Maggie is curled up in bed staring up at the ceiling. On her night table, cellphone, MP3 player and ear buds are twisted together in a clump atop her dark laptop. The blinds are drawn, and Maggie’s blanket is pulled over her head.
There’s a soft knock at the door and Maggie ignores it, hoping whoever it is will go away. It’s too early to be Oz. She doesn’t want to see anybody. She just wants to sleep. Another knock, louder. Maybe if she covers her head with the pillow, too, whoever it is will just go the hell away. But no, more knocking. And a whispered “Maggie?”
“Go away Amelia. I’m sleeping.”
From the other side of the door she hears a brief suppressed snort, then “Five minutes, Mags, then I’ve got to get to work.”
“Then come in already, just so I can get rid of you.”
Amelia comes into the darkened room lit only by the bits of sun squeezing in around the edges of the heavy blind. She perches on the corner of the foot of the bed. “Oscar told me that you’re really upset about the flasher.”
“Yes I’m upset. But I don’t plan on telling you anything. You might write it in a story sometime, and I’d rather you didn’t.”
“If you don’t want me to write about something I wouldn’t write about it. I’m not a vampire Maggie. I’m a writer. But I thought I was your friend too. Look, I’ll just go then.”
Amelia gets up and Maggie says, “Look, I’m sorry I’m being such a bitch but that’s part of why I’m in here. I am really bummed by this all.”
Amelia turns back, settling back down again. “I’m not trying to make it worse, but I am trying to help. Did you get flashed or abused when you were a kid or something?”
Maggie props herself up on one elbow. “That’s what you think? No. It’s nothing like that. It’s that I feel like such a shit, because if I’d gone to the cops before, Natasha might not have gotten attacked. How much shittier can it be? It’s all my fault.”
“Don’t be such a drama queen Mags. What would the cops have done? Maybe they would have written it down. Maybe. If they didn’t laugh at you. They might even think it was a prank. You think they’ve got manpower for a college flasher? An elementary school, sure. But the world doesn’t revolve around you. It will get screwed up all by itself.”
“What, that’s supposed to make me feel better? Being told I’m an egomaniac? Well fuck you and the horse you rode in on.” Maggie rolls over and holds her pillow over her head.
Amelia shakes her head. “Glad we had this chat. Oughta do it more often, but I gotta go, really. Talk to Stu, Maggie. And stop beating yourself up.” Amelia pulls the door closed softly behind her.
