Soul Splitters

Apostasy

Pippa was taking a break from revision. She looked up from her tuna and sweetcorn sandwich and monitored the clock on the wall. Her Mum and Dad had been at the bank all morning. She didn't protest, even to having to take Adam to school, she knew better than that. Her being on study leave had made her parents irate due to her seeing the inner workings of their home. For once she had witnessed the post arriving and had seen the red words on all the letters.

She picked up the plate and took it to the kitchen. Intending to leave it in the sink for later she walked away but changed her mind and washed it anyway. Apart from the gurgle of the sink drain the house was silent, when that silenced Pippa was left with only the incessant hum of the refrigerator. Suddenly her laptop buzzed to life, the faint beep calling her from her room. It was a new e-mail from Ian.

From: Ian

To: Pippa

Subject: Hello?

Pippa,

Thank you for listening to me. It has been nice having someone that I can talk to. You've stopped replying to my messages and I don't know why. I can only assume you don't want to converse any longer.

I won't bother you anymore.

Ian

She felt bad. Here was someone who needed her and she had been so engrossed in her own little issues she hadn't spent what little time it took to read and reply to an e-mail. She wrote back, apologising for not responding and claiming she had been busy. As she thought about him, Pippa felt that Ian was really one of the few honest people she knew. He was just an open book. Very open. In your face open. Still, she wished Autumn had been nicer to him while she had been around. Suddenly the laptop beeped at her.

Ian had replied already. She let out a little sigh, but she was smiling. Ian was so in demand of her attention, she liked it. Someone needed her. She read his email and was surprised because it spoke about a revision lesson today. "Are you coming?" he asked. Pippa was cautious, she hadn't met Ian in person since Autumns funeral. Even then, and before then, they hadn't ever had a proper conversation.

Pippa surprised herself when she clicked on 'Reply' and typed 'Sure, see you there.' Worse than that, she felt good. If not a little excited to see him properly. She decided she wanted to change her clothes before she went, and possibly redo her makeup.

Pippa respected Ian for one thing, he was the only person who had reacted to Autumn's death properly. Her idea of properly at least.

It unnerved her how the people Autumn had considered her friends, close acquaintances, and classmates had moved on with their life's. They had put her in a box, dumped her in the ground and forgotten her. Occasionally her name would crop up in conversation, when a band she had liked would come to town, food she would have enjoyed was on the menu or her favourite TV show aired. She would creep back into everyone's thoughts and the silence and forlorn faces would follow her.

The same silence that was born when she died.

At first Autumns death affected everyone the same way. Shock. Silence. Sadness. Then the people who knew of Autumn Iverson moved on, almost immediately. Followed by those who knew her only by having the same classes, who came to terms with the empty seat in the corner within the week. After which Autumns teacher's and her Saturday colleagues. Months later her friends resumed near normality. That left Pippa, Ian and Autumns family. Pippa knew Autumns family wouldn't ever be OK. She didn't know about herself, but she had noticed Ian seem chattier in his messages. He must have been on the mend.