walking corpse. He's alive and he's going to keep living. Say whatever you want to me, curse me however you want and step on my toes as much as you want but leave my brother out of it."
Keisha frowned.
"Or what?" She raised a brow at Anne-Marie. Anne-Marie was about to let out a breath when she felt a hand grab on to a fistful of her hair behind her and then push her head to the table with a really harsh force, pinning it on her books. That hurt a lot. Anne-Marie tried to raise her head but she pinned her head right back to the table again.
"Just who do you think you're talking to?" The girl asked her as Keisha stood up slowly from the table and started to walk to them, the frown on her face growing even more.
It was really hard for Anne-Marie to move or even breathe with the way her head was pinned flat on the table with so much pressure.
"I'm really dying to know where you got your courage from Maria." The girl whirled her key holder around her middle finger as she approached Anne's side of the table, bending over to reach for Anne-Marie's pockets.
"W-what are you doing?" Anne-Marie tried to resist, to stop her but the other girls grabbed on to both her hands so she couldn't. Keisha slid her hand into the right pocket of Anne-Marie's jeans in search for whatever it was she wanted.
"Stop." Anne-Marie tried to set herself free but their hold on her was just too tight.
"Let go of me Keisha."
There was nothing there, Keisha stood straight and walked to the other side to repeat the process.
"God, Keisha, what are you doing?"
"Just doing a little search you know," Keisha gently slid her fingers into Anne's other pocket.
"Keisha come on, stop,"
"You just never know what you can find even in the pockets of a street pauper,"
Anne-Marie felt her heart skip thousands of beats when she felt Keisha's hand leave her pocket with something in it. A wide smile appeared on her face as she got up slowly, waving Anne's money envelope in the air so her friends could see it.
"Bingo."
They all exchanged wry smiles amongst themselves as Keisha opened the envelope slowly.
"Keisha-" Anne-Marie tried to fight her way off them again but they held on tightly to her.
"Oh my goodness, this is a lot!" The tone of surprise in Keisha's voice scared her. "How did you make so much money?"
"Keisha please," Anne-Marie could feel how tears were slowly filling her eyes. "Keisha please don't do this!" She yelled. She was terrified, she was beyond terrified because she knew what the girls were after and what they were capable of. "Keisha you don't have to do this please!"
Everyone in the library already had their focus on them but no one seemed to be doing anything to help her, to stop them, no one could, no one wanted to be on the bad books of the crane sisters.
"I'm pretty amazed Maria, and proud too."
"Keisha, Keisha that's all I have, it's for my brother's treatment. Keisha please! My brother is going to die if you take that money."
"My brother is going to die if you take that money." The girl that pinned her head to the table mimicked jest fully. The rest of the girls laughed.
"Guys," Keisha turned to her friends. "Guys, we should go have dinner at that expensive restaurant downtown, I'm starving, aren't you?"
"I would take anything with a bottle of champagne right now."
"Let's also hit the mall while we are at it. I could use a change of clothes."
"Me too."
"Me too."
"And a pair of shoes."
"Keisha!" Anne-Marie yelled her name as loud as she could. How could they? How could they steal all her money and brag about how they were going to spend it in her presence? That was all she had. That was all her savings for Abel's chemo. Anne-Marie struggled so hard to set herself free but she wasn't strong enough.
"Keisha please." Her voice broke. "Don't do this."
Keisha exhaled. She was getting sick of it. Sick of hearing her name so much.
"Okay, okay," Keisha rolled her eyes and then turned to the girl pinning Anne-Marie's head to the table, she signaled her to let her go.
Anne-Marie raised her head from the table slowly, her face already filled with lots of her tears while Keisha walked around her till she was in front of her again.
"That's enough now," Keisha told her. "Stop yelling."
"Keisha, Keisha I'm sorry." Anne-Marie begged her. "I'm sorry okay? I should have known my place, I should have known my place all along, I should never have stood up to you or said anything disrespectful. I know I made a mistake and I'm sorry. I'm sorry, just let it go this one time."
Keisha exhaled and then nodded.
"Very well then, I'll think about it if only you do what I say from now on."
