Hidden Lies

My name is Aria, Aria Desacht.  I live in a small town called Sanjelo.  The population was twenty-five hundred last time I checked.  I had many friends that I got along with.  Their names were; Brinnan, Emmaline, Amber, and Brayden.  I had one that was more closer to me than others though.  Her name was Tamara.  We were bestfriends since the third grade which makes this year be the eighth year of friendship between us.  We were all juniors, graduating next year.  

It was Friday when I went to the festival with Tamara.  She brought her boyfriend,Jace, to the bonfire after.  All the girls were there and Brayden. I decided that I was just going to go by myself and hang out with Brayden when I got there.  Jace and Tamara were dating for about five months, I think.  They were close and she didn’t tell me anything about their relationship.  I wish she had though, because she told me everything else.  I am usually the only one of us who does not have a date to places, but I chose to go by myself.  The last boyfriend I had was Toby.  I didn’t want to get caught up with boys, because of the abuse that he put me through. I was still trying to get my sanity back.

The bonfire was going good.  I am hanging out with Brayden,as planned.  I known him since ninth grade and he is nice.  Tamara went home with Jace early.  I didn’t have a good feeling about having her with him alone.  I heard that he had to go to a therapist before.  I guess his family and him have had problems in the past.  His father used to abuse him.  Jace grew up with a dad that was never home.  If he was home, he would just be abusing Jace or yelling at Jace’s mom and fighting. 

I heard Tamara say,”No” to going home early.  

Jace just said,”I feel sick, come take care of me”.  Tamara is always taking demands from him.  Jace was drunk too and he usually gets mean when he is drunk.  I actually think Tamara was kind of scared to be with him alone.

I had a humongous headache from all the noise from the bonfire the night before.  I was probably the only person who did not drink last night.  I usually didn’t though, because it makes you act weird and different.  

Speaking of which, I remember a guy was trying to ride a horse, without actually having a horse that night.  How strange is that?  I just hate it when people are like that, all drunk and gross. 

School was starting to get tiring.  Weekends were starting to go by super fast.  I hated it.  My teachers gave us four projects to get done by two weeks, so I had to find time to do all of it.  I usually go and pick up Tamara before school, but she told me that she didn’t need a ride that day.  I thought that was weird, because she usually gets a ride from me every single day. 

School was awkward that Monday.  Tamara tried to ignore me the whole day.  I finally talked to her at lunch.  That is when I noticed something.  She had a bruise on her left cheek.  It looked like someone hit her.  

I asked her,” Hey what happened”?  

She said,” Oh I ran into a wall, haha, oops”.  

I knew it wasn’t from a wall.  I had one just like it when Toby hit me.  I remember sitting down at our table.  It was hard to breathe for awhile cause I was in shock.  Did anybody else notice?  Or was I just going insane?  I sat at a lunch table with Brayden, Tamara, Jace, and the rest of the girls.  Brayden knew something was wrong with me.  I still have our texts from that day.

Brayden: Hey are you alright?  You seem a bit down.

Me: Yeah just a little under the weather.

I felt bad for lying, but I didn’t want to just assume that Jace hit Tamara. 

When I went home that day after school, I could not get any homework done.  I was too worried about Tamara.  I kept trying to call her that night.  She ignored all twenty-four calls.  That wasn’t like her.  She usually is the one to call me a few times before I answer, not me call her.  That night, I remember not getting any sleep.  

A few days later Tamara texted me and invited me to Jace’s party.  She hadn’t been in school since that Monday.  I had missed her, so I decided to go.  I went with Brinnan and Emmaline.  Amber was going with her boyfriend and Tamara said to just meet her there.  When I got there, everyone was sitting down and drinking.  I was the first one to go and dance.  I was dancing with Brinnan and Emmaline.  I remember looking over and seeing Jace yelling at Tamara and holding her against the wall.  Next thing I saw was Jace squeezing Tamara’s wrist.  He looked over and saw me staring.  He grabbed her and pushed her up the stairs.  Jace must have had at least six beers.  I was so scared for her.  We were supposed to have a sleepover that Friday, I waited for her to come back down.  She came down eventually.  She looked all happy though.  I was so confused at that point.  I told her that I wanted to leave.  Tamara agreed with me, so we got in my car and went to my house.  

 I asked her what he did as soon as we got into my room.  She said that he didn’t do anything.  When she was changing into her night clothes I saw a big red mark on her shoulder.  It looked as if someone grabbed it really hard and squeezed it.  

I said, ”you need to break up with him now or else.”

She said,” okay I will”.  I didn’t believe her.  I talked to her that whole night and tried to make her tell me about Jace.  She just wouldn’t break.               

             On that next Monday, I noticed something was wrong.  Jace kept staring at me weird.  He sat at our lunch table, so I guessed that Tamara did not break up with him.  I pulled her aside and asked if she did or not at lunch.  Of course she didn’t, I knew she wouldn’t.  After school, Jace came up to me.  Tamara was running after him.  She was crying and looked very scared.  She kept saying sorry to me.  Jace screamed in my face,” Why would you tell Tamara to break up with me”!  He demanded an answer.  I told him that, “It is not good to beat on your girlfriend”.  He grabbed Tamara after I said that.  He started to slap her face.  He asked,” Do you like this”?

          I screamed, ”no”!  Then, I started to hit him.  He picked me up and threw me against the barb-wired fence.  Brayden saw and ran up to us.  Jace scrambled away as soon as he noticed Brayden running.

Tamara begged us not to tell anyone.  I told her that if she doesn’t break up with him that I was ending our friendship.  I started to cry even more after saying that.  Brayden helped us up and then I ran home.  My mom was startled to see me all dirty and crying.  She asked me,” honey what happened”?  

I replied, ”Tamara’s boyfriend is abusing her just like Toby did too me”!  After I told her she immediately called Tamara’s mom to tell her.  I was so upset with her.  I ignored all calls and texts from her for at least a week.  That is when I found out that she had broken up with Jace, and that Jace was going to jail.  I was still mad at her for picking her boyfriend over me.  I ignored her calls for two more weeks.

           It was a rainy Sunday when I got a call from Tamara’s dad.  He told me that Tamara had committed suicide that morning.  Her mom went to go get her up for church.  When she got into Tamara’s room all she saw was her little girl hanging from her ceiling fan.  Tamara’s mom had screamed in agony.

I remember not getting any sleep for at least a month after that.  I could not live with myself.  It was all my fault.  I tried to overdose on drugs, that's why I am here.  I got here around a month ago.  Everyone is treating me so nicely.  I miss my mom and dad though.  They said that it is best for me to be here, getting help from the doctors.  I will get out of here soon, but for now I should focus on getting better.  Rest In Peace Tamara, I love you forever and always.