When Heaven Gains An Angel

Chapter 1

She was my other half.

When we were younger, our favourite place was in my neighbour's overgrown paddock. Bridget and I would spend hours in the long grass, imagining whole other worlds to be apart of. We'd run for what felt like miles to each end of the field, twirling and skipping like the little girls we were. Carefree with no responsibilities and our only emotions were pure and utter happiness.

As we grew up, we moved on to playing with barbie dolls, then to playing video games, then to not even playing at all. We swapped lemonade for alcohol, and sleepovers for parties. Even so, we remained inseparable, and it helped that we lived only a street away from each other.

"Kate! I seriously can't decide what to wear and I need your advice!" I laughed as Bridget dumped a large duffel bag overflowing with clothes on the dreary grey carpet of my bedroom.

"Why don't you just wear that black dress you wore to Jake's?" She looked at me with her bright blue eyes as if I was crazy and I realised what I'd said. "Right, Jake's was the last party we went to so of course you can't wear that again."

I knelt down next to her bag and pulled out different items of clothing, placing them on the floor as I tried to think of what each could go with. Bridget sat down on my bed, her head in her hands, clearly frustrated. She needed to look good at this party to impress Aaron, whereas I was just going to have a good time.

"Wear your maroon flowy mini skirt and your black crop top," I smiled. "I like that outfit, it suits you."

"Oh, my god. Kate! You're a life saver, you know that right?" Bridget grinned and gave me a tight hug.

"Come on, let's get ready. Are we still going to have pre-drinks with Tash and Alice?" Bridget nodded as she plugged her iPod into my stereo and blasted pop music.

Finally we arrived at the party, I was a little tipsy whereas Bridget had already drunken a whole bottle of pink wine. As soon as we'd passed the threshold, she was in her boyfriend's arms, their lips connected. Aaron was good to her and looked after her well and he broke their kiss to smile at me and let me know she was in good hands. I laughed to myself as Alice linked her arm with mine and we made our way through the crowd of drunk teenagers, everyone seemingly having a good time.

It was a typical Saturday night for the four of us, parties being the only thing to do on weekends due to our town being so small. As the night went on, we all got drunker and one of my best guy friends, Luca, came up to me and gestured to follow him.

This had started to become a tradition. If we were both at the same party, he'd find me and we'd go off together to make out. Somehow it worked, we hadn't developed feelings for each other and it was never awkward afterwards. It was just a little fun I guess.

"Bridget appears to be having fun tonight," Luke whispered as he kissed my neck.

"Mmm, well she always does," I pulled away and focused my eyes on him as best as possible in the dim light behind a tool shed. "Why do you mention it?"

"I guess I'm a little worried about her, she just gets so drunk all the time."

"Yeah, but she's safe I think. Aaron is always there for her," I kissed Luca again and it was the end of our conversation. I wasn't worried about her and didn't need to be, I just wanted to have fun so that's what Luca and I did.

After a while we decided to join the party again, and we parted with a smile on our lips. That feeling didn't last long as Tash rushed up to us and pulled me by the arm, explaining that Bridget was sick and we needed to leave. I rolled my eyes as it wasn't an uncommon experience for us, but even so I jogged to the bush Bridget was cowering behind.

"You're alright sweetie," I murmured as I pulled her up and tried to keep her balanced.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Tears were streaming down her face and the stench of vomit was enveloping me as I half carried her to the front of the house. Aaron was by my side along with Tash and Alice.

"I love her and all, but sometimes I actually want to have fun, you know?" Aaron whispered in my ear as he helped me guide Bridget to the front of the house. I told him I'd talk to him later and he nodded before giving Bridget a kiss on the cheek and walking back inside to the party.

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A few days later, Bridget and I were tanning outside next to her pool, our bikini-clad bodies glistening in the hot sun. It was only a week into our summer holidays and all week the weather had been beautiful, so every chance we got, we were outside sunbathing. I glanced over at Bridget, her cerulean eyes shielded by black sunglasses. Her long, brown hair was a tangled halo around her head and her thin, bronzed body was set in a straight line.

I hadn't talked to her about her drinking habits, but I had talked to Aaron. He was seriously worried about her as she'd changed quite a bit recently. If he ever asked how she was doing, she'd say she was fine and turn the conversation back around to him, she never wanted attention. We'd both noticed that lately, her smile hadn't quite reached her eyes and she was constantly wanting to get drunk so as to take her mind off things yet she never mentioned what was actually wrong. I was determined to help her as I hated seeing her this way.

"Hey, Bridget. Can we talk?" I sat up and watched as she snapped out of her little dream world and looked up at me. I could tell she could hear the seriousness in my voice.

"Yeah, whats up?" She sat up, placed her sunglasses on the top of her head and turned to me.

"Well, lately I've noticed that you've been a bit... different. Like, acting differently and you never look fully happy, you know? It's just, I'm worried about you. I don't like seeing you like this. I want to help you, you've just got to tell me if something is wrong."

Bridget looked down at her crossed legs and was quiet for a few seconds. She then looked up and smiled at me before saying, "Nothing's wrong, I'm completely fine."

"Bridget, I know you're lying to me. I can help you!" Maybe I was pushing it, but I truly wanted her to be okay.

"God, I'm fine, Kate! Just leave it." With that, she got up and slid into the pool. I sat quietly and watched her as she swam a few lengths. Although the conversation had just began, it was already over and nothing had been solved. Feeling like I still had to figure something out, I lay back down on my towel, turned up the music and closed my eyes.