I Want to Say Hello

Chapter 2

Laney and Jamie began spending a lot of time with each other. They'd sit in Jamie's backyard and look out at the cars passing by, having idle conversations about Laney's day at school, or Jamie's adventures. Jamie didn't have very many friends anymore, she had been sent to a mental health clinic, and they diagnosed her with depression. She seemed to be a lot more quiet than usual after being diagnosed. Laney could sense something was a bit off. Jamie stopped getting as much sleep, she started staying out longer, and coming home later, Jamie's life was just an endless spiral of bad choices that Laney could never seem to understand. Laney watched as Jamie's eyes turned from bright to dull, and her face went from beautiful, to tired, as bags and dark circles began to form under her eyes. She watched Jamie's hair become dry and messy, and Jamie became thinner each day.

"How have you been eating?" Laney would ask. Jamie would just shrug in response. "What about sleeping? Have you spoken with your doctor?" Jamie would mumble and answer that couldn't be deciphered, even if she was listening as close as possible. Laney became increasingly worried about her best friend's state of mind, so she tried to keep Jamie adventuring. Not the bad adventures that would land her in trouble with the law, or with bad people, but fun ones, like to the top of a hill for a picnic, or to the other end of town to see all the beautiful houses for the rich people. Jamie didn't seem as thrilled, but she would at least smile when she was on those "adventures" with Laney. She appreciated the effort. She loved everything Laney tried to do to make her happy.

Jamie was put on medication for her depression after she refused to get out of bed for three days. Laney convinced herself that Jamie was just catching up on all the sleep she missed when going out at night to wonder, but she knew deep inside that it's just another symptom of depression. Laney began to understand that separating Jamie from her abusers wasn't a good solution to the problem, as they were some of her only friends. Jamie needed more friends than Laney, as she was the more outgoing of the two. Laney swore to herself that she'd fix Jamie's mood and make her happy, outgoing, and carefree again.

This wasn't the first time Jamie had fallen into a depression. Jamie once became very depressed at the beginning of middle school because her parents had sent her to a public school, instead of home-schooling her as they normally did. She ended up spending a lot of time separated from her family and she disliked it very much. She ended up crying herself to sleep some nights, and when she finally talked to her parents about the situation, she was taken out of public schooling and returned to her home. Laney found it a bit more calming that Jamie had been through this before, and got over it, so she can do it again.

Laney found herself worrying during school, finding herself unfocused and stressed throughout the day. Her grades began dropping slowly, and her writing assignments that she received instead of presentations became shorter and less expressive. Laney's selective mutism slowly has become worse and worse since Jamie's depression began. She finds herself uncomfortable talking to her parents, she freezes around her friends and can no longer say simple greetings without stuttering, she feels lost and for the first time ever, she dislikes her disease. It has become an actual disadvantage to her like it never had before. It began to hurt her, to make her feel different and broken. Jamie's depression must've been rubbing off on her, Laney thought to herself.

After all, depression is contagious.

Laney told her parents she was too sick to go to school, and she didn't want to get out of bed. They asked, "Is this about Jamie?" and Laney nodded, rolling over in bed. They knew Jamie was one of her only friends for a long time, so it would make sense that she is so worried for her, but missing school was not an option at this point with Laney's grades dropping so rapidly. She was forced out of bed and to school, but Laney didn't even bother to change out of her pajamas.