“You look awful.”
As if waking from a trance, I looked toward the source of the voice now approaching me from the shadows. Since when and how long she had been there, I didn’t dwell on much. For some reason, seeing Maris’ unexpected entrance wasn’t surprising to me anymore.
“Is there a playground around here?” she asked; her eyes scanning the area.
“There is,” I answered even though it wasn’t the right time to be answering such questions. I took a deep breath to control my rising irritation. If anything, I didn’t want to vent my frustration to Maris.
“You show the way,” she said to me so casually I had no idea what she was trying to pull off.
“Do we really have to do it right now?” I said.
“What would you rather do instead?” she replied, genuinely asking me.
I don’t know.
I think she could see through my silence as she gestured for us to walk back to the concrete path. And from there, I led her to the opposite direction from where Yana had run off.
