You Should've Listened

You Didn't Care

It's been two weeks. Fourteen days. Three hundred and thirty six hours. Twenty thousand, one hundred and sixty minutes since she's been gone.

2:37am. That's when... when he killed her. Blunt force trauma. In simple words he beat her to death.

Forty forty minutes after I left she was gone.

"At least we get a grief pass on this week's exams." I turn to the side and my eyes study them. "I saw she was on the news." She was. They chose a pretty picture of her.

"We should post about her, right? Because like we knew her, I'm sure it would get a lot of likes."

"Shut the fuck up." I spit out, my voice unrecognizable. The girls turn to me in utter shock. "Do you even hear yourself? Posting about her for likes?" I take a step forward and they take two back. "Let it be the last time she's the topic of your fucking conversation." My voice is ice as I shoot a hard glare at them.

They didn't even know her. They didn't speak to her. Not once.

"Woah man." A hand comes on my shoulder but I shrug it off. When I turn, my teammates are watching me with careful eyes, like I'll bark at them next. "You good?"

"I'm fine." I feel like I haven't been able to breathe for the last twenty thousand, one hundred and sixty four minutes.

"I know it's been hard for you." I turn to my locker but I sense they're all watching me. "I know you really liked her. I'm sure Dahlia was-"

"Take her name out of your mouth." I snap and I swear everyone goes still. "Why does everyone keep saying that? They know it's hard for me." I look around at everyone in the halls who now is watching me.

"This isn't about me. I didn't lose some girl I liked. She lost her life. It's not hard for me. It was hell for her. Stop making this about anything other than what it is. She died. She's dead."

"This is about Dahlia. Not me. Not you all getting a grieving pass on this weeks exams, which I don't know why the fuck you all are. None of you deserve to mourn her!" They stare at me like I'm crazy but maybe I am. Maybe I lost it because that's sure how it feels. Like I'm losing my mind over the fact that Dahlia is gone.

The bell rings and I slam my locker shut before walking to my next class. Human relations. We would have presented our project together today. I feel my chest tighten as I remember her being excited to present.

After not wanting to even work on it, she ended up so happy to finish. I squeeze my eyes shut. Forcing the tears to stop before spilling. I watch as each pair goes up to present their partner.

They go up, two at a time. They share their favorites, family, bucket list, what they learned about each other and themselves. Some of them get creative, others just read off each question.

"Next we have Aries and..." Our teacher trails off as she realizes her mistake. "My apologies. Next group is-" I rise from my seat and make my way to the front of the class.

"Aries you-"

"I'm going to present." She looks at me with sympathetic eyes but I can't feel it. Her sympathy. Because it's fake. If she felt sorry she would've helped her.

"My partner is Dahlia Evans." Was. I close my eyes briefly but don't correct myself. "None of you knew Dahlia. Maybe a handful of you knew her name but you didn't know her so stop saying you did."

I noticed my teacher shake her head. She senses the anger in my voice and probably thinks she knows where this is going. I take a deep breath and get back to the point.