Abyss (The Man in the Abyss 1)

Scene Four: Just a Waste of Space

Scene Four: Just a Waste of Space

Damon meets Julie outside of her locker after school. She skipped all her afternoon classes after what happened in History. Even though she doesn’t even know herself what happened in history. She was in the bathroom all day, just sitting in a stall thinking about what’s happening to her, because honestly she doesn’t know herself. And by the look on Damon’s face he knows what she did.

“Hey, Julie.” Hey greets her softly while she’s taking her stuff out of her locker to go home. Damon lays his hand on her shoulder, making Julie stiffen up. Damon notices this and lets go of her shoulder with a sad sigh.

“Hey, Damon.” She mutters while hoisting her bag on her shoulder. Damon looks at her face, or to be more exact, her under eyes.

“Are you okay?” He asks while they walk out of the school. Julie doesn’t know how to respond to his question. Is she okay? No. Is she going to tell Damon that? No, definitely not.

“Yeah I’m fine.” She answers. Damon opens her car door and shuts it when she has her seatbelt fastened. Damon gets in the car, starts it, but doesn’t drive off just yet. He looks at her again and sighs tiredly. She cannot help that she feels guilty for making Damon worry about her so much. Julie didn’t even worry about herself.

“I heard what happened in history.” He finally says after a minute of staring at her intently. Julie closes her eyes and leans back into the passenger seat.

“Whatever you heard is most likely not true.” She says while putting her hands on her face. She just wanted to go home.

Not the place she lives in—no, that’s not her home. Her home was wherever her mom was. And now her home is gone forever.

“Julie, are you not getting enough sleep?” He asks softly, he tucks a free stand of hair behind her ear. She shivers at the gesture.

“It’s just the pills; they keep me up at night.” She lies. She opens her eyes to see Damon still staring at her. Damon smiles sadly at her. He takes her hand and holds it gently, like she’s fragile glass.

“I’m sorry, I just cannot help but to worry about you.” He tells her. It’s clearly evident that Julie does not deserve a friend like Damon. He’s too caring and kind for his own good.

“There’s no need for you to be worried about me.” She says quickly. Another lie. How many lies has she told today? Countless.

“I know I shouldn’t worry about you, but I do. I feel like you’re slipping away from me.” He says, still holding her hand like precious china. Julie doesn’t reply, so Damon pulls out of the space and drives off when he lets go of her hand. She can’t help but feel like she’s done something wrong.

She’s always pushed everyone who tried to get close to her away. First her poor father, then her friends, and now Damon; her only real friend who actually cares about her. But isn’t pushing people away what’s best for her and everyone around her? If she didn’t let anyone in then she can prevent hurt in the future. And if no one got close to her then she doesn’t have to worry about hutting other peoples’ feelings.

When Damon and her get to their street, they’re impeded by a police officer. The policeman knocks on his window with a stern face, giving him the universal signal to open up. Damon complies by rolling down his window wearily. “What’s wrong officer? Why are you at my house?” He asks cautiously.

“We have a missing person’s report for a…Dana Kohler.” The police man informs while checking his clipboard to double check the name of the missing person. Julie feels herself shudder, she can’t help but feel like she knew his sister was going to go missing.