Sacrifice

Chapter Thirty-Five

"Crybaby, skipping school again tomorrow won't help you."

"So, I'm supposed to walk around and talk to people? As if I can function after what happened on Saturday? I can't even eat," Crybaby spoke into her telephone, trying to hold back tears. She heard Ben sigh. "If you stay home, all you'll be doing is sitting in your own sorrow for hours," he said.

"At least I'll be doing that in my bed instead of at a desk in front of thirty other people."

"But one of the people around you will be me. I don't know if that makes it any better, but I'm here for you," he said, then paused, "...You know that, right?"

Crybaby stayed silent for a moment. "I'll think about it," she said. Without saying or hearing another word, she hung up. She cried again for a bit, then wiped her tears after feeling her stomach growling. Although it was Monday, she didn't go to school because she was distraught, and she hadn't eaten anything besides a cookie as some sort of comfort food. She sighed and trudged to the kitchen to find something to eat- something she could actually stomach.

Angelita had skipped school that day, too. She was just as heartbroken as Crybaby, if not more. She'd been sitting on her bed, writing in her journal.

'I don't believe in comparing one's suffering to someone else's. But I've witnessed nasty breakups. I've heard countless stories of friends parting ways. And I must say, the cards I've been dealt are the shittiest I could imagine in a heartbreak like this. I lost my best friend of years. I lost my lover. I lost hope for every plan and every idea that's entered my mind over the last year, after being deceived into thinking it was all coming to fruition. My everything has been taken from me. The two people I would turn to after a loss are both gone because they were the same person, and because of that, I have reason to believe my own pain is worse than any other I've witnessed myself. Despite the remaining people around me and all their loving attempts to ease the pain, it doesn't become any easier to bear.

I have to get through this. I'm sure I will. But that doesn't mean I have any idea how.'

She finished writing and paused for a moment as she stared at the page, then started to cry. After spending a couple minutes crying, she heard a knock at her bedroom door. She sniffled, "Yeah?"

"Lita, honey, why don't you come eat something?" her mother asked sweetly, "I made macaroni."

Angelita wiped her tears and sighed, "Yeah, okay. Just... give me a few minutes."

"No problem," her mother said softly, and then Angelita could hear her walk away from the door. She closed her journal and clipped her pen onto the side of the book, then stood up for the first time in hours and put her journal underneath her mattress. She dragged herself out of her room to eat, which she knew would be a difficult task.

The two girls unknowingly spent their day similarly, heartbroken and demotivated. Angelita had to go to school the next day because her parents said so. Crybaby was still trying to decide whether or not she would go. That evening at 10:54, Crybaby was in bed struggling to sleep although she was tired. She was now deciding that she would probably go to school the next day, just because she didn't want to be sad as well as overwhelmed while making up the work she would miss over two days. Eventually, she fell asleep, but she didn't get a good night's sleep. Nor did Angelita.

In the morning, Crybaby's alarm went off at six thirty as it normally would. She drowsily reached for it and turned it off, then closed her eyes again. In a few minutes, she stretched and forced herself out of the bed. She picked a comfortable outfit rather than a cute one, as she didn't care much about her appearance that day. As she brushed her teeth, she wondered what it would be like sitting next to Angelita on the bus. She wondered if either of them would say anything. Would they ever speak again? She began to overthink and tried not to cry right then and there.