The Way Things Change

Chapter 3

I eventually got home after sitting in my car for an hour crying. When I walked in my apartment the salience was deafening me, pounding at my head reminding me about the family I no longer have. I don't even bother changing I just collapse on my bed and let my brain wander as I fall into a deep sleep forgetting the day's events.

I awake to the sound of pounding at my door. I peel my face off the pillow getting ready to slap someone for waking me up at such an ungodly hour of 5:00 on Saturday. The pounding gets louder and more annoying going along with the sound of sirens and lights flashing outside my window. I get out of bed with my wrinkled dress and curled hair that looks flat on half my head. I throw on my dark jean shorts and my shirt that says "lettuce is the taste of sadness" and brush my hair. The pounding gets louder again and someone yells "Police open up!" I run down the stairs and throw the door open.

"Can I help you?" I ask a little irritated that they woke me up.

The younger looking cop asks me "Are you Emily Hayes?"

"Yes what's going on?" I ask.

"We need you to come with us." The younger one and reaches for my arm. I step back away from his touch and say "No not until you tell me what's going on." I say.

"We need you to identify a body." The older one says sounding impatient.

I wasn't sure when I started walking but i grabbed my black jacket and walked out to the police car. I got in the back and sat quietly the whole way to the morgue. I got out of the car and followed the police men inside the building and into a room with some familiar faces. I saw Payton first then Seth, Katie, Nick and then surprisingly Dawson. Payton runs up to me and gives me a huge hug with tears streaming down her face.

"Payton what's wrong? Why are we here?" I ask really confused about everything. I look around and don't see Alexus. I step back from Payton and say "Payton where's Alexus?" Everyone looks down at the floor and avoids eye contact with me. The mortician comes out and says "Is Emily here yet?" I step back and say "No."

"Emily you have to go look at the body." Seth says and looks really upset.

"No, no, no, this happening, this isn't real, no." I say and start crying. Nick comes over to me and wraps his arms around me and whispers "I'm so sorry Emily." My knees go weak and I have to grip his arms to be myself up. The mortician comes out and says "Emily I need you to come with me." I keep holding onto Nick for support refusing to move. Payton comes over to me and grabs my hand and guides me over to the mortician. She looks at us with pity and maybe a hint of sadness in her eyes and asks us to follow her. We get to this room and the only thing in it is a table with some tools and then another table with a body on it with a sheet over it. I walk towards the table and the mortician says "I'm going to pull the sheet back and when I do I need you to tell me if you know the person lying there and then tell me her name." I nod in response not prepared to see the body of my best friend. She pulls back the sheet, and I turn around, put my hand over my mouth, and say "Oh god. " I stand there crying when the mortician says "Emily do you recognize the person." I turn my head and look at her, lying there unmoving, skin pale, her eyes closed, she looks peaceful and I hope she died quickly. "Her name is Alexus White, my best friend." Then I turn and almost run out the room as fast as I can. I pass by Nick and the rest of the them when Nick calls out my name. I turn for second but then continue my search for the nearest bathroom, when I find it I go into the nearest stall and gag and puke until my throat hurts. As soon as I'm done I get out and wash my hands, I look at my reflection in the mirror, the red eyes and the dark circles under my eyes. I throw the trashcan across the room, and kick the wall, I accidentally grabbed this glass soap holder and it breaks when I throw it on the ground. I fall to the ground, scraping up my knees, and my palms split on the broken glass. The door swings open and Dawson steps into the bathroom, looks at me, his eyes go wide and he yells "Emily!" and runs towards me. He grabs my hands and immediately gets paper towels and grabs the first aid kit from the shelf behind us. "Emily what did you do?" He asks with concern lacing his voice. "I didn't mean to, I wasn't trying to kill myself if that's what you're wondering." I say tears starting again, he wraps his arms around me when he's done wrapping up my hands. "It'll be okay Emily, they'll figure out who did this " He says. I shake my head against his shoulder, and say "I can't lose anyone else Dawson, I can't, I can't do this again." I say. He doesn't say anything but he lets me wet his shoulder with my tears. It feels like hours until he pulls me up off the floor and says "The police need to talk to us, each of us, about what happened last night at the party, everything that happened." I start to get nervous remembering our little dirty dancing scene at the party and what Alexus told everyone at the party.

Author's Note: I am really excited about what the next chapters will entail, I hope you guys like them too! The picture is of Drew Roy who I picked to play as Dawson.