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“I brought you something,” Josh said, excited to feel like he finally did something right.

“Goody!” Jasmine clapped. “I love presents. My mommy and daddy bring me presents all the time!”

He pulled out the CD he had bought for her. Even though CDs were pretty much prehistoric ever since MP3 players had hit the scene, Jasmine had an extensive collection of pagan themed music that was her pride and joy. There was one British group in particular that she loved beyond all reason, and their albums were hard to find in the states. Luckily, Josh was good on the internet and he had scored a signed copy in an online auction.

Josh placed the silver wrapped package in her fragile hands. It was hard to imagine how this childlike girl, who tore open the paper with squeals of glee, was the same violent shrew that had clawed his cheek just a few weeks ago. However, the smile changed to a frown almost as soon as the paper slipped off the package. She stared down in distaste at the image of the full moon, surrounded in all four corners by ghastly faces that resembled Hollywood vampires and ghouls.

“What’s this?” she asked. “It isn’t very pretty.”

“It’s the Inkubus Sukkubus CD you wanted. You told me they were your favorite group. Look.” Josh gestured to the chicken scratch on the paper insert. “It’s even signed by all the band members.”

  “I don’t like it.” She cried out and Josh saw a little bit of the old Jasmine emerge when she flung his gift across her hospital room. “I like pretty things!” She crossed her arms over her chest, and a few tears rolled down her pallid cheeks. “I don’t like you anymore,” she told Josh, and rolled over in her bed. “I want you to go away.”

Josh was horrified by her reaction. Then he realized how stupid it was to give her the CD when she was so obviously not herself. Of course the girl watching Sponge Bob wouldn’t want a CD about witches and vampires.

“It’s all right, Josh,” Elena whispered, then tapped Jasmine on the shoulder. “I have a present for you too, Jazz.”

She rolled back over and stared at Elena through narrowed eyes. “Is it something pretty?”

“Yes, it’s very pretty,” Elena assured her.  She reached into her handbag and pulled out a little brown teddy bear with a red bow tied around his neck. “Do you like it, Jasmine?”

Jasmine’s eyes widened as she grabbed for the toy. “Oh yes! It’s very pretty. Just like you!”

“That’s so sweet of you,” Elena whispered. In the background, Sponge Bob was guffawing over some ridiculous thing his pet snail had done, but Jasmine was much more interested in Elena. Josh gave her a meaningful look, and tried to nudge her into action, hoping to take advantage of what little lucidity Jasmine had left. “Jazz,” Elena ventured. “Can Josh and I talk to you?”

“We are talking, aren’t we?” she asked innocently.

Elena never lost patience. “Yes, but we need to talk to you about something really important. We want to talk to you about when you got hurt. Do you remember when you got hurt, Jazz?”

Jasmine didn’t answer. Instead she turned back to the television, but continued to stroke her new teddy bear with gentle, childlike love.

“Please, Jasmine,” Josh begged. “We just want to catch whoever did this to you.”

“My mama said I hurt my head,” she said quietly, and touched the white bandages around her temple. “My head still hurts sometimes.”

“I’m so sorry, Jazz,” Elena told her. “I know this must be really hard for you, but can you tell us who hurt your head?”

“I like Sponge Bob.” Her eyes started to glaze over again. “He’s funny.”

Josh was getting frustrated. Bryan appeared nervous as he peeked beyond the entrance. “I think someone’s coming,” he told them warily.

“Jazz, please,” Josh shouted, a little too loudly. “Tell us something. Anything! Just give us some kind of clue.”

“I want you to go away now.” Her voice quavered a little, and Josh immediately felt guilty, thinking he had scared her. “I’m tired. It’s time to go to sleep.”

“Jasmine,” Elena said softly, but still managed to shoot Josh a dirty look. “They’re going to hurt something else.”

Jasmine stroked the teddy bear and appeared to be struggling with comprehension and her own mixed emotions. Finally, she started to fiddle with the red bow around the bear’s neck, as though she noticed it was there for the first time and she didn’t like it. She untied it and tried to rip it off with almost brutal force.

