Me, Myself, and Her

Chapter Four

Chapter Four: Invisible

When Annie got home after walking quite a bit, she was right: Steve was already there. He didn't here her come in, though, and continued to sit on the couch with his head in his hands. The pain was so great, he didn't even make it to his room before he just needed to sit.

"Steve?" Annie asked quietly, not wanting to scare him. He still jumped a little, and when she saw his face her heart broke. "What happened?" She quickly went over to him and sat down, pulling him into a hug.

They were pretty close considering how their parents weren't exactly involved in either of their lives unless one of them did something incredibly awful. It was nice, Steve being a few years older than Annie. It helped them bond rather than bump heads. He also inadvertently helped her become a semi-popular kid with his own popularity.

At first, he didn't want to say anything, unsure of his little sister getting it. But he told her everything, and she told him everything. "Nancy... she called us bullshit. Said our love was bullshit," he managed to get out. To him, he sounded stupid.

To Annie, he sounded seriously heartbroken. "Oh, Steve." She hugged him longer and they just sat there, not saying anything for a minute. It was nice having a sibling there for him, Steve thought.

After a bit, they ate a few bits of candy from Annie's bag, and then they both went upstairs to go to bed. Annie decided she'd talk to Steve about her problem a different night, when he didn't need her to be there for him.

~~

At school the day, Max and Annie were walking together to Mr. Clarke's. "I still don't get why they call him 'Zombie Boy'. I mean, I get it, he got lost in the woods for like, a week or something, but why is he a zombie? Cause everyone thought he was dead?"

Annie nodded. "Yeah, there was a funeral and everything. It was really rough."

"After a week?"

"Well, another kid had drowned at the quarry and they assumed it was him. I don't really remember all the details, but I think the mix up happened because his body was super decomposed and they couldn't tell. It was a bad week for everyone around."

Max sighed as we stopped. "Okay, that's not funny."

Annie looked at her, confused. "It's not a joke, I promise. It's public knowledge- everyone here knows about it and all. Just ask- but not Will. It's kinda traumatic," she explained.

"Yeah, I guess it would be..." Max said. She wanted to know what really happened, but didn't think Annie would know and she knew none of the others would tell her, so she took that as her answer for the time being.

In Mr. Clarke's he was talking about the case of Phones Gage and the iron rod that changed his life forever. It was kind of interesting, but Annie didn't want to focus on it. A couple times, she glanced over at Max and even thought about trying to draw her. But every time she dropped that thought and moved on to drawing other things.

That was until Dustin came barging in out of breath. Everyone stared at him as he stumbled out apologies and hurried to his seat. Then, he said something to the Party, before he turned and whispered something to a very confused Max.

Mr. Clarke called him out again and Dustin stopped and started paying attention to the class. Annie wasn't surprised she didn't get to be in on this secret knowledge. During trick-or-treating the night before, she noticed how Lucas and Dustin liked her. She pretended not to care that they did.

The day continued on, nothing of importance happening. When it came to lunch, Max said she was meeting Dustin at the A/V club and would see Annie in their next class. She smiled and said cool, then went to lunch where she met up with Holly and Meghan.