(FEATURED)
It's been months since the unceremonious fall of Kimie Sato's older sister. The whole of Ridgerock High knows it, and by now, the majority have moved on. But Kimie still watches those who had a hand in it continue to walk free, and the mo...
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I spent the night with Kairi after getting home and meeting her curled up in bed, her pillows soaked with tears. We didn't say anything to each other, but when I crawled into her bed, after taking my shoes off, and she moved closer to me, I realized we didn't need words.
I woke up the next morning to meet sunlight coming in through her parted white curtains, and the intensity of it almost gave me a headache. Immediately I sat up with one hand leaning behind me, I remembered everything. The look in Axel's eyes, the smile on his face, the pain in his voice. All because of my sister.
My legs and arms felt heavy as I struggled to get out of bed, and I wasn't feeling motivated to do anything. It was like I'd been wrung dry overnight.
Just before I stepped out of Kairi's room, I realized I hadn't been in there for a while. Last night, I'd just walked in, my head spinning, and when I saw her, my focus was on helping.
Her room hadn't changed much since the last time I saw it. The yellow wallpaper was still the same, her dresser still in the same position, and her study table still as messy as it had always been. Colored paper sticking out of her notebooks, her binder carelessly open, highlighters and pencils everywhere. From where I was standing, I could see the Post-it notes she had stuck to the table. She used to put those everywhere, even on the kitchen counter, after writing weird instructions on them, like P at 0:00, Fara, or Sesh w An. I never quite understood them.
I took a hot bath, sitting in the bathtub until my skin began to age, and trying to imagine a normal Sunday. Church, definitely, a nice meal after, movies, Mom. I stared up at my bathroom ceiling, the sound of disturbed water echoing in the room, until I convinced myself it was time to get out.
Before I went downstairs after getting dressed, I tried calling West again. This time, I was positive he'd pick up, but the line rang and rang until it stopped and went to voicemail. A strange anger—perhaps leftover from last night—burned its way up my feet until it blinded me, leading me to throw my phone across the room. The phone met the wall before falling to the floor.
I sat on the edge of my bed, my chest rising and falling as I struggled to calm myself. He wasn't worth it. A guy who'd ignore me despite knowing how worried I was about him definitely wasn't worth it.
I told myself that again and again until I felt calm enough to go downstairs. My phone vibrated from its position on the floor, as if urging me to get up, and it took me a while to realize it was set to vibrate and that vibration was definitely because a text just came in. Confused (and a little curious), I went to check who the text was from.
I hadn't heard from Skye since that day outside Foodie, so I was surprised to see a text from her at eight in the morning, with a photo attachment.
Did u know bout this, the text said.
"No," I whispered when I saw what the photo was about, and my legs felt even weaker.
The photo was of West. He was standing outside an antique store at night in dark clothes, and inside the building were guys similarly dressed, spray cans in the hands of some, metal rods in the hands of others. When I looked closely, I saw a familiar face. His arms were folded over his chest as he looked like he was listening to something one of the boys was saying.
