Suicide Notes

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six

Caleb-

"Did you hear the news?" Stix burst into the loft so loudly that I jumped, dropping my glass of water and it shattered into the sink.

"What the hell, Stix? You scared the shit out of me!" Carefully, I began gathering the shards so I could dispose of them.

"Forget that!" Stix practically hollered, grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me. "Did you hear the news?"

"What news?" I asked, experiencing a moment of panic as Anna's image flashed through my mind.

"Man, you need to start answering your damn phone! Rick just got a call from that Hensley dude who came to listen to us play. His record label wants to sign us! They are paying for all of us to fly to LA to talk to the bigwigs!"

"You're serious?" My mind was having difficulty forming a coherent thought at the moment. "Don't mess with me, Stix."

"Do I look like I'm messing with you? This is for real! What do you think?"

A whoop escaped me as I grabbed him, hugging him tight. "Damn! This is huge! I can't believe it! Where are Rick and Riley? This calls for a celebration!"

"They're on their way over from the island, right now. I think we need to go out and party!"

"Definitely! Let me go change so we can leave as soon as they get here."

Anna's picture greeted me as I entered my room. It wasn't a very clear image, just one I'd snapped of her as she walked across the stage at her graduation. I'd had it printed off and framed it, setting it on my nightstand so I could always see her. Night after night, I'd fallen asleep with her image the last thing I saw. When she'd texted me after the altercation with Hank, it had taken all I had to tell her to take her time and then not reply to her again. I'd left her texts on my phone, rereading them over and over like some sappy, lovesick fool. I missed her.

How could we accept a record contract without Anna? She was the one who'd gotten us the recognition in the first place. This guy had initially come to hear her, not realizing she'd left. We'd been lucky enough to still make a good impression on him.

My lyric book lay open where I'd left it on the bed earlier and I picked it up, glancing at the song I'd just finished writing, reading through the words once again:

Bleeding

The color drains away, my life begins to ebb,

Only I can't really die, because I'm trapped inside my head.

Mistakes are looming large,

Widening into ugly scars,

But I don't know how to stop the

Bleeding ...

It's running out of me

For all the world to see

This can't end happily,

Because I just keep

Bleeding...

It's a loss of my soul,

And the one I want to hold,

I'll regret this till I'm old,

I'm bleed, bleed, bleed, bleeding

Time is not my friend; it drags on so slow,

Everyday a reminder, of what I'll never know.