Anne-Marie sniffed. What she said? Of course. She'd do anything at that point if it was going to get her to just stop and return her money.
Keisha signaled one of her friends and she got out her phone to record immediately. You could see how the girls smirked among themselves like they could already tell what was about to happen.
Keisha exhaled.
"Say this after me." She told her. "My name is Maria."
Anne-Marie swallowed hard. It was so hard to speak with everything that was happening but she managed to. She had to.
"My name is Maria." Her voice trembled.
"And I'm a bitch."
Anne-Marie raised her head to Keisha.
"What?"
"Say it." Keisha hit the table with a loud thud that made her jump in fright. "I am a bitch!"
"My name is Maria and I am a bitch." Anne-Marie said in a rush. At that point, all she wanted was to get her money back, she was going to do anything and say anything to get it back.
"My mother was a bitch who went around sleeping with pigs in form of men,"
"God, Keisha-" Anne-Marie held her breath. Was she serious? Was she really going to make her say those words? To say those words about her mother and in front of a camera too?
"Don't waste my time Maria and say those words." Keisha said. "My mother was a bitch who went around sleeping with pigs in form of men."
Anne-Marie couldn't say those words. How could she? Just hearing them tore her hearts into bits and the fact that they were finding it amusing even broke her heart the more. Her mother wasn't any of those things. Her mother was kind and good, she was faithful to her father. How could they make her say those words?
"My mother-" she whispered, she couldn't bring herself to say it but Keisha was running out of patience and at that point, she was going to lose all of Abel's treatment money. Keisha was waiting, she leaned closer just so she could hear her better. Anne-Marie sniffed.
"My mother was a bitch who went around sleeping with men in form of pigs,"
The girl behind her scoffed in amusement. They were really having the time of their lives torturing her like that. Keisha seemed to be having a great time.
"She went around doing her business bitching around one day and caught a disease, she gave that disease to my father."
"She went around-" Anne-Marie's voice broke. It was so hard. It was so hard to even listen to those words. The tears in her eyes fell even more now.
"She went around doing her business bugging around one day and-" she sobbed again. "And-"
"She gave that disease to my father." Keisha reminded her.
Anne-Marie sniffed and raised her hand to clean her eyes. She knew she had to toughen up. For Abel's sake.
"She gave that disease to my father." She said.
"My mother killed my father."
"Keisha,"
"Say it! My mother killed my father, say it right now or I'd be out of here with your money."
"Keisha please, don't do this."
Keisha clicked her tongue. She turned to the other girls.
"It looks like we have a lot of spending to do today girls." She tried to get up when Anne-Marie grabbed her arm. She had to stop her. She couldn't let Keisha walk away with her money. What was going to happen to her? What was going to happen to Abel?
"My mother killed my father." She said.
Keisha froze and turned to her.
"I didn't hear that. Say it louder, please."
"My mother killed my father!" Anne-Marie yelled at the top of her lungs. "My mother killed my father, my mother killed my father, my mother killed my father and ruined my life!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. It was enough. There was just so much she could take and at that point, she had had enough. She just needed everything to be over. She just needed them gone. She needed her money back.
Keisha scoffed, she was impressed by Anne-Marie's determination and enthusiasm. The other girls started to laugh as loudly as they can.
"I've done all you wanted, I've said all you asked me to say so please, let me have my money back!"
Keisha shrugged her shoulders, pretending to be think for a while. She let out a shaky breath.
"I'm only doing this because I pity you so much. Because I feel sorry for you at this point."
Keisha raised the envelope to her eye level and got out a note from it, and another one. She dropped them on the table.
"Work with this." She got up to leave.
"What?" Anne-Marie turned immediately.
"Come on girls, let's get out of here."
"Keisha," Anne-Marie got up immediately to stop her when one of the girls threw a hard punch on her belly and pushed her away. Anne-Marie fell to the ground and the girls surrounded her immediately and started to lay punches on her as hard as they could.
"Keisha!" Anne-Marie tried to keep her gaze on Keisha and the rest of the girls as they walked away but the three girls in front of her stopped her from doing anything. They kept throwing kicks and punches and more kicks.
"Keisha!"