Greer woke up in the passenger seat a few hours later, it was getting dark but she couldn't tell from within the garage. For a moment this was calming, maybe Claire didn't get absolutely scrambled with a brick and it was all just a dream. Sure it didn't make sense that they'd call off work so early, that'd piss off any customer that wanted a late night soda. The garage was connected to the house directly so once Greer got herself out of the car she went into her house shortly after. Everything was refreshingly normal in here, nothing was out of place, there was no trail of blood or muddy footprints. The only thing that caught Greer's eye was the light peeking in from the hallway, must be from the living room. Johanna must be in there, she thought, this was suddenly even more perfect. All Greer had to do was tell Johanna about her terrible dream, they'd laugh it off, then eat ice cream before bed to calm down. Though a bit juvenile this was Greer's wish.
It was dashed instantly when she saw the bloodied brick on the coffee table.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! It was real! It happened! Johanna did it! Greer put a hand on the wall as she collapsed against it, nearly ready to vomit and pass out again. Johanna stepped out of the kitchen after hearing Greer stumble, "Greer?"
As Johanna approached to help her friend, Greer swatted her arms away, "don't touch me! M.. Murderer!" Greer stumbled backwards, finding enough balance to stay standing despite letting go of the wall.
Johanna sighed, but then smiled, "Claire isn't dead, I called her mother an hour ago. She's at the hospital, just needs some stiches that's all," after that there was a pause. Greer was beside herself with more emotions than she knew existed, Claire wasn't dead? She just needs stitches? That's impossible! Her brain was exposed! There is zero chance that Claire is okay even if she did somehow live.
"She just needs stitches?! You smashed her head open with a brick! H.. How do you expect me to believe that?!" Greer was no longer off balance, her body full of anger and adrenaline as if ready to tackle Johanna at a moment's notice.
"We can visit her if you want, tomorrow though," Johanna assured her before sitting down on the couch, putting her feet up on the coffee table near the brick but not close enough to touch the small blood puddle. Greer knew Johanna wasn't lying, they've known each other long enough for her to be sure of this on body language alone; but there's no way right? "Oh and more good news, she forgot how to commit suicide, according to her mother anyway."
"How do you forget to commit suicide? Johanna that's ridiculous... S-Somehow more ridiculous than anything else you've said tonight.. What does that even mean?" Greer isn't suicidal, but she could come up with at least ten different ways to kill herself if she wanted to, it's not difficult.
"She doesn't understand the concept of overdosing on pain killers, she doesn't even remember buying them, and she threw away her pocket knife because she `didn't know why she'd need it`, in her own words." Johanna was beside herself in the opposite way to Greer, absolutely elated that a disaster was averted by The Disaster Witches. Not only did Claire live, but now her life isn't in danger at all anymore, if she dies it'll be old age or something else that Johanna probably couldn't prevent anyway. "Oh and I ordered a couple things online, they should be here in a couple days. The Disaster Witches needed some more flare, so we're going to lay low till our branding stuff gets here."
Greer had no words, there was nothing she could say, she didn't think there existed a sentence that could be said to that. Branding? Branding?! "Branding?!" Greer thought it so loudly that she couldn't help but say it out loud too. "What, are we going to wear witch hats and start brewing potions?! Magic isn't real Johanna! You got lucky this time, we are not doing this again!" for the first time since they met, Greer was looking at a stranger. A completely new person she'd never dealt with before, though instead of being a couple of kids at the same school, this was a normal person looking at a lunatic. This can't be a joke anymore, and if it's a cry for help it went way too far, Greer's heart sank when there was a knock on their front door.
"Can you calm down for a minute and get that?" Johanna said as she turned on the tv, ready to relax now that she knew her best friend was still okay.
Greer wasn't happy, but she was a bit glad that someone was here, even if it was just a salesman or a witness at least it'd be a moment away from Johanna. Unfortunately it was neither, he was wearing a black police uniform, badge on one side of his chest, name plate on the other. "I'm officer Dagghut, I'd like to ask you a couple questions about what you heard tonight near 3343 Cedar street," he was very fat and tall, his tone was guttural yet understandable, and when he held up his I.D. he became the scariest man Greer had ever seen. This was a real police officer asking her about the scene of the crime. He could see her looking fearful, he decided it appropriate to smile in response, "now now, you're not under arrest or anything miss. I know officers can be scary but really I'm just here because you drove past something and we wanna know what you heard, that's all."
"What did I drive past officer?" she was trembling, developing a cold sweat, she couldn't look more guilty if she tried.
"There was a young girl in an abandoned apartment building, she used it as a club house or somethin like that. According to her there was a small cave-in and she was hit by a piece of debris. Now, some of my boys looked over the scene and it struck us as weird that she was laying in a spot that was almost clean... At least compared to the other garbage in the room around her, there was no sign of a supposed cave in," his explanation struck Greer as very casual and friendly, she really wasn't being suspected right now. She stopped trembling as much and her breathing relaxed considerably, "right now we think someone just threw a brick through a window and it happened to hit her, only problem is we couldn't find a brick with blood on it anywhere around her. If you know anything, we'd love to hear about it."
Greer had two choices, the brick was in her living room, it'd be so easy to turn her friend in right now and be done with it. Or... She could lie to an officer to cover for her. She didn't have a lot of time to think, the longer it took to answer the more suspicious her story would be, even if it was honest. She closed her eyes for a moment, the officer took this as her trying to remember but really it was her coming to terms with what she was about to say. "I'm sorry officer, we had the radio up pretty high, if someone broke a window I doubt I would have noticed," she couldn't believe herself, but it wasn't completely a lie; if a window did break she wouldn't have noticed it, but that's more because she was traumatized.
The officer frowned, but he believed her, "ah well, it was worth a shot. We're at a loss right now as to what really happened, you were our best lead. If another officer comes by, or asks you to come down to the station for some more questions, sorry in advance." He nodded his head down to Greer in a respectful manner before turning around to leave, he waved as he got into his car and shouted back, "take care now!" Before his partner started the car and drove them both away.
Greer closed and locked the front door, she couldn't believe how easy that was, but as long as the police think they just drove on by that was good enough for her. She returned to the living room and sat down on the couch opposite of Johanna, looking at the tv without really watching whatever was on. "I just lied to the police for you..."
Johanna reached over to pat Greer's shoulder, "thanks babe," she said plainly before returning to her relaxing tv night. Greer felt like she was ready to cry but no tears came out, she couldn't let out even one drop. Was she okay with what happened? It worked out right? Claire is... okay right? She doesn't know how to kill herself anymore so she wont do it but, does that mean they really helped? If Claire wanted to kill herself there was surely a reason, probably more than one reason, but they didn't fix that they just broke her skull open.
"Hey... We're going to visit Claire sometime okay? Not in the hospital but... She'll probably come back to the store and we should talk to her," Greer wanted to help Claire a lot more than she did when she first heard about the girl. Instead of trusting her with a therapist or doctor, she got scrambled and now her two `godmothers` would look out for her. At least that's how Greer rationalized it in her mind.
Johanna nodded, "sure we can do a follow up, but there are more disasters out there for us to prevent too, don't forget."
