Chapter Five

33 0 0
                                    

The next thing Marilyn remembered was waking up in her bed. She had rushed home and locked herself in her room, although the entire ordeal seemed like just a haze of color. She felt groggy and disoriented, and had slept with her contacts still in. She pulled them out and placed on her glasses.

Her room was filled with Paul. From photos to souvenirs from four years of dating, it was almost as much his room as it was hers. She suddenly remembered losing her virginity in the very bed she was laying in now and got sick to her stomach. She rolled out onto the ground and remembered the time her sister had caught her and Paul making out on the ground. She stood up and was ready to puke, but at least she was having cohesive thoughts again. 

She tried to think if Paul had given her any signs of the breakup. It had all been so good until lunch today when he had sat her down. She felt completely blindsided. 

She tried to think if he had acted weird at all. Of course he didn’t. Paul never acted weird. Paul wasn’t weird. Paul was cool and calm and collected and a guy you could rely on to specifically not be weird. Paul was the most normal person in the world, but in a way that wasn’t threatening. Marilyn suddenly realized that she was probably the first person to hate the guy. 

They had even gone out for dinner not two days ago. He had called it their pre-prom get together. Had he been weird then? Did he give any sign at all? What had they even talked about? She was having trouble concentrating. There was a few movies she wanted to see, they had talked about that. Paul thought he saw a hair in his fries but it had ended up just being one of Marilyn’s. It was all just normal conversation. Was there any sign at all?

She tried to go back further. Their four year anniversary had been- what? Eight months ago? How long ago was September? She could keep it straight. That was a long time ago. What about things after that? Two weeks ago? Two days ago? Nothing seem to stick out to her.

What else had he said? She hadn’t seen him that morning, which was weird because they usually met out by her locker, but it wasn’t totally out of the ordinary for there to be something else going on. He hadn’t been in English either. That was maybe a little weird? Who was she going to take to prom?

“I’m seeing Danielle.” That’s what he had said. Marilyn’s heart dropped. He was with someone else. He had fallen for Danielle? Why Danielle? 

A knock on the door brought her thoughts screeching to a stop. It didn’t make sense that anyone would be knocking at the door. It wasn’t late, but she wasn’t expecting anyone. Maybe her mom had just gotten drunk and forgotten her keys again? Marilyn sighed and exited her room. 

The rest of the house wasn’t exactly in shambles, but certainly wasn’t clean. Marilyn did all she could to keep her own things together, but her mother’s negligence of almost everything shown through. From time to time Marilyn would steal her mother’s credit card to higher a cleaning lady, but it’d been a long time since that had happened. She just never had people over, except for Paul of course. Paul understood why things were a mess. Paul understood everything. 

She made her way to the front door, which was down the stairs and to then at the opposite end of the hallway. Her feet dragged heavy against the carpeted floor, so that when she reached out for the front door handle a sharp electric shock ran through her body.

“OUCH!” she exclaimed audibly, pulling back her hand quickly. It was the most profound, clear thing she had felt the entire day. She shook off the jolt and opened the door, ready to let her mother in silently. Instead, Danielle McDonald was in front of her.

A long moment passed between them. Danielle stared at Marilyn, and Marilyn stared at Danielle. 

“Can we talk?” Danielle broke the silence, her voice quivering underneath a sentence that was obviously rehearsed several times before hand.

Marilyn stared at her, completely unsure of how to respond. Her mind was blank. She could form an insult or retort. Her eyes took Danielle in, trying to paint a picture of the girl she would’ve considered one of her best friends. A girl who had been there almost as much as Paul had. A girl who had kept her from going off the edge time and time again. She had known her longer than Paul, even. And here she was, standing in front of her as if she hadn’t just ruined her life. 

They both stood with their mouth agape for another moment. Marilyn could’ve said a lot of things, but instead she just said one word and then closed the door.

“No.”

After DeathWhere stories live. Discover now