“This is red!” She cried. “I hate red.”

“This is pointless,” Bryan exclaimed from his corner. “She doesn’t understand you. We have to get out of here before someone catches us.”

“I don’t like red!” Jasmine repeated, this time with even more conviction. “No red, no red, no red!”

When she was unable to get the red ribbon to release the bear, she threw the toy at Josh and started to scream. The toy bounced harmlessly off his shoulder and fell to the ground. Jasmine’s cries were intensifying. Josh could hear the terror in her voice and it was rubbing off on the others.

“What’s wrong with her?” Josh asked Elena.

“I have no idea,” Elena replied, worried. “Jazz, honey. Try to calm down. It’s okay. Really. We don’t have to talk about your accident.….”

Jasmine’s only response was to continue to screech out that same eerie chant about hating the color red. She had even started to thrash around on the bed. Josh was afraid she was going to hurt herself, and moved to restrain her, but Bryan shook his head from the door.

“We need to get the hell out of here. Now!”

Josh could hear the footsteps in the hall. Doubtless, Jasmine’s cries had alerted the hospital staff. Elena was reluctant to leave her injured, hysterical friend, but Josh grabbed her by the arm and practically dragged her out of the room.

“Come on,” Josh told her. “I can’t be seen here and I know you don’t want to lose your job.”

Elena finally gave in, and the three of them ran down the hall. Elena pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her hair as they fled so no one would recognize her. Only seconds after they left, three nurses arrived at Jasmine’s door with needles in hand. Bryan, Elena, and Josh were already halfway down the hall when one of the nurses noticed their retreating figures.

“Hey, what are you kids doing in that room?” she demanded, but her words were lost over the din of Jasmine’s desperate cries.

“Red?” Bryan pondered. “It has to mean something. Why else would she have gotten so upset about it? Maybe it was some kind of clue. I really think Jazz was trying to tell us something.”

“I think you’re getting your hopes up about nothing again. It was just the babbling of a brain-damaged girl. It didn’t mean anything. Going to see Jazz didn’t do us any good at all.”  Josh kicked his locker in frustration. “Man, this whole freaking situation just really sucks!”

“Calm down,” Bryan warned. “Don’t make a scene. You don’t need to draw any more attention to yourself.”

Josh glared at Bryan, but he didn’t reply. He wanted to scream at all the cheerful faces around him. Everyone was excited about the big football game that was starting in just a few hours, and the formal dance that would follow. They were playing against their rival school, Williamstown High, and it was the biggest event of the school year. There were banners plastered all over the walls, asking the students to come cheer on the team. A few weeks ago, Josh would have been just as excited as everyone else. Now a high school dance just seemed mundane. He wouldn’t have been going at all if it wasn’t for the threat against the future homecoming queen.

“Hey.”

Josh jumped a foot in the air when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Gasping, he turned to see Rosa standing behind him with a sheepish smile. No one thought his jumpiness was unnatural, considering recent circumstance, but Josh felt a blush rise to his cheeks. He tried to cover it up by giving her a peck on the lips.

“Hey yourself,” he told her as he slipped his arm around her waist.

“Sorry I scared you.” She gave a nervous chuckle. “What were you guys talking about? You looked awfully serious.”

“Well,” Josh began, but Bryan shot him a dirty look and he snapped his mouth shut.

“I’m sorry again,” Rosa said awkwardly, and stared down at her shoes. “I didn’t mean to pry. It isn’t any of my business.”

“No, it’s all right,” Josh assured her. He ignored the outraged look on Bryan’s face as he filled Rosa in on the visit with Jasmine. She had just as much right as Elena to know what had happened.

“That’s terrible!” Rosa exclaimed with honest emotion. “That poor girl! Do you think she’s going to be like that . . . forever?”

Bryan shrugged. “Elena said it could go either way. Sometimes people with brain injuries improve over time. Some don’t. There’s no way to tell which way things will go.”

“That’s awful,” Rosa repeated. She shook her head. “Really awful.”

