The following day, Thursday, went by without much incident. Mary still wasn't quite feeling herself, but she resigned to powering through to the weekend so she could try to unwind a little. She received a text from her Mother again on her lunch break, saying she'd have to work late again the next couple of days, so she wouldn't be able to pick her up from school. Mary felt anxious as she started her walk home again, despite the roads being slightly busier this time. A man was walking ahead of her for the majority of the route, stopping along the way to light a cigarette. Initially, Mary was kind of annoyed she was stuck walking through this stranger's smoke, but she found herself quite enjoying the smell of it this time. It even distracted her enough to forget about the bus stop momentarily, until she walked right past it and felt relieved it was empty today. The man then turned off at the next corner, and Mary felt a little disappointed she didn't get to smell it anymore.
The rest of the day went as normal, with her parents bringing another takeaway home after work. Mary still didn't really feel like talking to them properly, but at least she felt hungry enough to eat it today. She knew they could tell she was off, but she just didn't feel up to talking to them about what happened. After dinner she returned to her room again, intending to continue studying but just couldn't bring herself to focus on it. Instead she just threw some trash on the TV and zoned out for the evening until she was ready to sleep.
Mary woke up suddenly early Friday morning in a cold sweat. She'd been dreaming. Or having a nightmare. She wasn't sure yet. She'd been reliving the incident again, but this time, she was one of nasty girls, the black haired one with the baseball cap. She was laughing and having fun with the other 3, smoking and drinking and generally having a great time.
"Oi oi, look at this little rich bitch" the blonde said, looking down the road. Then Mary looked too, and saw herself walking down the road towards them. She watched herself try to swiftly walk through the group, and she couldn't help herself. Mary found herself grabbing out at the other-her's backpack, yanking her back, then shoved her into the wall.
"Oi, she was fuckin' talkin' to ya, you not gonna say anythin' back?" she found herself shouting into her own face. She thought she should feel guilty, but she just felt overwhelmingly in control. It felt pretty good, watching the tears form in her eyes as she begged to be left alone. Then the guys voice came from behind her.
"Ay girls, bus is 'ere, back off and let's go" he said, Mary turned around to see it pulling up, then turned back to other-Mary.
"Aww guess Daddy's allowance is safe this time huh?" She mocked. She took one last drag on her cigarette and aggressively blew the smoke into other-Mary's face, then threw the butt to one side. She watched her friend do the same, and spit on the floor, then turned and got on the bus with her friends. As the bus drove away, she found herself laughing at that little wimp crying against the wall.
That was when Mary woke up, unsure if she was shaken, or a little excited.
A few hours later and she was at school again, trudging through the day, feeling completely uninterested in her classes. Her exams were only a couple of weeks away, but to be honest, she just didn't care right now. She'd spent a lot of the day distracted, thinking of things she'd rather be doing. Fun things, not studying things. The day felt super slow, but eventually it was over, and Mary was walking home. The same relief washed over her again as the bus stop came into view and she didn't see the group there again, just one man lighting a cigarette. Thirty seconds later she reached the stop just as the bus was pulling up, and the waiting man was forced to throw the majority of his smoke to one side so he could board. Within half a second, Mary made a decision, stopping next to the still-burning cigarette and pulled out her phone, pretending to check something. As the bus pulled away, she put her phone back and 'dropped' her purse on the ground, then in one movement, picked it back up, along with the cigarette.