• Amy spent the next half hour explaning in excrutiating detail what had conspired. All through her story, Brigit would pause and scratch notes on her paper. After Amy had finished she sat uncomfortably to wait for Brigit’s response. She finished writing, and simply looked up at Amy.
    Just then Amy noticed a boy sitting on a lone chair against a wall to her left who had been staring at her, wide eyed. Looking at him, she realized he was her age, if not a couple of years older.
    Noticing Amy’s gaze toward the boy, Brigit simply said, “He was in an accident almost an hour ago. He wasn’t injured, though his friend was lost.” A sad expression wrung on her face. The boy continued to look at Amy. His gaze made her shift uncomfortably and look away. He was skinny, and from what she could tell average height. His eyes were bright blue, his hair brownish- blond. He had a very sad expression in his eyes, but it made sense considering his friend’s recent death.
    “Lost?” Amy was curious, and looked back at brigit for an explanation.
    “Unfortunitly,” the woman said, “we couldn’t find her after the crash. We assumed she flew off the cliff and into the water they had been near, but were not sure. We havn’t found her body yet. You see,” she looked at the boy, “where they were, there was a three way intersection. They were driving strait through, with the inlet to their right. A car had come rushing toward them from their left and almost shot their car strait off the rocky cliff. Fortunitly, their car had hit some trees also to their right, stopping it from falling into the water below. But the window where Heather had been sitting was shattered, and she was gone.” Brigit sighed sadly.
    They were both surprised when the boy talked, “My friend is alive, I know it. I saw her get up and walk away. I tried to call her name… she didn’t come back-”
    Brigit leaned closer to Amy, “We think he’s dillusional,”
    “You,” he said, almost glaring at Amy, “what was that girl’s name?”
    “Uh, Heather, I think. She graduated the same year as me. But she said her name was Eve,”
    By this time Brigit and Brian were both staring at her.
    “What…?”
    Brian said, “that was my friends name, and she has the same features as the one you saw,”
    “You can’t be serious,” Brigit finally laughed. Her mind didn’t allow her to believe what Brian believed. She assumed it was a coinsidence and allowed herself to fall into denial.
    “It has to be-“
    “No!” Her voice was solid, her face red. The sudden change in mood frightened Brian and Amy, causing them to shift uncomfortably.
    Brigit then sighed, “Sorry, guys. It’s been a long day.” Her apology only made Brian feel bad, worse than he had before, and he turned his face downward, closing his eyes.
    “Well,” Brigit finally said, “I have all the information I need for now. You,” she said, looking at Amy, “are going to be taken to the hospital for testing.”
    Amy just wanted to go home, and she wasn’t inclined to go out at 9 at night to the hospital. “Why?”
    “You were the only one there who didn’t die, other than that girl.”
    Brian asked, “what about me? Maybe I should be checked out too,” he looked up in desperation, surprising Brigit.
    “Well,” she considered, “I guess that makes since. You could be injured from the accident… Okay then, you two head out to the front. There’s a police man there that will take you to the hospital.”
    They nodded and stood, examining each other and walking out to the foyer. As they waited, Amy spoke, “So… I have a feeling you were lying about needing to go to the hospital.” She sat on a wooden chair to the left of the door.
    “Well,” he said slowly, considering what he was going to say, “I need to talk to you. We both know it was Heather, don’t we?” he rhetorted. Not giving her much of a choice, Amy nodded in agreement. “So,” he continued, “we need to talk about this. You mentioned she said her name was Eve…?”
    “Yeah, she did,” Amy nodded again, this time slower. They talked for a couple of minutes, but were still unable to come to any conclusions about Eve.
    “So…” Brian calmed a bit after a while, “what did you say your name was?”
    “It’s Amy…” she said shyly, “Brian,” she looked up at his face, “Do you… think this is my fault?”
    “What?” the question caught him off guard; it was so random, causing him to frown in confusion.
    “Well, it’s just that I was the only one who survived, other than Eve. What does that mean? Tell me, please!” her desperation was intense. After a couple minutes, she sighed. “I guess you wouldn’t know.”
    “I… don’t know. When you were telling your story to Brigit, you said something about Eve’s cells. She said they were… evolved, right? Well, maybe yours are, too.”
    Amy looked away again, “look, there comes our ride,” she was happy with the opportunity to so easily change the subject. The policeman who was to drive them to the hospital was tall and thin.
    He smiled as Amy and Brian stepped into the car.
    “To the hospital?” the man asked.
    “Yes, please.” Brian and Amy replied in unison.
    During the car ride, Amy tried her best to avoid eye contact with Brian. She looked out the window next to her, absorbing the sight of the city at night. The streets were beginning to dry from the rain that had fallen several hours before, and the grass shined in the mixture of the light from the moon and streetlights. From the increased size of the buildings, she assumed they were entering the larger part of the city.
    The drive lasted no more than 10 minutes. The policeman pulled into the parking lot, circling it slowly. The hospital was relativley crowded for the time, but it had nothing to do with the incident (all the bodies were to be taken to the Coroner’s Office).
    The cop finally pulled into a parking spot. Turning around to look at them, he said, “well here you go. Should I come in with you?”
    Amy hesitated, but Brian said, “no thanks, we’re fine. Are you going to be here to pick us up?”
    The policeman nodded, “sure am. Don’t take too long,” he teased.
    Amy smiled at his attempt to lighten the mood while opening the door. Once outside, she shivered. There wasn’t much wind, but enough to be chilling. Straitening her skirt, she followed Brian to the Emergency Room door.
    The foyer was brighter than Amy expected, causing her to squint. The bright florescent lights illumintated everything, giving the whole area a white glow.
    They walked to the front desk, passing many people waiting to be examined. A few of them looked quite ill, their skin pallid with a tinge of gray. Other people looked frightening. Their eyes were crazed, their hair disheveled.