Hold On Till May

One

Kellin's POV

Just as I'm laying back on my bed with my phone to mess around, it rings. I groan in annoyance; it's Monday night and I just want to relax. I don't recognize the number but roll my eyes and answer the call anyway.

"Hello?"

"Kellin?" It's Mrs. Hart, my friend - well, girlfriend - Amber's mom. She sounds stressed and worried. Come to think of it, I haven't heard from Amber in a while.

"Yeah, that's me. What's wrong? Is Amber okay?" I've sat up, worry now filling my head too.

"Oh, God. I was hoping you knew... Amber's been missing since Saturday night. She said she was spending the weekend at a friend's house and would come home after school today. She wasn't even in school, and when I called her friend's house, she was never there. She left her phone in her room, but I thought she might be with you..." I gulp as she trails off. I hope Amber is okay. I stay on the phone a while longer, condoling and assuring Mrs. Hart that Amber is fine, but as soon as she hangs up I jump into action.

My room is messy but I sift through the clothes impatiently, searching for my Vans. Finally I find them, tripping down the hallway as I yank them on. I have one hand on the front door doorknob when my mom comes out of the kitchen.

"Where do you think you're going, young man?" I freeze. I don't want to tell her about Amber...

"Im just going to my friend's house down the street. I'll be back after school tomorrow," I tell her, crossing my fingers and hoping she'll buy it. She sighs.

"Fine," she says at last, and as I'm closing the door I hear her add on, "be safe."

I live right by a forest, so I have an idea of where Amber could be. Someone built a treehouse not far from either of our houses, but they abandoned it. So it became our secret hiding place, and later our own escape from reality. I hope she's there; I'm not sure what I would do if she isn't.

Luckily, she is. She's actually climbed up out of the window and is sitting on the roof, looking at the sky. The sun is setting behind her, and its light surrounds her, making her a silhouette against the sunset. She's beautiful. I climb up the rickety ladder into the tree house, hoisting myself into the shelter. It's actually pretty big; I bet you could for a mattress in here and have room to spare. As it is, we have pillows and blankets that we snuck out of our houses, along with flashlights, some crackers, and other random stuff. I guess it's kinda weird that two seniors in high school hang out in an old tree house, but it's nice to have somewhere to go. I'm sort of surprised no one else has found it; it's not like it's hiding, because it's by some busy train tracks.

I look around, then sigh. If I want to go where up she is, I have to shimmy through the little window that she's already taken the screen off of. Even so, I am bigger than her so it's gonna suck. I stick my head out to yell up at her.

"Are you gonna come down, or do I have to come up there?" It's cold, and I rub my arms. I should have brought a sweatshirt, but she's wearing only shorts and a flannel. She doesn't reply, and I groan as I start to squeeze through the window. As soon as I look up, I curse; her feet are two inches from landing on my face and she's coming down pretty quickly. I fall backwards on my ass and she snorts, smiling faintly as she smoothly slips back through the window, snapping the screen back on and closing it with a snap. She turns around and shoots me a bigger smile, but I can tell she's been crying. I pat the ground next to me but she sits down across from me, tucking her knees up towards her chin. She's rocking back and forth, and she's crying again. I scoot over to sit by her, wrapping my arms around her protectively. Her lips are blue and trembling, and her skin is ice cold. Idly I wonder how long she's been on the roof; her clothes are slightly damp. I take her hands, and am shocked to find thin, red lines up and down her forearms and disappearing into the sleeves of her rolled up flannel. I press my lips to both of her wrists, willing away her pain, and then tilt her head up and look her in the eyes.

"Amber, when... Why would you... I could have-" she interrupts me here by pressing a quick kiss to my lips. I can feel tears welling up in my eyes and I have a weird pain in my chest.

"It's not your fault," she whispers, shaking her head. "It's just... Just everything, building up."

"Since when?" I ask, frowning. Tears are running freely down my face, but I don't care.

"Freshman year," she sighs, and I gasp. I was still at the same school, I could have helped!

"Tell me," I demand. So she does.