A Night To Remember

Five: Least of My Worries

A sudden hush fell upon the gymnasium as the principal approached the podium. Photos of the deceased were projected on the walls on either side of him as he adjusted the mic and cleared his throat.

"Beloved students, staff, today we," he started speaking but I honestly didn't have the heart to listen. The fact he butchered the poor kid's name at the beginning of this whole thing was enough to show that he didn't care. No one here cared.

Asher sat next to me on the bleachers. Their knee bounced anxiously as they kept their face buried in their hands. Neither of us knew the deceased...hell, I forgot their name five minutes ago, but that didn't mean that it didn't affect us. If anything it made the whole situation worse.

Just serves as yet another reminder that people die every day.

I noticed that they kept the student's cause of death very hush-hush, and didn't even mention where they were found. Made me wonder how gruesome things were. But, then again, maybe they were hiding it for the sake of embarrassment. Maybe the kid dropped their toaster in the bathtub? Or maybe they were brutally mutilated by a chainsaw serial killer? Eh, who knows?

Surprisingly, they didn't let us leave school early for mourning. I mean, yeah, I didn't need to mourn. But I knew that the student was popular enough to have a group of friends that cared. Surely they deserved at least a few days. Yet, the American school system strikes again. Just the way things go, isn't it?

~~~

The suddenness of it all gave all my classmates quite the conversation starter. Walking through the cafeteria, the discussion of the kid's death was inescapable. People were already coming up with theories. Man, I love middle school gossip.

"I heard that they got attacked by a bear, hiking accident," a boy said as if the idea was cool or interesting.

"As if she hated the outdoors!" a girl interrupted.

"Maybe she got possessed by Satan and sacrificed!" a girl spoke up, causing another girl to scoff.

"It's not something to joke about, a poor innocent soul was taken today!" she said in a mock somber tone.

"Boo, quit the act, poser," a boy said.

I rolled my eyes. Jesus, these kids were more morbid than Lydia Deetz. But, who am I to say? I loved Beetlejuice. I watched the musical too. Man, Alex Brightman is so...

Oh right, a student died. Damn.

Avoiding any conversation, I sat next to my friends once again. This time, Anne wasn't late. Unfortunately, it seemed, even our friend group couldn't escape the topic of death.

Seems like we couldn't escape death at all, in the end.

"You guys heard, right?" Anne asked, nervously toying with a plastic spoon.

Raymond laughed, grabbing the plastic knife and holding it up dramatically. "You mean about the..." They brought the knife to their neck and made a slicing motion, tilting their head to the side to appear dead. I held back a laugh; considering the atmosphere was too tense to let it out.

"Not funny, Raymond," Sho said abruptly, glaring at them. Raymond shrugged, setting the knife back down.

"What? An actor is gonna do what an actor does," they said with a smirk.

I held a plastic fork in my hands and glared at my food like it killed my entire family. Damn you, Mr. Greasy Pizza slice... Damn you.

"Uh, Indie?" Allan glanced at me, noticing my demeanor. It was only then that I looked at my hand. The fork I was holding was bending in an odd way from how tightly I'd gripped it. I quickly released my hold, dropping the mutilated piece of silverware onto my tray.