The Last Time I Saw Her

One shot

THUD! My book fell from my locker with a loud thump. As I bent down to pick it up, I saw the embellished Converse of my friend, Trey. I looked up from the insipid excuse as an art project, to his dirty face and ragged, blonde hair.

"Hey Kris, you commin' to that party tonight?"

"It's not a party. Lawrence is just having people over for movies. You just think it's a party because this is the first time you've been invited." I stood up and put the book back in my locker and shut it for the weekend. As I turned away, Trey threw his arm around my shoulders roughly. He has this knack for being able to exacerbate people to the point of madness.

"But are you coming?"

I shook his arm off. "Of course I'm going! It's my house!"

"Oh. Right."

I honestly don't know why he's my friend. We are nothing alike. He is gregarious and

I'm more on the taciturn side. He is absolutely stupid at times, whilst I am a straight A student with common sense. I continued walking, leaving him to dawdle behind. I stepped onto the bus silently and prepared for the chaos that awaited that night.

--Three hours later --

People were everywhere. My brother, Lawrence wanted to do something special for the last Friday before the break, so he invited half the school over. I went upstairs to work on homework like a good student. Lawrence has this aversion to homework and I treat it with disdain at times, but it was the only way to get away from the loudness downstairs. As I ascended the staircase, I glanced at a picture on the wall, and smiled. When I was nearly finished with my economics assignment, I heard a knock at my door.

"Come in."

The door creaked open. There stood Trey with an obscure expression. He didn't seem to be up to anything, he just.... Looked down. He stared at the floor for a long time in reticence.

"Hey Trey, what's up."

"They told me to go away. They called me annoying."

I tried not to laugh because I could see how hurt he was and I didn't want to engender anymore sadness on him. Instead I motioned for him to come sit on the edge of my bed. As he did so, I turned my chair around so I could talk to him.

"Am I really that annoying?"

"Well, I don't think you're too annoying. Just sometimes you get a little crazy."

I tried to lighten the mood with a laugh. It must have worked because he smiled. We talked about what movies they had watched and other pointless things. An awkward silence fell in the room. Trey pointed to a picture on my desk. It was the same picture that was on the wall on the staircase.

"Who's that in the picture? She's pretty."

It was a question with an innocuous reason, but still, the thought of having to explain sent a pain through my chest. I looked at the picture shortly, then back at him. "That's my best friend for when I was little."

"Oh ouch. I thought I was your best friend!"

I smiled a little at his joke, although I wasn't in the joking mood. Seeing my reaction, his face fell.

"Hey Kris? You ok? Sorry if I offended you."

"No, no. It's ok. Her name was Amber. Let's see... the last time I saw her was...."

--Four years earlier... --

"Hey Kris! Want to go see a movie on Friday?" Amber ran up to me, her short hair flopping around. She hooked her arm around mine and looked up at me.