Remedy (Beyonce)

6

WARNING THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SENSITIVE/TRIGGERING MATERIAL

When I woke up, I headed straight for the shower, singing a few random songs that popped into my head. I exited the bathroom in my robe seeing Remady drawing in her notebook, she told me she'd always loved to draw even though she was a fashion and marketing major.

"Sorry did I wake you?" I asked and she shook her head no "You have a really pretty voice, you ever thought about recording some of your songs?" she asked her now sitting my notebook down.

"That's always been a dream of mine, but my family doesn't believe in dreams."

"Well, that's why they're your dreams and not theirs." I took in her words as she went into the bathroom, and I got dressed. We hung out for the day, and I even talked to her mom while they were having our daily phone call. She was adamant about always bringing me whenever she hung out with Niko and the others. I could tell she wanted us all to get along, and they did seem to be warming up to me more, so it was nice to have a solid friend group.

Another weekend rolled around, and it was time for a party. We were all going as a group, and my main role was just to supervise Rem. She wasn't out of hand but was definitely enjoying her freedom away from home. Sometime or another I lost track of how many drinks she'd had, and I'd basically had to carry her into the dorm.

"Alright Rem, go to sleep." I said, placing her blanket on top of her. I heard her mumbling something but couldn't make it out, so I leaned closer "What'd you say Rem?" Suddenly I felt our lips connect and I froze for a second before quickly pulling away.

I stood frozen in shock before hearing her light snores, it'd been so long since I had kissed a girl. In fact, the last time I kissed a girl was the worst night of my life. I shook off the memories and climbed in the bed myself, I guess we'd talk about it in the morning.

Once we were both awake, I kept waiting for her to bring it up, but she never did. I guess she didn't remember, maybe it was best that way. As time went on Shawn started to crave my attention more and I found myself creating a biweekly schedule for days to spend with him. That meant I only had to hate myself for a few hours out of a couple of days every other week, which was manageable.

Remady and I continued to grow closer and would often go sit on the roof, stargaze, and talk about everything. One night in particular she seemed quieter than usual.

"What're you thinking about?" I asked, kind of worried. "I have a question, but I don't want to offend you." I sat up, and so did she. "Go ahead"

She hesitated before speaking "On the first night, Niko and the others mentioned some kind of scandal surrounding your family. They said whatever it was you guys covered it up...and your dad paid your way into school. Is there any truth behind that?"

I sighed, I figured I'd have to tell her eventually. "When I was in 10th grade I met a girl, her name was Onyx. She was my best friend, partner in crime, first love...she was everything. Of course, I couldn't let my parents find out, so we used to sneak around a lot. By 12th grade she'd picked up a few bad habits...habits we shared. I would pay for the pills, and we'd get high together, skipping school most days, and then...well my world came crumbling around us."

"Here Bey, I got us some new ones to try this time. When are your parents coming back?" Onyx said as she tossed me the bag of colorful pills. "They shouldn't be back until the morning, we're fine." I smiled as I poured four into my hand, two for each of us. We took the pills with a shot of a random whiskey I'd found in my dad's man cave, then laid down facing one another. We had a pretty usual routine, and soon we started to take each other's clothes off, kissing while exploring one another.

One moment I'm feeling great, lost in the moment with her and the next I opened my eyes, struggling to breathe and unable to move. I was still laying on top of Onyx, but she felt extremely cold, all I could do was cry and groan as my body seemed to get heavier and heavier.

I heard my room door open, and the screams of my mother faded in and out of my ear as she snatched me off of Onyx and shook me. I could hear my father's muffled voice calling someone for help as my eyes landed on Onyx's lifeless body...this all just had to be a bad dream.

I blinked a couple of times, feeling Rem holding my hand as support. I cleared my throat and wiped my eyes. "The pills were an experimental mix...they were way too strong. My parents never called 911, just the family doctor to reverse my OD and a private coroner to come get her body. Onyx's mom didn't like how things were handled, understandably, so she tried to go to the media, but my mom shut her down quickly. That's why all anybody is ever able to say is we were involved with a scandal. As soon as I recovered, I got sent straight to rehab, but considering I'd been skipping and how much time rehab took. My grades suffered...so yea my dad had to pay to get me into a school. There have been so many days I wish I died instead of her..."

Rem was silent for a while, probably not sure of what to say, "For what it's worth, I'm glad you're here and I'm sorry you had to go through that." It was something nobody had ever told me before about the situation, and hearing it made my soul feel warm. "Thanks Rem, that really means a lot."