72 hours

Party

Friday 5pm
I stared at myself in the foggy mirror after my shower. This is the only way I can look at myself and feel a tiny bit okay. Even though my reflection was blurry, I could still pick out my imperfections. I let out a heavy sigh before getting dressed.

When I got out I laid down on my bed. I haven't felt like myself in awhile. I've been depressed for years, but the past couple of months it's been getting worse and worse every day.

My friend Jess is taking me to a party tonight. I decided to let her take me to the party, so that way once it ended, I can shut everyone out of my life. I Can start my plan to take my life. I've had it planned for a couple weeks now, and I've been thinking about it non stop ever since.

I was brought back into reality when my phone vibrated on the dresser next to me. I checked it, and it was just Jess telling me she'd be here in ten minutes. I sat up on my bed, walked over towards the mirror on the opposite side of the room and did my hair. By the time I finished, jess pulled into the driveway. I grabbed everything I needed before heading out the door.

Friday 8:30pm
I felt myself tense up. I always hated parties because of the people. I hate being in large groups and having all eyes on me, but I had to force myself to do this. To give jess a final good memory with me.

Jess drove up and parked across the street. We entered the house, and the smell of weed mixed alcohol filled the air. I gripped Jess' hand tighter, trying to not get thrown around in the crowd. She brought me to the backyard, where it was still packed but not as bad as inside.

"Stay here I'll go get us a drink," she sat me down on one of the few chairs, and went inside. She knew how uncomfortable I was in crowds, so whenever we went to parties she'd always take care of me. She'd always look out for me, and was basically like my sister.

"Here you go," she handed me a cup and pulled a chair closer to me. She held her cup up to my eye level and I tapped my cup against hers, chugging my drink right after.

"Would you be mad if I brought you here so I can have you meet someone," I looked at her confused and waited for her to continue.

"One of my friends says he knows someone that's exactly like you,"

"How do they know anything about me,"  confusion still painted across my face.

"I talk to them about you sometimes. Nothing bad. Just sometimes something will remind me of you and I'll talk to them about it. They'll bring up their friend sometimes, and after a few stories we realized that you two are basically the same person. We tried to have you guys meet a couple times, but it obviously never worked out so we thought this would be the perfect opportunity," she smiled and I stared at her emotionless trying to process everything.

"Look, I know you hate meeting new people, and well people in general, but I can just tell you guys are gunna be good for each other. Trust me on this," she put her arm around me pulling me as close as she could. The arm of the chair digging into my ribs.

"I'm gunna need another drink if you want me to get through this," both of us smiled.

"I'll be back," She disappeared into the crowd and I leaned back into the chair zoning out. I always zoned out a lot. No matter how hard I tried to focus, I couldn't help but drift away from reality.

Even though tonight was supposed to get my mind off things, I could help but repeat the number 72 in my head. That was my countdown once the party ended. Enough time to distance myself and get rid of all my stuff.

I was brought back into reality when I saw someone approach me. I looked up, and saw Jess standing next to some guy and a girl. I could only guess it was her friend and the person they were trying to set me up with.

"Aliyah this is Nick," she gestured towards the tall man standing on her left. He had brown hair that was slick back and brown eyes.

"And this is Billie," she gestured towards the girl on her right. She had black hair with green roots and light blue eyes.

I gave a faint smile. I was never good at making conversation and meeting new people. I was an awkward person, but it became worse when it involved people i was unfamiliar with.

"Oh no I forgot your drink," Jess said in a sarcastic tone breaking the awkward silence.

"Billie take a seat while me and Nick get some drinks for us," she quickly grabbed nicks arm and pulled him away from us, before we could say anything.

"Do you think they're dating?" Billie asked and I could feel her staring at me.

"The better question, is do you think they're ever come back with our drinks" I looked back at her, and she had a smile on her face. I didnt find myself funny, but I tried my best to be, just to hide the fact how badly im hurting on the inside.

"I hope so. I need it to get through this awkward tension between us," her smile was now bigger than before.

After about ten minutes, we ended up going inside because Jess and Nick never came back. We made a couple drinks, and Billie grabbed my hand, leading us back to where we were previously sitting. When she grabbed my hand, I felt weird. It felt different, but in a good way. I didn't realize I was stuck in a trance, until she let go and sat on the same chair she was once in. I shook off the feeling and sat down next to her.

We sat in silence for a bit. It wasn't an awkward silence either. I watched the people that were in front of us, while I tried to think of something to talk about, but the longer time went on, the more I started to give up thinking it would make things awkward again.

"What do you say we get out of here and go somewhere fun," she stood up and held her hand out.

I thought about it for a minute. She could kidnap me or murder me, but that didn't scare me since I wanted to die anyways. I got up and grabbed her hand. She led us to the front of the house leaving the party.