Losing Everything [COMPLETED]

Seven Days After

MARCH

😼Toralei Stripe😼

I didn't go to the funerals. I did, however, go to the hanging of one of my best friends. Her sister needed my support. So I was there with her. I was there when they placed a leather belt around Purrsephone's ankles. I was there when they placed the bag over her head, when they placed the noose around her neck. I was there when she started crying.

I was there when the floor fell out from under her feet and she fell beneath the gallows. I was there when her neck snapped. I was there when she died. I was even there when Meowlody started crying. I was there when I pulled Meowlody into my arms and told her that everything was going to be all right. But, truly, we all knew that was a lie.

JUNE

🔥Heath Burns🔥

Truth is, I never got over Abbey's death. I never got over the fact that I had held her hand as every ounce of life left her being.

It's why my parents had put me on suicide watch for the first two months. After that, they had sent me to a mental facility, one that I had remained in ever since. Once I stopped seeing Abbey in my nightmares, they would let me come home. Basically, I would never be able to go home. It wasn't possible. Because to stop seeing her in my nightmares, I'd have to kill myself.

Your eyes don't have to be closed for you to suffer from a nightmare. Anyone could tell you that.

JULY

😼Toralei Stripe😼

Four days ago, Meowlody committed suicide. She drowned. She couldn't take the guilt of what her sister had done. She couldn't stand being the only living twin. If I had listened, if I had watched her just a little more closely, I could've stopped her. I could've kept her alive.

But I hadn't been paying attention.

I hadn't been accepting her begging for the attention and help that she so desperately needed. I was no better than Purrsephone, really. Me not helping Meowlody had been one of the reasons she had killed herself.

I was no better than a killer.

AUGUST

🏀Clawd Wolf🏀

"You're sure you'll be okay?" I asked.

"I'll still see you on the weekends," Laura said quietly. "It's college. Of course I'm okay."

I slung my last duffel bag into the backseat of my truck and sighed. "Call me every night. Understand?" I asked.

She smiled, but even I knew that it was forced. "Okay," she whispered.

I pulled her into a tight hug. "I love you."

She let out a breath of relief. "I love you, too, Cookie."

I squeezed a little tighter before I stepped away from her. "Don't hurt yourself while I'm gone. If you need to talk, if you feel... down, give me a call and I'll be outside your window faster than you could imagine." She nodded. I caught a few of her tears with my thumb and smiled weakly. "Don't drop out of school. It's your senior year. I know it's tough, but I want you to graduate. Okay?"

"I'll do my best."

"Good girl." I kissed the top of her head and climbed into the truck. With one final wave, I drove away from everything I had grown up with.

OCTOBER

🐺Clawdeen Wolf🐺

"Did you hear what happened?" I asked as I sat down at the lunch table.

"About Manny?" Draculaura asked. I nodded. "I watched it on the news this morning," she said quietly.

What happened?" Cleo asked.

Draculaura pushed her fork through her salad. "Manny was killed in the tank late last night. Cops picked him up for being drunk. Some other drunk killed him while they were in the tank," she said. She cleared her throat. "Daddy's getting the guy executed," she added.

"Maybe murder would stop being okay if your father would stop executing people," Cleo said.

"He's doing it to criminals - those that have killed others. He's not executing people that are innocent," Draculaura said.

"Maybe he should be executed," Cleo said.

Draculaura slowly stood up from the table. "Excuse me," she whispered. And then she walked out of the cafeteria.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked.

"We're all on edge," Cleo said.

"That gives you no right to talk to her like that. She has feelings," I said.

"Her father is slowly killing off this whole town," Cleo said.

"Purrsephone killed fourteen people in, what, four days? Dracula has hanged two, soon to be three. Is he really the bad guy?" I asked.

"No," she said. She sighed. "I'll apologize when she gets back. It's just... Deuce hasn't spoken to me since his cousin died. It's really messing with me and the way I think, you know?" she asked.

"We've all changed since they were all killed. It's not just Deuce," I said.

"I know." The sirens blaring made me jump up from my seat.

"We have a medical emergency. We are on lockdown. No one leaves the cafeteria until further notice," Mr. Where said over the speakers. Romulus strode into the cafeteria.

I grabbed his hand and pulled him into Draculaura's empty seat. "Do you know what happened?" I asked.

"There was a fight in the girl's bathroom. It was something about, uh... 'It's your fault that she's dead'. There was a lot of hissing. I'd say Toralei started something," he said.

"Draculaura? Did you hear her?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I don't hangout in the girl's bathroom, Deenie."

I smacked his arm. "That's not funny."

"Well, call her."

"She's not answering," Cleo said as she set her phone back on the table.