Hadley's Fall (Based on 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher)

6|Hazel Mae

20 Days Before the Fall

"Hazel, there's a letter on the kitchen table for you!" Hazel's mother called up the stairs to her daughter.

"Okay, thanks mom!" Hazel called back. She turned back to her reflection in the mirror and applied a final coat of mascara to her eyelashes. She rubbed some anti-frizz hair cream through her curly blonde hair and grabbed a sweater from her closet before she exited her room and headed downstairs.

The letter seemed to be watching her as she poured the milk into her bowl of cereal. She sighed dramatically and sat down in the chair farthest from the letter.

It was stupid, she thought, to be afraid of an inanimate object. But she couldn't help it; she knew who the letter was from, and she dreaded opening it.

Back in third grade, Hazel Mae's class had done a pen pal project with a school in Toronto, Canada. For a small school located on the countryside of Utah, receiving letters describing big-city life was the highlight of her class's school day. After the project was over, most kids stopped sending letters. But Hazel Mae and Hadley, her pen pal, had continued to send letters for almost eight years.

Well, correction: Hadley had continued to send letters. Hazel had too, for a while, but she hadn't sent one for a few months. Usually their letters had been lighthearted and humorous, filled with recounts of funny events from school or embarrassing moments in public. They usually confided in each other about their crushes or arguments with friends. For some reason the fact that they had never met in person led to them trusting each other more than they had ever thought possible.

Lately, however, Hadley's letters hadn't been very enjoyable to read. In fact, they were down-right depressing. Hazel Mae knew that the past year had been rough for her pen pal: her parents had split up because her dad was cheating, and she had been dealing with some bullies at school, but Hadley had refused to try and see a bright side to the situation. As an optimistic person, Hazel Mae could physically feel her mood drag down whenever she read one of Hadley's letters.

Sighing, she reached across the table and grabbed the letter. She was going to have to read it at some point, no point in putting it off any longer. She broke the seal and tried to mentally prepare herself for the depressing words she was about to read.

Dear Hazel Mae,

I don't even know why I bother to write you letters anymore. Clearly you're never going to reply. I don't know what I said that made you decide stop writing to me, but I hope you know that I don't regret it. I thought we agreed we could tell each other anything? I guess that only applied to you.

I thought we were friends, Hazel. When everyone turned against me here, I thought I still had you. Now that you've abandoned me too, I have nobody.

You don't believe me, do you? You probably thinking I'm exaggerating or being dramatic. I'm not surprised. You're busy living it up in Utah, where I'm only a tiny sliver of your life. Well guess what Hazel? I might be only a tiny part of your life, but for a while, you were my entire life. You were the only person that was there for me, and now that I can't even depend on you... is there even a point anymore?

Whatever. This is probably just another letter you are going to throw in the trash.

-Hadley

Hazel Mae's mouth fell open. She had received some bad letters from Hadley before, but this was by far the worst. It almost sounded as though Hadley was going to do something drastic...

"Oh my god, what do I do?" Hazel breathed. This was serious. Her friend was in danger. How could she show her that she wasn't alone, and Hazel was still there for her when Hadley was hundreds of miles away?