Up In Flames [Original Story] ✓

Goodbye, my old friend.

My breath smelled horrible and I looked like I had survived an apocalypse, but it was nothing more than teenage drama. I picked on my nails, biting them as I tiredly walked through what was now becoming a dark street. Shoving the keys in the lock and twisting it with as much strength as I had, I pushed the door open, ripping the keys from the lock in an away I feared I might break them. 

I dropped my backpack onto the sofa and collapsed onto it, nearly falling to the floor. My body was falling, half of it already on the floor, but I felt too tired to even attempt and try to move.

I managed to avoid anyone and everyone when I was still at school, leaving the school grounds minutes before they closed it down for cleaning. Each step hurt more than the last, given that what I had taken was meant to have a long-lasting effect.

June had left after a while, to return to her classes. I had prematurely texted her to go home without waiting for me, knowing she was likely to come back and check up on me.

I wiggled around on the sofa, attempting to find myself a more comfortable position, but ended up pulling the rest of my body to the floor, landing somewhat softly on the carpet. My head hurt the most, hitting it with a small amount of force on the floor. I groaned, doing a sit-up and pushing myself upwards. I rubbed my head and rested my body against the sofa.

I reached over and grabbed the remote, wriggling my fingers as far as I could so that I didn't have to move much to reach it. Pressing the power button, I scanned the channels until I found myself at the beginning of Mean Girls.

"June!" I yelled out into the house, wanting some company to watch the film. I didn't really want to watch it, girly dramas aren't my particular taste but I did want Junes company, and if it required enduring the most famous of all girly movies, I'd do it.

I have few fears, but I've learned to control most of them, most of the time. We're taught since young that having fears it's alright, as long as it doesn't become a weakness. Keep them under control, overcome them only if you have too. For the biggest part, I've been able to do just that: Suppress them. But being alone, that's the only fear I'm never able to fully ignore. The emptiness and the breathtaking silence that follow the feeling of what I can only describe as a black hole surrounding me is unbearable. The simple idea of living more than a few hours engulfed in pitch black solitude terrifies me. Perhaps that's why I surround myself with movies and books, so I never feel as if I'm truly alone; But now, as the screen passes on characters that I can't seem to connect with, and as all I can hear is small shuffling noises I feel truly alone for the first time in forever.

"June I can hear you breathe!" I yell out again, in the hopes someone responds to my calling. It's futile, and I know that the tiny noises I hear are nothing more than my imagination creating company, but I yell out into the void anyway.

"Dude!" I yell, much louder this time. I hear something coming from upstairs and furrow my eyebrows. Was June ignoring me? I doubt it, it's not like we were really mad at each other, at least not anymore. I picture her with her headphones on, music as loud as she can, a little out of character, as she doesn't enjoy headphones much and prefers having her music out loud (so much so, she spends most of her money on records for her record player).