An hour, and a satisfying shower later and Mary was restless. She tried catching up on her studying but just couldn't focus on it, giving up after thirty minutes when she realised she'd spent most of that time scrolling on her phone anyway.
Instead she laid out on her front on the bed, and switched on the TV again, opting for some trash in the background while she browsed some more. About 15 minutes later there was a light knock at the door and her Mum entered.
"Hey sweetie" she smiled, as she slowly walked in, pausing for a few seconds to figure out what was on the television. Mary looked up from her phone temporarily to smile back, then resumed scrolling. Her mother took a seat on the edge of the bed next to her.
"I just wanted to check in with you honey, make sure you're doing okay?" She asked. Mary could tell by her tone that she thought she knew something was wrong already and was fishing to find out what it was.
"Yea I'm fine. Why?" She replied, a little bluntly.
"It's just you've been a little off the last couple days, and I wanted to make sure nothing happened?"
"Yep, all good here" Mary replied, trying to shut the conversation down so she'd go away.
"And you're sure?" Her Mother pressed.
"It's just, I spoke to Sarah's Mother yesterday and she said she saw you in some kind of situation on Wednesday during your walk home? You were with a group of girls by the Long Road bus stop, but she passed too quickly to tell if you were in trouble"
Mary panicked internally, still not really wanting to talk about it.
"Just leave it okay, it's fine. Nothing happened" she snapped back.
"You know you can talk to me if something's wrong, don't you? Did they do something to you?" She pressed further.
"Just fuck off alright? I'm fine!" Mary shouted, standing up now.
"Excuse me? How dare you use that kind of lan-"
"FUCK. OFF." Mary shouted again, then grabbed her bag.
"Actually, I'll fuck off, can't stand sitting in this house anyway" she said as she walked through her door.
She went downstairs and slipped on some trainers, grabbed a zip up hoodie and walked out the front door, without another peep from her Mother.
Mary just walked for thirty minutes, away from her house. She didn't know where she was going, she was just trying to cool off. All she felt was anger and stress, and she needed something to take her mind off it. It wasn't until she passed someone smoking that she realised that was the 'something' she needed.
Mary beelined for the nearest corner shop, deliberately an unbranded one hoping they were less likely to ID. Ten minutes later she was there, pushing the door open. She felt nervous, but powered on, knowing confidence was more likely to get her results. She approached the counter.
"Could I get a pack of..." she started to ask confidently, then realised she didn't know what to ask for. Her mind went back to her dream, trying to find some information to help. She'd pulled a pack out of her bag...
"Richmond, please" she said quickly, before she'd even registered she remembered it.
The cashier eyed her up for a moment, then turned to the shelf behind him and grabbed a pack, placing it on the counter.
"That'll be-" he started to ask.
"Oh and just a cheap lighter aswell, sorry" Mary quickly asked.
The cashier turned back around to the shelf, grabbing a lighter from the bottom. He quickly tested it, then placed it on the packet of cigarettes. I'm her relief, Mary didn't even really pay attention to how much they cost, she just handed over a £20 note, took the change and her purchases, and quickly left the store. She walked just as quickly down the road, like she was concerned the cashier was going to change their mind and chase her down, but after a couple of minutes she was satisfied with her attempt and stopped, to sort out the mess of items currently still in her hands.
She slipped the change into her purse and popped it back in her bag, then eagerly unwrapped her pack, dropping the plastic wrapping on the floor. She was so excited she'd felt like she never wanted anything more in her life, finally extracting a cigarette and placing it between her lips like she had in her dream.