Josh noticed that Rosa seemed unusually nervous. She kept shuffling her feet and chewing on her lower lip like she wanted to say something but wasn’t sure where to start. He pulled her a little closer, wanting to comfort her, but she was stiff and tense in his arms. Josh figured all the talk about Jasmine was getting to her and that a change of subject might help alleviate the tension.

“Well, onto more exciting topics. I’m looking forward to seeing you all dressed up for homecoming tonight. It’s the only part of the night I’m actually looking forward to. Who knows, maybe we’ll even have a little fun.”

Rosa pushed his arm away. “Why is this stupid dance so important to you?” she snapped.

Josh was taken aback. He actually felt his jaw drop. “What?”

“I mean, it’s not like it’s a big deal,” Rosa continued. She looked down at her sneakers again instead of meeting Josh’s questioning gaze. “I don’t even think I want to go anymore.”

“Rosa, what are you saying?” Josh reached out for her arm again, but she sidestepped his touch. “I thought you were excited about going to the dance.”

“I think I was pretty clear.” Her voice cracked with emotion. “I’m not going to the dance with you, okay? So just forget about it.”

Before Josh had a chance to reply, Rosa flew down the hallway, her long braid trailing behind her. She almost collided with Elena, who was coming over to walk to class with Bryan. She looked at Rosa’s retreating back and eyed Josh with mild amusement.

“What was that all about?” she asked.

“I have no idea,” Josh admitted, feeling more than a little hurt. He turned to Bryan. “Did I do something wrong?”

Bryan shrugged his good shoulder. “How should I know? Did you cheat on her?”

“Of course not! I would never do that.”

Elena snorted. “Do you really expect us to believe that? It was your inability to keep your libido under control that started this whole mess. Now Lily is dead and Jazz might as well be.”

That comment and the bitterness in her voice were a little more than Josh could take. He startled them both when he slammed his fist into Bryan’s locker. The sound of bone against metal sent vibrations through the hallway. He instantly regretted it when his knuckles started to throb. He wasn’t even sure if it was Elena’s words or his own guilt that had infuriated him, but the stares and chuckles from the students around them only enhanced his fury.

He heaved his armload of books onto the floor, turned from Elena and Bryan, and stomped away. The anger and guilt flashed like red lights in front of his eyes. He moved sightlessly forward, unaware of the other students he pushed and shoved out of his way, hardly caring where his angry strides were taking him. All he saw was the blaring red. His eyes flashed and burned, and his head started to pound in harmony.

“Josh!” Bryan was calling out behind him. “Wait up, man!”

Josh ignored him until Bryan reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. Then he whipped around to face him. “Just leave me alone, would you? I’ve had enough of this crap!”

“Calm down, buddy.” Bryan’s condescending voice only aggravated him more. “Elena didn’t mean what she said.”

Elena was fumbling down the hallway, trying to carry both Josh’s discarded books and her own. When she caught up to them, she met Josh’s angry stare with an awkward grin. She tried to hand Josh his books, but he folded his arms and continued to glare at her.

“I’m really sorry, Josh,” she said awkwardly. “No matter what happened between us, it was just plain mean of me to say that.  None of this is your fault. Forgive me?”

“Go to hell, Elena!” Around them, many of the students had ceased their giggling and chatter about dances and dates in order to stop and stare at them. “I’m so sick of being blamed for everything all the time. This isn’t my fault. I never wanted anyone to get hurt. I’m just as much a victim as the rest of you!”

“Josh,” Bryan began, but Josh wasn’t listening.

“No, Bryan! Don’t try to tell me you don’t blame me for what happened to Lily. Even when you don’t say it, I know that’s what you’re thinking. Well, you know what, I’ve had it.” Josh took a deep breath, but he was still shaking with anger, grief, and fear. All the emotions he had pent up for the last few weeks were finally breaking free in a torrent of rage. “Do you hear me, Bryan? You can run your own little investigation if you want to, but I’m done with it. I don’t need to deal with your accusations. Screw it! Screw you! Screw both of you!”