The Weird Girl And The New Boy

almost

Buzz

Buzz

Buzz

The call came at 6:54 in the evening on February 17th. Carly and Tessa were supposed to pick me up close to an hour. I was helping my mom wash the dishes. (For some ungodly reason we didn't have a dishwasher in the twenty-first century.) My phone said that it was Tessa.

"Hello?" I asked the person on the other side of the line. I thought she was just reminding me that we were going to Bexley's slam.

"Thade! Oh my god!" Tessa's voice panicked. She continued to say a mix of my name and oh my god for half a minute.

"What? Tessa calm down and tell me what's going on," I said, concerned and confused about what's happening.

"She! Oh my god! She tried to! Thade! You need to come! She tried to-" Tessa let out a sob. She was crying. She had been crying since I had picked up the phone, probably way before.

"Who? Who tried to do what, Tessa?" I looked over to my mom, who had a very concerned face.

"Bexley, Thade!" She sobbed again.

"What about Bexley? What did she try to-" it hit me. I don't know what made my mind think it, but the thought was there. My stomach dropped. "Tessa," I said slowly. "Please tell me she didn't... She didn't try to... To kill-" a big sob broke out to answer my question. "Oh my god!" I said, as I dropped my phone.

My mom looked at me with confusion. "What is it, Thade? Is Bexley in trouble? Do we need to go get her? Talk to me." Her questions were background noise to what was going on in my head.

Why didn't I see it?

When she called me just to ask which of her paintings were my favorite and which of her CDs I would want. She told me she was going to give me some books last week, I thought she meant lend. She was off today, and when I asked her if she was okay she said yes and gave me that smile. That fucking smile! I should have seen through it! When I asked her if she wanted to come over she muttered that she had something to do, I figured that she had homework or something. The scars! Fuck! The fresh lines that poked out behind her skirt when she sat down a little over a month ago. She saw me staring and quickly pulled it down and said, "Moriarty." My first thought was- but I believed her- Moriarty is declawed- she lied to me.

"Bexley tried to kill herself." It just came out. My moms face went white, and the living room where my dad and sister were went quite.

"What hospital?" My Mom asked my phone. I guess that Tessa never hung up.

*****

The half-hour drive to the hospital was a blur. My parents informed me later that dad had to drive separately with Willow because I continued to say "fuck! God dammit!" Over and over again at varying levels of loudness.

It was like a movie. I walked into the ER waiting area in a daze. I didn't want to believe that it was happening. My mom lead me to where Tessa, Carly, Nanna, and Gramps were sitting. They all had tears running down their face.

"Oh, Thade," Carly said when she saw me, causing more tears.

"Wha- how did she- what way-" I was searching for the words that hurt the least, but every sequence was like a dagger into me.

"Her wrists," Nanna answered me.

"Oh my god." I said falling into my chair.

"She lost a lot of bl-blood. I was hollering for her because din-dinner was..." Nanna trailed off.