The Road Less Traveled

Before

Song: Home by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

Asher

One condition about life that has always terrified me is the certainty that one day, our hearts will no longer beat. Our bodies will just... Stop. No more breathing. No more laughing. No more singing in the shower. Just emptiness.

Which what am I to say about what comes after death because, of course, I have not made it there yet. And even though I wonder what does come next, only those who make it there deserve to know.

As Shakespeare makes prominent in Hamlet, or possibly every other one of his plays, death is the "great equalizer," more specifically meaning that it happens to everyone. Rich, or poor; boy or girl, death is inevitable. It honestly scares me, which I assume is normal for any human to fear death, but maybe I fear it so much because I have not lived my life in a way that I feel has been worth living.

Maybe my thoughts are reaching the dark corners of my head, but I can't stop it from wandering.

I am jerked out of my inner monologue by the school bell signaling me to go to my last class of the last day of school. My biology teacher finally turns off the video on the projector about the human life span that originally got my mind started on the subject of dying. Most teachers on the last day of school play Finding Nemo, or let you do whatever the hell you want like play Apples-to-Apples. But not Mr. Fisher. He settled on us watching an informational video that makes students contemplate their current lifestyles and whether or not they are "worth living."

I pick up my small amount of things and make my way to my last class, Spanish.

Now that I have talked about the certainty of death, I suppose it is remotely appropriate for me to talk about living. One thing in particular that absolutely fascinates me about it:

Humanity's obsession with knowing other people's lives.

This thought rings clear in my mind as I walk down the halls of Emerald Isle High School for the last time as a high school Junior. One name, and one name only, can be heard echoing between the cement walls.

Noelle Chambers.

A strange feeling of deja vu shivers through my body because the same echo had rang through these same halls on the Thursday of the third week of Junior year, when she left. And now especially, the school population can't seem to get her name out of their mouths.

Teachers, students, hell, even the janitors are talking about her. Everyone is falling into the sea of gossip. Emerald Isle is a small town and gossip travels like wildfire, and when it starts, it doesn't stop. Noelle is this week's headliner.

"The nut-case of Emerald Isle" is what they call her. But with her being my neighbor of 14 years, I don't think she's crazy. I may not know the details of the story because we haven't talked to each other in years other than a few words here and there, but I still believe she isn't a nut-case. But unfortunately, one little dam can't stop a waterfall of gossip, so I don't try.

"Dude!" My friend Ethan walks up to me and slaps me on the back, "Did you hear about Noelle? Word has it she is coming back today."

"Yeah, I heard. I think that it's pretty much impossible to not hear about it." I say back, stopping at my locker.

"True, but still.. What do you think she looks like now?" He leans back on the locker next to mine, "She used to be pretty hot.. but now I bet she has crazy hair, dark bags under her eyes and nails that look like eagle talons." He makes a strange gesture with his hands.

I look at him, "You're an idiot, Ethan."

"What man? She's spent the last couple of months in a mental hospital. There's no way she looks the same. Crazy shit happens in the loony bin, crazy shit dude."