Dear Evalynn Hansen

FIVE

Evalynn went to bed early that night, not bothering to talk to Evan about what happened. She hadn't even told her therapist, just saying she hadn't completed a letter that day when asked. She tossed and turned all night, worried about what would happen the next day. In the morning, Evan offered to give her a ride to school.

"No thanks. I'll walk again."

"Suit yourself," he said, heading out.

A few minutes later, she walked out, locking the door behind her. As she walked, she noticed an unfamiliar black car following her slowly. Getting nervous, she quickened her pace, but as they got closer to the school, the car sped ahead into the parking lot. Must have been distracted by their phone or something, she reasoned to herself as she made her way to the front entrance of the school.

"Hey, Hansen! Hold up!" someone yelled.

She turned to see Connor hurrying over before skidding to a stop on the front step.

"I, uh, just wanted to give this back. Sorry about yesterday."

He held out a folded piece of paper and she took it from him.

"Um...thanks."

Connor nodded and opened the door, holding it until Evalynn entered then following her and staying close by.

"So, um, I might of read all of it after I stormed off."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Do you really think like that? Like no one would notice if you just...disappeared?"

Evalynn swallowed, contemplating the question.

"W-what's it to you?"

"Well, um, I would notice."

She stopped in her tracks and Connor nearly ran into her.

"W-what?"

"I would notice. That's what you asked in the letter. Would anybody notice? I would notice."

"Y-you would?"

Evalynn couldn't believe what she was hearing. Connor Murphy, the boy she had a crush on since the eighth grade, was telling her he would notice if she up and decided to kill herself one day.

"Yes. I would," he replied.

Evalynn's eyes widened as she stared at him. And then she turned and hurried away, unable to talk to him any more. She found Evan and Jared sitting at a table in the cafeteria and joined them. She didn't pay attention to the conversation, just tried to process what just happened as she gently stroked the paper folded in her pocket. He would notice...

"Hey, Acorn, what's up?" Jared asked.

"Huh? What?" she inquired, turning to face him.

"What's up?" Jared repeated.

"Oh, Um...nothing."

"Is that Connor Murphy's signature on your cast, or am I hallucinating?"

"Um, yeah, no, you're not...He, uh, came to apologize for, for pushing me and he, um, offered t-to sign it and so...yeah."

"He offered to sign it?" Evan asked her.

"Yeah, he, um, he noticed that no one had signed, and said h-he would so, uh, he did."

"Why didn't you stop him?" Jared inquired.

"W-why would I stop him?"

"Are you joking? We're talking about the same guy right now, right? Connor Murphy is batshit out of his mind. Remember when he threw a printer at Mrs. G. in the second grade, because he didn't get to be the line leader that day?"

"W-what's your point, Jared?"

"My point is, the guy's a freak and you shouldn't have let him sign your cast."

"Well, maybe if you had signed it when I asked you, he wouldn't have offered to do it himself!"

"Whatever, Acorn. Come on, Ev. Let's go."

Her twin and Jared stood and headed out of the cafeteria, leaving Evalynn by herself. She stayed there until the bell rang and she made her way to class. Jared was wrong about Connor. The note she continued to stroke in her pocket proved that. If he was all bad, then he wouldn't have gone out of his way to let her know. To tell her that he would notice. She was sure of that fact.