Paper Cranes

Abigale

When your best friend dies, it certainly leaves you speechless. Especially if you've never spoken a word to begin with. I wasn't about to speak because Abigale died though. She wouldn't have wanted me to, she would have wanted to hear my voice. So why should I talk ever, if the one person who really wanted to truly hear my voice is no longer living? My point exactly.

When Abigale first met me, it was on accident, but she probably saved me from a lot of bad things because like I said, I haven't peeped a word since I left the womb.

We were eleven, art class had just ended. Everyone had packed up there things and was leaving when Mr. Briggs called my name. I weaved through table after table, accidentally knocking some books that had been left behind to the floor. "There's no need to worry about those." Mr. Briggs called out as I started to bend over, "Just come on over here. I need to talk with you about your grades." Now obviously I was a little naive, seriously, why would an art teacher of all teachers talk to you about your grades. But I was a pessimist back then and thought of all the bad things this could mean for me.

He nodded for me to sit down and put my books on the table, so I did. "Now..Zoë," he leaned forward and put his hand on my knee, "this may be quite hard to hear, but I'm afraid you're failing my class." My eyes widened with panic and I was worried, stupid, little ole' pessimistic me. "But, there is something you can do to...make up for it." His hand travelled farther up my bare leg and was now somewhat submerged under my skirt. I instantly froze, then I realized what he was trying to get at and I ran. I almost made it to the door to, but found myself being straddled by him on the ground. Damn my short legs, damn me being fast, but not fast enough; just damn in general. Mr. Briggs must have been having a field day running his hands all over my eleven year old body when I hadn't even gotten my period yet, I had started puberty that's for sure. The funniest thing of all was that all of the teachers knew I was mute, so who better than to try and rape than the girl who can't scream for help?

All I will say is that Mr. Briggs didn't get as far as he'd liked to that day because those books I had knocked to the floor were Abigale's and she had been in the bathroom the whole time, so when she came running in through that door and saw Mr. Briggs with his pants unzipped and me stripped of everything, but my underwear, she screamed. It was all she had to do. Her scream was so loud, and so many people heard her. Two teachers, female might I add, came in followed by the male police entourage for the school to see what was the matter.

Mr. Briggs couldn't cover it up. He didn't have time to zip up his pants even. Much less time to re-dress me and shut Abigale up. Abigale had no idea what she did for me that day until she talked to me a week later. She screamed, when I couldn't.

Abigale and I didn't speak until she showed up at my house in the middle of the night, the next weekend. I have no idea how she did it, because my room is on the second floor of the house and I'm pretty sure my window locks from the inside and I distinctly remember locking it that night. At about 2:20 in the morning I heard something, Abigale was sitting on a tree branch that looked like it would snap any second outside my window. I couldn't tell it was her at first with the way she had her face pressed up against the glass, creepy grin plastered on her face, my gosh I thought for a minute that she was a serial killer. It must have looked really weird while she was sitting out there and I ignored her by silently praying to the father..son..and holy spirit as I made the cross on my body. I was praying that the serial killer wouldn't break my window because he couldn't get it open with it locked. But Abigale, she didn't care. She went right ahead and opened the window and climbed onto my bed. I stared at her in shock. My mother made sure that I had that window shut and locked tight, how on earth did she get it open?

"Can I stay here?" I looked at her as if she were crazy and then said the dumbest thing, well okay, if you want the truth I really didn't say anything. So she grabbed a note pad from my dresser and handed it to me with a marker. I wrote of course! onto it.