"I just... It was so fucked up. I can't imagine why I would say that and I feel so horrible," I told my friend, MC, as we jogged together.
"Great job girls!" Our gym teacher called to us as we passed by her. "Just two more laps!"
The two of us flashed her a smile before MC turned back to me.
"That's weird that you can't even remember it," she said.
"I know. I looked back at my messages from that day and there's nothing there. Like, I hadn't even texted them in weeks and then suddenly I just told them that and then it looks like I deleted the message."
"That sucks man, but I need to walk for a minute. Go on without me." MC pulled out her inhaler and took a puff.
I began to speed up, ready to sprint the final lap of our run, but suddenly a thought popped into my head. I stopped after just a few paces and waited for MC to catch up to me.
"What?" she asked.
"I didn't send that text," I told her. "I always text with perfect grammar, right?"
"Yeah, it's weird."
"But the grammar was wrong! 'You're' was spelled wrong and there was no period. Also I never use the account that sent it. I would've used my other account if it was me that sent it."
MC shrugged. "You might be onto something"
——
I sat in my bed, scrolling through my Instagram messages until I reached the date I was looking for: September 20th.
We were arguing. It was some stupid petty argument, as usual.
"Look, I'm done fighting. I'm doing homework now. Just leave me alone." I had said... and that was the end.
I remembered that day. I'd gone to the school library, turned my phone off, and put it away in my backpack for the next hour. I hadn't been on it at all.
And the time lined up too. The mysterious message had been sent ten minutes after I'd said I was done arguing.
Quickly, I switched accounts and checked the user data on the account that had sent the message.
And there it was- all the proof I needed. An android phone had logged into my account from our high school, sent the message, and then logged out. I owned an iPhone.
I didn't know how to feel. Relief that I hadn't sent the message? Frustrated at the one who did?
I texted my partner.
"Hey, so I was looking into some things on my account."
"Ok" they replied.
I sighed before typing, "I know you sent yourself that message."
It was a long time before their response came back.
"Look I dont know why you would think that but my brother just got home from school and he got hurt on the bus so I need to go help him cus hes bleeding."
I turned my phone off and lay back on my bed, staring up at the ceiling.
How wonderful!
YOU ARE READING
Look What You Made Me Do
Non-Fiction"Don't tell anybody about this." "If you just ignore it, it'll stop." "There's nothing I can do to help you." And so I did everything I was told. I shut up. I put on a brave face. I followed all the rules. But that was the past and it's not who I am...
