Can You Hear My Scream

Luna, 2:45 PM

Luna:

2:45 PM.

    Gosh, who was that popular girl that just pushed me? I think her name was Stella. Oh, whatever. It's fine. She was probably having a bad day.

    I look around for my friends. I'm useless alone. When I'm alone, I feel as if I am a fish in a sea of sharks, waiting to be eaten and taken. There they are. I wonder what they are whispering about. Hey, look! They're pointing in my direction! Smiling, I look behind me. What are they pointing at?

    You.

    Me? What are they talking about? I walk faster to them, not really making eye contact. I begin to say, "Hey, what were you guys talking about?" but I was rudely cut off when one of them glare at me, a sharp edge in her voice as she said, "Actually, I think we kind of need to go," and they walk away. They leave in their little cluster of three. They were my only friends in this huge vast ocean, and they were leaving me.

    And as I try to leave, even more whispers echo down the hall. "You saw that popular girl who was crying?" "Yeah, Stella?" "I heard she was throwing up in the bathroom." "Really? I heard her parents just caught her with drugs." "No, you've got the wrong girl. I think that's someone else."

    I tried to walk but everything became so dark, like I was sixty feet underwater and I couldn't get up. It was like a vortex, swallowing my body whole, and my heart was racing so fast, my hands becoming sweaty and cold. I started to breathe in and out, controlled breaths like I practiced in my bedroom at night, but I was in a school building, and people were inside.

    I think I collapsed onto my knees. You see, I didn't remember much. The anxiety was enveloping me as I heard people talking more about me, and less about Stella, and I couldn't help but feel attention seeking. That's what I heard, anyway.